Articles

Microsoft has stepped back from what some saw as a threat of legal action against a researcher who published details of several security flaws. The researcher claimed Microsoft had humiliated him when he previously reported bugs. The dispute is the latest example of tensions over what Microsoft used to call responsible disclosure: the idea that researchers should not make bugs public until it has had a chance to prepare and distribute a fix. Microsoft had dropped that term many years ago in favor of "coordinated vulnerability disclosure." The change in wording was designed to remove the ...view more

Acer is working on firmware updates for two critical zero-day vulnerabilities affecting its Wave 7 mesh routers. The flaws can expose router login credentials and may allow attackers to modify backups in a way that could give them persistent access to the device. If an attacker can take control of the device, they may be able to watch traffic, redirect users to malicious websites, interfere with connected devices, or use the router as a stepping stone into the rest of the network. Acer says the vulnerabilities affect Wave 7 routers running firmware version T7c_GBL_1.01.000055 or earlier. The ...view more

Google Chrome is facing criticism after users discovered that the browser can quietly place a multi-gigabyte local AI model on their computers. The issue has drawn attention because the file is large, the download may not be obvious to ordinary users, and deleting the file manually may not stop Chrome from downloading it again. The concern is not simply that Chrome has AI features, but rather that browser-based AI is moving from optional cloud tools into local system storage, using disk space and bandwidth without the kind of clear, up-front warning many users would expect. For people with ...view more

Infopackets Reader Rick B. writes: " Dear Dennis, I administer a Windows Server 2022 machine for a client and the owner reported that Server Manager's Add Roles and Features won't complete without errors. I ran sfc /scannow , but it says Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and was unable to fix some of them. I also ran DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth , and it says the component store is repairable. However, when I run DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth , it fails with error 0x800f081f and says the source files could not be found. I also tried resetting Windows ...view more

Microsoft Defender is supposed to protect Windows users from malware, but two newly patched zero-day flaws show how security software itself can become part of the attack surface. The warning affects Windows users and administrators who rely on Microsoft Defender as their first line of defense against viruses, spyware, ransomware, and other malware. Defender is built into Windows and usually updates automatically, which makes it easy to assume that it is always protecting the system in the background. Microsoft has now patched two Defender vulnerabilities that were reportedly being exploited ...view more

A growing number of Macrium Reflect 8 users have reported problems mounting backup images after recent Windows 11 security updates. The issue centers on a vulnerable driver called psmounterex.sys , which Macrium Reflect 8 uses to mount backup images as virtual drives so users can browse backed-up files in File Explorer. Once Windows blocks that driver, the image-mounting feature can fail even though the backup image itself may still exist and rescue media may still be able to restore it. Macrium Reflect 8 Free: No Longer Supported The complaints are especially concerning for Macrium Reflect 8 ...view more

Google has announced a new brand of laptop called "Googlebook". Unlike the Chromebook, which was mainly about reducing hardware needs, the Googlebook is based around artificial intelligence. The Googlebook appears to be the result of a much-discussed merger of ChromeOS (which runs Chromebooks) and Android. The new devices will closely integrate with Android phones. Users will be able to respond to phone messages on their Googlebook and access files from the phone without needing a cable. However, it's Google's AI tool Gemini which Google is pushing as the main point of the Googlebook. It goes ...view more