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*HOT* Tech News And Downloads, I Would Read This Thread And Post Any Good Info
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AfterDawn Addict
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14. September 2007 @ 10:01 |
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http://www.p2pnet.net/story/13322
RIAA vs Catherine Njuguna
When you fish with a net, you sometimes are going to catch a few dolphin ~ Amy Weiss, former RIAA spokeswoman
p2pnet news | RIAA News:- Here?s a story to interest anyone who?s been following Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG?s fruitless attempts to use legal systems around the world to terrorise their own customers into once again becoming compliant, wholly subservient, ?consumers,? as the corporate world contemptuously calls the men, women and children around the world, who keep them rich.
This tale is set in America, in South Carolina, to be exact, with the Big 4?s RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) as the aggressor.
But it could have happened anywhere in the world with the initials RIAA substituted for BPI (British Phonographic Industry), say, or any of the hundreds of similar organisations the labels have set up in most developed countries.
Telling it are Charleston lawyers Jason Scott Luck and John P. Seibels, jr, representing Catherine Njuguna, another woman falsely accused by the RIAA of being a massive online distributor of copyrighted music.
She?s filed her opposition to the RIAA motion to dismiss counterclaims in Atlantic v Njuguna, says Recording Industry vs The People.
?Defendant tried to explain she listened to Christian contemporary music, not the music found in the Complaint, which included songs titled ?Teenage Dirt Bag? [sic], ?She fuckin hates me? [sic], ?I touch myself? [sic], ?That Nigger?s Crazy? [sic], and ?Fuck You Softly.? [sic],? says the document, leading off with,
?This case is another skirmish in the RIAA?s four-year war to use the Federal Courts to shore up the American recording industry?s failing business model.?
And as in so many other cases Sharman Network?s Kazaa P2P file sharing application plays a central role.
Both it and the RIAA are themselves the subjects of class action applications.
Luck and Seibels go on >>>
In the late nineties, various websites, FTP2 servers, and the infamous Napster software changed the face of music forever. MPEG layer 3 audio files (?mp3s?), a compressed sound file format, made it possible to transfer music via computer files quickly and with little loss in sound quality. These files allowed any music lover with a little Internet aptitude the ability to quickly discover new music and share their music with the entire world. Unfortunately, it also allowed an unprecedented level of unauthorized and illegal duplication of music in violation of the federal Copyright Act.
The wave of internet piracy of music, movies, books, and software has led to a frenzy of hand-wringing, hyperbole, and hysterics on the part of media companies. NBC Universal?s4 general counsel recently went as far as suggesting America wastes entirely too much money policing crimes like burglary, fraud, and bank robbery when it should be doing something about piracy instead. This hysteria is not unprecedented. In 1982, MPAA6 president Jack Valenti said to congress ?I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston Strangler is to the woman home alone.? The VCR did not ?strangle? the film industry, which now makes very healthy profit from video sales and rentals. In the 1980s, British record companies believed copying albums on equipment like twin cassette decks would put them out of business and launched a ?Home Taping is Killing Music? campaign. While a number of unfortunate mix tapes were made by teenagers, home taping didn?t kill the music.
What is different from these previous ?crises? is the massive, organized campaign of litigation intended to punish pirates and deter piracy. Since 2003, thousands of lawsuits have been filed across the United States against a wide variety of defendants. These defendants include actual pirates, copying and distributing music for profit without paying royalties, and lazy teenagers that just didn?t feel like they had to pay $15 for a CD to get the one decent song it contained. These defendants have violated the law and the plaintiffs are within their rights to pursue them.
However, the Plaintiffs, and other RIAA-affiliated companies, have also sued dead people, children, the disabled, people who do not own computers, or simply sued the wrong person.
These scattershot tactics have created considerable enmity for the RIAA from the public, and the RIAA?s subsequent treatment of innocent defendants has further tarnished its reputation, leading to a growing number of defendants asserting counterclaims, and one potential nationwide class action.
The Defendant in this action, Catherine Njuguna, is one of the ?dolphin? so flippantly described by the RIAA.
Defendant received a letter from Time Warner Cable in January of 2006 informing her that her personal information had been disclosed pursuant to a subpoena issued in an ex parte ?John Doe? action filed against several IP addresses in 2005.16 This letter provided her a number to call with any questions. This number was for the ?record companies? representatives? and included the email of info@SettlementInformationLine.com.
These lines of communication connected the Defendant to Settlement Support Center, LLC, (?SSC?) a company employed by the Plaintiffs to negotiate settlements with persons accused by the Plaintiffs of copyright infringement. Defendant called the Settlement Support Center and spoke with a representative, who informed her that they had evidence that a computer with IP address 67.9.63.16, which had been identified as Defendant?s, had shared over 450 music files via KaZaA file-sharing software on October 30, 2005 at 3:22 am. This accusation was troubling to the Defendant, as she did not know what file-sharing was, did not know how to download music, did not have any file-sharing software installed on her computer, and did not have the alleged music files on her computer. She was also in Oklahoma City that night, and her computer was turned off. The Settlement Support Center offered to settle the claims against her for $3750.00, or slightly more if she wished to pay over time. Over the next two months, Defendant attempted to prove her innocence to the Plaintiffs, through Settlement Support Center. She repeatedly argued that the issue must be a case of mistaken identity.
Defendant tried to explain she listened to Christian contemporary music, not the music found in the Complaint, which included songs titled ?Teenage Dirt Bag? [sic], ?She fuckin hates me? [sic], ?I touch myself? [sic], ?That Nigger?s Crazy? [sic], and ?Fuck You Softly.? [sic]
Defendant, with the assistance of an employee of SSC she had on the phone, searched her computer for the alleged software and music; they found none. She offered to have her computer inspected; her offer was not accepted. SSC continued to threaten to file suit if she did not pay the $3750.00. When Defendant asked how she, a person of limited means, could afford the settlement,the SSC representative suggested she get a credit card.
Plaintiffs filed suit on August 22, 2006, against a ?Cathryn Njuguna,? a name the Defendant has never used before and has never seen before. The SSC informed the Defendant that the yes will ever lookwill ever look, no promisessettlement demand was $4500.00, or $4750.00 paid over time.
In March, Defendant began to correspond directly with the Plaintiffs? counsel. At this point, she was told that another incident of file sharing they attributed to her had taken place in May of 2006. Plaintiffs? counsel discovered that this incident was a mistake in their records, and in a commendable show of professionalism, informed Defendant of the mistake, but apparently did not inform SSC.
In March of 2007, the Defendant decided the cost to litigate and be exonerated was too high and called the SSC to profess her innocence one final time and settle the case.19 The representative was rude, telling Defendant there was no way she could have not shared music via KaZaA, as they now had evidence of two incidents. Defendant attempted to explain that the second incident was a mistake on the Plaintiffs? part, but said explanation fell on deaf ears. The representative became progressively ruder, and eventually told Defendant that she would face criminal prosecution should her infringement continue. After this conversation, Defendant boxed up her old computer and purchased a new one; she then retained counsel.
Click here for the full document.
And meanwhile, stay tuned.
.SlashdotSlashdot it! Add to Technorati Favorites
Also See:
another woman falsely accused - Marie Lindor, RIAA copyright crook, September 14, 2007
Recording Industry vs The People - Defendant fights back in Charleston, South Carolina, in Atlantic v. Njuguna, Defends her Counterclaims, September 12, 2007
class actions - RIAA named in first class action, August 16, 2007
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AfterDawn Addict
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14. September 2007 @ 10:08 |
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http://www.p2pnet.net/story/13323
To the RIAA: F**K YOU!
p2pnet news | RIAA News:- J13P, 31, lives in Chicago, and he has an interesting post on MySpace.
It?s based on Ray Beckerman?s ?I recommend that defendants? lawyers consider making motions to dismiss complaint or motions for judgment on pleading.?
Says J13P >>>
As a musician, I sometimes have mixed feelings about this. On some occasions I think, wow I shouldn?t be downloading music for free. Then my my mind wanders to all those times I bought a record, brought it home and found out it was a total pile of shit. I have no problems supporting music.
Also, This is the industry that removed its cheaper products from the shelves (cd /tape singles, ect.) so if you wanted to hear your bands fav radio hit, you had to buy the whole record. So of course, smart ppl found another way to get their hands on them. CD burners came out, and they were doing back flips. They thought they had a media that couldn?t be fucked with. Wrong Again.
So all in all, they come down to the last tactics that sometimes works.
FEAR.
