Friday 9th of May 2014
Migration done! We’re now home in the brand new Tier-III Melbourne based data centre. We also discuss the IE bug fix; it’s safe to run IE again (if you really have to!)
Most of our clients will already be aware that we physically moved our server this week into the brand new Tier-III Melbourne based data centre. This move has been planned and discussed for over the past six months and we are pleased it has now finally been completed. As expected our server was taken offline at 8pm on Monday the 5th of May and transported to the new centre. The installation was completed within the expected timeframe and all services were back up and running around midnight.
There were a couple of minor internal networking issues after the installation but no websites or domains should have been affected. Based on the lack of support enquires most of our clients wouldn’t have even noticed the downtime. If you have found any issues with your hosting package since the move please let us know.
IE bug fix
This week Microsoft also released a bug fix for IE (as discussed previously). The browser bug was so severe the US and UK issued warnings. Surprisingly, Microsoft's also supplied a fix to its outmoded XP software.
See an edited version of Seth Rosendlatt’s article below for more information.
Microsoft has issued a fix for a dangerous Internet Explorer bug that left the browser highly vulnerable across every major version -- including those that run on Windows XP.
The patch, delivered at 10 a.m. Thursday, comes out of Microsoft's usual Patch Tuesday cycle because of its severity. It affected IE 6 through 11 and allowed attackers to install malware on your computer without your permission that could be used to steal personal data, track online behaviour, or gain control of the computer. Dustin Childs of Microsoft Trustworthy Computing said that Microsoft encourages Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 customers to update Internet Explorer to version 11, the latest release, if they haven't yet.
Meanwhile, as Microsoft was fixing the bug, FireEye discovered another exploit that used the same vulnerability, but targeted only Internet Explorer 8. That means that although there's a patch, the security firm is now seeing "live attacks" against Windows XP computers, which except for this patch are no longer being fixed by Microsoft.
Robert Hansen, the vice president of WhiteHat Security's advanced technology group, said that he was surprised at the visceral reaction that the US and UK governments, as well as many individuals, had to the vulnerability.
"The bug itself was really bad, of course, but it was surprising to see such a knee-jerk reaction from the community, telling people to switch from Internet Explorer," he said. "All browsers have had similar issues in the past, and never received that sort of general warning."
Click here for the original article.
As a web design and hosting company we rarely use the IE browser, due to its poor functionality when compared to FireFox and Chrome. The fact that it is on every Microsoft system by default doesn’t mean you should use it (the same goes for MAC and Safari) there are better browsers than the default one that come with your system.
Most user will not even be aware that there are other browser options available or feel worried that installing additional web browsers may break their OS. This is not the case.
No matter what software you are using; IE, Safari, Chrome, etc. you should always ensure it is updated regularly and running the most current version!
If you have any questions regarding the migration or IE bug, please don’t hesitate to contact our support team