Tuesday, June 8

Microsoft has finally pulled ahead of Netscape in browser market share, according to an InfoBeads study of 11,000 U.S. households.

While free computers are all the rage, one company has run out of money to fund its cheap PC strategy. SoftStream planned to sell desktops and laptops at a loss and make up the difference in software licensing fees. The company's largest investor didn't deliver the promised funds, so SoftStream only fulfilled 40% of orders.

Stephen Manes of PC World asks "Will be your next PC be a cell phone?" Predictions of the death of the PC have always been interesting and wrong, but it's worth considering the development of the cell phone as a PC companion a la the 3Com Palm devices.

Diamond Multimedia's home networking products will be sold at Radio Shack stores across the country.

Microsoft unveiled Microsoft Office 2000 yesterday. The new application suite will appear on store shelves Thursday.

ISP news

Free British ISP Dixon's is preparing a public stock offering that could be worth US$3.23 billion.

Dell has announced DellNet, a free European Internet service. DellNet software will come pre-installed on Dell PCs sold in Europe, and can be downloaded for free.

Only 500 Australian households out of 2.5 million are using Telstra and Cable & Wireless Optus for high-speed Internet access, according to analyst Paul Budde, due to the high cost.

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Friday, June 11

ActionTec has announced broad Linux support, with modems in external, ISA, PCI and PCMCIA form factors. ActionTec should be commended for supporting the ever-growing Linux community. I've started a new Linux Modem Link Board for Linux-compatible devices.

Zoom will introduce its DOCSIS-compatible cable modem offering at NCTA Cable '99 in Chicago. Embracing old and new networking techniques, the modem will support both Ethernet and Home Phoneline Networking, as well as both DHCP and NAT (Network Address Translation, a way of supporting a multiple-computer network with a single IP address). Zoom hopes to enhance usability with browser-based configuration and remote software upgrades.

A Federal judge in Oregon has ruled that AT&T has to allow other Internet access companies to use its cable system. AT&T plans an appeal.

Security alert: ExploreZip worm

CERT has issued an advisory regarding the ExploreZip Trojan horse. The file, called zipped_files.exe, is normally distributed via email, and must be run in order to compromise the computer. Once run, the program scans drives C through Z and attempts to erase files, including Microsoft Office files and programming source code files. Once the computer is infected, the Trojan horse will reply to emails received on that computer and send copies of the zipped_files.exe program to the sender using Outlook. All Win32 platforms (Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT) are affected. News.com has a more detailed explanation of how ExploreZip spreads.

Check your vendor's web sites for updates to their antivirus software, and never run executable files from an unknown source. CERT has other advice for avoiding Trojan horses.

Viruses, Trojan horses and worms

Different news outlets are variously describing ExploreZip as a Trojan horse, a worm, or a virus. Newer malware such as the Melissa Word macro virus is blurring the traditional boundaries between these three traditional classes.

Computer viruses, like biological viruses, can't reproduce on their own. They must infect a file. Viruses can infect and reproduce without user intervention if an infected program is run. Viruses can't exist outside of the file they infect. ExploreZip doesn't require a file to exist, so it is clearly not a virus.

Trojan horses are programs that pretend to be something useful (a game or a screensaver, for instance) but that actually do something intentionally malicious. Trojan horses must be run by the user in order to perform malicious tasks. Trojans exist on their own outside of other files. Because Trojans can't reproduce, they quickly die out.

Worms are similar to Trojan horses in that the worm file can exist on its own, and often masquerades as a useful file. The difference is that worms can reproduce and spread, whereas Trojans almost always die out quickly. ExploreZip's ability to copy itself through email qualifies it for classification as a worm.

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