Friday Tech Madness - tech
(hx) 10:14 PM CEST - Aug,06 2004
- Post a comment / read (3)
- PDAs under attack - Backdoor.Brador.A virus - Kaspersky Labs has
detected
Backdoor.WinCE.Brador.a,
the first
backdoor for PDAs running under PocketPC (based on Windows CE). Brador is
a classic Trojan backdoor program: it opens the infected machine for remote
administration. Brador is 5632 bytes in size and it infects handhelds running
Pocket PC. After the backdoor is launched, it creates an svchost.exe file in
the Windows autorun folder, thus maintaining full control over the system
every time the handheld is turned on. Brador then identifies the machine's IP
address and sends it to the author, informing him that the handheld is in the
Internet and the backdoor is active. Finally, Brador opens port 2989 and
awaits further commands.
- Image flaw pierces PC security -
Six
vulnerabilities in an open-source image format could allow intruders to
compromise computers running Linux and may allow attacks against Windows PCs
as well as Macs running OS X. The security issues appear in a library
supporting the portable network graphics (PNG) format, used widely by programs
such as the Mozilla and Opera browsers and various e-mail clients. The most
critical issue, a memory problem known as a buffer overflow, could allow
specially created PNG graphics to execute a malicious program when the
application loads the image.
- US prosecutors challenge P2P companies -
P2P
software companies have been told to clean up their act and do more to
protect their users from the seedier side of the file-sharing scene - or risk
facing legal action. The huddle of lawyers essentially wants P2Pers to block
porn, unauthorised MP3 files, viruses, spyware and the like. At the very
least, they say, P2P companies should do more to warn users of the dangers of
mis-using their software - including the risk of prosecution from the states
the legal eagles represent.
- Net attacks make SP2 key for Windows XP - Microsoft Chairman Bill
Gates said the upgrade, dubbed Service Pack 2 or SP2,
revises less than 5 percent of the millions of lines of code that make up
Windows XP -- but adds more value than any update the company has ever done.
Some of the nearly $1 billion that's gone into Service Pack 2 also will be
used on future versions of Windows. But Gates said it was absolutely necessary
to give away the security advances now because of the barrage of attacks
plaguing Windows-based computers. The long-awaited update is due to be
completed very soon, Microsoft senior product manager Matt Pilla said. He said
the company could not be more specific on the time. In order to easily obtain
Windows XP Service Pack 2
Microsoft will ship at no cost SP2 CDs. This is great news for those of us
who don't have broadband, but most importantly this will help to secure a
large amount of consumer desktops
- Nvidia's NV43 is Geforce 6600 - The NV43 will be known as the
Geforce 6600 from now on. There will be two versions - a 6600 standard and a
6600GT with a huge difference in clock speed. <> 6600 standard will be clocked
at 300MHz+ and will use DDR/DDR2 memory while
the 6600GT
will be clocked close to 500MHz core and will use almost that fast memory,
GDDR3. It's an eight pipeline part like we suggested before and will be
available in volume production in late September.
- First Details About ATI R520 Emerged - ATI Technologies' upcoming
visual processing unit does not only have its code-number R520 (not R500, as
initially thought), but also has its code-name, the web-site claims.
Apparently, the chip is called Fudo, probably after the Japanese god of fire
and wisdom, as Babynamenetwork web-site describes the name. ATI's
current-generation graphics chips – the RADEON X800 – were initially named
Loki after a god in Norse mythology.
The R520 is reported to emerge in Q1 or Q2 2005 and feature brand-new
architecture that sports Shader Model 3.0 or even higher level of
programmability. Before the R520 makes it to the market ATI is expected to
release a speed-bump of the current architecture – a chip called R480
(thanks SiReK)
- Dell Dimension XPS review - TrustedReviews have posted a review of
the brand new Dell Dimension XPS, which is Dell's answer to Alienware and
Voodoo PC. With a 3.6GHz Pentium 4 processor, 2x 400GB hard drives in a RAID 0
and a Radeon X800 XT PCI-Express graphics card this is one mutta of a
computer.
- DVD Burner round-up - TechSpot has posted
a DVD Burner round-up.
