Patches

Malware Silently Alters Router Settings – Change Your Router Passwords

October 31, 2008 By Terry Stockdale

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Not your password for Windows — you may or may not change that, based on your personal preference (or if at work, based on the requirements of your employer’s network).

I’m talking about changing your passwords on your wireless routers and wired routers.

Whether you use a Linksys router, a DLink router, a Belkin route, or one of the many other brands of routers , whether you use wireless or regular Ethernet connnections with your router, change the password from the default password — now!

In my security articles on routers, I have long recommended that you change the router’s password. Sure, it can’t be accessed from the Internet side of the router, but if you manage to pick up some automated malware or a trojan that gives remote control of your computer to someone else, you may find your router subverted. It may run all of your requests through their system, so they can log and analyze your actions, passwords, etc.

Well, the automated malware that I’ve long predicted has now been found in the wild.

Continue reading Malware Silently Alters Router Settings – Change Your Router Passwords

Filed Under: Anti-spam, Anti-spyware, Anti-Trojan, Anti-virus, Networking, Patches, Security Fixes, Security Issues, Terry's Computer Tips, Vista, Windows XP

More Windows XP SP3 Woes

October 7, 2008 By Terry Stockdale

Reader Tom Linton wrote about is problems that occurred when he installed Windows XP Service Pack 3 shortly after it was released:

Terry,

I made the mistake of not being patient. SP3 had been out about a week and I hadn’t seen very much in the various email newsletters I subscribe to. A few friends had told me they installed SP3 and had no troubles. One even commented that his PC ran noticeably faster after the upgrade. So, I went ahead and upgraded 2 of my 3 PCs. Bad timing!

My primary PC (a Gateway GM5045H) did not appreciate the medicine, my secondary PC (my hand me down to my wife, a DELL Dimension 8200) upgraded with no know problems, and my third PC is to old to run XP.

My Gateway refused to run I.E.7, crashed my Media Center, would not let me connect to the Internet, and generally ran very slow. There may have been other problems I didn’t wait around to find out about. I did research (which I should have done before the SP3 upgrade, but I trusted MS to get this right since it was so long coming) with my wifes PC. The consensus was to uninstall SP3. I did this. My Media Center worked again but I.E.7 refused. I uninstalled I.E.7 back to I.E.6. It seemed to work OK. I upgraded to I.E.7 and it crashed again. Back to I.E.6. I only use I.E. for those pages that will not run properly in Firefox.

My real problem is my personal LAN. All the other PCs can see my main PC but my main PC cannot see them. Network Magic could not resolve the problem. I have searched the Internet and tried several suggestions on various forums. None have restored my ability to see my other PC’s on my LAN. I cannot PING the other PC’s. It is like the SP3 upgrade changed some settings to tighten up LAN security, but I cannot find how to undo them.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Tom,

Tom said that he could not ping the the other computers from his computer. — by name – or by ip address? If you can’t by IP address, then something is blocking them. If you can ping by IP address but not by name, you would know that it’s Windows name resolution that is causing the problem.

I suggested …

Continue reading More Windows XP SP3 Woes

Filed Under: Bug Fixes, Microsoft Updates, Operating System, Patches, Security Fixes, Software, System, Terry's Computer Tips, Windows Updates, Windows XP

Outlook Express Links Don’t Work

December 21, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

I received an interesting question from subscriber Maria. She has been using Firefox, as many people do, including me. In this case, she had just upgraded her Internet Explorer to IE7 and was having problems with Outlook Express.

Maria wrote:

Terry, I currently have Fire Fox and Internet Explorer on my computer. I just added the Internet Explorer as a browser after removing it some time ago. Outlook Express is my default email handler. The problem is that in Outlook Express the links don’t open since I added Internet Explorer. [Tech guy] at [a local computer shop] says that it seams like the two are competing I am hoping that you have some ideas as I have tried a few from a Google search.

Fortunately for Maria, I had seen this problem before and thought I knew the answer.

Continue reading Outlook Express Links Don’t Work

Filed Under: Bug Fixes, Communications, Email, IE, Outlook Express, Patches, Pre-installed Software, Security Fixes, Software, System, Terry's Computer Tips, Usability, Web browsing

Problems with Pre-loaded Software

April 16, 2007 By Terry Stockdale

We’re all used to our computer manufacturers preloading Windows, Windows Media Player, AOL and a couple other dial-up services, anti-virus trials, Microsoft Office trials and a bunch of other stuff.

I usually delete the junk quickly. Whether it’s a trial version of an antivirus I don’t want or a trial of Microsoft Office, I want the software that I pick — and from the vendor of my choice. Those preinstall “deals” often seem to be at list price.

I recently ran into a client’s computer that would not communicate on his network or access the Internet. Guess what?

It was the pre-installed, partially activated Norton Internet Security that was causing the problem. Since it was installed but not activated, it was blocking everything!

Filed Under: Bug Fixes, Patches, Performance Tweaks, Pre-installed Software, Registry repair, Security Fixes, Security Issues, Terry's Computer Tips, Windows XP

Microsoft Windows XP Wireless Security Patch Available – NOT Automatic

December 15, 2006 By Terry Stockdale

InformationWeek pointed out today that Microsoft has posted a Windows XP SP2 wireless security patch to the Microsoft website, but hasn’t made it available via Windows Updates yet. That means that if you’ve done your Windows Updates for December (released Tuesday December 12th), you still don’t have the patch.

The patch is designed to make the Windows XP wireless connection process less vulnerable to attack when you are booting or resuming from hibernation. In particular, it’s designed to help prevent Windows XP from “advertising” which networks to which it wants to connect (which would make an attacker’s attempt easier).
This is especially important when you’re at a public access point like a coffee shop or other public hotspot.

It also “enhances” the Windows XP support for WPA2 encryption (which is only valuable if your network card supports WPA2 encryption).

If you can pass the Genuine Windows test, you can download the patch at Microsoft’s site.

Filed Under: Communications, Patches, Security, Wireless