Tom Warren over at Neowin told me this morning about an excellent Windows 7 offer in the UK, where students will be able to get either Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional for just £30 : We are offering students the opportunity to buy Windows 7 for an amazing discounted price, £30 for either Windows 7 Home Premium or Windows 7 Professional. You can take advantage of this offer from October 1st but you will need to be quick as it is for a limited time only and is only eligible to college and university students with a valid .EDU email address (an email address given by the college or university, for example: Suzanne@leeds.ac.uk ), a PC that is currently running a genuine copy of Windows Vista or Windows XP and can run Windows 7. This offer will be available from 1st October so please check back then for details on how to take advantage of this great offer
Monday, September 21, 2009
Students to get Windows 7 for £30 in the UK ($30 in the US too!)
DIAS-iS is now certified for Windows 7
I've been playing with Windows 7 for quite some time and the internal deployment at the company i work for is also coming along quite nicely. A few machines are still on the RC and our branch office is still running on Vista, but this should be resolved until the end of the next month.
However, we're also an ISV. DIAS-iS has been running on Windows Vista since the release – thanks to the efforts of our developers, who fixed everything during the beta phase of Windows Vista. As such, our software ran on Windows 7 since the beginning.
During the past few weeks, i did all the necessary administrative work to get our Software certified with the "Compatible with Windows 7″ Logo.
Doing this isn't that hard, but it requires you to jump through quite a few hoops.
Here's a basic rundown of steps:
- Obtain a MS Authenticode certificate from Verisign. Note that other code signing certs won't work (e.G. Thawte)
- Create a WinQual Account here
- You'll need to sign a sample .exe with the code signing cert from step one
- Download the Software Logo Toolkit
- Download the Windows 7 Logo Requirements Document
- Both of these packages contain all the documentation you need – most of the requirements are easily satisfied if you have an application that behaves nicely, uninstalls correctly, works in TS environments
- Create an empty Windows 7 x64 VM. Note that it must be x64.
- Install the Software Logo Toolkit on the machine
- Start the GUI, start the Session Server in a second session on the same machine
- Run through all the phases, make sure the report says "Pass" or "Pass with warnings" (verify that the warnings are not real errors)
- Submit the .xml through the WinQual account. You'll immediately get certified
So it's not that hard.
The key point to delivering a good user experience is to ensure that your application uses standard installation technology like .MSI, that it doesn't require administrative privileges, that all configuration is stored in the userprofile (Registry or %APPDATA%) and that it's multi-session capable.
And that's all the "Compatible with Windows 7″ logo verifies – so if you already have a well-behaving Windows application, getting that logo is easy as pie. It does not cost anything directly – the only costly requirement is the fact that you need a VeriSign Authenticode certificate. This will set you back 400$. Microsoft does not want any money from you for this Logo – and it can be great in Marketing your competitiveness and readiness as a software vendor
Windows Server 2008 R2 and the missing fax printer
Windows Server 2008 R2 was released to MSDN a few weeks ago, and of course i want and installed it on a machine that did something more or less useful – a Fax server. Which is of course an internal system and not really in production.
I’m using a Diva BRI-2 2 Channel PCI-E Card, which already has support for Windows Server 2008 R2, and installing the Diva Software went without any issues.
Installing the Fax service was also easy, but there was no Fax printer to be seen anywhere.
I’ve followed the TechNet documentation for creating Fax printer on Windows Server 2008 R2, but it didn’t work – at first i received a “Permission denied” error message, after which i started Windows Fax & Scan using Administrator privileges.
This didn’t help that much – i could now go through the wizard, but no Fax account and no printer was created. This seemed strange.
Now, this really seemed like a permission issue. So i disabled UAC, rebooted the server, and tried it again. Everything worked – i was able to create the Fax printer, and after sharing it faxing worked as it should.
So, what now? Why doesn’t this work with UAC? I’ve been running our WS08 servers with UAC disabled (our Vista client were UAC enabled, and so are our Windows 7 clients), and thought WS08R2 should also work well with UAC enabled. But apparently, that wasn’t a good idea.
Monday, April 27, 2009
'Hand of God' rock being sold on eBay
(CNN) -- A man in northern Idaho says he has seen a massive hand of God in his life, and he is willing to share it with the highest bidder.
Paul Grayhek says the "Hand of God" appeared in his backyard in March.
Paul Grayhek, 52, listed the rock formation he dubbed the "Hand of God Rock Wall" on the online auction Web site eBay. The highest bid was $250 early Sunday, with three days left to go in the auction.
The hand-like formation, approximately 9 feet tall and 4 feet wide, appeared in Grayhek's backyard after a rockfall during Lent on March 8, he said.
The Coeur d'Alene resident said he faced tough times after losing his job, and believed the rock was a sign.
"I prayed between licking my wounds and looking for a job," he said. "We rarely get rockfalls and this formation is 20 feet from my house. It's definitely a symbol of the hand of God in my life."
