Flaw Discovered in Google Desktop Search, Fixed

What can I say? No one is spared at all...

---

Flaw Discovered in Google Desktop Search, Fixed

Mon Dec 20, 2004 03:50 PM ET
Source: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=7143336

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Google Inc. (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday it has fixed a software flaw that could allow hackers to view information contained on personal computers running the No. 1 search engine's desktop search software.

"We were made aware of this vulnerability with the Google Desktop Search software and have since fixed the problem so that all current and future users are secure," a Google spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement.

The flaw, discovered by Rice University computer scientists, was first reported by the New York Times on Monday.

Google's desktop search software was introduced in beta, or test mode, two months ago in order to give PC users the ability to quickly search through their hard drives for e-mail, files and other information.

Google's desktop search program displays information retrieved from the PC hard drive alongside search results in a Web browser, and the software flaw would allow a hacker to exploit that feature, an assistant professor and two graduate students at Rice University discovered, according to the New York Times article.

The software flaw that would allow a hacker to trick Google's desktop search software into sending information retrieved from a hard drive to be sent to a Web site other than Google's.

Desktop search is the latest battleground between Google and its two main search rivals, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Yahoo Inc. (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) . Microsoft recently launched a preliminary version of its desktop search tool and Yahoo is planning to debut its own tool next month.

One idiosyncrasy of humans

This week seems to have flown past, just like that. It is technically Sunday already.

Humans are just so weird creatures - well at least I think I think (no repetition here) like almost every other human in this aspect. When you seem to have all the time in the world, you lament why you have nothing to do, etc. But when you realise so much time has passed already, you start to gripe again why time really waits for no man. Ironic isn't it? Not really. This is just us - one inherent idiosyncrasy of us humans.

List of airlines via Singapore -> Update

Recall I emailed Changi airport recently to ask for the list of airlines + telephone numbers? (You can read the details in this post.) Well, they have gotten back to me.

It says 11.42 am Friday in their reply and I emailed them on Tuesday 2.21 pm. And so, it is just 3 hours short of 3 days that they reply. SLOW? I think it is slow personally, but to a considerable few, maybe 3 days is very acceptable. Anyway, you can judge for yourself.

For those keen in the info proper, you can get the numbers from http://www.changiairport.com.sg/timetable/PUAirlineContact.servlet . Supposedly, it can be accessed with frames via the main page under Flights -> Airlines -> Airline Contacts. I missed it earliest because the links on the right panel did not look like links to me. So it's either I blame it on my own incompetence, or their poorly designed website. :P

To start from scratch - again

"You can learn new things at any time in your life if you're willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up to you."

Barbara Sher

Author of "I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was"

Making babies a form of life, lol...

Yukos Files for Bankruptcy Protection in U.S.

Did you all catch this bit of news? It is really ridiculous if you ask me.

I quote, "OAO Yukos (YUKO.RS) made what may be one of its last acts of brinkmanship with the Russian authorities, announcing Wednesday it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a U.S. court." The choice of word, "brinkmanship" is really apt - it is like the last gambit... destined to failure in this case. Do they really think Bush will dare challenge Putin in his own country? I don't think he has the guts for that, honestly.

Though Yukos' fortune is intimately tied to the preposterous rise of the oligarchs, I still think it is a pity that it should be disbanded just like that... it is like a scenario where Microsoft suddenly disappears tomorrow and Bill Gates is reduced to a pauper. Quite unthinkable as yet if you ask me.

You guys and gals can read a report from Smartmoney.com here. And yes, if you are keen to be one of the last visitors to Yukos' website, it is here.

Destined for greatness

"No one ever attains very eminent success by simply doing what is required of him; it is the amount and excellence of what is over and above the required that determines the greatness of ultimate distinction."

Charles Kendall Adams
1835-1902, Professor of History and Author

Did you get that? I always believe in trying new possibilities. And I firmly believe that I am destined for greatness. Very soon.

Subscribe to the Economist

You might want to check out this magazine - if not the hardcopy, then the softcopy. I just signed up for some of the freebies - no harm I guess. If they spam me, I will just report them here and shame them like little kids caught peeping at girls. You can grab them here.

Say the right thing in the right place

"Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment."

Benjamin Franklin
1706-1790, Scientist, Publisher and Diplomat

How do you like this quote? I get my daily dose from Insight of the Day by Bob Proctor. I think saying the right thing at the right time in the right place is already hard enough. Learning when not to say something is really a life-long education. I am trying, wish me luck.

Secrets of Firefox 1.0

I am personally a supporter of Firefox. Just now, I came across this article that I think is worth reproducing here (see below). The full content can be obtained here. Also, there is another article here that explains the many attributes of this slick browser.

