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Google Calendar Gets Three New Features

by Martin on March 10, 2010

Google Calendar is a calendar application that is integrated into several other Google services like Gmail. A labs section is provided by for Google Calendar users that provides access to experimental features.

The Google Calendar features can easily be activated in the labs section and Google just announced the addition of three new Calendar Labs applications that users can activate in their account.

Event Flair is the first Google Calendar Labs app. It can be used to add specific icons to individual Calendar events, like a cake for a birthday or a plane for traveling. Users who are invited to the events do see the icons as well.

The second addition, Gentle Reminders, is currently only available if the Google Chrome web browser is used as the Internet browser. It changes the way event reminders are shown to the user. Instead of browser alerts, which can interrupt the users workflow tab and title reminders are shown. They will start blinking.

It is furthermore possible to configure the reminders as floating desktop notifications instead. An option that can be configured in the extension’s settings.

The third and final Calendar lab application is Automatically Declining Events which can be used to define periods in time when all event invitations will automatically be declined. This can be very useful during holidays or work related travels so that other users are informed immediately about a person’s absence.

Google Calendar users find the new features in their Calendar application.

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Old Internet Explorers Affected By Security Vulnerability

by Martin on March 10, 2010

Microsoft has posted a security advisory about a new security vulnerability that is affecting older Internet Explorer , precisely Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7. Microsoft’s latest web browser Internet Explorer 8 is not affected by the vulnerability according to the security advisory.

The impact of the vulnerability is a remote code execution that can be triggered by an invalid pointer reference that can be the cause for the remote code execution.

Microsoft is aware of targeted attacks. It is therefor recommended to update Internet Explorer to the latest version or ensure that Protected Mode in Internet Explorer is enabled.

Possible attack vectors are manipulated websites that are used to exploit the security vulnerability either directly or by third party code that is being displayed on the website or by attacking the email clients Microsoft Outlook or Windows Mail with HTML emails that exploit the vulnerability.

Interested users can visit the security advisory issued by Microsoft to get additional information about the security vulnerability.

Another possibility to protect the computer from the vulnerability would be to switch at least temporary to another Internet browser although this might not always be possible.

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Rescue that infected Windows machine with Trinity Rescue

by Jack Wallen on March 10, 2010

Sticking with our current theme of rescuing, we will now focus our magnifying glass another another useful Linux tool – Trinity Rescue Kit.TRK is another live Linux distribution, but with a different spin. Instead of being a live CD who’s purpose is to do just about everything, Trinity wants to really only do two things: Recover data and remove viruses. But it’s the latter task that really sets this apart. You will find most live Linux distributions tend to neglect antivirus. Sure you could take an existing live distribution and add an antivirus package to it. But why bother when TRK already has numerous antivirus tools ready for work.

In this article I will introduce you to Trinity Rescue Kit and how you can use it to scan an infected Windows machine and remove dastardly viruses.

Getting TRK

The first step is to download TRK and burn it onto a disk. If you are unsure how to do this let’s walk through the process.Download an iso image of TRK from the TRK download page (make sure you scroll down to one of the four mirrors and download from their). Once you have the iso downloaded you only need open up a tool like K3B and burn the image (check out my article “Burn CD and DVD ISO images with K3B” for more information). You could also put this image on a USB drive to easier portability. The easiest way to do that is to use Unetbootin (see my article “Install Linux on a USB drive with Unetbootin” for more information).

With your CD or your USB drive in hand it’s time to march over to that infected machine and get to work.

Using TRK

The first thing to do is stick the CD or the USB drive in the machine and reboot. If your machine is not set to boot from either the CD or USB you will want to enter the boot menu of the machine and select either device (depending on which you are using). With TRK you can just let the boot process happen – there is no interaction necessary. Eventually you will wind up at a root prompt. There is no GUI to mention here. TRK is all command line goodness. But never fear, the commands are not too terribly challenging. In fact, to rescue a machine from virus infection there is really only a couple of commands you need to issue.

Mounting the drives

The first thing you have to do is mount the drives on the machine. TRK has a very simple command for that. At the command prompt enter:

mountallfs -g

Which will mount all of your drives in read/write mode. This is necessary in order to rid the machine of any infection. You will want to see where all of your drives have been mounted. Take a look in the / directory with the command ls /. You should listings like /hda1, /hda2, /hda3, etc. These are your mounted drives that you will want to scan.

