- 23 Oct 23! FirewallTimes: Microsoft
Data Breaches: Full Timeline Through 2023.
- 1 Oct 22 Bleeding Computer: New
Microsoft Exchange zero-days actively exploited in attacks
- CERT
advice: Microsoft
Releases Guidance on Zero-Day Vulnerabilities in Microsoft
Exchange Server.
- 17 Dec 21 Japan Today: Global
race to patch critical computer bug.(‘Log4Shell’)
- 7 Aug 21 Gizmodo: Kindle
[e-Reader] Flaw Could Have Let Hackers Take Control of
Your Ebook Reader and Steal Information
- 11 Mar 21 Yahoo: 'URGENT':
Aussies warned over Microsoft email hack attack.
- 14 Jan 21 Signal
[app] to ramp up hiring after WhatsApp controversy drives
download surge
- 8 Jan 21 Techradar: WhatsApp's
new privacy policy requires you to share data with
Facebook.
- 14 Jul 20 Techradar: Microsoft
Office 365 users targeted in SurveyMonkey phishing
- 14 Jul 20 The Guardian: Google
detecting 18m malware and phishing messages per day
related to Covid-19.
- 11 Mar 20 The Verge: A
major new Intel processor flaw could defeat encryption and
DRM protections
- 18 Jan 20 CNN: NSA
alerted Microsoft to major Windows 10 security flaw +
Techradar: Microsoft
releases critical Windows 10 security update – which
doesn’t work.
- 10 Jan 2020! New Scientist: A
lazy fix 20 years ago means the Y2K bug is taking down
computers now (see our Y2K
page)
- 30 Nov 19 Australian Cyber Security Centre: Widespread
exploitation of vulnerable systems via Emotet malware.
- 19 Aug 19 ARS Technica: Four
wormable bugs in newer versions of Windows need your
attention now. Exploits against Windows 7 to 10 could
spread from PC to PC—no user interaction needed.
- 16 Jul 19 News.com: ‘Agent
Smith’ infects 25 million Android devices globally through
WhatsApp, Opera and SwiftKey clones + Checkpoint: Agent
Smith: A New Species of Mobile Malware (thanks Al
Varnell)
- 8 Oct 18 Lifehacker: Microsoft's
Windows 10 October Update Has Turned Into A Huge Mess
- user files deleted
- 21 May 18 MacRumours: Intel
Discloses New 'Variant 4' Spectre-Like Vulnerability.
- 18 Apr 18 NYMag: An
Apology for the Internet — From the People Who Built It.
- 17 Apr 18 ABC: Russian
hacking: Australia caught up in cyber attacks blamed on
Moscow-backed hackers. (routers!)
- 17 Apr 18 WSJ: Microsoft
Turns to Old Enemy Linux to Solve Vexing Tech Threat.
- 5 Feb 18 News Azure: Microsoft
releases emergency Windows update to leverage Spectre
- previous patch has bugs?
- 3 Jan 18 Gizmodo: Report:
All Intel Processors Made In The Last Decade Might Have A
Massive Security Flaw - patches imminent?
- 29 Nov 17 SMH: Apple
Mac [High Sierra] software has login flaw that puts
private data at risk - you need to address this! (see
also Apple:How to
enable the root user on your Mac or change your root
password & MacRumours)
- 22 Nov 17 Gizmodo: How
Facebook Figures Out Everyone You've Ever Met -
anyone who has your details and agrees to upload their
contacts
to Facebook (just by agreeing to "People You May Know" terms
and
condtions) creates a silent record of those details!
- 22 Nov 17 Japan Times: U.S.
says North Korean malware lurking in computer networks.
- 30 Jun 17 Gizmodo: Windows
10 S Doesn't Appear to Be as Invulnerable to Ransomware as
Microsoft Claims.
- 15 May 17 CERT: Indicators
Associated With WannaCry Ransomware
- gaining access to enterprise servers either through Remote
Desktop
Protocol (RDP) compromise or through the exploitation of a
critical
Windows SMB vulnerability. Microsoft released a security
update for the MS17-010
(link is external) vulnerability on March 14, 2017.
According to open
sources, one possible infection vector is via phishing
emails.
- 5 May 17 Reddit: New
Google Docs phishing scam, almost undetectable
(update:resolved but be cautious)
- 19 Apr 17 CIO: Leaked
NSA exploits plant a bull's-eye on Windows Server - A
hacking group leaked spying tools on Friday that can target
older versions of Windows
- 29 Aug 16 CERT: Symantec
and Norton Security Products Contain Critical
Vulnerabilities
- 12 Mar 16 SMH: Malware
hijacks big four Australian banks' apps, steals two-factor
SMS codes - the malware sneaks onto Android devices by
imitating the Adobe Flash Player application... + 'Locky'
ransomware scam hits tens of thousands of Australian
computers.
- 21 Jul 15 The Independemt: Windows
vulnerability lets hackers take control of computers,
Microsoft issues fix for PCs .
- 1 May 14 SMH: Australia,
US, UK advise avoiding Microsoft Internet Explorer until
bug fixed.
- 27 Mar 14 About.com: Word
Subject to New Remote Code Execution Attack (includes
Macs)
- 27 Nov 12 SMH: Windows
8 sales flounder as critics pan clumsy interface - "a
monster that terrorises poor office workers and strangles their productivity"
- 27 Nov 12 CSO: Malware
RAT rides hoax news.com.au tsunami [threat] to Australia
[on New Years Eve] - a sad method of using fear to spread a
computer
virus. Like earthquakes,
tsunami cannot be accurately predicted.
- 7 Apr 12 SMH: Anti-virus
can't keep up with threat onslaught.
- 11 May 11 Scientific American: Microsoft's
Skype Deal Promises Video Chat for Windows Phones - it
is buying voice and video communications provider Skype
Global for $8.5 billion. Ominous!
- 23 Oct 10 NewSci: Stuxnet:
the online front line
- a few lines of malicious computer code can trip
electricity grids,
burn out power-station generators, pollute water supplies
and sabotage
gas pipelines... It uses vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows to give an
attacker remote control of the specialised factory-floor
computers used to control industrial processes.
- 23 Jul 10 New Scientist: PC
giant warns of hardware trojan
- Computer maker Dell is warning, according to The Register,
that some
of its server motherboards have been delivered to customers
carrying an
unwanted extra: computer malware...
- 3 Jun 10 About.com: Spyware
Embedded in [Mac] Screen Saver Installer + Google
Dumps Windows; Mac or Linux the Choice for New Hires -
Google is dumping the Windows OS from all of its computing
platforms due to security concerns.
- 27 May 10 BBC: Apple
passes Microsoft to be biggest tech company
- 24 Apr 10 BBC: Security
update hits Windows PCs - Thousands of PCs around the
world have been paralysed by a security update that wrongly
labelled part of Windows as a virus.
- 17 Jan 10 BBC: German
government warns against using MS Explorer.
- 13 May 09 WP: Can
I Recommend Internet Explorer 8? Should I? See the
long list of user woes... note that a Coloured
Tab add-on is available for Firefox.
- 28 Feb 09 WP: Microsoft:
Attackers Target Unpatched Excel Flaw.
- 22 Jan 09 BBC: Windows worm trickery for Vista.
- 17 Dec 08 WP: Microsoft:
Big Security Hole in All IE
Versions.
- 31 Oct 08 WP: Data-Stealing
Trojan Exploiting Just-Patched Windows
Flaw.
- 3 Jun 08 BCS: Microsoft
issues caution [over Safari bug]
- 4 May 08 PC World: Microsoft
Backpedals on Windows
Updates - Microsoft
has withdrawn Vista SP1 from automatic delivery in the wake
of news
that XP SP3 can cause data corruption in business apps.
- 13 Jan 08 BBC: Warning
on stealthy Windows virus
- Many are falling victim via booby-trapped websites that
use
vulnerabilities in Microsoft's browser to install the attack
code,
which steals login details for online bank accounts.
- 21 Sep 07 DownloadSquad: Microsoft
allowing PC makers to offer XP downgrade from Vista.
- 18 May 07 WP: Samba
developers quash serious bug - a popular way of
allowing Windows clients to print and store files using a
Linux or Unix machine.
- 12 Apr 07 WP: Critical
Vista flaw...
- 7 Apr 07 Computerworld: Researchers
question Vista security after ANI exploit - Microsoft
Corp.'s failure to spot the animated cursor bug in Windows Vista
is, at best, a flag to hackers that old flaws may abound in
the new
operating system, researchers said today. At worst, it's a
disconcerting sign that Vista's security-oriented
development process
slipped up.
- 4 Mar 07 Günther Waldbauer: Demo of
a web server for an Open Access 4 database
- access data directly from a DF file "In the next 2 weeks
we provide
the Open Access Community with Write Support for databases
under PHP..."
- 2 Mar 07 BBC: Net
firms tackle Vista headache
Some old installation discs that simplify the task of
configuring a PC
for broadband have refused to work on machines loaded with
Vista...+ Falling
into the Vista trap.
- 17 Feb 07 BBC: Home
network security scrutinised + WP: The
Dangers of Default Passwords [on routers]
- 15 Feb 07 BBC: Microsoft
fixes 20 security holes - Half of the patches in the
update have been rated as critical
- 2 Feb 07 BBC: Vista has
speech recognition hole.
- 31 Jan 07 Washington Post: At
Microsoft, a Sad Software Lesson
- In my view, we lost our way," Vista's manager, Jim
Allchin, wrote in
an e-mail (later posted online) to Microsoft founder Bill
Gates and
chief executive Steve Ballmer. "I would buy a Mac
today if I was not working at Microsoft." (too
credible to be true!)
- 31 Jan 07 PC World: Symantec
warns of new zero-day Word attack
Until the vulnerability is patched, users should avoid
opening unexpected Word
documents.
