Morning all,
There is a new security threat to all Windows systems that are connected to the Internet,
I would normally not wish to worry you as every day there are new threats but this one does seem to as though it may cause some problems if you are not aware of it
The threat is well described at:
tinyurl.com/8fycv
and here is the official announcement:
tinyurl.com/bmqx8
There is not a lot you can do at the moment ( unless you are IT techy) other than one or two things which will help…setting your Internet explorer
security level to HIGH may help (only if you know what you are doing…
please) …and not open files with a *.wmf extension from any emails
or anywhere else. After this scare is over you will be able to reset your
browser to the old setting…By the way I never use mine in the High
setting so I am not sure what problems it will turn up. If certain “known to
you” sites do not work correctly they can be added to the Trusted sites list
Many of the features of MHF will not work with the setting at high so you
will just have to make up your own mind whether to set it there or just be
careful. if you only ever visit MHF then I am sure you will be OK so no need
to worry!
The rest of the advice on safer browsing to go with this can be found at
tinyurl.com/ccwge
Microsoft are trying to solve the problem as are all the antivirus companies
some of which have released definitions to combat new viruses introduced
using this exploit
…
On the 10th January Microsoft say they will release an update to all current
versions of widows ( not win98 though there is no support for Win 98 now)
I am sure by the morning it will be mainstream news and there will be more
information available but forewarned is best…
So if you do not go to any dodgy website’s and you do not open any
attachment that comes with unsolicited emails and you should be OK.
Click tinyurl.com/9m5bk for the latest news
P.S. Firefox and Opera users are also at risk although it seems the risk is slightly less
Well, despite that the threat has changed a little.
From what I now understand of it you can “accidentally” download a file with a .wmf ending and it then breaks your Windows Picture and Fax Viewer 
I rarely use my XP machines for the net and had a decent amount of security. However, I was unprepared for this recent problem.
I have spent the best part of the day ridding myself of the 9 trojan horses and 2 other viri that had riddled the system. That was just on the laptop! The main XP machine had to be sorted as well, not to mention sorting out the new synchronisation failures on my PDA
castlecops.com/a6445-WMF_Exploit_FAQ.html Is a good read, and there is now a windows update. I have run this.
I have a friend visiting tomorrow with the same problem on his machine, er, today, er, this morning in daylight 
So I’ll have a chance to fix it then…
Hopefully we can move on from this, but for me it means I’m moving more over to Linux for web usage due to its inherently secure system. Oh, and I like Konqueror 
It could have been a lot worse
do you know what threat this poses to my apple running safari as its web browser i havent had a problem yet but dont want 1
dangermouse:
do you know what threat this poses to my apple running safari as its web browser i havent had a problem yet but dont want 1
Key words here are “Apple Operating System”
Hi, Follow the link to the official update from Microsoft.
microsoft.com/technet/securi … 6-001.mspx
Regards
Andy Banwell
Yes, um, already had the update from the links I posted… 
Sorry
Didn’t mean to rain on your bonfire But I could not see a URL which I trusted and as there are so many fake websites out there which look identical to the official sites I thought I would post the official Microsoft URL.
Sorry once again.
Regards
Andy Banwell MCSE, MCP, MCP+I, CCA, CCNA, Solaris 10 Admin, CIW
The Castlecops site is not a microsoft lookalike. It s a site that has information about the bug, how it happens, why it happens and links to microsoft to get the bug sorted.
I did actually check this site out with others before posting it here, specifically computer IT security professionals.
However, if you prefer the big names I’d suggest Sophos Anti Virus… Much better than Norton Anti Virus or anything Symantec… (www.sophos.com). 
smeserver
There’s nothing to stop you continuing to use Firefox with Linux,
Haulin-■■■
Andy Banwell MCSE, MCP, MCP+I, CCA, CCNA, Solaris 10 Admin, CIW
Class 
Well I agree with you on Norton and Symantec… I wouldn’t let that crap any where near my servers. Personally I use Mcfee Virusscan 8.0.i Enterprise…seems to proctect well enough.
Once again I appologise for posting a link to the “Big Boyz” and I never said the castlecops site was a copy. I thought we were all allowed our personal preference and choice…so I gave an alternative that someone without computer knowledge might recognise straight off.
As this has caused somwhat of a problem…In future I will refrain from giving anybody the benifit of my IT skills and therefore avoid your wrath 
Regards
Andy Banwell
hollywood:
smeserver
There’s nothing to stop you continuing to use Firefox with Linux
I am already. However, I still have XP machines for syncing with USB and memory cards, as well as the host of mapping software that I use. Winamp to a 5.1 speaker system is probably just an overkill of its use
I rarely use XP for the internet, however, when other machines are busy or it is for getting updates to be transfered to camera/pda/photography/mapping stuff then obviously it is easier using that machine.
I will continue to Mandrake 2006 on this machine and for 95 percent of my webtraffic. I prefer Konqueror to Mozilla though
Haulin-■■■:
As this has caused somwhat of a problem…In future I will refrain from giving anybody the benifit of my IT skills and therefore avoid your wrath
Regards
Andy Banwell
Oh good heavens man! Don’t be silly! Of course we value your input. Besides, with all those letters after your name you’re probably one of the most qualified in here…
Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer
Microsoft Certified Professional
Cisco Certified Network Associate
Citrix Certified Administrator
Certified Internet Web Professional
Eitherway, you are qualified to know a lot about computers Making you more than welcome here. I’m just a grunt
I was just trying to be helpful 
PS I missed out MCDBA
Truce
Regards
Andy Banwell