t?s typical of Microsoft. Although it is a great company, it still cannot build secure enough software that can withstand the onslaught of hackers. A case in point.

As reported last week Microsoft issued Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) to solve a host of security problems.

Two weeks later major security holes and incompatibilities were found in SP2, so much so that Microsoft has been forced to issue a hotfix, a temporary patch, to fix a problem many corporate users have complained about: programs that attempt to connect to loopback addresses other than 127.0.0.1 get error messages.

This is an addition to the earlier release of a list of about 50 programs that do not work with Windows XP SP2.

Personally I?m fed up of taking up column space reporting on these fixes, patches and service packs. Such news takes up too much valuable column space.

That?s why I created the www.SecureBermuda.com site, to dump off all the piles of important security news that come my way each week. However I still feel that security it is of major importance at this stage of the development of the Internet, so I will continue to report or at least mention briefly all the major security fixes issued by Microsoft and Apple.

Still keep checking the SecureBermuda site for updates, especially if you?re on a network or use computers in your business and don?t have an IT person to apply the patches for you. Judging from the number of corporate servers that regularly get hit by viruses or breakins, I think that quite a lot of IT workers also fall short on keeping themselves up-to-date and the businesses they work for safe.

In this column I?d much rather write about bits and bytes and other important issues ? such as how do we deal and use all the new technology appearing in our lives?

I am much more interested in the social aspect of technology. However one can only comment on such matters sparingly as from the remarks I?ve had in the past some readers eyes start to glaze over when I wax and whine over such matters.

Give us more information on new software and gadgets! I will, as can been seen in the last columns on software I?ve tested. Back to the update on the Microsoft hotfix and SP2.

You?ll find all the links at SecureBermuda. In addition to the hotfix, I also discovered Microsoft has a network security Hotfix checker (Hfnetchk.exe) tool. It is a command-line tool that administrators can use to centrally assess a computer or group of computers for the absence of security updates.

Microsoft has also issued a guidance and a toolkit to temporarily disable delivery of Windows XP SP2 through Windows update and automatic updates.

Since Microsoft began delivering SP2 on August 16, many businesses asked Microsoft how they could temporarily block the delivery of SP2 in order to provide additional time for validation and testing. The block will work for 120 days from August 16.

A few weeks ago in a column I discussed the increasing availability of digital music on the Internet despite the reluctance of the major record labels.

The day I submitted that column I went to see a concert by Peter Gabriel.

The next day I read in the papers that Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno have teamed up to form Mudda music (www.mudda.org) ? the Magnificent Union of Digital Downloading Artists.

?We are now witnessing the most fundamental transformation of the selling of music since records were first invented,? they state at the site.

Wow! The organisation?s goal is to allow artists to distribute their music directly without having to negotiate terms exclusively with labels.

Musicians will be able to release work to their own schedule, get instant sales figures and negotiate bulk sales with online stores.

Gabriel is also a co-founder and a current shareholder in a digital downloading service called OD2. OD2?s initial focus was independents musicians.

Now the company is Europe?s number one digital distributor for music, works with all five major music labels and is about to launch in Australia and Asia this year.

It is initiatives like this that make it more and more possible for musicians in places like Bermuda to break out into the wider world. Now for some fun.

Want to hear famous stars sing the worst music ever recorded?

Then try Fade to Black?s Rock & Roll Hall of Shame, which contains streams of the most awful sounds ever to come out of the mouths of stars.

For fun try the Bing Crosby singing the Beatles tune Hey Jude. It gets worse: Andy Griffith does House of the Rising Sun and for a good upchuck try Leonard Nimoy singing Proud Mary.

As the site says: ?Before you judge, remember, Vulcans had no emotions. None.? You?ll find it all at www.fadetoblack.com/hallofshame/index1.html. For more fun try www.fadetoblack.com/outtakes/index1.html, which consists of celebrity outtakes, including a very painful clip of Linda McCartney singing ?Hey Jude?.

The engineer took it upon himself to isolate Linda?s mic feed so we can all get an understanding of why she never did solos.