By Brian Livingston

It's not so long ago that we learned to master the Windows Registry, a buzzing hive of little-known configuration settings. Now we find that Firefox 1.0, the hot new browser released on Nov. 9 by the Mozilla Foundation, has its own hidden playground for us to tweak.

In case you haven't heard, Firefox is rapidly gaining steam as a free replacement for Microsoft's own Internet Explorer browser. OneStat.com, which measures Web behavior in 100 countries around the world, reported on Nov. 22 that IE had lost 5 percentage points of market share in the past six months, dropping to 89% of browser users. Firefox and its predecessor, Mozilla, are up to 7.35% of users. The foundation says 7.5 million people downloaded Firefox 1.0 in the month of November.

That doesn't tell the whole story, though. Experienced Windows admins, who often set the tone for other users, seem to be adopting Firefox at a much higher rate. More than 25% of the visitors to my specialized Web sites — WindowsSecrets.com, BriansBuzz.com, BrianLivingston.com, and the like — are now using some version of Firefox or Mozilla, according to my server logs. That's up from only 10.9% as recently as January 2004.

With all this momentum, it's fascinating to find that many powerful capabilities of Firefox 1.0 are still difficult to find and little known. For example, typing the following strings into Firefox's Address Bar (which the new browser calls the Location Bar) and pressing Enter brings up a wide variety of novel applets:

* about: shows info on Firefox's version number, copyright, etc.;

* about:config reveals the Configuration Console, a repository brimming over with scores of customizable settings;

* about:cache displays a summary of both your memory and file cache, with a link to full file listings;

* about:buildconfig lists the compiler options that were used to create your version of Firefox (and, since it's open source, anyone can compile a customized version);

* about:plugins enumerates your installed add-ons, which can be quite numerous since Firefox is designed to be modular and extensible; and

* about:credits is an "Easter egg" that includes the names of hundreds of developers and testers who worked on the product.

Haloscan sucks

Yucks. It was quite an experience I had with haloscan - the trackback service suggested by blogger itself. Manual editing messed up my template and auto-install removed the precious few comments by Blog ho.

So end verdict is: I removed it as you can see. Who cares anyway? Why can't I be sane for once and remember that no one will probably read this (except maybe Blog ho - God knows how he found this blog anyway).

Copernic Desktop Search

I am not a geek, but am quite as knowledgeable as one. So, I guess it would not be too presumptuous for me to start recommending software on my blog. I am not getting commission from anywhere or anyone of course.

Let me start with those desktop search services. You read about them when they pop up in headlines and every one of them screams at you for attention - but which is really worth the download and install?

After reading about and trying personally some of them, I would think the champion goes to Copernic Desktop Search. It fulfils almost all criteria of a good search engine, in house. The only qualm I have is that if you have many files on your machine, it does take some time to archive all of them. But because of the archiving nature of this search program, once you finish the archiving operation, that's it - it is a one-off effort, with real-time updating taking minimal effort. Another downside of these desktop search would be that you have to run the program always - if you mean to use it and if you want updating to be done. A pseudo-geek like me doesn't really like seeing more processes than necessary running on my machine. But having said that, if you want to convenience of finding a file that you already have, this Copernic Desktop Search is my recommendation.

A close match would be Google Desktop Search. Compared to the Copernic Desktop Search, Google's gem feels lighter and it integrates nicely with the browser - if you use Google as your primary search engine. My only complaint is that when I tried it, it took so long to archive my documents. In fact, it seems to have jammed there - even when my machine is doing nothing. And I really don't know what Google mean by "doing nothing" since my PC is always doing something. Maybe 99% CPU idling but there is still the 1% that might be taken up to do some updating, some connecting, whatever. So, I only manage to archive a very small percentage of my files because it got stuck. But since everyone else seems to be doing fine, the problem might lie with me. I didn't waste more time fiddling with this program because (1) I have decided not to install a desktop search program and (2) I don't like the way Google Desktop Search caches the history of files that I have already deleted.

I won't rattle on about the pros - because you can read them yourself from their site, and I don't feel like repeating something already published. Hey they are not paying me anything anyway. Likewise for my recommended Copernic Desktop Search.

P.S. Don't even bother about Microsoft's latest offering.

List of airlines via Singapore

I was searching for a list of airlines that stop in Singapore, with their accompanying phone numbers.

So I hopped by Changi's website at http://www.changi.airport.com.sg/ , and sent them an email request. The time now is as can be seen. Let this be one test of Singapore's efficiency in the realm of air services. I shall keep you all informed.

Removing oil stain from finger

I have been trying to remove this oil stain on my finger to no avail. Anyone know how?

And yes, I am talking about FINGER not CLOTHES.

Free blog templates

I am just not a designer. I can appreciate good designs but don't ask me to design.