- 18 Jan 07 WP: Do
Away With HTML Based E-mail - Last week, Microsoft
issued a patch to fix an extremely dangerous flaw in Windows that
cyber crooks could use to break into your computer just by
getting you to open an e-mail...
- 6 Jan 07 BBC: Security
bug found in [Acrobat] PDF reader [Firefox and
Internet Explorer Windows
users are vulnerable] + Rivals
battle for connected world [Microsoft Vs Apple]
- 21 Dec 06 BBC:
Triple threat targets Word users - Users of older
versions of Office are vulnerable...
- 8 Dec 06 New Scientist: Spam
choking the internet again.
- 5 Dec 06 IT Wire: More
problems with Vista final release?
- 18 Nov 06 PC World: Tips
& Tweaks: Put Junk E-Mail in Its Place.
- 11 Nov 06 CPSC: Sony
Recalls Notebook Computer Batteries Due to Previous Fires
- Fujitsu, Gateway, Sony and Toshiba notebook computers.
About 340,000
batteries in USA (an additional 3,080,000 battery packs were
sold
worldwide)
- 27 Oct 06 Scientific American (subs): Malware
Goes Mobile - Computer viruses are now airborne,
infecting mobile phones in every part of the globe.
- 19 Oct 06 SMH: Apple
blames Microsoft for virus-infected iPods.
- 19 Oct 06 WP: Patches
Available for Bluetooth Flaw [in Toshiba & Dell
laptops]
- 13 Oct 06 waldbauer.com: Now hosts OA4 databases for
web-serving purposes - see this
site (in German)
- 3 Oct 06 BBC: Microsoft 'taking
security risks'
- "Microsoft is stopping security firms from accessing the
core of the
[Vista] operating system, called the kernel, and is
therefore
preventing them from releasing third-party security
add-ons." - unlike
Apple that uses a Unix core.
- 28 Sep 06 WP: Microsoft
Issues Emergency Patch for IE Flaw - a flaw that
hackers have been exploiting to install spyware on
vulnerable computers.
- 10 Aug 06 WP: Microsoft Fixes
23 Security Flaws.
- 3 Aug 06 WP: Hijacking
a Macbook [or PC] in 60 Seconds or Less -
wireless insecurity.
- 28 Jul 06 WP: Password-Stealing
Trojan Disguised as Firefox Extension + Mozilla
Issues Security Updates for Firefox + Microsoft
to Push Out IE7 as High Priority Update.
- 24 Jul 06 SMH: Microsoft warns
about PowerPoint virus - CERT
advice.
- 21 Jul 06 WP: Hacked
Ad Seen on MySpace Served Spyware to a Million - An
online banner advertisement that ran on MySpace.com and
other sites over the past week used a Windows security flaw to infect
more than a million users with spyware when people merely
browsed the sites with unpatched versions of Windows...
- 14 Jul 06 WP: Adobe
Issues [Acrobat] Security Update + Microsoft
Patches 18 Security Flaws in Windows, Office.
- 7 Jul 06 The Register: Windows
Genuine [Dis]advantage malware sighted - The Cuebot-K
worm spreads via AOL instant messenger in the guise of WGA -
thanks Stephen Withers.
- 6 Jul 06 BBC: Web
perils advise switch to Macs. Security
threats to PCs with Microsoft Windows have increased so much
that
computer users should consider using a Mac, says a leading
security firm...
- 4 Jul 06 WP: Microsoft
to End Support Of Old Windows Versions - Microsoft
will end support for Windows 98, Windows 98 Special
Edition (SE) and
Windows Millennium Edition (ME). That means users of those
versions
will no longer have the protection of software fixes
issued by
Microsoft, potentially leaving them exposed to attack when
hackers
exploit previously unknown flaws in the operating systems.
- 30 Jun 06 WP: Exploits
Target Multiple Excel, IE Security Holes.
- 17 Jun 06 WP: Microsoft
Warns of Attack Via Unpatched Excel Flaw.
- 12 Jun 06 SMH: 'Spy'
revealed in Microsoft
security tool.
- 31 May 06 WP: Fun
With Java Updates + New
Winamp Version Fixes Major Security Hole
- 25 May 06 WP: Critical Microsoft
Patches Cause Havoc.
- 23 May 06 WP: Hackers
Exploiting Unpatched Flaw in MS Word - Vulnerability tracking
company Secunia rated the flaw "extremely critical," its
most dire warning level.
- 15 May 06 CNet:
'Critical' Windows,
Exchange fixes coming [Tuesday] - thanks Stephen Withers.
- 10 May 06 waldbauer.com: Demo of
a web server for an Open Access 4 database. Access
data from a DF file (try uploading your own file to test).
Please give feedback to Günther Waldbauer.
- 5 May 06 WP: Duck,
It's a Microsoft Patch - can prevent Word & Excel
saving to My Documents! Microsoft
advice.
- 2 May 06 WP: Two
New IE Flaws Found.
- 26 Apr 06 WP: MS
Office Flaws Ideal Tools for Targeted Attacks + MS
Expands Anti-Piracy Program, Reissues Patch (spyware!)
- 30 Mar 06 WP: Non-Microsoft
Patches Issued for [critical] IE Flaw - security
experts have identified at least 200 Web sites that are
being used to install password-stealing malware on Windows PCs when
users merely visit one of the sites with IE. IE:
Allowing Only Certain ActiveX Controls to Run in Internet
Explorer (thanks Gregory and Sendal).
- 28 Mar 06 WP: Attacks
on Unpatched IE Flaw Escalate.
More than 200 Web sites -- many of them belonging to
legitimate
businesses -- have been hacked and seeded with code that
tries to take
advantage of a unpatched security hole in Microsoft's Internet
Explorer Web browser to install hostile code on
Windows computers when users merely visit the sites.
- 24 Mar 06 SMH: Critical
flaw bites IE
browser .
- 15 Mar 06 WP: Apple
Issues Another Mac Patch Bundle + Microsoft
Patches: Two for Tuesday.
- 16 Feb 06 WP: Microsoft
Issues 7 Patches
- Two of the patches fix "critical" problems that could
allow the
propagation of an Internet worm that spreads on its own to
vulnerable
PCs without any action on the part of the
user.
- 9 Feb 06 WP: Microsoft
Anti-Virus Pricing Ripples? + Microsoft:
Another Critical IE Flaw + A
Time to Patch II: Mozilla + Spyware
Found
Exploiting Winamp Flaw
- 3 Feb 06 BBC: Nasty
Nyxem
virus set to strike - A Windows virus is set to
unleash its payload and start deleting files at midnight on
3 February.
- 2 Feb 06 Washington Post: Research:
Buggy,
Flawed 'ActiveX' Controls Pervasive + Be
Careful
With Winamp Links
- 7 Jan 06 BBC: Microsoft
rushes
out Windows fix.
- 5 Jan 06 Yahoo: Microsoft
Prepares
Patch for Windows
[image] Flaw
- 30 Dec 05 BBC:
Sites
exploit Windows image
flaw
- 15 Dec 05 Washington Post: Opera
Browser
Users Urged to Upgrade + Microsoft
Patches
Critical Browser Flaw
- 7 Dec 05 Washington Post:
Document Security
101 - embarassing metadata in public documents
- 25 Nov 05 BBC:
Fake FBI
virus catches net users
- 19 Nov 05 Freedom-to-tinker: Not Again!
Uninstaller
for Other Sony DRM Also Opens Huge Security Hole.
- 12 Nov 05 BBC:
[Windows] Viruses
use
Sony anti-piracy CDs
- 8 Nov 05 BBC: Microsoft
warns
of latest flaws - Three new security holes have been
highlighted by Microsoft
and users are urged to download patches.
- 4 Nov 05 Washington Post: Study
of
Sony Anti-Piracy Software Triggers Uproar -
File-Hiding
Technique [for Windows PCs] Alarms Security Researchers;
Developer
Offers Patch
- 18 Oct 05 Some
tips
for using Filemaker Pro 8 - takes me back to 1985 and
Open
Access 2!
- 18 Oct 05 CERT: Microsoft
Windows,
Internet Explorer,
and Exchange Server Vulnerabilities (11 Oct 05) + Apple Mac
Products are Affected by Multiple Vulnerabilities (17
Aug 05)
- 18 Oct 05 SMH: More
Microsoft
holes pending - security updates for Windows.
- 16 Aug 05 SMH: Zotob
worm
hits Windows
users.
- 10 Aug 05 Microsoft:
Microsoft
Security
Bulletin Advance Notification - 15 Sep 05, at least
one is
rated 'critical' - thanks Stephen
Withers.
- 10 Aug 05 SMH: Spammer agrees to $9m settlement with Microsoft
- 28 Jul 05 CERT: Vulnerabilities
in
Mozilla - upgrade to v1.7.10
- 19 Jul 05 SMH: Mozilla
patches
Firefox flaws - The Mozilla Foundation has patched
several
flaws in the Firefox browser and the Mozilla suite of
applications, and is advising users to upgrade.
- 6 Jul 05 Washington Post: Microsoft Warns
of [another]
Browser Security Hole.
- 24 Jun 05 SMH: Landmark
case
says Perth man sent 56 million emails - A Perth man
dubbed a
spam king could face multimillion-dollar penalties in the
first court
action taken underAustralia's Spam Act.
- 16 Jun 05 BBC: Microsoft warns
of critical
flaws - updates to download
- 11 Jun 05 BBC:
Jackson suicide spam hides virus
- 11 Jun 05 Washington Post: 10
Microsoft
Patches Due Next Week + Apple's
Bushel
of Critical Fixes.
- 2 Jun 05 BBC: Bagle virus
peril in empty e-mail
- 27 May 05 Washington Post: Before
You
Buy That Anti-Spyware Program...
