Uninstall Apple Crapware

At some point of time, I must be mad to install that Apple iTunes which is 300MB... Then I decided to remove it. And the crap it left haunts me till today. Every so and then, Apply Software Update still pops up, trying to connect to the Internet which my firewall had blocked. Why is there still Apple Update when Quicktime, iTunes and all other crap from Apple had been removed? Are they sending some information to Apple or downloading some adware to my PC. Its up to your imagination. To me, it is a total nuisance.

It does not pops up all the time shows that it is a scheduled task. Opening Scheduler will reveal a whole tab for Apple. Well, its simple enough to disable it here. But for my case, I want it out and clean from my PC. So, you should go look at the Program Features and locate the 2 Apple crapware. Use the search with "Apple" and you will find it. One of them is the Apple Software Update obviously and other Apple Support . Both should go to trash immediate (without passing recycled bin or collecting $100). 

Some more unfortunate people I heard had problem removing them because the uninstallation of Apple iTunes or Quicktime had screwed up and left the installation in a unclean state. In that case, we can always try Microsoft Windows Installer Cleanup at:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

You should double check on your Scheduler to see if the Apple task had been removed. 

Blazing fast password recovery with new ATI cards

Source:
http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=9021

Elmcosoft has once again demostrated how the GPU can be used to break incredible hard encryption such as WPA2-AES, ipod or iphone encrypted backup. They managed to archive 20x faster even when compare to i7-960, which is the state of the art 8-CPU from Intel. In fact, the result showns that it even beats the commerical super computer grid nVidia Tesla:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/tesla_computing_solutions.html

With GPU improving and new SDK opening up for sending computering to the GPU, it will only be a matter of time. But right now, breaking WPA2-AES within minutes is still a bit far fetch.

Apple Java is still not patched (after 6 months!)

Apple JVM has a critical vulnerability which enable malicious code execution on OSX based Apple. This vulnerability which was acknowledged early this year by Sun, has a couple of working exploit floating around and a PoC at the URL below:

http://landonf.bikemonkey.org/static/moab-tests/CVE-2008-5353/hello.html

There should be no reason why this is not patched, even after 6 months by Apple. In fact, this exploit was used in CanSecWest, but was disqualified because it has been patched by JRE 6 Patch 11. However all version including JRE 6 Patch 10 and below are affected. The catch though was that all has been patched except Apple.

So, my advice is : Apple people should disabled JAVA in both Safari and Firefox until this is fixed. Yes, that means no Internal Banking too. Run your Windows Vista via dual boot if you have to.

Secondly, also disable running of "Safe" download in your OSX.

Well, or be like me, DON'T USE OSX. :) Nope, sorry, I just notice not everyone knows how to install Windows Vista on a Mac.

Quicktime must die!

The recent release of K-Lite Mega Codec Pack has removed Quicktime Alternative as a result of the threaten law suit. So big apple think they can push people around ha? There are other QT lite packages around anyway, but seriously, I think F*ck Quicktime. Who in the world would use it anyway other than people who cannot play rmvb or divx (goodness know who these people are).

For web, flash beats quicktime anyday. Despite Apple site keep forcing people to visit it to view movies trailer, I had never been a fan of it. Why not just download the divx version somewhere else? And for serious encoding, I seriously do not even see Quicktime there. Which encoder group who does release movie in Quicktime really deserved to be nuked. Divx or Xvid is cool for the west, the rmvb is good for the east. I am sure they do not use Quicktime in Russia either. :)

So, the world can be a better place without Quicktime. Trust me, its true. IF you are a mac user and somehow you just swear by your Quicktime, I suggest you take a walk outside and see the world for a while. There are other choices for Mac in case you do not know.