My Windows 10 testing computer is still on the Windows Insider Preview ‘Fast Ring’, which means it gets the very latest Windows 10 preview builds as soon as they become available.
The test machine was just updated to preview build 14257. This build includes a lot of bug fixes, including one for a nasty app crashing problem related to memory management. The WSClient.dll error dialog box problem has not yet been resolved.
If you use Google’s image management software Picasa, you should start looking into alternatives, because Picasa is headed for the chopping block on March 15. It will continue to work, but it will no longer be supported.
Thanks Google. I love your work, but getting us hooked on something only to yank it away again is getting very annoying.
Two stealth releases this week for Firefox. Version 44.0.1 was released on February 8 to fix a handful of minor bugs. Version 44.0.2 was released yesterday to fix a startup hanging problem and to address one security issue.
Most installations of Firefox will offer to update themselves automatically, but since 44.0.2 includes a security fix, you should check your version and trigger an update if you’re still running an older version.
If you’re wondering where Mozilla hid the ‘About’ box:
Responding to a steady stream of complaints since the launch of Windows 10, Microsoft has finally relented and will now provide useful notes to accompany changes to the operating system.
The Windows 10 update history page shows changes to release versions, starting with the initial release (build 10240.16683) in July, and ending with the most recent release version, 10586.104.
The notes for release 10586.104 show that a serious security flaw related to InPrivate browsing in the Edge browser has now been fixed.
The announcement doesn’t go into much detail, but a total of twenty-eight changes for Chrome 48.0.2564.109 are listed in the full change log.
Thirteen security updates from Microsoft this month address over forty issues in Windows, Internet Explorer, Edge, Office, server software and .NET. Six are flagged as Critical.
In keeping with their recent practise of tagging along with Microsoft, Adobe also just released several updates, most notably for Flash. The latest version of Flash is now 20.0.0.306. As usual, Internet Explorer on Windows 8.1 and 10 and Edge on Windows 10 will get their new Flash via Windows Update, and Chrome will update itself with the latest Flash. The associated security bulletin gets into all the technical details. A total of 22 vulnerabilities are addressed in the new version.
Java 8 Update 73, Java 7 Update 97, and Java 6 Update 113 were announced yesterday by Oracle. The new versions fix a serious vulnerability in the Windows installer for all previous versions of Java.
Although technically you don’t need to install the latest versions of Java if you were already up to date, you should at least make sure that you have uninstalled any older versions of Java on your Windows computers. Also, if you have any previously-downloaded Java installers, you should remove those as well.
And finally, be very careful about where you obtain Java. Always make sure that you’re getting it from Oracle, via the main Java download page or using the Windows Java Control Panel.
A security alert for the new Java versions provides additional information.
Microsoft’s Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) version 5.5 was released on February 2.
EMET is not a substitute for anti-malware software, but it does provide an additional layer of security against typical malware activity. If malware finds its way onto your Windows computer, EMET can prevent it from causing actual damage; by default, it kills the affected process.
EMET is free, and recommended. Unfortunately, when you use EMET, there’s a chance that it will cause problems for legitimate software. A few weeks ago – before EMET 5.5 was released – EMET started reporting problems with my main computer’s Office software, including Outlook and Excel. I was forced to disable some of EMET’s detection settings for those programs. I had hoped that EMET 5.5 would resolve these issues, but it did not.
Still, EMET can be a useful addition to your security toolkit, if you’re willing to put up with the occasional glitch.
As expected, Microsoft recently changed the status of the Windows 10 update for Windows 7 and 8.1 computers, from ‘optional’ to ‘recommended’. If your PC’s Windows Update settings are configured to automatically install recommended updates, Windows 10 will be downloaded, silently consuming multiple gigabytes of bandwidth and hard drive space.
Thankfully, the Windows 10 upgrade won’t actually be installed without your consent; users will be given a chance to skip or reschedule the upgrade. You can also avoid the update completely by making some changes to the Windows registry, or by using the excellent GWX Control Panel.
WordPress continues to be a favourite target for people engaged in malicious activity on the web. A WordPress site that isn’t kept up to date with security patches is almost guaranteed to be compromised in some way.
There’s been a recent surge in the number of hacked WordPress sites, many of of which are infecting visitors with ransomware. If you haven’t bothered to install security updates on your computer, simply visiting a compromised site can infect it. And ransomware is not something you want to mess with.
Please, make life more difficult for the people spreading malware and compromising web sites: keep your WordPress sites, operating system, and software patched.
boot13