- 17 May 05 SMH: Sober
worm delivers Teutonic spam -A variant of the
mass-mailing Sober
worm is responsible for
the recent flood of spam in German
- 11 May 05 Washington Post: Apple
Releases
iTunes Security Update + 'Extremely
Critical'
Flaws Found in Netscape Browser.
- 11 May 05 BBC:
Critical
flaws found in Firefox - Mozilla
advice
about Firefox.
- 6 May 05 BBC:
IBM to axe
13,000 jobs worldwide
- 5 May 05 BBC: Ticket
trap
snares Windows users (World Cup virus)
- 28 Apr 05 Washington Post: 'Extremely
Critical' Flaws Found in Netscape Browser + Microsoft Releases
Eight
Security Updates for Windows - The
TCP/IP flaw, and
another critical problem in Microsoft's Exchange e-mail
software, are
extremely serious because they don't require any user
interaction for
hackers to exploit them successfully...
- 8 Apr 05 Washington Post: Radio
Silence on
Internet Attacks? - the company's DNS servers had been
attacked
when employees began reporting that their Internet browsers
were being
redirected to a Web site hawking generic Viagra and other
prescription
drugs...
- 1 Apr 05 (no joke!) SMH: eEye
finds
more holes in Windows
- 18 Mar 05 BBC: Have
hackers
recruited your PC? More than one million computers on
the
net have been hijacked to attack websites and pump out spam
and viruses.
- 10 Feb 05 BBC: Microsoft
releases bumper
patches fixes some
IE flaws +
Warning over
Microsoft Word files (hidden edits)
- 25 Jan 05 Sophos:
W32/Crowt-A
virus - The Crowt-A virus has a very sneaky way of
getting people to open its emails: the subject line, content
and
attachment
names are lifted from CNN's
site - thanks Stephen
Withers.
- 25 Jan 05 CERT: Microsoft
Windows HTML Help
ActiveX Contol Cross-Domain Vulnerability + Multiple
Vulnerabilities
in Microsoft
Windows Icon and Cursor Processing + Microsoft Windows
LoadImage
API integer overflow + Windows XP SP2
HTML Help
Local Machine Zone Lockdown bypass + Multiple
Vulnerabilities
in Microsoft
Windows
- 25 Jan 05 BBC: Microsoft
backs down in EU
tussle
- 23 Dec 04 BBC: Santy
worm
makes unwelcome visit - Search site Google has
inadvertently
helped a worm hit thousands of websites.
- 15 Dec 04 ABC: New
Internet
worm disguised as e-Christmas card
- Internet security experts have warned of a
new virulent email
worm
particularly successful in infecting computers
as it is disguised as a multilingual electronic Christmas
card.
- 10 Dec 04 NewSci: Banking
site
hijacked by fraudsters
- 4 Dec 04 CNet: Microsoft
rushes
out [another] critical IE
fix - thanks Stephen
Withers.
- 30 Nov 04 BBC:
Screensaver
tackles spam websites - spam them back!
- 30 Nov 04 About.com: Mac
vs
PC -
with links
to Common
Myths
About Mac, Mac
and PC: A
Guide to Peaceful Co-Existence and OS Shootout: OS X
vs XP
- 26 Nov 04 Znet: It
can
pay to criticise Microsoft.
- 26 Nov 04 NewSci: Sprawling
systems
teeter on IT chaos + Spyware
floods
PCs from a single web page
- 25 Nov 04 BBC: Hi-tech
tools
fuel phishing boom +
New browser
wins over net surfers +
Urgent meeting
in Microsoft case
- 22 Nov 04: Snapshot of
Open
Access 4 running in DOSBOX on a Mac. Use Radnor
to launch
Dosbox in Mac OS X. Open Access
4 flys on
my Mac
Powerbook. However, I haven't worked out how to print
directly from
Open Access (have to save to file and print later from
TextEdit). Also
there might be some maths errors in this version - try using
OA
Calculator to check it .
- 20 Nov 04 BBC:
Lazarus-like
virus hits computers
- 17 Nov 04 SMH: Critical
W2K bug
unpatched after 105 days.
- 16 Nov 04 BBC:
Toxic web
links help virus
spread+
Computer use
link to eye disease
- 11 Nov 04 BBC: Firefox
browser
takes on Microsoft. Then there is
good ol' Mozilla
(formerly Netscape)
- 10 Nov 04 The Age: EU presses ahead with Microsoft case
- 5 Nov 04 Enterprise Security Today: Critical
IE
Security
Problem Reported [the
bug] can be
exploited to cause a
buffer overflow via a malicious HTML document
containing overly long
strings in the "SRC" and "NAME" attributes of the tag.
Successful
exploitation of the error allows execution of
arbitrary code.-
thanks Stephen Withers.
CERT: IE
FRAME/IFRAME
buffer overflow
- 4 Nov 04 Annoyances.org: Windows
XP Forum for users' experiences with XP SP2. SP2
Halts
15% of Systems, Survey Says + How
do I skip
the Product Activation in Windows XP? (you can't!)
- 4 Nov 04 SMH: Keeping an eye out for the Trojan Horse
- 30 Oct 04 BBC:
Joke e-mail
virus tricks users - CERT: W32/Bagle
Revisited
- 28 Oct 04 Consumer reports: DELL
LAPTOP
ADAPTERS. Nearly 1 million laptop adapters have been
recalled because they could overheat, catch fire, and
possibly give
users an electric shock + DELL
INSPIRON
LAPTOP PROBLEM - performance slows when a certain
security software
(XP2) is installed.
- 28 Oct 04 BBC: UK
report says
Linux is 'viable' [alternative to Windows]
- 25 Oct 04 CERT: Multiple
Vulnerabilities
in Microsoft
Internet Explorer
- 24 Oct 04 CNet: Secure
your
wireless networks, or else (thanks Stephen Withers.)
- 21 Oct 04 BBC: Users
face
new phishing threats - Some of the most sophisticated
phishing
e-mail messages refer people to sites that look exactly the
same as the
website of whichever financial firm or online company they
are
targeting... sophisticated attacks could catch out up to 50%
of people.
Statistics show that a maximum of 3% of people fall victim
to current
phishing e-mail attacks.
- 19 Oct 04 WorldTechNews: The internet
will collapse
in 2006 (from too
much spam!)
- 19 Oct 04 SMH: Nigerian
[email]
scam fools financial adviser.
- 15 Oct 04 CERT: Multiple
vulnerabilities
in Mozilla products - you probably need to update
to the latest verison (eg Mozilla 1.7.3)
- 13 Oct 04 SMH: A
new
king of the block [Spam] + Origin
of the term
"spam" to mean net abuse - Monty
Python's
Spam Skit.
- 26 Sep 04 BBC:
Virus
writers focus on [Windows
jpeg] image bug - see CERT: Microsoft
Windows JPEG
component buffer overflow
- 20 Sep 04 NewSci: [Windows]
Software bug raises
spectre of 'JPEG of death'
- 20 Aug 04 ABC: New
Microsoft
security flaws found
- XP2
- 13 Aug 04 BBC: Concerns
over
key Windows update - Some users are reporting problems
when
installing a major security update for Windows XP. For example,
Command virus protection must be updated before the Windows
update.
- 7 Aug 04 Bill Bramble: Today I will put oneBay
the Software Products International Open Access III Language
Calls Reference manual for sale, there may be some people
who would
like to advance OA to better fields and as this manual is
not available
today and was US$1000 to purchase at the time of release. I
thought his
book is of value to anyone that may appreciate OA in the way
that you
and I do, could use this tool.
- 4 Aug 04 BBC:
Net virus
posing as Berg video +
PCs hijacked
to spew spam
- 3 Aug 04 BBC: Microsoft
fixes
big browser bug. The software giant has released a fix
for a
serious security hole in its Internet
Explorer browser.
- 31 Jul 04 Consumer Reports (USA): Faulty
memory
could cause laptops to crash - Memory
modules
in 900,000 Compaq and HP laptop
computers have a flawed circuit design that could cause
the computer to
freeze intermittently... installed
on
laptops sold from March 2002 to July 2003.
- 29 Jul 04 BBC: New
virus
exploits MyDoom success.
- 16 Jul 04 BBC: Microsoft
warns
of critical flaws [in IE
and Outlook]
- 5 Jul 04 Daily Telegraph: Net
virus
could cause chaos - The [Outlook] mass mailer worm,
dubbed Evaman, has been likened to the MyDoom
worm...messages carrying
the virus usually had subject headings like "failed
transaction" and
"failure delivery".
- 26 Jun 04 BBC: Web
browser
flaw prompts warning- IE vulnerability.
- 16 Jun 04 SMH: First
mobile
phone virus strikes + Spam
king
agrees to stop sending unwanted email
- 14 Jun 04 BBC: Microsoft races
to deter
hackers - hazard from clicking on "malicious" web
links. So do you
click on the BBC link??
- 5 Jun 04 BBC: [Windows]
Worm [Korgo]
eyes up credit card details +
Modern gadgets
raise work stress
- 4 Jun 04 BBC: Potter-mania
fuels
pesky virus - The Netsky.P [Windows] worm is enjoying a
resurgence by disguising itself as a Potter game...
- 1 Jun 04 The Age: Why
Windows is
a security
nightmare + Mac's
great
red hope.
- 25 May 04 BBC: Apple
tackles
Mac security flaw.(Safari)
- 19 Apr 04 SMH: The
claws
of the jungle - Cyber jungle laws mean Jaguar and
Panther
must give way to the Tiger (Mac OS
10.4 on
the way!)
- 7 May 04 SMH: Microsoft revs
up PC
protection - People should treat their computers like
cars,
updating protection programs
as regularly as they fill up with petrol, according to
Microsoft
Australia. People should
treat MS products with caution!
