According to Russian antivirus company Dr. Web, there are about 600,000 Macs around the world that are infected by different variations of the Flashback trojan and are now part of a fast-growing Mac botnet. Of the 600,000 infected Macs the majority are located in North America – 57% from the US and 20% in Canada.

If you own a Mac and would like to check whether its infected or not, you can follow these step-by-step instruction provided by the folks from F-Secure.

NOTE: This procedure is risky and could be a bit tricky so it is recommended only for advanced users. If you think you’re not capable of doing it yourself, you can request a friend or a professional technician to assist you.

1. Open up Terminal (Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal).
2. Key in and run the following command in Terminal:

defaults read /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info LSEnvironment

3. Take note of the value, DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES
4. Proceed to step 8 if you got the following error message:

"The domain/default pair of (/Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info, LSEnvironment) does not exist"

5. Otherwise, run the following command in Terminal:

grep -a -o '__ldpath__[ -~]*' %path_obta</blockquote>ined_in_step2%

6. Take note of the value after “__ldpath__”
7. Run the following commands in Terminal (first make sure there is only one entry, from step 2):

sudo defaults delete /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info LSEnvironment 

sudo chmod 644 /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info.plist

8. Delete the files obtained in steps 2 and 5
9. Run the following command in Terminal:

defaults read ~/.MacOSX/environment DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES

10. Take note of the result. Your system is already clean of this variant if you got an error message similar to the following:

"The domain/default pair of (/Users/joe/.MacOSX/environment, DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES) does not exist"

11. Otherwise, run the following command in Terminal:

grep -a -o '__ldpath__[ -~]*' %path_obtained_in_step9%

12. Take note of the value after “__ldpath__”
13. Run the following commands in Terminal:

defaults delete ~/.MacOSX/environment DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES 

launchctl unsetenv DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES

14. Finally, delete the files obtained in steps 9 and 11.

If you get both “does not exist” errors on Step 4 and 10, it basically means that your Mac is not infected by the latest Flashback trojan variation. However, other Flashback trojan variations include additional components which require additional removal steps. Please refer to this link for further information and removal instructions.

I performed the procedure on my Mac and fortunately for me, it isn’t one of the 600,000 infected machines. I strongly recommend that you do the same thing and check to make sure whether your Mac is infected or not. It won’t hurt if you do and its always better to be safe than sorry.

Anyone here who got infected by the latest Flashback trojan or a different variant? What did you do to fix/disinfect your machine?

Earlier this week, Facebook rolled out several updates including the Mobile Initiative with updates on its Facebook iPhone/Android apps. However, the most noticeable update and the one that got a lot reaction/complaints is the Facebook font size. A lot of Facebook users are complaining about the smaller font size because it’s causing them to squint and strain their eyes just to be able to read stuff on Facebook.

I didn’t notice the new font size because I use the Facebook for iPhone app most of the time. I found out about it because of several status updates posted by my friends. It’s not certain whether the font size will be reverted to the original size but according to Facebook, the smaller font size is just an experiment on making the site more efficient for users.

Because of the amount of complaints and frustration I’ve seen from many Facebook users, I’ve decided to write this short and simple tutorial to help them with the Facebook font size issue. This tutorial will enable users to adjust Facebook’s font size to make it bigger and more readable (this is applicable to any website). This procedure doesn’t require any changes done to your Facebook profile settings but utilizes a built-in “universal” shortcut command for all web browsers.

It doesn’t matter what web browser you’re using – Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, Opera, etc. because the procedure is the same. All you need to do is login to Facebook and once you get to your profile, just press and hold CTRL then press the + (plus) key and that would automagically resize the font on your browser, making it bigger and easier to read.

Here’s a sample I made while viewing my Facebook profile:

BEFORE

AFTER

If you compare the BEFORE and AFTER screenshots, you can see that the font is a little bit bigger after performing the procedure and is now easier to read.

Usually, doing the procedure once is enough to make the font size readable for most people, but in case it’s still too small for you to read, you can make the font size larger but repeating the process. In case you want to revert and/or make the font size smaller, instead of the + (plus key), press the - (minus) key. So press and hold CTRL and then press - (minus).

Btw, some users may not experience any issues with Facebook’s new font size due to web browser settings. Also, if you’re logged in to Facebook on the iPhone or Android app then you also won’t be affected by this update. It’s still uncertain whether Facebook will revert back to the original font size or provide font size options, so for now this tutorial can be used as a temporary solution while the new smaller font size is still in effect. I hope this short and simple tutorial will be useful for those having problems with the Facebook font size. Please don’t forget to share this with your friends on Facebook.

Anyone having problems reading stuff with the new Facebook font size? Do you prefer or hate the smaller font size? Please share your thoughts.

If the Wibiya Toolbar isn’t your thing or it doesn’t work for you but still want a way to make your blog/website more interactive and provide your readers an easy way to share your content then you might want to try out the AddThis Sharebar, a website toolbar from the creators of the popular AddThis Social Bookmarking Sharing Widget.

The AddThis Sharebar is a different way of making your content shareable using the AddThis platform. As a persistent utility at the bottom of your pages, the Sharebar keeps your users’ favorite services front and center to help increase sharing.