However, the winning bidder on eBay should not start clearing out his backyard. Grayhek is not planning to part with the formation.
The buyer will "basically be buying the rights, complete and exclusive rights" to the rock, including literary and movie rights, according to Grayhek.
Grayhek said he plans to use the money from the sale to pursue an unpaid internship in counseling when he graduates with a master's degree in social work in two years.
"People think I'm some holier-than-thou person trying to get rich. I'm not," Grayhek said. "The purpose is to spread the story of God and eBay is just a vehicle."
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/04/26/idaho.rock.auction/index.html
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Google hack to instantly search for files
Thanks to Jimmy Ruska's video on YouTube, there are several quirks about phrasing search queries for Google that can find you files in a jiffy. I will detail the method and include it as a Firefox bookmark first, and then I'll follow up with detailed information on the actual query.
Adding a bookmark
Here's the process to have a bookmark in Firefox such that you can search for an MP3 song in Google by just typing "music yourSongTitle" in the Firefox address bar.
1. Create a new bookmark
- Select "Bookmarks" from menu.
- Select "Organize Bookmarks…"
- Click on the "New bookmark button" (below the files menu)
2. Fill in the following for the fields in the window that appears
- Name: Enter the name for bookmark. e.g. : Directory Listing
- Location: Here, copy and paste the following Google query (an explanation follows)
"http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&q=intitle%3A%22index.of%22
+%28mp3%29+%s+-html+-htm+-php+-jsp&btnG=Google+Search&meta="
(Include the whole query, without the quotation marks)
- Keyword: This is the word you will use in the address bar to invoke the results for a song title (in our example, it is "music")
- Description: Give a description or leave empty
3. Now open a new tab and type "music yourSongTitle" and viola! — you will see links of directory listing for the MP3 you wanted
Deciphering the query
The crux of this hack is the clever usage of Google search tags for narrowing the result to only directory listings with keywords "MP3″ and negating results that include html, htm, php or jsp as directory listings.
Here is the break up of the query and the meaning of the tags:
- intitle:"index of": This searches for the "index of" keyword in title of files. This is usually the directory file that contains the list of all files.
- (MP3): This tag implies a search for files with the keyword "MP3″ in the file name. To add more formats to search, include them separated by the OR ('|') separator.
- %s: This is where the yourSongTitle you enter gets inserted. A clever innovation here is to separate the keywords in your song name with '.' so that single character separations, such as underscores ('_') between words, are also included in results.
- -html -htm -php -jsp: This basically tells the search engine that you don't want (negate) html, htm, php or jsp files that give directory listings.
You can modify the same query for searching pdfs or any other file format. Also, there are few more keywords to limit the search to a particular site (site:siteName) or a filetype(filetype:pdf). I am no promoter of media piracy and the use of Google tag words makes search all the more effective and productive for daily use. Jimmy has also uploaded a new video on the implementation with few more features on his own site.
Adjust windows vista power setting
It’s still about to optimize efficiency in windows Vista. Windows Vista is automatically set to power setting called "balanced" power plan. This power plan appears to be fine for desktop computers and laptops, which are included. But laptops run on battery may require adjustment of this setting. Here's how:
- Go to Start menu point to Control Panel and point to Power Option icon.
- From here, you can select a different "Power Plan" or you can change the settings of the selected power plan manually.
- To adjust the selected setting, click the "Change Plan Settings" link under the "Balanced" entry.
- Adjust the settings to fit your systems needs or you can dive a little deeper by clicking the "Change advanced power settings" link.
- When you are finished, click the "Save changes" button at the bottom of the window.
Note: This tips was intended for Windows Vista only, please let me know if this did not work properly in yours, then I will try to fix this tips.
Free download ATI Catalyst Software Suite 9.1 XP
Changelog:
This release of ATI Catalyst™ provides full OpenGL™ 3.0 extension support.
The following is a list of OpenGL™ 3.0 extensions added in Catalyst 9.1:
• ARB_framebuffer_object
• ARB_half_float_vertex
• ARB_texture_rg
• EXT_texture_array
• EXT_texture_integer
• EXT_transform_feedback
• NV_conditional_render
• WGL/GLX_create_context (for new 3.0 contexts)
• GLSL 1.3
• ARB_color_buffer_float
• ARB_vertex_array_object
• EXT_draw_buffers2
Lenovo ThinkStation S20 and D20 offer green computing
Lenovo has announced two new workstations, the Think Station S20 and D20, designed to meet the specific needs of staff. Besides the new ThinkCentre Station models, the company has also announced that it intends to present its new electronic trading platform, Lenovo eLounge designed to provide its customers a new interactive experience for Lenovo computers solutions online, by any party worldwide.
"The designers, engineers, researchers and developers require the highest level in the calculation of benefits to help them produce new step," said Tom Tobul, Executive Director, Enterprise, software and peripherals, Lenovo. "The new ThinkCentre workstations Station is expressed not only the ultimate in performance, but also a user-Centric design with an emphasis on quiet operation, even during heavy processing.