- 4 May 04 BBC: Sasser
net
worm disruption grows - A Finnish bank and Taiwan's
post office
are the latest casualties of a virus attacking Microsoft computers.
- 25 Mar 04 BBC: Microsoft
hit
by record EU fine.
- 4 Mar 04 TerraDaily:
Wave
of viruses, worms sweep cyberspace: experts.
- 3 Mar 04 Yahoo: For Windows
Users, 'Browser Hijacking' Is Only the Latest Threat +
Broken Windows: Will Your PC Ever Be
Secure? + File
Sharing
Vulnerability Discovered in Mac OS X
- 3 Mar 04 SecurityFocus: Knock,
Knock, Knock
- Windows
email
attachments.
- 27 Feb 04 BBC: More
virus
misery for mail users - Three new viruses are causing
headaches for people using Windows
computers...Bizex worm that travels via ICQ + Hackers
exploit
Windows
patches.
- 22 Feb 04 Yahoo: Netsky.B
Tunnels
Through Windows
Systems
- 12 Feb 04 BBC:
'Protect PCs' Microsoft
users told - another security patch
- 11 Feb 04 MS: Vulnerability
in
Virtual PC for Mac - security update for Virtual PC
running Windows
on Macs.
- 30 Jan 04 BBC: Virulent
worm
targets Microsoft
- A new strain of the Mydoom worm could spread more widely
than its
predecessor warn experts.
- 28 Jan 04 SMH: Latest
[Windows]
e-mail virus
spreads fast - one of its messages reads:
"The message contains Unicode characters and has been sent
as a binary
attachment."
- 20 Jan 04 BBC: Bagle
virus
hides as calculator - Many
people in Australia look like they have been caught out by
the [Windows]
virus
- 14 Jan 04 BBC: Windows
98
wins support lifeline
- 4 Dec 03 Apple: Mac
OS X
10.3: Firewall Unavailable After (Panther) Upgrade
Installation
- 8 Nov 03 BBC: Users
face
malicious web attacks - Virus attacks on computers
which do
damage through HTML in e-mails and websites are set to
increase, says a
security expert. These security threats exploit
vulnerabilities in Microsoft's
Internet Explorer
(IE) browser.
- 29 Oct 03 BBC: New
Windows
virus hits computers + First
look
at future of Windows + Panther
-
Apple update to OS X.
- 17 Oct 03 BBC: Microsoft
warns
of 'critical' flaws - Software giant Microsoft has
warned of seven
security flaws in its programs, describing five as
"critical" + Odd
mishaps
cause computer grief - data
disasters
- 20 Sep 03 BBC: Virus
poses
as Microsoft update. A Windows virus masquerading as
a security update from Microsoft is spreading via e-mail
- 12 Sep 03 BBC: Windows
faces
fresh web worm woe - Microsoft has discovered new
vulnerabilities in Windows
- 20 Aug 03 BBC: New
computer
virus hits inboxes Sobig
F
spreads by e-mail and by exploiting unsecured network
links between Windows
PCs. (this is
another Word
virus that
generates a
sender address at random - someone is sending out infected
emails with
my address!) + Apple
fans
snap up 'fastest' Mac.
- 16 Aug 03: Microsoft have taken over Virtual
PC
for Mac - errgh!
- 15 Aug 03 NZ Herald: Spammers hit below men's belts
- NZ
spammer named - get back at him!? Try to remove your name from one annoying
list here.
- 15 Aug 03 BBC: Wiping
out
the web worm + Designer's
dream
desk for i[Mac]-things
- 12 Aug 03 BBC: Worm
blasts
across
the web - seems that people didn't heed the previous
warning about
a Windows flaw! CERT
advice.
- 25 Jul 03 BBC: 'Critical'
flaw
found in Windows - Microsoft is warning about a severe
security
flaw that affects many people who use Windows.
Another good reason to switch to
Apple!
- 16 May 03 SciAm: Self-Repairing Computers
- 13 May 03 BBC: Sneaky
virus
spreading
rapidly. The mass-mailing worm, dubbed Fizzer, is
rapidly
infecting
computers using the Windows operating
system.
- 11 May 03 BBC: Flaw
exposes
Microsoft ID service.[MSN
security...]
- 5 May 03 BBC: Experts
target
junk
e-mail. + Students
get
iPods as study aids.
- 8 Apr 03: Check the screen snapshot.
Open
Access 4 running in a window of Windows 98 running in
a
window of OS X on an iMac? Yes I have abandoned
WINTEL and bought an Apple. All my old DOS
and Windows programs are
running fine and I have all the advantages of the OS X
system (a STABLE
unix-based platform). The iMac will talk to WINTEL PCs
on a LAN
but I needed to buy a router
in
order to have both a cable modem and the LAN working (as I
would have
with a WINTEL LAN and a cable modem linked by Ethernet). The
router has
cable and wireless
support and so now I can wander around the office with
my laptop
and stay linked to the LAN - including data on the iMac. My
advice is
that if you are thinking of upgrading to Windows
XP then have a serious
look at the eMac and iMac instead. Add Virtual
PC
(~AU$400) and install your old (unused) Windows
(95-XP) and you
have a system able to run that "legacy" sofware. You
have a
choice of running Microsoft Office (again your old
unused
version) under the Virtual Windows or upgrading to the
superior
MS Office:Mac
for
OS X (on special ~AU$400). It will read and
write files
that are fully compatible with WINTEL Office. Why write this
today?
Well my old WINTEL PC crashed again and I had
to do a c: drive
restore using Norton Ghost. Mac OS X
links.
- 28 Mar 03 BBC: Government
crackdown
on spam.
- 19 Mar 03 BBC: Software
bug
bites US military - a flaw in Microsoft's
Windows 2000 operating system ... A server
operated by the US
Army has already been attacked via the security hole.
- 6 Mar 03 NewSci: Email
security
flaw triggers global worm watch.
- 4 Feb 03 BBC: Aggressive
net
bug
makes history - The bug targeted a known flaw in Microsoft's SQL
database software.
- 31 Dec 02 Nature: Browsers
go back
to the future - Computer
scientists
have
redesigned
the way the back button works so that it really can
retrace
your
Internet
steps. They have replaced the current stacking system,
which
only
records
index pages, with one that records every page in the order
it
was
visited.
[Of course, in the days when pages couild be cached,
this
was what happened. Now that most fancy web pages are created
on the fly
the caching no longer works efficiently.]
- 31 Dec 02 BBC: Viruses
hit
new highs - 2002 saw lots of new harmful programs
- 21 Nov 02 ABC: Software
Sucks
- each year bugs in software costs the US economy about
$60 US
Billion
- 28 Oct 02: Quick reference guide
for
JVC DVL series digital video cameras.(16K PDF)
- 18 Oct 02: OpenAccess in a
Novell Network and WinXP Workstations - tip from
Alfred Unkrig
- 4 Oct 02 Command.com: W32/Bugbear.A@mm
Worm - a mass-mailing worm that arrives as an
email
attachment with a randomly generated name. The subject
line and
the message body of an infected email are also
randomly chosen,
making this worm potentially hard to identity. The
email message
may contain an exploit that allows the attachment to run
automatically
when infected mail is viewed; a patch for
this vulnerability is available on the Microsoft
site
- 6 Jul 02: Netscape
7.0 - tips and release notes.
- 28 Jun 02 Opinion by Michael Paine: There is a sinister
development with web page designs that are becoming less and
less
friendly to Netscape Communicator. The web designers reply
that
Netscape users comprise less than 5% of surfers these days.
I am not so
sure about
that figure, but that attitude is equivalent to a retail
store denying
access to customers who are left handed. In case of web
pages the trend
seems to be to have fancy web pages pages (that
unfortunatley won't
cache
so take ages to reload via modem). My bet is that the most
frequently
clicked
link in the world is now "Skip intro" when those annoying
home pages
load.
- 3 Jun 02 BBC: Watch
out
Windows? - Linux fights back!
- 28 May 02 Command.com: Jdbgmgr.exe
Hoax
- The hoax email refers to the file "jdbgmgr.exe", a
legitimate
file that
can be found in your system directory. If you receive an
email with an
attachment
named "jdbgmgr.exe", it may be an actual virus.
- 17 May 02: Please tell
us
your experiences with using OA or any DOS software under
WIN2000.
- 21 Apr 02: W32/Klez.H@mm
("Klez")
virus. Another virus that exploits Outlook.
The email subject and message can vary. Also it seems to
be able to
create a SENDER from the address book! See Semantec
advice.
- 9 Apr 02 BBC: Why
one
spam could cost £35 - A 2001 survey by the
European
Commission estimates that spam costs consumers an
estimated $8.8bn a
year worldwide just in connection costs.
- 31 Mar 02 Tip: To check and manage all those programs
that load when you start Windows 98+:
Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Information
Tools/ System Configuration Utility/ Startup(tab).
The same utility can be loaded from Microsoft Word
(Help/About/System
Information) (but not if you have WIN95)
You can also view WIN.INI and other files with this utility
(or "Run"
Sysedit).
- 29 Jan 02 CERT: W32/Myparty
Malicious
Code -
SUBJECT: new photos from my party!
ATTACHMENT: www.myparty.yahoo.com
The .com is NOT an internet address -
it is a malicous executable file that affects (infects)
systems running Microsoft
Windows. Update 30 Jan - BBC
on
to it!
- 18 Jan 02 BBC: Microsoft
to
tackle security failings - Bill Gates has declared
war on Microsoft's insecure
software.
- 10 Jan 02 BBC: Viruses
get
flashy - Websites that use animation software to
create
flashing graphics have become the latest target of virus
writers.
Anti-virus firm Sophos has received a virus that infects
Macromedia's
Flash files.
- 7 Jan 02: Block those
annoying
pop-up ads.
