http://thebarrel.net/blog Linux,Security,and More Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:30:47 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en   Vista’s death march picked up some pace yesterday, after a metrics researcher revealed that nearly 35 per cent of PCs built to run the Windows operating system have been downgraded to XP. In a survey of more than 3,000 computers, performance testing software developer Devil ... http://thebarrel.net/blog/2008/08/20/a-third-of-vista-pcs-downgraded-to-xp/ Lost in the shuffle of this month’s Patch Tuesday barrage is the fact that a critical vulnerability in the ever-present Windows Media Player (WMP) was not fixed “because of a last minute quality issue.” Microsoft originally listed the WMP update in the advance notice for August but, when the patches dropped ... http://thebarrel.net/blog/2008/08/15/did-microsoft-forget-a-patch/ And no that does not mean I have changed over to Slackware. I have had a series of setbacks from 3 major storms to personal situations to a pair of computers deciding they should be retired. Yes I am still out here just a tad slow in the posting is ... http://thebarrel.net/blog/2008/08/13/okay-i-have-been-slacking/ Why is this date different? Twenty years ago the lights went on at Wrigley Field! Okay I am a Cub fan and maybe nobody else remembered or cares but it was a dawning of new look and feel to the game of baseball in Chicago. But as normal the purists whined ... http://thebarrel.net/blog/2008/08/08/08-08-08/   A vendor of Linux-based WiFi arrays is finally releasing a version of its WiFi Monitor utility for Linux desktops. The open source, widget-like Xirrus WiFi Monitor for Linux enables users to monitor, secure, and troubleshoot WiFi networks, says Xirrus. The company refers to the software ... http://thebarrel.net/blog/2008/08/06/wifi-software-arrives-on-linux-desktops/   Ah, August. It's the beginning of the end of summer, and the time when we must all start shaking the sand out of our ears once more. The real world wants us back! This week, we here at LinuxInsider felt it our duty to help those who ... http://thebarrel.net/blog/2008/08/04/better-than-beach-reading-a-linux-starter-kit/ Well I know it has been a while since I posted but as you read the weather hit me hard and then I had a computer take a dump. So I was surfing distros when a good friend suggested I try Kubuntu(Okay it was LinuxChick) and the last time I ... http://thebarrel.net/blog/2008/08/01/distro-surfing/ Davenport, QUAD CITIES -- Mid American Energy reports almost 15,000 Quad City area residents are still without power Friday morning, 96 hours after a powerful thunderstorm struck the region Monday morning. The biggest concentration of power outages remains in Rock Island and Moline where 10,000 customers remain without power at 3 ... http://thebarrel.net/blog/2008/07/25/power-outages-still-affect-almost-15000-residents/   iminplaya writes with a link to an excellent article at Ars Technica, extracting from it a few choice nuggets: "The bad dream of DRM continues. Yahoo e-mailed its Yahoo! Music Store customers yesterday, telling them it will be closing for good — and the company ... http://thebarrel.net/blog/2008/07/25/yahoo-music-going-dark-taking-keys-with-it/ Social-news site Digg.com, a perpetual target of acquisition rumors, is in "final negotiations" to sell itself to Google for $200 million, according to a TechCrunch report Tuesday that cited multiple sources. Google has been in talks to bring Digg into the Google News group, but it could be a few weeks ... http://thebarrel.net/blog/2008/07/24/report-google-in-acquisition-talks-with-digg/