Now, with the drives mounted, it’s time to scan. This is done with the following command:

virusscan -a clam,bde,va -d /MOUNTED_DRIVE

Where MOUNTED_DRIVE is the drive to scan. You can scan multiple drives by separating them with commas like so:

virusscan -a clam,bde,va -d /hda1,/hda2,/hda3

In the above command clam is for ClamAV, bde is for BitDefender, and va is for Vexira Antivirus. Yes you can scan with multiple antivirus engines, but know that the more engines you use the longer the scan will take.

Once the scan is done you will have a report on what the scan process found and what action was taken.

Final thoughts

Trinity Rescue Kit is an outstanding tool to place in your toolbox for disinfecting machines. Get to know it and start using it, you won’t regret the time spent.

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Twitter Starts Scanning Direct Links To Improve Security

by Martin on March 10, 2010

Twitter has been targeted by users with malicious intents ever since it started to become increasingly popular. One of the biggest problems up to yesterday were direct messages which one Twitter user could send to another. Links posted in those direct messages were not scanned by Twitter before they were send out, only after they have been.

This meant that it was extremely easy to attack Twitter users by sending them direct messages containing links that lead to malicious websites or executed malicious code on the computer system.

Yesterday Del Harvey, the Director of Twitter’s Trust and Safety team, announced a major change to how direct messages are processed by Twitter.

The service basically added a scan to all urls that are posted as direct messages on Twitter before they reach the recipient making it possible to protect users from most threats that are spread through direct messages.

Twitter can now “detect, intercept, and prevent the spread of bad links across all of Twitter” by “routing all links submitted to Twitter through this new service”. The information on how the processed messages are handled are a little vague. Dan only mentions that most Twitter users will not notice this new security measure at all and that that those that will notice “links shortened to twt.tl in Direct Messages and email notifications”.

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Locked File Deletion Software Unlocker Updated

by Martin on March 10, 2010

Unlocker has always been one of the first programs that I installed on a new computer system. The software offers a very convenient way of deleting files that are locked by a process. Every Windows user will experience those situations eventually and Unlocker can help the user in this case.

The biggest change in Unlocker 1.8.9 is support for the Windows 7 operating system and the intention to make Unlocker work on 64-bit systems as well. The developer has a working test version and alpha versions but needs to get the “driver signed” before the 64-bit edition of Unlocker can be released to the public.

The full list of changes is listed below:

Fixed bug: Handles should not be missing anymore on Windows7.
- Fixed bug: Potential conflict with regular explorer use when opening multiple files or other shell extensions such as 7-zip.
- Fixed bug: UI should now appear properly when done from clean install.
- Fixed bug: No hangs due to looping junctions should happen anymore.
- Fixed bug: Deleting junctions will not erase original files anymore.
- Fixed bug: Managing your computer on Windows 7 will not crash anymore.
- Fixed bug: Bitmap handles should not leak anymore from the shell extension.
- Fixed bug: Many other potential sources of bugs and crashes.
- Improved behavior: When deleting files they will be sent first to the recycle bin if possible, only if not possible more abrasive deletion will be used.
- Improved behavior: Unlocker can be started directly from the start menu to browse to the desired file or folder.
- Promotional feature: Added fully optional shortcuts to eBay during the installation. Simply untick “eBay shortcuts” in the choose components page during install if you do not wish to have those.

The new software version basically fixes several bugs and improves support for the Windows 7 operating system. Unlocker is still offered as a portable version and installer which are both offered at the developer’s website.

The new version integrates an eBay shortcut into the installation process, users who do not want to install that can unselect the option during installation.

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Microsoft Security Updates March 2010

by Martin on March 10, 2010

Microsoft yesterday released security patches for Windows and Office products on their monthly Patch Tuesday. A total of two security bulletins have been released by Microsoft that patch flaws in Microsoft Excel, Windows Movie Maker and Microsoft Producer 2003.

The severity of both security bulletins has been rated as important. Attackers can exploit the issues for remote code execution.

The security updates are offered through the usual channels including Windows Update, Microsoft Update or directly from Microsoft websites.