The AddThis Sharebar is fast, the file is less than 20k and the script and images it uses are hosted on a CDN. It is convenient because it works on virtually any page on the Internet including javascript frameworks (jQuery, Prototype, Closure, Ext and YUI). It also correctly overlaps Flash movies/ads when viewed on Firefox, Chrome and Safari. The AddThis Sharebar is personalized and customizable because it will display first all the services that your users/readers use and it includes a modular system for adding new features. The toolbar will automatically use existing AddThis menu settings when used on the same page. You can read more about the customization options in the documentation.

The AddThis Sharebar is safe because all javascript codes are kept inside a closure, with only one variable exposed to the DOM. It will not interfere with items that are already displayed on your page like Flash animations/movies (ads). All CSS tags are dynamically generated to prevent overlapping tags on your website.

Installation:
Just copy and paste the following code into your website/blog template. The AddThis username is only required if you want to have tracking/analytics.

[javascript]
<script src="http://sharebar.addthiscdn.com/v1/sharebar.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

<div class="addthis_sharebar_config" style="display:none;">
* username: your AddThis username
</div>
[/javascript]

AddThis Sharebar Browser Compatibility

• Firefox 3, 3.5, 3.6
• Google Chrome 3, 4
• Safari 4
• Internet Explorer 7, 8

Unlike the AddThis Social Bookmarking Sharing Widget, the Sharebar is an AddThis Labs experiment so it doesn’t have the same level of support. However, if you decide to use Sharebar you can provide feedback by sharing what you like or dislike about it, how you use it and/or features that you would like to be added to Sharebar. Btw, if you’re a Google Chrome user, you might want to try out the AddThis Sharebar Google Chrome extension. Thanks to bea, I found out that they also have an AddThis Sharebar Firefox extension.

I haven’t tried the AddThis Sharebar here on JaypeeOnline yet so I can’t really do any comparison with the Wibiya Toolbar or say which one is better. Although it is not that popular as the Wibiya Toolbar, I’ve seen several blogs who are using Sharebar.

Anyone here using or have tried the AddThis Sharebar on their website or blog? What are the things you like or dislike about it? What features would like to see added to it in the future? I’d also like to hear from those who’ve tried both the Wibiya Toolbar and AddThis Sharebar.

Back in October of 2009, Mozilla launched the Mozilla Plugin Check tool to help Firefox users keep their plugins/addons up-to-date, addressing the issue of outdated plugins being a major source of security and stability risks for users.

Yesterday, Mozilla announced that the Mozilla Plugin Check tool will now also be supporting other web browsers like Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari and Opera.

We believe that plugin safety is an issue for the web as a whole, so while our initial efforts focused on building a page that would work for Firefox users, the team has since expanded plugin check coverage to work with Safari 4, Chrome 4, and Opera 10.5. We have added support for Internet Explorer 7 and 8 for the most popular plugins, as well, but since IE requires specific code to be written for each plugin it will take us a little longer to get to full coverage.

The Mozilla Plugin Check tool can identify most popular plugins – Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, Quicktime, Shockwave Flash, DivX, Windows Media Player and RealPlayer just to name a few. Although the plugin database is maintained and frequently updated by Mozilla, there could be some instances where the plugin cannot be recognized or the web-based tool cannot provide accurate information regarding a certain plugin.

To use the Mozilla Plugin Check tool, just visit the Plugin Check page and it will automatically scan and detect all plugins installed in the web browser and will display information on which plugins are up-to-date or needs to be updated.

Anyone else using the Mozilla Plugin Checker tool? Are all your browser plugins up-to-date? What other features or options would you like to add to the Mozilla Plugin Checker? Please share your thoughts.

For those who use Google Reader as their main RSS reader/aggregator, the default interface can sometimes be too cluttered with all the colors, social features and buttons. If you’re not using most of the features and if you want a clean and minimal Google Reader interface, then you should check out Helvetireader. Helvetireader is a user script designed and created by Jon & Leigh Hicks of Hicksdesign.

Helvetireader is a hosted user stylesheet for Google Reader served via a user-script. It aims to make the interface a clean, minimal experience where you’re not assaulted by an array of colours, social features and buttons (using Shortcuts instead). It’s designed for people who just read the latest entries in expanded view without all the other gubbins.

Google Reader default interface

Google Reader with Helvetireader

(the brown scroll bars are from my Ubuntu theme)

In order to use/install Helvetireader on Google Reader, you’ll need a web browser that supports userscripts – Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari and Opera. If you have or are using any of these web browsers, all you need to do next is install the user script provided in the Helvetireader website.

For Mozilla Firefox users, you’ll need Greasemonkey. If you don’t have it yet, install Greasemonkey then restart Firefox then install the Helvetireader userscript. For Google Chrome users, the userscript installs as an extension. For Safari, Omniweb or any Webkit browser, you’ll need Greasekit to be installed. For Opera users, all you have to do is download Helvetireader and add the user script to your user javascript folder.

Helvetireader is an unfinished and ongoing project so expect some changes and maybe new features/options to be added to it. Btw, the Helvetireader user script is ideal for using with Fluid.app or Mozilla Prism to create a standalone application.

In case you might not like Helvetireader, I recommend you also try Feedly – a Firefox addon that creates a magazine-like startpage/homepage on Firefox that works with Google Reader, Twitter, Frienfeed, Delicious and YouTube.

Anyone here tried or are currently using Helvetireader on Google Reader? What do you like or dislike about Helvetireader? If you can add some features or options, what would it be? Please share your thoughts.