Is your application compatible with Windows 7?

Microsoft just re-posted its giant Application Compatibility List for Windows 7.

The list includes almost 7,500 apps that have been tested and deemed to be either compatible or incompatible with Windows 7. There are separate tests for 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

Emphasis is on the latest versions of the app software, although some older versions are listed. For example, Adobe CS 3 is listed as well as CS 4.

It’s a valuable list, especially if you’re trying to figure out if it’s safe to upgrade to 64–bit. Let me know if you hit any anomalies.

Get Firefox updated now

If you run Firefox 24 hours a day (in other words, if you leave it on while you’re sleeping), there’s an update waiting for you that you should apply. Click Help, Apply Downloaded Update Now.

Mozilla released a big chunk of patches, creating Firefox 3.5.6. Get it.

If you don’t use Firefox 24 hours a day, your copy will update itself the next time you start Firefox.

Details, and a separately downloadable copy of 3.5.6, are on the Firefox site.

0day attack in Adobe Reader – again

Yet another 0day PDF attack is making the rounds. If you open an infected PDF file, and you’re using Adobe Acrobat Reader, your PC can get taken over.

Adobe confirms that 0day, but doesn’t offer much help. SANS Internet Storm Center is following the outbreak in real time.

The sky isn’t falling, but you shouldn’t open a PDF file attached to an inbound email message unless you’ve written to the sender and confirmed that they intended to send you a PDF. Even then you shouldn’t open it unless you trust the sender to be savvy enough to not be spreading around infected files.

No word yet on whether Foxit is similarly afflicted. (Many of you know that I don’t put Adobe Reader on my machines; I only use Foxit.)

MS caught with their hand in the Plurk cookie jar

Remember the big stink about Microsoft stealing open source code, then taking almost a month to post an open source version of the offending product? Miccrosoft fessed up, saying that the offending party was, in fact, a contractor, and that nobody inside Microsoft realized that the contractor used open source code.

This one stinks, too, in a slightly different way.

Chinese microblogging service Plurk woke up one morning to discover that a big chunk of its code and design had been, uh, borrowed by Microsoft China. The Plurk blog puts it succinctly:

Microsoft China officially launched its own microblogging service, MSN Juku, some time in November, 2009. The service’s design and UI is, by-and-large, an EXACT copy of Plurk’s innovative left-right timeline scrolling navigation system… Some 80% of the client and product codebase appears to be stolen directly from Plurk… Plurk was never approached nor collaborated in any capacity with MS on this service.

Mark Hachman at PCMag reports that MS has fessed up about this one, too:

“On Monday, December 14, questions arose over a beta application called Juku developed by a Chinese vendor for our MSN China joint venture,” a Microsoft spokesman said in an email. “We immediately worked with our MSN China joint venture to investigate the situation.

“The vendor has now acknowledged that a portion of the code they provided was indeed copied,” the Microsoft spokesman added. “This was in clear violation of the vendor’s contract with the MSN China joint venture, and equally inconsistent with Microsoft’s policies respecting intellectual property.”

Golly.

The fact is that, after all these years, and all of the bad publicity, Microsoft’s corporate culture still accepts this kind of rotten behavior.

 

Two big votes for the browser ballot box

BBC reports that Microsoft and the EU have reached an agreement that will put an end to a decade of fighting over browsers – a particularly expensive battle for Microsoft.

According to the agreement, Microsoft will offer a “ballot box” in European versions of Windows 7, where customers get to choose their browser from among the best-known browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera). The new element: the order that the browsers appear in the ballot box will be random.

Sounds like a good solution to me. Hard to believe it took this long – and this much money – to come to it. Good on ya, Opera, for hanging tough on your home ground.

Hard drive shortage coming?

Interesting.

A web site that tracks hardware trends called Digitimes reports that regular desktop hard drives – known as 3.5-inch drives – are going to be in short supply until March.

