Nothing Is Ever Easy!

A Comcast door-to-door sales rep (Tony) came to the door last week and gave me a great deal on their services. The one deal breaker was about my (or more specifically my wife's) email has to be forwarded from Verizon to Comcast. He said that this was not a problem and they would be able to do it for one year. I asked him again and my wife even asked the same question. He reassured us that this was not a problem. So, I signed up… They came out and installed the equipment and verified everything was working. I asked about the email forwarding and the tech was not sure how to set that up. He suggested that I call tech support for help. So, I did just that. I called and the tech support guy said… sort of… Apparently, there is a website that you sign up for that acts as a forwarder. This was kind of a hassle, but I was willing to deal with it.

However, Today I canceled my Verizon account...AND THE TROUBLE BEGAN!!! Once the account was terminated, Verizon email stopped. Apparently, you have to have an active account. I called Comcast and they were little to no help. They told me to contact Verizon. So, I did. I talked to them, explained the situation and was willing to pay to keep the email alive. The Verizon tech was not even willing to hear of it. It was like.. How dare you leave and then want to keep your email. So, I am basically screwed and my wife is pissed, since we did not have anything in place to change the email address in the hundred of contacts, sites, and payment places out there.

I am not very happy with Tony and Comcast for what I feel is not being truthful.

April 2010 MSFT Patches - LOTS!

Bulletin ID	Bulletin Title and Executive Summary	Maximum Severity Rating and Vulnerability Impact	Restart Requirement	Affected Software
MS10-019	Vulnerabilities in Windows Could Allow Remote Code Execution (981210) This security update resolves two privately reported vulnerabilities in Windows Authenticode Verification that could allow remote code execution. An attacker who successfully exploited either vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.	Critical Remote Code Execution	Requires restart	Microsoft Windows
MS10-020	Vulnerabilities in SMB Client Could Allow Remote Code Execution (980232) This security update resolves one publicly disclosed and several privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if an attacker sent a specially crafted SMB response to a client-initiated SMB request. To exploit these vulnerabilities, an attacker must convince the user to initiate an SMB connection to a specially crafted SMB server.	Critical Remote Code Execution	Requires restart	Microsoft Windows
MS10-025	Vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Media Services Could Allow Remote Code Execution (980858) This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Windows Media Services running on Microsoft Windows 2000 Server. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if an attacker sent a specially crafted transport information packet to a Microsoft Windows 2000 Server system running Windows Media Services. Firewall best practices and standard default firewall configurations can help protect networks from attacks that originate from outside the enterprise perimeter. Best practices recommend that systems that are connected to the Internet have a minimal number of ports exposed. On Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Windows Media Services is an optional component and is not installed by default.	Critical Remote Code Execution	Requires restart	Microsoft Windows
MS10-026	Vulnerability in Microsoft MPEG Layer-3 Codecs Could Allow Remote Code Execution (977816) This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft MPEG Layer-3 audio codecs. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user opened a specially crafted AVI file containing an MPEG Layer-3 audio stream. If a user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.	Critical Remote Code Execution	May require restart	Microsoft Windows
MS10-027	Vulnerability in Windows Media Player Could Allow Remote Code Execution (979402) This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Windows Media Player. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if Windows Media Player opened specially crafted media content hosted on a malicious Web site. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the local user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.	Critical Remote Code Execution	May require restart	Microsoft Windows
MS10-021	Vulnerabilities in Windows Kernel Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (979683) This security update resolves several privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows. The most severe of these vulnerabilities could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker logged on locally and ran a specially crafted application. An attacker must have valid logon credentials and be able to log on locally to exploit these vulnerabilities. The vulnerabilities could not be exploited remotely or by anonymous users.	Important Elevation of Privilege	Requires restart	Microsoft Windows
MS10-022	Vulnerability in VBScript Could Allow Remote Code Execution (981169) This security update resolves a publicly disclosed vulnerability in VBScript on Microsoft Windows that could allow remote code execution. This security update is rated Important for Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. On Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2, the vulnerable code is not exploitable, however, as the code is present, this update is provided as a defense-in-depth measure and has no severity rating. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a malicious Web site displayed a specially crafted dialog box on a Web page and a user pressed the F1 key, causing the Windows Help System to be started with a Windows Help File provided by the attacker. If a user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system.	Important Remote Code Execution	May require restart	Microsoft Windows
MS10-023	Vulnerability in Microsoft Office Publisher Could Allow Remote Code Execution (981160) This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Office Publisher that could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted Publisher file. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the local user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.	Important Remote Code Execution	May require restart	Microsoft Office
MS10-024	Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange and Windows SMTP Service Could Allow Denial of Service (981832) This security update resolves one publicly disclosed vulnerability and one privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange and Windows SMTP Service. The more severe of these vulnerabilities could allow denial of service if an attacker sent a specially crafted DNS response to a computer running the SMTP service. By default, the SMTP component is not installed on Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition, or Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.	Important Denial of Service	Requires restart	Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Exchange
MS10-028	Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Visio Could Allow Remote Code Execution (980094) This security update resolves two privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Visio. The vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted Visio file. An attacker who successfully exploited these vulnerabilities could gain the same user rights as the local user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.	Important Remote Code Execution	May require restart	Microsoft Office
MS10-029	Vulnerabilities in Windows ISATAP Component Could Allow Spoofing (978338) This security update resolves one privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. This security update is rated Moderate for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008. Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 are not vulnerable because these operating systems include the feature deployed by this security update. This vulnerability could allow an attacker to spoof an IPv4 address so that it may bypass filtering devices that rely on the source IPv4 address. The security update addresses the vulnerability by changing the manner in which the Windows TCP/IP stack checks the source IPv6 address in a tunneled ISATAP packet.	Moderate Spoofing	Requires Restart	Microsoft Windows