- 24 Dec 01 ABC: 'Happy
New
Year' computer virus heading for Australia - A new
virus
which targets Microsoft Outlook and
Outlook
Express users could be heading for Australia.
Reezak, which
first appeared in Europe, appears in in-boxes with the
subject line
"Hi" and a message that reads "I can't describe my
feelings, but all I
can say is Happy New Year." Command.com: Keyluc
virus.
- 24 Dec 01 BBC: Fix
your
Windows, says Microsoft - Microsoft is urging
users of its
new Windows XP operating system
to
download a fix for a serious security hole.
- 21 Dec 01 Command.com:
Christmas.exeOutlook worm Subject:
Happy
New Year.
- 20 Dec 01 BBC: Microsoft
closes
browser holes - Microsoft has issued a patch for
"critical" security holes in its popular Internet
Explorer browser. The software giant said
that people
should apply the patch "immediately" to protect themselves
against
malicious hackers. Patch
here.
- 10 Dec 01: The last ever Australian Open Access User
Group
meeting (well - party!) will be held at Judy Jeffery's house
tomorrow
night (Tue 11/12) from 6pm. Despite the end of formal
meetings we plan
to keep this website going indefinitely so keep an eye out
for User
Group news.
- 5 Dec 01 BBC: Goner
virus
causing e-mail havoc - seems to be another Outlook problem.
- 28 Nov 01 BBC: BadTrans
computer
virus strikes - attempts to spread by exploiting
weaknesses in Microsoft e-mail
programs. Apparently
just opening the email is enough to get infected.
- 27 Oct 01 BBC: XP
keeps
consumers guessing - consumers may balk at paying
for XP
because it offers them little that they do not do
already...Windows XP, even
more than earlier versions of
the operating system, is a resource hog...so far Microsoft
has not
provided much information about which older programs will
work with
Windows XP. As yet it is unclear whether files and
documents created
using older versions of software packages will work with
the new
version of Windows.
- 25 Oct 01 BBC: Microsoft's
XP
extends reach - Some of the most virulent viruses
of recent
months, such as Code Red, have exploited weaknesses in
programs that
run on NT and other versions of
Windows.
A personal firewall is included with XP, but it is not yet
clear how
effective it
is. Microsoft's seeming inability to produce secure
programs
could foil its grand strategy. Already the US Computer
Incident
Advisory Capability has warned about the security
problems of XP.
- 23 Oct 01 Scientific American: When
did
the term 'computer virus' arise? + VMyths.com
- 15 Oct 01 CERT: Automatic
Execution
of Macros - An intruder can include a specially
crafted macro in a Microsoft Excel
or PowerPoint
document that can avoid detection and run automatically
regardless of
the security settings specified by the user. NOTE:A similar exploit exists for Microsoft
Word,
however the Microsoft Security patch available in
Microsoft Security
Bulletin MS01-034 for Steven McLeod's Microsoft Word macro
exploit also
protects against this exploit. Symantec urges all
Microsoft Word users,
who have not applied the patch in MS01-34, immediately
download and
apply that
patch as well for maximum protection.
- 28 Sep 01 Request from Alfred
Unkrig: Have you any Information about the File Header
Structure
and the Table Structure of OA IV?
It would be of great help. Our intention is to write a new
Converter
from OA
IV /.df,.if,.mf to dBase Level 7. Furthermore you may know of
any
existing Converter from OA IV to dBase level 3 or Paradox
(.db). Thanks
for any Information.
- 26 Sep 01: Zip files (see downloads)
updated to a more recent verison of
PKZIP
(now supported by WINZIP). The previous versions were
created using
XTGold
and may have caused difficulties.
- 25 Sep 01 CERT: Hidden file extensions can disguise
viruses. I
was wondering why some email attachments have odd extensions
with two
dots such as xxxx.htm.vbs. It turns out they are exploiting
yet another flaw in MS Windows.
When you select
the Windows Explorer preference to "show file extensions"
not all are
shown. This can disguise a virus-containing attachment. To
fix the
problem see this advice
from
CERT.
- 19 Sep 01Commaand.com: W95/Nimda.A@mm
is a new mass-mailing internet worm that is spreading
rapidly around the world. It proliferates as an
attachment named
"readme.exe"; it also has the ability to spread using
Internet
Information Server (IIS). Also SMH:
"Computers can also be infected if users visit a
corrupted website" (apparently
it exploits a weakness in MS Internet
Explorer
that automatically runs the attachment - this may be why the
virus is
spreading so effectively) Update 20 Sep: See also CERT
advice: Due to a vulnerability any mail
software running on an
x86 platform that uses Microsoft
Internet
Explorer 5.5 SP1
or earlier (except IE 5.01 SP2) to render the
HTML mail automatically runs the
enclosed attachment and,
as result, infects the machine with the worm. Thus, in
vulnerable
configurtions, the worm payload
will
automatically be triggered
by simply opening (or previewing) this mail message.
As an
executable binary, the payload can also be triggered by
simply running
the attachment. CERT/CC
recommends that end
user systems disable JavaScript. See
our news on 2 Jan 2000
foreshadowing the Javascript
problem.
- 5 Sep 01 Command.com:
W95/Apost.A@mm
is a mass mailing internet worm written in Visual Basic. It
arrives as
an
attachment to an email that contains the following
information:
Subject: As per your request!
Message: Please find attached file for your review.
I look forward to hear from you again very soon. Thank
you.
Attachment: readme.exe
- 14 Aug 01: Meeting tonight at Judy Jeffery's house. One
topic will be firewalls!
- 14 Aug 01 BBC: Hackers
make
house calls - see 9 Aug 01 below (ZoneAlarm). Usually
intention is to infect the PC with a
trojan virus.
- 10 Aug 01 ABC: Quantum
computing
a leap closer. See our
article.
- 9 Aug 01: The Sircam
virus (or a variant) seems to be sweeping around
Europe at present.
I am receiving many large, infected emails from Europe. Take
care!
Check out ZoneAlarm
firewall
software (free for personal use - you will be amazed at how
many
attempts there are to breach your PC each hour!).
- 4 Aug 01: New UK website
dedicated to Open Access.
- 30 Jul 01 BBC: Internet's
'very
real' virus threat - Yet another breach of Microsoft
security. Code Red exploits
a vulnerability in internet server
software from
Microsoft on the companies NT 4.0 and Windows
2000 operating
systems. Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows Me users are
not affected.Command.com
advice.
- 25 Jul 01 BBC: Sircam
virus
steals files. Not just Outlook! Command.com
advice. This is becoming
rampant and is sending
huge files to random sites!
- 9 Jun 01: Next meeting on 12 June at Judy's.
- 9 Jun 01: Miss
World
Virus. Yet another Outlook
worm virus
for the gullible!
- 31 May 01Command.com:
Hoax virus encourages you to delete an important Windows
system file
(SULFNBK.EXE).
- 17 May 01: Request from Peter Schmidt
(email) "Does
anyone have a copy of the installation disks for Open Access
II? I'd
like
to view some old files, however my OA II disks have errors
on them,
being so old and all. If you've got them and are willing to
zip them up
and
e-mail them tome, I'd be much appreciated"
- 10 May 01 ABC: New
Internet
(Homepage) virus spreading quickly around the world.
See Command.com.
Subject: Homepage / Message: You've got to see this page!
It's really cool ;0) / Attachment:
homeepage.HTML.vbs. When this
attachment is double clicked, the worm is executed and
will email a
copy of itself to every recipient in Outlook's
Address Book.
- 10 May 01 DFP: Leave
it
(your PC) on or turn it off? The answer is still elusive.
- 6 May 01 BBC: Computers
burnt
by CD software - Computers users have been warned
about
installing the latest version of one of the most popular
CD recording
programs. The latest version of Easy CD Creator is
causing
significant problems for computers using the Windows 2000
operating
system. The
patch.
- 3 May 01 BBC: Microsoft
warns
of 'serious' software hole (Windows 2000 server
software).
Also When
paper
clips attack (from May 2000!) - Security
experts
have found a security hole that could be used by malicious
hackers to
subvert the paper clip and
turn it
against users. Tip: to
permanently get rid
of the paper clip rename the Actors sub-directory in the
Microsoft
Office/Office folder to, say, XACTORS.
- 14 Apr 01: More great tips
for printing from DOS applications under WIN98. From
Steve Hayes,
UK. Overcome partial printouts and
missing pages.
- 13 Apr 01 Command.com:
Virus alert -
W95/BadTrans.A@mm.
W95/BadTrans.A@mm is a mass-mailing internet worm with a
remote access
trojan component. When executed, the worm makes a copy of
itself named
"inetd.exe" and
puts it into the Windows directory. It also drops the trojan
file,
named
"kern32.exe", and a keylogger DLL, named "hksdll.dll", into
the Windows
System directory. When this process is complete, an "Install
Error"
box with the message "File data corrupt: probably due to bad
transmission
or bad disk access" will be displayed. The next time the
computer is
restarted,
the worm will use MAPI to reply to all unread email messages
by sending
itself as an attachment.
- 6 Apr 01: Article
about using Ghost to backup up a partition (posted
June 2000 but
mentioned in the latest newsletter - due out next week).
Also backup tips from
Peter Freeman.
- 5 Apr 01 New Scientist:
Smart buffer - A common write error which trashes CDs
is solved.
Also Easy
writer
- Software that turns everyday language into computer code
could make
us
all programmers.
- 4 Apr 01 DISPI:
Open Access we feel ourselves obligated to port the Open Access
database standard towards the windows
environment. We made an earlier attempt
with OAWinBase
however we think it is a lot easier for Open Access users
all around
the world to work with old DF/IF/SMK/PMK structures of the
good old
Open Access with no conversions needed. Therefore our
development team
is working on a way to work with the old structures of Open
Access.
We will produce a new Open Access standard called NOAH.
