Month: August 2015

Days following the announcement of a security flaw in Android’s media playback system Stagefright, a new security vulnerability has been discovered.

According to security firm, Trend Micro, the new security threat affects all devices running Android 4.3 to the present version, 5.1.1. That’s around 57% of all Android devices in use today— or more than 900 million devices.

Like Stagefright, the new bug developed from the way that Android handles video. The mediaserver service used by Android to index media files on the device can crash if it’s exposed to a “malformed” video using the Matroska containter (usually a .mkv file). Once this happens, the Android device will become non-responsive, meaning that the user will not be able to hear a ringtone or any notification sound, accept calls, and if the phone is locked, they will not be able to unlock it.

A hacker could build a website to do this to your phone, with the .mkv file embedded into an HTML page but that could be fixed by restarting the device. However, if an attacker creates an app with the embedded .mkv that autostarts at boot, then the device will crash immediately after it’s turned on.

Unlike the Stagefright bug, this vulnerability does not allow for remote code execution, making it a bit less dangerous.

At the time of publication, Google has issued the following statement:

“While our team is monitoring closely for potential exploitation, we’ve seen no evidence of actual exploitation.

Should there be an actual exploit of this, the only risk to users is temporary disruption to media playback on their device. So, simply uninstalling the unresponsive application or not returning to a website that causes the browser to hang would correct the issue. In addition, we will provide a fix in a future version of Android.”

The release of Windows 10 has been one of great anticipation. It’s all over the internet. There’s plenty of praise regarding the new features such as Cortana, Edge, scheduled restarts, multiple desktops and universal apps. However, you’ve waited this long… So, why not wait a little longer?

Windows 10 won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. Here are 5 reasons to hold off.

Take out the bug spray.

It’s bound to happen. There will be issues and you’ll have to wait as Microsoft sorts through them. There have already been a few issues during pre-release that have gotten some people pretty riled up. So, keep what you have for now and wait for the bugs to be discovered and exterminated. Once you decide to jump over to Windows 10, you’ll have a far less stressful experience.

If they’re old, they might not make the journey.

Microsoft has stated that if you have older hardware (printers and scanners included), they may not work properly with Windows 10. Unless you’re willing to go out and purchase new peripherals, you may want to wait a little longer.

One. Whole. Year.

If you meet the requirements for a free upgrade, there’s no reason you shouldn’t wait for at least a little while. Like mentioned previously, the whole bug thing can really put a damper on your user experience. Wait a few months and get a whole year of Windows 10 instead of half a year of glitches.

Microsoft doesn’t mess around with the outdated.

If you’re computer barely meets Microsoft’s requirements to run Windows 10, switching your operating system may not be worth the hassle. You may experience more issues than your elderly PC can handle. If you’re not willing to update your printer, odds are you’re not willing to update your computer either. In this case, waiting is probably in your best interest.

Windows Media Center has no home here.

Windows 10 does not have Windows Media Center. So, if you’re still using WMC for some odd reason and you make the switch to Windows 10, you’ll never, ever see your precious media center again. If it’s that important to you, once again, hold off.