Comments on: MS-DEFCON 2: Where we stand

By: JDM

JDM — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:04:47 +0000

Update KB969898 will kill the MSCOMM32.ocx control in Excell VBA applications

By: woody

woody — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:58:38 +0000

RK -

My advice to JS is “If you haven’t been following along here, and you haven’t applied patches (such as Windows XP Service Pack 3) for a long time, get patched up.”

That’s true in general: anybody who hasn’t been applying patches for months or years should take the plunge, apply all available patches, and do it now. The chances of getting bitten by a bad patch are far outweighed by the chances of getting infected, particularly for patches that have been hanging around for a long time.

As for the writing style… I’m proud to be a dummy. I try to make my writing clear – and NOT boring. Sorry, but that’s how I’ve always been.

By: RK

RK — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:43:06 +0000

Woody – please, when writing items for this process (AskWoody.com), turn off your Dummies mind set. Cutsy text doesn’t cut it for me. I need to see the King’s English, in all its glories. In this item, you tell (on 04-02-09) JS to apply any and all patches existing on his/her PC. Hello, am I to do the same? I am holding off on 958690, 959772, and 960225.
Your items need to address the current situation for your entire audience. We read all your items, daily.

By: Yuhong Bao

Yuhong Bao — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 01:33:33 +0000

MS should offer an end-user version of MS08-070 because that will fix many of the broken applications, because as I said before, kill bits delibrately break ActiveX controls because they contain security vulnerablities. Unfortunately, the current MS recommendation means that vendors have to repackage broken applications with the new ActiveX controls.
Considering how many apps use the broken ActiveX controls, that is nowhere near feasible.