Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on September 18, 2007 by CyberNet.

Mozilla has posted Firefox 2.0.0.7 which is an extremely critical update for all Firefox users out there. There is only one thing that has been fixed, but it’s a QuickTime vulnerability that could compromise Firefox and your computer.

Petko D. Petkov was the person who found the exploit, and says that he discovered it nearly a year ago. At the time he had actually come across two of these vulnerabilities, but only one of them had ever been fixed. Now nearly a year later he took it upon himself to show "how a Low risk issue can be turned into a very easy to perform HIGH risk attack." To sum it up as long as Firefox is set as the default browser it will open the link and execute some code, and in Petkov’s example the Windows Calculator is launched.

Here’s what the Mozilla Security Blog had to say about the issue:

If Firefox is the default browser when a user plays a malicious media file handled by Quicktime, an attacker can use a vulnerability in Quicktime to compromise Firefox or the local machine. This can happen while browsing or by opening a malicious media file directly in Quicktime. So far this is only reproducible on Windows.

Petkov provided proof of concept code that may be easily converted into an exploit, so users should consider this a very serious issue.

According to Petkov this exploit is actually cross-platform, although myself and BetaNews both failed to get it to work on Vista. As of right now this appears to be isolated to the Firefox browser, but QuickTime is installed with iTunes by default which makes the chances of people being exploited much more serious. So all Firefox and QuickTime users are urged to upgrade to the newest Firefox 2.0.0.7:

Note: These download links use Mozilla’s load balancing, which is better than what some sites are doing by linking directly to the executable. The download should be posted on the official Firefox.com domain shortly, but QuickTime users should upgrade as soon as possible.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on November 18, 2007 by CyberNet.

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We recently wrote about the free firewall being offered by PC Tools, and they have yet another free security application for those of you who want all the protection you can get. It’s called ThreatFire, and it runs alongside your existing antivirus software. With it your computer will be more able to detect malware before it has a chance to harm your computer.

PC Magazine put ThreatFire through its paces to see how it stacked up, and to find out how well it could detect the potentially dangerous malware, spyware, rootkits, keyloggers, and more. Here are their results:

After the required reboot at the end of installation, I got out my arsenal of malware samples, including adware, spyware, rootkits, Trojans, and rogue antispyware products … I wasn’t too surprised when [ThreatFire] let all but one of the rogue antispyware samples install and run …

When I compiled all of the malware-blocking test results, [ThreatFire] came out with 8.6 out of 10 possible points. If I omitted the rogue antispyware programs, however, that score zoomed to a perfect 10 out of 10. Tested against the same collection of threats, [Norton AntiBot] scored 7.1, and removing the rogues from the mix brought its score only up to 7.6. In fact, [ThreatFire’s] 8.6 score beats out the 8.1 points garnered by Spy Sweeper 5.2 with AntiVirus, our current Editors’ Choice for signature-based antispyware. That’s pretty impressive.

I did run a separate test using commercial keyloggers … [ThreatFire] detected every single one and successfully blocked almost all of them, scoring 9.5 out of 10. [Norton AntiBot] scored 7.1 against this same collection.

… For a sanity check, I rounded up a dozen-plus PC Magazine utilities that might look suspicious. KeyTick monitors keystrokes the way a keylogger might, BHOcop disables other BHOs, Startup Cop Pro puts itself in the start-up sequence—that sort of thing. Like [Norton AntiBot], [ThreatFire] didn’t make any erroneous accusations. It didn’t throw a single false positive alert on the PC Magazine utilities.

Looking through the stats from the PC Magazine article I have to say that the software looks rather impressive, and the free version of ThreatFire offers everything most users need. If you’re all about computer security this is one app you may want to throw on your system!

Download PC Tools ThreatFire
Thanks for the tip “S”!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on February 15, 2007 by CyberNet.

Tutorial Thursday

The Flip-3D task switching in Windows Vista is probably one of its most notorious features. If you’re not familiar with it then the next time you get your hands on Windows Vista (with Aero enabled) make sure you press the Windows Key + Tab. It brings up a nifty application switcher that is sure to leave people in awe.

As far as productivity goes I would have to say that Flip-3D fails when compared to the Alt-Tab in Windows or the Mac Exposé feature that tiles your open applications. It’s just that in Flip-3D the windows are angled and stacked so close together that it is often hard to find the window you are looking for until it actually becomes the one right in front of your face. In my opinion it is a huge design flaw, but I’m sure there are some people who have mastered it.

For those people who are like me and don’t completely see Flip-3D being a productive solution, you might want to checkout the two (free) pieces of software that I have come across. Setting them up to replace Vista’s Flip-3D is really a piece of cake so I’ll primarily be focusing on the features of the two applications.

Note: Both of these applications require that you are running Vista with Aero enabled.

–My Exposé (Download / Mirror)–

As you can tell by the name, this program is designed to bring the Mac Exposé feature to Windows. I wrote about it a few months back when it was first introduced, and the thing that I like about it is that all of your programs are laid out in an easy-to-find fashion.

Since I last wrote about it I am pleased to say that it has received some nice new features, including a more natural thumbnail placement, tray icon with configuration options, and compatibility with Windows Speech Recognition. The screenshot above is still from the old version that used the grid placement so the “natural placement” is definitely a welcomed change.

