Illustration: Michael KuppermanIt's a grab bag of Microsoft updates this month: You need to know about a new hole in Internet Explorer. Plus, the company announced that it was extending all paid support for Windows 98 and Me.
First, the flaw. Danish security research firm Secunia discovered a hole in IE 5.01 through 6.0. The flaw allows a miscreant to fool the browser into thinking it's pointing to a valid site. This aids in phishing, which refers to ploys for luring you to a legitimate-looking but fake site to get you to reveal personal information. An identity thief could fool IE into displaying a seemingly valid, but false, URL in the address window. The link would also look genuine if you hovered your mouse over the bogus link in an e-mail, say. Take Secunia's test to see if your version of IE is at risk.
Microsoft says that it is monitoring the situation closely but has no plans to issue a patch at this point.
"[We have] no indication of widespread exploit of the vulnerability," reports a spokesperson. Coincidentally, the company recently posted some advice on how to steer clear of IE spoofs. Visit "Shop Safely Online This Holiday Season" and "Steps that you can take to help..." for info.
On the support front, there's good news. Microsoft had originally planned to pull the plug on support for Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition in the middle of January--and end Me paid support at the end of December 2004. But the company had a change of heart. It scrapped those plans and, instead, decided to extend its support for these operating systems to June 30, 2006.
Paid support means that when you contact a Microsoft technician, you pay $35 for each problem until it's resolved. The company said that it would review any critical security issues affecting these operating systems and release patches when necessary.
Microsoft's new plan is a blessing for more people than you might think. According to research firm IDC, 15 percent of Windows users around the world were still using Windows 98 at the end of 2003 (and about 7 percent of users were running Windows Me).
Go here for information on Microsoft's life-cycle policy.
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