Jeff Rivett has worked with and written about computers since the early 1980s. His first computer was an Apple II+, built by his father and heavily customized. Jeff's writing appeared in Computist Magazine in the 1980s, and he created and sold a game utility (Ultimaker 2, reviewed in the December 1983 Washington Apple Pi Journal) to international markets during the same period. Proceeds from writing, software sales, and contract programming gigs paid his way through university, earning him a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) degree at UWO. Jeff went on to work as a programmer, sysadmin, and manager in various industries. There's more on the About page, and on the Jeff Rivett Consulting site.

All posts by jrivett


Malware, Microsoft, Patches and updates, Security, Windows XP

MSRT will still be updated for Windows XP after April 8

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Microsoft’s Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) checks for and attempts to remove known malware from Windows computers during the Windows Update process.

Previously, it was assumed that MSRT would stop being updated for Windows XP once support for that O/S ends in April. A few weeks ago, Microsoft confirmed that it will continue to update MSRT on Windows XP computers until July 15, 2015.

This is good news for anyone who will still be running XP after April, but it’s important to note that MSRT is not a substitute for a full anti-malware solution, and should not be seen as protection against the flood of malware, targeted at Windows XP computers, expected to appear after April 8.

Firefox

Firefox plugins are being phased out

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Recently, Mozilla announced that they plan to gradually eliminate plugins from Firefox.

Plugins are used in Firefox to allow certain types of content to be embedded in a web page. Common plugins are those for Flash, Adobe Reader (PDFs), Java, Silverlight and Shockwave. According to Mozilla, plugins are often a source of performance and security issues, and they are being made increasingly redundant, given new technologies like HTML5.

It’s important to distinguish between Firefox plugins and Firefox extensions. Extensions provide new functionality to the browser, and include SEO tools, debugging tools, media helpers, interface customizations, and so on. Mozilla has no plans to phase out extensions, only plugins. A post over at ColonelPanic provides additional information about the distinction between plugins and extensions.

For now, the main thing you need to know about plugins in Firefox is that they can now be configured to remain inactive until explicitly activated by the user. I’ve changed all my Firefox plugins to ‘Ask to activate’ and so far it’s working well. It means there’s an extra step whenever I want to display embedded content, but it also means that content doesn’t do anything automatically, and I always know exactly what’s generating that content (Java, Flash, etc.) I highly recommend doing this. From the Firefox menu, select ‘Add-ons’ to configure your plugins.

Firefox, Patches and updates, Security

Firefox 28 released

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There was yet another stealth release of Firefox yesterday. Version 28 was not announced on any of the myriad Mozilla blogs. I only discovered it because of release announcements on CERT and SANS blogs.

According to SANS, at least some of the security fixes in Firefox 28 are the result of successful hacks at the recent Pwn2Own contest. There’s a full list of the security fixes in this version at the top of the ‘Known Vulnerabilities‘ (aka ‘Security Advisories for Firefox’) page for Firefox.

The official release notes page for version 28 shows no improvement over previous release notes pages. But it does list the changes in the latest version, none of which are worthy of note.

Aside: I recently submitted two bugs to the Mozilla bug tracking system for Firefox. Bug #973330 is about the lack of proper announcements for new Firefox versions. Bug #973335 covers the many issues with the release notes pages for Firefox. So far the responses from Mozilla workers have not been encouraging.

Adobe, Flash, Patches and updates, Security

Flash 12.0.0.77 released

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Adobe announced a new version of Flash yesterday. Version 12.0.0.77 fixes two security vulnerabilities flagged by Adobe as Important.

As usual, Google Chrome will update itself with the latest version of Flash, while Internet Explorer 10 and 11 on Windows 8 and 8.1 will receive the latest Flash updates via Windows Update.

You can check the version of Flash currently installed on your computer (or more accurately, in your browser), by visiting the About Adobe Flash page, and you can download the new version from the Player Download Center (warning: this page will install additional software by default; make sure to uncheck any optional software checkboxes).

Internet Explorer, Microsoft, Patches and updates, Security, Windows

Microsoft updates for March 2014

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Yesterday was Patch Tuesday, and Microsoft released five updates for Windows, Internet Explorer, and Silverlight. Two of the updates are flagged as Critical. The official summary bulletin has all the technical details, and a post on the MSRC blog has a less technical breakdown of the updates.

As expected, one of this month’s updates fixes the recently-reported zero-day vulnerability in Internet Explorer.

Internet Explorer, Microsoft, Patches and updates, Security, Windows

Advance notification of March updates from Microsoft

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Patch Tuesday for March 2014 happens on March 11. Microsoft currently plans to publish five new bulletins and associated patches starting at 10am PST on that date. The patches will address vulnerabilities in Windows, Internet Explorer, and Silverlight. Two of the patches are flagged as Critical.

One of the patches will fix the Internet Explorer vulnerability recently reported here.