- 2 Apr 01 SMH: Glitch
in
Explorer
browser - Microsoft warned customers that its Internet Explorer Web browser had a
security flaw
that could allow hackers to run programs on another user's
computer.
The
glitch causes Internet Explorer to automatically open
specially coded
attachments in email without warning, possibly unleashing
programs that
could do anything from sending users a harmless message to
deleting
files from their computers, the software company warned.
Microsoft has
developed a patch that can be downloaded from its Web site.
- 23 Mar 01 The Age: Mac's
new
system here at last - More from Apple - software
available.
- 7 Mar 01 AusABC: Destructive
"naked
wife" email virus rapidly infecting US computers - Recipients
get
an email that says: "My wife never looks like that" and it
contains
an attachment, NakedWife.exe, that activates the virus
when clicked. Commandcom
Virus
Alerts.
- 21 Feb 01: OA4
Forum - Waldbauer Buerotechnik
- 13 Feb 01: Meeting tonight at Judy Jeffery's house. Sorry
there was no newsletter for the December meeting (we
partied!).
Great tip from Keith O'Donnell
Get rid of the instant print icon in Word and Excel
and display the pop-up print window like every sensible
Windows
application
Select View / Toolbars / Customize / Commands (tab). Scroll
down the
list of icons and find the print icon with 3 dots next to it
(
icon...). Drag this icon to your menu bar next to the
current print
icon. Now click on the old print icon and simply drag it off
the menu
bar. You can do the same for the New File icon.
- 13 Feb 01 Yahoo: "Onthefly"
Worm
Uses Anna Kournikova Ruse.
- 5 Feb 01 The Australian: Now
where
did I put my mouse? - PCs can cause memory los XXX
loose XXX
loss!
- 3 Feb 01 ABC: Internet
users
spend a fortune on 'spam' Internet users
world-wide are
believed to be unwittingly paying $20 billion a year
in
connection costs to receive junk e-mail, or "spam".
- 27 Jan 01: Back issues of meeting
notes added (Feb, Apr, Jun
and Oct 2000)
- 27 Jan 01: Need to repartition a hard disk without
reformatting? Have a look at Partition Manager from Paragon Software.
Allows you to
break
one large partition (drive) into smaller ones. Limited demo
version
available.
- 19 Jan 01 BBC: Linux
virus
infection fears.
- 9 Dec 2000: German
Open Access
Online Support Forum updated.
- 27 Nov 2000: More on the vicious MTX
virus. Advice from Command
Software
Systems
- ...a trojan file named "Mtx_.exe" is dropped in the
Windows
directory, and the following registry key (which runs the
trojan each
time Windows reboots) is created:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\SystemBackup
=
\MTX_.EXE
If it detects that an e-mail is being sent, it will
immediately send a second e-mail to the same recipient. The
second
e-mail
has no subject and no body; merely an attachment
which is
randomly
picked from a list of names within the code (the list
below plus
more
- all ending with PIF or SCR)
- 23 Nov 2000: New
virulent virus spreading fast. Command
Software Systems, Inc. today (www.commandcom.com)
warned the public
that the software virus known as W95/MTX
is
spreading more quickly and has the capacity to block users
from going
to certain anti-virus software vendor Web sites thus
preventing access
to updates. As a result, users are not able to access the
solutions to
protect themselves from this and future virus threats.
W95/MTX is a virus, worm, backdoor access Trojan that
arrives through email as an attachment, and has a variety
of decoy file
names. Once launched, itcan wipe out files and be
difficult to remove.
Some of the file names being reported to entice the user
to
open the virus program include README.TXT.pif,
I_wanna_see_YOU.TXT.pif,
MATRiX_Screen_Saver.SCR, LOVE_LETTER_FOR_YOU.TXT.pif,
NEW_playboy_Screen_saver.SCR, BILL_GATES_PIECE.JPG.pif,
NEW_NAPSTER_site.TXT.pif., and I_am_sorry.DOC.pif.
Note that PIF and SCR extension
files might not be scanned by anti-virus software under
default
settings.
- 31 Oct 2000 IT Australia: Fight
for
rights, MS users urged. Windows 2000 licensing and
support
policies were too complex and confusing...Microsoft's
decision to dump support for Windows 95...
- 31 Oct 2000 HP: HP
All-in-one products such as the Officejet 635 can cause a
freeze/lock
up when changing the printer setup from within an
application (for
example changing from portrait to landscape within Word 97
or Ami Pro).
HP suggest changing the printer setup before loading the
application!
Also WIN98 needs the latest GDI.EXE (version 4.10.2222)
available with
Office 97 SR2 The upgrades can be downloaded from
Microsoft's Web
pages at: http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/articles/sr1fact.htmhttp://officeupdate.microsoft.com/articles/sr2howtoget.htm
- 30 Oct 2000 New Scientist: Cracked
code:
Microsoft's HQ may have been infiltrated by a trojan horse
virus
(QAZ). If
only Microsoft had read our posting on 30 Sep!
- 30 Oct 2000: The MS patch (see 19 July) for Sydney
Daylight
Saving to cope with the Olympics kindly put my system clock
forward
an hour again today. Check
your PC clock!
- 30 Sep 2000: New worm
virus QAZ.
Replaces c:\windows\NOTEPAD.EXE with a worm version that
spreads over
networks. Adds a line to the Windows Registry auto-start
section (see
example). To remove it you need to replace NOTEPAD.EXE with
a clean
copy. You can't do this if the worm is active in memory. To
prevent it
loading into memory run REGEDIT.EXE and find the section
shown. Right
click on StartIE and select delete, then reboot the PC. To
be alerted
if the PC is reinfected try changing the attributes of the
clean copy
of NOTEPAD.EXE to 'read
only' (find it with Windows Explorer, right click and select
'Properties').
- 12 Sep 2000: Scientific American: The
Wireless
Web.
- 30 Aug 2000 SMH: Palm-top
virus
may be only the beginning. Also ABC
News.
- 12 Aug 2000: New German support forum site: Waldbauer Bürotechnik
- 9 Aug 2000: June Newletter now online.
Dozens of tips for using MS Word.
- 19 Jul 2000: Microsoft has a
patch for WIN95/98 to cope with the daylight savings
changes for
the
Sydney Olympics.
- 8 Jun 2000 BBC: Has
Microsoft
stifled innovation? But the history of the PC
shows
that very few innovations originated within
Microsoft. All the
software giant has done is roll them into its operating
systems and
drive their popularity - often to the detriment of the
companies that
did invent them. "We're convinced that innovation will be
greatly
enhanced and improved if Microsoft's heavy hand of
monopoly is removed
from the industry,"
- 27 May 2000: New virus - Mellisa.BG
email
attachment
the subject
for this email is "Resume - Janet Simons" and it will contain:
Attached
is my resume...
- 22 May 2000: ShutDownPlus
allows you to run programs before Windows shuts down.
- 17 May 2000 BBC: At last!
Microsoft
locks
out viruses - Microsoft is to close down
some of
the functions in its popular e-mail program Outlook
to try to prevent computer viruses causing havoc. The
company has been
criticised for allowing Outlook to accept and run almost
anything
attached to
mail messages. This can help viruses to spread.
- 10 May 2000: Tips for
setting up a HP Officejet 635 (all-in-one) as a network
printer.
- 5 May 2000: If you receive an e-mail containing the
following information, delete it, do not open it:
Subject: ILOVEYOU
Body: "kindly check the attached LOVELETTER coming from me."
Attachment: LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs
See ABC
News and Command.com
- 9 Mar 2000 ExoScience: DNA
computer
solves chess problem - told
you so!
- 27 Feb 2000: OA slow to load on fast Pentiums - Tip from
Frank Doevendans - to
instantly load
OA press PAUSE then ESC!
- 22 Feb 2000 ABC: Wobbler
virus
a hoax - "This is an e-mail hoax, a bad sort of
joke. It
is not a virus -- please do not distribute
this to others"
- 31 Jan 2000: Tips for WIN95
networks and swapping
hard disks
added.
- 16 Jan 2000: Following several inquiries I have added
a Runtime version of Open Access to the Freeware page. This
has a
built-in function to convert OA
databases to
dBase. See Freeware.
- 2 Jan 2000: For Y2K advice about Open Access and general
PC
tips see our Y2K page. PCs with
"motherboards" older than 1997 are likely to get the date
wrong each
time they start. The cheapest fix is the add the line DATE
to
AUTOEXEC.BAT. The computer will then prompt you for the date
each time
it starts (like the original IBM PC did!).
- 2 Jan 2000: New Java Script virus
spread as an email attachment. At this stage it is a
nuisance rather
than
threatening but it is a sign of things to come with yet another security breach. The
following is
from Commandcom.com: VBS/The_Fly
is
a JavaScript worm sent as an e-mail attachment. The subject
of the
e-mail is "Funny Thing" and the body text reads: "If you
ride a
motorcycle, close your mouth. :)" If the attached file
(The_Fly.chm) is
executed the
user will first be prompted to allow ActiveX. If denied, the
worm will
then display a message stating: "The picture
couldn't be
shown. ActiveX wasn't allowed, please reload and select to
use it.". If
ActiveX is allowed it will then display a picture and
text: "If
you
ride a motorcycle, close your mouth. :)" The worm then
copies
itself
to the Windows and Windows System directories as The_Fly.CHM
and
DXGFXB3D.DLL,
respectively. It then creates the file, MSJSVM.JS in the
Windows
directory.
- 12 Nov 1999: BBC report on a new
email
virus "Bubbleboy" - not yet in the wild but
potentially
dangerous. Command.com:
BubbleBoy exploits a security flaw
in
Microsoft’s ActiveX technology - Microsoft has
issued a security
patch for Internet Explorer
- 3 Nov 1999: Tips on
Hyperlinks in MS Access added
- 5/10/1999: The HAPPY99.EXE
virus is doing the rounds! It attaches itself to your
outgoing email.