According to the vendor of computers, new ThinkCentre Station system has been "turbo-charged for services which give users a choice for the upcoming Intel Xeon processors with Intel Turbo Boost for high-performance processing. In addition, the new ThinkCentre Stations offers a choice for the last line of NVIDIA Quadro professional graphics cards, or one of ATI FirePro solutions. There is also an opportunity for another GPU to the NVIDIA Tesla C1060 Think Station platform.
In addition to providing our customers with two workstations for high performance, Lenovo is also offering a green computing solution, using recycled materials, with both models. According to the company, these workstations use recycled materials in 50 percent, while in model D20 about 30 percent post-consumer recycled material comes from recycled materials. In addition, the new ThinkCentre Station workstations have been certified for GREEN GUARD specifications.
Regarding pricing and availability is the Think Station D20 and S20 will be available from next month via the website of the supplier of the computer and select business partners, with prices starting at around £ 980 and £ 780 respectively, excluding VAT.
SSL Encrypted Usenet Access Now Available Most Usenet Sites
The benefits of SSL encrypted Usenet access are privacy and in some cases a significant increase in download speeds.
So you can download off Usenet sites and be protected that your identity is secure.
In some cases SSL makes it faster for Usenet downloads and uploads.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Officer Charged With Illegal Computer Use
MADISON - Town police on Tuesday arrested one of their own, charging him with illegally using police computers to track down information on various women, including his ex-wife and current and former girlfriends.
Officer Bernard Durgin Jr., a seven-year veteran of the Madison Police Department, was also suspended without pay on Tuesday by Chief Paul Jakubson for neglect of duty, conduct unbecoming an officer and other violations of department policy related to a separate incident.
Durgin already had been suspended with pay since early August, after a confrontation between New Haven police and a member of the Poor Boyz motorcycle club outside a bar. Durgin, according to police, was wearing the East Haven motorcycle club's colors and represented himself as an on-duty Madison police officer. Jakubson said Durgin had called in sick that day.
Officer Bernard Durgin Jr.
As a result of the investigation into the New Haven incident, Jakubson placed him on unpaid leave. Both the internal and criminal investigations into that incident are ongoing.
Durgin, a resident of East Haven, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
In the computer-use case, Durgin was released Tuesday on $75,000 bail for an appearance in Superior Court in New Haven Oct. 16, police said.
That charge involves Durgin's alleged efforts to obtain private and personal information about women he met while working part-time as a security guard at Yale-New Haven Hospital. According to the arrest affidavit, Durgin made 34 separate inquiries about 17 people between Feb. 17, 2006, and July 14, 2007, using the computer in his cruiser to access the networks police use to obtain information about suspects.
In most cases the people were women with whom he had no more than a passing acquaintance. He also used the system to find out about his current and past girlfriends, his ex-wife and her family, a former fiancée and her partners and family, police said.
Police spoke to the human resources department and the head of protective services at Yale-New Haven and interviewed several of the women.
Durgin's arrest on a felony charge of computer crime, which covers a wide range of possible activities, came about as the result of the investigation into the August incident. Durgin had called a fellow officer, investigators said, and asked if he would look up information on someone using his cruiser's computer.
The officer pretended his computer was not working. A week earlier, he said, "Durgin had told me that his fiancée left him for another guy and that [Durgin] was going to try and find out who that guy was," according to the arrest affidavit. Police began looking into other inquiries Durgin had made.
Police use various information systems, including the Connecticut On-Line Law Enforcement Communications Teleprocessing system, the National Crime Information Center and the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System. It is a clear violation of policy - and illegal - for police to use those systems for personal reasons.
On Aug. 5 about 12:30 a.m., on a night when he had called in sick for the midnight to 8 a.m. shift, Durgin showed up outside a Temple Street bar in New Haven after an altercation between a suspect and New Haven police, according to Jakubson, who referred to the incident in a suspension letter given to Durgin Tuesday. Durgin reportedly showed his badge and told officers at the scene he was on the job with Madison police. Instead of assisting the other officers, Durgin interceded "on behalf of a convicted felon who had been violently resisting arrest," the chief wrote.
Durgin's actions "caused the investigating officer in the incident to relate deep concern about the display of motorcycle gang `colors'" by Madison police, Jakubson wrote.
Friday, March 27, 2009
What is a memory stick
Memory Stick is a removable flash memory card format, launched by Sony in October 1998 [1], and is also used in general to describe the whole family of Memory Sticks. In addition to the original Memory Stick, this family includes the Memory Stick PRO, a revision that allows greater maximum storage capacity and faster file transfer speeds; Memory Stick Duo, a small-form-factor version of the Memory Stick (including the PRO Duo); and the even smaller Memory Stick Micro (M2). In December 2006 Sony added the Memory Stick PRO-HG, a high speed variant of the PRO, to be used for high definition still and video cameras.
