In an era where clicking on the wrong link while browsing the web could mean your account will get hacked, and one of your guild members clicking on the wrong link means your guild bank could get emptied as well, it's always good to protect yourself and keep abreast of web security issues.

In that vein, it's worth checking out a new report released by McAfee called Mapping the Mal Web Report Revisited. It tested 9.9 Million websites in 265 domains to find out which ones had a higher risk of exposing visitors to malware, spam, and malicious attacks via a red, yellow, and green system.

According to reports, a new wave of exploits has appeared taking advantage of a vulnerability Adobe Flash Player. Allegedly over 200,000 web sites now have redirects to malware, including keyloggers, through embedded Flash. And we all know how evil keyloggers can be. Flash Player 9.0.115.0 appear to be the affected version.

Adobe quickly responded to the issue, saying that the vulnerability is fixed in 9.0.124.0, the latest version of the player, so to make yourself secure, all you need to do is update your Flash. To check what version you are running, go to this Adobe page. Keeping your software up-to-date is one of the best ways to close security holes; if you're truly paranoid, you could always go the route of adding Flashblock and/or No-Script into your browser. And be sure to keep an eye on our new Azeroth Security Advisor column for more tips on how to keep yourself from being compromised. Once again, to update your Flash and patch this vulnerability go to Adobe's "Get Flash" page.

Update: It is possible that certain versions of 124 (namely, the standalone version for Linux and the standalone version with debug capabilities for Windows) are also affected by the exploits. At this time it is recommended to disable Flash if you are running those versions.

Update 2: It is currently believed that all versions of 124 are safe. Nevertheless, caution is generally a good idea.

If you've been following along with the podcast, you've heard of the Fandral Staghelm killshot thread over on WoW Radio-- it's a place where those who hate Fandral Staghelm, Archdruid of Darnassus and generally obnoxious jerk, can get their kicks seeing the guy dead on the ground. Originally, the thread was supposed to be a compendium for killshots, but Rembrant on the Moon Guard server has taken it to a whole new level-- he's created a Flash-based kill simulator of the Archdruid. Don't have a whole raid of Horde to go into Darnassus and take him down in game? Just click the "Die Staghelm!!" button, and you get a surprisingly satisfying animation of Staghelm's demise.

I love it (and wish I had seen it sooner-- looks like it was posted last week sometime). All day today I've been randomly killing Staghelm, and it has a relaxing effect. Bad day at work? Kill Staghelm. Fight with your girlfriend? Kill Staghelm! Couldn't get your raid to kill Staghelm? Kill Staghelm anyway!

I only hope the site survives the masses of people who will jump onto it to kill Staghelm. Because there certainly are a lot of them.

Update: Yup, looks like we burned it. Sorry, Rembrant, everybody hates Staghelm. Here's the new link to the simulator he gave us in the comments. Hope that holds up.

All the World's a Stage is a column for classy minds, playing with roles every Sunday evening.

You want to roleplay a character with style, pizzazz, panache -- and class! No matter what race or faction you are, your class is going to have a big impact on who you are and how other people perceive you. How you integrate it into your character can, in turn, give you something distinctive to share with other people.

Usually when we think of roleplaying a certain class, we do so with that class's lore in mind. But our WoW characters all have many spells and abilities that they rarely take advantage of in roleplaying. Admittedly most class spells are geared towards combat, when roleplaying is hardest -- you seldom have time to type out interesting phrases while fighting for your life. Unless you get an addon like RP Helper 2 to help you utter pre-planned phrases automatically (and sparingly enough that it doesn't get annoying), roleplaying during combat just isn't very feasible. So, sadly, roleplayers usually leave their sparkly spell effects totally unused while interacting with other roleplayers outside of combat. Even with the game mechanics as they are, however, it's not always so difficult to use some of these spells in roleplaying as one might think.

