IT Jobs with FBI

For those in the IT job market and want something a little different and a little challenging, the FBI maybe the place for you! Beginning next month, the FBI will begin interviewing for a variety of positions. To apply, go to www.fbijobs.gov. Although many of these jobs have salaries well into the 6-figure range, they do involve relocating to the DC area. With the change in the cost of living, the 6 figure salary may not be that much. For a city-city comparison of cost-of-living, vist www.homefair.com. For those interested in IT jobs in NE Ohio, please visit http://www.clevelanddotnet.info/careers/.

Visual Studio 2005 Questions

Q: Does VS2005 support source code control and editing of both .NET and Java code?
A: Yes, VS2005 does support Javascript code within web pages, with some intellisense.

Q: Does source code control come with VS2005 or is it part of “Team Suite”?
A: VS doesn’t handle source code control directly. Instead, it integrates with Visual Source Safe (VSS) for source code control. VSS could store any file type, so Javascript code should not be a problem. VS Team Suites come with Visual Source Safe 2005. VS standard and Pro don’t come with it but can integrate with it, if purchased separately. For more information, please go to http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/products/compare/default.aspx.

Microsoft Events (more of...)

Per my previous blog entry, the 2 major Microsoft events for developers that come to town are TechNet and MSDN. However, Microsoft also has additional seminars that cater more towards product sales and technology providers. These additional seminars are Microsoft Connections, Microsoft Business Solutions Seminar, and TS2. Although these are less technical than TechNet and MSDN, some of the presentations are still informative to developers, demonstrating new products, capabilities, and possible integration with other products and SDKs. For a complete description of all events, go to http://www.connect-ms.com/default.html.

Local Microsoft Events

Microsoft will be sponsoring 2 events tomorrow in the Cleveland area. TechNet will take place in the moring, 8:00 AM - Noon, and will cover SQL Server 2005. The MSDN event will take place 1:00 PM- 5:00 PM, and will cover Visual Studio 205. The demonstrations are very informative and the DVDs distributed contain manyweb casts, tutorials and trial software. All this, free of charge.

To register for these events, visit the following links:
http://www.technetevents.com and http://www.msdnevents.com.

Worm Attack Set for 1/5/2006

A new variant of the Sober worm has been detected recently by Verisign's cyber intelligence center. The worm is expected to launch an email attack on January 5th, 2006 (the 87th anniversary of the Nazi party). Emails launched during the attack are expected to have subject lines that relate to FBI or CIA.

The obvious remedy to this worm, as well as others, is to make sure the Antivirus programs and security patches are updated on all systems. In addition, creating a contact in each address book with "!!!!!!!!!!!" as the email address might prevent the worm from spreading. Some worms/viruses don't have the proper error handling when an invalid email address is encountered. By having the first email address in an address book be invalid, it may generate an error and prevent the worm from spreading. Although this is not a guarantee, it's definitely cheap insurance.

For more info on the worm, visit http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,106848,00.html?source=NLT_AM&nid=106848

ASP.Net Providers

Q: Are there any ASP.Net providers that you recommend?

A: I had good experiences with GoDaddy.com for web hosting and their plans are very reasonable (https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/hosting/shared.asp?se=%2B&ci=260). Also, DiscountASP.net (http://www.discountasp.net/kbalertz.aspx) offers 6 mos free service when you sign up before 12/31/2005.

By using an ASP.Net provider, you can create an ASP.Net site and let the provider worry about server maintainence. This is also a great way for a new .Net programmer to gain some experience in .Net development. By paying a small fee for web hosting, you can create your own public web site. This will allow you to showcase and demonstrate your skill set to potential employers before you walk into an interview.

Microsoft IE Bug resurfaces

This has been a tough week for the Microsoft security team. Four security related bugs were announced earlier this week, one of which was originally announced in May of this year. This causes alot of fingerpointing between cyber security experts and the software giant. Analysts claim the bug should've been fixed but was ignored by Microsoft. However, Microsoft claims the bug was not reported to them appropriately in the correct fashion and therefore did not gain the adequate attention it required.

The bug is exposed when a call to the Windows() function occurs from within the Javascript of a web page. Hackers would trick users into clicking a link that would launch a web page containing the malicous code and eventually give the hacker access to the system. Win2003 machines with SP1, having the default Enhanced Security Configuration activated are exempt from this vulnerability.

For more information, please go to http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2005/0,4814,106638,00.html