What is a LAN (Local area network)
A local area network (LAN) consists of two or more computers connected together in a building or home using software and hardware. A LAN is contrasted to a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet, which covers a large geographic area. In a LAN, there is a main computer or server, and remote computers called clients. By creating a LAN in the home or office, computers on the LAN can share files, resources, and if desired, an Internet connection.
A LAN can be one of two types: wired or wireless. A wired LAN requires Ethernet cable to physically connect all computers on the network to a main device called a switch. A wireless LAN uses radio waves to communicate, eliminating the need for wires. Therefore, the hardware used in a LAN should all be of either the wireless or wired type.
A LAN is fairly easy to setup. All Microsoft operating systems since Windows 98 Special Edition (SE) have included built-in networking software. In terms of hardware, each computer requires a network interface card (NIC). A switch is also required. This is a device that resembles an external modem and directs information on the network. If the LAN will be talking to another network, like the Internet, a router is also required. Luckily, one can purchase an external DSL modem with a built-in switch and router, in wireless or wired configurations.
Desktop computers typically use internal NICs that slip into an available slot on the motherboard, while a laptop might use a portable computer (PC) NIC. This type of NIC resembles a thick credit card that can be inserted into the PC card slot on the laptop.
If the LAN is to be hard-wired, each NIC must have an Ethernet port for connecting an Ethernet cable. In a wireless LAN, each NIC might feature a small radio wave antenna. The server is hard-wired to the DSL modem, switch or router, while the clients can communicate wirelessly, if desired. If there is to be no connection to the Internet or any other LAN or WAN, a switch alone will be fine.
Once the LAN has been set up, an administrator can designate which files and programs can be shared on the LAN. Some areas of the server may be kept behind a firewall to prevent access. All traffic on the LAN, including email, Internet surfing and other activities, can be monitored by the administrator using various tools.
The advantages of a LAN in the office are manifold. By having a central printer, for example, a business can avoid buying individual printers for each workstation. Workflow is enhanced while being easier than ever to control and administer. Flexibility and creativity can also improve. A LAN is a win-win situation for management and employees alike.
A LAN at home is extremely convenient. Share programs, images, music and digital projects, and enjoy gaming. Share a high-end colour printer, scanner or other equipment. If concerned about your children’s Internet use, a LAN is one way to supervise online activity.
A hard-wired LAN is more trouble to install, as it requires running a physical Ethernet cable from each client to the DSL, switch or router. However, a wired LAN is reliable and secure. A wireless LAN is easier to install and less expensive, but requires a few more steps in the software setup to ensure it is secure. It may also be slower than a wired LAN, but this depends on the wireless standard used, as newer standards effectively compete with Ethernet speeds.
What is a Windows DLL File
A DLL is a Dynamic Link Library
In a nut shell, a dynamic link library (DLL) is a collection of small programs, which can be called upon when needed by the executable program (EXE) that is running. The DLL lets the executable communicate with a specific device such as a printer or may contain source code to do particular functions.
An example would be if the program (exe) needs to get the free space of your hard drive. It can call the DLL file that contains the function with parameters and a call function. The DLL will then tell the executable the free space. This allows the executable to be smaller in size and not have to write the function that has already exists.
This allows any program the information about the free space, without having to write all the source code and it saves space on your hard drive as well. When a DLL is used in this fashion are also known as shared files.
The advantage of DLL files is that, because they do not get loaded into random access memory (RAM) together with the main program, space is saved in RAM. When and if a DLL file is called, then it is loaded. For example, you are editing a Microsoft Word document, the printer DLL file does not need to be loaded into RAM. If you decide to print the document, then the printer DLL file is loaded and a call is made to print.
All in all a DLL is an executable file that cannot run on its own, it can only run from inside an executable file. This would be like having a car without an engine, where as an executable has an engine.
To do load a DLL file, an executable needs to declare the DLL function. A DLL may have many different functions in it. Then when needed the call is made with the required parameters.
Here is what a Declaration and call might look like in a executable file. This example is simplified so that you might understand it better:
- Declare GetFreeSpacex, Kernel32.dll (Drive_Letter, Buffers_If_Any, Value_Returned)
Now let’s run a program and make the call.
The DLL is not loaded into RAM until the next line. - GetFreeSpacex "C",Buffers_If_Any, Drive_Letter
Now let's tell the user how much free space is on drive C - Use a MessageBox = "The free space on drive C: is ", Value_Returned, "bytes"
This call required 3 lines of code. Where as if you did not call the DLL file it may have taken you 30 or 40 lines of code.
If a call or a declaration is made incorrectly a GPF (General Protection Fault) may occur. A call to the same DLL but of a different version might require more or less parameters; or the call may not exist. If a DLL or an executable is the wrong version for your OS (Operating System) it will cause a GPF or lockup your machine. To fix GPF errors you should use a tool like System Sentry. System Sentry can show you what calls are available in a DLL file and what Calls an executable file is making. It can also tell what version a DLL is, and track when one is replaced.