Windows has a rival in free Unix/Linus.
Internet Explorer has a rival in free Firefox.
Outlook has a rival in free Thunderbird.
MS Office has a rival in free OpenOffice.
Norton/McAfee/TrendMicro has a rival in free AVG/Avast.
Any-useless-paid-firewall has a rival in free ZoneAlarm.
Windows Media Player has a rival in free Winamp.
Photoshop has a rival in free GIMP.
Acrobat has a rival in free Ghostgum.

And the free list goes on.

Why can't I find any NICE and FREE blog templates? Get cracking nice souls.

Writers revealed, catch the waves

Years back when a friend approached me to start a diary online, I told this person off. I told him that for God's sake, do something worthwhile with your life. So if you ask me now, I am not quite sure for whose sake I am hitting off the keyboard for.

Because of the Blog Revolution (and if this is not an already bandied phrase, then I just coined it), the world has suddenly become literate. It is as if some God of Writing in his infinite humor cast a spell on the world and made everyone writers. I am sure I am making sense here - just surf around and flip up some blogs and do your own litmus test. The language used is really not any worse than those at the major dailies. In fact sometimes, it is even better.

So I must say I am impressed. And on top of that, I am honored to be part of this big thing. While the sea is stormy, ride the waves. I enjoy writing

Money is the root of all evil

Money is the root of all evil.

Haven't we all heard of this famous saying? Don't ask me who said it - to me, this is not extremely crucial. Hell, I say so many things a day that people quote from time to time too. :P

So, has anyone REALLY pause, and take a step back to reflect on this statement? To me, this statement elicits a very straight-forward response. If money is the root of all evil, the only way to beat this evil is to control it. Yes, don't act dense. You have always wanted to be rich, haven't you?

Sincerely, I hope that you will be rich. If it is within my power, I hope that everyone will be rich - rich in the sense that their basic necessities are met and they have no need to worry about the next bill every day and night. When I pray to my God, I pray too that he would make the world a better place, for me and for everyone else. (His phone is off the hook still, I think.)

When I am really rich, you can be assured that I will do more than my fair bit to help the world, and mankind at large. The world is really a very sad place - there are too many people who care only about themselves. But this is something no one can really fault - I care first and foremost about myself too. There is a Chinese saying that only when there is a country, there is a home, and only when there is a home, there is us. Something along that line. Logical yes, but without us, there is no home, and without home, there is no country. It is back to the chicken and egg issue. Blah blah.

So like I said, it all still boils down to money. If you are rich, you are the king, you are the world. In fact, I have always wondered why God must make us take the long route in life. If we follow the career of someone relatively successful (the majority of the role models), you can see that by the time he can really be considered rich, he is already quite "old". We need to work so hard before we can be financially free - and by the time we are financially free, there are so many things we can no longer do because of our age. This doesn't make sense to me at all.

When I get married and have kids, I would want to give them the best - though not in an over-pampered kind of way. I told you I would make a good father. What I cannot have, I want my kids to have. What I have [READ: WORRIES], I would wish my kids not to have.

The wretched on the bed

It's back to 90.5 for me, and the song on right now is some french(?) version of "Raindrops keep falling on my head". Not bad if you ask me, soothing enough anyway.

This morning, like you must have read (YES I am making assumptions here), I didn't really wake up on the right note - had been feeling tired the whole day because of this. The wretched me unfortunately subccumbed to the comfort of the bed a while back and wow, did I doze off for 30 min or so? Heck.

A bigger obstacle than obstacle

"Obstacles can't stop you. Problems can't stop you. Most of all, other people can't stop you. Only you can stop you."

Jeffrey Gitomer
Author and Sales Trainer

Sounds kewl right? Well it is true and I do agree. Many times, we are the ones who stop ourselves - and more often than not, we spend so much time thinking and worrying about problems that we snuff out our own ideas before we even give them a chance to be born.

Fighting against celestials

It's really tough eking out a living.

I am like a predator with my eyes locked onto the screen, waiting for something to happen. It is especially excruciating now, since I lost half my capital a few days back. The horror of it all only serves to numb me to the volatility of what we call "Acts of God". Who am I to fight against the likes of celestials?

The great hunt

I am trying to source for a free image hosting service - just in case I decide to upload something. And since I am just talking to myself, it seems quite ridiculous (even to someone as crazy as I) for me to pay for a hosting service.

After doing a google search and checking out the many reviews, it seems that myFileBucket.com offers the "best". I quote, "Welcome to the Grand Opening of myFileBucket! The Ultimate source for FREE file storage! You get 50MB of free file storage for EVERY file types. You can upload images, documents, music, video, flash files and MUCH more. Just signup for a FREE account and start uploading!".