Hard to believe, with 1 TB drives running $85 or so, but it could be true. Might be a good idea to run out and buy an extra hard drive or two, particularly if you expect to shoot a lot of pictures this holiday season…

Avira nag screens give me heartburn

I just got this message from a fellow I’ve helped in the past:

I’m running Vista Home Premium using Explorer to connect to the Internet. All of a sudden a few days ago a screen starting showing up asking me to select between 2 options: Either – Continue Unprotected or – Get Security Software. When I selected Get Security Software, it asked me to Register Now and pay $59.95. So I went back to Continue Unprotected which I had to select a couple of times to get back to the web site. It also kept recurring while I was working on the site.

There was no way of getting rid of this maddening screen no matter what I tried to do. I thought I could get rid of the damn thing by right clicking on the screen but to no avail. I also tried to go to Control Panel to uninstall it but there was no folder there. I suspect this happened when I opened an e-mail from a friend with a web site link. To me, this is like a virus which impedes and disconnects my access to web sites through Explorer.

After checking with Google, I found this screen was called Antivir with a web site named Avira.com. Have you heard of this and do you know any way I can get rid of this nightmare other than paying them $59.95? I’d appreciate any guidance you could provide.

My answer:

[SEE ADDITIONAL UPDATE BELOW: The fellow I was helping actually had an Antivir infection - Avira had absolutely nothing to do with it. I used to recommend Avira wholeheartedly, but their nag screens come mighty close to scareware. I just saw one today, and again it really gave me heartburn. They overstate the advantages of the paid versions of Avira, and try to sell by scaring people. That isn't right. I'm a convert to Microsoft Security Essentials and in my book updates I'll be recommending MSE. Apologies for the missed note about Antivir, which is truly a piece of crapware. There's nothing inherently wrong with Avira, as long as you don't believe the scare screens.]

Avira used to be a good program. Now it’s a piece of unscrupulous crapware.

First, ditch Internet Explorer. Get Firefox and use it. IE is an unnecessary headache.

Second, download Microsoft Security Essentials but don’t install it just yet. MSE is free, and it works great – AND it won’t start nagging you for money.

Third, disconnect your computer from the Internet. Then click Start, Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs and follow the instructions to remove Avira Antivir. You’ll probably have to stop Avira, and may have to re-boot once or twice in the process.

Fourth, re-boot your machine one more time.

Fifth, double-click on the downloaded Microsoft Security Essentials installer and follow the instructions to get MSE installed.

Sixth, plug your computer back into the Internet.

Your Avira pains should be gone and, after a fairly lengthy download, MSE will be protecting your PC, no problems at all.

UPDATE: Thanks to all of you who posted in defense of Avira. I still say MSE is a far better product, but the main point is that I got duped! The fellow who wrote to me is apparently the victim of a piece of crapware that’s using Avira’s name to legitimize itself. Details on the BleepingComputer site. I’ll stick with MSE, but the rogue program is the problem here, not Avira.

Office 2003 bug locks you out of your documents

Remember Windows Rights Management Services, the Windows Server-based piece of %$#@! that companies use to lock up their documents, so you can’t get at certain documents on a server? The Wikipedia listing for WRMS describes it thusly:

Specific operations like printing, copying, editing, forwarding, and deleting can be allowed or disallowed by content authors for individual pieces of content, and RMS administrators can deploy RMS templates that group these rights together into predefined rights that can be applied en masse.

I railed against WRMS in my books and several articles, many years ago.

Guess what? If your company uses RMS, and it uses Office 2003, starting on December 11, you may not be able to open, print, copy, edit, forward, delete or otherwise use those RMS-protected files. If you try to open a document with Word, Excel or PowerPoint 2003, or you try to open an RMS-protected message in Outlook 2003. you’re completely outta luck. You get the message “Unexpected error occurred. Please try again later or contact your system administrator.”

Yeah, right.

What happened? David Worthington at Technologizer says that Microsoft let an Information Rights Management certificate expire.

I won’t start ranting again. Suffice it to say that if your company was suckered into trusting Microsoft’s digital rights management software, they got what they deserved. You have my permission to yell LOUDLY at the idiot who decided to install it in the first place, and to continue SCREAMING until somebody who controls your server listens to reason. Windows RMS is a disaster waiting to happen. Oh. Wait a sec. It already has happened.

UPDATE: A hotfix has been announced, at least for Word and Excel. I’ve seen very few details, except you have to call Microsoft to get the hotfix, and you have to be running Office 2003 Service Pack 3.