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Microsoft, which will end support of Windows XP SP1 in less than two weeks, incorrectly flags users running Mozilla's Firefox browser that they need to update when they visit the Windows Web site. The Redmond, Wash. developer has warned users of the four-year-old Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) several times that it will stop all support for the operating system Oct.10, the next regularly-scheduled patch date. It has repeatedly recommended that users update to Windows XP SP2, which can be downloaded free of charge from the company's Web site. On that Web site, however, users running Windows XP SP2...

Exploits against the unpatched vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Explorer are increasing and attackers are gathering momentum, researchers said Thursday. They warned that the problem would become worse if cyber criminals attack via e-mail next. "It might come to nothing, but it feels like a storm's coming," said Roger Thompson, the chief technology officer at Exploit Prevention Labs. "The potential is there. Call it a storm watch, not a storm warning." At least two different exploits have appeared this week, said Thompson, one linked to the Russian-made hacker exploit kit called WebAttacker, the other posted early Thursday on the xSec gray-hat...

An unpatched vulnerability in all editions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser is being exploited, security researchers said Tuesday, with the attack dumping a broad range of adware, spyware, and Trojans onto PCs whose users simply surf to an infected or malicious site. First reported by Sunbelt Software -- although rival Internet Security Systems claimed it was the first to discover the bug -- the vulnerability is in how IE renders VML (Vector Mark-up Language), an extension of XML that defines on-the-Web images in vector graphics format. The previously unknown -- and thus unpatched -- bug inside IE is already being...

An online banner advertisement that ran on MySpace.com and other sites over the past week used a Windows security flaw to infect more than a million users with spyware when people merely browsed the sites with unpatched versions of Windows, according to data collected by iDefense, a Verisign company.

(CNET Networks Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)A Windows feature that automatically searches for Wi-Fi connections can be exploited by hackers, a security researcher has warned. The feature is part of Windows XP and 2000 and was exposed as being vulnerable at hacker conference ShmooCon on Saturday by vulnerability researcher Mark Loveless. Loveless claimed that hackers can take advantage of the feature to include a user's PC in a peer-to-peer network, giving them access to information on its hard drive. When a PC running Windows XP or Windows 2000 boots up, it will automatically try to connect to a wireless network. If...