Great free software inspecting tool by Secunia.

Amidst all the security threats that is going around in the software scene whether it is with the browsers, or Winamp or Adobe, the great news is that Secunia, one of the highly reputed names in the security field, has launced a free online software inspecting tool that checks for software vulnerabilities in your PC.

Some of the salient features offered by this tool are:-

* Detects insecure versions of applications installed
* Verifies that all Microsoft patches are applied
* Assists you in updating your system and applications
* Runs through your browser. No installation or download is required.

The Software inspector uses Secunia file signatures and Secunia Advisory Intelligence to check for the softwares and to verify whether the application is up to date and then assist the user on how to be secure.

The tool covers all the common and popular end user applications.

When you do the scan make sure that you check the "Thorough Inspection" to search for softwares installed in non-default location. But using this feature takes several minutes for the scan to complete but it is still worth it.

So guys, make use of this excellent tool and stay safe.

Check out the Secunia Software Inspector.

Microsoft Word security threat.

Microsoft has announced on 5th Dec they are investigating a report of zero day attacks on a Microsoft Word vulnerability.

The affected versions are MS word 2000 & 2002 Microsoft Office Word 2003, Microsoft Word Viewer 2003, Microsoft Word 2004 for Mac, and Microsoft Word 2004 v. X for Mac, as well as Microsoft Works 2004, 2005, and 2006.

The system is effected once the Word document that is send through email is opened or if the user opens the document sent through some other means by the attacker.

Websense the security firm says the exploit connects the system to remote sites which has Trojan downloaders to download additional payloads.

Secunia the security firm has given this a extremely critical rating which means people should excercise extreme caution before opening files from untrusted sources or suspicious files or unexpected files from trusted sources.

Microsoft is still investigating the report and will provide a security update through their monthly release process or provide an out-of-cycle security update. Meanwhile it is suggested to excercise caution while opening documents especially the ones that are received through emails.

Related reading:- Yet another vulnerability in Word.