- 25/9/1999: Another email virus hoax circulating "Wobble".
"Please ignore these messages and don't pass them on"
- 25/9/1999: PEERNET.DRV
BMP is a universal file (printer) driver that
converts Windows
documents into high quality, serialized BMP files. It
adds
a new driver to your WIN95/98 list of printers and, if you
choose to
print any document or report with this "printer", it creates
BMP
files on disk (1 for each page of printout). Great for
distributing
fancy
coloured reports from MS Access or Excel. Why did MS provide a
(tedious)
fax driver in WIN95 but not this sensible/useful utility?
-
12/8/99:
On the evening of Tuesday 24 August there will be a special workshop covering conversion of
Open Access
databases to Microsoft Access (97). Bookings
essential - email
Michael Paine or phone
Keith
O'Donnell on 02 96532602.
- 11/8/1999: Meeting notes from 10 August are in
preparation
and will cover an introduction to MS Access by Keith
O'Donnell. One
Windows tip from Keith that can't wait - to deselect
highlighted text
in a cell (such as an Access table or Excel cell) press the
F2 key. You can then edit the
item rather than
replace it. Saves tedious use of the mouse to edit an item.
- 17/6/1999: Web links page revised
into
major categories.
- 12/6/1999: As predicted, another virus has appeared that
utilises the slack security of Microsoft Outlook The
virus is in
a file called ZIPPED_FILES.EXE that is attached to
email with the
words "Hi [Recipient Name!] I received your email and I
will send
you a reply ASAP.Till then, take a look at the attached
zipped
docs.bye". Commandcom
has more details and a fix
( http://www.commandcom.com/html/virus/explorezip.html ).
-
The WIN95 Open File window is pretty useless. Try this shareware
improvement
- Draft meeting notes for 8 June
1999
available. Suggestion that the August meeting be a workshop on converting
Open Access
databases to MS Access. Also Shane Trengrove's tips for memo
fields and
a warning about the Ginger
virus.
- Tip of the year!? Do find
the
Office Assistant (paperclip animation) in Office 97
intrusive,
unhelpful and annoying? See how to get the old help system
back with these
tips
(one way is to rename the /Program Files/MSOffice/Actors
sub-directory
to, say, ACTORSX). Other
PC tips
from the same site.
- Apr 99: Notes for April 99
meeting
available
- Mar 99:Melissa Virus: This is a Word 97/2000 Macro
virus. As usual with Macro viruses, it can only "infect"
your PC if,
with Word 97/2000 you open a
DOC file
containing the virus. YOU CANNOT GET INFECTED BY LOOKING AT
YOUR EMAIL.
However, whenever email contains a DOC file as an attachment
it is best
to save it to disk, run an up-to-date virus checker and then
open the
document if it is found to be "clean". Another trick is to
set Word
Viewer/Pad
as your default program when you open a DOC file from email
or Windows
Explorer (for some tips see April
99 meeting
notes). Word Viewer/Word Pad does not run the autoexec
macro that
causes the problems (see the Microsoft
site for more tips on Word Viewer).
The main difference with "Melissa" is that it reads the user's
email
address book and secretly sends email containing a DOC file
with the
virus to dozens of people in your email address book - in this
way it
can spread exponentially. Apparently this can only happen at
present
if the address book is associated with MS
Outlook.
However, now that Melissa has been so successful others will
probably
try the same approach with other email software such as
Netscape.
Another apparent development is that Melissa disables the
anti-virus
function
that comes with Word 97. The whole problem would probably have
been
avoided
if more thought had gone into the word processing and
information
management software in the first place!
For corporations the timing is disasterous - with April Fool's
Day this
week there will be plenty of false alarms. Here is an official
description of the virus: "W97M/Melissa.A is a macro virus
that is
currently in the wild reported March 26, 1999). It infects
Word 97 and
Word 2000 documents. It is spread via the Microsoft Outlook
e-mail
address book." See Command.comfor
details.
- Mar 99: Alfred Unkrig from Germany (email)
has noticed
that compiled applications sometimes give problems if there
is a
duplicate data file name lower in the searching
order. He is
using PREVIEW rather than VIEW in his code and is wondering
whether
other users have experienced this problem.
- Notes for Feb 99 meeting available
- using VAR c-call for calcs in PMKs, dependent fields,
Bubblejet
printer drivers ...
- Guenther Waldbauer from Austria added to the list of OA Consultants - website
currently only
in German.
- None of the utilities that come with WIN95 seem to have a
facility to search for text within a file. The WIN95 DOS has
a FIND
command that doesn't seem to work properly. Michael Paine
has
successfully used the NWDOS FIND command instead (this
useful command
was reviewed
by Lindy Kidman a few years ago). The file and tips are in FINDTEXT.ZIP.
- Tip from Marc Sapper: to display the day of the week in a
screen mask or print mask, created a Dependent Field with
the following:
testdate\7=0|'WED'|(testdate\7=1|'THU'|(testdate\7=2|
'FRI'|(testdate\7=3|'SAT'|(testdate\7=4|'SUN'|
(testdate\7=5|'MON'|'TUE')))))
The '\' is modulus. replace "testdate" with the name of the
date field
you are evaluating. Don't ask why Wednesday is zero! (well...
since you were wondering, OA's day "one" 1 Jan 1948 is a
Thursday)
- LINKDATE program (written at an
OA
workshop
in 1991) updated to cope with Year 2000+
- Tips for running Xtree
under WIN95 plus 32-bit lookalikes.
- GEMFIND shareware for
locating
gemstones in Australia. Visual Basic program.
- Dec 99:The US Navy has introduced "Smart
Ships"
with PCs running Windows NT. Quote: The controversy
began when the
USS Yorktown, a guided-missile cruiser that was the first
to be
outfitted with Smart Ship technology, suffered a
widespread system
failure off
the coast of Virginia in September last year. After a crew
member
mistakenly entered a zero into the data field of an
application, the
computer system proceeded to divide another quantity by
that zero. The
operation caused a buffer overflow, in which data leak
from a temporary
storage space
in memory, and the error eventually brought down the
ship's propulsion
system. The result: the Yorktown was dead in the water for
more than
two hours. (Update: apparently the system was in an
"unorthodox"
state at the time)
- F-Prot/Command Anti-virus dealership change. Wayne Sharp
from PSI - Command, Melbourne is now the dealer. Email: waynes@psiaust.com
- Warning about eye damage from
laser
pointers
- Meeting notes for 13 October
1998.
- The DNA Computer - talk by
Michael Paine at the October 1998 meeeting of the user
Group. Includes
a program to convert database cross-tab to CSV files (see
downloads).
- Thinx Software have
released version 4.0 of their Thinx product and it now
includes Smart
DoC. This is a "smart" authoring tool that allows
manipulation of
drawings (eg AutoCAD), word processed documents and data
from databases.
- See the new German Open Access web page at http://www.klahold.com/oa/.
There
is also a noticeboard available http://www.klahold.com/oa/forum/index.html
- Problems with recent Pentium PCs and WIN95? I
have
recently upgraded a client's fileserver to a 233 Pentium PC
running
the most recent version of WIN95. Network OA (Netbios) now
no longer
works (illegal access WIN95 message) when launched from
WIN95 on the
fileserver but works fine when launched from "station" PCs
running
Windows
for Workgroups (with the main OA4.SPI file still on the
fileserver).
Also OA won't launch from a laptop on the network running a
recent
version
of WIN95. I have not have this problem on another network
running WIN95
on an older Pentium and a 486 PC! Wal Shand has reported a
similar
problem
(can't find OA4.SPI) after an upgrade. Is there a problem
with the
latest
BIOS running DOS software under WIN95??
- See the new international list of
Open Access Consultants
- The Group's Annual General Meeting is on Tuesday 9 June.
6pm
at Chatswood RSL.
- Tips from Shane Trengove
about database memos and converting dates to Lotus 123 and
Excel. Also tips about
passwords on databases
from Michael Paine.
- Hot news:DISPI has opened a
discussion board
for
Open Access and everything that goes with it. The address is
www.dispi.com/wwwboard.
"LANGUAGE IS ENGLISH....So everybody can join....... Please
spread the
word.
You can also register
to test the beta version of the new OA.... It is just
the database
and the converter ...We need testers and remarks for
building a better
version. The next episode is the editor and a deskmanager.
The
wordprocessor...We are hard working... If beta testers
report with
e-mailadres we keep them posted on the newest developments."
(from
Frank Doevendans)
- DR
DOS is alive and well. Many great features - it will
"coexist" with
Windows 95 (but does NOT replace the MS DOS that is needed
for WIN95
to boot). It is derived from Novell DOS 7.0 (advice from
Caldera, June
98)!
- Be careful when trying to install DOS software to Windows
95, especially if the diskettes are copy protected.
Without
asking you, WIN95 can change the boot sector of the diskette
(to
provide
for those nuisance long file names). See Windows
95
Annoyances
for details. This could explain a problem I have had
deinstalling then
reinstalling Ozstation software for System Manager. The
installation
program now
reports a DOS disk error and won't proceed.
- Welcome to our new web site! Michael Paine's web
directory
was getting a little crowded.
- Meeting notes for April 98
now available. More tips for running DOS applications such
as Open
Access under WIN95.
- DISPI are working on
the
new version of Open Access for Windows95/NT. See their Demo site
for
details.
- Marc Sapper now has the DISPI Year 2000 patch available
for
Australian Open Access users - this treats all two-digit
years
as 2000 (be careful because 20-04-99 will be treated as 20
April 2099).
