Microsoft Urges Users to Shut Down Windows Gadgets or Risk Attack

PCWorld - Rather than fix vulnerabilities with Gadgets and the Sidebar in Windows Vista and Windows 7, Microsoft is advising users to disable the features altogether.

Gadgets and Sidebar allow users to add visual information and small programs to the Windows desktop, including clock faces, music players and RSS feed readers.



Now, Microsoft has issued a Fix It solution to disable Gadgets and the Sidebar. These features, if left enabled, may allow the execution of arbitrary code, and could allow attackers to take complete control of a person’s system, Microsoft warns in a Knowledge Base article.

As Computerworld notes, researchers are getting ready to disclose Gadget vulnerabilities at the Black Hat conference this month. Microsoft describes the fix as a temporary workaround, so it's possible that the company will release a proper fix, but Microsoft hasn't said either way.     More

Why Do Chimps Attack? - Another brutal chimp attack begs the question: What makes these animals angry?

A Universitry of Texas graduate was recently 
mauled by a chimpanzee at the Jane Goodall 
Institute Chimpanzee Eden in South Africa.  

Discovery News - 

THE GIST

• Several factors could explain why chimps recently attacked a student at the Jane Goodall Institute Chimpanzee Eden in South Africa.
• Male chimpanzees, which are very strong, often fight in the wild to defend or acquire territory.
• The chimpanzees at the sanctuary were also previously abused by humans. 

Chimpanzees have made headlines in recent years for several unprovoked attacks against humans, the latest last week at the Jane Goodall Institute Chimpanzee Eden in South Africa. The severely injured victim, University of Texas graduate student Andrew Oberle, remains in intensive care.

Oberle was mauled by chimpanzees as he gave a lecture to about a dozen tourists. The brutal attack prompted many to wonder what, if anything, provoked the animals? Experts suggest that multiple reasons could explain the attack.    More