Yes, they decided to sue 13 year old kids and adults alike. The only industry that has ever sued their customers as far as I know(if you take all my money, how will I afford your products?)
The RIAA put together a boilerplate law suite, that they could file, on large groups of people, and win.
BUT NOT ANYMORE! The rules have changed Im happy to report. So fu@k you RIAA here is the skinny below.
?The decision many lawyers had been expecting - that the RIAA?s ?boilerplate? complaint fails to state a claim for relief under the Copyright Act - has indeed come down, but from an unlikely source. While the legal community has been looking towards a Manhattan case (Elektra v. Barker) for guidance, the decision instead came from Senior District Court Judge Rudi M. Brewster of the US District Court for the Southern District of California. The decision handed down denied a default judgment (i.e. the defendant had not even appeared in the action). Judge Brewster not only denied the default judgment motion but dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim. Echoing the words of Judge Karas at the oral argument in Barker , Judge Brewster held (pdf) that ?Plaintiff here must present at least some facts to show the plausibility of their allegations of copyright infringement against the Defendant. However, other than the bare conclusory statement that on ?information and belief? Defendant has downloaded, distributed and/or made available for distribution to the public copyrighted works, Plaintiffs have presented no facts that would indicate that this allegation is anything more than speculation.??
SO fu@k you RIAA! Either get on the bus, or get off the fu@king street.
J13P
[I didn?t bothered to ** the expletives. What?s the difference between fu@k and f**k anyway? - Jon]
I DID,
.SlashdotSlashdot it! Add to Technorati Favorites
Also See:
Ray Beckerman - How to thwart the RIAA, September 12, 2007
J13P - RIAA is on the ropes, September 14, 2007
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14. September 2007 @ 13:29 |
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RIAA Loses in Precedent-setting Case
The RIAA loses a precedent-setting case, Interscope v. Rodriguez, in Southern California.
A judge is Southern California, made no friends in the RIAA, when she handed down a precedent-setting verdict that cleared the plantiff of all charges in the case Interscope v. Rodriguez.
Since the early days of p2p file-sharing the RIAA has made a questionable name for itself as a legal bulldog, issuing thousands of lawsuits against individuals each year.
Typically the RIAA accused these individuals of downloading, distribuing and/or made available for distribution to the public copyrighted works. These statements often were followed by little evidence, and sometimes came against people that had no apparent access to a computer.
One such case occured in 2005 when the RIAA took up a case against 83-year-old deceased great-grandmother in West Virginia. The RIAA was unaware that the woman had passed away in December, 2004. Ironically, her daugher Robin testified that her mother did not ever own a computer, and had no access to one.
After the case gained national attention the RIAA issued a foot-in-mouth reply, "Our evidence gathering and our subsequent legal actions all were initiated weeks and even months ago. We will now, of course, obviously dismiss this case."
Since then the RIAA has continued to take individuals to court, many of whom settled out of court privately, for thousands of dollars.
The Interscope v. Rodriguez was considered a typical RIAA case ?boilerplate? complaint. The RIAA accused the plantiff of downloading, distribuing and/or made available for distribution to the public copyrighted works, but did not offer any specific evidence or proof of its claims. It sought monetary damages from the plantiff.
As the plantiff did not present himself in court, a default judgement ruling was held. The presiding judge, Judge Brewster, shocked the RIAA by not only denying to make a default monetary judgement, but also completing dismissing the case for failure to state a claim.
Judge Brewster is on record as stating:
"Plaintiff here must present at least some facts to show the plausibility of their allegations of copyright infringement against the Defendant.
However, other than the bare conclusory statement that on ?information and belief? defendant has downloaded, distributed and/or made available for distribution to the public copyrighted works, plaintiffs have presented no facts that would indicate this allegation is anything more than speculation.
The complaint is simply a boilerplate listing of the elements of copyright infringement without any facts pertaining specifically to the instant Defendant.
The Court therefore finds that the complaint fails to sufficiently state a claim upon which relief can be granted and entry of default judgment is not warranted."
If you don't read legal-speak, then the translation is this -- the RIAA was ruled against for not presenting sufficient evidence.
This is a landmark ruling, as new defendants will now have a legal precedent and successful framework to challenge the RIAA in court.
The RIAA has made a name for itself by continually coming up with creative new ways of trying to make money of music listeners, via litigation and marketing gimmicks. It has tried everything from lawsuits, to "ringles" its new ringtone-single campaign, to make up for falling record sales.
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=8884
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14. September 2007 @ 13:37 |
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Microsoft to force Messenger users to upgrade
Microsoft instant-messaging users who aren?t yet running version 8.1 (or higher) of Windows Live Messenger, take note: Your days are numbered.
As reported by LiveSide.net, some time in the next few weeks, Microsoft is going to require all Messenger users to upgrade, in the name of security. Security product manager ?Anand? blogged:
?We will soon configure the service such that any user on Windows XP or later system has to use Windows Live Messenger 8.1. When a user using an older version of Messenger tries to login, the client will help the user with a mandatory upgrade to Messenger 8.1.
?Some of you might feel this inconvenient, but in order to protect you and protect the health of the network we have chosen to take this step.?
Anand cited a security vulnerability affecting MSN Messenger 6.2, 7.0 and 7.5, as well as Windows Live Messenger 8.0 as proof that users would be best served by upgrading. That vulnerability is detailed in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-054, which Microsoft published on September 11.
Messenger users are seemingly none too happy with Microsoft?s decision, as comments posted to the ?Inside Windows Live Messenger? blog indicate. One anonymous poster wondered whether Microsoft would make exceptions for corporate or advanced users:
?(I)s there any option for corporate or advanced users who have other IM security controls in place to continue running version 7.0 on windows XP? 8.1 has many protocol differences from the older clients. Is there any documentation available describing the external websites/ports the 8.1 client requires for access? This has changed quite a bit from the older versions??
Windows Live Messenger 8.1 is the currently available version of Microsoft?s consumer IM client, but select testers also are dabbling with Live Messenger 8.5.
Being a long-time holdout myself (much preferring the streamlined, simple MSN Messenger look and feel to Windows Live Messenger?s more cluttered interface), I, too, wish there was some way to keep the MSN Messenger UI. How about a ?classic? view for Windows Live Messenger, Microsoft?
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=714
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14. September 2007 @ 13:43 |
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Running the numbers on Vista (it's not looking good)
Sep 14, 2007 - 1:35 PM - by Digital Dave
XP is STILL the OS of choice for the Windows crowd.
Sales of boxed copies of Windows Vista continue to significantly trail those of Windows XP during its early days, according to a soon-to-be-released report.
Standalone unit sales of Vista at U.S. retail stores were down 59.7 percent compared with Windows XP, during each product's first six months on store shelves, according to NPD Group. In terms of revenue, sales are also down, but the drop has been less steep, at 41.5 percent. The findings largely mirror the sales pattern NPD saw for Vista during its first week on the market in January.
news.com
Running the numbers on Vista
Over its first six months, the latest Windows version can't hold a candle to XP. But, Office sales rock, according to NPD report.
By Ina Fried
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: September 11, 2007, 12:25 PM PDT
Tell us what you think about this storyTalkBackE-mail this story to a friendE-mailView this story formatted for printingPrint Add to your del.icio.usdel.icio.us Digg this storyDigg this
Sales of boxed copies of Windows Vista continue to significantly trail those of Windows XP during its early days, according to a soon-to-be-released report.
Standalone unit sales of Vista at U.S. retail stores were down 59.7 percent compared with Windows XP, during each product's first six months on store shelves, according to NPD Group. In terms of revenue, sales are also down, but the drop has been less steep, at 41.5 percent. The findings largely mirror the sales pattern NPD saw for Vista during its first week on the market in January.
"It's just not doing well," NPD analyst Chris Swenson said of Vista's performance at retail stores, though he added that most people get their operating system on new PCs, with only a minority of customers purchasing boxed copies. The report, titled "Windows Vista Still Underperforming in U.S. Retail," will be sent to clients Friday.
Microsoft also agreed that an analysis of boxed copy sales is not representative of Vista's momentum, noting the trend of people getting a new operating system with a new PC has further accelerated with Vista.
"While we can't comment on the findings of a report we haven't seen, we continue to be on track in all segments we follow," the company said in a statement to CNET News.com. "As of this summer, more than 60 million licenses have been sold."
Microsoft noted in a regulatory filing that more than 80 percent of its Windows revenue comes from computer makers that install the operating system on new machines, with boxed copies accounting for only a fraction of total sales. And the PC market is far larger than it was five years ago. According to research firm Gartner, roughly 239 million PCs were sold worldwide last year, compared with 128 million in 2001.
