Steve Jobs Hates Lefties
Posted by Brian Gallutia on Jun 25, 2010
In a sinister move (pun intended) by Apple’s Core of Engineers (another pun intended), it would appear that the new Apple iPhone poses a small problem to those that insist on using their left hand on a daily basis: bad reception.
Many media outlets are reporting that the iPhone’s new antenna design is flawed because if the user holds the phone in his/her left hand, the wireless 3G signal strength decreases dramatically.
So what’s a leftie to do? Well, according to Steve Jobs in one of his candid “I’ll say what I want because you’ll still by my stuff anyway” email replies, said (and I quote):
“Avoid holding it this way”
Nice.
XP SP2 Ends July 13
Posted by Brian Gallutia on Jun 23, 2010
Microsoft is officially ending its support of WindowsXP Service Pack 2 on July 13th, and if you’re running Windows XP and not rockin’ SP3 yet, you’re asking for a world of hurt.
In new research spearheaded from IT services vendor Softchoice, companies who choose not to update their SP2 systems to SP3 could..
..create unnecessary security risks as hackers continue to look for vulnerabilities knowing that software updates will no longer be forthcoming from Microsoft
Over the next couple of weeks PCS will be contacting customers to insure that all XP systems are patched with the latest service pack. If you are unsure if you have the latest/greatest service pack for XP, please drop us a line and let PCS get your computing environment up to spec as soon as possible.
Rogue Facebook App
Posted by Brian Gallutia on Jun 17, 2010
Christina Warren over at mashable.com warns us of a rogue Facebook application that has the potential to trick you into handing over your Facebook profile access.
According to the online security firm Sophos:
[The rogue application's video link] redirects users to a Facebook Page that then prompts users to allow an application called “Teacher nearly kills 13 year old boy. SHOCKING!” access their profile information and permission to post on their wall.
As of this writing it is unknown if Facebook has taken it upon themselves to shut down access to this application, but if you are one of the many that has loaded it, remove the app from your profile and double-check your account’s security settings to insure that your profile adheres to the privacy policies that you wish to maintain.
WinXP Dies October 22nd
Posted by Brian Gallutia on Jun 14, 2010
That’s right, you heard us. Microsoft has finally set the date of October 22, 2010 as the day that WindowsXP will no longer be made available to the public or to computer manufacturers.
So far, our customers have had amazing success in using the Windows 7 operating system with their business applications and proprietary software, so we are confident that the “death of XP” won’t be as traumatic as we once thought it would be.
No Fix for Alureon
Posted by Brian Gallutia on Jun 12, 2010
With the better part of my Saturday shot, I decided to throw in the towel on my wife’s infected WindowsXP system. It is unfixable, and the culprit is a little bug called WIN32/Alureon.H.
WIN32/Alureon.H is a rootkit infection that is not detectable by Anti-Virus programs or Malware scanners. The only way that these programs know of a rootkit’s existence is that the rootkit will exhibit “bad behavior.” For my wife, her system would throw the following fits:
- Search results would take her to random sites on the web
- Browser activity would be re-directed after a set period of time (usually every 15 minutes)
- Download and execute other pieces of malware (mostly fake Anti-Virus)
- Advertising pop-ups
As of this writing, my wife’s system is usable except that it will not allow the system to go to Microsoft’s update site to patch the operating system (now or in the future). The scariest part of all this was that earlier today the infection allowed in a piece of malware bent on transmitting my wife’s personal information (bank logins, passwords, etc) to a botnet. Fortunately, this infection was removed within 5 minutes and my wife’s information wasn’t compromised.
Even though PCS has a pretty good track record of removing malware and infections, WIN32/Alureon.H has been declared “unfixable” by Microsoft (at least for now) and the recommended course of action is a wipe and reinstallation of the operating system.
If any of the above symptoms sound familiar to you, please drop us a line and let us help you recover from this nasty little bug.
Office 2010 Available 6/10
Posted by Brian Gallutia on Jun 9, 2010
Microsoft Office 2010 Retail and OEM versions are available for purchase on Thursday, June 6th. Following is a cost outline to assist in budgeting your next Microsoft Office upgrade:
| Description | SKU | Price |
| Office Home and Student 2010 32bit/64bit English US Retail |
101368 | $ 139 |
| Office Home and Business 2010 32bit/64bit English US Retail |
101369 | $ 239 |
| Office Pro 2010 32bit/64bit English US Retail | 101370 | $ 449 |
| O | ||
| Office Home and Student 2010 English PC Attach Key PKC |
101371 | $ 129 |
| Office Home and Business 2010 English PC Attach Key PKC |
101372 | $ 189 |
| Office Pro 2010 English PC Attach Key PKC | 101373 | $ 329 |
| O |
For a complete listing of what products each version contains, please consult this comparison chart.
As always, if you have any questions about which version is right for you, please drop us a line – we’re here to help.
Critical Flash Security Flaw
Posted by Brian Gallutia on Jun 7, 2010
As reported by Topher Kessler at CNET:
Last Friday Adobe released a security bulletin that outlines a vulnerability in their Flash player software for Web browsers, where the plugin could be caused to crash and result in the affected computer being taken control of by an attacker
To read the full article, please click here.
To update the Adobe Flash Player to 10.1 (which is not affected by this exploit), click here.