Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – July 17, 2009

10 dumb things users do that can mess up their computers – Users find plenty of ways to run into trouble, from gunking up their system with shareware to leaving it exposed to attackers. This list will help them avoid such problems.

Mozilla, Google plug high-risk browser holes – Just 48 hours after the release of exploit code targeting a zero-day vulnerability in Firefox 3.5, Mozilla’s security response team has rushed out a patch to protect users from code execution attacks. With Firefox 3.5.1, rated a “critical” update, the open-source group corrects a browser crash that could result in an exploitable memory corruption problem.

Rescue Your Data Using VistaPE – Want to get your geek on? It takes patience and persistence to set up this utility, but the reward is a powerful tool for recovering data from a corrupt Windows system.

Cybercriminals Take Lessons From Business School – Online bad guys building specialized businesses along with sophisticated marketing and distribution strategies, Cisco study says.

Canadian Facebookers face privacy breach – The popular social networking site, which is used by 12 million Canadians and 200 million people worldwide, also keeps personal information indefinitely after users deactivate their accounts.

Google Launches ‘My Favorite Places’ for Maps – Google launched a personalized mapping service, My Favorite Places, at an event in San Francisco on Wednesday. The service works with Google Maps, and has something for both small businesses as well as consumers.

Twitter documents stolen from Google Apps: Theft raises cloud security concerns – A hacker has reportedly obtained and distributed more than 300 confidential documents pertaining to Twitter’s business affairs. The documents were reportedly stored on Google Apps.

Major Antivirus Engines Failing To Detect Malware – AV programs having trouble keeping up with email viruses, study says.

It’s Time We Talked About Netbooks – All Netbook users typically rely on online applications and services which do not require powerful hardware on the local computer (aka “cloud computing“), such as Google Docs and Calendar.

NiftyClicks: Loot, iFreelance, PlanetBargains, SideStep – It’s time for more NiftyClicks from our favorite marketing maverick, Andrew Lock. Check out his selection cool tools that can make your life a little bit easier.

Spam Not So Profitable? – Despite a huge rise in volume, many spammers don’t make as much money as you might think.

RFID passports: a tragedy waiting to happen – You’re strolling in the south of France when a van stops, men burst out and, in seconds, hustle you into the van. “American scum!” they hiss as they hood you. But wearing a Sorbonne t-shirt and no fanny pack, how did they know? Thank your government — and a bad storage choice.

One year from today Microsoft will retire support for Windows XP Service Pack 2 – Windows XP is not being retired, but support for Service Pack 2 is. It may be the case, and in fact I would guess it would be the case, that from them on you will have to have Service Pack 3 in order get support, including patches to subsequently disclosed vulnerabilities.

Off Topic:

Lifehacker: Recharge Your Car’s Air Conditioner – If you have a car that isn’t showroom fresh anymore, there’s also a good chance it’s lost a little of its air conditioning mojo. Get things icy cool again with this simple fix.

Positive Thinking Quotes – Thinking positively can change your life, let these inspirational quotes on inspire you to keep your thoughts in a positive way!

Dalai Lama’s 18 rules for living – At the start of the new millennium the Dalai Lama apparently issued eighteen rules for living. Since word travels slowly in the digital age these have only just reached me. Here they are.

Ten Things You Need to Know to Live on the Streets – For millions of Americans, the housing crisis began well before last year’s front-page collapse. Bigotry and criminalization by an unjust system of policing and incarceration, combined with economic privation, have kept even the meager privilege of a subprime mortgage or slumlord lease out of reach for many. As the crisis unfolds, the number of homeless will grow.

Today’s Free Downloads:

Ultimate Windows Tweaker – A freeware Tweak UI Utility for tweaking and optimizing Windows Vista, 32-bit & 64-bit.

Windows Movie Maker – With Movie Maker 2, you can create, edit, and share your home movies. You create movies with drag-and-drop commands, and you can edit your footage so you highlight only the best scenes. Then you can share your movie via the Web, e-mail, or CD; you can also save your movie back to the video tape in your camera to play back on a TV or on the camera itself.

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