Triona's Tech Tips

This month’s Patch Tuesday gives us a plethora of critical updates for both Microsoft and Adobe Acrobat Reader (Windows and Mac). Now is a good time to verify that you have all the latest updates you need to keep your computer free of viruses and other malware.

The expected Microsoft patches include updates for Windows (including the latest version, Windows 7), Office, and Internet Explorer, plus Windows Server, SQL Server and several other products. You can read the advance notification here. If you have Automatic Updates enabled you will receive notice of these updates automatically, or you can manually check to make sure you are protected by visiting update.microsoft.com.

Adobe’s updates will include patches for Acrobat Reader. As I said before I encourage you to install version 9.1.3 if you haven’t already. You can check for updates within Reader by going to the Help menu and selecting Check For Updates, or you can download the latest version from Adobe’s site (but be sure to go to Help, Check For Updates afterwards since Adobe doesn’t always offer the most recent version for download). You can read about the Adobe updates here. Please note that these updates apply to both Windows and Mac.

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If you run any kind of web server, you are probably familiar with the recent attacks on SQL databases. Help is on the way in the form of a new tool from Microsoft and HP, which you can use to test your Web site for vulnerabilities.

Common SQL attacks involve directing unsuspecting PCs (often owned by home users) at malicious Web sites. These sites infect the PCs with code that infects other web servers, and the vicious cycle repeats.

If you host your web services and are unsure if this affects you, contact your Internet provider. Consumers can help by keeping their web browsers up to date, and being aware of the prevalence of phony sites.