Microsoft Corporation has released a minor update to Excel 98 for Macintosh to address a problem exporting date information to text files using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)

Apple Computer has released OT Tuner 1.0, a tiny patch which disables an option in Open Transport that could enable Macs connected to the Internet to be used as traffic amplifiers (see below) in a distributed denial-of-service attack

Microsoft Corporation has released Internet Explorer 4.51 and Outlook Express 5.01, which address issues with Web site and email attachment security, as well as JavaScript problems that occur using the two products in combination

GCSF, Inc., the publisher of the weekly Macintosh journal MWJ, has made its extensive Mac OS 9 coverage available as a free 76-page PDF file. MWJ's coverage of Mac OS 9 is quite possibly the most complete (and technically detailed) available anywhere. If you've been looking for more depth than TidBITS's coverage of Mac OS 9, this is the reference for you

Power On Software is delivering on its promise to continue development of Now Up-to-Date & Contact, its calendar and contact combo it purchased from Qualcomm, Inc

We hope you've enjoyed this year's suggestions, and we'd like to close with a few that would make great gifts and would help support TidBITS at the same time. TidBITS Staff -- Frankly, the main reason we can put out TidBITS each week is because the people we have working on TidBITS are truly exceptional

Welcome to our 1999 Holiday Gift Issue, which is full of great gift ideas from TidBITS readers. Although most are related to the Macintosh, we've found Mac users to be a broad-minded community, so we were happy to include ideas that fell somewhat outside our standard focus

Put Time on Your Side -- We could definitely use a gift of free time, but in the meantime Fred Miller suggests using MultiTimer Pro to track the time you're currently using

Handsome Prints -- Herouth Maoz writes, "iPrint.com is an excellent idea for all kinds of interesting, custom-made gifts. You pick an item (t-shirt, babywear, mousepad, mug, etc.), and custom design it, either with ready-made graphics or with ones you upload yourself

TiVo Killed the Video Star -- Omar Shahine writes, "For me a TiVo (essentially a digital VCR that records to hard disk) is the killer app - it completely changes the way you think about viewing television! It is truly a fascinating device

Get Goofy over Golf -- Lisa Thompson recommends Goofy Golf Deluxe ($25, demo available) as an alternative to shoot-em-up titles. "Goofy Golf Deluxe should be enjoyed by many users - except maybe those who don't bother with bloodless games or who have some aversion to miniature golf

Speed Up Your Internet Access -- Frederic Brehm suggests something we could all use: faster Internet access. His solution was to install a cable modem

Qualcomm has released a public beta of Eudora 4.3 (limited to 250,000 users who fill out a survey), adding a few new features and eliminating the previous split between the free Eudora Light and the commercial Eudora Pro (see our "Eudora Pro 4.2" series for details on Eudora Pro's features)

Macworld Expo SF '00 Events List Online -- Ilene Hoffman has once again started up the Robert Hess Memorial Macworld Expo Events List. If you plan on attending Macworld Expo in San Francisco from 05-Jan-00 through 08-Jan-00 (note that the show extends to Saturday this year), check the list for public events and parties you might want to attend

Macworld SF Netter's Dinner 2000 -- Speaking of Macworld Expo, if you're interested in attending the annual Netter's Dinner, visit Jon Pugh's Netter's Dinner 2000 Web page for information and a link to the Kagi-based signup form ($17 per person) for the necessary pre-registration