One patch due in Microsoft's monthly security update

One patch due in Microsoft's monthly security update
Fix to critical bug in OS to be released Tuesday

News Story by Robert McMillan
SEPTEMBER 09, 2005

(IDG NEWS SERVICE) - September is starting to look like a quiet month for Microsoft Corp.'s security response team. The software vendor said its monthly release of security fixes, expected Tuesday, will cover only one issue: an unidentified flaw in the Windows operating system.
The bug is rated as critical, meaning that a worm could take advantage of it without user action.
The patch for this bug, called an "update" by Microsoft, will come as part of the company's regular monthly patch release cycle. Microsoft releases most software patches on the second Tuesday of each month, a date that has come to be known as "Patch Tuesday" by security professionals.
In August, Microsoft released six updates on Patch Tuesday, and hackers wasted no time in targeting one of the problems they fixed. Within days, a number of different worm attacks that exploited a bug in the Windows Plug and Play service began taking down an estimated 250,000 computers, primarily Windows 2000 systems running in corporate environments (see "Worm wave highlights need for speedier defenses").
When Microsoft releases a large number of patches, companies can spend the entire month testing the new software to make sure it works with their applications. But with only one bug to be patched this month, it should be much easier, said Steve Manzuik, a product manager at eEye Digital Security Inc.'s research group.
"I think September will be quiet," Manzuik said. "When we get the six, seven, eight or nine patches, it gets to be a bit more difficult."

Microsoft TV-Enabled Set-Top Boxes

They're Here: Microsoft TV-Enabled Set-Top Boxes
Software giant announces the availability of hardware for its IPTV technology.

John Blau, IDG News Service
Friday, September 09, 2005

After lining up several big-name telecommunication service providers to offer its new IPTV (Internet Protocol television) technology, Microsoft is now following up with a list of companies to provide optimized set-top boxes, and with a new system-on-chip component targeted at consumer electronics manufacturers.

At the International Broadcasters Convention (IBC) in Amsterdam, the U.S. software company announced on Friday the availability of the first set-top systems supporting Microsoft TV IPTV Edition. The IPM11xx products, jointly developed by Thomson and Intel, are now shipping to customers, Microsoft says. The products support a range of video codecs, including MPEG-2, Windows Media Video 9, and MPEG-4 AVC, and are equipped with a 1.4-GHz Intel 854 processor.
Also announced at IBC were two new set-top box suppliers: Linksys-KiSS (a division of Cisco Systems), which plans to have a product on the market in December; and Tatung, which provided no details on product availability.
Motorola, which announced its support for Microsoft IPTV technology in a range of IP-based video products earlier this year, says it plans to offer a hybrid IPTV-DTT (digital terrestrial television) product as well.
"This hybrid product is aimed mostly at the European market, where this is a substantial amount of free over-the-air digital service," says Ed Gracyzk, director of marketing for the Microsoft TV division.
Scientific-Atlanta, another supplier that previously announced its support for Microsoft TV IPTV Edition, says it is working on a range of products targeting both the North American and European markets.
Pricing will be down to service providers. "The manufacturers of the set-top boxes will sell their products to the telecommunication service providers, which, in turn, will most likely lease this equipment to customers as part of a service package," Gracyzk says. "So it is very difficult to say what the set-top boxes will cost."
System on a Chip
Another key announcement made by Microsoft at IBC is the availability of a new system-on-chip component, which enables the production of low-cost devices optimized for Microsoft TV IPTV Edition. The SMP8634 media processor, supplied by Sigma Designs, can be embedded in a range of consumer electronic devices, such as TV sets, PCs, and game consoles, according to Microsoft.
"This is an important product development for a couple of reasons," Gracyzk says. "First of all, the chip will help manufacturers reduce costs by integrating various functions into one chip and eliminating the need for various components. And second, the chips can be embedded into many different kinds of consumer electronic products, such as DVD players, thus eliminating the need for a separate IPTV receiver."
With IPTV set-top box products now trickling in, the next question is: When will service be available? "Our software platform is in the final stage and will be available before the end of the year," Gracyzk says.
Most of the operators that have agreed to use Microsoft's IPTV technology plan to roll out service in the course of next year. A few, such as Swisscom, which had planned service earlier, were forced to delay their commercial launches largely because of technical difficulties with the Microsoft software.
The list of operators signed up by Microsoft includes BT Group, Telecom Italia, and Deutsche Telekom in Europe, as well as BellSouth, SBC Communications, and Verizon Communications in North America.

10 Highly Effective Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Website

10 Highly Effective Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Website
Posted by Advanced Search Email Address: Your Name: Got a on: 2005-09-07 18:07:41

There are many ways to promote your website for free online. Here are 10 highly effective strategies you can use right now.

1. Write articles or free reports for other webmasters to publish and put your website address in the by-line. If you write good content, your articles will be published and many readers who like your article will go on to visit your website.

2. Arrange a Joint Venture partnership with List owners and Webmasters.

3. Add your ad or website address to your email signature. This way, every time you send an email, you'll be promoting your website.

4. Exchange Links with Other Webmasters. This is another effective strategy for generating targeted traffic to your website for free. It involves contacting other webmasters for a possible link exchange partnership.

5. Add a blog to your site and Ping weblogs.com and other search engines. Pinging your blogs to the search engines is the fastest way to get the search engine robots to visit your blog and attract new visitors to your web site.

6. Submit your blog address to blog search sites and directories. You can submit your blog's URL to websites such as Technorati, Daypop, Blogdex and Popdex. For a complete list of websites where you can submit your URL, go to http://www.guidetorss.com

7. Create RSS feeds for your site and submit the feed URLs to the major RSS feed directories online. A good place to start is http://www.guidetorss.com/ which provides a list of the top RSS directories.

8. Be an active commenter. Try to leave comments on the blogs that you regularly visit. Most comment systems also provide a way for you to leave a link back to your blog or website which begs a visit at the very least.

9. If you plan to have anything printed up, put your web address on it. You can print your URL on business cards, stickers, leaflets, etc.

10. Add your web address to your forum profile signature. Every time you post or respond to questions your ad will be displayed. If you post good content in forums, people who read your threads will also check out your website.

© Copyright 2005 Chileshe Mwape. Submit articles for free at http://www.going-platinum.co.uk/ All articles are published instantly. You can submit reports, news, press releases, stories, product reviews, opinions, editorials about your website and services and much more.