March 20 2009 COOLSITES Newsletter #209 by Mark Donaldson

luem42 · Joined: Aug 02, 2003 Posts: 308

This is what the COOLSITES Toolbar looks like. Click here for more info: http://luem42.com/toolbar.html Click here to get it: http://luem42.OurToolbar.com

I have published the March 20 2009 COOLSITES Newsletter #209 by Mark Donaldson.

The following is an excerpt from this weeks newsletter. To see the full newsletter with all of the COOLSITES links please click and bookmark this link: http://luem42.googlepages.com/coolsites.html and check it each week. Thank you. Mark.

March 20 2009 COOLSITES Newsletter #209 by Mark Donaldson

Notice: For some reason my online webpages have intermittently had a notice that bandwidth had been exceeded. I think this is a mistake and is Google's problem but it may be a cyber criminal attacking my websites in revenge with a DOS (denial of service) attack. I will be monitoring this and may have to call Google.

Another good reason to subscribe

Free Roast Burger until 3-20 Arbys.com - Pepsi Xtras: http://www.arbys.com/pepsixtras/?sssdmh=dm24.153674

Free. Enjoy your first water ice on us on 3-20: http://www.fishbowl.com/clt/ritas/pc/200903/1/spr.htm

These expire today

Subscribers who don't receive the newsletter, due to stupid filters, may use a private link to download the newsletter in the text ( .txt ), html ( .html ) and the MS Word Doc ( .doc ) format in a zip file. I will upload the zip files to my archive site right after I send out the newsletter on Friday morning. If a subscriber doesn't receive the newsletter, by 9am ET, they can quickly download it, unzip it and peruse it offline. You can also read it online from there.

If you are a subscriber and don't know the private link you can email me for it. These zip files are less than 40K which is smaller than the 100K or more for the newsletter.

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Semper Gratis (forever free) of cost

COOLSITES is a list of safe, fun, useful, informative and just plain cool websites and programs that are FREE, FREE and FREE. All of the programs and websites I list are free. If I list anything that is so good but isn't free I will list the price with it.

My website is Dialup Friendly. All pages except "Just The Links" and "Specialized Search Engines" load up in under 15 seconds.

Wherever you go if you see the user name LUEM42 that's me

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Pirillo's Picks for February 13 2007

"And if you think that's a lot of links, you should see how many http://luem42.com/ collects every day. It's enough to make you wanna never leave the house again as long as you live" Yours Digitally, Chris Pirillo http://chris.pirillo.com/

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Clif Notes Newsletter, Feb 2007 http://freewarewiki.com/ClifNotes

"The COOLSITES Newsletter - find the coolest links here. This fella named Mark Donaldson has been sending out his lists of cool sites since 2003. I'd never heard of him before last week. One day I was Googling myself to see who was posting links to my newsletter, and I found his website. I guess he's mentioned my newsletter at least 3 times. I like the COOLSITES website too, but I think it could use some reformatting to make it a bit easier to read. What I really like is the content there. Mark must really read a lot of stuff on the web and he takes the best links then tells you about them." http://freewarewiki.com/CoolSitesNewsletter

Notice from Clif Notes Newsletter
March 15, 2009

Thanks for reading.

I'm sorry there's no newsletter. It was a nice day outside here in
Ohio and my time was well spent with cleaning and yard work. I hope to
have more for you next week.

Best wishes to you all

Last newsletter http://freewarewiki.com/ClifNotesNewsletter090308

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Security News and Links

I get these links and news from good sources however I do not test the programs myself because I just don't have the time. The definitive source of rogue info is Spyware Warrior- Rogue-Suspect Anti-Spyware Products & Web Sites: http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm

"National Cyber Alert System Cyber Security Alert SA09-069A Microsoft Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities Original release date: March 10, 2009 Source: US-CERT Systems Affected * Microsoft Windows Overview: Microsoft has released updates that address vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows. Solution: Install updates The updates to address these vulnerabilities are available on the Microsoft Update site. We recommend enabling Automatic Updates. Description: In the Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for March 2009, Microsoft released updates to address vulnerabilities that affect Microsoft Windows. More technical information is available in US-CERT Technical Cyber Security Alert TA09-069A. References * Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for March 2009 http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms09-mar.mspx "

"Websense® Security Labs(TM) ThreatSeeker(TM) Network has received reports of spoofed Facebook email messages that contain malicious links. The messages look similar to legitimate Facebook messages and invite recipients to click on the link contained in the message to view a video.

Message subjects seen have been:

FaceBook message: Dancing Girl Drunk In The Pub- facebook Video (Last rated by Betsy Person)
FaceBook message: Dancing girl oriental dance ... (Last rated by Abdul Kay)
FaceBook message: Magnificent Striptease Dance (Last rated by Rosalind Lindsey)
FaceBook message: Watch the Oooh! Super Beautiful Girl Dancing (Last rated by Delores Tucker)
FaceBook message: Hot Girl Dancing At Striptease Dance Party

If recipients of this message click the link, they are taken to a malicious Web site that looks similar to Facebook and that prompts them to install a file called "Adobe_Player11.exe". This file (SHA1 70456cd86d458452ee172a791cf1b9cfaf944ef0) has very little anti-virus coverage, according to http://www.virustotal.com/analisis/c616bddc8b8571ff578780cf4b31a5d3.