Generally newer version DLL files are backward compatiable.DLL files from Windows ME may not be compatible with Windows 98. Many Windows ME files work well on 98 but not all will. The same hold true for Windows XP and 2003. If you dual boot a computer with XP and 2003 you must use the file C:\NTLDR and C:\Ntdetect.com from Windows 2003. If you use the files from XP Windows 2003 will not boot, but XP will. NTLDR is backward compatible.
Fix "Initializing the root folders to display" Message
When opening files from Word, Excel, etc. you are presented with and have to wait for a dialog that says “Initializing the Root Folders to Display.” After it finishes, browsing through items becomes painfully slow.
There is a problem with one of your mapped network drives. At least one of them is either disconnected or awaiting credentials. If you reconnect or disconnect it altogether, this problem will go away.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
10 security threats to watch out for in 2009
Along with the explosion of new technologies, user habits, and social practices comes the inevitable wave of new security threats. Deb Shinder examines emerging vulnerabilities, from social networking to cloud computing to IP convergence.
We’re well into the new year now, and we’re beginning to see trends emerging on the security front. Some of the threats we’ll see this year will be similar to those in years past (after all, many of the basic con games now being perpetuated online were around long before the advent of computers and the Internet). However, attackers are becoming much more sophisticated in their methods to circumvent the increased levels of security built into operating systems and applications. Here are 10 security threats that are likely to become more prominent in 2009.
Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.
1: Social networking as an avenue of attack
Social networking has experienced a boom in popularity over the last few years. It’s now finding its way from the home into the workplace and up the generational ladder from the young folks into the mainstream. It’s a great way to stay in touch in a mobile society, and it can be a good tool for making business contacts and disseminating information to groups. However, popular social networking sites have been the target of attacks and scammers. Many people let their hair down when posting on these sites and share much more personal data (and even company data) than they should.
Think you’ll solve the problem just by blocking social networking sites on your company network? Not so fast. As Steve Riley pointed out in his recent talk on attack progressions at the 2009 MVP Summit, today’s young professionals are growing up with social networking, and they expect to have it available to them at work just as older employees expect to be able to use their office telephones for reasonable, limited personal calls. In addition, you lose the business benefits of social networking if you shut it down completely. After all, companies didn’t shut down e-mail because it could present a security threat. A better approach is to educate your workers about social networking practices and develop policies governing social media use. As an example, take a look at Intel’s Social Media Guidelines.
2: More attacks on the integrity of the data
Another point Steve made in his presentation is that “First they came for bandwidth; now they want to make a difference.” In the past, many attackers were looking for a free ride on your Internet connection (for example, by connecting to your wireless network and using it to access the Web, send e-mail, etc.). Then the nature of attacks progressed. Instead of the network being the target, it was the data. The next step was stealing data, but step after that is even more insidious: the malicious modification of data (making a difference).
This can result in catastrophic consequences: personal, financial, or even physical. If a hacker changed the information in a message to your spouse, it could harm your marriage. If the change were to a message to your boss, you might lose your job. Changing information on a reputable Web site regarding a company’s financial state could cause its stock prices to drop. A change to electronic medication orders on a hospital network could result in a patient’s death.
3: Attacks on mobile devices
Laptop computers have presented a known security risk for many years. Today, we are more mobile than ever, carrying important data around with us not just when we go on business trips but every day, everywhere we go, on smart phones that are really just small handheld computers. These devices have important business and personal e-mail, text messages, documents, contact information and personal information stored on them. Many of them have 8 or 16 GB of internal storage and you can add another 32 GB on a micro SD card. That’s much more storage space than the typical desktop computer had in the 1990s.
People lose their phones all the time, but many of these devices aren’t configured to require a password to start the system, the data on them isn’t encrypted, and very few protective measures have been taken. They are security disasters waiting to happen. Businesses should develop policies regarding the storage of company information on smartphones and require encryption of data on internal storage and on flash cards, strong passwords, use of phones that can be remotely wiped when lost, etc. Of course, you don’t have to lose the phone to have its data stolen. Attention should also be paid to the potential for attacks using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
4: Virtualization
Virtualized environments are becoming commonplace in the business world. Server consolidation is a popular use of virtualization technologies. Desktop virtualization, application virtualization, presentation virtualization — all of these provide ways to save money, save space, and increase convenience for users and IT administrators alike. If it’s properly deployed, virtualization can even increase security — but that’s a big “if.” Virtualization makes security more complicated because it introduces another layer that must be secured. In essence, you now have to worry about two attack surfaces: the virtual machine and the physical machine on which it runs. And when you have multiple VMs running on a hypervisor, a compromise of the hypervisor could compromise all of those machines.
Another virtualization-related threat was demonstrated by the infamous Blue Pill VM rootkit. Hyperjacking is a form of attack by which the attacker installs a rogue hypervisor to take complete control of a server, and VM jumping/Guest hopping exploits hypervisor vulnerabilities to gain access to one host from another.
The easy portability of virtual images also presents a security issue. With modern virtualization technology, VMs can be easily cloned and installed to a different physical machine. The ability to go back to “snapshots” of past images can inadvertently wreak havoc with patch management.
