Tag: Microsoft

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LogMeIn Client for Mac OS X: Problem and Solution

A few weeks ago I wrote about LogMeIn Client support on Mac OS X. It has been working for the past 3 weeks without any problems. During a chat on Leo Laporte’s Radio Show chat, someone mentioned that he was not able to use LogMeIn Client on Mac OS X using Mozilla Firefox 2. I mentioned that I had been accessing LogMeIn Client using Safari and it had been working fine. A few minutes later, he informed me that he’s still having the same problem using Safari. I then found out that I was having the same problem.

The problem:
The remote access screen turns black when connecting to the remote computer.

The solution:
Do not open the remote connection in new window.

I will post a much more comprehensive instructions with some screen captures. Please check back.

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Apple Releases “Security Update 2007-001”

Apple releases “Security Update 2007-001” to address QuickTime 7.1.3 vulnerability.
http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n61798
The update is available for QuickTime 7.1.3 on Mac OS X v10.3.9, Mac OS X Server v10.3.9, Mac OS X v10.4.8, Mac OS X Server v10.4.8, Windows XP/2000.

Security Update 2007-001 (Mac OS X 10.4.8 Universal) – 4.9MB
Security Update 2007-001 (Mac OS X 10.3.9) – 2.4MB

From Apple Support:

Security Update 2007-001 is recommended for all users and improves QuickTime security.

Description: A buffer overflow exists in QuickTime’s handling of RTSP URLs. By enticing a user to access a maliciously-crafted RTSP URL, an attacker can trigger the buffer overflow, which may lead to arbitrary code execution. A QTL file that triggers this issue has been published on the Month of Apple Bugs web site (MOAB-01-01-2007). This update addresses the issue by performing additional validation of RTSP URLs.

The update can be obtained through Apple Software Updates (Mac OS X and Windows XP/2000) or Apple Support Downloads page.

Apple Security Update 2007-001

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/

Continue reading “Apple Releases “Security Update 2007-001””

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Spyware Drive-By on MySpace

A friend of mine was reinstalling one of his Windows machine just for the heck of it. For some reason, “Lord Ahriman” from the band “Dark Funeral” came up in our conversations. Google pointed us to “Lord Ahriman” MySpace page and both of us were looking at the page on our own computers. I was using my PowerBook G4 and he was using Internet Explorer on his newly installed Windows OS.

After a while Internet Explorer quit unexpectedly in the middle of Microsoft Update. Naturally, he restarted the computer. Right after that the Windows started acting weird. The “Start Menu” no longer functional, and we couldn’t go to Mozilla homepage.

Upon a brief inspection, we found a suspicious process named “ntsock.exe” running on his system. It turned out to be a spyware. He quickly downloaded AVG Anti-Spyware and managed to remove the spyware. The “Start Menu” finally worked normally, but the system was still unstable. Upon further inspections, we found yet another suspicious process named “username.exe“. It seems to be another piece of spyware.

We’re not really sure how we got the spywares in the first place. By the process of elimination, we concluded that the spywares were delivered through MySpace. It was a spyware drive-by on MySpace.

Anti-Spywares (free versions) for Windows
Spybot: Search & Destroy – http://spybot.info/
Lavasoft: Ad-Aware Personal Edition SE – http://www.lavasoft.com/
SpywareBlaster – http://spywareblaster.info/
Microsoft Defender – http://www.microsoft.com/defender/
AVG Anti-Spyware Free – http://free.grisoft.com/

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Day of Wrong Moves

January 19th, 2006

A Friday. So many things went wrong.

  1. I lost my tiny flashlight. It’s a tiny one, no wonder I lost it.
  2. I was going to replace cooling systems on a video card. Got the kit, but it’s missing tons of parts.
  3. A power supply with busted fan.
  4. Smokes came out of the same power supply.
  5. Power supply was replaced only to find out the onboard USB controller was shorted out and busted. It could no longer supply power to USB devices.
  6. Wasting a few hours trying to install Windows XP on busted machine; see 3, 4, and 5.
  7. Found out the battery of a 13″ MacBook no longer holding charges. Now I have to go to Apple Store and get it exchanged.

That’s a lot for one day.