In many ways, sales of Vista are tied closely to the rate of PC sales. One of the big variables is how quickly businesses move to adopt Vista. Most businesses are not moving to the operating system in significant numbers yet, though Microsoft has begun to tout a few large deployments from corporations including Infosys, Citigroup, Charter Communications and Continental Airlines.
Ahead of Vista's release, the software maker said that it expected businesses to adopt the new operating system at twice the rate of XP during its first year on the market.
However, many businesses have said they are waiting until Microsoft releases the first update to Vista before considering deployments of the operating system. Microsoft is starting beta testing of its first service pack for Windows Vista, though that update won't be released in final form until next year.
News on the retail front is brighter for Office, which was released to stores the same day as Vista.
Retail sales of Office products from January through June were roughly double those of Office 2003 during its first six months on the market and up 59.6 percent from Office sales for the first six months of last year. (Sales of Office 2003 at retail continued to grow over the life of the product.)
While much of the sales were for the new Office 2007, Swenson said just over 20 percent of all boxed copies of Office were Office for Mac. Swenson credited the large number of people switching to Macs as part of the reason for the spike in Mac Office sales.
"If I buy a new PC I can reuse old Windows software," Swenson said. But, if someone is switching from a PC to a Mac and wants Office, he said, "you have to buy new software."
NPD's data comes from its monthly sales reports of software sold at major retailers including Best Buy, CompUSA, Target and Apple's retail stores. It also includes e-commerce sites such as Amazon.com, Buy.com and BestBuy.com.
As for why Vista sales are down, Swenson said it is probably because of a number of factors. More stringent hardware requirements mean that more buyers who want Vista decide to get a new PC, particularly as computer prices have come down so steeply compared with XP's early days. Also, he said, Microsoft has done less advertising than it did with XP.
"The problem is that there are a lot of complex new features in Vista, and you need to educate consumers about them," Swenson said. "Much like Apple educating the masses about the possibilities of the iPhone, or focusing on a single feature or benefit of the Mac OS in the Mac vs. PC commercials, Microsoft should be educating the masses about the various new features in a heavy rotation of Vista in TV, radio and print ads. But the volume of ads has paled in comparison to the ads run for XP."
Just because boxed Vista sales are down doesn't mean they won't pick up, he added. He noted that XP sales peaked a few years after its 2001 launch.
"My hypothesis as to why is that there were a lot of people that bought PCs running 2000 or ME before the XP launch, and thus when they decided to upgrade they opted for the XP upgrade awhile after their initial purchase," Swenson said. "There is a possibility that we might see a similar trend with Vista."
But given the fact that only relatively new PCs can be upgraded to Vista, and with standalone sales not showing signs of improving, Swenson said, "it's looking less and less likely that this will happen."
http://www.news.com/Running+the+numbers+..._3-6207375.html
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14. September 2007 @ 13:50 |
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AfterDawn Addict
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14. September 2007 @ 13:59 |
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HOT,HOT AND HOT
Quicktime + Firefox + XP = Trouble
Sep 14, 2007 - 9:56 AM - by Digital Dave
It also states this exploit could affect iTunes.
A London security analyst working with the open source group GNUCitizen has discovered a potentially serious exploit that could affect users of the Firefox browser and Apple's QuickTime movie and music player - especially iTunes customers - on Windows XP-based machines. BetaNews tested and verified the severity of the exploit.
betanews.com
Exploit Discovered Impacting QuickTime, Firefox on Windows XP
By Scott M. Fulton, III, BetaNews
September 13, 2007, 12:09 PM
A London security analyst working with the open source group GNUCitizen has discovered a potentially serious exploit that could affect users of the Firefox browser and Apple's QuickTime movie and music player - especially iTunes customers - on Windows XP-based machines. BetaNews tested and verified the severity of the exploit.
As early as one year ago, as Petko D. Petkov wrote yesterday, he discovered that JavaScript code appearing in the <EMBED> tag of an HTML file could launch a new Web browser instance, feeding it any kind of default code that isn't checked before being executed.
Unfortunately, the exploit is so simple in concept that the most general description of how it works may give some clues as to how to try it; but of course, Petkov gives a more complete explanation for the benefit of anyone interested in trying to put a stop to it.
On an XP-based system where Firefox is the default browser, when an <EMBED> tag references a file whose type is handled by QuickTime, it then passes the name of that file to QuickTime in trying to launch it, even if the file doesn't really exist. For the exploit to work, the file should not exist.
In launching QuickTime, the browser then can pass JavaScript code to the plug-in using what are called chrome privileges. This is a privilege class that was created with special elevation in order to allow either the plug-in or third parties to attach code to enable skins or special settings, so that the plug-in appears and behaves according to user's preferences. That code is apparently not checked beforehand, so it's possible to embed JavaScript code within it that creates and launches another instance of Firefox. That instance may then be passed another swatch of JavaScript code, which is also apparently not checked.
It's that code which could conceivably do just about anything, as Petkov demonstrates in a handful of non-malicious experiments posted on GNUCitizen.
BetaNews used portions of Petkov's proof-of-concept code, and also tried our own variations on his theme to test for severity. We discovered on two Windows XP-based systems that the exploit can be made to launch unauthorized code through the code-generated instance of Firefox, in cases where QuickTime handled the file type of the false embedded file in question.
The exploit works only when Firefox is the default browser. It does not work when Internet Explorer 7 is the default browser. However, when Firefox is the default, the exploit does work anyway even if IE7 contains the embedded link. So you could still be seeing an IE7 Web page, click on the link to the false file, have it pull up QuickTime, and watch helplessly as QuickTime instantiates a copy of Firefox, from which the havoc may then take place. If IE7 is the default browser, we discovered, QuickTime will instantiate a new IE7 window, but it will not execute the second swatch of embedded code. This is on XP systems with the latest Microsoft security updates for Windows and IE7.
Also, the exploit does not work when Windows Media Player is the handler for the false file, whether the embedded link is viewed through Firefox or IE7.
In BetaNews tests of the exploit in Windows Vista, the exploit failed even when Firefox was set to be the default browser. In all cases, Vista generated an error message saying it could not locate the element in question, and then revealed the content of that element - the potentially malicious code.
This is far from the first exploit discovered involving the triggering of malicious code from Firefox by means of unchallenged chrome privileges given to a plug-in. BetaNews found examples of other exploits in US-CERT's database of past warnings, including this item from 2005.
One member of GNUCitizen reports a test of the exploit being successful in Mac OS X, where Firefox and not Safari is set as the default browser.
Late yesterday, Mozilla acknowledged the severity of the exploit itself, posting a notice on its Security Blog saying, "Petkov provided proof of concept code that may be easily converted into an exploit, so users should consider this a very serious issue."
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 14. September 2007 @ 14:03
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14. September 2007 @ 14:09 |
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Vista Made Easy: 50 Tips And Tricks
Sep 14, 2007 - 7:01 AM - by Digital Dave
Extreme Tech has the list. Some you know... some you don't.
Like driving a new car, adjusting to a new operating system takes time. Discovering new features and functions (so that's how you adjust the steering wheel!) helps to shorten the acclimatization period, letting you turn a mass-market product into one customized for you. Do you prefer bigger, better-looking icons? Is increased security worth a few extra clicks, in your eyes? Would you like to link all your gadgets to the new system the right way?the first time? Then we've got the guide for you.
extremetech.com
Vista Made Easy: 50 Tips And Tricks
Like driving a new car, adjusting to a new operating system takes time. Discovering new features and functions (so that's how you adjust the steering wheel!) helps to shorten the acclimatization period, letting you turn a mass-market product into one customized for you. Do you prefer bigger, better-looking icons? Is increased security worth a few extra clicks, in your eyes? Would you like to link all your gadgets to the new system the right way?the first time? Then we've got the guide for you.
