Newsletter Archives

• Recently updated topics you may have missed

  Posted on October 19, 2017 at 02:09 CDT by Kirsty • Comment in the Forums

  It’s possible you may have missed recent security updates that have been made to Chrome, Firefox, Thunderbird, Java and Flash Player. The following topics have now been updated with the US-Cert alerts, with links:

  Chrome Security Update: US-CERT (Browser)

  Mozilla Security Update: US-CERT (Firefox)

  Mozilla Security Update: US-CERT (Thunderbird)

  Oracle Security Update: US-CERT (Java etc)

  1000002: Links to Flash update resources

  Subscribers to those topics should have received emails with details of the new posts. However, we have had some reports that some people are currently not receiving those emails. If your subscription emails aren’t working, please let us know.

   
  Also updated recently is AKB3000005: On the subject of Botnets, which was posted last month, but promptly disappeared in a backup-reset of the site.

  Other AskWoody, botnet, Chrome, Firefox, Flash, Java, Thunderbird

• Beware fake “patches” for Firefox

  Posted on October 2, 2017 at 10:05 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Just got an email from Q, warning that he saw this fake update notice in the wild:

  

  From the Firefox site:

  To our knowledge those notices are a form of “malvertising“: those fake notices get triggered by code contained in ads that are displayed on otherwise legitimate websites you are visiting and get spread through advertisement networks… they are hosted on randomly generated and quickly changing domains

  Other fake updates, Firefox

• Is Firefox going into a tailspin?

  Posted on August 30, 2017 at 05:26 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Just got this note from @jnperlm

  While this was covered back in June: Mozilla execs clash over whether Firefox has a future, I think you might want to reframe it for your followers as it didn’t seem to garner much attention at the time.

  First, Firefox is going to start collecting more data.

  Second, come some time in November 2017, most of Firefox’s extensions will no longer be supported by Firefox. In fact, I’ve lost some already.

  A way of extending availability of extensions is to convert, even now (I have), to Firefox ESR (I got the extensions I “lost” back), but that too will lose extensions some time in 2018.

  I think many of your readers should take another, or a closer, look at this topic.

  It seems to me that ghacks.net will be the go-to web site to see how this unfolds and which alternatives to Firefox seem to be most effective. By going ESR now, one is stable after November 2017, and can monitor how things shake-down with the alternatives before one has to pull the trigger, when ESR is upgraded to the point where the majority of Firefox’s extensions will no longer function.

  Other Firefox

• Mozilla execs clash over whether Firefox has a future

  Posted on May 31, 2017 at 17:51 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  A fascinating story from Gregg Keizer at Computerworld:

  http://www.computerworld.com/article/3199006/web-browsers/mozilla-execs-clash-over-whether-firefox-has-a-future.html

  It ain’t all cut-and-dried.

  Other Firefox

• New Firefox AKB article – additional security, telemetry and privacy tweaks

  Posted on February 15, 2017 at 15:06 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Good AskWoody Knowledge Base stuff from @microfix – AKB3000003

  Other Firefox

• Repost: Is Firefox snooping just as much as the other browsers?

  Posted on February 14, 2017 at 09:27 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  This is a repost of a blog item that got gobbled up when the site went down. Here’s the original post, but the original comments are gone.

  Details are murky, but Günter Born has an outline on his blog.

  Last November, Mozilla released a new “super-private” browser for iPhone and iPad called Firefox Focus. The new browser has built-in support for blocking all sorts of trackers.

  If you’re using Firefox Focus on your iPad or iPhone (and, it appears, on your Android device), there’s a big surprise in store. The “super-private” browser is tracking everything you do, by default, and sending the info to a data aggregator, Adjust GmbH.

  Born explains, quoting German journalist Peter Welchering and security expert Hermann Sauer:

  [Firefox Focus] tracks user data about the users behavior using the app and surfing the web. Data, which websites are visited, where the app has been downloaded, the IP address, a tracking id and many more data are being send to German Big Data specialist Adjust…

  Mozilla announced Firefox Focus as a “privacy browser” stopping user tracking. Welchering  and Sauer found out, that the app sends user tracking data not to Mozilla’s servers. The (raw) data will be send to the German big data harvester Adjust – then the data will be anonymized and transferred to Mozilla.

  Et tu, Mozilla?

  UPDATE: Mozilla denies the report from Welchering and Sauer, according to Bleepingcomputer. “Firefox Klar (Focus) DOES NOT track user browsing histories.” Mozilla has a privacy page about their anonymous usage data. The debate continues.

  Other Adjust GmbH, Firefox, Focus

• Firefox asks for testers of new browser supercharger, Context Graph

  Posted on October 24, 2016 at 11:33 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  They’d like you to sign up, but your activity will be tracked. It’s 100% opt-in.

  Interesting concept – improve Firefox’s ability to anticipate which pages may help you. A noble goal:

  We also believe there is no necessary trade off to be made between user control and personalization, and we will prove that these products are achievable without violating user trust or privacy. We will work to make sure our users understand what they’re sharing and the value they get in return. True to our open heritage, our methods will be open for scrutiny by anyone.

  Sign up if you like.

  Thanks to JP.

   

  Other Firefox

• Randy the Tech Professor: Updates for Flash, Shockwave, iTunes, Chrome and Firefox

  Posted on September 29, 2015 at 06:47 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Randy the Tech Professor has just posted his update list for September.

  If you use Flash, Shockwave, iTunes, Google Chrome or Firefox, it’s worth a quick check to make sure you’re up to date.

  Other Chrome, Firefox, Flash, iTunes, Shockwave

• Windows third party program patches

  Posted on December 29, 2014 at 15:16 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  What a crop.

  Randy the Tech Professor writes with this list:

  The last set of third party program updates for 2014 are numerous: Adobe ColdFusion, Adobe Reader, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Flash Player, Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, SeaMonkey Suite.

  Full details on Randy’s site.

   

  Other Acrobat, Adobe Reader, Chrome, Firefox, Flash, Safari

• Dear Mozilla: Don’t give up on Windows RT!

  Posted on May 18, 2012 at 22:14 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Mozilla (with a little help from Google) is pressing an important point, not just for Firefox on Windows RT, but for the future of Windows applications.

  InfoWorld Tech Watch.

  Windows News Firefox, Google, Mozilla, Win32 API, Windows RT

• Windows RT ‘isn’t Windows’

  Posted on May 11, 2012 at 22:26 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  And what that means in the latest browser kerfuffle…

  InfoWorld Tech Watch.

  Windows News Chrome, Firefox, Windows RT

• What will Firefox and Chrome bring to Windows 8 Metro?

  Posted on March 14, 2012 at 23:34 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Far as I can tell, the rules don’t preclude some very interesting possibilities…

  InfoWorld Tech Watch.

  Windows News Chrome, Firefox, Metro, Windows 8
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