Computer Hardware and Software
Posts tagged Bugfixes
Explained: Garbage Collection
Jul 22nd
Garbage Collection is the concept of collecting useless “dereferenced” memory, and freeing it for re-use by the system. De-referenced resources are those objects that are no longer in use by the program but are still allocated for use by it.
Languages like C/C++ could allow programmers to directly interact and play with memory, a responsibility that is often so abused that it does more harm than good… Problems arise when people recklessly allocate large system resources and the due to some mis-management the allocated memory is never freed. This leaves large chunks of unreacheable memory locations that ultimately cause “Memory Leaks”. In comes the invention by John McCarthy, which shoulders the responsibility of memory management by de-allocating memory that is not in use by the program anymore. While the concept was initially developed for LISP only, now it has spread to a variety of High Level Languages, including updated versions of C\C++ themselves.
C++/CLI (Common Language Infrastructure), which is Microsoft’s language specification has provision for both manual and automated memory management.
Garbage collector is the term used to represent automatic memory management by the system. Garbage collector scans the runtime environment for objects that are accessible directly or indirectly via references. Then it proceeds to discard all remaining objects. Typically, an object’s memory is reclaimed when the number of references to it reaches zero. These scans are done in cycles, which are started automatically by the Garbage collector or when explicit calls are made to it.
Garbage collection does not guarantee immunity from memory leaks, and obviously requires a considerable percentage of system resources to run, but definitely helps programmers who have to deal with a lot of memory in their projects. Garbage collection is not commonly used in embedded projects due to their already small resource size but are available on certain platforms like .NET Micro Framework and Java-ME.
Windows Intune – PC management in the Cloud!
Jul 21st
Windows Intune, in a nutshell, is a Web-based console where IT administrators can manage the deployment of Microsoft updates and service packs to all PCs, keep track of hardware and software inventory, fix PC issues remotely, manage protection from malware threats and set security policies. Windows Intune can be accessed anywhere an Internet connection is available.
Microsoft is aiming the cloud-based Windows Intune squarely at companies with 25 to 500 PCs, as businesses of this size typically don’t have the resources to manage and configure servers in an on-premise desktop management environment.
For $11 per PC per month users will get the Windows Intune service plus integrated anti-malware (anti-virus and anti-spyware) and Windows 7 Enterprise upgrade rights. Volume discounts will also be available for purchases of 250 licenses or greater.
Windows Intune will be sold like other cloud services from Microsoft — through Microsoft partners and the Microsoft Online Services Web site.
You can find more in depth information in the PDF below or just visit windowsintune.com.
The Big Date is comming soon!
Apr 29th
Microsoft plans to release the productivity suite Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 global on May 12 at 11 a.m. EDT. Now they even released a widget for this event you shouldn’t miss:
Microsoft plans to release the productivity suite Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 global on May 12 at 11 a.m. EDT. Now they even released a widget for this event you shouldn’t miss:A Reboot Fixed It
Mar 26th
It has become common behavior it today’s IT world to reboot workstations and sometimes even servers when something isn’t working as expected. I myself am as guilty of this as many others 
The joke goes that if a user complains about an IT problem the IT admin should first ask the user if they have rebooted twice.
This seems to have evolved from historical reliability issues in Microsoft’s line of Windows operating systems. These OS’s (mainly the older but still often used versions) and some applications that run on them seem to have so many minor issues that cause long-term uptime and reliability issues and it is impossible to expect users to troubleshoot them. Given this, it has become common to just expect to have to reboot occasionally or when problems arise, and that usually “fixes” the situation.
However, administrators I know from a unix/linux background tend to never ever reboot. In fact, many of them seem to hold their servers’ uptimes as a point of pride. When something goes wrong instead of rebooting immediately they figure out what is wrong and they fix it and usually without a reboot! (yes, some even spend many hours of their free time just to not have to reboot)
The problem arises now that linux is becoming a little bit more mainstream (in some areas – for example secrity technology) and accessible to all sort of users. Given our windows-bred behavior if a problem arises with a linux server we just bounce the box and hope it doesn’t come back… If someone asks about the issue we quickly declare “A reboot fixed it” and move on with our lives. If I received a nickel each time I heard this I could start my own small venture capital fund.
