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.

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

Patch Tuesday, February 2014

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It’s the second Tuesday in February 2014, so it’s time to patch your Windows computers. Originally there were only going to be five bulletins this month, but two more were added late. The updates fix security vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, Windows and .NET. Four of the updates are flagged as Critical.

The summary bulletin has all the technical details, and Dustin Childs has posted a friendlier summary over at the MSRC blog.

As usual, a SANS ISC Diary post provides a security-focused interpretation of the month’s updates, with its own recommendations, as well as useful references (CVE identifiers) to the specific vulnerabilities addressed.

Microsoft, Patches and updates, Windows 8.x

Windows 8.1 update 1 news

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Assorted rumours and leaks about the upcoming ‘Patch 1’ for Windows 8.1 are starting to coalesce into a solid picture of the update:

  • It’s likely to be released in April 2014.
  • This will be a free update.
  • It may be available via Windows Update.
  • The update is focused on improving the user interface for keyboard/mouse users:
    • ‘Metro’ window title bars with context menus
    • optional boot to traditional desktop
    • the return of the Start menu
    • search and shutdown options are easier to find
    • ‘Metro’ apps optionally shown in taskbar
    • show taskbar within ‘Metro’ apps

Followup 2014Mar17: Peter Bright over at Ars Technica looked at a leaked version of the upcoming Windows 8.1 update, and posted his observations. Although Microsoft seems to have made progress in reducing the memory requirements of Windows 8.x (allowing it to actually run on many mobile devices), he’s unconvinced that the user interface changes will placate desktop users. Case in point: there’s still no Start menu.

Firefox, Patches and updates, Security

Firefox 27 stealth release

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Another new version of Firefox slid quietly off the production line yesterday. Version 27 improves interactivity with certain social web sites, and fixes a few bugs, including a dozen security vulnerabilities.

As usual, the only announcement of the new version was in the form of a post on the Mozilla Blog, which fails to mention that the post is actually about a new version of Firefox. The official release notes for the new version are as usual a total mess, barely even mentioning the new version identifier.

Adobe, Flash, Patches and updates, Security

Critical security update for Flash

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Yesterday Adobe released a new version of Flash (12.0.0.44) that addresses a critical security vulnerability. There is some evidence that the vulnerability is already being exploited in the wild, so everyone should update their browsers ASAP.

As usual, Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 8.1 will receive the new Flash version via Windows Update, and Chrome will update to the new Flash automatically.