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ERROR: Random File Unopenable

ERROR: Random File Unopenable

The random file, as specified in the $random_file perl variable was unopenable.

The file was not found on your file system. This means that it has either not been created or the path you have specified in $trrandom_file is incorrect.

Microsoft To Help Users Remove GUID From Documents

by Dave Murphy
ISSN 1535-3613

Dave Murphy, ITrain founder Microsoft will probably offer a patch for the millions of Win98 users who have unknowingly embedded a hidden code that can trace their documents right back to them.

Earlier yesterday, Microsoft offered to modify future copies of Win98 so that the Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) would not be embedded in documents nor transmitted to Microsoft during routine Win98 update procedures.

Later in the day, Microsoft released additional information that indicates they may be responding to pressure from customers to prevent embedding the PC's GUID in Word and Excel files as well as being transmitted to Microsoft.

Separately, the company also acknowledged it may have been collecting the GUID serial numbers from customers, and the customers' names and addresses, even when the customers' had explicitly indicated they didn't want the information disclosed to Microsoft. And Microsoft acknowledged "there are hypothetical scenarios in which this number could be used to learn something about the user's system without his or her knowledge."

Microsoft Corp.

Articles In This Series

Microsoft Documents Secretly Track Author
Microsoft To Help Users Remove GUID From Document
Win98 Security Bug More Serious Than Previously Thought
Microsoft Patches Win98 GUID Privacy Bug

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updated March 9, 1999