lovesan / blaster worm
and other lovely topics

• Deadline Saturday - for the next phase of lovesan / blaster worm.
• The Upcoming Office 2003 Product
• Editing in the Print Preview Window
• Read it on the web
• Google Links
• Keep the Megabyte Minute Tip Letter Free

This worm seems different to me. It’s more sinister; and in many ways more dangerous -- even though the official rating from Symantec is low danger (because it doesn't destroy anything on your computer). It has caused havoc in the business community by making companies remove their systems from productive use and eating productivity of IT departments and individual users. Home users have been caught too. I've seen estimates that start at 166,000 infections already - and effected systems at beyond 1 million. Plus within 48 hours of the initial spread of lovesan, two variants have already been spotted.

Even though a patch exists to fix the vulnerability that the worm exploits, the worm makes it hard to get the patch by making systems reboot every couple minutes - so you don't have time to download the patch using Windows Update. And this Saturday, it starts a new phase that makes it even tougher. That's when it is set to begin a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack on Microsoft's Windows Update website. If it is successful, getting the patch (and lots of other security patches) will be that much more difficult and time consuming.

You don't have to open an attachment to be infected as you did for Anna Kournikova and other viruses. This worm infects your system by simply being connected to a network with an infected system. I have spoken with people who have been touched by connecting to the Internet. Windows XP users are prime candidates - if you haven't downloaded the patch that has been available since July 16.

I have posted instructions that will disable the worm temporarily to allow you to download the proper security update, as well as additional information that I have collected during the past few days. Special thanks to Art Manion, Kelly Kimberland and Bill Pollack at the CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh for providing valuable information to me by phone and email. (CERT is the center that is responsible for Internet security.)

According to the security companies that found the newest variants, if you install the patch to protect yourself against the lovesan worm, you will be protected from the variants too. But that could change as more variants come out. So keep your eyes on your Megabyte Minute Tip Letter.

• More Information

The Upcoming Office 2003 Product

Thank goodness, not all news is bad news. Microsoft is putting the finishing touches on Office 2003, and there are a lot of enhancements that will make life at the computer easier for you. I've been working with the beta version of the product, and have been putting together my list of items that we must go over in future Megabyte Minute Tip Letter issues.

But we shouldn't have to wait to get productivity out of our systems. Here's a quick tip for Word:

Editing in the Print Preview Window

It seems like a strange thing to want to do - but you can actually edit in the Print Preview window. That's the window that shows what your actual page will look like - and is a closer representation than your "Normal" or "Print Layout" views. Those are the views that you usually work in.

• Click on the [Print Preview] icon or select [File] --> [Print Preview].
• Click on the [Magnifier] icon to get out of zoom/unzoom mode and into edit mode.

• Music Downloads - the real scoop
  Hear from legal and technical experts and college administrators - because that's where the real action is. Could your children get you into legal hot water while they're away at school?
   
• Napping Napster on Verge of Waking Up
  The file sharing service that started the revolution is about to come back - legally.
   
• Regional Tax Sharing Resources
  My hometown of Pittsburgh is trying to deal with a financial crisis, so I looked up how other regions deal with the tax disparity between the core city and the suburbs. Some of the resources are interesting. So I thought I'd share them with you.

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MEGABYTE MINUTE TIP LETTER
Issue 1603mbm
Thursday, August 14, 2003
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