We'll walk you through Vista's many neat features and more than 50 tips on installing Vista optimally, configuring it for you and your family, improving system speed, and turning up its coolness. When we're through, you'll have made the new OS uniquely yours. ? next: Tips 1 through 10
START HERE FOR ALL THE TIPS
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2181865,00.asp
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14. September 2007 @ 14:22 |
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Process Explorer 11.02
Posted by Mihai Asmanow on 14 September 2007 - 21:11 · 1 comment & 159 views
Ever wondered which program has a particular file or directory open? Now you can find out. Process Explorer shows you information about which handles and DLLs processes have opened or loaded. The Process Explorer display consists of two sub-windows. The top window always shows a list of the currently active processes, including the names of their owning accounts, whereas the information displayed in the bottom window depends on the mode that Process Explorer is in: if it is in handle mode you'll see the handles that the process selected in the top window has opened; if Process Explorer is in DLL mode you'll see the DLLs and memory-mapped files that the process has loaded. Process Explorer also has a powerful search capability that will quickly show you which processes have particular handles opened or DLLs loaded. The unique capabilities of Process Explorer make it useful for tracking down DLL-version problems or handle leaks, and provide insight into the way Windows and applications work. Process Explorer works on Windows 9x/Me, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Server 2003, and 64-bit versions of Windows for x64 and IA64 processors, and Windows Vista.
What's new in Version 11.02:
This update fixes bugs in column set and NT 4 TCP/IP tab functionality.
Download: Process Explorer 11.02 freeware
http://download.sysinternals.com/Files/ProcessExplorer.zip
Link: Home Page
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinte...ssexplorer.mspx
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14. September 2007 @ 14:35 |
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Web ad blocking may not be (entirely) legal
Advertising-supported companies have long turned to the courts to squelch products that let consumers block or skip ads: it happened in the famous lawsuit against the VCR in 1979 and again with ReplayTV in 2001.
Tomorrow's legal fight may be over Web browser add-ons that let people avoid advertisements. These add-ons are growing in functionality and popularity, which has led legal experts surveyed this week by CNET News.com to speculate about when the first lawsuit will be filed.
If ad-blockers become so common that they slice away at publishers' revenues, "I absolutely would expect to see litigation in this area," said John Palfrey, executive director of Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.
Firefox's Adblock plug-in is probably the most prominent way to configure Web browsers not to display advertisements. It lets people block ads from individual Web sites such as Doubleclick.net or through configurable directories, like "/banner". Similar plug-ins are available for Opera, Safari and Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau, the lobbying arm for the online ad industry, says it isn't preparing a legal offensive at this point. Mike Zaneis, the organization's vice president of public policy, said he wants to work with software developers and consumers to come up with a middle ground on what he describes as an "issue that is just now ripening."
"We don't want to go down a route that would seem adversarial at all," Zaneis said. "People are free to ignore ads, and they often do that, but when you have a third party blocking those ads, that's the real problem." He said the IAB is "looking at all the options."
Ad-blocking tools have been around for years, of course, albeit not without controversy. Nearly a decade ago, a Web software firm called ClearWay Technologies released a beta version of its AdScreen blocking software to threats of boycott from Macintosh-oriented publishers that feared the product would kill their ad-supported Web sites. The company responded by killing the project. Before that, security firm PGP Corp. discontinued an ad-blocking program called Internet Fast Forward because its creator said he had been threatened with copyright lawsuits for modifying publishers' pages without their permission.
Ad-blocking recently hit the spotlight again when an obscure blogger named Danny Carlton--who expounds fringe political views such as AIDS being a "mythical disease" invented by the U.S. government--banned Firefox users from his Web site. Claiming that Firefox creator Mozilla Corp. has endorsed the Adblock plug-in, Carlton redirected Firefox browsers to Whyfirefoxisblocked.com.
The New York Times wrote about the Whyfirefoxisblocked.com kerfuffle last week, and the CNET Blog Network expanded on the topic from a technical perspective. On Wednesday, Carlton lifted the ban on all Firefox users, saying he found a way to identify only Firefox browsers outfitted with Adblock Plus.
MySpace, LiveJournal: Don't block our ads
Many Web sites prohibit any kind of ad-blocking in their terms of service agreements. MySpace.com prohibits "covering or obscuring the banner advertisements on your personal profile page, or any MySpace.com page via HTML/CSS or any other means." Six Apart's LiveJournal uses similar language, as do some news organizations including the Chicago Sun-Times and Fox TV's Houston affiliate. CNET News.com does not.
Any lawsuit would likely invoke two arguments--that copyright infringements are taking place (through derivative works), and that the Web site's terms of service agreement is being violated.
"From a pure legal point of view, a Web site can do anything it wants, so to speak," said Michael Krieger, an intellectual property and business lawyer with the firm Willenken Wilson Loh & Lieb in Los Angeles. "That's a little overstating it, obviously, but suppose to get into Google, you first have to click 'I agree, I'm not blocking ads.' I think it's perfectly within their rights to do that."
In the past, entertainment companies have threatened commercial-skipping products on the grounds that they violate copyrights. ReplayTV, which sells digital video recorders, eventually dropped in 2003 a feature called Automatic Commercial Advance after facing a lawsuit from major TV networks and movie studios over that and other issues. (A judge dismissed the suit the following year.)
It's not clear whose side the courts would take, if asked. In the famous lawsuit over the VCR from nearly 30 years ago, the movie studios claimed that Betamax users would fast-forward through commercials.
They lost, of course. The 1979 district court opinion estimated that only 25 percent of VCR owners fast-forward through commercials. But it was based on the technology available at the time: what if it was easier and 95 percent of TV viewers did it? (The judge said: "To avoid commercials during playback, the viewer must fast-forward and, for the most part, guess as to when the commercial has passed. For most recordings, either practice may be too tedious.")
A more recent hint about legality comes from a 2003 appeals court decision related to a copyright dispute over the file-sharing service Aimster.
In that opinion, 7th Circuit Judge Richard Posner concluded that, based on earlier court rulings, commercial-skipping creates "an unauthorized derivative work, namely a commercial-free copy that would reduce the copyright owner's income from his original program, since 'free' television programs are financed by the purchase of commercials by advertisers." By "derivative work," he was referring to a concept from copyright law that says it's generally unlawful to make a new work out of an existing copyrighted one without permission.
The second argument claims that a Web site's terms of service are a "browsewrap" or "clickwrap" agreement that are legally binding. To apply, the notice must be "conspicuous enough to the visitor, so they they're aware that their visit is governed by these terms," said Cydney Tune, a lawyer who heads copyright practice at law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in San Francisco. (A "clickwrap" license that requires a visitor's agreement to proceed is more likely to be enforceable, however.)
Still, just because a Web site's terms of service prohibits ad-blocking doesn't mean that lawsuits will necessarily ensue. "This is a conversation that comes up a lot," said Anil Dash, chief evangelist for SixApart, which owns LiveJournal. "We're not going to chase (them) down. If a kid wants to install a browser and a plug-in on a browser to control their experience, we're not going to fight them doing that."
"The truth of it is, very, very few people run ad-blocking software," Dash said. "Some of them are very vocal about it, but we do respect that."
A Fox Interactive Media representative declined to comment about MySpace.com's terms of service.
While statistics for ad-blocking tools are hard to come by, an estimated 2.5 million users worldwide currently run Adblock Plus, and an even greater number have downloaded the utility, Adblock Plus lead developer Wladimir Palant said in an e-mail interview. He estimated the product is attracting 300,000 new users each month after an initial spike in adoption attributed to people switching over from Adblock, a related utility with a development path that has diverged.
Palant said he believes Adblock Plus is in "no way illegal" and suggested that suing companies like his "out of business" won't do anyone any good. He added that no one to his knowledge makes money, directly or indirectly, off the software.
In addition, because the source code is publicly available, development would likely continue in another nation with different copyright laws. "The software that I am making is open source, even if I stop working on it--each Adblock Plus user has a copy, and any of them could develop it further," Palant said. "If the advertisers have a problem, they will not be able to solve it in the legal way. As long as people want to block ads, they will be able to do this."
(Publisher's disclosure: CNET Networks, publisher of News.com, is one of hundreds of members of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, which was mentioned in this article.)
http://www.news.com/Web+ad+blocking+may+...html?tag=st.num
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AfterDawn Addict
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14. September 2007 @ 17:54 |
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AfterDawn Addict
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16. September 2007 @ 06:44 |
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Internal Emails of An RIAA Attack Dog Leaked
Posted by Zonk on Saturday September 15, @04:24PM
from the i-believe-this-is-called-comeuppance dept.
Security Communications The Internet
qubezz writes "The company MediaDefender works with the RIAA and MPAA against piracy, setting up fake torrents and trackers and disrupting p2p traffic. Previously, the TorrentFreak site accused them of setting up a fake internet video download site designed to catch and bust users. MediaDefender denied the entrapment charges. Now 700MB of MediaDefender's internal emails from the last 6 months have been leaked onto BitTorrent trackers. The emails detail their entire plan, including how they intended to distance themselves from the fake company they set up and future strategies. Other pieces of company information were included in the emails such as logins and passwords, wage negotiations, and numerous other aspect of their internal business."
