Issue 30 - 15th June 2000
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Robert Schifreen, Editor
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IN THIS ISSUE
1. Outlook Security Patch released
2. Patch Prevents NT4 Crashes
3. Free guide to Email security
4. The Integrity Protection Driver Project
5. IE security bugs fixed
6. SR1a Still Causing Problems
7. SYSKEY compromises EFS
8. Instant Copy Protection
9. Ultraseek
10. Answers to your technical queries
11. Staff Scheduler
12. Shush that PC
13. The wonderful NT Resource Kit
14. How to create bootable CDs
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1. Outlook Security Patch released
Microsoft has released an important security patch for Outlook 98
and
Outlook 2000 (though not for Outlook Express). It works by
limiting or
removing those features in Outlook which have been used by viruses
such
as Love Bug and Melissa in order to spread themselves. Note
that the
patch for Outlook 2000 requires SR-1 too.
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com
2. Patch Prevents NT4 Crashes
Microsoft has issued a patch for NT4 which fixes a weakness in the
remote registry server that could cause it to hang the entire machine,
requiring a reboot.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/fq00-040.asp
3. Free guide to Email security
Content Technologies, the company behind Mimesweeper, has published
a free guide to developing an email content security policy.
Although
much of the guide is a thinly-disguised plug for Mimesweeper, it's
still
useful reading for any support person considering what sort of
email
attachments need to be controlled within an organisation.
http://www.mimesweeper.com
4. The Integrity Protection Driver Project
A group of security-conscious people are attempting to put together
a
device driver for Windows NT/2000 designed to detect and reject
attempts by hacker tools to gain root access to systems.
Worth a look if you're responsible for the security of your servers.
http://www.pedestalsoftware.com
5. IE security bugs fixed
Two security bugs in Internet Explorer have been fixed by a new
patch
issued by Microsoft this week. The patch concerns the
way that IE
handles digital certificates.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/fq00-039.asp
6. SR1a Still Causing Problems
Microsoft released a new version of Service Release 1 for Office
2000
recently, under the name SR-1a. But it's still causing problems
for some Office users, who now find that their Office apps exit
immediately after loading.
Microsoft has a cure, which is detailed in a Knowledgebase article.
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q255/5/03.asp
7. SYSKEY compromises EFS
A number of problems with the Windows 2000 Encrypting File System
are
coming to light. One particular problem reported by security
company
ISS concerns the way that inappropriate default settings for SYSKEY
are
used. Microsoft currently denies that these settings represent
a
weakness in EFS.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/analefs.asp
8. Instant Copy Protection
If you're developing commercial software, you're probably thinking
of
using some form of copy protection. If so, and you want something
cheap and simple, you could do worse than evaluation a rather clever
program called Gus.
http://www.copyprotection.com
9. Ultraseek
Need a search engine for your intranet? Ultraseek Server will
probably
do everything you need, and a 30-day eval version can be downloaded
from the vendor's Web site.
http://software.infoseek.com/products/ultraseek/hop/ultrahop.htm
10. Answers to your technical queries
Techcrawler is a search engine specifically geared to locating
the answers to technical questions. So next time you're stumped
for an answer to a user's problem, look it up on techcrawler.
http://www.techcrawler.com
11. Staff Scheduler
You need to provide 24-hour support cover for your organisation,
and
you have 11 staff. What's the most efficient way to draw
up a
roster? Visual Staff Scheduler is the software package you
need.
http://www.lts.uk.com/staff.htm
12. Shush that PC
The fan is often the most unreliable component in a PC or server.
Even
if it works OK, it's often incredibly noisy. This can cause
problems
in small offices. The solution is a replacement fan that's
designed to
be extra quiet.
http://www.quietpc.com
13. The wonderful NT Resource Kit
Microsoft's marketing machine tends to keep quiet about the Windows
NT
Resource Kit. We think that's a shame, as it contains some
very
handy utility programs which Windows network administrators will
find useful. An article in the current issue of PC Network
Advisor
highlights some of those tools, and you can read the full article
online.
http://www.itp-journals.com/nasample/r1520.pdf
14. How to create bootable CDs
If you need to roll out a patch or utility to your users, distributing
it on a bootable CD-ROM keeps things easy for them. The current
issue
of PC Support Advisor shows how to do it. The complete article
is
online as a PDF file.
http://www.itp-journals.com/sasample/t1214.pdf
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