Symantec Corporation has issued a warning regarding a zero-day vulnerability in RealPlayer which makes computers with Windows and Internet Explorer susceptible to exploitation by malicious users. With RealPlayer’s installation comes an Active X control which is where the flaw making the aforementioned exploitation possible exists. This is also why only users of Windows and Internet Explorer are affected by this vulnerability, as third party browsers, such as Opera and Firefox, do not make use of Active X. For more information concerning this vulnerability, please see the proceeding links as they will be updated as more information becomes available.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) Beta (Build 3205) Details Emerge

Shortly after Build 3205 of Service Pack 3 for Windows XP was distributed to tier-one Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista SP1 beta testers, so were its details to the public, details of which have been long awaited by lovers of XP and haters of Vista.

Service packs have traditionally been compilations of all fixes, enhancements, etc., public and private, which came to be after the operating system reached gold status. While this still holds true, a new trend has emerged in which all-new features are included as well. Whether one prefers or dislikes change, Windows XP SP3 will provide it.

According to paypal.com, over 150 million accounts have been registered with the e-commerce business since its coming to be in 1998. The service is used constantly, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week worldwide for a variety of activities, all of which concern the transfer of money and banking. It is not unusual for an entity possessing such a large conglomeration of private information and its users to be found in the crosshairs of malicious individuals with the intent of accomplishing successful identity theft and fraud. Earlier today, a blog post by Mikko of F-Secure brought to attention yet another fraudulent website praying upon PayPal users. The “old skool” site, as Mikko put it, was registered in Copenhagen and hosted in Denmark. All efforts are currently being made to shutdown the site, which is listed on the previously referenced blog post, and track down the perpetrator(s).

It’s no secret that Microsoft is having a hard time not only selling Windows Vista but keeping people using it. For those which find comfort with good old Windows XP and are unable to tolerate Microsoft’s latest Windows installment until its gargantuan sum of bugs have been sorted out, the news that Service Pack 3 is definitely coming and has been distributed to beta testers couldn’t be more welcome. Businesses and individuals still running Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 or earlier Windows operating systems atop hardware safe to consider ancient that don’t believe in using “the latest and greatest” or have the money to purchase new Vista-friendly computers that have been waiting for a tested and proven foundation to upgrade won’t have to wait much longer. Save for the Vista enthusiasts, Windows XP Service Pack 3’s debut, scheduled to occur within the first half of 2008 or shortly thereafter, will be exciting, to say the least.

Several months ago, serious hosting related problems abruptly occurred which resulted in a prolonged period of downtime during which many things were debated and discussed in regards to the future of this website. We came to realize that our old framework was terribly obsolete and troublesome to maintain and thus concluded that since we had to look for a new host, we might as well design a new foundation from the ground up as well. It also seemed most logical to loose all of the old content and start from scratch. This entire process has been a slow and tiresome one since all involved individuals live extremely busy lives. While the return to normalcy may be slow, it is definitely coming. Whatever people liked most about the old framework, our new framework, when completed, will have all that and a bag of chips!