Websense Messaging and Websense Web Security customers are protected against this attack.

To view the details of this alert http://securitylabs.websense.com/content/Alerts/3319.aspx "

"Websense Security Labs(TM) ThreatSeeker(TM) Network has detected yet another new Waledac campaign theme in the wild. The new variant uses a Reuters theme as a social engineering mechanism to report a bogus news item relating to a 'bomb explosion'.

The malicious Web sites in the current attack are socially engineered to report the geolocation of the incident corresponding to the user's IP address. They encourage users to view a video supposedly related to the news report. When users click on the video or the link below the video, they are advised to download the latest version of Flash Player. This leads to the download of Waledac variants.

The theme includes legitimate links corresponding to Wikipedia and Google which are presented in a 'Related Links' section of the attack Web sites. Those legitimate links are used to target unsuspecting users in order to increase chances of success with the attack.

Websense® Messaging and Websense Web Security customers are protected against this attack.

To view the details of this alert http://securitylabs.websense.com/content/Alerts/3321.aspx "

"Websense Security Labs(TM) has received reports that searching for March Madness-related terms in Google's search engine returns results that lead to rogue antivirus software. March Madness is the term given to an elimination tournament held each spring featuring college basketball teams in the United States.

With only a few days left before the tournament starts, if a user searches for popular March Madness-related terms in Google, malicious URLs as high as the first result are returned. Search terms that currently exist within the Top 10 of Google's Hot Trends (the most popular search results) return these malicious URLs.

If a user clicks through these links (such as hxxp://[removed].de/news/nit_bracket_2009.html) they are redirected, via Javascript code, to a Web site advising the user that their machine is infected. The rogue AV Web site encourages the user to install a file called install.exe.

The technique of search engine optimization (SEO) poisoning pushes the infected URLs to the top of the search results, to increase the likelihood of a user clicking through to the malicious link.

Ask.com is also confirmed to be affected in this way. Other search engines may be affected in a similar manner.

Websense® Messaging and Websense Web Security customers are protected against this attack.

To view the details of this alert http://securitylabs.websense.com/content/Alerts/3322.aspx "

"Websense® Security Labs(TM) ThreatSeeker(TM) Network has discovered a massive malicious comment spam campaign brewing in the blogosphere, made to coincide with the NCAA's "March Madness" basketball tournament.

Clicking on the URLs in the blog comments associated with this spam campaign takes users to a malicious Web site masquerading as a fake anti-virus scanner, or a Web site that serves up a fake video codec download.

Websense, Inc., recommends that NCAA basketball fans be cautious when clicking on March Madness related hyperlinks. Just earlier today, we alerted on an SEO poisoning attack that led to similar malicious Web sites.

Websense Messaging and Websense Web Security customers are protected against this attack.

To view the details of this alert http://securitylabs.websense.com/content/Alerts/3323.aspx "

"Websense® Security Lab(TM) ThreatSeeker(TM) Network has discovered that the official Web site of the Rajshri Productions, India, has been compromised and is infecting the machines of site visitors with malicious code. The malicious code found on the main page of the site leads to an Adobe Reader PDF exploit (CVE-2007-5659).

Rajshri Productions, the film production division of Rajshri, was set up in 1962. Since 1947, the Rajshri Organization has been an integral part of the Indian Film Industry, enjoying a unique position encompassing film production, distribution, exhibition, export, television and digital media.

In an effort to protect their visitors, Websense® Security Labs has contacted Rajshri Productions and advised them of this incident. Websense ThreatSeeker Network has been tracking how this type of attack is carried out successfully over such reputable Web sites, targeting their peers and other visitors.

To view the details of this alert http://securitylabs.websense.com/content/Alerts/3325.aspx "

Apple's iTunes 8.1 plugs malicious podcast security hole: http://ct.cnet-ssa.cnet.com/clicks?t=154715873-be56918137808c8d29d6177...a633af-

Avira builds better free security in AntiVir 9: http://ct.cnet-ssa.cnet.com/clicks?t=175463638-be56918137808c8d29d6177...a633af-

Beware of Typosquatting and New Identity Theft Warnings. Scambusters.org: http://www.scambusters.org/typosquatting.html

Latest Conficker worm gets nastier: http://ct.cnet-ssa.cnet.com/clicks?t=154715869-be56918137808c8d29d6177...a633af-

Microsoft, researcher spar over security patch: http://ct.cnet-ssa.cnet.com/clicks?t=154715867-be56918137808c8d29d6177...a633af-

Require Control+Alt+Delete For More Security in Windows XP.: http://www.internetfixes.com/readers_questions/IF02054.htm

Researcher cracks Mac in 10 seconds: http://www.infoworld.com/article/09/03/19/Researcher_cracks_Mac_in_10_...onds_1.

