I think this problem, and the reason why we still have auto run, is that it's assumed that having physical access to a machine is an endgame situation. With that assumed to be true, the thinking goes, why not make content open themselves for the convenience of the user? That's why auto run and other services should be disabled during deployment in a business setting.

What if the mirrors were glued to a flexible backing? Changing its shape moves the focal point. I have to try that out this Summer.

Seriously, though. I see many of you railing at this new development, but I don't see how it could possibly be worse than plastic. You know those numbers printed on your card? Yeah, people (read: cashiers) can see that; those numbers are all you need to use someone else's card online. Now after thinking about that, someone please tell me how this new technology can possibly be less secure than a plain old card.

Computer technicians already have this in the form of CompTIA's A+ certification, which you have to get before being allowed to use their "certified" logo in such things as advertisements. Consumers should always make sure the technicians working on their computers are certified.

In reality, most people who use these services aren't aware of this certification. Worse yet, I'd be willing to bet that the worst repair shops aren't certified, just as not all auto repair shops are certified. In the end, consumers shouldn't be expected to know how to fix their own stuff, but should do at least enough research to be able to find a respectable shop to bring their stuff to.

I have a personal site that I write articles on, and will also eventually host my resume. Quite a while ago, there was a gay couple in the news. One of them, Sean Fritz, happens to be to share both my first name and last name. This person also majors in ITM as I do. His "life partner" has the name of Tim, which happens to be the same name as a good friend of mine. He writes comedic articles, and I happen to have a link to his blog. I didn't think there would be a problem until Tim started to get a deluge of "gay people" to his site, all coming from my domain. I was worried for a while, but the worst of it soon blew over. I expect that the same should hold true for you as well.

I was kind of intrigued at the title of this story, as I've never heard of malware being spread in this fashion. I was even more surprised that this happened in Grand Forks, the city (most of you would call it a town, but everything seems to be called a city here in North Dakota) where I live. The last time I remember Grand Forks being in the news was the flood of '97.

What you're talking about is plugins, which generally run only when needed to display the plugin's corresponding content. When I install things like Adobe Reader and various media players, I expect them to install the plugins that will let me use them in my browser.

Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant is an extension. Extensions usually run all the time, starting when Firefox does.

I've never had any software install Firefox extension before without my asking or approval, and doing so is unacceptable. Let me make it plain and clear that I'm not irked about this simply because it's Microsoft. If any other software company tried this I'd be just as upset.

After some more research into this issue, I'll be writing an entry in my blog to provide more details in one place for those who want them (I promis not make the article an exercise at Microsoft bashing).

Blog: blog.vaxius.net

I have the beginning of a theory for Microsoft's attempts to eat Yahoo. The Redmund Giant could buy out SAP instead to boost their strength in business software, but Microsoft believes that they are top dog in the business world already, and would like to expand their business into other areas instead (online services in this case). If Microsoft tried to buy Google, the DOJ would immediately throw an antitrust-related tantrum and put an end to the deal. However, gobbling up the search giant of the pre-Google era (Yahoo) is much less likely to raise enough red flags to block the deal, and Microsoft will have acquired the experienced people they need to develop the kind of web-based software that they need if they ever hope to compete with the likes of Google.