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Web of Trust Firefox Addon

October 22, 2009 — Mrs. Mecomber

I’ve been testing out a few newer Firefox Addons (post to come about that), but I wanted to mention a new one called Web of Trust that has been a pretty good one. It’s touted as:

WOT is a free Internet security addon for your browser. It will keep you safe from online scams, identity theft, spyware, spam, viruses and unreliable shopping sites. WOT warns you before you interact with a risky website. It’s easy and it’s free.

The price can’t be beat.

I like the search features– a green circle appears on images and next to links that are approved as safe; gray circles are not known, and red circles are warnings of security problems (spyware, etc). I do not like the window that sometimes pops up when I enter a site warning me of a problem. Well– let me clarify that– if I select “ignore” I am allowed to pass on, but the next time I visit the site, the same window appears with the same warning. :S Maybe it’s an issue with my install?? I find it odd that it would not remember my choice.

So far, so good. It’s a solid addon (doesn’t make Firefox crash or work too hard). Might want to be something you check out, especially if you do a lot of web surfing.

Posted in browsers. Tags: addon, Firefox, WOT. 2 Comments »

Hackers Prefer Opera

September 9, 2009 — Mrs. Mecomber

This news isn’t very surprising, not to me, an Opera fan:

One-in-four hackers runs Opera to ward off other criminals

Hackers using multi-exploit attack “toolkits” take defensive measures of their own against other criminals, a security researcher said today.

“Exploit kit operators do use mainstream browsers, but they’re much more likely to use Opera than the average user, because they know that the browser isn’t targeted by other hackers,” said Paul Royal, a principal security researcher with Atlanta-based Purewire.

While the most generous Web measurements peg Opera, a browser made by Norwegian company Opera Software, at a 2% share of the global market, 26% of the hackers who Purewire identified use the far-from-popular application.

Because of its small market share, few hackers bother to unleash exploits for Opera vulnerabilities, said Royal.

Purewire obtained this insight, and others, by infiltrating hackers’ systems using a bug in the analytics software included with a pair of hacker toolkits, notably one dubbed “LuckySploit,” said Royal. “We forged a ‘refer’ field and put in a little JavaScript,” he explained, “and that revealed the hackers to us via their IP addresses.”

So basically, a security experts group put out some bait for hackers– exploit tool kits with some javascript code. The hackers went for it, and their computer information was sent back to the security group. Besides grabbing IP numbers and country of origin where they could, the security group saw that hackers use the Opera browser. It’s safer than the other browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc). But it’s not that Opera is BUILT any safer than the others– it’s safer only because so few people use it, that it’s not worthwhile to attack or exploit it.

Well, if it works for me… ! I guess I’ll even take a left-handed mode of safety, as long as its safety.

Also– no browser is really, really safe. A browser is an open door to your computer, just because by necessity there must be that transfer of information between Internet servers (where the websites for you to surf sit) and your computer. There are things you can do to minimize that risk of intrusion: use a firewall; use an anti-virus and keep it updated; don’t use Internet Explorer browser; avoid risky sites (such as music sites, viral video sites, etc); turn off Active X, javascript, and image rendering. Some of these are extreme measures- it’s really up to you to determine your risk.

Posted in browsers, crime, Internet, security news. Tags: exploits, hackers, Opera. 3 Comments »

Some Nice Twitter AddOns for Firefox

August 5, 2009 — Mrs. Mecomber

Now that I have finally hopped on to Twitter, I’ve been keen on tools to making surfing Twitter easy. I’ve tried a few Firefox addons, which unfortunately no longer work since Firefox was recently updated. I do wish Firefox would give us a breather and stop updating all the time! Just as soon as I get used to a cool new Addon, it’s disabled because Firefox has upgraded AGAIN. Sheesh.

Anyway, the two Twitter tools that are still working for me with Firefox 3.5.1 are Power Twitter, Twitterfox, and TinyURL Generator. All very cool Addons!

Twitterfox
This Addon enables you to view Twitter messages, send Twitter messages, and see things like Mentions and Messages from a small icon on your status bar. You can choose to have a popup balloon when new Tweets come in. And you can see a count of how many new Tweets have come in. It’s a great replacement for signing in to the Twitter homepage all the time. See the Addon link for some screenshots and more details.

Power Twitter
I like this Addon, but it is a little hefty. It adds features to the web-based Twitter.com. Stuff like:

I really like the url translation and expansion– it’s very risky to click on links you do not know, and all those tiny.urls and bit.ly links are risky links. I mean– how do you know where it goes? Power Twitter translates these urls to links with the actual titles. For example, let’s say you see a url that says: http://tinyurl.com/nnj35x. Where the heck does that go?! Power Twitter translates the link to its title– so http://tinyurl.com/nnj35x shows up as Mrs. Mecomber’s Scrapbook. I wish they showed the exact url where the links lead, but something is better than nothing. Also, photos links and video links show up inline, too.

