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A security deficiency still left unfixed from different Word versions is exploited in computer attacks, has informed us Microsoft.

The attacks are “limited”, according to the company, which announced that is working out a patch to fix the vulnerability.

The vulnerability is similar with previous zero-day deficiencies that affected Office applications in the last few months. An attacker could change a Word file in such a way that could take control over a vulnerable system when the document is open.

An attacker could exploit the deficiency by hosting a web site with a malicious file or sending an e-mail with the file as attachment. In all of this cases, the victim must open the file to compromise his system.

Security experts say that low scale attacks are the most dangerous. Worms, viruses and trojans with large spreading don’t usually raise big problems, as they can be blocked. For companies however, trojans “with target” have developed into a nightmare scenario, as these are very hard to trace.

The most recently Office vulnerabilities affect Word 2000, Word 2002, Word 2003, Microsoft Word Viewer 2003, Word 2004 for Mac, Word 2004 v. X for Mac and Works 2004, 2005 and 2006, announced Microsoft. The company advised the users not to open Word files that come from unreliable sources.

With a major release, Microsoft’s new operating system is promising a lot. But with what cost?

Microsoft has labeled computers in Vista Capable and Vista Premium Ready. According to the official website, “Vista capable” will be able to run the os, but advanced features such as the new Windows Aero user experience may require advanced hardware. Here are the requirements:

• A modern processor (at least 800MHz).
• 512 MB of system memory.
• A graphics processor that is DirectX 9 capable.

Premium Ready PCs will deliver a better Vista experience, running all included features:

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor.
• 1 GB of system memory.
• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with a WDDM driver, 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum), Pixel Shader 2.0 and 32 bits per pixel.
• 40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space.
• DVD-ROM Drive.
• Audio output capability.
• Internet access capability.

Microsoft has done a lot of changes in the way the hardware is used, adopting the system to the new available hardware. Thus, Vista is no longer using the CPU to display bitmaps on the screen, but is now taking advantage of the Gpu to render vectors. That is because all computers nowadays come with a dedicated graphics card.

Windows XP was designed in a time when memory was expensive and processors relatively slow, but with the development of multi-core processors, Vista’s target is to perform better on these cpus. Right now, very little of Windows Xp is threaded.

Although Vista takes advantage of all the wonderful technology out there, it seems we are back to the same situation we were when Windows XP was launched: current systems run it, but future ones will run it well.

My advice is this: if your computer is more than one year old, stick to Xp until you are ready to buy new hardware. This way, you’ll enjoy your new operating system.

Dear readers