“Attackers are targeting a patched bug in Adobe Flash Player spread via malicious Microsoft Word documents. The attacks are focused on CVE-2012-1535, a remote code execution vulnerability that impacts Windows, Macs and Linux systems. Adobe Systems patched the flaw Aug. 14 in a regular security update. However, attackers are still on the lookout for unpatched computers. If exploited, the bug can be used to enable an attacker to take control of the compromised machine. According to Symantec, attackers have been targeting the flaw for the past couple of weeks using malicious Word documents. The Word files came in emails with…
August 2012
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Brain R Bondy has posted an update on the status of Firefox for Windows 8 Metro Modern User Interface. There is quite a bit of progress in getting Firefox adapted to run in this unique Windows 8 interface: Crash reporting pdfjs (Built in PDF viewer without the need for a plugin) Windowless Flash, although full screen flash doesn’t work yet Some accessibility hooks Front end event refactoring to be faster and to treat mouse input normally and distinct from touch input File pickers updated to be asynchronous on all platforms because it was needed for WinRT Front end awesomescreen work…
Mozilla announced earlier today they have added older (older than 5.1.0) versions of Microsoft’s Silverlight Plugin to the Plugins blocklist for Mac OS X (no word yet if this will be extended to include Windows users). Unlike the recent JAVA plugin blocking, this plugin block is not due to a security volunerabitly. Instead, these older versions of Silverlight are causing stability issues including crahses on Microsoft’s Hotmail site. Users are urged to check to ensure they are running a more recent version of Silverlight (as well as other plugins such as JAVA and Flash/Shockwave) and check the status of their…
A while back we mentioned that Firefox was working on getting a Windows 8 Metro Modern User Interface prototype going. There are some ‘internal builds’ that have been completed, but so far no Alpha or Beta release. This topic came up on Sunday in the Firefox Build forums today as a beta users was looking for the Windows 8 builds of Firefox and then also trying to get the Windows 8 Metro Modern UI of IE10 working. Turns out in Windows 8 you can only have one browser using the Modern UI in Windows 8. Further, this browser needs to be your…
Depending on how you have your Firefox setup to handle updates (Firefox Button > Options > Advanced > Update), you will be prompted when there is an update for Firefox. You have the option of doing the update then or to have Firefox remind you later. The problem with later is it is 24-hours later which still may not be a good time to stop what you are doing to shut down Firefox (albeit the update only takes a couple minutes to install). You can change the frequency of the reminder by changing the value for ‘later’ via an about:config tweak. Keep…
Thunderbird 15 is coming out this Tuesday, August 21st and there are a couple User Interface (UI) changes as part of the new Australis UI. The tabs have been redesigned to look like well tabs (similar to what you see in Google Chrome). There has been some other small refinements in appearance of the UI as well. Also, when you are customizing your toolbars, there is no longer an option for ‘small icons’. Note: The ‘small icons’ change currently only affects Windows builds. Linux builds still had the ‘small icons’ option (have not heard about Mac users). Interestingly though, looking on my Windows 7…
” Config Descriptions is a new add-on for the browser that adds comments to many about:config preferences. When you open the about:config page after installation of the extension, you will notice the Source Comment column that it has added to the table here… “ Source: ghacks.net Add information to Firefox about:config preferences Go get it.
“A fast, refreshed, and completely awesome Mac is within your reach, but Mountain Lion isn’t the way to get there.The Problem“When Mountain Lion launched, we were abuzz. It’s a great OS, but it’s also proof of one creeping fact: Apple is intent on bringing OS X and iOS together. Whether it’s by hamstringing system-tweaking apps like CandyBar, making relatively young Macs ineligable for upgrades, or iOS-ifying the operating system (something we’ve shown you how to fix), Apple is marching towards a single user experience across all of its devices that they dictate, and that you may not particularly care for.“So…
“Smartphones can free you from your desk, as they allow you do many things on the go, including surfing the Internet. But the browser that comes preloaded on your phone doesn’t always offer the best features or performance. “Fortunately, you have a choice in mobile Web browsers. There are a number of free apps that you can download from the Google Play store, and this past week, I tested two of the more well-known mobile browsers: Firefox for Android by Mozilla, and Chrome for Android by Google. If the names sound familiar to you, it may be that you already…
Users should ensure sure they have the most recent versions of Java Runtime Environment (JRE) and Java Developers Kit (JDK) plugins (note not all users may be using these plug-ins). Due to an increasingly exploited voluntarily found in the older versions of JRE and JDK plugins Mozilla is actively blocking outdated versions of these plugins. This vulnerability—present in the older versions of the JDK and JRE—is actively being exploited, and is a potential risk to users. To mitigate this risk, we have added affected versions of the Java plugin (Version 6 Update 32 and below as well as Version 7…