The Biggest Ever BitTorrent Leak: MediaDefender Internal Emails Go Public
When TorrentFreak reported that Media Defender (MD) was behind the video site MiiVi, they cast doubt on us. Now, in what is surely the biggest BitTorrent leak ever, nearly 700mb of MD?s emails have gone public. When MD?s Randy Saaf found out we rumbled MiiVi he said, ?This is really f@@ked.? This is too, but much more so.
When we reported in July that an Anti-Piracy Gang Launches their own Video Download Site to Trap People and that the company was called Media Defender and, as anyone who aims to be a credible news resource would, we checked and double checked our sources. We said, with some confidence:
Media Defender, a notorious anti piracy gang working for the MPAA, RIAA and several independent media production companies, just launched their very own video upload service called ?miivi.com?. The sole purpose of the site is to trap people into uploading copyrighted material, and bust them for doing so.
However, in comments made to Ars technica, Media Defender?s Randy Saaf chose to rubbish our claims, calling it an ?accidentally un-secured internal project?.
From the emails we cannot be sure that it?s an entrapment site or that it is related to the MPAA (perhaps it?s a legit a P2P video client?), but it does look suspicious.
Unfortunately for Media Defender - a company dedicated to mitigating the effects of internet leaks - they can do nothing about being the subject of the biggest BitTorrent leak of all time. Over 700mb of their own internal emails, dating back over 6 months have been leaked to the internet in what will be a devastating blow to the company. Many are very recent, having September 2007 dates and the majority involve the most senior people in the company. Apparently this is not the first time that a MediaDefender email leaked onto the Internet.
According to the .nfo file posted with the Mbox file the emails were obtained by a group called ?MediaDefender-Defenders?. It states: ?By releasing these emails we hope to secure the privacy and personal integrity of all peer-to-peer users. The emails contains information about the various tactics and technical solutions for tracking p2p users, and disrupt p2p services,? and ?A special thanks to Jay Maris, for circumventing there entire email-security by forwarding all your emails to your gmail account?
Note: The mbox formatted file is circulating publicly on BitTorrent, completely unedited. However, for publication here we have removed the username and password logins for Media Defender?s servers, and replaced them with asterisks and avoided publishing emails of a personal nature, e.g pay negotiations etc. We believe that the emails are the real deal and all the info posted here serves the public interest.
At first we couldn?t believe that it was real, but after we scanned through the e-mails it became clear that it was indeed the real deal. Hundreds of IPs and logins to their servers, lists of their decoy/entrapment trackers, decoy strategies, the effectiveness of their fake torrents (in many cases with a breakdown of success, title specific), high and low priority sites, .torrent watchlists, information on their monitoring of competitors, pictures of their weekend trips and even the anti-piracy strategy for dealing with The Simpsons Movie leak:
GO HERE TO READ THE TOTAL ARTICLE AND E-MAILS
http://torrentfreak.com/mediadefender-emails-leaked-070915/
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 16. September 2007 @ 06:47
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AfterDawn Addict
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16. September 2007 @ 06:55 |
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Are You Being Cheated by Digital Cable?
Posted by Zonk on Saturday September 15, @11:22PM
from the every-bill dept.
Television Businesses Technology
Lauren Weinstein writes "Even though your cable company may claim that a channel is in a digital tier that you're paying for, they may be sending it to you in analog form, with associated negative effects. Surprise! Are You Being Cheated by Digital Cable? 'You're paying for digital, you should get digital. Outside of the lower video and audio quality that can be present on many analog feeds, third-party devices (like cableCARD TiVos) which could otherwise record a digital signal directly, will be forced to re-digitize an analog signal, with inevitable quality loss in the process. But how to know for sure if a channel is digital or analog as received?'"
September 15, 2007
Are You Being Cheated by Digital Cable?
Greetings. If you pay for digital cable television tiers, is the service as "digital" as it's supposed to be? Don't be too sure. As it turns out, cable companies can easily cut corners and "cheat" on some aspects of digital tiers in many cases, and you may be none the wiser -- but still negatively affected.
I'm not talking about the perennial controversies regarding the bandwidth cable companies provide on digital channels, vs. audio and video quality -- that's a story unto itself. Rather, let's talk about how you may be paying for digital channels and actually be receiving analog ones instead.
While there is an increasing trend toward all-digital systems, most cable companies these days still provide a mix of analog and digital channels. For example, a typical channel layout may have analog transmissions from channels 2-99, containing local broadcasts and "basic" cable channels like CNN, History Channel, C-SPAN, and the like. These are all channels that can be received without a cable company "converter" box (these days they are usually far more than simple converters), e.g. by "cable-ready" televisions.
Most other channels are in digital tiers, and require either a cable company box, or a third-party device like a TiVo HD, with installed cableCARDs, to handle available digital channels. (As I've reported previously, "switched video" systems may even prevent cableCARDs from viewing some channels.)
Frequently, some or all of the analog basic cable channels are simulcast in higher quality on digital tiers -- sometimes on completely different channel numbers, other times via "mapping" of digital channels onto what would otherwise be channels numbers in the analog tier under, say, channel 100. In the latter case, a digital subscriber tuning to channel 2 would get the digital version of broadcast channel 2, while an analog subscriber would get the analog rendition of broadcast 2.
In general, most cable companies want you to use their boxes (which of course you have to pay for by the month) rather than third-party equipment like TiVos with cableCARDs (even though you still must usually pay the cable company each month for the cableCARDs).
As implied above, just as cable companies can control the particular channels that you receive, a key aspect of modern digital cable system boxes and cableCARDs is that they have the capability to arbitrarily map channel numbers. That is, you may be tuned to channel 100, but actually be receiving a completely different channel. In fact, it's often possible for different subscribers or various classes of subscribers to have completely different mappings, depending on the particular technology in use.
So a cable firm can decide, for example, that users of their own boxes will get particular channels in digital, and they can also declare that third-party cableCARD device owners receive a completely different lineup of enabled analog and digital channels.
Now we get to the fun part. How can you tell if a channel that you're paying for as part of a digital tier is actually being delivered to you as an analog channel instead, and should you care?
Answering the latter question first, of course you should care! You're paying for digital, you should get digital. Outside of the lower video and audio quality that can be present on many analog feeds, third-party devices (like cableCARD TiVos) which could otherwise record a digital signal directly, will be forced to re-digitize an analog signal, with inevitable quality loss in the process.
But how to know for sure if a channel is digital or analog as received? Without access to the diagnostic pages of cable company boxes, this can be tough. However, some third-party devices will reveal the truth very quickly. I've heard examples of these situations from various areas, but here's a case that I'm dealing with myself right now.
The TiVo HD has easily accessible diagnostic modes which clearly spill all the beans relating to these issues. Here in the West Valley (Los Angeles) system of Time Warner Cable, I can clearly see that, at the moment, virtually all basic cable channels in the digital tiers that have simulcast analog (under channel 100) equivalents, are actually being delivered as analog channels, at least to my cableCARDs.
Example: When I tune to History Channel on channel 212 in a digital tier, the main channel displays all do say 212, but diagnostics tell me that I'm actually tuned to analog channel 39 -- the analog version of History Channel -- explaining the lower quality image and resulting recording issues on the TiVo. This is in fact the case for essentially the entire set of channels that exist in both digital and analog tiers on this system right now.
On the other hand, if I tune to channel 213 (History International) which exists only in a digital tier, it is received in digital form, naturally enough.
Why are so many channels being paid for as digital actually being received as analog? Cable company representatives of course attempt to blame the TiVo or the cableCARDs (they hate dealing with either), but the kind of deterministic channel mapping that is occurring cannot be the result of a failure or breakdown at subscriber equipment -- it has to be programmed that way via the cable company headend.
And whether this situation is the result of purposeful planning or cable company confusion isn't really terribly interesting either. If you're unable to get anyone in authority to admit that such channel switcheroos are going on, and can't get them resolved, you're simply not getting what you're paying for, and (to quote "Plan 9 From Outer Space"): "Somebody's responsible!"
So if it seems like your digital channels just aren't up to snuff, or your TiVo is treating digital channels as if they were analog -- well, you may actually be a victim of a cable company channel shell game, and you might want to let your cable company (and perhaps the FCC if your cable firm plays hard to get) know exactly how you feel about it.
When so-called digital channels are really analog, you're being cheated, plain and simple.
--Lauren--
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000291.html
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AfterDawn Addict
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16. September 2007 @ 10:37 |
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instead of using MSCONFIG,try this
I USE IT FOR ALL MY COMPUTERS..
