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Patch Tuesday February 2012: 9 Updates Correcting 21 Issues

2012-02-14T21:33:29Z

Today is February 14th, better known as Valentine's Day!

This month's patches consist of 9 updates that correct a total of 21 unique issues across Windows operating systems, MS Office, and some other Windows applications.

Several of these updates fix problems so serious that if left unpatched, it's possible that someone could gain access to your computer. The others aren't quite as serious but are issues that should be corrected nonetheless.

What these updates do:

These patches from Microsoft update several individual files involved in making Windows and other Microsoft software work.

These updates may apply to you if: you're running any currently supported Windows operating system (Windows 7, Vista, XP, etc.) or Microsoft Office Visio or SharePoint

More Information:

These are serious issues so you should apply all updates that affect your version of Windows.

Some of the issues this month are categorized with a Critical severity rating, while others are listed as Important.

Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the above Windows operating systems are affected.

Some updates will require that you restart your computer but some will not. If you use Windows Update to install these updates simultaneously, chances are you will need to restart.

WARNING: Some commenters who have had system stability issues after installing recent security updates have suggested that you disable your antivirus program during updating. While this might not prevent all problems, it does seem to help in some cases.

Automatically install: via Windows Update.

Manually install: via the individual Security Bulletins listed here.

Details from Microsoft: Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for February 2012.

Next Patch Tuesday: will be March 13, 2012.

Related Topics:

A Note on the Comments Below:

I reuse this blog post for each Patch Tuesday by Microsoft so most of the comments left are for previous Patch Tuesdays. You can tell which Patch Tuesday a comment is referring to by looking at the notation at the end of the comment. For example, comments addressing Patch Tuesday February 2012 will end with [PT: February 2012]. Adding that to the end of your comment would be helpful for me so I don't have to edit it. Thank you!

Patch Tuesday February 2012: 9 Updates Correcting 21 Issues originally appeared on About.com Focus on PC Support on Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 at 21:33:29.

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What Defrag Software Do You Use?

2012-02-10T20:47:19Z

Perhaps contrary to what you have heard, "defragging" a hard drive can in fact help speed up a slow computer. Of course that only applies to a hard drive that's heavily fragmented.

Confused? See my Fragmentation Definition for help.

So to those of you that defrag, what program do you use? I'm working on a best-of list and would love to add to the ones I'm already looking at.

What Defrag Software Do You Use? originally appeared on About.com Focus on PC Support on Friday, February 10th, 2012 at 20:47:19.

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NVIDIA GeForce Video Card Drivers v295.51 Beta Now Available

2012-02-01T15:45:11Z

NVIDIA has released GeForce drivers version 295.51 Beta, a relatively small update from the previous beta.

Here are some of the changes and fixes available in v295.51 Beta:

Added/Updated a few SLI profiles and nearly three dozen 3D Vision profiles.
Fixes issues with watching multiple videos at once and a GTX 590 fan speed problem.
NVIDIA PhysX is at v9.11.1111 and HD Audio is at v1.3.12.0 in this release.

A more complete list of the fixes and changes in this update is available on the NVIDIA driver download page for your operating system.

You can download the 32-bit version for Windows 7 and Windows Vista here. Versions of the 295.51 Beta driver for 64-bit Windows, as well as for other operating systems like Windows XP, are available here.

Note: If you're using a recent version of NVIDIA's GeForce drivers, just right-click on the NVIDIA icon in the system tray and choose Check for updates.... You can download and install the driver automatically from there. If you want to be prompted for beta driver updates, be sure to check the appropriate box in the Preferences tab.

Important: This NVIDIA driver is a beta release, meaning it has not been tested in-the-wild by NVIDIA, nor certified by Microsoft. I recommend that you wait for the final, WHQL release of this driver before installing it unless it fixes a serious issue you've been having or you're very interested in a new feature and are willing to take the risks of using a driver that might still have some issues. The latest WHQL certified NVIDIA GeForce driver was v285.62.

Related Topics:

NVIDIA GeForce Video Card Drivers v295.51 Beta Now Available originally appeared on About.com Focus on PC Support on Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 at 15:45:11.

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Intel Chipset Drivers Version 9.3.0.1019 Now Available

2012-01-30T11:30:07Z

Version 9.3.0.1019 of Intel's Chipset Device Software is now available.

Intel's INF updates are not "drivers" exactly, but updates to important files that tell Windows how to use Intel integrated hardware. However, I usually still refer to them as drivers.

Note: If you're not experiencing any issues with your hardware then this update probably isn't necessary, though I've rarely seen Intel chipset driver updates cause any problems.

You can download this updated Intel chipset driver for Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP from the link below. Both 32-bit and 64-bit drivers are supported:

Download Intel Chipset Device Software v9.3.0.1019

Important: Intel lists the chipsets that this download is valid for so be sure to check that yours is listed before installing this update. If you're not sure, you can always perform any Intel related updates using their automatic Intel Driver Update Utility.

Related Topics:

Intel Chipset Drivers Version 9.3.0.1019 Now Available originally appeared on About.com Focus on PC Support on Monday, January 30th, 2012 at 11:30:07.

