AskWoody.com

Blocking Flash cookies in a corporate environment

It ain’t easy – there are no tools!

See my InfoWorld Tech Watch blog.

And all Adobe does is wag its finger….

Windows tweaking and optimization

Ed Bott posted a fascinating, dead-on accurate commentary by Igor Leyko, that tells the truth about optimizing Windows.

If you think you can make Windows run faster by using a registry cleaner, or defragging, or changing a registry setting, or … or … or … – save yourself some headache.

Check it out. Igor knows whereof he speaks.

The perils of patching in the cloud

Cloud computing is supposed to be the way to go, right? When there’s a new version of a program, there’s no need to patch a hundred million PCs, you only have to patch one copy of the app, up there in the cloud, right?

Wrong.

Adobe’s in a patching mood, too

As if we didn’t have our hands full with a record number of Microsoft Security Bulletins, Adobe’s gotten its patching into high gear.

The Adobe Flash patch is something to be concerned about – it covers six separately identified security holes in Flash. I’ll be watching it closely over the next few days, and advise you when it’s safe to patch.

The anticipated massive mess of patches

Microsoft’s mess of patches is out. For now, I don’t see any reason to pull a chicken little and install any of ‘em. There’s yet another huge Internet Explorer update, plus (you’ll be happy to hear) yet another .NET patch.

Details on the SANS Internet Storm Center.

We’re still at MS-DEFCON 2. Let the pioneers get the arrows in their backs. None of the major holes are being exploited right now. Keep your cool.

MS-DEFCON 2: Lock ‘em down

With fourteen Security Bulletins around the corner, now’s a VERY good time to check and make sure you have automatic updates turned off. Follow the instructions in any of my books to turn it off, and wait for the all-clear.

It’s going to be a bloody Tuesday.

I’m moving to MS-DEFCON 2: Patch reliability is unclear. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, don’t do it.

P .NE. NP proof?

If you don’t understand the heading, don’t bother.

One of the great unsolved propositions in Computer Science, known as “P equals NP,” may have been solved. Vinay Deolalikar at HP labs claims on his site:

P is not equal to NP. 6th August, 2010 (66 pages 10pt, 102 pages 12pt). Manuscript sent on 6th August to several leading researchers in various areas. Confirmations began arriving 8th August early morning. Final version of the paper to be posted here shortly. Stay tuned.

It might be a hoax, and the proof may have holes, but it seems by all accounts to be a genuine attempt at a proof, from someone who certainly knows his stuff.

The first draft of the paper is on Scribd.

For a layman’s description of P = NP, see the Wikipedia article.

New Windows 0day in CreateDIBPalette()

I’ve seen several reports of a new 0day hole in Windows, which seems to affect all versions from XP SP3 to Win7.

Original posting is by someone who calls him(her?)self Arkon.

Best overview I’ve seen is on Secunia’s site.

No CVE number as yet, and it hasn’t appeared on SANS ISC, but this sounds like the genuine article.

Stay tuned….