MS10-016 – Vulnerability in Windows Movie Maker Could Allow Remote Code Execution (975561) – This security update addresses a privately reported vulnerability in Windows Movie Maker and Microsoft Producer 2003. Windows Live Movie Maker, which is available for Windows Vista and Windows 7, is not affected by this vulnerability. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if an attacker sent a specially crafted Movie Maker or Microsoft Producer project file and convinced the user to open the specially crafted file. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.
MS10-017 – Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Excel Could Allow Remote Code Execution (980150) – This security update resolves seven privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Excel. The vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted Excel file. An attacker who successfully exploited any of these vulnerabilities could gain the same user rights as the local user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

Users who have Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Producer 2003 or Windows Movie Maker installed should install the security patches right away to protect their computer system from exploits that target those vulnerabilities.

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Ribbon Hero Teaches Office In A Playful Way

by Martin on March 10, 2010

There are two types of Office users: Those who know everything – or nearly everything – about the program and those that do not. The latter group usually has to look really hard, consult an online help, book or colleague if they have to do something in Microsoft Office that they have not done before at all or only scarcely in the past.

Ribbon Hero is an add-on for Microsoft Office that can be used to learn new features of Microsoft Office in a playful way. The Microsoft Office add-on offers two modes. The first mode is basically showing a score that can increase or decrease depending on the user’s command of the Office program. Formatting text for instance will raise the score.

That alone is an interesting feature but not the core of what Ribbon Hero is about. The Office add-on comes with challenges which are small tasks that it asks the Office user to complete. It displays a document to the user and asks the user to edit that document in a certain way, e.g. changing the orientation of it to landscape mode.

Many Office users might feel helpless at this point but help is directly available on the same page in Office meaning that every step of the process of editing the document is explained to the user, if necessary.

Every completed step is visualized to the user who receives a congratulations message upon finishing the task. Ribbon Hero uses an achievement page, like one used in many computer games, to show the overall progress to the user. New tasks can be selected from that screen to increase the tasks that have already been completed.

Ribbon Hero is being offered for Office 2007 and Office 2010 users who run a 32-bit or 64-bit edition of Microsoft Windows Vista or Windows 7 or a 32-bit edition of Windows XP. The Office add-on is only offered in English currently and integrates itself into Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

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10 Movies That Were Better Than The Books

by bspcn on March 9, 2010

Written by John DeVore

We’re well aware of the old canard “the book is better than the movie.” But, every once in a while, the movie wins.

Hollywood doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to transforming bestselling novels and works of literature into popcorn movies. But on some rare occasions a movie comes along that improves on its source material. A clever screenwriter, an inspired director, and a pitch-perfect actor can interpret a book masterfully: streamlining stories, fleshing out characters, and cutting the fat.

10. Blade Runner (Director’s Cut)

Based on Philip K. Dick’s masterpiece “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” Ridley Scott’s atmospheric, cyberpunk noir takes a cerebral sci-fi landmark and turns it into a violent, visceral dirge about what it means to be human.

9. Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas

Director Terry Gilliam gave Hunter S. Thompson’s surreal, drug-fueled stumble through Las Vegas what it needed: a little bit more of a narrative. The book reads like you’re in a haze, which is how it was written. Gilliam contextualizes the movie, placing it firmly during the death spasm of the hippie promise. His lead, Johnny Depp, becomes Hunter in an eerily satisfying performance that never feels like caricature.

8. The Shining

Stephen King famously trashed this Stanley Kubrick adaptation, but he shouldn’t have. Kubrick took a perfectly spooky ghost story and created a horror movie game changer. It’s an oft-copied, sinister, and hypnotic tale of one man’s descent into madness.

7. Last of the Mohicans

James Fenimore Cooper’s 19th Century prose can be a slog for contemporary readers, but it didn’t stop Michael Mann from dusting it off and finding its pounding frontier heart. With the help of a superb cast, including a plausibly badass Daniel Day Lewis, this historical saga is the rare highbrow action film.

6. The Bridges of Madison County

This best-selling novel by Robert James Waller is a disciplined, if slim, tearjerker about an affair long dead. It seemed counterintuitive that Hollywood man’s man Clint Eastwood would take the Oprah’s Book of the Month Club Winner and with fellow icon Meryl Streep, transform it into a sweeping, bittersweet love letter to doomed romance.