Researcher hacks just-launched IE8: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasi...mp;arti

Researchers find ways to sniff keystrokes from thin air: http://www.itworld.com/print/64193

Safari hole exploited in seconds at security conference: http://ct.cnet-ssa.cnet.com/clicks?t=175463635-be56918137808c8d29d6177...a633af-

Update. Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus 9.0.0.386: http://www.free-av.com/

Update. CryptoExpert 2009 Lite 7.9.1 Free on the fly hard drives encryption software with Password authentication.: http://www.secureaction.com/cryptoexpert/lite/

Update. KeePass Password Safe 2.07 Beta: http://keepass.info/

Update. Spybot Search and Destroy Detection Updates 03-18-2009: http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html

Update. Virus Effect Remover 2.6 remove the effect of virus from windows registry and file system: http://sourceforge.net/projects/viruseffectremo/

Update. WinPatrol 16.0.2009 expose worms, trojan horses, cookies, adware, spyware: http://www.winpatrol.com/download.html

Updated March-15-2009 Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

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Consumer News and Links

10 Things You'll Never Get a Credit Company to Admit. comments you are never likely to hear from credit card issuers: http://www.smartmoney.com/Spending/Rip-offs/10-Things-Your-Credit-Card...mpany-W

5 freebies for financially strained times - Freeware, Software and Daily Downloads - The Kim Komando Radio Show: http://www.komando.com/downloads/category.aspx?id=6333

Advance Fee Loan Scams Still Prey on Consumers: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/story?id=7024904&page=1

Best Buy refusing to match prices: http://ct.cnet-ssa.cnet.com/clicks?t=165115116-be56918137808c8d29d6177...a633af-

Different Tax Programs Yield Different Bottom Lines: http://www.pcworld.com/article/161221/how_much_do_you_owe_uncle_sam_ta...ep_site

Get Free Stuff - Free Samples of brand-name products for FREE by joining: http://www.freeflys.com/FreeSamples.php

Grocery Gotchas. Tricky Terms Defined. some of the tricks of the grocery trade: http://www.consumerreports.org/health/healthy-living/diet-nutrition/he...hy-food

Haagen-Dazs Downsizes Pints to 14 Ounces instead of raising price: http://adage.com/article?article_id=135126

Hybrid car sales go from 60 to 0 at breakneck speed: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hybrid17-2009mar17,0,6682265.story

Mexico to impose sanctions on US exports: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ce2431c4-126b-11de-b816-0000779fd2ac.html?nc...k_check

Mouse Print. Staples Easy Rebates. Now Harder to Cash: http://www.mouseprint.org/

Solar Water Heating Pays For Itself Five Times Over: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090309105021.htm

The Pitfalls of Prepaid Visa-MC Cards: http://www.smartmoney.com/Spending/Deals/The-Pitfalls-of-Prepaid-Cards/

Trade in old games, get new games for less - Tips and Advice for Parents and Families - The Kim Komando Radio Show: http://www.komando.com/kids/tip.aspx?id=6335

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Windows Secrets Newsletter

Free content posted on Mar. 19, 2009:

INTRODUCTION
By Brian Livingston
Get a bonus on blogging as an alternative job

TOP STORY
By Becky Waring
"Viral inviters" want your e-mail contact list
How viral inviters overcome built-in suspicions
Web services can't control what people share
Linked social networks accelerate the problem
Prevent your data from being scraped

KNOWN ISSUES
By Dennis O'Reilly
WS "contribution model" lauded by biz journal
Downgrading Vista to XP may need driver search
This Microsoft patch doesn't know when to quit

WACKY WEB WEEK
By Katy Abby
Nothing friendly about this "friend" request

http://WindowsSecrets.com/comp/090319

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Make My Start Page Your Home Page I have updated it on 10-3-8

Try my start page and make it your home page by clicking "Click here to make my start page your default homepage".

It has the following convenient logins and links such as: Google Mail Login, Yahoo Mail Login, Windows Live MSN HotMail Login, Froogle Price Search, Google Maps, MySpace Login, Lockergnome Cool Web Links, Weather Radar, BugMeNot, E! Online, Zap2it TV Guide, Snopes, Scambusters, YouTube, FaceBook, and links to my webpages. You can also google the web or my website. It also has a link for your suggestions so you can help me make it better.

The best thing about it is it's simple, small and loads up on dialup in less than one second. Check it out today at: http://luem42.googlepages.com/start.html

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COOLSITES 131 cool links

I harvest what I believe to be the best links from the best sources that are safe, fun, informative, useful and just plain cool. I categorize them and edit their descriptions for clarity. I may make comments about the links but you will know because I always sign them with "Mark".

To see the full newsletter with all of the COOLSITES links please click and bookmark this link: http://luem42.googlepages.com/coolsites.html and check it each week. Thank you. Mark.