Sephem's Ubulwembu (web) Blog

Although I like the services and easy of use that Squarespace provides, I have decided to move my blog to my own server that I already have, and use my domain that I have had for many years at www.ubulwembu.com.

Ubulwembu means web in Zulu and therefore the name of my new blog will become “Sephem’s Ubulwembu Blog”.

I will be using WordPress to provide my blogging system, of which I have not used for a while, and I am highly impressed with the latest version. It is extremely user friendly and easy to use.

Don’t worry, I will still be doing a writeup on what I think of Squarespace, but I do not feel and cannot afford at this time to spend on another hosting plan when I already own my own reseller hosting.

All old posts have been migrated to the new server so go ahead and take a look.

Conficker was first seen in October 2008, but has gone through a few variants called conficker.a conficker.b and now the one to be activated on 1 April 2009 called conficker.c

Is this new variant going to be a crisis in the world of computers, or is it just going to flop like a bad April fools joke?

The conficker worm spreads itself primarily through a buffer overflow vulnerability in the Server Service on Windows computers. The versions of windows that are affected are Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, and even Windows 7 Beta. The security bulletin can be read here.

Once it is activated, it does a few things, like disabling some services like Windows Defender, Windows security center and windows automatic update service.

It also connects to a server over the internet and gets some instructions that can gather information, install other malware amongst other things.

According to The New York Times,

An estimated 12 million or more machines have been infected. However, many have also been disinfected, so a precise census is difficult to obtain.

There is still little consensus as to whether conficker.c is going to be something or nothing, so we will just need to wait and see.

It is highly suggested to keep your windows up to date and to make sure that your anti-virus has the latest definitions.

Due to the fact that the new version of conficker has highly evolved means of removing most anti-virus software packages, being able to disable Microsoft’s Automatic update service, open ports on firewalls and to even block access to the update services of most security software it is highly advised to download some removal tools before the anticipated date of activation.

Here are a few links to some removal tools.

Microsoft® Windows® Malicious Software Removal Tool
Symantic W32.Downadup Removal Tool
Sophos Tool

For a more details report on Conficker, take a look at SRI Internationals Technical report at http://mtc.sri.com/Conficker/

Well time has come for me to hop onto the blogging and social networking bandwagon. Therefore I have decided to use Squarespace as a trial for my first blog.

Now comes the real test of whether I can actually keep a blog going. Ever since I was young I have tried to keep a journal or a diary of some sort. I would go out and buy it and then after a few days forget that I even had it. I guess that the trick would be to make sure that you have some kind of a reminder that just pesters you till you have added an entry on whatever is felt to be the best time between posts.

It does not stop there I guess as what is a blog without some mention somewhere else to get readers to your blog? This is where I like the term Twitter gives it, “Tweeting”. So if thats the case, I guess I will be singing like a bird.

I would also like to have all your comments out there whether good or bad as this I beleave is the only way to make sure that what I am blogging about is making an impact on what others think and feel, and for me to know if I need to change something or not.

I will also be testing some other systems to see what would be the best way to get a blog and website up and running. As time goes by I will defiantly be posting my thoughts on each of these systems so that others in the same situation can have a bit of information to go on to get there own blogs up and running as well.