piaqt

The Register30 June 2002 Updated: 09:50 GMT http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/25956.html MS security patch EULA gives Billg admin privileges on your box By Thomas C Greene in Washington Posted: 30/06/2002 at 05:56 GMT If you caught our recent coverage of the Windows Media Player trio of security holes you may have followed a link to the TechNet download site for a patch, or you might have activated Windows Update. If you did the former (though, oddly, not if you did the latter), you would have been confronted with an End User License Agreement (EULA) stating, most ominously, that: "You agree that in order to protect the integrity of content and software protected by digital rights management ('Secure Content'), Microsoft may provide security related updates to the OS Components that will be automatically downloaded onto your computer. These security related updates may disable your ability to copy and/or play Secure Content and use other software on your computer. If we provide such a security update, we will use reasonable efforts to post notices on a web site explaining the update." "Reasonable efforts to post notices" somewhere on the Web. I think it's clear from the wording that MS has absolutely no intention of bringing this behavior to our attention. Instead, Microsoft has just assumed the right to attack your computer and surreptitiously install code of its choosing. You will not be warned; you will not be offered an opportunity examine the download or refuse it. MS will simply connect remotely and install what it will, or install it secretly when you contact them. This means MS will have administrator privileges on your personal computer. What they feed you may be infected with viruses; it may break your applications, corrupt data files, destroy weeks or months or even years of work, but you'll have no recourse if it does. By downloading this WMP critical security patch, which you must do to operate WMP safely, you'll agree to give Billg deed and title to your personal property and to leave Microsoft immune from legal retaliation if they damage your machine. The pusillanimity of wrapping what amounts to a digital land-grant into a needed, critical security patch is matched only by the arrogance of assuming that Windows is now such a fundamental linchpin of a human life worth living that no retaliation in the courts or at the retail counters is conceivable. (And that's not to mention 'informal' retaliation by outraged IP warriors, which we fully expect to see.) We've heard the Billg rubbish about Trustworthy Computing until we're sick to death of the trivial incantation. Ironically, Microsoft has just taken steps to make the Internet immensely more untrustworthy than it already is. When we know that arbitrary code will be secretely installed on our connected boxes by software vendors who are not accountable for the damage they may do, any issue of trust is obliterated. May I suggest my (personally) favorite solution to that problem? ®

babis, a while back, you posted a reg tweak to put a button for msfn on the start panel. Would you post it again, please?

#3 won't work. No $$$! This is all I've got, but if it'll help, it's yours.

Thanks, babis. that link's on its way to Mom.

Good luck to both you and your brother.

then what's the point?

Jealous.

Shameless hucksters.

Now learn how to resize images.

I get this from all pages that list this link.

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS02-032 26 June 2002 Cumulative Patch for Windows Media Player (Q320920) Originally posted: June 26, 2002 Summary Who should read this bulletin: Customers using Microsoft® Windows Media Player 6.4, 7.1 or Windows Media Player for Windows XP. Impact of vulnerability: Three new vulnerabilities, the most serious of which could be used to run code of attacker's choice. Maximum Severity Rating: Critical Recommendation: Customers running affected products should apply the patch immediately. Affected Software: Microsoft Windows Media Player 6.4 Microsoft Windows Media Player 7.1 Microsoft Windows Media Player for Windows XP Technical details: This is a cumulative patch that includes the functionality of all previously released patches for Windows Media Player 6.4, 7.1 and Windows Media Player for Windows XP. In addition, it eliminates three newly discovered vulnerabilities one of which is rated as critical severity, one of which is rated moderate severity, and the last of which is rated low severity. Download locations for this patch Microsoft Windows Media Player 6.4: http://download.microsoft.com/download/win...wm320920_64.exe Microsoft Windows Media Player 7.1: http://download.microsoft.com/download/win...wm320920_71.exe Microsoft Windows Media Player for Windows XP: http://download.microsoft.com/download/win.../wm320920_8.exe

http://www.flash2be.com/tools/ includes swf compressor. (for all those sigs)

A rather confident man walks into a bar and takes a seat next to a very attractive woman. He gives her a quick glance, then casually looks at his watch for a moment. The woman notices this and asks, "Is your date running late?" "No", he replies, "I just bought this state-of-the-art watch and I was just testing it." The intrigued woman says, "A state-of-the-art watch? What's so special about it?" "It uses alpha waves to telepathically talk to me," he explains. "Oh really? What's it telling you now?" she inquires. "Well, it says you're not wearing any panties..." The woman giggles and replies, "Well it must be broken then, because I am wearing panties!" And the man starts tapping on the watch face and says, "**** thing must be an hour fast."

My point exactly -- the boy's delusional.

and yet another Duh point taken

On that note...

Duh.

1. The one in the driver's seat. 2. No it isn't, you're dyslexic.

from http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttop...OpenDocument&~f VeriSign ordered to stop 'deceptive' marketing Internet registrar VeriSign Inc. was ordered by a federal judge to stop engaging in a marketing practice that duped its competitors' customers into switching their business to VeriSign. Yesterday's order stemmed from a lawsuit filed earlier this month against VeriSign by rival Go Daddy Software Inc. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix, alleged that Mountain View, Calif.-based VeriSign had engaged in false and deceptive practices, interfered with customer relationships and misappropriated trade secrets (see story). Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Go Daddy also accused VeriSign, which maintains the central registry of .com, .org and .net Web names, of consumer fraud. According to the court order, VeriSign agreed to stop the practice. However, Christine Jones, Go Daddy's general counsel, said the company was moving forward with the lawsuit to recover damages from VeriSign's past actions. VeriSign spokeswoman Cheryl Regan had no comment on the court order. Jones said the order was important because VeriSign agreed to stop targeting the customers of all its rivals, not just Go Daddy's customers. "This lays out what's OK and what's not OK," Jones said. "It will send a message to the rest of the industry to clean up their advertising act." Go Daddy's lawsuit was triggered by letters that VeriSign sent to Go Daddy's customers marked "Domain Name Expiration Notices." The letters encouraged customers to send $29 to VeriSign to renew each domain name or risk losing those names, Go Daddy said. However, Go Daddy said, the "reply by" dates on those notices didn't correlate with actual domain name expiration dates. By signing and returning the form, Go Daddy's customers inadvertently transferred their business to VeriSign and at a higher price, according to Go Daddy. Go Daddy's charges its customers $8.95 per year per domain name. VeriSign has also been sued by other companies and consumer groups, including Baltimore-based BulkRegister.com, for similar practices. In May, a federal judge in Maryland ordered VeriSign and its bulk-mailing contractors to stop sending mailings to BulkRegister.com customers (see story). The judge ruled that BulkRegister.com had been hurt by the mailings and that the damage would continue if the mailing weren't stopped. Regan said the company is complying with that order. VeriSign is also facing several class-action lawsuits by shareholders who have accused the company of misleading them about its business and financial condition.

Now you've done it.

from Windows XP and 2000 Tips & Tricks UPDATE:

http://www.warp2search.net/sniper/Sniper.html

No, it's not just you. That reply was supposed to be to "Thinking Robot Escapes". Oops. Tris: The "other plane" is a fighter jet. And I'm the pilot. As to Chris...Too much carbon monoxide and gas fumes will do that to you. He's unwell.

WOW!