Microsoft releases fixes for record number of vulns

[bemildred]

Microsoft on Tuesday issued updates that plug a total of 49 security holes in Windows, Internet Explorer, and other software, the largest number of bugs ever to be fixed in a single Redmond Patch Tuesday release.

Microsoft classified six of the 49 vulnerabilities as critical, a severity rating that's generally reserved for bugs that allow adversaries to remotely execute malware on a Windows machine with little or no interaction needed by the user. Several other bugs, however, also make it possible to run code of an attacker's choosing, including flaws in the Windows common control library and the Microsoft foundation class library.

Those flaws carried lesser ratings because they can be exploited only when third-party browsers and file-archiving programs are used. Users who fall into these categories may want to give the vulnerabilities a higher severity rating, Microsoft said. What's more, 35 of the flaws could give attackers the means to run malicious code on victim's machines, antivirus provider Symantec said.

Ten of the vulnerabilities reside in IE, with two of them rated as critical. That gives rise to drive-by attacks in which victims are infected by doing nothing more than visiting a booby-trapped website. The elevated threat applies to IE versions 7 and 8 running on Windows Vista and Windows 7 even though those platforms have been designed to lessen the affect of such exploits.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/12/microsoft_october_2010_patch_tuesday

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Booby trapped, how appropriate. heh. One possible remedy,

[MineralMan]

2. "Good by Windows?"

Might they mean Goodbye Windows? I don't use software that misspells things. It's almost always buggy.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. Linux people are apparently somewhat illiterate, or just one of

them is. People who create wallpaper may be on a par with those who install it.

[Greyhound]

5. You just reminded me to install Ubuntu on this box, thanks.

Back in half an hour...
:rofl:

[Greyhound]

6. Took a few minutes to find my key for the router.

That was refreshingly easy.

[dkofos]

7. Unbuntu is Linux with training wheels.

Debian Linux
the real thing

[Toucano]

10. There's nothing wrong with training wheels. The point is that there are options.

Gone are the "I have no choice" days.

[dkofos]

11. You have to start somewhere.

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

12. Until you need to install something and then the fun goes away.

My wife dual boots into ubuntu to surf and use open office, which is nice. The other day she wanted to install scibus to do some freelance work. I read the install guide and quite frankly didn't feel like wading through 30 mins of arcane repositories and package managers. We grabbed the windows version and she was working 5 mins later.

I'll also add that linux is getting better and I'm rooting for it, but it still doesn't run everything I need and it's still a pain to manage and it's still too fragmented.

[dkofos]

13. All you really had to do is type

apt=get install scribus
or
aptitdue install scribus
or
open Synaptic package manager
search for scribus
mark for installation
install

Not nearly as complicated as you think it is.

[Xithras]

15. Yeah, or run a Java app.

I spent 90 minutes walking a dumbass friend through the process of downloading and setting up Sun Java JRE on his 10.9 box last week. He had to install some software for work, so he asked for the "Linux Version"...which was Java. Turns out it wouldn't run with OpenJDK.

You know you're in for a fun time when your conversation starts with: "First, open a terminal window," and you get back "What's a terminal window?" :argh:

[Renew Deal]

4. Microsoft is supporting more software now than before.

Windows XP, Vista, and 7 all have a good share of users.

IE7 and 8 also do.

There are also three popular versions of Office. 2003, 2007, 2010.

[Toucano]

8. Maybe they shouldn't be.

IE6 is 9 years old and still gets monthly patches.

[ManiacJoe]

9. Msft support usually stops at 10 years.

[Yeshuah Ben Joseph]

14. Why is anybody still using MSIE?

I understand why some folks still need Windows for any number of reasons, even if they aren't running it full time. But there's really no reason to use their crappy swiss cheese browser.