E-Musings Mon Immorata

If It Ain't Broke? New Opera features revamped interface, open-source IE update turns Trojan There's a whole new look Opera 7.5 Preview (without Java) available. But before I share my personal experiences with it, and some other interesting software. I'd like to alert you about a supposedly 'open-source' Internet Explorer patch that's been now revealed as a Trojan and spy ware! Openwares.org supposedly identified a new, as yet unpatched by Microsoft, spoofing vulnerability about which Microsoft doesn't have a specific final fix. Instead they suggest you copy-paste and run this script to cross-check for spoofed URLd

javascript:alert("Actual URL address: " + location.protocol + "//" + location.hostname + "/");

OR

javascript:alert("The actual URL is:\t\t" + location.protocol + "//" + location.hostname + "/" + "\nThe address URL is:\t\t" + location.href + "\n" + "\nIf the server names do not match, this may be a spoof.");

However, these scripts aren't infallible and requires Java scripting enabled. The Openwares.org binary executable update supposedly resolves this issue. But Heise.de, a German security site, found the update included its own buffer overflow error that would affect systems as yet unpatched against the buffer overflow vulnerability. And to add insult to injury, the update also included IEmsg.dll, a Windows Registry-level spy ware that secretly shared system information and browsing patterns with Openwares. And a quick visit to the Openwares Forum showed just one post! Curiouser and curiouser. The lesson we learn is that Microsoft seems the best, most-reliable source of Windows-related updates. They may be slow, but they get around to doing it right. Getting back to Opera 7.50, the entire browser interface has been changed to better integrate this software into (ubiquitous) Windows XP themes. There are lots of changes, chief among which are cleaner, more intuitive toolbar layout. And the ad-banner has gone from oddly-structured text box, to occupying the entire top toolbar area; except in this early version, I could see only the top half of the banner! The Menus too have been reorganized, and instead of putting everything together, there are now separate menu for different functions, like Tools (Cookie management, the Wand, Contacts), and the primary and personal bars are disabled by default. Instead, the key controls (back, forward, fast forward, reload) are displayed next to the address bar for each open Tab. The Hotlist is still there, but has been grouped into a single vertical left bar, that opens individual Panels. This is always visible and of-used links like History, Transfers, and Mail are available directly without multiple-layered menus. The M2 mail client has been expanded to handle news, IRC chat and RSS News feeds. The new interface seems more intuitive and mail accounts are grouped into a separate dialog displaying the status of individual folders. But getting a handle on this revised interface is still a bit tricky as I found after defining a new IMAP account. When I tried to add a second account, M2 decided this too was an IMAP account with predictable errors. And after restarting the browser found I could access the mail folder status dialog. As a matter of fact I was unable to query Opera's demo IRC server or view news feeds. The good news is that if you can understand, download and configure the open-source Aspell binary for Windows, you get spell check support for new messages. Personally, I find Aspell hard to use and haven't got the time (or energy) to spend on getting it to run right. Unfortunately even in the main mail window, the interface wasn't informative and I'll take Thunderbird over M2 for now. There are several other enhancements, big fixes, and new features. The complete list can be viewed here with a download link. Or in the change log. The rest of the past week saw a flurry of Winamp 5-related releases. Shortly after version 5 was released, came a 5.01 update about a day later. Winamp 5.x is available in separate Full and Lite versions, with a third Pro version to be soon available. The core difference between the free and pay versions is CD encoding, with the Pro ($15) supporting CD Ripping, encoding as MP3 and burning CDs directly from Winamp. The freeware supports Ogg-Vorbis; an open-source VBR (variable bit rate) codec that's not very commonly used. However, my experiences on Windows 2000 with Winamp 5 RC 666 weren't too happy. Perhaps it was Satan's number but the build kept crashing when I used it to play audio CDs. And the crashes weren't simple ones either: I received a complete BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) that required a cold reboot. However there weren't any visible problems, or after-effects, when playing MP3 and WMA (Windows Media) files. On Windows XP however, RC 666 remained stable. Also new for the week is a still-under-wraps Mozilla Firebird 0.8 Preview. Along with lots of new feature (several outstanding Extensions have been folded into the new build), this also sports a the Firebird icon that the original Firebird browser introduced. You can download a copy (6 MB binary) from a folder nested deep within the Mozilla FTP site. However many of the cosmetic changes are yet to be completed. And the install dialog for the build dated December 19, 2003 still gives the browser version as 0.7+. Luckily the binary update supports safe upgrading so you shouldn't need to remove the previous version manually or risk losing your settings, extensions, and themes (if installed). However, with over 4 Firebird versions installed, I did manage to lose one of my Profiles and had to start afresh! Among the many modifications is a new dialog that cross-checks if every extension installation is authorized by the user. On completion, a status bar alert about new items installed pops up. Now if only the next version could apply updates on the fly without needing a browser restart. That's it from me this week. See you next week. Email Freeloader