update

Microsoft has finally put the brakes on a feature in Windows XP and Vista designed to automatically run applications (and virus infections) on a USB drive. The feature had been open to abuse by virus creators and was blamed for helping the wide ... spread of the Conficker virus, which wreaked havoc PCs back in January of 2009. Back then, it was estimated 9 million PCs were infected with Conficker, which was first discovered only 3 months prior . Automated Virus Infection as Easy as 1-2-3 The exploit involves two separate technologies: Windows AutoRun, which automatically runs a setup program as ... (view more)

Microsoft has revealed that hackers have attempted to exploit a bug in Microsoft Word. The bug was fixed in a security update last month, but the company is also concerned that some users may not have installed the update. The bug involves the way ... MS Word handles rich text format (.RTF) files. This is a format used for text documents that have a very limited degree of formatting information compared to full-blown MS Word documents. The format is most commonly used as a way of moving documents from one word processor to another without altering the text's formatting. RTF Flaw Causes Memory ... (view more)

STDU Viewer 1.5.597 STDU Viewer is a free graphics file viewer with support for multiple file formats, primarily supporting scientific and technical document formats. The goal of this software is to replace the multiple document viewers with a ... single simple application. STDU Viewer supports TIFF, PDF, DjVu, XPS, JBIG2 document formats. http://stdutility.com K-Lite Codec Pack Update 6.7.0 Build 2010-12-27 This is a cumulative update for the latest version of the K-Lite Codec Packs. K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of video and audio codecs, plus DirectShow filters. Those components are needed ... (view more)

BootRacer 3.0 Final Not sure if your computer's boot time is fast or slow? BootRacer not only provides you with a clocked time, but it gives your computer's boot speed a rating. It's the first step in diagnosing performance issues on your home PC. ... http://www.greatis.com WSUS Offline Update 6.7.1 Using "WSUS Offline Update", you can update any computer running Microsoft Windows and Office quickly and without an Internet connection. Licensed under "GNU GPL", you still may download and use the software from this site for free. http://www.wsusoffline.net This freeware software ... (view more)

Users of Windows 7 64-bit that use AVG Antivirus received a rather unpleasant surprise earlier this week. A recent AVG security update reportedly bricked these systems, presenting users with the infamous Blue Screen of Death (BSoD), thus making ... their PCs virtually unusable. The update was automatically distributed to AVG Antivirus users on Wednesday night. Those who downloaded the update found their systems caught in a repetitive reboot loop. Users of both free and paid versions of the software have been affected. AVG Apologizes for Poisoned Antivirus Update Since the problem was first ... (view more)

Earlier this week we reported that the upcoming Internet Explorer 9 web browser would require Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1). Since that post, it appears that Microsoft's website regarding this issue has been changed. For those who have already ... installed the Internet Explorer 9 Beta Edition, the installation process requires a Windows Update, followed by a restart of the operating system (OS). According to Microsoft's updated FAQ, the single most important reason for announcing the Windows 7 Service Pack 1 requirement was to prevent Internet Explorer 9 installations from requiring a system ... (view more)

K-Lite Codec Pack Update 6.2.6 The K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of DirectShow filters, VFW/ACM codecs, and tools. Codecs and DirectShow filters are needed for encoding and decoding audio and video formats. The K-Lite Codec Pack is designed as a ... user-friendly solution for playing all your audio and movie files. http://www.codecguide.com Windows Error Lookup Tool (WELT) 2.0.5 When a program goes awry, MS Windows often displays error codes in decimal, hex that don't mean a whole lot to an end user. With the Windows Error Lookup Tool (WELT), you can type in an error code and WELT will ... (view more)

A recent security update from antivirus company McAfee has resulted in an estimated "hundreds of thousands" of crashed Windows XP computers. The issue appears to be widespread, causing PCs to crash, freeze, or be stuck in and endless reboot loop, ... thereby rendering the PCs completely unusable. The impact of the malicious update thus far has been staggering. According to the University of Michigan's medical school, almost 1/4 of its PCs (8,000 of 25,000) crashed after the update was applied. The Lexington, Kentucky police force reported shortly afterwards that it had been forced to ... (view more)

Having a rootkit (virus) installed on your PC is a bad thing. That's because by definition, rootkits are specialized malware programs that are stealthy in nature and are near-impossible to detect and remove. In searching for a solution, however, ... it's understandable that infected PC owners would look to a software company like Microsoft to fix a problem affecting its operating system -- in this case, Windows XP. Unfortunately, that's not the case for many users with PCs suffering from the Alureon rootkit virus. Microsoft Update Causes Infected PCs to Crash Alureon, or Win32/Alureon.A, infects ... (view more)

A problematic update for the popular BitDefender antivirus software appears to be causing quite a bit of trouble for users running 64-bit versions of Windows. Rather than save users from infection, the update released this past weekend is actually ... labeling important Windows files as malware threats. "We understand your disappointment, we have solved the problem for many of our users already, and we are continuing to work relentlessly to rectify the problem for all users still affected," a BitDefender spokesperson announced Monday. (Source: techradar.com ) Antivirus Update Forces Users To ... (view more)