Month: September 2012

[Download] Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 Security Fix (KB2744842) – Critical Update

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We had issued and advisory earlier that the Internet Explorer 9 and lower versions are facing a security flaw where the attackers may exploit the bug, targeting hundreds of millions of computers, to infect the PC of somebody who visits a malicious website and then take control of the victim’s computer. Well this issue has been fixed.

 

 

Internet Explorer 9

Microsoft promised that the fix will be available by Friday, 21 September. Well they kept their promise but with some variations. Microsoft had said that this is an easy fix and it will not even require a reboot. Well that’s not true. The Critical update details say:

Security issues have been identified that could allow an attacker to compromise a system that is running Microsoft Internet Explorer and gain control over it. You can help protect your system by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

windows-security-update

The Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 9 for Windows 7 (KB2744842) will be fixing the issue. This update is available in Windows Update. You can directly update it from your Windows PC.

If you don’t use Windows Update service. you can still  download it from Microsoft. Choose the correct Windows Version while downloading.

Download from Microsoft

[How To] Check if your CPU Supports 64-bit OS or not–The Easy Way

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Well we use to program for an 8-bit microprocessor, then 16-Bit some years back. Currently most of the CPUs are 32-Bit architecture. Now the latest one is the 64-Bit CPU. With this advancement of technology in the hardware sector, certain advancements needs to be done in the software sector that will be running on these CPUs.

Here we are talking of System Software that is the Operating Software in your computer, which are the basis for all other user level application software to be installed. If we come to the latest version of Microsoft’s Windows OS, now we see Windows 7. Windows 7 has two versions in terms of hardware compatibility, one for 32-bit architecture CPUs and another for 64bIt architecture CPUs. All 64-bit CPUS can be installed with 32-Bit OS but not vice-versa.

Suppose you have a PC running 32-bit Windows 7, and you want to know if your CPU will support the 62-bit Windows 7, then how will you find it out the easy way? Well we will tell you how.

You can follow the steps:

Step1 Open your computer properties. You can simply press the Windows Key + Pause/Break or you go to start then right click on Computer and select properties.

open-Computerproperties

Step2 In you’re the computer properties, click on “Windows Experience Index”. You can find this under System –> Rating

Windows-computer-properties

Note: First two steps can also be performed via Control Panel as “Control Panel –>Performance Information and Tools” (You can see this option if you set the “View By” as “Large/Small Icon” only)

Step3 In the windows experience index windows, Click on “View and print detailed performance and system information”.

Windows-Experience-index

Step4 In the “View and print detailed performance and system information” windows you can find “64-bit Capable” under System. It will be yes if your CPU supports 64 Bit else No.

64-bit-capable-yes

There you are it is as easy as I had promised. Now as you know the capability of your CPU, you can go for 64-bit OS or not!

Microsoft Internet Explorer 9–Security Flaws, Bugs and Fixes? Use or Dump? [Advisory]

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The German government urged the public on Tuesday to temporarily stop using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer after a bug was discovered which is yet-to-be repaired. The German government’s Federal Office for Information Security, or BSI, said it was aware of targeted attacks and that all that was needed was to lure Web surfers to a website where hackers had planted malicious software that exploited the bug.

This security flaw in IE may enable attackers to exploit the bug, targeting hundreds of millions of computers, to infect the PC of somebody who visits a malicious website and then take control of the victim’s computer.

ie9-logo

Our advisory in using the IE browsers except IE10 are:

  • Though IE browsers are considered to be most secure ones, we advise for now you look at others
  • The IE big fix will be released in the next few days by Microsoft and will be available for download only then
  • There have been a few attempts to exploit the bug, but German officials claim that this issue can be misused in large scale hacking
  • Users should take proactive actions to ensure that their PCs are well protected
  • For time being we advise all users to download and install the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) version 3.0 which is designed to help prevent hackers from gaining access to your system

Microsoft claims that the Fix will be an easy-to-use, one-click, full-strength solution any Internet Explorer user can install and it won’t even require a reboot of your computer.

We hope that the Fix is releases ASAP and we are sure that Microsoft is working on it.

[How To] Connect Your IDE PATA HDD, CD/DVD Drive to SATA Motherboard and Vice Versa

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We all used the Parallel ATA (PATA) Hard Drives or Optical Drives with the IDE interface. With the rapid advancement of technology, currently we shifted to the Serial ATA (SATA) Drives which does not require the IDE Interface and which have faster data rates. This means that all our IDE HDDs, Optical Drives etc. are obsolete to the current world. But, do you need to throw it or dump with your Old Desktops?

The answer is no! Your old 40GB, 80GB HDDs can be still useful now. Here we will show you how to interface these obsolete devices to your brand ne computer using a very cheap interface available in the market.

All you need is the device shown below. It is the “IDE to SATA” or “SATA to IDE” 2 in 1 Converter. It is easily available in the market. You can find one in eBay or Amazon for less than 5 bucks.

IDE to SATA Converter

Connecting Old PATA HDD or IDE Optical Drives to your new SATA Motherboard

 

Suppose you have a PATA HDD with IDE Interface, Then connect the IDE interface (Female) to your HDD’s Male interface. Connect the power supplied to the standard 4 Pin supplied. Connect the SATA interface cable to the SATA to IDE marked port in the device. The other end of the SATA cable to your CPU’s motherboard. That’s it, now use can use some extra disk space instead of throwing the HDD. The connection process has been shown as follows.

SATA-to-PATA-HDD

Make sure you do not forget the Power supply to the drive.

SATA-to-IDE

The same procedure is applied for Optical drives too.

Connecting new SATA HDD or Optical Drives to your Old IDE interface Motherboard

What about the reverse, that is if you have a SATA HDD and you want to connect to your OLD Computer? Then connect the IDE interface (Female) to your Motherboard’s Male interface. Connect the power supplied to the standard 4 Pin supplied. Connect the SATA interface cable to the SATA HDD and the other end to the device’s port marked as IDE to SATA. That’s it, now use can use some extra disk space instead in your old Computer. The connection process has been shown as follows.

IDE-to-SATA-HDD

Note: Please turn off your Computer completely, i.e. even the power plug is to be disconnected in order to prevent any hazard or damages.

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