Flaws in Windows or other Microsoft software has been key to their success

Flaws in Windows or other Microsoft software has been key to their success.Microsoft’s upgrade, which comes in a 200-megabyte file, aims to close security loopholes. The firm claims that SP2 makes Windows more secure than ever before, with improvements to its Internet Explorer browser, Outlook Express e-mail and dozens of other parts of the system.Heise Security, the Germany company that first raised the issue, recommends that people install SP2, but that does not cut out the need for antivirus software. Another firm, Sophos, warned on Friday of a new program that can infect PCs with SP2 installed and target banks online. The “Togfer” program is sent as an attachment to an e-mail or as a file to be downloaded from a website. If the attachment is activated, Togfer installs itself and watches for online banking, including Abbey, Barclays, Cahoot, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest, Nationwide and Woolwich.

It then sends details such as user name and passwords to remote hackers, who break into the account and loot it.Victims would usually have the loss refunded by the bank. But Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, said: “This is very different from the fraudulent e-mails. It waits for the customer to visit the real banking website, and makes robbery a breeze.” He said people should take “extreme care” and install up-to-date antivirus software.Microsoft has warned that the SP2 is so sweeping that it may stop some programs working. For how to get SP2 free, visit /uk/sp2. When Jane Johnson quit newspapers to edit a new women’s magazine, some of her former colleagues were sceptical, questioning whether she was forsaking hard-nosed journalism for a world of frocks and flowers.

Closer, the magazine in question, has proved itself as fierce as any red-top in pursuing celebrity and real-life stories since its launch two years ago. Johnson herself was executive editor at the Sunday Mirror when she was poached to edit Closer, having worked her way up from women’s editor at the Daily Mirror to assistant editor at the Daily Record and The Scotsman.Her deputy, Louise Oswald, is best known as the former News of the World journalist who persuaded England rugby star Lawrence Dallaglio to brag about taking drugs and his exploits with prostitutes in a “sting” operation in 1999. The news editor, Vicky Grimshaw, worked at the Daily Mail before joining the magazine.Johnson believes the team’s understanding of how newspapers work has been “vitally important” to securing the exclusives that lead to increased sales. “We got Louise Woodward when all the newspapers had been chasing her She decided to go with us because she liked our approach. That was won through hard work and determination,” she says.Other recent scoops include an interview with the wife of the Lotto rapist and pictures of their prison wedding, the first interview with Jason from Big Brother and an interview with a friend of the murdered schoolgirl Caroline Dickinson who was in the room when she died.Matthews believes that the magazine’s sympathetic tone is crucial to scooping its rivals. “These women – and most of them are women – feel that we will portray them in a non-judgmental way If they go to the Mail they may well be ripped to shreds.