Lottery Post Journal

The most compelling tornado video I've ever seen

I cannot imagine the terror the guy must have been feeling at about 4:15 into the video.  Wow. 

By the way, this video is a very rare example of a sideways tornado that gets spawned only by the most violent tornadoes.  About a minute or so in, you can see the spawning off the main funnel, it's really amazing.

Microsoft already delivered IE10 platform preview

Microsoft is on a roll!

After making IE9 available for general delivery through Windows Update just in the past week, Microsoft today announced that the first platform preview of IE10 is available for download.

It usually takes up to a year from platform preview until final release, but with Microsoft's fast-paced development, perhaps it will be sooner.

Whatever the final release date, it looks like IE10 will be the version that gets released as the default browser in Windows 8 next year.  Windows 8 is targeted for release in 2012, so I'm sure we'll start seeing betas later this year.

As a Web developer, I'm really happy to see Microsoft pushing strong HTML5 standards into IE, and extremely pleased with the great performance of the browser in IE9 and beyond.  As more and more people transition to IE9, it will enable me to make this site even better, since more people will have access to better browser capabilities that I can exploit.

Anyone who has upgraded from IE8 to IE9 can already see the differences — better-looking buttons, much faster speed, cleaner graphics (such as drop-shadows), nicer animation effects, etc.  Once a majority of people are using browsers capable of these things, it will allow me to spend some more time on features that can use them.

Of course, IE9 (and all future versions of Internet Explorer) can only run on Windows Vista or better.  So Windows XP users can only go as far as IE8 without resorting to a browser such as Google Chrome.  (Which, by the way, I strongly recommend using instead of IE8 for all Windows XP users!)

The good news is that the most recent Web statistics show that there are now officially more Windows 7 users than Windows XP users.

Finally, Windows XP is on a fast-track decline, and I can look forward to a day without having to support ancient technologies — technologies that not only make my job harder, but greatly diminish my ability to produce cutting-edge features that everyone would want.

Getting back to the IE10 announcement, here is the link to the Internet Explorer team's announcement of the IE10 platform preview.  It includes a video showing some of the new features.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2011/04/12/native-html5-first-ie10-platform-preview-available-for-download.aspx

Owner of Facebook might have to give up 50% of company

This is a bombshell article.  If you have the time, read through it all the way to the end.  If the evidence is true, Mark Zuckerberg is the worst kind of scoundrel.

http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-lawsuit-paul-ceglia-new-evidence-2011-4

Excellent videos demonstrates how a PC virus works

This is a fantastic demonstration of how a virus works -- what it looks like, how it fools you into downloading and installing it, and eventually how it gets your money.

This video is a recording of the latest virus/malware going around, nicknamed "LizaMoon".  There are thousands of these things floating around the Internet, this one is just getting the attention right now.

Keep in mind all the security windows and warnings you see in the video are FAKE.  When the announcer says, "Here's Windows security center...", you have to remember he means here is the VIRUS PROGRAM that is faked to LOOK like a Windows security program.

Watch the video, and decide for yourself at what point you feel the guy makes the "wrong click".

The program you see in the beginning is called "Fiddler", and is just a developer's tool that allows you to see individual files that get transferred over the network as a web page loads.  (A web page is made up of dozens or hundreds of files, so it allows a developer to see each and every one, and track their progress.)  If this concept is sailing over your head, just ignore it.  It's not really important.

 

My Analysis:

Note that the first clue you should have when watching this is the appearance of the "virus warning".  It does look like a typical Windows scan is happening, because they obviously used some nice fake graphics, but one thing is wrong:  It does not appear in the right place!

If you have taken my past advice to use Microsoft Security Essentials for your virus protection, any legitimate virus message would appear in the lower-right corner of your screen, just above the clock.  It would NOT appear in the middle of your screen.

So the first mistake the person makes is to look at that warning message and jump to the incorrect conclusion that it is a real message.

What should they have done?  Close all browser windows immediately, and then restart the browser.  If you are really concerned, then reboot Windows rather than clicking the wrong thing.

The second error (and the one that sinks the ship in this case) is when the Windows box comes up asking if you want to save or run the file it is downloading.  That's actually a legitimate warning message, and it's the last chance you have of escaping without getting nailed.  If the guy in the video clicked "Cancel", they would have been fine.  Choosing the option to execute (or save and then execute) the file is where you put the virus on your own PC.  Up to that point, Windows was actually protecting you, and you were looking at some clever graphics that didn't actually harm your PC to that point.

Then after the thing installs and you reboot your PC, the virus becomes deeply embedded in your system, as you can see by the fact that it started running even before the Windows Desktop showed up after rebooting.

I hope this is educational, and keeps you from making a similar mistake!