by Arie Slob

Dear Windows-Help.NET subscriber, First I want to wish all of you the best in 1999! It seems a custom at this time of year to look back at the year in review, so here we go.... In January we all thought we witnessed the merger of the year, when Compaq bought Digital. But as we all know, this was eclipsed by AOL's buyout of Netscape. This last buyout created a new Internet powerhouse, which will be in a strong position to challenge Microsoft in that area. Speaking of Microsoft, they launched Windows 98 in July and reported over 10 million copies sold by October. Other than that, the Redmond, Washington-based company might want to forget '98 quickly. In May the government opened it's antitrust case against the software maker, the start of a process which could drag on for years. Apple made another comeback. While many had written off Apple prematurely, the return of founder and CEO Steve Jobs gave Apple a new lease of live. The new consumer offering iMac did well from the word "go," with Apple reporting 150,000 units ordered before sales started last August. By October, the company reported a profit. Linux had quite a year. It's finally making some of the mainstream hype in computer land, and what's more important, applications are starting to appear. Corel ships WordPerfect for Linux and has announced plans to develop a suite of business applications. Oracle joined when it announced it will develop applications for Linux. According to a study from International Data Corporation, shipments of the Linux operating system surged by 212 percent, a growth rate that outpaced Windows NT, NetWare, Unix, and all others in the server market. Linux market share leapt from 6.8 percent to an estimated 17.2 percent of server operating system shipments. The Need for Speed? If you are one of those (by now poor) people who want to have the fastest Intel processor, you had quite a spending spree this year. When the year began, the ultimate speed king was the Pentium II-300. Then, in the space of eight months, we got the 333, 350, 400, and 450. To be continued... Next week I'll be talking about the things to watch out for in this year.   Patch Available for "Frame Spoof" Vulnerability Microsoft has released a patch that fixes a vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer® that could allow a malicious web site operator to impersonate a window on a legitimate web site. More information on the Windows-Help.NET Web site.

Support BBS
I have (finally) added a Windows NT forum to the Windows-Help.NET Support BBS. The forum is moderated by Eric Bursley, and you can discuss anything from Windows NT Workstation, Server, and the upcoming Windows 2000. If you haven't been there lately, just hop over to the BBS. There are forums for Windows 95 / 98 / NT and Internet Explorer. These forums are populated by some knowledgable users, who can assist you with your questions and problems.

Patch Available for IIS "GET" Vulnerability
Microsoft has released a patch that fixes a vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Information Server® that could allow denial-of-service attacks to be mounted against web servers.

More information can be found in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article No. Q192296.

Dell to bundle AOL software
Just after the announcement last November that America Online (AOL) was to buy Netscape, AOL announced it will team up with Dell to put AOL software on Dell computers.

The deal consists of a multiyear marketing agreement in which Dell Dimension and Inspiron systems will ship with CDs that contain AOL 4.0 software and include 100 free hours of AOL service in the first month.

Microsoft White Paper with Euro info
This Microsoft TechNet white paper on the Euro delves beyond simply explaining what the Euro is. It offers practical guidelines on how to scope out potential problems and determine your next steps.