DO NOT FORGET WIN-2000 DOES NOT HAVE MSCONFIG,USE THIS...
and use this instead
Startup Control Panel
Startup Control Panel is a nifty control panel applet that allows you to easily configure which programs run when your computer starts. It's simple to use and, like all my programs, it's very small and won't burden your system. A valuable tool for system administrators!
Startup Control Panel is compatible with all modern versions of Windows through Windows XP. Windows Vista, after all these years, finally has a very good startup manager built-in; go to Control Panel > Performance Information and Tools, and then click on Manage Startup Programs on the left.
link
http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml
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AfterDawn Addict
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16. September 2007 @ 11:23 |
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RegToy 0.5.4.0
Author: Ky Nam
Date: 2007-09-16
Size: 1.2 Mb
License: Freeware
RegToy is a useful program that was designed for WindowsXP , is used to Tweak WindowsXP , and some utilities like a renamer to change the filenames and a wallpaper changer. With RegToy you can optimize the performance of your computer and customize your system to suit your needs.
Editors Note:: The original language of this program is in Vietnamese, you can select English after you first run the application.
LINK
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4997.html
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AfterDawn Addict
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18. September 2007 @ 11:17 |
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Google Presentation - Google's PowerPoint app goes live
Posted Sep 18th 2007 12:14AM by Jason Clarke
Filed under: Business, Design, News, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Office, Productivity, Web services, Google, Microsoft, Freeware, Social Software, Beta
Google Presentation
Google's long-rumored and eagerly anticipated PowerPoint clone has finally shipped. Although we've only had a chance to have a first look, here are some impressions:
What it does have or do
* Importing PowerPoint files
* Exporting HTML file
* 15 built-in themes
* Text formatting
* Basic image manipulation functionality (adding, resizing)
* Versioning
* Collaboration
* Online presentation sharing
What it doesn't have or do
* Animations of any kind
* Advanced image manipulation
* Advanced text formatting
* Sound
* Video
* Exporting PowerPoint files
Google has done a very good job of making this new Presentation application (based on code from Zenter) fit in with Docs and Spreadsheets. It looks right at home, and the functionality is about what you would expect from another Google App. File versioning and collaboration functions work exactly like they do for Docs and Spreadsheets, which is to say just fine.
Probably the most surprising and yet most obvious feature is the ability to share your presentations online. Simply click "Start presentation", then email the link provided to your audience. A chat box opens to the right of your maximized presentation view, and you can walk through the slides. Although the chat box bears a strong resemblance to Google Chat, no voice functionality appears to be present currently, though it does seem like an obvious direction for them to go.
Presentation File Menu Creating a new presentation is dead simple, and although a lot of the advanced features of PowerPoint are missing, rarely do those features actually contribute to a better presentation. Google has provided everything that you need to get your point across in a matter-of-fact way, and nobody is going to argue with the price.
If there's one feature that's glaringly missing, it's the ability to export your presentation as a .PPT file. While you can import them (with varying levels of accuracy depending on the complexity of the PowerPoint file), the only export option available is to export as a zip file containing HTML pages for your presentation. This is clearly not preferable, but works in a pinch if you need to give someone a copy of your presentation offline.
Interestingly, although it has been reported that Google Apps for Your Domain is a fork of the code for the regular Google Apps that you get with a typical Google account, Presentation is already available in both versions.
Tags: Docs-and-Spreadsheets, Google-Apps, Google-Docs, Google-PowerPoint, Google-Presentation, PowerPoint, Presentation
download
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/09/18/...-app-goes-live/
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AfterDawn Addict
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18. September 2007 @ 11:19 |
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download
Office 2003 Service Pack 3 (SP3)
Brief Description
Office 2003 Service Pack 3 provides the latest updates to Microsoft Office 2003
.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/detai...&displaylang=en
Office 2003 Service Pack 3 (SP3) Download
Sep 18, 2007 - 12:11 PM - by Digital Dave
Now available!
Microsoft® Office 2003 Service Pack 3 (SP3) represents a major evolution in security for Office 2003. It further hardens the Office suite against potential attacks and other security threats. This service pack also includes fixes that have been previously released as separate updates for Office 2003.
Download - Microsoft.com
Description of Office 2003 Service Pack 3
Description of Office 2003 Service Pack 3
On This Page
SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
MORE INFORMATION
Service pack details
Downloadable list of issues that the service pack fixes
List of issues that the service pack fixes
Security bulletins that are associated with the service pack
Previously released updates that the service pack includes
New and updated features
Known issues
Known issues after you install the service pack
Installation details
How to obtain and install Office 2003 Service Pack 3
Office 2003 Service Pack 3 for Multilingual User Interface Pack
Removal information
How to determine whether the service pack is installed
Information for administrators about .msp files
Features for reinstalling specific components for administrators
SUMMARY
Microsoft has released a service pack for Microsoft Office 2003. This article contains information about how to obtain the service pack and about how to obtain a list of issues that are fixed by the service pack. Additionally, this article contains information about the issues that you may experience when you install the service pack and about how to determine whether the service pack is installed.
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INTRODUCTION
Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 3 (SP3) contains security enhancements and stability improvements. Some fixes that are included with Office 2003 SP3 were previously released in separate updates. Office 2003 SP3 combines the previously released fixes into one update.
Back to the top
MORE INFORMATION
Service pack details
Downloadable list of issues that the service pack fixes
A Microsoft Excel workbook is available that contains a list of the Office 2003 post-Service Pack 2 issues that are fixed by Office 2003 SP3.
Note The workbook is in the English language. The workbook will not be translated into any other languages.
The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:
DownloadDownload the Office2003System_SP3Changes.exe package now. (http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/7/c/27cca56a-4181-46e7-a4ae-b656001af4fb/office2003_sp3changes.exe)
Release Date: September 18, 2007
For more information about how to download Microsoft support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
119591 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/119591/) How to obtain Microsoft support files from online services
Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.
List of issues that the service pack fixes
Office 2003 SP3 fixes the issues that are described in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:
938790 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938790/) Issues that are fixed in Excel 2003 by Office 2003 Service Pack 3
938792 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938792/) Issues that are fixed in Office 2003 by Office 2003 Service Pack 3
938802 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938802/) Issues that are fixed in Outlook 2003 by Office 2003 Service Pack 3
938801 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938801/) Issues that are fixed in PowerPoint 2003 by Office 2003 Service Pack 3
938799 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938799/) Issues that are fixed in Word 2003 by Office 2003 Service Pack 3
Security bulletins that are associated with the service pack
Office 2003 SP3 addresses the issues that are described in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles:
922581 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922581/) MS06-062: Vulnerabilities in Office could allow remote code execution
924191 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924191/) MS06-061: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft XML Core Services could allow remote code execution
922968 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922968/) MS06-048: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office could allow remote code execution
917284 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917284/) MS06-038: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office could allow remote code execution
915384 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/915384/) MS06-039: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office filters could allow remote code execution
901190 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/901190/) MS06-009: Vulnerability in the Korean Input Method Editor (IME) could allow elevation of privilege
917285 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917285/) MS06-037: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Excel could allow remote code execution
905413 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/905413/) MS06-012: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office could allow remote code execution
902412 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/902412/) MS06-003: Vulnerability in TNEF decoding in Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange could allow remote code execution
916768 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916768/) MS06-028: Vulnerability in Microsoft PowerPoint could allow remote code execution
910729 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/910729/) MS06-054: Vulnerability in Microsoft Publisher could allow remote code execution
917336 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917336/) MS06-027: Vulnerability in Microsoft Word could allow remote code execution
940965 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940965/) MS07-044: Vulnerability in Microsoft Excel could allow remote code execution
936227 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936227/) MS07-042: Vulnerability in Microsoft XML Core Services could allow remote code execution
Previously released updates that the service pack includes
Office 2003 SP3 includes the following previously released updates:
842532 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/842532/) Description of Office 2003 Service Pack 1
887616 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887616/) Description of Office 2003 Service Pack 2
907417 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907417/) Description of the update for Office 2003: November 8, 2005
892843 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892843/) Description of the security update for Outlook 2003: January 10, 2006
913807 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/913807/) Description of the update for Outlook 2003: March 14, 2006
924424 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924424/) Description of the security update for Office 2003: October 10, 2006
914455 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914455/) Description of the security update for Office 2003, for Project 2003, and for OneNote 2003: July 11, 2006
923097 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923097/) Description of the update for Office 2003: October 10, 2006
923272 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923272/) Description of the security update for Office 2003: October 10, 2006
919029 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919029/) Description of the update for Office 2003: November 14, 2006
894542 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/894542/) Description of the security update for Publisher 2003: September 12, 2006
