The BugBlog

Hot-Plugging Secondary Displays Stops Vista

If you unplug a secondary display in Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008, and then hot-plug a display back in to the secondary port, you may get this error message: "Stop 0x00000116 (parameter1, parameter2, 00000000, parameter4) TDR_ERROR." Microsoft says they have a hot-fix for this - see their page for information on getting the hot-fix, as well as their usual warnings.

IE 8 May Lose Your Webmail

After upgrading to Microsoft Internet Explorer 8, you may lose access to your Webmail. According to Microsoft, IE 8 may be trying to use some old information to reach your mail. Deleting your old browsing history may fix this this. Microsoft shows you how.

The Dirtiest Sites

It's not about adult content - although plenty of adult sites are on the list. This compilation of the Top 100 Infected Sites, by Norton Safe Web, shows some websites that you may not want to visit. (Note that I use something other than Norton Antivirus myself.)

Adobe Flex Cross-Scripting Vulnerability

There is a bug in the Adobe Flex 3.3 SDK (Software Development Kit) that may make websites using code developed by the kit vulnerable to cross-site scripting attacks. It has been fixed in the Adobe Flex 3.4 SDK, which you can download here. Adobe credits Adam Bixby of Gotham Digital Science for finding the bug.

Spotlight Won't Search Everywhere on Mac OS X 10.5 Server

If you use Spotlight to search on a mounted file share in Mac OS X 10.5 Server, your search results won't be complete if you have nested share points. The problem occurs when indexing is enabled on share points that are nested inside each other. Apple says you can fix this by creating the index only on the top-level share point.

IE 8 Doesn't Need the Developer Toolbar

If you had the Microsoft Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar installed on an earlier version of IE, and then you upgraded to IE 8, you will see a warning message that the toolbar is incompatible. The good news is that you don't need it, for the same functionality is built in to IE 8. You can find these tools by pressing F12, or by clicking Tools, Developer Tools on the menu.

Facebook Malware

Security researcher Rik Ferguson at Trend Micro discovered a number of Facebook apps that were actually malware. Use them, and they would steal your credentials and immediately begin spamming your friends with bad links. (One of my Facebook friends ran afoul of one of these, because I got some of the spam.) Facebook has disabled the bad apps, so for the moment you have nothing to fear. However, there will probably be some new threats popping up soon.

Patches for Adobe ColdFusion

There are some bugs reported in Adobe ColdFusion and JRun, which may allow remote attackers to run cross-site scripting attacks, or to steal information. Secunia has more information, as well as links to patches. If you are a website admin running ColdFusion, you better check it out.

IE 8 and TurboTax

According to Microsoft's Release Notes, Internet Explorer 8 is not currently compatible with the online version of Intuit TurboTax. Of course, it's a long way till tax season, so these problems should get ironed out.

Apple Fixes a BIND Bug

Apple's Security Bulletin 2009-04 fixes a security bug in in OS X 10.4 and 10.5, both client and server. A bug in BIND may allow an attacker to pass through DNS messages that otherwise should be rejected. That could lead to all sorts of bad things, including being sent to malicious websites. Mac owners can get the update through Security Update.