Archive for September, 2006
The hard drive is 50 years old
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the advent of the hard drive. PC World has some interesting history. Here’s how it all began:
1956: IBM ships the first hard drive, the RAMAC 305, which holds 5MB of data at $10,000 a megabyte. It is as big as two refrigerators and uses 50 24-inch platters.
Little-known Web sites
In addition to the popular Web sites that everybody knows about, there are large numbers of useful sites that are relatively unknown. The Web is so vast and contains so much information that it is inevitable that much that is valuable gets overlooked. PC Magazine’s Top 99 Undiscovered Web Sites is one place to find [...]
Are anti-virus programs on the way out?
I’ve been saying for some time that the present way that we defend our computers from Internet malware isn’t working. (Also see an article, Do We Need a Paradigm Shift in Anti-Virus and Anti-
Spyware Protection?) Security expert Roger Grimes has an article at InfoWorld where he asks, Is the end of anti-virus finally here?
Personally, I [...]
Dual-Core CPU Buyer’s Guide
Single-core CPUs are no longer sufficient. The new thing is dual-core all the way. If you are considering buying a dual-core processor, there’s a buying guide at InformationWeek
If you’ve been sitting on the fence trying to decide whether to jump into the dual-core market, dither no more. Not only have the prices of dual-core processors [...]
Microsoft Office under attack by crackers
The malware community seems to have turned its attention to Microsoft Office and unpatched vulnerabilities are being reported in increasing numbers. Here are some references:
Word 2000 Flaw Being Used in Attacks
Word 2000 flaw hit with zero-day attack
Third Microsoft Excel Attack Posted
Attackers Exploit PowerPoint Flaw
Note added later: It looks like next week’s “Patch Tuesday” will try [...]
Internet Explorer and standards
The green theme for this blog that I was experimenting with turned out to have a problem with Internet Explorer’s non-standard support of CSS. Sometimes pages would get resolved improperly in IE6 although they looked fine in Firefox. Rather than trying to figure out where the style sheets need to be changed, I will be [...]
Adobe/Macromedia Flash security update needed
Adobe just patched a critical bug in the Macromedia Flash Player. Visiting a site with a malicious Flash file could infect you. Versions 8.0.24 and earlier are at risk.
Go here to download the fix.
A contract only Microsoft can break
At the InfoWorld Gripeline, Ed Foster points out an escape clause in the Microsoft EULA
In plain English, what this paragraph means of course is that Microsoft isn’t responsible for any damages caused by their software. But because the list of things the company is not responsible for includes breach of contract, LinuxAdvocate’s article points out [...]
A really cheap PC
I mean really cheap (shipping is a little high, though). ZDNet reports that Office Depot has a PC for $99 plus shipping.
Office Depot will sell a Hewlett-Packard desktop PC complete with a CRT monitor and printer for $99. The bundle, which typically sells for $429, involves a $100 in-store instant rebate and four mail-in [...]
Are Internet cookies evil?
An article at ZDNet says so, pointing to a recent AOL fiasco. Actually, it’s not all cookies but specifically those that are called “tracking” cookies that are in question. The cookies that store log-in information for sites such as the New York Times or Amazon are not in question. Tracking cookies keep a record of [...]