The reality is that you should not have to reboot windows or linux machines. If you are having to rebooting your servers you *do* have a problem and the reboot is not really ”fixing” anything – it’s only removing the symptoms for a period of time. Unless you are prepared to deal with continuous rebooting any other possible side effects I’d advise you do a couple things when problems are encountered:
First, classify the problem very specifically. The problem isn’t that “My computer doesn’t work” or “The internet is down.” What specifically isn’t working? Second, collect as much relevent information as you can and then some. Often “irrelevent” information is quite relevent as the core cause is not always where one expects. Finally, Troubleshoot the issue. If you are unsure how to troubleshoot the issue – DO NOT REBOOT. If you want to fix the issue go find someone who can help you and describe the problem very specifically and give them your gathered information (or maybe fix it yourselfe if you know how to and have the time to research the issue). If you do reboot, you’ve erased all the symptoms and made finding the problem much more difficult.
TweetMyPC version 3 released!
Feb 16th
About
TweetMyPC is a little software-application for Windows, written in VB.Net using the .Net-Framework v3.0, which allows you to control and access your computer from anywhere by simply sending a twitter-message with a special command as its content.
Why twitter?
Most time when you want to connect two personal computers you need a Read the rest of this entry »
Mozilla Malware Fail!
Feb 7th
Apparently Mozilla has been spreading malware in the form of a few user-submitted Firefox addons. They were infected with trojans, and some 4,600 people downloaded them. This fail doesn’t suprise me- people have been talking about potential exploits from Firefox addons for years now.
I am a bit surprised that it was client-pwning malware, and not Chrome-based sniffers or keystroke loggers or something else that could work within the DOM. I have to wonder if any of those exist… Somebody should Read the rest of this entry »
SpamAssassin’s new year hangover
Jan 5th
The Apache SpamAssassin spam filter has been shipping with a rule which defined any year past 2009 as “grossly in the future” and adding 3.2 to the email’s spam score. The default threshold for spam is 5.0, so the error makes it much more likely that legitimate mail will be falsely marked as spam.
The problem was noted by Mike Cardwell, a GB based developer, who brought up the issue on the spam filter’s mailing list. The problem had been reported in 2008 and fixed in the SpamAssassin repositories, but the rules were not backported to 3.2 for users until new years day when the omitted update was noticed.
SpamAssassin users will need to run the sa-update command to update their rule set. If they are unable to do this, for whatever reason, then adding score FH_DATE_PAST_20XX 0.0 to the local.cf file will work around the problem.
For more information see: http://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/Rules/FH_DATE_PAST_20XX
milw0rm.com death – NO!
Dec 31st
Sadly, Milw0rm.com was offline for a few days. Stroke said “permanently”. He posted the following message on the site before it went dark:
Well, this is my goodbye header for milw0rm. I wish I had the time I did in the past to post exploits, I just don’t
. For the past 3 months I have actually done a pretty crappy job of getting peoples work out fast enough to be proud of, 0 to 72 hours (taking off weekends) isn’t fair to the authors on this site. I appreciate and thank everyone for their support in the past. Be safe, /str0ke
While it gets a bad rap for its large script kiddie user base…, I’ve learned a lot from the exploits on that site! Thanks Str0ke and all the authors! =)
BUT: While I was researching about this; I found some pages saying it looks like Stroke found some other people to take over for him. Anyway, the main website is back online, - Exploit submissions are still closed for now, and sometimes milw0rm.com seems to be offline from what the server responds, that may just be server overloading. – try it a few times…
Fix Windows 7 MediaPlayer 12 Video Flickering
Dec 30th
When you configure Windows Media Player 12 to display subtitles on Windows 7, the video experience may not be enjoyable as video image flickers every time that a new line of subtitle is displayed. Microsoft has confirmed this issued and posted hotfix for this.
This problem occurs because of an issue in the way that the Enhanced Video Renderer (EVR) handles subtitle notifications. The hotfix applies to Windows 7 & Windows Server 2008.
Download Fix291755 for Windows 7 WMP 12 Video Flickering issue.