Onions and Orchids: Round 2

By Jerry Pournelle

January 17, 2006

(Orchids and Onions: Round 2 :  Page 1 of 1 )

It appears the sky is not falling, and much of the reaction to the WMF vulnerability was a bit over-blown. That does not change the fact that this is potentially one of the most dangerous vulnerabilities Windows has faced: It is in the wild, it can be acquired without the active cooperation of users, and once acquired it can do literally anything including phone home for more payload packages that bypass your firewall and anti-virus programs.

We will probably never know how many computers were turned into zombies by this exploit.

Microsoft now has two patches for this exploit. My advice is that you go read Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-001 and follow the advice, then look for any later material from Microsoft. And keep your anti-virus software up to date. The AV companies are reactive, of course, but they did a good job of reacting to this.

If you installed the "emergency" patch from the Internet Storm Center, you should uninstall it, preferably before installing the Microsoft patch. I say preferably only from logic: I uninstalled it before installing the Microsoft patch on one machine, and after the Microsoft patch on the other, and I see no ill effects on either machine. The uninstaller is in your Control Panel Add/Remove programs.

We seem to have come through this storm with most of us unhurt. Of course we have no idea when the next one will come over the horizon. Microsoft bashers say the sky can fall tomorrow.

Update On Digital Cameras: Kodak EasyShare V750

I got the Kodak EasyShare V750 at the Consumer Electronics Show, and immediately began using it to take pictures without looking at the instructions. There is a complete instruction book in the package and reading through it will show you many features worth knowing about, but right out of the box with no help at all I was able to take publishable pictures. This camera literally fits in a shirt pocket, goes from wide angle to a good telephoto (12X), has a great macro capability that works down to a couple of inches, and is both light weight and rugged so you can take it anywhere.

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