Send a cheque for $25 to Microguild, PO Box 3145 Ripponlea
VIC 3183 and
specify whether you want the patch sent by email or by
diskette through
the post. Marc is the OA distributor in
Australia
and also provides programming and technical services. See
also PC Bugs in Year 2000 -
users of Microsoft
products
should also see Microsoft's
year 2000 site - there are numerous products with
problems that may
need "patches". There are many ways things that can go wrong
- OA is
the
least of your worries!
- Click on
this icon to download it for use in
WIN95 (the one that worked fine under Windows 3.x doesn't
work in WIN95
of course):
- Automated generation of web pages
from OA Database - I should have saved hours and
tried OA from
the start! I have an MS Access database of vehicle crash
test results.
I wanted to create a web
page
listing all of these crash tests , including links to
sites in
Australia and the USA. After playing around with MS Access I
decided to
export the data to dBase III format and work on it in Open
Access VI.
After a short time I had created a print form to do the job.
Just print
to "FILE" and the web HTML page was fully created
automatically. All I had to do was upload it to my service
provider.
Some great features are that I have links, where available,
and the
"rating" section is color coded, according to
HTML standards (all done within the OA PMK). Creating
complex tables in
HTML is usually a nuisance but now it is easy. The PMK file
and a
sample
of the database are in WEB_PAGE.ZIP(see
README.TXT
for
instructions).
- Jack
Huff advises that the following things should be
checked if you
get the error message "INSERT APPLICATIONS DISK" : 1. Out of
memory due to repeat looping with OA4 DOS command; 2. Lack
of disk
space;
3. Wrong version of APP.SPI or OA4.SPI. (must be a matched
for version
& networking option); 4 Network workstation may not be
logged on to
server; 5. User rights problem in network (Give all users
READ and
WRITE
rights in OA4 directory, CREATE and DELETE rights in data
directories,
including SCRATCH); 6. Path (MAP) on network may have been
changed so
that
OA4 fails to find files; 7. Network cables may have been
disturbed -
close
network down, check cables and restart; 8. Network user
count may be
used
up due to incorrect shut-downs (Run STATIONS.OAC); 9. The
APP.SPI file
may
not be shareable (eg network setting).
Jack also reports a client who, when trying to install an
additional
network user, got the following mysterious message: "Procedure
was
aborted because no serial number was found in OA4.SPI.". Any
takers
for an explanation?
- Frank
Doevendans advises that the Spreadsheet
corruption reported in the October newsletter is not a known
OA problem
it might be due to a hard disk glitch. Also, the tip of
avoiding disks
in excess of 2Gb is not due to an internal OA limitation -
apparently
it has been found to cause problems on some combinations of
operating
system and hardware and this has resulted in problems for OA
and other
software (for example the early release of WIN95 had
problems). Frank
uses OAIII and OAIV on a 4Gb hard disk with no problems.
- Frank also advises
that OASYS.EXE is available as part of the OA Toolkit. This
is bundled
with OA Vision and several other utilities for US$50 (or
US$100 with
Compiler - less for bulk orders). Essential tools for any
serious OA
developer.
- On some PCs there might a limit to the maximum "disk
space"
that OA will address. If any "volume" in the searching order
exceeds
2Gb then OA might hang with a message such as "No room on
volume...".
With networks this can be overcome be limiting the virtual
disk space.
On standalone PCs you might have to consider partitioning
the hard
disk.
Other DOS software such as dBase may suffer from this
problem (tip from
Keith O'Donnell). We have even heard of WIN95 having
problems! Frank
Doevendans
from DISPI has advised
that this is
a
DOS/BIOS/hardware problem rather than an OA limitation.
- Word for Windows and Excel viruses are getting out of
hand (there are 10 new macro viruses
coming out
per
day)! The threat was mentioned in the October/November
96 OA Newsletter. Some Macro
viruses spread as email
attachments
- HP Laserjet 5L Printer. Having spent the morning
trying to get my HP Laserjet 5L to work properly again after
a hard
disk crash I thought others might be interested in my
"solution": Don't
use the SETUP program on the 1st HP Installation disk this
installation
tries to be too smart and can cause problems. Instead go to
the Control
Panel Printers and select Add then choose "Install unlisted
or updated
printer". Now here's the secret - insert Disk 3 in the
floppy drive.
For some strange reason HP put the OEMSETUP.INF file on this
disk and
not on the first disk. This installs the "PCL" version of
the 5L
printer
driver. This is actually more versatile than the drivers
intalled by
SETUP.
Once the driver is installed select the setup button. Make
sure the
paper
size is set to A4. For "Print Quality" I have found that
"Manual
Settings"
is best. Click on the "Settings" button and the options for
manual
settings are displayed. I usually set the "Graphics Mode" to
RASTER for
the widest capability of printout (eg good grey scale and
pictures).
Another tip for HP printers: To print the lines from the IBM
character
set enter the code (27)10U in the initialisation sequence of
the OA
printer driver (from the Dec 96 Newletter, see also HP
Support tips).
- The HP website also has
new
drivers for running the Officejet LX
fax/scanner/printer
under Windows 95. Do not try to install the old driver - it
will cause
WIN95 to crash if you try to set up the printer (speed dial
list etc).
When you install the updated driver ignore the message about
inserting
your old installation disk just click on OK several times.
If you
insert
the old disk the installation will fail!
- Open Access still prints in DOS mode when running under
WIN95 (but you might be able set WIN95 to "capture" the
output and
add it to a queue instead of interfering with other print
jobs). This
means you still need the appropriate printer parameters in
your OA
configuration (see downloads -
please send us
your custom printer configurations to add to the list). We
repeat the
warning that many "budget" laser printers on the market only
work with
Windows programs - they cannot be used with Open Access.
Top of page
Australian Dealer
Open Access can now be ordered in Australia from:
Marc Sapper, Microguild P/L,
Phone 03 95258960 Fax 03 95258961
Mobile 0419 839839
email:sapper@melbpc.org.au.
Marc is a long-standing user of OA and we are grateful for his
involvement with the product.
Top of page
International Technical Support
Technical support for Open Access and Windowbase is now provided
by
Mr Frank Doevendans, DISPI bv,
VIVALDISTRAAT 18
5216 EL 's-Hertogenbosch
Netherlands
tel +(31) 73 6141407
fax +(31) 73 6141438
BBS +(31) 73 6141434
email doef@dispi.com
Frank would like to hear from OA users around the world.
Top of page
Web Links
Links have moved to conserve
space
on this page!
- Other OA User Groups:
- Spain - Asociacion USUARIOS OPEN ACCESS
Mr Jesus Rivero, Serrano,27-28001MADRID
Fax (91)5768090
- UK - apparently no longer active
If you would like a site listed here (even if it is just a
"snail mail"
address or fax) contact Michael
Paine (fax +61 2 99753966).
Top of page
Books on Windowbase
There are presently two Open Access / WindowBase books that
can be purchased to ease the transition from DOS to Windows:
" DASL Desk Reference, A Practical Guide
To Developing WindowBase Applications".
206 pgs. Defines and illustrates each of the WindowBase
script vocabulary words.
" WindowBase Conversion Guide for Open Access Users".
165 oversize pgs. Follows the format of the OA4 Programmers
book, by presenting a side-by-side comparison of the Programmer
language and the WindowBase equivalent.
Sadly, the Author, Tom Solarek passed away during 1997. The
books are
published by Super Systems Company
1817 Clark Rd. Rochester, New York U.S.A.
Top of page
Open Access 4
Open Access 4 is a DOS multi-function software package.The
original
Open Access I was the first integrated DOS package with
Database,
Spreadsheet, Word Processor and Communication functions - all
with
network support. The Database was very advanced for its time
with
relational database support and SQL retrievals.
Open Access evolved to a powerful application development
system
with 4GL programming language, compiler and runtime kit. It
still has
many powerful features not found in more recent, flashy
software. That
is one of the reasons it still has a strong user-base around
the world.
Top of page
Windowbase
Windowbase was the first Windows relational database. It also
had many
advanced features and used the same database engine and
networking
controls as Open Access. Unfortunately innovative software
rarely
suceeds against the giants!
Top of page
Australian Open Access User Group
The Australian Open Access User Group was formed around
1985. It
provides a forum for exchange
of information about Open Access and PCs. The group disbanded in
2001
but decided to keep this web page going.
Top of page
Downloads
- Down
load
OA_PROG.ZIP - a collection Programmer source code
and tips for using Open Access (DOS) software. This file is a
.zip file and the size is about 45 Kbytes.
- Down
load
OA_PRT.ZIP - a collection of extra printer drivers
& Postscript
line draw sequence prepared by Terry Litchfield for
Open Access
software. This file is a .zip file and the size is about 30
Kbytes.
- Download
OANET.TXT
- a collection of tips for Open Access and Compiler Runtime
on a
network OR OANET.SAM
in Ami Pro 3.1 format. The size of each is about 50 Kbytes.
- Download
SPP.ZIP- Structured Program Primer for Open Access 4.
Automatically
generate
source code for OA applications. Just type in the menu
entries and SPP
does the rest, including generation of a help (HLP) file.
About 50
Kbytes
zipped. Experienced programmers can make the best use of it.
Note that DISPI Netherlands
has a demo version
of a similar utility program called DynMenu.
- Download XTAB_CSV.TXT program
for converting Database Cross-tabulation to comma separated
variable
files. By Michael Paine. Supplied "as is". (right click to
save in
Netscape)
- Download
LINKDATE.ZIP for doing date manipulations within
Database (eg Day
of week
with a screen mask)
Top of page
Notice: Users should not act solely on the basis of the
material contained in the documents associated with these
Web pages.
Items contained in these documents are presented as possible
solutions
to problems but do not constitute advice. In particular, no
assurance
can be given that the possible solutions will work in every
situation
or that loss of data will not occur. Always back-up data
before trying
to rectify a problem.
Visitor Number since the system last reset itself!
(Sep
2002?)
This page is (occasionally) maintained by Michael Paine