921566 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921566/) Description of the security update for Office 2003: August 8, 2006
905756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/905756/) Description of the security update for Excel 2003: March 14, 2006
917334 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917334/) Description of the security update for Microsoft Office Word 2003: June 13, 2006
917151 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917151/) Description of the security update for Office 2003: July 11, 2006
918419 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918419/) Description of the security update for Microsoft Office Excel 2003: July 11, 2006
916518 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/916518/) Description of the security update for Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003: June 13, 2006
913571 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/913571/) Description of the updates for Office 2003: March 14, 2006
924886 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924886/) Description of the update for Office 2003: December 12, 2006
905645 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/905645/) Description of the security update for Office 2003: February 14, 2006
920103 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/920103/) Description of the update for InfoPath 2003: August 8, 2006
925251 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925251/) Description of the update for Office 2003: February 13, 2007
936048 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936048/) Description of the security update for Office 2003: August 14, 2007
940602 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940602/) Description of the security update for Excel 2003: August 14, 2007
Microsoft Office 2003 Multilingual User Interface Pack
Office 2003 SP3 also includes updates for the Microsoft Office 2003 Multilingual User Interface Pack. For more information about the earlier updates for the Microsoft Office 2003 Multilingual User Interface Pack that are included in Office 2003 SP3, visit the following Microsoft Web sites:
Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 1 for Multilingual User Interface Pack
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/detai...39-196412223cda (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=f682ab1c-5be8-476d-b439-196412223cda)
Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 2 for Multilingual User Interface Pack
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/detai...&displaylang=en (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=5EFD0266-2C4D-486B-A0DE-099E96AE21A5&displaylang=en)
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New and updated features
After you install Office 2003 SP3, you can use a registry key to enable or to disable the instantiation point of a specific COM category in an Office 2003 program. For more information about this feature, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
938815 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938815/) How to enable or disable the instantiation point of a specific COM category in an Office 2003 Service Pack 3 application
After you install Office 2003 SP3, you can use a registry key to change the number of embedded MIME messages that are processed before a MIME message appears in the message body in Outlook 2003. For more information about this feature, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
938817 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938817/) How to change the number of embedded MIME messages that Outlook 2003 processes before the MIME is dumped to the message body
After you install Office 2003 SP3, you can install add-ins in Microsoft Office Access 2003 on a Windows Vista-based computer. For more information about this feature, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
938809 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938809/) Error message when you try to install an Access 2003 add-in for all users by using the Add-In Manager on a Windows Vista-based computer: "There was an error adding to the registry"
Back to the top
Known issues
Known issues after you install the service pack
After you install a Microsoft Office service pack, you are prompted unexpectedly to restart the computer. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
905726 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/905726/) You are unexpectedly prompted to restart the computer after you install an Office service pack or an Office update
After you install Office 2003 SP3, an add-in, ActiveX control, or COM add-in may not work as expected in an Office 2003 program. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
938814 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938814/) The functionality of an add-in, an ActiveX control, or a COM add-in is reduced, or the functionality is blocked after you install Office 2003 Service Pack 3
After you install Office 2003 SP3, you may receive an error message when you try to create a new MAPI form in Outlook 2003. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
938816 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938816/) Error message when you try to create a new MAPI form in Outlook 2003: "contact the administrator"
After you install Office 2003 SP3, attachments that contain the .gadget extension cannot be opened in Outlook 2003. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
938811 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938811/) Attachments that contain the .gadget extension cannot be opened in Outlook 2003 after you install Office 2003 Service Pack 3
After you install Office 2003 SP3, the Fast Saves feature does not work as expected in Word 2003. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
938808 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938808/) The Fast Saves feature in Word 2003 no longer functions after you install Office 2003 Service Pack 3
After you install Office 2003 SP3, the Microsoft Office Document Imaging program may not work as expected. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
938813 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938813/) You may experience issues when you run the Microsoft Office Document Imaging program after you install Office 2003 Service Pack 3
After you install Office 2003 SP3, you may receive an error message when you try to open or to save a file. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
941636 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941636/) You receive an error message when you try to open a file or to save a file after you install Office 2003 Service Pack 3
After you install Office 2003 SP3, you cannot open some Microsoft Excel workbooks that contain Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
938806 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938806/) You cannot open Microsoft Excel 5.0/95 Workbook files that contain Visual Basic for Applications macros in Excel 2003 after you install Office 2003 Service Pack 3
After you install Office 2003 SP3, the version number of Office is no longer saved in the properties of the document as expected. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
938807 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938807/) Office files that are saved in certain formats no longer contain the version number of Office after you install Office 2003 Service Pack 3
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Installation details
How to obtain and install Office 2003 Service Pack 3
Office 2003 Service Pack 3, together with installation instructions and deployment strategies, is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center. To download this service pack from the Microsoft Download Center, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/detai...D2-5E3C1132F206 (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=E25B7049-3E13-433B-B9D2-5E3C1132F206)
Office 2003 Service Pack 3 for Multilingual User Interface Pack
For complete Office 2003 functionality, install Office 2003 Service Pack 3 for Multilingual User Interface Pack if you use the Microsoft Office 2003 Multilingual User Interface Pack. To download Office 2003 Service Pack 3 for Multilingual User Interface Pack, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/detai...A1-E0F2E717D387 (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=E6386D0D-954B-44A2-B8A1-E0F2E717D387)
Removal information
There is no option to remove this download by using the Add or Remove Programs item in Control Panel. To remove Office 2003 SP3 from the computer, you must remove Office 2003. Then, reinstall Office 2003 from the original Office 2003 CD.
For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
873125 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/873125/) You cannot remove service packs for Office 2003 products
How to determine whether the service pack is installed
The service pack contains files that have the versions that are listed in the following table.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923618
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AfterDawn Addict
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18. September 2007 @ 11:29 |
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Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.7
Author: The Mozilla Organization
Date: 2007-09-18
Size: 5.73 Mb
License: Freeware
Requires: Win All
Mozilla Firefox project (formerly Firebird, which was formerly Phoenix) is a redesign of Mozilla's browser component, written using the XUL user interface language and designed to be cross-platform.
Mozilla Firefox is a small, fast and very easy to use browser that offers many advantages over other web browsers, such as the ability to block pop-up windows and the tabbed browsing.
FireTune for Mozilla Firefox was developed for an easy and fast optimization of your browsing experience with Firefox.
download
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Mozilla_Firefox_d2248.html
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Member
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18. September 2007 @ 11:57 |
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Saw this and thought about you guys
Small tool which disables the default threats of a Windows XP installation. Besides disabling Windows and some of its components to communicate with Microsoft servers, xpy improves privacy settings and your system?s security.
Features:
? Disable Windows ?calling home?
? Disable questionable services
? Disarm Internet Explorer
? Disarm Windows Media Player
? Remove Windows Messenger
? Improve privacy and security
? Improve performance
Though xpy is smaller than 60 kilobytes, it can close serious threats (i.e. DCOM) on long distance, where large service-packs can only protect you until a new security hole has been found.
Check here
Chuck
"Men are slower to recognize blessings than misfortunes." Titus Livius (59BC-17AD)
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AfterDawn Addict
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18. September 2007 @ 14:17 |
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Acronis True Image 10.0 Build 8027
Author: Acronis
http://www.acronis.com/
Date: 2007-09-18
Size: 102 Mb
License: Shareware $49.99
Requires: Win All
Acronis True Image is complete PC backup and restore software for home and home office users that can protect family pictures, videos, music, and important documents stored on your home PC.
Acronis True Image 10.0 provides you two backup options in one solution:
1) The original disk imaging backup option which enables you to create an image of your entire hard disk drive, including the operating system, applications, user settings, and all data. Use the image to restore your PC to a known working state without any reinstallation.
2) A new file-based backup option which enables you to backup and restore individual files and folders, like your My Documents folder or a specific file, like your latest tax return. A wizard walks you through all of the steps.
Acronis True Image 10.0 makes restoring your system even faster with the exclusive new Acronis Snap Restore feature. It also provides several additional enhancements.
Exclusive Acronis Snap Restore ? Lightning-speed restore of your PC from an image. You can start working in seconds while your system is still being restored.
Exclude files ? Save space when creating backups by only backing up the types of files you want to keep.
Differential backup ? Decrease the number of backups you manage. Differential backups capture the changes made since your last full backup.