- Plextor PX-712SA review -
Essentially, this drive is the exact same as the PX-712A; just has a
different interface. It supports 12X DVD+R and 8X DVD-R Writing; 4X DVD+RW and
4X DVD-RW Rewriting; and 16X max DVD-Reading. While this new interface doesn’t
necessarily translate into huge performance gains over the older interface, it
does help keep cabling cleaner, allowing better internal airflow within your
PC and keeps the CPU overhead lower.
- DOOM 3 high-end graphics comparo - If DOOM 3 performance figures
heavily into your next video card purchase, you'll want to think seriously
about getting one of NVIDIA's GeForce 6800 cards. The $299 vanilla GeForce
6800, with 12 pixel pipes, delivers playable frame rates in HQ mode at
1600x1200 in the single-player game, or at 1280x1024 with 4X antialiasing. In
deathmatch, you may want to knock the resolution down a notch, but the GeForce
6800 is still a very good performer for the money. Another comparison can be
found at
FiringSquad.
- Doom 3: Why is Radeon X800 Series behind GeForce6? - All this is
burdened on the performance of the Radeon-cards.
Doom 3 uses "only" bumpmapping, but this excessively. Each quad which can
be excluded from working out, delivers a precious performance. The quicker
quads are dropped the earlier pipelines will be able to dedicate to the
working out of visible pixels. Contrary, more recent GeForce-cards are
designed in such a way that can manage this even under Doom 3 conditions
without decrease in performance. The older GeForce4 Ti may use Early-Z even
with activated Antialiasing (contrary to the even older GeForce3). That is why
we assume that you can still dive into the Doom 3 world with a GeForce4 Ti and
have still a good graphics quality.
- Multilingual User Interface Packs for Windows Media Player 9 Series -
The Multilingual User Interface Packs for Windows Media Player 9 Series
enable customers using the Windows XP or Windows 2000 Multilingual User
Interface versions of the operating system to switch the user interface
(menus, dialogs and help files) for the WMP 9 Series from one language to
another.
- W32.Evaman.C Free Removal Tool 1.0.0 - Symantec Security Response
has developed
a removal tool to clean the following infections: W32.Evaman.C@mm.
Important: If you are on a network or have a full-time connection to the
Internet, such as a DSL or cable modem, disconnect the computer from the
network and Internet.
- KaZaA Media Desktop 2.7 -
The KaZaa Media Desktop (download)
is a second-generation peer-to-peer file-sharing service with which you can
search and download media files from other KaZaa users
- BWMeter 2.00 -
BWMeter (download)
is a powerful bandwidth meter and monitor, which measures and displays all
traffic on your network. Unlike other products, it can analyze the data
packets (where they come from, where they go, which port and protocol they
use).
- VIA Hyperion Pro 64-bit 0.99 Beta Drivers - VIA has released
the first Hyperion 4-in-1 drivers for 64-bit machines (readme)
running Win XP 64bit and Windows Server 2003 64bit.
- TCP Optimizer 1.01 -
TCP
Optimizer is a program for tweaking broadband-related Registry settings.
Optimize Dialup, DSL and Cable all from one simple to use interface. (It has
the option to return your Registry to its default untweaked state as well) It
also includes built in MaxMTU and Latency(Ping) detection utilities.
- Fresh UI 7.16 -
Fresh UI (download)
is the fresh solution for configuring and optimizing Windows. Loaded with
hundreds of useful hidden settings, this software covers the customizing and
optimizing technique that you'll be glad to know: Customizing Windows User
Interface, Optimizing system settings, Optimizing hardware settings,
Customizing Windows application settings, and Control user environment with
policies.
- NVIDIA Linux drivers - NVIDIA has released a new
NVIDIA Linux drivers 1.0-6111 IA32 |
IA64.
- Plextor PX-712A DVD recorder firmware - Today Plextor Europe has
released
firmware 1.04 for this dual format burner which improves the write quality
for DVDR media.
- Pioneer DVR-A08XLA(B,C) and DVR-108, DVR-108BK firmware - The
firmware at the moment is located on the
Pioneer Japan
site.
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Updated:12:47 AM CEST Jun,04
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