[MikesWhatsNews] MWN #746 HackFix ~ XP SP2

MikesWhatsNews  20 , 08, 2004
in today's issue #74


          No MWN Next week
        Microsoft Delays Automatic Update Rollout of XP SP2:
2       Toolkit to Temporarily Block Delivery of Windows XP SP2
3       Some Programs May Not Work
4       The Software Patch
5       DocPad 
6       Polar Bear Deli!
7       SetBrowser 1.4
8       CCC    Fifties Web
9               Printing Just Part of A Web Page
10      Blocking Pop-ups with Windows XP SP2
11      XP System Restore Alternate Access To
12      MoveOnBoot 
13      Microsoft Internet Explorer (XPSP2) Drag and Drop Vulnerability
HackFix Updates 
____________________________________________________________

NOTE: Any time you see the "  ++ ",  it means there is more 
          of the article, or story, on the linked site. Mike
____________________________________________________________

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Microsoft Delays Automatic Update Rollout of XP SP2:
www.winnetmag.com/Article/ArticleID/43675/43675.html 
Microsoft has decided to suspend the rollout of Windows XP Service Pack 2
(SP2) via Automatic Updates, in order to provide its corporate customers
with more time to install an SP2 download blocking mechanism, that the
company provided last week.

For this reason, XP Home users will start receiving XP SP2 via Automatic
Updates starting on Thursday, August 18, while XP Professional users will
start receiving the update via Automatic
Updates on Thursday, August 25.

A summary of the altered delivery schedule for Windows XP SP2:
August 6 - Release to manufacturing
August 9 - Release to Microsoft Download Center (full network installation
package); release to MSDN subscription site (CD ISO image)
August 10 - Release to Automatic Update (for machines running pre-release
versions of Windows XP SP2 only)
August 16 - Release to Software Update Services
August 18 - Release to Automatic Update for users running Windows XP Home
Edition only
August 25 - Release to Automatic Update for all Windows XP users including
those running Windows XP Professional Edition; release to Windows Update for
interactive user installations
++ There is more on the web site.
Mikes XPSP2 links http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/XPSP2_links.htm
___________________________________________________________
2
XPSP2BlockerTools
<http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=8BCE6BBA-EA5D-442
5-89C1-C1CB1CCD463C&displaylang=en>
Toolkit to Temporarily Block Delivery of Windows XP SP2 to a PC Through
Automatic Updates and Windows
While recognizing the security benefits of Windows XP SP2, some
organizations have requested the ability to temporarily disable delivery of
this update via Automatic Updates (AU) and Windows Update (WU).
 
Overview
While recognizing the security benefits of Windows XP SP2, some
organizations have requested the ability to temporarily disable delivery of
this update via Automatic Updates (AU) and Windows Update (WU). These
organizations have populations of PCs, upon which they have enabled AU. This
is done to ensure that these PCs receive all critical security updates.
Since SP2 will start to be delivered to PCs running Windows XP or Windows XP
with SP1 via AU starting on August 16, these customers would like to
temporarily block the delivery of SP2 in order to provide additional time
for validation and testing of the update. In response to these requests,
Microsoft is providing this set of tools.  
++
____________________________________________________________
3
Some Programs Seem To Stop Working After You Install Windows XP SP2 

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=842242
After you install Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), some programs
may seem not to work. 
By default, Windows Firewall is enabled and blocks unsolicited connections
to your computer. 
This article discusses how to make an exception and enable a program to run
by adding it to the list of exceptions. This procedure permits the program
to work as it did before the service pack was installed. 
++
From; Microsoft

____________________________________________________________
4
The Software Patch
http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows/index.html
Windows XP/2000/Me/98/Server 2003: patches, service packs & updates 
____________________________________________________________
5
DocPad 
http://www.gammadyne.com/docpad.htm
DocPad is a superior alternative to Notepad. 
Windows 95/98/98SE/NT/2000/ME/XP/2003 
 Although it fills the same role, plain text editing, it has many
advantages:  10-level undo, alphabetization, block indent/unindent,
bookmark, case conversion, encoding conversion, file history, jump to line,
jump to offset, keyboard macros, search and replace, spell checking,
statistics, variable pitch font, and much more.  It also includes a built-in
calculator, calendar, and character map.  
Used internally by Gammadyne Corporation for 4 years, DocPad is now
available to the public for free. 
Thanks to;  Bernie at 
http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/Computer_tricks_and_tips/
____________________________________________________________
6
Polar Bear Deli!
http://www.griffinempire.com/page4.html
Here it is people; the long awaited Polar Bear Deli! 
How many levels can you beat? 
Your name is Poe La Bear, and you live in the coldest region of the Artic
Circle. Winter is approaching fast, and you need all of the food you can get
your hands on. You spent all spring and summer building customized penguin
traps, and now it is time to feed. Use your awesome polar bear scare
tactics, and chase the penguins into their cages. After you have captured
all of the penguins in the area, return to the igloo and catch some sleep. 
Now, polar bears eat a lot of food, so you will have to catch a lot of
penguins to make it through the winter (about 30 stages worth). 
So, do you think you can do it?
 Winter is around the corner, and time is running out. 
Don?t let the polar bear down. He needs your help! 