5: Cloud computing
If virtualization was last year’s buzzword, this year it’s all about “the Cloud.” The uncertain economy and tight budgets have companies looking for ways to lower operating costs, and outsourcing e-mail, data storage, application delivery, and more to cloud providers can present some attractive potential savings. Microsoft, IBM, Google, Amazon, and other major companies are investing millions in cloud services.
Cloud advocates envision a day when we’ll all use inexpensive terminals to access our resources that are located someplace “out there.” But when your data is “out there,” how can you be sure that it’s protected from everyone else “out there?” In fact, the biggest obstacle to moving to the cloud, for many companies and individuals, is the security question. IDC recently surveyed 244 IT executives and CIOs about their attitudes toward cloud services, and 74.6% said security is the biggest challenge for the cloud computing model.
Google, a prominent player in the cloud space, is the subject of a recent complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), which seeks a suspension of Google’s cloud computing services until verifiable safeguards are established.
6: More targeted attacks on non-Windows operating systems
Although Windows still has 91% of the desktop OS market, there has been a big push in some quarters to deploy Linux or Macintosh as a supposedly more secure alternative. But are they really? One reason the non-Windows operating systems have enjoyed fewer attacks is the simple fact that the Windows installed base presents a much bigger target for attackers. Just as terrorists prefer to attack large gatherings of people where they can do the most damage, so do hackers prefer to write malware that will spread to the greatest number of computers — and that means Windows.
However, as other systems get more publicity and become more popular, they also become more attractive to the bad guys. Malware has been becoming less Windows-centric for the last few years; the 2007 Open Office worm, for example, infected Linux and Mac OS X systems as well as Windows. And Charlie Miller, a security researcher who won a recent hacking contest by breaking into a fully patched MacBook in a few seconds, said, “Hacking into Macs is so much easier. You don’t have to jump through hoops and deal with all the anti-exploit mitigations you’d find in Windows.”
Whatever the reality, the perception is that non-Windows operating systems are becoming more popular as Apple steps up its advertising campaign and vendors offer more notebooks preinstalled with Linux. As they become more high profile, look for hackers to spend more time and energy creating attacks that target non-Windows systems.
7: Third-party applications
Microsoft has put tremendous effort into securing the Windows operating system and its popular productivity applications, such as Microsoft Office. Linux and Mac receive regular security updates. As operating systems become more and more secure, attackers will focus less on OS exploits and more on application exploits. The major Web browsers are routinely updated to patch security vulnerabilities. But the vendors of many third-party applications are less security-aware. This is especially true of freeware applications written by independent developers. These programs, which may not have been written with security in mind to begin with and which do not automatically check for and download security updates, present an opportunity that we can expect attackers to take advantage of.
8: Side effects of green computing
Green computing is all the rage today, and saving energy is certainly a good thing — but as with beneficial medications, there can be unexpected and unwanted side effects. Recycling computer components, for instance, can expose sensitive data to strangers if you don’t ensure that hard drives have really been wiped cleaning. (Hint: Deleting files or even formatting disks doesn’t guarantee that the data is gone.)
On the other hand, such green initiatives as powering down systems that aren’t in use can actually enhance security, since a computer that’s turned off isn’t exposed to the network and isn’t accessible 24/7.
9: IP convergence
Convergence is the name of the game today, and we are seeing a melding of different technologies on the IP network. With our phones, cable TV boxes, Blu-ray players, game consoles, and even our washing machines connected to the network, we’re able to do things we never even imagined a decade ago. But all of those devices on an Internet-connected network present myriad “ways in” for an attacker that didn’t exist when only our computers used IP.
We can only hope that the manufacturers of all these devices put security at the forefront; otherwise, we may see a rash of new malware targeting vulnerabilities in our entertainment devices and household appliances.
10: Overconfidence
Perhaps the greatest threat to the security of our networks, whether at work or at home, is overconfidence in our security solutions. Many home users believe that as long as they have a firewall and antivirus installed, they don’t have to worry about security. Businesses tend to put too much faith in the latest and greatest security solutions. For example, there is an assumption that biometric authentication is infallible and undefeatable — but it can be compromised in various ways, and when it is, the legitimate user it was meant to protect becomes the victim. If the system shows that your fingerprint was used to log on, you may be presumed guilty, and an investigation might not even be deemed necessary.
Another type of overconfidence is common among home users and in the business environment, especially with small companies. That’s the idea that “We don’t have anything worth hacking into so we don’t need to worry about security.” In today’s interconnected world, neglecting security doesn’t just put you at risk; it also puts others at risk. Your systems could be used as zombies to attack a whole different network.
End users on a business network often think of security as somebody else’s problem and operate on the assumption that the IT department is taking care of them, so they don’t have to do anything about security.
Overconfidence of any type is a dangerous security threat — but it’s one that you can most easily do something about because it doesn’t require expensive technology or sophisticated technical skills — just a change in attitude. We all have a responsibility to keep our own systems as secure as possible.
