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To receive automatic notifications whenever Microsoft Security Bulletins and Microsoft Security Advisories are issued or revised, subscribe to Microsoft Technical Security Notifications on http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/notify.mspx.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Ever Wonder About Pirates and Cannon Balls?
CANNON BALLS!!It was necessary to keep a good supply of cannon balls near the cannon on old war ships. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck was the problem. The best storage method devised was to stack them as a square based pyramid, with one ball on top, resting on four, resting on nine, which rested on sixteen.
Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem -- how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding/rolling from under the others.
The solution was a metal plate with 16 round indentations, called, for reasons unknown, a Monkey. But if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make them of brass - hence, Brass Monkeys.Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faste r than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would come right off the monkey.
Thus, it was quite literally, cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. And all this time, you thought that was just a vulgar expression, didn't you?
Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem -- how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding/rolling from under the others.
The solution was a metal plate with 16 round indentations, called, for reasons unknown, a Monkey. But if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make them of brass - hence, Brass Monkeys.Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faste r than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would come right off the monkey.
Thus, it was quite literally, cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. And all this time, you thought that was just a vulgar expression, didn't you?
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
A Serious System Threat
We have recently had calls from several clients who have fallen victim to a sofware rogue that seriously impacts your abilty to do productive work on your computers. The rogue is named with Anti-Virus 2008 or Anti-Virus 2009.
On first blush, the product looks very "official". Victims most often think their system (or the Windows Security features) is telling them they have an infestation that needs to be addressed. So the computer gives permission, opens the door and waits for whatever happens. And what's likely to happen is NOT good.
Once in your system, manually getting rid of the thing is almost an impossible task. It's a multi-step process that requires manually deleting files, editing the registry and other nasties that casual users should not consider.
We've found one product that does a very good job unless Windows has really been damaged; and that product is SpyHunter. We recommend it highly. You can download it free and run it to determine if your machine is infected; but you must pay the $29.99 and register it before you can use it clean your PC.
The best solution though is to not put your machine at risk in the first place.
On first blush, the product looks very "official". Victims most often think their system (or the Windows Security features) is telling them they have an infestation that needs to be addressed. So the computer gives permission, opens the door and waits for whatever happens. And what's likely to happen is NOT good.
Once in your system, manually getting rid of the thing is almost an impossible task. It's a multi-step process that requires manually deleting files, editing the registry and other nasties that casual users should not consider.
We've found one product that does a very good job unless Windows has really been damaged; and that product is SpyHunter. We recommend it highly. You can download it free and run it to determine if your machine is infected; but you must pay the $29.99 and register it before you can use it clean your PC.
The best solution though is to not put your machine at risk in the first place.
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