WordPress 2.51 is out, with upgrades like:
- Performance improvements for the Dashboard, Write Post, and Edit Comments pages.
- Better performance for those who have many categories
- Media Uploader fixes
- An upgrade to TinyMCE 3.0.7
- Widget Administration fixes
- Various usability improvements
- Layout fixes for IE
It includes a number of bug fixes, performance enhancements, and one very important security fix. We recommend everyone update immediately, particularly if your blog has open registration. The vulnerability is not public but it will be shortly.
[Source: WordPress]
Everyone should upgrade! Especially with one security fix. (Although I don’t allow open registration.) WordPress 2.5 has quite a bit of admin issues. I hope this upgrade would solve them. This blog has been upgraded already, yours should too.
Well I know it’s hard to upgrade and all, WordPress 2.3.2 is “an urgent security release”. So you may consider updating it to fix your draft post exposure and leaking of WordPress table names.
WordPress 2.3.2 is an urgent security release that fixes a bug that can be used to expose your draft posts. 2.3.2 also suppresses some error messages that can give away information about your database table structure and limits and stops some information leaks in the XML-RPC and APP implementations. Get 2.3.2 now to protect your blog from these disclosures.
As a little bonus, 2.3.2 allows you to define a custom DB error page. Place your custom template at wp-content/db-error.php. If WP has a problem connecting to your database, this page will displayed rather than the default error message.
Source: WordPress blog
Download the new WordPress 2.3.2 now.
Go here to view the changes between WordPress 2.3.2 and WordPress 2.3.1. Read more details on this WordPress update.
//beconfused will not be affected. I think. Probably 1 second of downtime starting from now.
Symantec thinks Microsoft’s security suite is showing signs of monopolistic pricing? Haha, Symantec, you’re so funny, it’s just your anti-virus software being too expensive.
Remember the time when you disappointed me with your ugly yellow interface, your resource hogging tools. You have the most confusing set of products, your Antivirus software is cross-bundled in numerous of your flagship titles. Now you micmic the Windows Live OneCare idea and offer everything in one simple suite you call Norton 360 and you’re calling their price ‘monopolistic’.
Symantec CEO: Microsoft security ware pricing ‘monopolistic’
Symantec Chairman and CEO John Thompson blamed Microsoft on Tuesday for the current pricing competition his company faces in the consumer security market, suggesting Microsoft’s pricing scheme for its first entry into the space is “monopolistic.”
Speaking at the offices of the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York, Thompson said Microsoft’s decision last year to offer Windows Live OneCare, a service that combines firewall, antivirus and backup capabilities, for $49.95 per year for three PCs “clearly recast prior expectations for consumer security technology.”
“I don’t want to say it was monopolistic, but it looked that way to some of us,” Thompson said. (more…)
One of the websites (not //beconfused) I managed got hacked. My host pointed out an exploit in WordPress and said that intruders have planted a spam email sender. The WordPress installed is 2.2 and yeah I didn’t update when 2.2.1 was out. But the exploit is not among those that are fixed which is puzzling. Perhaps it’s really a new exploit, I’m still waiting for the web host to give me more details. Honestly… I am a little confused, I don’t know how to handle these stuff.
And my blog is going to max out the bandwidth again it seems. I am already using a business plan and it seems to be insufficient. My bandwidth is 40 GB per month and I am hitting the limit. I just upgraded 3 months back actually, it used to be 20 GB per month. I didn’t explain it to outgrow that quickly! I thought I would probably grow to using more than 30 GB per month probably the start of next year at the earliest. (Yes, I kinda got it charted out.) (more…)
Online phishing is getting more and more common and it is important to safeguard your identity and passwords. There are numerous tell-tale signs that you can look out for. Check out this quiz by McAfee to see how vigilant you are towards internet scams. I scored a 10 out of 10. 
McAfee SiteAdvisor Phishing Quiz
YOU ANSWERED 10 OF 10 QUESTIONS CORRECTLY
Rating: Safety Guru
Nice work! Your practically clairvoyant knowledge of the Web allows you to spot even the most realistic looking spoofed sites. We’re impressed!
But remember that even one misstep on a deceptive Web site can put your personal information at risk which could lead to identity theft or financial losses.
Don’t let scammers fool you! SiteAdvisor can help protect your identity by warning you before you visit a risky site.
And McAfee didn’t forget to do product plugging to and quickly pointed out that ‘Even the savviest expert can use a little help sometimes’ and recommends me the McAfee SiteAdvisor plugin. It’s free by the way.
This calls for a celebration! Two things to celebrate. Firstly, the most important one – the bloody [well, it should be since it's sucking my blood!] mosquito in my room is gone!
Day after day, I am disturbed by this mosquito. I tried to kill it but it is simply too fast for me. Or maybe I am too slow.
Either way, it’s gone. For good obviously. It feeds on my blood and it’s really annoying obviously. It stays in my room like a fellow resident but fail to pay up the rent except to suck my blood. How parasitic.
I opened my door to encourage it out of my room, but it is apparently not working, because every evening I sit in front of the computer with some stupid mosquito trying to get my attention.
The second thing worth celebrating is that my ATM PIN is accepted. Joy to the world. I need to be nagged by my mother on the fact that I changed ATM card twice for this reason. This is my 3rd ATM card.
[Damn, my mother gave me a cup filled with what I would say looked innocently like water and it turned out to be ginseng. I just eaten oranges. It's sweet, now it's "bittering" my taste buds.]
I walked in front of the ATM machine and attempt to withdraw money. I tried another one of my many combinations of PIN. I was smiling to myself when I see the money coming out from the ATM.
I was really excited and if were to be all alone would have shouted, “YES! YES! YES! Oh my lord, the money’s out! Bless the ATM machine!” [Thankfully I didn't, because people who hear it would have reported me to the police thinking I correctly guess someone else's PIN and withdrew money without authorization.]
Note: There are some shifts in the date and time of the previous 2 posts.