boot13Anyone running Opera 18 with auto-updates enabled may have found their Speed Dial entries replaced with default entries when Opera updated itself to version 19 in the past day or so. The problem was detected and resolved quickly, but for some users, the damage had already been done.
Monthly Archives: January 2014
Yahoo email accounts compromised
Yahoo announced yesterday that some Yahoo Mail account addresses and passwords were being used in a coordinated attempt to gain access to those accounts. The source of the account information remains unclear, but Yahoo claims that it was not obtained from Yahoo’s services directly.
Yahoo is resetting the passwords of affected accounts and informing the associated account holders.
Since it’s difficult to know, at this point, the full extent of this problem, anyone with a Yahoo Mail account is advised to immediately change its password.
Opera 19 released
The Webkit-based version of Opera is finally starting to look like it may once again distinguish itself from Google Chrome. Version 19 now has a bookmark toolbar; still no bookmark sidebar, but hopefully that’s on the way. The bookmark programming interface has been opened up, so even if Opera developers don’t add a sidebar, someone will.
Chrome version 32.0.1700.102 released
The latest version of Google’s web browser includes fixes for fourteen security vulnerabilities, as well as some other minor user interface bug fixes.
Another wrinkle in the demise of Windows XP support
According to NCR, who make 95% of them, most of their ATMs run on Windows XP. It’s difficult to predict whether the lack of security patches for that O/S after April will make those ATMs more vulnerable. Financial institutions are aware of this, and are planning to either upgrade their ATMs to Windows 7 or pay Microsoft for a support contract that includes patches for Windows XP after April.
How well do popular sites protect your passwords?
According to a recent study by Dashlane, makers of a web-oriented password manager, Apple.com does the best job of protecting your passwords online.
The study ranked one hundred of the most popular web sites on their ability to encourage or require the use of strong passwords, to assist users in selecting strong passwords, and on their policies in relation to storing and displaying or emailing passwords. Microsoft and NewEgg scored highly, and Major League Baseball scored worst.
Windows 8.1 Update 1 coming in March 2014
According to some reports, Microsoft is planning to release the next update for Windows 8 in March this year. It’s being referred to as “Update 1 for Windows 8.1”, which breaks new ground in Microsoft’s ongoing effort to confuse us with version nomenclature. If Windows 8.1 was the equivalent of Windows 8 Service Pack 1, then what’s this new thing? What makes it an ‘update’, while the previous release got its own version number? Both are free updates, so the only real difference is that Windows 8.1 is what you get when you try to buy Windows 8.
Version issues aside, speculation about the changes in Update 1 for Windows 8.1 is rampant. Of note is the rumour that Microsoft will finally relent and bring back the Start menu. The latest is that Microsoft may make it easier to find the controls for shutting down your computer, previously – and inexplicably – hidden in Windows 8 and 8.1. While welcome, it’s difficult to characterize this as progress when the feature was in Windows for decades previously. One step back, one step forward… eventually.
WordPress 3.8.1 released
An update for WordPress was announced yesterday. Version 3.8.1 fixes 31 bugs in 3.8, most of them being minor issues. None of the fixes appear to be related to security vulnerabilities.
If your WordPress site is enabled for automatic updates, it should update itself over the next day or so. If you don’t want to wait, you can install the update manually from the WordPress dashboard.
Windows news roundup
Anyone buying a new HP PC these days will be steered towards Windows 7 instead of the more current – but flawed – Windows 8. It’s not entirely clear what prompted HP to stop selling their computers with Windows 8, but the lack of user acceptance of that O/S clearly played a part. It’s also likely that HP’s support costs have increased markedly for PCs shipped with Windows 8, with common questions being “where the &@*#%$ is my Start Menu” and “how do I find anything in this crappy operating system”.
Meanwhile, it looks like Microsoft might try to turn the tide of Windows 8’s failure by actually bringing back the Start menu in the upcoming Update 1 for Windows 8.1. You may recall that Windows 8.1 saw the return of the Start button, which for some reason was just a button with no useful menu attached, making it basically useless. Will this make a difference to Windows 8.x sales? Maybe. But I’m holding out for Update 2, where – and this is pure speculation, mind you – Microsoft may provide a method for disabling the “Metro” interface altogether.
And the rumours about Windows 9, the next major version of the O/S, are starting to make the rounds. At this point the pattern is clear: every other version of Windows is to be avoided. Perhaps Microsoft has realized this themselves, because Windows 9 is already under development. Code-named “Threshold”, it will supposedly meld the good bits from Windows 7 and 8. Sounds promising. And if the pattern holds, it might actually be a good O/S.
Hard drive reliability test results
Backblaze, a cloud backup provider, recently completed a series of reliability tests on consumer hard drives from Western Digital, Seagate and Hitachi. The big winner was Hitachi, with Seagate drives lagging notably in a distant third place. Having recently replaced two failing Seagate drives in a client’s PC (while a third drive – a Hitachi – continued operating just fine), my own limited observations would seem to confirm Backblaze’s findings.