nets

Microsoft today issued eight security bulletins plugging 23 holes, including a critical patch for vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to take control of a computer, if someone visited a malicious Web page using Internet Explorer.

The cumulative IE patch, MS11-081, fixes eight holes and is rated high priority among today's Patch Tuesday bulletins, which include two rated critical and six rated important.

The other high-priority bulletin is MS11-078, which fixes a vulnerability in .Net Framework and Microsoft Silverlight that could allow an attacker to remotely execute code on a machine, if a user views a malicious Web page … Read more

Microsoft is gearing up for another Patch Tuesday.

In its regular series of monthly security fixes, the company tomorrow is launching eight separate bulletins to patch 23 different holes in a small but key range of products. Marked as "critical," two of the bulletins are aimed at stopping hackers from remotely running code in Windows, Internet Explorer, .NET, and Silverlight.

Specifically, these two bulletins are deemed critical for the desktop versions of Windows and should be applied to Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Only one of the bulletins is tagged as critical for Windows Server 2003, … Read more

The U.S. Department of Justice has expanded its investigation of WikiLeaks-related accounts to encompass Google and Internet provider Sonic.net.

Both companies received secret court orders directing them to turn over information from the e-mail account of Jacob Appelbaum, a hacker and human rights activist who has been affiliated with WikiLeaks, The Wall Street Journal reported today.

CNET has learned that the secret court order is what's called a 2703(d) order. It's not as privacy-protective as a traditional search warrant, and some courts have ruled that such orders are unconstitutional when used to read a suspect'… Read more

Challenges to the Federal Communications Commission's Net neutrality rules will be heard in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, a situation supporters of the rules had hoped to avoid.

On Thursday, the D.C. Circuit was chosen at random to be the court where challenges to the new rules, which prohibit broadband Internet providers from deliberately slowing or blocking subscribers' network traffic, will be heard. The rules were passed by the FCC in 2010. And they were officially registered with the government last month, opening up the process for legal challenges before the rules … Read more

The Mac still owns a tiny market share compared with Windows, but it's one that's slowly been inching up.

In the U.S., Apple held 6.45 percent of all personal computers last month, according to new data from Net Applications, a gain from 6.03 percent from August. The growth from the prior month isn't a surprise, though, since Apple typically enjoys a boost in September thanks to what Net Applications calls "the Back-to-School Bump."

But the latest number also shows a slow but steady rise over the past couple of years from October … Read more

Google's browsers edged closer to second place in both desktop and mobile markets, a gradual trend that helps Google's profitability and its long-term plans for the Web.

On personal computers, Chrome rose from 15.5 percent of global usage in August to 16.2 percent in September, according to Net Applications, whose Web-based analytics tools monitor usage. Chrome trails Internet Explorer, which dropped from 55.3 percent to 54.4 percent, and Firefox, which dipped from 22.6 percent to 22.5 percent. Safari rose from 4.6 percent to 5.0 percent, and Opera was flat at … Read more

The Federal Communications Commission's Net neutrality rules will be published in the Federal Register tomorrow and go into effect--barring legal challenges--November 20, according to a report.

The commission made its announcement about the dates today, PCMag.com reported. On September 12, the White House's Office of Management and Budget signed off on the rules, which meant the next step was publication in the Register.

The Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations. Among other things, it gives citizens access to new regulations so they can examine their … Read more

The capability to stream Netflix and other Internet sources and the thin profile imparted by its edge-lit LED backlight, mark the Toshiba SL417U as a midrange HDTV these days. In its favor, this set demands relatively little cash for those extras, and built-in Wi-Fi gives it a leg up on some of the competition. It does sacrifice picture quality in many categories, however, with variable black levels and less-impressive color. That said, for less critical viewers who want the convenience of online extras built-in, the SL417U is a solid bargain.

Read the full review of the Toshiba SL417U series.

The White House's Office of Management and Budget has signed off on the Federal Communications Commission's Net neutrality rules, which means the rules could go into effect in two to three months' time--barring legal challenges.

The OMB signed off on Friday, Reuters reports. The next step will be publication in the Federal Register, which usually takes anywhere from one to three weeks. The rules would then kick in 60 days later.

Soon after the FCC's late December passing of the rules, Verizon Communications sued the agency in federal court, saying the FCC had overstepped its authority. But … Read more