Microsoft warns of a security hole

SOFTWARE PRELOAD MONOPOLIST Microsoft has taken the unusual step of warning about a serious computer security vulnerability that it hasn't fixed yet.

The vulnerability affects Internet Explorer users whose computers run the Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 operating systems.

If a victim visits an infected website hackers can remotely take control of their machine.

Apparently the hole has been exploited for the last week. Thousands of sites have been hacked to serve up malicious software that exploits the vulnerability. Apparently people are drawn to the sites with a spam email pretending to offer a video.

The Vole said that the problem is caused by the way the malware interacts with its media playing software, which allows the hackers a way into the code.

Normally the Vole would not tell anyone about such a problem, but it might be that it will take the company a while to come up with a patch for this problem.

The work-around at the moment is to disable the problematic part of its software, which can be done from Microsoft's website, while Redmond's minions work on a patch for the vulnerability. µ