File Previewers for Outlook
|
How Can A Business Keep Everyone Happy?
A market downturn can take the luster out of a growing business and end any glory days it may have experienced, but even more devastating to any business is the effects they reap when they try to make the wrong segment of its fans happy. While privately-held companies often struggle for funding, going public may not be all that it is cracked up to be either. entrepreneur
Once the shift has been made to a publicly traded status, there is another bunch offer the business owner advice on how the run the business. They are called shareholders and to many businesses can be dark cloud blocking the sun on their future. When things are going good and shareholders are earning good returns, they tend to stay in the background silently collecting their dividend checks. When an even occurs that may cause a loss of revenue, some shareholders are the first ones out the door, placing blame on everything and everybody.
Earnings expectations are the darling of the investment community and companies that meet or exceed their earning are praised regularly. They may escape massive criticism for failing to meet one quarter's earnings projections, but two in a row can be a death knell for a business. Unfortunately, the fallout from missed earnings and the wrath of the investors usually fall on two places that have the least amount of control over the business's operations and are the affected the most…customers and employees.
As unwise and unfair as it may be, when companies are struggling to turn a profit, the logical step is to cut expenses, to bring them inline with income to maintain the profit margin. One of the quickest ways to reduce expenses is by cutting payroll or benefits, leaving the business short staffed with unhappy workers who have to work harder for possibly less benefit. When a business lack the manpower to properly take care of the business, customer service suffers.
This circle can be likened to a buzzard circling dying prey in the desert. Sales have gone down, expenses have been cut resulting in fewer workers, resulting in less customer service, resulting in fewer customers, resulting in even fewer sales. Sometimes businesses need to just bite the bullet and live with a small loss over a short period, depending of course on the circumstance that caused the downturn and continue to give customers a reason to visit their business.
If the customers remain and sales can improve, the earnings will return and the growth path continues. However, in some cases the business may deserve to die, if the leadership of the company is not taking care of business when they have the chance. As a business owner it is important to recognize the needs of the customer and the employees as opposed to always looking after the wants of the shareholders. The owner needs to consider how pleased the shareholders will be if the customers stay away in droves and the business closes. Keeping customers happy should be their main concern, as well as the concern of the shareholders.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
TorrentVolve Release - PHP Bittorrent Client
Fortunatly, throughout all of the commotion of classes, I did manage to complete a project. Although it has been kept pretty much under wraps, I finally released the software alpha to the world today. Projects class brought the opportunity to develop my own open-source project. So I put together a great development team, and 7 weeks later TorrentVolve emerged. It is hosted at http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/torrentvolve
What TorrentVolve is:
TorrentVolve is an open-source, multi-user, bittorrent client written with PHP. The intention was to make a web based torrent client that was really fast and supported any torrent client that users would like to use. We definitely accomplished that. The torrent client ships with a server version of Azureus so downloads can start immediately. If you would like to use a different client, we have a couple of interfaces to implement so the system knows how to use your particular client, drop it in the torrent modules directory, and select it in the admin page
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
13 tips to get your blog noticed
Here are some simple things you can do to get your blog noticed quickly:
- Submit your blog to all of the directories listed on Pingomatic which allows you to ping a few services all at once.
- Submit your blog to Pingoat which allows you to ping over fifty blog ping services all at once.
- Sign up for an account at BlogExplosion and register your blog there. After registering visit other members blogs to earn credits.
- Submit your blog to all of the directores listed at RSS Feeds directory
- Sign up for My Yahoo and add your blogs feed to your own “My Yahoo” account. This will get your blog included in Yahoo very quickly.
- Sign up for My MSN, and add your blog to your own “My MSN” account. This will get your blog included in MSN very quickly.
- Sign up for Google Pages, and add add some content (non spam) and link to your blog. This will get your blog included in Google very quickly.
- Place a link to your blog in your signature, so that any posts to Forums, Outgoing Emails, etc, will promote your blog.
- Place your blog on all the major search engines. AddMe.com will submit your blog free to the top 14 Search engines.
- SubmitExpress.com will submit your blog free to the top 20 Search engines.
- Submit your good articles to Ezine Articles
- Locate blogs with a lot of traffic and place relevant comments in their comment box . Do not spam or place the ‘I like your site,visit mine’ type comments.
- And last, post quality content as often as possible
I hope these tips help you get your blog noticed. Know any other good tips? Please share them here.
11 Reasons Google Adsense Can Ban Your Account
- The clicker’s IP address matches the one on your adsense account.