Expanded Acronis Drive Snapshot technology ? We've expanded the no reboot feature to include backing up specific files and folders. We can even backup system files and open files with no issues. No matter which option you select, you can continue to use your PC during backup.
Windows System Restore management wizard ? If you run Acronis True Image 10.0 regularly this feature in your operating system is redundant. Free up to 10% of your hard disk drive by disabling this default feature in your operating system using Acronis True Image 10.0.
Limitations: Cannot create and restore a disk image when launched from the bootable rescue media. 15-day trial.
link
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download2236.html
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AfterDawn Addict
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18. September 2007 @ 14:23 |
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Floppy Office 3.9
Author: xtort.net
http://www.xtort.net/office-and-productivity/floppy-office/
Date: 2007-09-18
Size: 1.87 Mb
License: Freeware
Requires: Win All
Floppy Office is a collection of small, self contained no-install free office software applications which enable the end use access to every tool, utility and program imaginable for home, business, and student users alike. All of the self-contained, standalone applications require no installation, whatsoever, and for this reason make the perfect companion software package for your USB stick. All one needs to do is to extract all the zip files containing each application to their USB, configure them to their liking, and they are all set.
The applications included in this bundle are: an encryption program, a zip utility, an FTP client, a multiple document interface Rich Text editor, a notepad-style editor, secure file shredder, full POP email client, web server for hosting files via http, a mini tree-style outliner, vector graphics editor, a spreadsheet program compatible with Microsoft Excel, file renaming utility, and a PDF creator. Since these applications are so small, you may be wondering if these are all console applications. The answer is no ? they all have a conventional, intuitive, graphic user interface.
Given the fact that Floppy Office is so small in size, this is definitely a software bundle worth having on your USB, or keeping around for a rainy day. It is the perfect portable office solution for anyone who is on the road a lot, or who finds themselves working on different PCs.
download
Floppy Office 3.9
http://www.xtort.net/office-and-productivity/floppy-office/
link
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download5645.html
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AfterDawn Addict
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18. September 2007 @ 14:55 |
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DVDFab 3.1.9.2 Beta
Dear all,
DVDFab products 3.1.9.2 Beta is out (Sep 18, 2007):
DVDFab Platinum 3.1.9.2 Beta:
http://www.dvdfab.com/DVDFabPlatinum3192Beta.exe
DVDFab Gold 3.1.9.2 Beta:
http://www.dvdfab.com/DVDFabGold3192Beta.exe
DVDFab HD Decrypter 3.1.9.2 Beta:
http://www.dvdfab.com/DVDFabHDDecrypter3192Beta.exe
What's New:
3.1.9.2 Beta (Sep 18, 2007):
- New: Improved "PathPlayer" to handle DVD with BOV (button over video).
- New: Removed unreferenced VTS and PGC for clean DVD structure and better compression.
- New: Program is signed now for security.
- Fix: Endless opening time in certain cases when "PathPlayer" works.
- Fix: Some DVD content may be removed when "PathPlayer" works.
- Fix: "Encoding FPS" info is wrong for "DVD to Mobile".
- Fix: AAC encoding bitrate is wrong for "DVD to Mobile".
- Fix: Audio data is removed in "VOB passthrough" when selecting LPCM stream for "DVD to Mobile".
3.1.9.0 Beta (Sep 14, 2007):
- New: Brand new "PathPlayer" technology which gives DVDFab the ability to copy DVD content only allowed to be played on a real DVD player. In this way, DVDFab will ignore unplayed content which may contain copy protection.
- New: Added support for a new copy protection as found on "Bridge to Terabithia", (R2, German).
- New: Added support for a new copy protection as found on "Curse of the Golden Flower", (R2, UK).
- New: Brand new "DVD to Mobile" framework which gives DVDFab the ability to take the power of dual core (or more cores) CPU. Our test shows the H.264 encoding on dual core system speeds up to 200%.
- New: "DVD to Mobile" feature uses a lot of of open source libraries, like FFmpeg, x264, xvid, liba52, faac, lame, etc. DVDFab is compatible with open source GPL/LGPL license, and thanks for the help of open source community.
How "PathPlayer" works?
"PathPlayer" works like a real DVD player, it follows every play path of a DVD, visits every thing that you can access on DVD player with a remote controller. When "PathPlayer" finishes, we can know all the DVD content that a real DVD player will read. The copy protection exists in the unplayed DVD content, DVDFab will not read it when copying.
Note: "PathPlayer" is a very powerful technology. We have done test with all our discs which means it's very stable now. But it's completely new so if you encounter problem that some DVD content is not copied, please tell us, thanks!
Best Regards,
Fengtao
__________________
DVDFab - The ultimate DVD copying/converting/burning software! Copy any DVD to DVDR/PSP/iPod/etc.
DVD Region+CSS Free - Watch and copy any region code CSS-encrypted DVD on any DVD drive!
http://www.dvdidle.com/
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AfterDawn Addict
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18. September 2007 @ 15:01 |
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AvancePaint 2.1
Author: RGS-Avance Software
http://users.belgacom.net/rgs/
Date: 2007-09-17
Size: 1.89 Mb
License: Freeware
Requires: Win All
A complete paint program designed with a intuitive user interface that makes AvancePaint easy to learn and use.
It?s powerful enough to suit the advanced user and yet simple enough to please the beginner.
Open unlimited number photo's or pictures and unleash your artistic talents as you will discover the advanced and powerful but easy to use graphical options!
A complete set of 20 photo-realistic filters and more then 40 textures are included.
Some of the features:
Easy to use yet powerful
All functions of MS-Paint
Zoom
Powerful color settings
Size
Masks
Draw arrows in one click
Open JPG, JPEG, GIF, BMP, WMF, EMF, DIB, ICO files
Open as many photo's as your memory allows!
Cut/copy/paste between photo's
Darken, lighten, sharpen, soften, blur, replace colors, blend, transparent gif etc...
WYSWYG fonts
Multiple undo's
Borders
Print preview
User definable rounded square corners
Rotate
Many symbols included
Uses only 2Mb diskspace
link
http://www.majorgeeks.com/AvancePaint_d5604.html
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AfterDawn Addict
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18. September 2007 @ 15:08 |
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FreeRIP 3.03
Author: MGShareware
http://www.mgshareware.com/
Date: 2007-09-18
Size: 1.68 Mb
License: Adware
Requires: Win All
FreeRIP is a Windows application that can convert your audio CDs to a number of audio file formats. It also is an audio file converter that can convert from a format to another. Now totally renewed version 3 is available for download. With FreeRIP converting your audio CD collection to digital encoded audio files is a matter of minutes. And the best is that it's FREE!
FreeRIP is a CD ripper, this means that it can record digital audio tracks directly from audio CD to files on your hard drive (this process is known as "ripping"). You can save tracks as CD quality WAV files or encode them to a lossy (MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WMA) or lossless (FLAC) audio format.
Limitations: My Search Browser Toolbar is included. You can uncheck that at installation.
link
http://www.majorgeeks.com/FreeRIP_d5653.html
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AfterDawn Addict
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18. September 2007 @ 19:04 |
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USB 3.0 to Bring 10x Speed Increase in 2008
Intel discusses its plans for USB 3.0 technology
During Patrick Gelsinger's keynote at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) today, Intel made a small announcement regarding a group of companies who are now working together to create a "superspeed personal USB interconnect? with 10 times the speed of the current generation technology of USB 2.0. The USB 3.0 Promoter Group -- which consists of Intel, Hewlett-Packard, NEC Corporation, NXP Semiconductors, Microsoft and Texas Instruments -- looks to make several other major changes.
Along with the 10x speed difference between USB 3.0 and the current generation, the USB 3.0 Promoter Group is taking power consumption and better protocol efficiency into consideration while designing 3.0. USB 3.0 will be able to use the same architecture of wired USB, though no other specific details are yet available.
To help drive home the importance of USB technology, Gelsinger pointed out the usual USB devices everyday users have in their homes and offices: keyboards, mice, speakers, cameras, etc. He also introduced a number of novelty items that are powered by USB including refrigerators and mittens.
"USB 3.0 is the next logical step for the PC's most popular wired connectivity," said Jeff Ravencraft, Intel technology strategist and USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) president. "The digital era requires high-speed performance and reliable connectivity to move the enormous amounts of digital content now present in everyday life. USB 3.0 will meet this challenge while maintaining the ease-of-use experience that users have come to love and expect from any USB technology."
Specific USB 3.0 specifications should be available sometime in the first half of 2008.
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=8940
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