Thanks to Dave at;
http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/Computer_tricks_and_tips/
____________________________________________________________
7
SetBrowser 1.4 - free
http://www.pc-tools.net/win32/freeware/setbrowser/ 
 Set default Windows web browser
 A very simple program that lets you set the default web browser in Windows.
Select the browser you want, and the program will modify the required
registry settings. Can now also automatically locate the browser. A valuable
tool for anybody who uses more than one web browser on their system (e.g. if
you switch between Netscape Navigator/Communicator, Microsoft Internet
Explorer, Opera and others). 
++
____________________________________________________________
8
'Christy's Computer Corner'
  thanks to Christy;
http://www.1stpick.org

Fifties Web

http://www.fiftiesweb.com/fifties.htm

"A year by year, slightly irreverent look at the Fifties, including prices,
inventions, important people and events ...
'The Day the Music Died' - [the] crash that killed Buddy Holly, including
Coroner's Reports ... 50s and 60s clothing, fads and all those "cool" slang
words ... '50s music history year by year.
... The Fifties Web is Boomer enhanced and therefore guaranteed to have no
small print." - from the website

The content is well researched and offers authentic material, in particular,
photos which capture images of the era. From hairstyles to shoe styles, the
site presents the essentials details of fifties fashion for both men and
women, culled from contemporary magazines and catalogues. The music section
is comprehensive and an excellent reference for finding answers to those
nagging trivia questions, like the name of Richie Valens'
girlfriend. A shorter section on sixties fashion is also included.

~~~~~~~~
9
Printing Just Part of A Web Page

Sometimes you may want to print part of a Web page, but printing the entire
thing can be very distracting and would be a waste of paper. 
Fortunately it's easy to print sections of a Web page with Internet
Explorer. 
To print one frame of a Web page, right-click within the frame and choose
Print from the shortcut menu.
Alternately, you can highlight an area you wish to print, and then
right-click on the selection and choose Print from the shortcut menu.

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____________________________________________________________
10
Blocking Pop-ups with Windows XP SP2
<http://email.microsoft.ca/P/v3/r.asp?r=T1_Url_50&e=51284%3B312842%3B1000
9716%3B3%3B02&a=1006>
The new Pop-up Manager feature in the Windows XP Service Pack 2  release of
Internet Explorer is turned off by default. There are restrictions on the
size and position of pop-up windows, regardless of the Pop-up Manager
setting: Pop-up windows cannot be opened larger than or outside the viewable
desktop area. For more 
information, see "Windows Restrictions" in this document. When this
functionality is enabled, automatic and background pop-up windows are
blocked, but windows that are opened by a user click will still open in the
usual manner. Note that sites in the Trusted Sites and Local Intranet zones
never have their pop-up windows blocked, as they are considered safe. This
can be configured in the Security tab in Internet Options. 
++
Thanks to Microsoft
____________________________________________________________
11
Mike's Friday Tip ~ XP System Restore Alternate Access To

Have you tried System Restore?
Start> Run> type in " Restore"  click "OK" 
Double click on the file "  rstrui.exe  "

or;

Click Start> All Programs> Accessories> System Tools> System Restore. 
Make sure the Restore my computer to an earlier time option is  selected and
click Next. 
Select a Restore Point> pick the most recent date where things worked. 
Click on the  date and click Next. 
Confirm Restore Point Selection page, read the warnings! 
Click Next. 
____________________________________________________________
12
MoveOnBoot 
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/moveonboot.html
MoveOnBoot can get rid of hard to delete files.
"This comes in very handy, if you need to replace or delete files which are
locked by other applications, loaded into memory or cannot be changed until
next system boot."
  ____________________________________________________________

Microsoft Internet Explorer (XPSP2) Drag and Drop Vulnerability
http://secunia.com/advisories/12321/

Secunia Advisory: SA12321    
Release Date: 2004-08-19 

Critical: 
Highly critical 
Impact: System access
 
Software: Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6

 Choose a product and view comprehensive vulnerability statistics and all
Secunia advisories affecting it. 
 
Description: 
http-equiv has discovered a vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer,
which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system.

The vulnerability is caused due to insufficient validation of drag and drop
events issued from the "Internet" zone to local resources. This can be
exploited by a malicious website to e.g. plant an arbitrary executable file
in a user's startup folder, which will get executed the next time Windows
starts up.

http-equiv has posted a PoC (Proof of Concept), which plants a program in
the startup directory when a user drags a program masqueraded as an image.

NOTE: Even though the PoC depends on the user performing a drag and drop
event, it may potentially be rewritten to use a single click as user
interaction instead.

This vulnerability is a variant of an issue discovered by Liu Die Yu.
SA9711

The vulnerability has been confirmed on a fully patched system with Internet
Explorer 6.0 and Microsoft Windows XP SP1/SP2.
 ++
_____________________________________________________________
  HackFix updates, thanks to Christy;
staff@xxxxxxxxxxx
Http://www.hackfix.org
This weeks Virus Pattern Updates (08/19/2004)


All Software listed Alphabetically by Company name as some 
companies manufacture more then one product.


Aladdin Knowledge Systems

Esafe Desktop/Gateway/Enterprise
Last Updated Aug 19/2004
To update your software
Visit: http://www.esafe.com/esafe/downloads/virusig.asp
Or
>From the Esafe folder in your Start Menu select Download Updates
~~~~~