It’s a no-brainer. Don’t click on your own ads. - Suspiciously high CTR
According to a report I read, anything above 10% will be flagged, but 6% or 7% would probably be a safer limit. - Clickers’ IP addresses come from the same geographical area
This is for those who think they can get away with clicking on their ads from their friends’ computer, their grandma’s computer, and their neighbor’s computer. This will raise the red flag on your account, however if the site specific to a region, say a current events website - almost all clicks would be coming from the same region. - Cookies
Most users don’t use the same IP address every time they login. That’s why Google stores the IP addresses related to a particular user in a cookie. If you thought using a proxy clicker bot was gonna make you an adsense millionaire, don’t quit your day job. - Short-stay pattern
Usually, visitors on your site take a few seconds to check out your content, and then maybe they’ll click on your links. Google doesn’t like it the other way around, i.e. if they only stay a few seconds just to click on links. - One-site pattern
Google compares different users’ activities on different sites. It will ask: why is this user clicking on ads on site X and not on any other site? - Direct-access pattern
Google doesn’t like it when one category of users clicks on your ads more than another. In particular, they don’t like it when users who access your site directly (i.e. no referrer) click on your ads but no one else does. So much for click exchange forums. - Big Brother
Google doesn’t just own adsense. They also own Gmail, Google earth, and a host of other applications. They WILL track your IP across these applications so don’t think that just because you don’t use an IP to login to adsense you can use it to click on your ads. - The invisible website
If your website doesn’t rank highly on Google’s search engine, they may get suspicious if you get an insane amount of traffic and clicks. The traffic won’t get you banned, but all those clicks better be legit. - Begging the click
Don’t write stuff like “please visit our sponsors” on your webpage. You have to be a moron to think that Google can own a search engine and not find out about this sort of thing. - Conversions
Conversions are tracked by the adwords owner placing a code on whatever page they consider to be a conversion. Most often it’s a thank you page for the completion of an order or sale, leads, or view of a key page. Google has some strong detection methods but they don’t have magic powers. The reps at Google are less than forthcoming but the last three I have spoken to have all pretty much said that the majority of people they cancel are being just stupid, clicking their own ads and trying to disguise them as being part of the site.
disable flash in Firefox
Monday, March 23, 2009
Telstra NextG Connection Problem
- Insert your Telstra 3G modem into your computer.
- Open the Telstra Turbo Connection Manager
- Select the Tools Menu and select options
- Click the Network Icon on the left hand side of the window
- Under the Network Settings heading there is a item underneath called Frequency. Click on the word “Automatic” on the same line.
- Select from the popup, the item that says “3G 850”
- Click the apply button then press ok.
- Now try and connect.
Blackberry's Shows GSM Connection Instead of GPRS or 3G
What is CSS? And how can I remove it so as to play and copy the DVD?
However the protection systems is rather easy to defeat by many decrypting applications. For example, there is a powerful freeware for unlocking DVD movies named DVD43. After the DVD movie is unlocked by DVD43, most applications can read the DVD movie freely without changing any setting of the applications or the computer system. The decrypting process takes merely several seconds. It is easy to find such software using search engines on Internet (like google).
Friday, March 20, 2009
Apple Unlikely To Sell Cheaper Computers
Jobs made an unusual appearance at the teleconference the company holds with financial analysts after releasing quarterly earnings. Apple on Tuesday reported that profits rose to $1.14 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter ended Sept. 27, as sales increased 27%, driven primarily by iPhone and Mac computer sales. The company also said that it had surpassed during the quarter its goal of selling 10 million iPhones this year.
In answering analysts' questions, Jobs said the company is prepared for the economic slowdown with a loyal customer base that's likely to delay purchases rather than turn to competitors, a successful product portfolio that offers strong value for the money, and $25 billion in the bank.
While Apple could get "buffeted around by the [economic] waves a bit," Jobs said he was confident the company would do well in the slowdown. "I think this economic downturn will present some extraordinary opportunities for companies with cash," he said.
Asked whether he would consider returning some of the cash to investors, Jobs dodged the question, but indicated that the company would prefer to invest the money in its business during the downturn. "It's not burning a hole in our pockets," Jobs said of the money stash. He also declined to say whether Apple would use the money for acquisitions.
As to selling cheaper computers to attract consumers with thinner wallets in a slow economy, Jobs said that wasn't a strategy the company would pursue, preferring instead to beat the competition on features within the high-end market.
"What we want to do is deliver an increasing level of value for customers," he said. "We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk, and our DNA won't let us do that."
One new market Apple would stay out of for the time being is for so-called "netbooks," defined as sub-$500 notebooks with displays 10 inches or smaller and running a full PC operating system. Most of the major PC makers are offering such machines as second or third computers for people looking to check e-mail or browse the Web on the road.
"That's a nascent category that, the best that we can tell, not a lot is being sold," Jobs said. "We'll wait to see how that nascent category evolves, and we've got some pretty interesting ideas if it does evolve."
In the meantime, Apple has the iPhone, which can browse the Web from anywhere on a cellular network and fit in your pocket, Jobs said. Asked whether he would consider making a variety of models, like other mobile phone makers do with their products, Jobs said Apple plans to stay with one iPhone and make it a strong platform for software that would differentiate the product from rivals'.
Read more (http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/mac/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=211300345)
Gateway releases 16-inch MC series laptops
+1-715797.jpg)
+2-716407.jpg)
