Life and Kraya by Stephen Ramsay
Posts tagged Microsoft
Microsoft Internet Explorer Popularity vote
Mar 1st
Those of you who follow the news may be aware of minor but major changes to Microsoft Internet Explorer.
All Windows 7, Vista and XP users who currently use internet explorer will be offered a choice as part of the deal Microsoft reached with European Commission.
Microsoft IE sits awaiting the worlds judgment, like the American high school cheerleader who’s inexplicable popularity is for the first time being put to the test, as the not so popular kids elect a new leader.
A pop-up window will prompt people to choose and install one of 12 different browsers or let them stick with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
Kraya recommends users choose anything but Internet explorer. Users are able to select any browser of their own choosing however we would strongly recommend users pick from our top picks:
Mozilla Firefox http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
Google Chrome http://www.google.com/chrome
Apple Safari http://www.apple.com/safari/
The big question is will the Anti-trust agreement and the fines totaling 1.68bn euros ($2.44bn, £1.5bn) that have been imposed by the EU on Microsoft make any difference? Take a look at the BBC graphic below, IE has a massive dominance in the browser market in the main due to the sheer ambivalence and ignorance of its users, no one (or very few) choose to use IE it was the default, what they had to use and by the point they had learned that there might be a choose out there with had learned IE, so stuck with it not because it was superior but because its what they know.
Browser market share
Firefox has for some time been catching on IE but it still has a long way to go. Its progress has been at lest in part due to its superiority as a browser over IE. However recent updates have left Firefox slower and buggier than ever before. For a browser that has never been advertised in main stream media, unlike Google Chrome, its rise to control a quarter of the browser market has been purely viral.
Google on the other hand has in anticipation of today’s changes embarked on a massive advertising campaign to push Chrome and gain even more control over the Internet, only time will tell just how successful Google ad spending has made it. The question now is will it be money well spent, or will Google find itself the next target of the EU competition and anti-trust regulators?
Only time will tell as is the case of Microsoft, I for one will be eagerly waiting updated browser market share statistics, as I’m sure Mr Gates will be. However I cant help but feel that we have in no way seen the beginning of the end of IE, undoubtedly its share will slip, I just don’t think the EUs Settlement can break what are now years of ingrained habit and apathy.
Further information:
Changing your password in Kerio Mailserver
Jun 16th
Changing your passwords is very easy.
Under your Windows computer press Crtl + Alt + Del and select change password.
To Change your email password, simply log into your Web Mail (call us if you don’t know the address)
Then Select change password from the Settings drop down menu as below
settings menu in kerio webmail
And then enter your old and new passwords in the box below.
kerio password change dialog box
Remember to make it something secure that no one will guess, no kids, partners or team names and no dictionary words. Random Numbers and letters, remember capitals and lower case combinations are best, or try a sentence like “Why can 1 never remember 555″ you can use spaces. Remember the best passwords are not necessarily easy to remember but they can be if your clever about it. Hackers offten use a dictionary or password list attack to crack passwords, this is where a system tires every word in the dictionary or in a common password list, things like Rangers, Rang3rs or Celtic, C3lt1c will be near the top of that list.
Security Bulletin – Adobe Reader and Acrobat
May 14th
Below is an update to Security Bulletin – Adobe – April 09
Adobe have published a new Security Bulletin and provided updates for Adobe Reader and Acrobat patches. These updates resolve the previously reported vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader 9.1 and Acrobat 9.1 and earlier versions. This vulnerability (CVE-2009-1492) would cause the application to crash and could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system remotely and install Malicious code.
We have already recommended that user consider using alternatives to Adobe reader, this continues to be our current advice. However users still using Adobe should now update and install these patches as soon as practical.
Adobe recommends users of Adobe Reader 9.1 and Acrobat 9.1 and earlier versions update to Adobe Reader 9.1.1 and Acrobat 9.1.1. Adobe recommends users of Acrobat 8 update to Acrobat 8.1.5, and users of Acrobat 7 update to Acrobat 7.1.2. For Adobe Reader users who can’t update to Adobe Reader 9.1.1, Adobe has provided the Adobe Reader 8.1.5 and Adobe Reader 7.1.2 updates.
Further Security issues affecting Microsoft Internet Explorer
Apr 30th
Microsoft have today issued a revision to Critical Security alert MS08-069 extending the scope of systems affected to include most versions Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
Numerous vulnerabilities exist in Microsoft XML Core Services. These would allow a malicious program to be executed with out the user’s knowledge if the user viewed a specially crafted Web page using Internet Explorer. Such a malicious program could do anything, including downloading and installing other malicious code.
The security update modifies how Microsoft XML Core Services parses XML content, handles external document type definitions (DTD), and sets HTTP request fields.
There are no changes to the actual update. If you have already successfully installed update KB954430 do not need to reinstall. However you should be aware that there are a number of issues with this update as detailed below. Most of these issues require multiple re-starts to complete the installation. All customers are advised to install this update and call us if you have any of the issues described below:
KB951535 MS08-069: Description of the security update for Office 2003: November 11, 2008
KB951550 MS08-069: Description of the security update for the 2007 Office suite: November 11, 2008
KB951597 MS08-069: Description of the security update for the 2007 Office servers: November 11, 2008
KB954430 MS08-069: Description of the security update for XML Core Services 4.0: November 11, 2008
KB954459 MS08-069: Description of the security update for XML Core Services 6.0: November 11, 2008
KB955069 MS08-069: Description of the security update for XML Core Services 3.0: November 11, 2008
Reason for Revision: V2.0 (April 29, 2009):
Added as affected: Microsoft XML Core Services 4.0 (KB954430) on 32-bit and x64-based editions of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 and on 32-bit, x64-based, and Itanium-based editions of Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 as affected software.
Added as non-affected: Microsoft XML Core Services 3.0 and Microsoft XML Core Services 6.0 on 32-bit and x64-based editions of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 and on 32-bit, x64-based, and Itanium-based editions of Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2.
Microsoft Windows 2000 is Obsolete!
Apr 24th
A lot of people are still using Windows 2000 and most worryingly Windows 2000 with Internet explorer 6, I can only describe this as obsolete.
Firstly support for both Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 on Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 expired in June 2008. Users running Internet Explorer 5.01 or Internet Explorer 6 on Windows 2000 should upgrade to Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 urgently to remain vaguely secure and in order to continue to receive security updates.
Secondly and most importantly, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 is no longer fully supported by Microsoft and has moved from mainstream support to the Microsoft extended support phase. There are two important differences between mainstream support and extended support;
Firstly a quote from Microsoft, “Microsoft will not accept requests for warranty support, design changes, or new features during the extended support phase.” Furthermore Microsoft states that they will ‘continue to keep Windows 2000 SP4 customers secure with security updates through the life of Windows 2000’.
However this is not something I would like to rely on give that each update issued for Windows 2000 seems to make it slower and slower and updates for legacy systems must take lower priority over current software, such as XP and Vista. It is also worth noting that IE 5.01 and IE 6 are no longer supported at all. Therefore users on Windows 2000 MUST only use Firefox.
All Windows Computers running windows 2000 should be considered Obsolete and replaced at the next opportunity. They have a use by date of March 2010 and even today should be treated with caution.