AlWil Software

Avast Antivirus
Last Updated Aug 17/2004
To update your software:
Visit: http://www.avast.com/eng/download/updates/index.html
Or
Right click on the AVAST icon in the system tray, Select iAVS Update, 
AVAST will check for updates and download the appropriate files as needed.
~~~~~

 Authentium Software Systems

Command antivirus
Last Updated Aug 18/2004
To update your software
Visit http://www.authentium.com/support/downloads/index.cfm
~~~~~

Center for Antivirus Technologies (CAT)

Quickheal
Last Updated Aug 19/2004
To update your software
Visit: http://www.quickheal.com/winupg.htm
Or
Open Quickheal select Utility from the top toolbar and liveupdate.  Follow
the 
onscreen prompts.  Alternately you can select Liveupdate directly from the 
QuickHeal program menu on the startmenu.
~~~~~

Frisk Software Systems

Fprot
Last Updated Aug 19/2004
To update your software
Visit: http://www.f-prot.com/download/home_user/
~~~~~

Computer Associates

E-Trust
Last updated Aug 19/2004
To update your software
http://www3.ca.com/support/vicdownload/
Or
>From the Respective folder in your Start Menu select Autodownload

For Vet Anti virus
http://www.vet.com.au/html/software/update.html

Be sure to have your Customer ID and your registered email address 
handy for verification.

**Note**

We knew this time would come eventually, that Computer Associates would 
not continue to support/update the older program 
https://www2.my-etrust.com/services/ipe_support??
~~~~~~


GeCad Software

Rav (Reliable AntiVirus)
Last Updated:  Aug 18/2004
To update your software:
Visit: http://www.ravantivirus.com/pages/dldupdate.php?type=Daily
Or
Open Rav and select Rav Update from the toolbar
~~~~~

Grisoft Inc.

AVG 
Last updated Aug 10/2004
To update your software
Visit: http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php
Or 
Open AVG and click Virus Database to check for updates
Or
Open AVG control centre and click Update Manager/update now

**Note:  To help speed up AVG updates you can set your program to use 
an alternate download site.  
Open AVG control centre->update manager->download from server.  The 
drop downbox should have listed www.grisoft.com (default)  and 
www.grisoft.cz. (be sure to select "apply" when done to save the changes) 
The default site is most often used so can at times become temporarily 
unavailable.  By using the secondary site (www.grisoft.cz) helps to ease 
the server and makes your update go quicker as most don't use it!
~~~~~

H+Bedv

AntiVir
Last updated Aug 19/2004
To update your software
Visit: http://www.free-av.com/antivirus/allinonen.html
Or
Open AntiVir, from the top toolbar select Tools->start internet update and
follow the on screen prompts.


Vexira 
Last updated Aug 19/2004
To update your software
Visit: http://www.centralcommand.com/updates.html
Or
Open Vexira, from the top toolbar select Tools->start internet update and
follow the on screen prompts.

Vexira Antivirus is marketed by Central Command however it is the same
program as Antivir with only a different name.
~~~~~

Kaspersky

Kaspersky Anti-Virus (formerly AVP)
Last updated Aug 13/2004 
To update your software
Visit: http://www.kasperskylabs.com/updates.asp
Or
Open AVP from the top toolbar click Tools-> Update virus definition
Or
>From the Kaspersky folder in your Start Menu select AVP updater


*Note*  Avp now has available a cumulative update and a 
daily update with the daily being any important items they 
feel shouldn't wait till the next cumulative update.  Our 
dates here are based on the most recent Major update.

