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Microsoft security bulletin: Security Bugs in Producer, Excel, and SharePoint

Savan Thongvanh — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:07:38 +0000

Microsoft announced yesterday that they’ve found more bugs. Surprise. Microsoft annouced via security bulletin on the TechNet site that vulnerabilities were found and patched in various versions of Office, SharePoint, and it’s movie making software Producer. All of the vulnerabilities found allow what microsoft calls “Remote Code Execution”, which means that malicious code can be planted and run on your computer. This is not a new thing for Microsoft and they fix them as the find them but, the just keep finding them.

Here’s a rundown of the affected software:

2007 Microsoft Office System Service Pack 1
2007 Microsoft Office System Service Pack 2
Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 3
Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac
Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac
Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats Service Pack 1 and Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats Service Pack 2
Microsoft Office Excel 2002 Service Pack 3
Microsoft Office Excel 2003 Service Pack 3
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Service Pack 1[1]
Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Service Pack 2[1]
Microsoft Office Excel Viewer Service Pack 1 and Microsoft Office Excel Viewer Service Pack 2
Microsoft Office for Mac
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (32-bit editions)[2]
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (64-bit editions)[2]
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Service Pack 2 (32-bit editions)[2]
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Service Pack 2 (64-bit editions)[2]
Microsoft Office XP Service Pack 3
Windows 7 for 32-bit Systems
Windows 7 for x64-based Systems
Windows Vista x64 Edition, Windows Vista x64 Edition Service Pack 1, and Windows Vista x64 Edition Service Pack 2
Windows Vista, Windows Vista Service Pack 1, and Windows Vista Service Pack 2
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2
Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Windows XP Service Pack 3

Note that all currently supported versions of windows are affected and that Windows and Mac versions of Office are affected. From the links below you can download the patches or they can be downloaded through Windows.

See the Producer Bulletin for more
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms10-016.mspx?pubDate=2010-03-09

And the Office and SharePoint Bulletin
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms10-017.mspx?pubDate=2010-03-09

iPad release date April 3rd, Pre-orders March 12th

Savan Thongvanh — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:27:44 +0000

Apple announces today that the long awaited iPad can be ordered starting March 12th. The actual release date will be April 3rd. There have been rumors of production until late summer but this, at least for now, negates those.

Beginning a week from today, on March 12, US customers can pre-order both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models from Apple’s online store (www.apple.com) or reserve a Wi-Fi model to pick up on Saturday, April 3, at an Apple retail store.

The pricing we heard earlier still stands: $499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB, $699 for 64GB. The Wi-Fi + 3G models will still be $629 for 16GB, $729 for 32GB and $829 for 64GB.

International pricing will differ but is not yet known.

Mac Hack: Intel-base startup keys

Savan Thongvanh — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:48:50 +0000

If you’ve ever had problems starting up your intel based mac you’ll want to bookmark this article. Apple released a support article today with a load of great keyboard shortcuts to subvert the startup of Intel based Macs.

And without further adeiu…(oh and here’s freebie, don’t make the bookmark on your mac)
If you’ve ever had problems starting up your intel based mac you’ll want to bookmark this article. Apple released a support article today with a load of great keyboard shortcuts to subvert the startup of Intel based Macs.

And without further adeiu…

Keystroke	Description
C during startup	Start up from a bootable CD or DVD, such as the Mac OS X Install disc that came with the computer.
D during startup	Start up in Apple Hardware Test (AHT), if the Install DVD 1 is in the computer.
Option-Command-P-R until you hear two beeps.	Reset NVRAM
Option during startup	Starts into Startup Manager, where you can select a Mac OS X volume to start from. Note: Press N to make the the first bootable Network volume appear as well.
Eject, F12, or hold the mouse (/trackpad) button	Ejects any removable media, such as an optical disc.
N during startup	Attempt to start up from a compatible network server (NetBoot).
T during startup	Start up in FireWire Target Disk mode.
Shift during startup	Start up in Safe Boot mode and temporarily disable login items.
Command-V during startup	Start up in Verbose mode.
Command-S during startup	Start up in Single-User mode.
Option-N during startup	Start from a NetBoot server using the default boot image.

See the Apple article for more on which models these are good for.

Apple Support Article Outlines How to Back Up Your Music

Savan Thongvanh — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:42:59 +0000

Apple is turning back the clock and encouraging people to back their music up on CD. If you REALLY REALLY want to keep your music on CD Apple will tell you how to get your music out of AAC and into MP3.

Apple released a support article today outlining how to burn protected AAC music to an MP3 CD. Although it would be horribly tedious and a waste of time and resources, if you must have your music on something you can touch and you’re having problems check out Apple’s article on how to back up music from itunes.

Songs purchased from the iTunes Store may either be in AAC format or AAC Protected format depending on when they were purchased (older songs used AAC Protected format). You can convert AAC songs to MP3 format allowing them to be burned to an MP3 format CD, however AAC Protected songs can not be converted. You can, however, back them up to a data CD or DVD, or you can burn them to an audio CD (which can be played in a CD player).

Read the knowledgebase article for a full explanation