Although people have a tendency to separate the video-game and the roleplaying into two mutually exclusive activities, in fact each of these aspects of WoW can greatly enhance the other. Roleplaying gets a whole new visual excitement when it transcends the same word balloons and talk animations we use every day. When someone comes along with an innovative use for a spell or character animation that we had never thought of before, it gives you a memorable impression of who that character is. In fact, using spells like this is a special way that online roleplaying sets itself apart from every other sort of roleplaying, and it is an essential skill that every WoW roleplayer would do well to master in his or her own way. In this article we will look at the different ways that druids, hunters and mages could use their class spells to greater effect in their roleplaying.

The European Horde guild "Ferox" has designed a flash-based simulator to help assist with the Teron Gorefiend raid boss fight in the Black Temple. I've never been to the Black Temple myself, but according to Bosskillers, Mr. Gorefiend will debuff a random player every 30 seconds with "Shadow of Death," which basically gives you a 55-second countdown till you die. But your death isn't the end of the battle for you yet, in fact it's just beginning: four "Shadowy Constructs" will spawn around you, and as a ghost you will get special abilities only you can use on these constructs -- other raiders will be helpless against them.

The flash game based on this fight does a great job at letting you practice the strategies to success, and it even makes for an interesting puzzle for people who like to figure out how to do things on their own. For those of us who are never likely to actually get to go to the Black Temple, simulations like this help convey a taste of what it's like to be there for real, too, so I hope more and more players develop these sorts of simulations in the future. If you want to figure out the simulator from scratch, go ahead and check it out; otherwise I'll explain the basic tools, and then after the jump I'll explain how to win.

The constructs will spawn from the point where you die as the Shadow of Death countdown finishes. From there, they will make their way to the rest of your raid. To win, you have to kill them before they get there. Some of the basic controls are explained in the game itself, but the 5 spells you can cast as a ghost are not clear at first. The first and last abilities, "Spirit Strike" and "Spirit Shield" are useless in the flash simulator, so you can ignore them here. The important abilities you'll be using are the three in the middle, "Spirit Lance," "Spirit Chains," and "Spirit Volley" (which you can use by clicking, or pressing 3, 4, or 5, respectively). Spirit Lance will damage a construct within a certain range and also slow it down, Spirit Chains will freeze nearby constructs in place, and Spirit Volley will do AoE damage to all the constructs around you. Continue reading for the secret cheat codes to give you super-extra-strength and +1000 damage!

Blizzard has put a pretty neat little Flash-y WoW Atlas online, featuring clickable and cool-looking maps of almost everything there is to find (officially) in World of Warcraft. It's a pretty solid, if basic interface, so if you're just looking for the closest profession trainer, or want to know where the latest and greatest flight paths are, you're all set.

However, there is of course lots more information online about what there is to find in Azeroth. MapWoW is a pretty invaluable unofficial resource-- it'll show you not only the Alliance and Horde flight paths and towns, but it utilizes the Google Maps API to show where Herb, Ore, and even overworld Treasure Chests show up. It's not quite as groovy as Blizzard's official interface, but there's a lot of extra info too that Blizzard doesn't want to give away.

And the other problem with the WoW Atlas is that while it's up to date for the live realms, there's stuff coming that doesn't yet appear on there. Zul'Aman is seen (just like on the ingame map), but isn't listed as a real instance in the Ghostlands. And unfortunately there's no sign at all of the Sunwell, and not a single mention of Northrend. I clicked around a while and couldn't find any easter eggs, either (unlike Blizzard's other Flash features). Still, it's a neat way to see the official side of Azeroth.

[ via Murdering Murlocs ]

The words "50 DKP MINUS" are becoming somewhat legendary even in non-WoW circles, but have you ever wondered about the guy who originally uttered them? Wagner James Au has interviewed Dives, leader of the Wipe Club, and the interview contains some real insight into the life of this particular raid leader.

Turns out that, for those following the Onyxia Wipe closely, Crushim didn't actually get -50 DKP once the situation was explained. Thank goodness for that then.

Whether you're running in fear from them, getting yourself tattooed, or just holding out for them to be the next Alliance race, murlocs have a special place in many players' hearts. Fortunately, this extremely well done Flash RPG lets you step into the (webbed) shoes of a murloc for an hour or so--perfect for satisfying those WoW cravings at work.

[via World of Warcraft Livejournal Community]