Asides from that, I purchased:

  1. Fujitsu MH2120-BH-R 2.5″ 120GB SATA 5400 RPM Hard Drive
  2. Corsair DDR2 1GB PC5300 (667MHz) SO-DIMM (VS1GSDS667D2)
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SlingPlayer for Mac OS X Public Beta2 1.0.1.145 is Available

Previously, I downloaded SlingPlayer for Mac OS X Public Beta2 1.0.1.144 on January 1st 2007 and had a few trouble using it. It required SlingBox firmware upgrade but whenever I launched Slingbox Setup Assistant it always said that it was expired. After a little bit of fiddling around, the SlingPlayer worked without upgrading Slingbox firmware. The Slingbox Setup Assistant still unusable because it’s still expired.

Today I downloaded SlingPlayer for Mac OS X Public Beta2 and the version turned out to be 1.0.1.145. I have yet tried upgrading the Slingbox firmware.

This time I ran the SlingPlayer Uninstaller before installing the latest SlingPlayer. I then launched Slingbox Setup Assistant and it didn’t come up with expiration message. So far, so good. The next thing I need to do next is to upgrade the Slingbox firmware from within the local network.

http://www.slingmedia.com/
http://us.slingmedia.com/object/KB-005161.html
SlingBox Pro @ Amazon
SlingBox AV @ Amazon
SlingBox Tuner @ Amazon

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Windows Vista Business and Ultimate Editions: The Experience Part 2

This is the second part of my ongoing experience with Windows Vista.

Windows Vista Business Key Management Service (KMS) Server

From Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/resources/vol/default.mspx)

Key Management Service
Your organization can host the Key Management Service (KMS) internally to automatically activate computers running Windows Vista. To use the KMS, you must have a minimum of 25 computers running Windows Vista that are connected together. Computers that have been activated through KMS will be required to reactivate by connecting to your organization’s network at least every six months.

Currently the KMS software runs on a local computer running Windows Vista or the Microsoft Windows Server Code Name “Longhorn” operating system. In the future, it will run on the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating system.

For Microsoft Volume Licensing Services (MVLS) customers using Windows Vista Business Edition:

Multiple Activation Key

The Multiple Activation Key (MAK) activates either individual computers or a group of computers by connecting directly to Microsoft servers over the Internet or by telephone. The keys can be used a limited number of times. This activation limit can be increased by calling your Microsoft Activation Center.

There are two ways to activate a computer using a MAK:

  1. Proxy Activation: With Proxy Activation, multiple computers are activated at the same time by using a single connection to Microsoft. Proxy Activation is the most similar to the Volume Activation 1.0 that customers have been using up to now.
  2. Independent Activation: Each computer connects to Microsoft servers and is activated individually.

–

According to Microsoft article, each computer running Windows Vista Business Edition with Volume License needs to reactivate its license at least every six months. As of now, I have been having problems activating Windows Vista Business from remote location. One way to do so is to connect to the network through VPN. I need to use Cisco VPN Client, but unfortunately it is not fully compatible with Windows Vista yet. For the moment I was unable to activate the copy of Windows Vista Busines from remote location.

The KMS server keeps track on the amount of Windows Vista installations. Windows Vista reactivation wouldn’t be a problem at all for desktop computer inside the corporate network. Unfortunately, this might cause some inconvenient with portable computer. For example, a laptop running Windows Vista Business was (re)activated 5 months and 3 weeks ago. the laptop was taken on a business trip by an employee for two week period. What would happen when Windows Vista was up for another reactivation? In many cases VPN wouldn’t be available. We won’t know untill then.

Overall, Windows Vista activation scheme is slightly inconvenient. Microsoft has gone this far to impose stricter licensing scheme on enterprise customers. By all means, Microsoft still can make it even stricter (and worse) to control Windows Vista distributions.

I’ll wait for another 6 months or so to find out if such licensing scheme would cause any problems.

to be continued…

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Post CES and MacWorld Blues

Now that CES and MacWorld are over, it’s time to look back.

CES is still a much larger event and yet it was eclipsed by Steve Jobs’ MacWorld Keynote. Once again, Apple stole CES’ thunder. I am still processing and formulating the information overloads from CES and MacWorld.

Let’s see.

MacWorld

  • Apple iPhone, AppleTV, and the new Airport Extreme base station. No real news about Mac OS X, Macs, and other softwares from Apple.
  • ModBook – A tablet Mac.
  • No GPS support on Mac OS X from Garmin
  • …to becontinued

CES

  • XBox 360 HD video and larger hard drive.
  • Something about Windows Vista and its variants.
  • Sling Media’s SlingCatcher.
  • Tons of other products, to be added later.

This will take a while for me to write something interesting regarding CES and MacWorld.