The contextual menu enhancer adds compatibility with all Finders from 10.4.0 to 10.5.6, the ability to execute shell scripts with the current Finder selection passed as an argument, support for Finder label colors, return of FinderPoplets, enhanced Move/Copy/Alias dialog, more flexible positioning of FP menu items, numerous other new features and a lot of bugfixes.

Online FinderPop Support Forum available

Users always appreciate support from developers. There are many ways to get it –being email the most common, but in some cases not the more useful. So, some developers also offer Support Forums –as it is the case with FinderPop. In my opinion, support forums are invaluable.

To FinderPop users: my advice would be to register and/or subscribe and, then, read the posts with your favorite news feed reader.

You can get RSS feeds of:

• all posts to the entire FinderPop forum
• posts to the Version Announcements forum
• posts to the Discussions/Bugs forum
• posts to the Wishlist forum

About this Symantec Report, read !!

• The Partial Relativity of Bullshit.
• The Most Stupid Security News Ever.

FinderPop Puts the Power Back in OS X’s Finder (via Compiler – Wired Blogs)

Apple’s file browser application, Finder, lacks many of the power user features you’ll find in Windows Explorer or Linux’s Dolphin and Nautilus options. If you’re a switcher, or just want to get more out of your Finder, have a look at FinderPop.
FinderPop is a free system utility that adds a bunch of contextual menu options to the Finder application. The menus are designed to make it much easier to accomplish everyday tasks like navigating through, copying, moving, and aliasing files.
There’s even an option to customize the items that appear in the FinderPop menu. All you need to do is open up the FinderPop Library folder and add aliases to your favorite or frequently used applications and files.
Much of FinderPop’s functionality isn’t limited to just the Finder. I set up FinderPop so that right-clicking on any dead space in any app will bring up the menu. That allows me to directly access and open files without ever leaving the application I’m in — sweet.
FinderPop is a free download, though the author has a PayPal tip jar set up if you’re feeling generous.

BTW, the Compiler’s Blog Has Been Nominated for a Webby Award.

Turly said: MacWorld reviews FinderPop!

Dan Frakes over at MacWorld reviews FinderPop – a very kind review too, 4.5 stars. Nice to be appreciated!

As I said to someone earlier, his review shows the difference between a ‘real’ writer and a butcher like me – he has distilled what FinderPop is mostly about into a page, whereas my manual blathers on for page after drivellish page :-/

You can download the latest version of FinderPop here (2.1.2, Universal, MacOS 10.4+).

You deserve it, Turly! ;)

Turly has set up a new FinderPop (only) Blog. There you can find some interesting links -among other things.

Turly here – I already have my own WordPress blog where I sometimes blog about FinderPop – but I will try to keep this up to date too.
In case I don’t, see:

• Turly’s blog, Epistles to the Corkonians.
• The main FinderPop home page.
• The FinderPop Support Forum.

Apple Adds Anti-Hacker Features to QuickTime (via eWeek)

Faced with a security crisis affecting its media player, Apple responds with key exploit prevention mechanisms aimed at thwarting hacker attacks.

Apple is quietly adding several key anti-hacker security features into its flagship QuickTime media player as part of a deliberate plan to reduce the effectiveness of malicious exploits.

The XPMs (exploit prevention mechanisms) have been fitted into the WIndows and Mac OS X versions of QuickTime 7.4.5, a new update that also patches 11 high-risk security vulnerabilities.

According to a source familiar with Apple’s moves, QuickTime for Windows Vista now features ASLR (address space layout randomization), a security technology that randomly arranges the positions of key data areas to prevent malware authors from predicting target addresses.

ASLR, which has been used by Apple to add code scrambling diversity to Mac OS X Leopard, is used in tandem with additional security features to reduce the effectiveness of exploit attempts.

Several open-source security systems – OpenBSD, PaX and Exec Shield – already implement ASLR in some form. Microsoft has also fitted ASLR into default configurations of Windows Vista.

In addition to ASLR, QuickTime for Windows will also do stack buffer safety checking (Visual Studio 2005’s /GS option) and support for hardware NX on Windows Vista.

The security hardening has also extended to QuickTime for Mac OS X, which gets:

1. Stack buffer safety checking (-fstack-protector to gcc)

2. Function call hardening, which should prevent some buffer overflows

Security researchers reacted to Apple’s move with applause. “That’s a pretty big change for a point release,” said Dino Dai Zovi, a hacker who has written multiple exploits for QuickTime. “They [Apple] have way more guts than many other software companies to do something like that. Either that, or they are afraid of the backlash if malware starts targeting QuickTime and iTunes in a more serious way.”

Dai Zovi, who used a QuickTime exploit to hack into a MacBook Pro machine at the 2007 CanSecWest security conference, said the decision to enable the use of ASLR and NX on Vista will hamper exploits.

“QuickTime looks like it may have just gotten more difficult. That is definitely a good thing,” Zovi said.

FinderPop has been reviewed at MacWord by Dan Frankes. You can read the review here. I don’t need to say how happy I am about it ;)

REPOST: Ode to Security Researchers:

After reading some articles (not only: ‘Linux Ignored, Not Immune,’ Says Hacker Contest Sponsor), I have decided to repost a previous entry ;-) In my opinion, the same applies to some journalists, bloggers, software developers, et cetera…

By Martin Pittenauer – 0×2a: Ode to security researchers

 “Dear security researchers, that…

• don’t prance around like a pwnie over every 0day
• value responsibility and public interests over your own ego
• have grown up
• don’t complain about people who haven’t, all the time
• understand software development processes and the meaning of “trivial”
• don’t insist on being baby-sitted 24/7 by $BIG_COMPANY
• aren’t at the center of the universe
• can resist making cheap jokes
• have written code worth mentioning, to broaden your horizon
• can make their outcome without having to pimp their personality, sell stuff to questionable characters or use tactics akin to extortion
• face discussion instead of declaring everybody else stupid
• don’t try so very hard to be a cool kid

…, I wish there were more of you.”

Well, as an open-mined person, I have decided to transcript this to your consideration…