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PC Security: Holey Software!

New security bugs appear weekly, letting hackers attack your data. Here's why apps are so full of holes and how you can protect yourself.

Kim Zetter

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Downloads: Essential Patches for the Worst Security Holes

Malicious hackers tend to be opportunists. Rather than expend the effort to find new security flaws, they usually attack well-known holes in software. The good news is that patches are available to plug these holes. But if you're weary of installing all of them (patches, after all, can be buggy and sometimes introduce new problems to your PC), knowing which ones you really need can be confusing. Here's a list of the most crucial cures for your vulnerable system.

Operating Systems

Windows 95 If you have an early version of Windows 95, install Service Pack 1. To see the version of Windows you have, go to Start, Settings, Control Panel, System. If you have version 4.00.950 A or later, you don't need the pack.

Windows 98 Users of the first edition of Windows 98 should download the service pack. Windows 98 Second Edition users don't need the pack. But all Windows 98 users should get the latest " critical updates package."

Windows Millennium Edition There is no service pack for Windows Me, but Microsoft does offer patches, labeled for Me, that fix flaws in versions of Internet Explorer, Outlook, and Outlook Express that operate with Me (see below).

Windows 2000 Professional Install Service Pack 2 for Windows 2000. The 20MB pack may require up to 710MB of free hard-disk space to install the files, but you'll get most of that space back after installation.

Windows 95 Through 2000 Microsoft's Java Virtual Machine, which lets IE and other apps run "trusted" Java applets and ActiveX controls, has a flaw that allows crackers to run evil applets on your PC. You can download the patch.

E-Mail Clients

Outlook Express A hole in Outlook Express's VCard technology also affects Outlook. A VCard is a virtual business card that can load automatically into your Outlook and Outlook Express Contacts database when someone sends it to you. The hole allows someone to insert malicious code into a VCard. Download the patch.

Outlook 97 Through 2000 and Outlook Express 4.0 Through 5.01 Crackers can exploit a hole to send e-mail that can reformat your hard disk. You can download the patch.

Browsers and Office

Internet Explorer 5.5 A new feature of IE called Print Templates has a hole that can turn your PC into a cracker's playground. A patch is available.

Netscape 7 Netscape's SmartDownload 1.3 has a hole that could let an attacker take over your PC. Download the patch.

Microsoft Office A bug in PowerPoint 2000 could let a cracker reformat your hard disk. (The PowerPoint patch is available for download.) An ActiveX patch stops an attack made through ActiveX controls in Office 2000. Another Windows patch fixes a hole related to macros in Word 97, 2000, and 2002 for Windows.

--Stuart J.Johnston
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