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AMD Radeon Video Card Drivers v12.1 Now Available

2012-01-30T11:23:04Z

Version 12.1 of the AMD/ATI video card driver suite is now available. This update corrects several issues in Windows 7 and Windows Vista and improves several existing features.

Here are more details on some of the fixes and improvements in version 12.1:

Enables support for AMD HD3D with CrossFireX.
Enables Stereo 3D mode over HDMI 1.4a on supported displays.
Per-application profiles now possible.
Among other fixes, corrects issues within Dirt 2, Crysis 2, Lost Planet 2, and other games in Windows 7.
Fixes WinDVD and PowerDVD problems in Windows Vista.
Updates AMD Radeon display driver, AMD Catalyst Control Center, and AMD Vision Engine Control Center to v8.93.

You can see all the details on this new release, including the full list of fixes, plus a full list of compatible AMD/ATI GPUs, in the Catalyst 12.1 Release Notes.

You can download the 32-bit driver version for Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP at the respective links. Drivers compatible with 64-bit versions of Windows, and other ATI related drivers like ATI TV Wonder, ATI integrated video, etc., can be downloaded here.

Note: The Catalyst Driver Suite contains the actual AMD Radeon display driver, the Southbridge/IXP driver, HydraVision, the AMD Catalyst Control Center, and the AMD Vision Engine Control Center.

Note on Comments: The comments below are carried through updated blog posts when new Radeon drivers are released so some may apply to older versions than this one. I'll add a note at the end of each comment, reflecting the version number it was left for.

Related Topics:

AMD Radeon Video Card Drivers v12.1 Now Available originally appeared on About.com Focus on PC Support on Monday, January 30th, 2012 at 11:23:04.

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Which Browser Is Your Favorite?

2012-01-18T13:07:08Z

Nominate you favorite browser at the About.com Web Browsers site:

Best Major Desktop Browser

Nominations will be accepted starting Jan. 18, 2012. Voting will take place from Feb. 22 through March 21 with winners announced March 30.

Which Browser Is Your Favorite? originally appeared on About.com Focus on PC Support on Wednesday, January 18th, 2012 at 13:07:08.

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Are You Scam-proof?

2012-01-16T16:08:01Z

Do you think you can't be scammed? Or maybe you worry that you might be easily scammed?

Andy O'Donnell, our own About.com Guide to Internet & Network Security, has a fascinating new article that will turn you in to a "human scam detector":

How to Scam-proof Your Brain

Be sure to drop by Andy's blog post of the same name and let Andy know about the "best" scam you've ever had the pleasure of witnessing... or falling victim to.

Are You Scam-proof? originally appeared on About.com Focus on PC Support on Monday, January 16th, 2012 at 16:08:01.

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Latest Windows 8 News

2012-01-13T12:04:29Z

Every so often, we get a tidbit of information from Microsoft about Windows 8, the version of Windows to supersede Windows 7.

Here are some of the latest things we've found out, courtesy of ZDNet's Microsoft expert, Mary-Jo Foley:

More on Windows 8's new refresh and reset options

These are two new recovery features which should greatly ease restoring Windows.

More on Windows 8's coming drive-extender-style storage

This is a new feature that would allow you to combine all of your various storage devices into one virtual drive.

Windows 8: What we learned this week [at CES]

Lots of fun bits of information in this one, mostly cool Windows-8-on-a-tablet features.

Enjoy!

Latest Windows 8 News originally appeared on About.com Focus on PC Support on Friday, January 13th, 2012 at 12:04:29.

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How To Name A Browser

2012-01-13T11:34:41Z

I talk about browsers every so often - a new Firefox update, a suggestion to use Chrome, an update to Internet Explorer, etc.

But have you ever wondered how those names came to be? "Internet Explorer" might seem logical, but where did "Chrome" come from?

Martin Beeby has all the background in his How to name a web browser (by those who have). It's a fun read. Be sure to check out the comments in his post too... plenty of other theories there as well.

Thanks Scott!

More About Browsers:

List of HTTP Status Code Errors
How To Clear the Cache in Firefox
How To Clear the Temporary Internet Files in IE

How To Name A Browser originally appeared on About.com Focus on PC Support on Friday, January 13th, 2012 at 11:34:41.

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Netstat Command

2012-01-08T20:45:42Z

The netstat command is a Command Prompt command that you can use to dig up all sorts of very interesting things about the individual connections your computer is making to other computers - both over the Internet and on your own network.

One of the coolest netstat tricks is netstat -o. Running netstat this way will show you all the active connections at that moment, plus show you the process identifier (PID) for each of those connections. You can then use Task Manager to track down the program with the corresponding PID, matching the open connection to a specific program on your computer.

This can be extremely handy when trying to track down a piece of malware, figure out where a keylogger is sending your information to, or determine which of your programs is hogging your bandwidth.

See Netstat Command Details & Examples for more on netstat -o and everything else you can do with this handy little networking command.

Netstat is available in all versions of Windows - Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, the Server operating systems, and even Windows 98!.

Netstat Command originally appeared on About.com Focus on PC Support on Sunday, January 8th, 2012 at 20:45:42.

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