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October, 2009:

WordPress 2.8.5 Hardening Release

Oct 21st, 2009
by David.
1 comment

WordPress.org has today released a “hardening release” of their popular CMS. This brings the WordPress version to 2.8.5.

All WordPress users are advised to immediately update their sites to the new version. As long as you have version 2.7 or higher, updating now only takes seconds as it can easily be done within the WordPress dashboard.

The new version doesn’t appear to bring any new features, only security related changes. The release article states that:

The headline changes in this release are:

  • A fix for the Trackback Denial-of-Service attack that is currently being seen.
  • Removal of areas within the code where php code in variables was evaluated.
  • Switched the file upload functionality to be whitelisted for all users including Admins.
  • Retiring of the two importers of Tag data from old plugins.

Here is the link to the full release article:

http://wordpress.org/development/2009/10/wordpress-2-8-5-hardening-release/

Microsoft Security Updates For October 2009

Oct 14th, 2009
by David.
No comments yet

Here is the list of security updates that Microsoft released in October 2009.

Please ensure to patch your software as required.

Here are the new security updates:

Latest Security Updates

  • MS09-050 – addresses a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows (KB 975517)
  • MS09-051 – addresses a vulnerability in Windows Media (KB 975682)
  • MS09-052 – addresses a vulnerability in Windows Media (KB 974112)
  • MS09-053 – addresses a vulnerability in Internet Information Services (IIS) (KB 975254)
  • MS09-054 – addresses a vulnerability in Internet Explorer (KB 974455)
  • MS09-055 – addresses a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows (KB 973525)
  • MS09-056 – addresses a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows (KB 974571)
  • MS09-057 – addresses a vulnerability in Indexing Service (KB 969059)
  • MS09-058 – addresses a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows (KB 971486)
  • MS09-059 – addresses a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows (KB 975467)
  • MS09-060 – addresses a vulnerability in Microsoft Office (KB 973965)
  • MS09-061 – addresses a vulnerability in Microsoft .NET (KB 974378)
  • MS09-062 – addresses a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows (KB 957488)

Go to the Microsoft site for further information.

Windows 7 Version Comparison

Oct 5th, 2009
by David.
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If you are considering moving to Windows 7, you’ll need to know which version to move to. There are 3 main version versions you will see, Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate. Really only 2 of those are worth considering, and they are Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional.

On some very low cost computers like entry level laptops and netbooks, you will often see Windows 7 Starter. Best to stay clear of that version.

For a comparison of the features contained in each version, follow this link to the Microsoft Windows 7 comparison page.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-AU/windows7/products/compare

Four applications that were previously bundled with Windows Vista, (Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Calendar and Windows Mail) are not included by default with Windows 7. However, new versions of those products (now called Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Movie Maker, Windows Live Calendar and Windows Live Mail) are available for free download as part of Windows Live Essentials. Windows Live Essentials can be downloaded from http://www.windowslive.com/Desktop