But the thing is, I signed up for an account and have waited for their email since 10 min ago. Wow, I am impressed!! So if I do not get this account set up successfully (and the fault lies with myFileBucket.com), Glowfoto and Freephotohost both seem possible alternatives. Even Freeupload too, but an experiment with this service revealed that it will attach the stigma of its own name for publicity.

P.S. The above image is supported by Freephotohost (a random pick for this first test). So if you can't see the picture, you know who to blame.

A question for God

Do you all ever talk to God?

I do. I am not a Christian, but I talk to him every day and night and many times in between. But does he ever answer you - literally? I have always wondered why he just refuses to talk to me. I pray sincerely and I hope earnestly; I keep on asking for a sign - a more literal sign that I can recognise, yet he always chooses to ignore.

To you Christians out there, don't give me that crap about you seeing angels and God speaking to you. You are just a bunch of hallucinating morons. But to give you some credit, at least you are delirious in a drug-free way. And yes, I am anti-drug. I am against people who smoke too - I call those the weak-will people. Puff away cowards, die soon so that the world can breathe easier.

A really juicy sandwich

Ok I am awake. With a headache above my neck.

You can't help really, if you live next to a battlefield everyday - and "next to" only because one side has the kindness to insist that war takes place only on a low-volume basis. Still, you really can't help, but to hear and to know just about everything. And the worst part about wars is not the fighting at the frontline - there, the worst that can happen would be to die (well, let's pretend losing a limb isn't worse off..). But if you are just a civilian on either side, or worse - in the middle (!!), you have to bear the brunt of the shrapnel from both sides. How's that for a really juicy double-slice power-packed sandwich?

And no, I am definitely not immune to this. Despite having gone through 101 battles as a civilian perched precariously in the center, I must say I am still not quite sure if I am glad to be alive. A broken arm, a black eye, some stab wounds, what have you?

But oh well, as they say, life must go on. So here am I, on a beautiful Monday morning, rattling away with myself, trying to sort out the madness hovering beneath my skull. Oh yes, have a good morning ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to life.

Understanding insanity

Guess this is part of being cranky at times.

I actually think someone will respond to my challenge.
LMAO.

Challenge

Challenge me people. Any topic you name, I will try to speak on it.

"Everything I do, I do it for you"

This is my second post and the momentum is still riding high. I am listening to Gold 90.5 FM now. That tells you a little bit more about me right? I don't like spelling out everything - either you know or you don't.

And this song, "Everything I do, I do it for you" gives me the sweet, warming feeling. I like this kind of songs - that's why I tune in to this station. Via the internet radio of course - since I am strapped with cables.

I like all those old songs - be it English or Chinese, or even Hokkien, I simply love them. I even listen to Malay or Indian or Japanese songs sometimes. As long as the music is right, anything goes.Music breaks all barriers. An old saying yes, but I agree totally.

And when I am feeling extreme, I turn on punkie and rockie music - those kind that scream in your ears and threatens to drive a stake through your heart. When I am feeling down, I don't care. Kill me if you dare.

So, do you like music too? I hope you do. The world is already a sad enough place; without music, we are not even giving hope a chance to flicker.

A virgin post

Alright, I am feeling bored - as if you didn't know. But still, I thought I should at least say some crap in my virgin post (yes, this one). To me, this feels really silly - silly because I am literally "talking" to myself with no guarantee that anyone would "hear". And in fact, I am not exactly sure if I want anyone to read this blog in the first place.

I am that kind of person who likes to tie things up with fate. Like how I believe in love at first sight, like how I believe in how things would be yours if they are meant to be yours, and like how I believe each of us has our own destiny, an end that will be ours whether we fight it or not.

And perhaps, I am secretly harboring an illusion that this blog would lead my dream girl to me. Oh yes I am still single, but do not confuse that with desperate. I am not desperate, and I am not some pathetic and ugly guy, shyly hiding in a corner, waiting for someone to take pity. None of that. To put it objectively, I think I am good looking enough, definitely not shy, high enough in IQ and vocal enough when I want to. I would think too that I make an ideal boyfriend, husband and father. "What's my age", you might ask... somewhere between 20 and 30. Any more information about me - you would have to follow up on my blog. Likely, my tongue would loosen when I get drunk - either on occasional dose of alcohol, or just air. You do know we can get drunk on air right?

Are you still with me? Or have you gotten lost navigating through my English. If so, too bad - it is likely that you are not in my frequency range. And if that's the case, just scram or read and try to understand quietly. But if you want to make any comments - whether regarding this post or my future posts, just post them. I don't mind you criticising me even - anything I say, feel free to shoot it down. I have updated the settings to allow anyone to post their comments - and that includes you.

And for now, I need to search around to see if there are any decent template I can use, other than this current one. If you have any to recommend, please drop me a comment or mail - I would be immensely grateful to you, for maybe a min or 2. Cheers.