billj04 - Slashdot User

Comment Re:This only punishes the foolish (Score 4, Interesting) 438

by billj04 on Wednesday July 16, 2008 @08:54PM (#24222165) Attached to: Gmail Reveals the Names of All Users

This actually is a security risk -- a lot of websites use your name as proof that their email is legitimate, and not originating from a phisher. For example, eBay's emails contain the following text at the top:

eBay sent this message to FULL NAME (account)
Your registered name is included to show this message originated from eBay. Learn more.

The "Learn more" link takes you to http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/name-userid-emails.html which explains

Since people who send out spoof emails often don't have your first and last name as well as eBay User ID, receiving an email that contains this information should increase your confidence that the email was sent by eBay.

Submission + - Microsoft "Stealth Update" not harmless at

Submitted by DaMan on Thursday September 27, 2007 @05:14AM

DaMan writes: According to WindowsSecrets.com, the super-secret stealth Update that Microsoft released back in August isn't as harmless as Microsoft claims:

The trouble occurs when users reinstall XP's system files using the repair capability found on genuine XP CD-ROMs. (The feature is not present on "Restore CDs.") The repair option, which is typically employed when XP for some reason becomes unbootable, rolls many aspects of XP back to a pristine state. It wipes out many updates and patches and sets Internet Explorer back to the version that originally shipped with the operating system.

ZDNet's Hardware 2.0 has independently confirmed that this update adversely affects repaired XP installations:

This issue highlights why it is vitally important that Microsoft doesn't release undocumented updates on the sly. Even the best tested update can have unpleasant side-effects, but if patches are documented properly and released in such a way that users (especially IT professionals) know they exist, it offers a necessary starting point for troubleshooting.

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