| Newegg Daily Deals: Corsair Carbide Series 200R Case, AMD A10-6800K Richland, and More! Posted: 10 Dec 2014 11:28 AM PST |
| Microsoft Tells Windows 10 Users to Uninstall Office Prior to Applying Patch Tuesday Updates Posted: 10 Dec 2014 11:11 AM PST  The pitfalls of pre-release software
Microsoft's Gabriel Aul of the Windows Preview team tweeted out some inconvenient news to Windows 10 users who have Office installed. In order to install the crop of updates for this month's Patch Tuesday, Windows 10 users will have to first uninstall Office, or the installer will fail. Once all the security patches are applied, users are free to then reinstall Office on their Windows 10 rigs. Alternately, Microsoft could have worked on a fix, though "rather than rolling a new fix (losing several days in the process) we're going to publish as-is," Aul said on Twitter. You can view the series of tweets at The Inquirer. Times like this underscore one of the drawbacks to working with pre-release software. Windows 10 is in Preview form, meaning it's not yet finished and still needs polishing. That's not to say something like this couldn't also occur with finished software, it's just more likely when working with an early build that isn't yet ready for prime time. December's Patch Tuesday contains seven updates with fixes for two dozen vulnerabilities, four of which are rated Critical and three others rated Important. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Long Time Windows Trojan Trots Over to Linux Posted: 10 Dec 2014 10:41 AM PST  Variants of the Turla Trojan for Windows has been found on Linux systems
Security researchers have discovered at least two Linux-based variants of a Trojan that for years has been infecting Windows systems. Dubbed "Turla," the Trojan has been around for four years or more and has infected hundreds of Windows machines in use at government institutions, embassies, military facilities, educational institutions, and research and pharmaceutical companies. According to TechNewsWorld, security outfit Kaspersky Lab discovered the two variants running on Linux. One is a C/C++ executable statically linked against multiple libraries and stripped of symbol information, presumably so it would difficult for researchers to reverse engineer. Details of the second variant haven't been released by Kaspersky. These are highly sophisticated malware samples that appear to have come from Russia. Some researchers believe they're government funded, which would make sense given the institutions they've been targeting. The Turla sampled described above is based on a proof-of-concept backdoor malware that has been around for several years. It provides remote access to systems without showing an open port at all times -- a trick it accomplishes by using a sniffer to capture packets. The Linux Turla can also hide itself without elevated priveleges as it runs arbitrary remote commands. That means it will still function as intended even if a regular user with limited privileges launches it. Image Credit: Flickr (adam.hartling.ns) Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Asus Pairs GeForce GTX 750 Graphics Card with Passive Cooler Posted: 10 Dec 2014 09:36 AM PST  Keep it hush
Do you know what's a great sound when you pass by a home theater PC, or really any type of system for that matter? Trick question -- the answer is nothing, which is what you expect to hear from a silently configured computer. To help you build one, Asus has released a passively cooled version of the GeForce GTX 750 (GTX750-DCSL-2GD5), or at least it's going to. There's a product page for the card on the company's website, just no press release or domestic retailer listing (yet) that we can find. We stumbled upon the card over at Fudzilla, a news and rumor site that itself credits Chinese-language website Expreview.com for first spotting the card. Between the three of us, we've been unable to locate the card selling online in the U.S., though we expect that to change in the near-term considering there exists an official product page and at least one overseas listing. The GeForce GTX 750 is essentially a somewhat gimped version of the Nvidia's Maxwell GM107 GPU with 512 CUDA cores. Asus stuck with Nvidia's reference parameters by keeping the base and boost clocks at 1020MHz and 1085MHz, respectively. The card also boasts 1GB 2GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 5010MHz on a 128-bit bus, resulting in 80Gbps of memory bandwidth. So it's a standard GTX 750, in other words, but with a fanless DirectCU Silent cooler that Asus claims lowers temps by 16 percent compared to "conventional passive cards," though there's no mention of how it compares to Nvidia's reference cooler. Cooling is also aided by "exclusively formulated" premium alloys in power delivery components, Asus says. No word on price in the U.S., though the non-passive version from Asus streets for around $115 to $125. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Lenovo Recalls Over Half a Million Laptop Cords Due to Fire Hazard Posted: 10 Dec 2014 08:56 AM PST  Faulty power cords distributed with select Lenovo notebooks could overheat and catch fire
Lenovo is recalling more than 500,000 AC power cords distributed in the U.S. and another 44,000 in Canada due the risk of overheating and burning or catching fire. The potentially affected power cords were manufactured from February 2011 to December 2011 and distributed with the company's B, G, S, U, V, and Z Series of IdeaPad laptops, as well as its B, G, and V Series of non-IdeaPad laptops. The cords, which are black in color, have "LS-15" molded onto the AC adapter at the end. You can find the date code on a label attached to the cord in the format REV: 00 YYMM, according to a notice posted on the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission's website. So far, there haven't been any reported incidents in the U.S. or Canada involving the aforementioned power cords, though there have been 15 incidents outside the U.S. that involve overheating, sparking, melting, and burning. None have resulted in injuries. If you own one of the affected models, Lenovo says to stop using the power cord and to unplug it immediately. You can then contact Lenovo for a free replacement. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Swedish Police Raid The Pirate Bay, Sinking Popular Torrent Site Posted: 10 Dec 2014 08:33 AM PST  TPB co-founder Peter Sunde hopes the torrent site stays offline
The most popular torrent site on the Internet has been taken down after Swedish police raided The Pirate Bay (TBP) in Stockholm. They seized servers, computers, and various other equipment, taking action against the site after receiving a complaint from the Rights Alliance, a former anti-piracy bureau. Adding a twist to the plot, TBP co-founder Peter Sunde wants the site to stay down. "News just reached me that The Pirate Bay has been raided, again. That happened over 8 years ago last time. That time, a lot of people went out to protest and rally in the streets. Today few seem to care. And I'm one of them," Sunde stated in a blog post. The TPB co-founder went on to say that the torrent site lost its soul over the course of the past few years and what remains is a site that's "ugly, full of bugs, old code and old design," along with a plethora of ads. He also said the original plan was to shutter the site after 10 years, an anniversary that has come and went. In speaking with TorrentFreak.com, Sunde explained the reasoning, saying TPB's purpose was to bring BitTorrent to the masses. That goal was successfully completed years ago, hence one reason he'd like to see it stay offline. He may also feel a bit bitter for having served time behind bars for his prior role with the site. According to a BBC report, Stockholm County Police have been investigating TPB for years. That investigation is what ultimately led them to the location of the servers. There's also been a ripple effect -- some smaller torrent sites have also gone offline as a result of TPB's raid. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