TinyURL Generator
This is very handy, not just for Twitter. This Addon places a small icon in your status bar (looks like a chain link). When you are on a webpage, and click the chain link in the status bar, it converts the page where you are into a Tiny Url link, automatically. You just paste into your text, that’s it. Very handy.

I’ll be on the lookout for more helpful Twitter tools, so come back and check later.

Posted in browsers, free stuff, networking. Comments Off »

Update Mania

July 19, 2009 — Mrs. Mecomber

Like the sands of the hourglass, like the political tweaking of the Medicare supplement plan, software updates are ever with us. Two biggies hit the scene this month. Here’s what’s up…

Firstly, if you use the Firefox browser, it is advisable that you update to the latest version, 3.5. The update fixes some serious security bugs. There’s a video explaining more about the update at the Mozilla website. I updated and didn’t notice very much except that two of my favorite AddOns no longer work (one of them being TabMixPlus). But I use Opera whenever possible.

Secondly, Microsoft has officially released Vista Service Pack 2, after several months of beta. There’s a great post by PC World Six Things You Should Know About Vista SP2, and another informative article here. Microsoft has their own basic bones explanation (as basic as MS can get, anyway) about the SP2.

I still have Vista SP1. I don’t have any intention of rushing to get SP2, unless it will improve my graphics card performance. I have a Nvidia GeForce 9100… not top of the line by any means, but it should be able to handle my tasks, especially since I have a quad-core machine. But it’s starting to stutter, and I’m wondering if a Vista update may be responsible. (I do have the latest driver for the card). I’m really cautious about Service Packs; a few years ago, XP SP 1 messed with my computer. So download at your own risk, until Microsoft works out the bugs (more).

Posted in browsers, Windows. Tags: Firefox, Microsoft, updates. Comments Off »

Gaping Hole in Internet Explorer

July 6, 2009 — Mrs. Mecomber

In a rare move, Microsoft has released a statement notifying the public of a severe vulnerability in their software that they have not a fix for, yet.

Microsoft is investigating a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Video ActiveX Control. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the local user. When using Internet Explorer, code execution is remote and may not require any user intervention.

We are aware of attacks attempting to exploit the vulnerability.

Our investigation has shown that there are no by-design uses for this ActiveX Control in Internet Explorer which includes all of the Class Identifiers within the msvidctl.dll that hosts this ActiveX Control. For Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 customers, Microsoft is recommending removing support for this ActiveX Control within Internet Explorer using all the Class Identifiers listed in the Workaround section. Though unaffected by this vulnerability, Microsoft is recommending that Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 customers remove support for this ActiveX Control within Internet Explorer using the same Class Identifiers as a defense-in-depth measure.

Yikes.

Microsoft has a fix for this, but it will basically shut down ActiveX functionality for your Internet Explorer browser.

Other choices are to dump Internet Explorer altogether, and go with Firefox or Opera.

Posted in browsers, security news. Tags: ActiveX, browsers, Microsoft, security. 5 Comments »

A Great Functionality for Google Maps

April 7, 2009 — Mrs. Mecomber

This is SO COOL. It’s called Click2Map. It’s like a “skinning” program– a software editor, really– for the very popular Google Maps. I love Google Maps, I admit. I use it all the time, especially to map out my travels for my travel blog. I have a very nice map of all the places we’ve traveled, complete with reviews, photos, and tourist information. I’ve put a lot into my Google Map. But it is kind of clunky, and I’ve always wished I could add more features to my Map. I saw a very cool video explaining what Click2Map can do with Google Maps– you have got the see the video! The speaker is a little difficult to understand (Click2Map is from France), and the video moves very quickly, but the demonstrations are just amazing. This is so cool!!

You can visit Click2Map here.

So, with Click2Map, you can FINALLY create custom-made map markers (something I’ve been wanting for a while), password-protect your maps, make a personal database, make templates for your markers, importa and export XML and KML files, and more. And you can add urls into the footer– perfect for me who is a travel blogger; I use maps to promote my website and tell the stories of where we have been.

Of course, if you just like to fool around and play with maps, Click2Maps is great for that, too. And I’ll bet this would be perfect for geocachers and people who travel frequently for business. The entire program is just amazing. Check out the website for pricing– there’s a free 30-day trial version, as well as very beefy versions for corporations or the hard-core map aficionado. You can get more information at the signup page here.
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