**Note:  Improved update accessiblity.  To ease the update web traffic
Kaspersky labs has additional servers for autoupdating.  The program
defaults to use one server but can be altered to check a variety of 
servers. Select Kaspersky updater, select update via the internet to 
open the drop down box(es) select "location"  Check the box labeled 
"Use alternate locations from the list"  select next and next to update.  
This option should stay selected after the first time.  This helps 
Kaspersky lighten the load for updates and helps you obtain updates 
easier.
~~~~~

Network Associates

Mcafee 
Last updated Aug 18/2004
To update your software 
For Mcafee Visit
http://www.networkassociates.com/us/downloads/updates/superdat.asp
(for Virus and Engine updates)


Drsolomn (Product no longer available for new users however 
updates still available for current users):  Go to the following 
Internet site: http://download.mcafee.com/updates/4x.asp
IMPORTANT: When you get to this site you may notice that it refers 
to VirusScan. This update is not only for VirusScan. It also works 
with Dr.Solomon's. 

Or
Open your respective software virus scan scheduler, double click 
Auto update, click Run Now to do a manual live update, or click 
Schedule to set up a timed live update.
~~~~~

Norman Data Defence

Norman Virus Control
Last updated Aug 17/2004
To update your software
Visit: http://www.norman.com/downloads.shtml#definition_files_updates
Be sure to have your Valid Username and password handy for verification.
Or
>From the Norman folder in your Start Menu select Internet Update

**Note Norman Virus Control web updates are only for version prior to 
5.0.  Norman 5.0 can only be updated via the update in the program itself.

Thunderbyte Anti Virus
Current Version: This product is no longer being supported.
http://www.norman.com/tbav.shtml
~~~~~

Softwin

BitDefender (Previously known as AVX - AntiVirus eXpert as of Nov 06/01)
Last Updated Aug 19/2004 
To update your software
Visit:
http://www.bitdefender.com/bd/site/downloads.php?menu_id=19&s_id=3
Or
Open BitDefender select Protection Options->live upgrade
Or
>From the BitDefender folder in your Start Menu select Bitdefender Live
         
Press Release on the software change 
http://www.bitdefender.com/press/ref1.php
~~~~~

Sophos

Sophos Anti Virus Last IDE available Aug 19/2004
To obtain the latest IDE files
Visit: http://www.sophos.com/downloads/ide/

**Note:  Sophos does not update as other products do.  They update 
the Engine/software once a month (or so) to include all the previous 
IDE files.  New IDE files are available with new virus threats and must 
be downloaded individually until the next software update is available.  
Our update dates reflect the most recent available IDE file.
~~~~~

Symantec

Nortons AntiVirus
Last updated Aug 18/2004
To update your software
Visit: http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/defs.download.html select 
your language -> product from the list
Or
Open Nortons software and click the "live update" button
Or
>From the Nortons folder in your Start Menu select LiveUpdate - 
Norton Antivirus
~~~~~

Trend Micro

PcCillin 
Last updated Aug 18/2004
To update your software
Visit: http://www.antivirus.com/download/pattern.asp
Be sure to have your Registration number handy for verification
Or
Open PcCillin click Update then click Update Now (or Update later 
to Schedule a timed update)
~~~~~~~~~

If there is an Anti Virus program that is Not listed here that
you would like to see added to the weekly updates list Please
feel free to let us know.

Remember Your anti virus software is only as good as the user...
If you don't keep it updated it won't provide you with maximum
protection.

This weekly Update will be sent every Thursday on or after
6pm (eastern) to keep you up to date on virus pattern updates
available. Virus patterns are checked for most recent update
date as of 6pm Thursdays.

~~~~

~ Hackfix Project Staff
staff@xxxxxxxxxxx
Http://www.hackfix.org

3017 St Clair Ave #176
Burlington, Ontario
L7R 3L7
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Antivirus software is a good choice to scan your system for possible viruses, 
however no virus scanner is 100% effective as manufactures cannot keep up with 
the rapid change of viruses that happens daily.
Be sure to update yours regularly.
http://www.hackfix.org/software/antivirus.html
______________________________________________________________________
Please feel free, to offer constructive criticism, as that will help me keep it 
interesting.
I also welcome any submissions about new products, web pages, or articles of 
interest.

All submissions posted in MWN will be given proper credit.
"MikesWhatsNews" believes in giving credit where credit is due but at times 
deadlines and information that is very important to readers we accidentally 
misspost an item.

If you believe something to be miscredited, or you know the author of one of 
the articles which we have posted as 'unknown', please do let us know so we can 
correct the information where applicable.

Many times in a article you may see a click here for more information, or to go 
to a link, these often will not work, as the original information, was taken 
from a page with HTML links. This is when you will want to go to the webpage 
indicated in the article, ++ ,for 'the rest of the story'
***MfM*** indicates that I am adding my own information to a particular    
article.
                         `~*~*~*~*~*~`
Mike ~It's a good day if I learned something new.
You can read a sample of my newsletter on my web page http://www.mwn.ca
My virus pages ~ http://virusinfo.hackfix.org 
mytech@xxxxxxxxxxx
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