5. The Godfather/The Godfather Part II

Mario Puzo wrote one of the great pulp gangster books of all time. Francis Ford Coppola made it into two movies as bleak, complex, and cathartic as a Shakespearean tragedy. It’s not just a saga about the mafia, like the book. Instead, the movie is about the dark side of the American dream.

4. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendary sword-and-sorcery tome has moments of brilliance punctuated by hundreds of pages of songs, Elvish genealogy, and exhaustive geographical Middle Earth detail. In making his modern cinematic classic, Peter Jackson ignored such passages and focused on the story – a particularly human story about good, evil, and the power of friendship.

3. The Maltese Falcon

Sam Spade is one of crime fiction’s greatest gumshoes: a tough-talking private dick with a moral code, stuck in an amoral world. A great read, but when a legend like Humphrey Bogart shows up in the movie all bets are off. Not even the most sublime imagination could dream up such a righteous, world-weary hangdog.

2. Fight Club

Chuck Palahniuk sly mediation on modern identity was transformed by director David Fincher into a testosterone fueled loony punk rock opera starring a brilliant Brad Pitt as an unhinged id and a slack-jawed Ed Norton as an everyman on the edge.

1. American Psycho

Bret Easton Ellis’s tongue-in-cheek thriller about a serial killer became instantly infamous for its shocking violence and gratuitous sex. Critics vilified the novel for depictions of unspeakable depravity. But the book’s main flaw was it’s sloppy ambiguity—is Patrick Bateman an actual madman or some feverish delusion? Director Mary Harron offered a solution in her smart, stylish, and chilling movie adaptation—she directly tells us who Patrick Bateman is, crafting an alternately terrifying and hilarious satire of machismo and impotence.

Bonus: Where can I buy these balloons?

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FTP Sync Software

by Martin on March 9, 2010

FTP Sync is a free command line application to synchronize files between two ftp sites or local directories. Its main purpose is to automate the synchronization of files between two ftp servers or between a ftp server and a local directory.

This can be helpful for instance for webmasters or coders who design their websites and projects offline and want to automatically synchronize the updated files to a web server.

A second purpose could be an automated backup of files on a website to another web server or a local computer.

Core Features:

supports UNIX, Microsoft, IBM and Novell type FTP servers only new or changed files are transferred
console type application that can be easily executed from various schedulers and batch files
FTPSync is intended for computer experts – it has no user interface, so users must know how to edit standard Windows INI files. Synchronization can be configured on the fly from batch files or other applications, making it a convenient tools when sync authomation is required.

The configuration of the file synchronization process or backups are configured in standard Windows ini files. It is recommended to take a look at the extensive documentation to configure the program properly.

Three demo configuration options are included in the download. They demonstrate many features and parameters of the program.

An alternative to FTP Sync is the popular software WinSCP which can also be used to automatically synchronize data between local computer systems and servers. Information on how to create a batch file can be found in the winSCP forum.

FTP Sync can be downloaded from the developer’s website. (via Donation Coder)

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Google Chrome Delicious Extension

by Martin on March 9, 2010

Users of the social bookmarking service Delicious were only able to use a bookmarklet in combination with the Google Chrome web browser if they wanted to improve their workflow when bookmarking new websites.

The Delicious team has been hard at work to provide their Google Chrome users with an extension that would offer them the same functionality as their Firefox counterparts.

The Delicious extension for Google Chrome is currently in beta stage which means that not everything that has been integrated into the Firefox add-on is currently also offered in the Chrome extension.

The Delicious extension currently be used to sync the Delicious bookmarks with a Delicious account, display Delicious bookmarks in the address bar of the Chrome browser and to bookmark pages with the help of the Tag button that is being placed in the Chrome toolbar.

A Delicious account is needed to make use of the extension. Bookmark syncing can be enabled in the extension’s options as well so that the bookmarks are always synced between the browser and the Delicious account.

Users who want to read up on the release can visit the Delicious blog post that announces the beta release of the Chrome extension. Those who want to skip the information can head over to the Google Chrome extensions gallery to download the Delicious extension.