A word of caution: Microsoft has issued a warning on an unpatched vulnerability that could affect users of Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003, running Internet Explorer.

“The vulnerability exists in the way that VBScript interacts with Windows Help files when using Internet Explorer,” the security advisory reads. “If a malicious Web site displayed a specially crafted dialog box and a user pressed the F1 key, arbitrary code could be executed…”

This week, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported that it has identified ‘widespread data breaches’ on peer-to-peer file sharing networks. The FTC notified nearly 100 organizations, including large and small businesses, schools, and local governments, that the sensitive personal information of employees and customers was available on P2P file sharing networks.

Following this week’s release of version 8.2 of Ad-Aware, Lavasoft became aware of an issue with scanning that affected a limited number of our Ad-Aware users. This has only affected users of Windows XP (Home and Professional).

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or concern this may have caused.  Lavasoft’s developers prioritized this issue in order to promptly resolve it, and a software update to fix the issue has now been released. In order to resolve the issue, please update Ad-Aware by clicking “Web Update.”

Today, we updated our anti-malware software, bringing you new features that will give a boost to your security whether you use Ad-Aware Free, Ad-Aware Plus, or Ad-Aware Pro.

Today, February 9, is Safer Internet Day. Organized by Insafe (the European Safer Internet awareness-raising network co-funded by the European Commission), Safer Internet Day is part of a global awareness-raising campaign to promote a safer Internet, especially for children and young people.