Windows 7 Users - Read This

Google has warned Windows 7 users of a serious bug in the operating
system!!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47494760

Cyber-thieves are "actively exploiting" the vulnerability by combining
it with a separate flaw found in the Chrome browser.

Windows 7 users are strongly advised to upgrade to Windows10
immediately!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


--
With over 950 million devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

😉 Good Guy 😉 wrote on 3/8/2019 10:10 PM:

Google has warned Windows 7 users of a serious bug in the operating
system!!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47494760

Cyber-thieves are "actively exploiting" the vulnerability by combining
it with a separate flaw found in the Chrome browser.

Windows 7 users are strongly advised to upgrade to Windows10
immediately!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


--
With over 950 million devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

It's simpler and a hell of a lot more sensible to quit using Chrome; at
least that's what I'm guessing the majority opinion will be.

From your choices and posts, I gather you get off on being tracked by
large corporations.
--
Jeff Barnett

In message , Jeff Barnett
writes:
0 Google has warned Windows 7 users of a serious bug in the operating
system!!!!!!!!!!!!!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47494760

Cyber-thieves are "actively exploiting" the vulnerability by
combining it with a separate flaw found in the Chrome browser.
Windows 7 users are strongly advised to upgrade to Windows10
immediately!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-- With over 950 million devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

It's simpler and a hell of a lot more sensible to quit using Chrome; at
least that's what I'm guessing the majority opinion will be.

From your choices and posts, I gather you get off on being tracked by
large corporations.

Calm down everybody. According to the article, it's being exploited via
a flaw in Chrome. Google have patched Chrome, Microsoft haven't said
when (or if!) they'll patch W7. So - if you're a Chrome user (so you
accept all the FUD [even if justified] involved in using it), just check
it's up to date.

If you're not a Chrome user (or have updated Chrome), then it's probably
OK until the bad guys find a way of exploiting it _without_ using
Chrome.

I am a Chrome user (though my _default_ browser is Firefox 27.0.1), so I
upgraded Chrome; updating from within it didn't work today (not clear
why - server not available seemed the reason some of the time, which
wouldn't surprise me with that article doing the rounds), so I just
downloaded and ran the offline installer. (Confusingly, if you follow
any link you find to the offline installer, you _seem_ to still be
looking at the normal - i. e. online - download page; apparently,
however, there are flags that make sure you get the offline one. [For my
7-32 it's 55,752,448 bytes - if you get something only about 1M you're
getting the online one.]) Running that seemed to retain all my settings
- when I ran it, Chrome came up (I had closed it first) with the tabs I
had had open previously, including the "about" one, which now showed

Google Chrome is up to date
Version 72.0.3626.121 (Official Build) (32-bit)
..
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)[email protected]+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

The web is a blank slate; you can't design technology that is 'good'. You can't
design paper that you can only write good things on. There are no good or evil
tools. You can put an engine in an ambulance or a tank. - Sir Tim Berners-Lee,
Radio Times 2009-Jan-30 to -Feb-5.

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

Google Chrome is up to date Version 72.0.3626.121
(Official Build) (32-bit)

I got 72.0.3626.122 (Official Build) (64-bit) a few days ago...

"Jeff Barnett" wrote

| It's simpler and a hell of a lot more sensible to quit using Chrome; at
| least that's what I'm guessing the majority opinion will be.
|
| From your choices and posts, I gather you get off on being tracked by
| large corporations.


Good Guy talking nonsense again.

The BBC article is a ninny-brained, superficial
description. The main problem is with the javascript
FileReader object. It's just one more example of why
it should never be considered safe to allow javascript.
But that's becoming more true. FileReader is a
relatively recent addition. (IE only supports it as
of IE10.) It allows interactive websites to read files
on the local computer. They come up with an idiotic
security risk and then they're surprised that it can
be hacked.

Can it be used against other than Win7? Browsers
other than Chrome? What they describe is a dual
vulnerability, but there's no reason to think that
anything allowing FileReader is safe. Unfortunately,
I don't know of any way to block only that functionality.
In FF you can stop all sorts of script with dom prefs,
but the only thing that looks related to FileReader
that I can find is dom.workers.websocket.enabled.
Which is yet another bonkers function that allows
a "web app" clientside to set up its own separate
connection to a web server!