From the Spyware newsletter:-

Anyone using the WinMX file sharing application needs be aware of a new trojan in the wild that seems to be targeted specifically at the WinMX network. This trojan is being identified as Win32.Glimp trojan by ETrust anti-virus, Trojan.Win32.WinMXtrojan.10 by Kaspersky anti-virus, and Trojan.Win32.WinMXp2p by Gladiator anti-virus.

On an infected machine, the WinMX trojan will copy Word documents, text files, .ini files, batch files, etc into a special directory, then change their extensions to .avi. This directory is then shared on the network by the WinMX peer to peer application. By adding the victim’s WinMX login name to the attacker’s “Hotlist” and then selecting “Browse”, the attacker can browse through and download every file that has been copied into the directory.

I can’t find a whole lot of information about this trojan. At this point, all I can suggest is to keep updating your anti-virus software and to double-check what are in the folders you are sharing through WinMX and other peer to peer programs. No matter which anti-virus software you have and no matter which peer to peer program you use, always scan newly downloaded files before you run them. Always.

APC UPS Recall
Look under the desk at your Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS). You know… that warm thing the cat likes to curl up next to. Is it an APC? Is it a Back-UPS CS model? Look again just to be sure. It’s important.
American Power Conversion (APC) has recalled some 2.1 million units produced under the Back-UPS CS line, specifically the CS 350 and CS 500 models, in both 120-volt and 230-volt varieties. Eight reports have come in regarding these units overheating, six of which were within the US and three caused property damage. Symptoms include a melted outer casing, and obvious rise in the temperature of the unit, and I’m guessing potential failure in the components and/or quality of power protection. Compare the first six chars of your serial number to the following ranges to see if your UPS qualifies for replacement:
° AB0048 through AB0251
° BB0104 through BB0251
° JB0125 through JB0251
Also note that any units with an R at the end of the serial number are not included in the recall. Be sure to read the article linked above for more information
Thanks Techspecialist in Lockergnome!

Meant to mention that the place I ordered security cables for all our desktop pc’s has sent us kit which work with laptops only and want a £75 restocking fee! I’m going to see if I can persuade them that its actually their fault.
Update: Sale of Goods Act strikes again! Spoke to customer services and they are not charging us the restocking fee! I explained that the picture on the website quite clearly shows a desktop pc with mounting brackets on the main case and monitor which the actual goods themselves don’t have. Therefore it’s not “as described” or “fit for the purpose” 🙂 My companys coffers – Ker-Ching!, their company – Ooops!

Had an interesting and annoying conversation with Microsoft this afternoon. We discovered (after three days of trying various things) that we are getting the same symptoms described in the knowledge base Q281485 namely (no pun intended) a name collision in Active Directory which causes the replication errors with an Event ID of 1226 and 1265. A hotfix is available from Microsoft for this but only on a telephone call. So a call was made just before 4pm. After being on hold for a while and then being asked an inane question such as “what platform is Active Directory running on” – (I was so tempted to say Windows95) I was then put through to the support team who insisted on keeping his mouthpiece about 6 foot away from his mouth so i could hardly hear him. After much slowness of talking he told me that he had applied for me to get the patch and that I may get it tomorrow as the hotfix team only check for applications at 10am and 4pm. This is from the company that “aims to support you as quickly as possible” and then doesn’t let you log a call until AFTER the deadlines 🙁 So its now been two days working on a problem which is known, MEANT to be fixed in sp3 but obviously isn’t (as google has lots of other people with the same problem) and I now have to wait until tomorrow……arrrrghhhhhh! Still on the bright side, I can play solitaire until it arrives 🙂

Filled out my claim form against my critical illness benefit this afternoon. I am glad that I’ve been blogging for so long as I was able to go back through the archives and find out what days I had been in hospital and everything – cool! Thanks Blogger!

I’m now a Listener instead of a newbie on Yahoo’s Radio as I’ve rated 102 times now…..148 to the next level!

Cleveland.com reports on a company that is suing a troll for posting racial/abusive posts on its message board. It claims to have tried to stop him several times from posting and failed. I don’t know whether they have heard of ip blocking or not – surely it would be straightforward to block his domain/isp. Maybe the guy is using aol (that figures) and therefore they can’t just block the ip range due to killing the rest of aol users…I’m sure there are better/cheaper ways than suing someone, although I hope they win – the scumbag deserves everything he gets 🙂

Anyone know where to get a cat kennel from? Basil this week has so far broken 2 mugs, 1 jar of decaff coffee and 1 pint glass of water. He’s tried to eat a loaf of bread and three eccles cakes – each wrapped in the normal wrapping and in a carrier bag too. Coming downstairs in the morning is a nightmare! So he either meets his maker early, sleeps in a kennel and/or starts on adult kitten food so we can leave it out for them all over night so he can eat cat food. The first option is NOT my preferred one!

Forgot to mention that I was glad I had got a black AND a colour cartridge as the printer would not stop complaining until the colour one was also installed. I’m probably going to try a refill next time to see how that goes as I get enough ink on my fingers when trying to install the sealed cartidges I guess a syringe and ink is not going to make much difference….and I could always have a sideline of tattooing……

Active Directory is a NIGHTMARE! We now have two servers up and running, but neither of them can connect into the other servers (on another site) which means that none of the other services such as mail can be restored until this is fixed 🙁