Now the developer hasn’t updated the code since November 2006, but don’t let that worry you. He just posted a few days ago saying that he was able to install Vista on his laptop so improvements to the program will be coming soon.

–SmartFlip (Download / Mirror)– 

This is definitely the Flip-3D replacement that I was waiting for. Actually, it is really funny because this is the type of window switching application that I talked about in my Windows Fiji/Vienna post in which I showed a mockup of how it might work…and SmartFlip is right on the money.

It has a carousel-like appearance when shuffling through the open windows, and the window that is currently selected is prominently displayed in the front. By default the program is assigned to the F9 key, but it can always be changed in the Options along with several other features:

After downloading it I decided to give it a go because there was no installation required…I just had to extract and run the provided executable. It is important to note that this program, like the previous one, uses the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) which means it will only work on Vista running Aero.

I have created a mirror of the download so that you don’t have to take the time to register at Neowin (in case you’re not already a member of their forum). If you decide to give it a try yourself these are the shortcuts that you’ll want to know:

• TAB – zoom next window
• Shift-TAB – zoom previous window
• Enter – select zoomed window
• Left click – select window
• Right click – zoom window
• ESC – close SmartFlip and select
• Shift+Right click – show only window created by the same program which created this window

I could try to explain every little detail about the program, but I figured this quick video demonstration by the author would show you just about everything that it can do:

–Overview–

If the Windows Flip-3D doesn’t exactly fit your taste then maybe one of the two applications I listed here will fill the gap. The SmartFlip was brilliantly designed and offers the productivity that I would have expected from Flip-3D. If you’ve got another app that you think is even better please be sure to let us know, or let us know what you would have liked to see in a task switcher.

For the record I should say that Microsoft did enhance the Alt-Tab task switcher in Windows Vista as well. If you have Aero enabled it will show you small thumbnails of all the windows you’re switching between, and I find myself still using Alt-Tab more than anything!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on November 30, 2006 by CyberNet.

From the title of the article you are probably thinking that this is an extension that will add a feature to undo recently closed tabs. There’s no need for that because Firefox 2 already has that built-into the browser. The problem is that the feature isn’t very configurable and there is no easy way to quickly retrieve closed tabs.

The Undo Closed Tabs Button extension does a lot of things that Firefox should do by default. My favorite feature is that it will assign the keyboard shortcut Alt+Z to the undo function so that a quick press of those keys will open up your last closed tab. Firefox already uses the Ctrl+Z shortcut to undo other things which is why this extension uses Alt+Z.

It additionally has several other features that may interest you. For example, instead of having to go to the History Menu in order to get a listing of your “Recently Closed Tabs” this extension will also offer the ability to place a button right on your toolbar. In the options you can then choose how many closed tabs you want Firefox to remember but you probably don’t need to go beyond the default which is 10.

This is far from an extravagant extension but it is undoubtedly a time saver for me. I don’t think I even need to put this one in the “testing for usefulness” category (see the sidebar) because this one will be with me for a long time!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on June 27, 2007 by CyberNet.

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Mozilla just launched Lightning and Sunbird 0.5 for the calendar users out there. This new version comes a long time after 0.3 was released, and I was almost questioning whether the project was still alive. The full list of changes is actually quite long, so here is an abbreviated version:

• A polished user interface in the calendar view. Actually that is an understatement…the interface looks a lot better than it did before. They do things like adjust the font color based upon the background color of the calendar. This can be seen in the screenshot above, wehre I have a dark green background so a white font is used, but when the light orange background is applied the font is black. This increases the readability quite a bit.
• Event invitations can be sent and received via iMIP/iTIP (Lightning only)
• Working hours are back
• Automatic migration of data in Sunbird 0.2, iCal.app, and Evolution
• Much improved printing functionality
• Better integration of Lightning into Mozilla Thunderbird (Printing, Undo/redo, Copy/paste)
• Support for Google Calendar (we have some instructions on how to do this). This doesn’t support every feature in Google Calendar, but it will be good enough for most people. One of the biggest drawbacks is that you can’t sync recurring events.

So how do you know whether it is Sunbird or Lightning that you need? Sunbird is a standalone program while Lightning is an extension to Mozilla’s Thunderbird email client. Here’s some advice that should point you in the right direction:

You may prefer Mozilla Sunbird if…

• you prefer your calendar to be separate from your email client
• you don’t currently use Mozilla Thunderbird for your email
• you don’t like adding add-ons (such as extensions or themes) to your applications

You may prefer Lightning if…

• you send or receive meeting invitations via email
• you already use Mozilla Thunderbird for email
• you customize your applications with add-ons (such as extensions or themes)

In my testing of Sunbird, I have noticed that it can be quite a memory hog, although most of the calendar programs that I use are. It consumes anywhere from 60MB to 140MB of memory, which is what I expect from a Web browser…not a calendar.

Other than that it is a really nice application with a ton of settings that you can configure. One tip that might help you out while using the calendar is that you can collapse the sidebar or top bar by dragging it all the way to the edge of the screen. It will eventually reach the point where it snaps closed, and then it can be opened by dragging it back out from the edge.

Download Lightning or Sunbird
Source: Mozilla Calendar Weblog

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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