Archive for April 8, 2014

Windows 8.1 Now Available

Posted in Commentary with tags on April 8, 2014 by itnerd

If you’ve been waiting for Windows 8.1, wait no longer. This post on WinBeta announced the news:

Windows 8.1 Update 1 has officially become available today. If you don’t already have it installed on your system — as it made a couple of unofficial appearances over the last few weeks, today Microsoft has officially made the update available for all. Furthermore, Microsoft is calling this update “mandatory” to all Windows 8.1 users.

It’s mandatory because users who do not upgrade will not get any future security updates after May 2014. I’ve detailed many of the changes here, so if you’re running Windows 8, download and install away. Then after you’ve tried it out, post a comment and let us know what you think. 

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Windows XP Is Dead…. What Do You Do Now?

Posted in Commentary with tags , on April 8, 2014 by itnerd

So. Windows XP is no more. The question is what do you do if you are running XP? Here’s a list of three things you can do until you switch to Windows 7 or Windows 8:

  • Download and install every Windows XP patch that you can find. That’s because after today you want to make sure you’re up to date in terms of protecting yourself from any security issues. Plus after today, Microsoft won’t be offering any new patches for any issues that are discovered going forward:
  • Don’t use Internet Explorer. Instead, switch to Firefox or Chrome. That will buy you a year (as both browsers will end their support for XP sometime next year) and keep you safe (or at least mitigate) from any “drive by” threats you may come across when you surf the web.
  • Make sure your anti-virus software is up to date. Because with no new patches coming from Microsoft, that’s going to be your first line of defense from any threats.

Microsoft has a webpage that has more information on the risks and the like regarding staying with XP. Plus there’s another webpage on how to migrate to Windows 7 or Windows 8. I would recommend reading both of those. That way you can figure out what you need to do going forward.

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Critical Flaw With Web Security Protocol Exposed

Posted in Commentary with tags on April 8, 2014 by itnerd

If you’ve ever used the web to do online banking or buy something online, you didn’t know it but your transaction was likely being secured using a protocol called OpenSSL. A lot of sites use it. And that’s going to be a problem as there’s a serious flaw in OpenSSL that puts you at risk. Here’s the bad news from ZDNet:
The flaw can potentially be used to reveal not just the contents of a secured-message, such as a credit-card transaction over HTTPS, but the primary and secondary SSL keys themselves. This data could then, in theory, be used as a skeleton keys to bypass secure servers without leaving a trace that a site had been hacked.

This bug not a problem with OpenSSL’s inherent design. It’s an implementation problem. That is to say it the result of a programming mistake. There is already a fix available for the problem for the 1.01 program in OpenSSL 1.0.1g. Work is proceeding rapidly for a pair of the 1.02-beta line.

That isn’t good. But the bad news doesn’t end there:

That’s bad enough. but what really has some operating system and security companies ticked is that OpenSSL and others were hard at work at delivering the patched versions that would have limited the problem’s possible use by blackhat hackers, CloudFlare, a Web security company, revealed in a blog posting details about the security hole and that they’ve fixed the bug. They appear to have used the methods described by OpenSSL. Unfortunately, for everyone else, these methods were not ready for broad deployment.

According to one senior security developer at a major operating system company, “The main problem with what CloudFlare did was that they jumped the gun before the FIRST AVAILABLE patches were available to users. You don’t open the door and wave a red flag before the patches are ready to go.”

That means every evil hacker is trying to exploit this now. That means everyone from Amazon to your bank is rushing to fix this or mitigate this. You as the end user can do nothing to protect yourself. That’s not a good place to be. Here’s hoping that everyone who is affected by this fixes this quickly once patches are available.

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Review: 2014 Volvo S60 T6 AWD – Part 1

Posted in Products with tags on April 8, 2014 by itnerd

I have a very unique opportunity this week. I get to drive the Volvo S60 T6 AWD just months after driving the 2013 version. It’s unique because I will get a chance to see how Volvo improved on what was already a great luxury sedan. First, here’s a shot of the S60:

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I really like the styling direction that Volvo has taken. It proves that you don’t have to be polarizing from a design standpoint to have a car that stands out.

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What I noted immediately was the fact that the dual tailpipes are integrated into rear end of the car. That’s very similar to the XC60 T6 AWD that I drove recently and provides a better look when compared to last year’s S60 T6 AWD R-Design Platinum that I drove.

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The ten spoke wheel design is interesting…..

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…. And from a distance they really give the car a very cool look.

Volvo is aiming the S60 squarely at the BMW 3-Series, Lexus IS, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Audi A4, and the Cadillac ATS among others. To find out if it has what it takes to go head to head with them, I’ll be posting a multi-part review that will cover the following sections:

  • Engine, transmission, handling, fuel economy, and driving comfort
  • Interior
  • Technology in the vehicle
  • Wrap up

So lets see if Volvo can make anyone else in the luxury sedan space nervous.

 

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