CompuDent News

SENDING TEXT & PICS TO YOUR CELL

2007-08-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

If you want to send a picture from your cell phone to your email, easy right. Just enter the email address when sending a camera shot and voila', done.

How about the other direction. Say you took this picture on a camera and want to save it as wallpaper to your cell phone.

Took me a while to Google this and I ended up calling AT&T to find the information. Evidentally this is some type of secret. Your cell phone has an email address:

yourcellphonenumber@mms.att.net -> at&t (formerly cingular)

You may need to call your provider to get the address for your cell phone.

NETMETER v1.1.2

2007-07-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

For those of you interested in what your computer is downloading and uploading, here is a free utility that has some nice features.

It sits in the lower right hand corner of your screen, can be made transparent and allows you to click through to the windows below, essentially making it a ghost window you can see what is happening.

http://www.metal-machine.de/readerror/

TASK MANAGER TINY FOOTPRINT

2007-06-24T14:49:00.001-07:00

If you have ever opened the Task Manager and the title bar & tabs are missing, you don't have a virus; it is running in Tiny Footprint mode. Double-click the border and it will return to the normal view.

FLIP MAIL

2007-06-24T07:31:00.000-07:00

https://www.teleflip.com/ is offering a new service called "FlipMail". It turns your normal cell phone into a BlackBerry with emails sent to you as txt messages on your cell phone.

The features make it pretty attractive at the moment:

1) It's free.
2) It only sends the emails you designate you want sent to your phone.
3) It only sends them when your email client is closed. You don't get duplicates.

COPY MESSAGE BOX TEXT TO THE CLIPBOARD

2007-06-20T04:49:00.000-07:00

Ever get a error message and need to write it down? Particular one with an obscure error number like 0x80040e09? Sometimes you can copy the entire contents of a message box to the clipboard by pressing CTRL+C.

To test this, go to the Start menu and choose “Run...“ Then type in something that doesn't exist, such as “foobar“ and press Enter or OK. You'll get a message box dialog that says “Windows cannot find 'foobar'.“ and a lot more information that I didn't want to bother to type in manually. Press CTRL+C, the text of the message will be copied to the clipboard. If you paste it into notepad, it'll look like this:

---------------------------
foobar
---------------------------
Windows cannot find 'foobar'. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again. To search for a file, click the Start button, and then click Search.
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

This won't work for every dialog box but it's worth a try before calling someone and saying, "I had an error." without being able to tell the person what the error was.

WINDOWS UPDATES CONTINUED

2007-05-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

Clients,

Below is a snippet from a security show talking about compromising a network. It's a bit deep in technical jargon but the important part is two fold: 1) don't open stuff you don't know about, and 2) run MS critical updates and virus protection often.

http://www.grc.com/sn/SN-091.pdf - (zero day exploits simply mean they are hacking you from the day the bug is published/released.)

But when it comes to these client application vulnerabilities, the easiest way to really do some damage and get some data out of a company is to send the Microsoft Word zero-day to the HR department at a large company, and the lady in HR opens it, Word disappears, she’s none the wiser, now I have that computer compromised. Now that I’m on the inside of your network, I take a remote attack like the DNS zero-day to target your active directory server. And now I’ve compromised that, and I can do anything I want to your company. And this all happens within a few hours.

KISS OF (UPDATE) DEATH ...

2007-05-10T17:22:00.000-07:00

Clients,

A number of you have been bit in the last several days with a bug in the Microsoft Automatic Updates. This service starts with the computer and talks with Microsoft to determine what patches need to be installed on your computer. Recently, this service has been crashing rendering your computer incapable of anything other than a hard reboot to recover its attention. You see a message containing information about svchost and 0x7… in a dialog and are asked to send a report to Microsoft.

If you are experiencing this behavior or just instability, the solution is simple.

1) Restart your computer.
2) Immediately open the Automatic Updates Control panel and turn it off.
3) Manually run the updates from the Start -> All Programs -> Microsoft Update menu item. This might require a ½ hour to complete before rebooting.
4) Open the Automatic Updates Control panel and turn it on.

Steps 4 is optional but the problem is fixed after running the manual update in step 3.

FREE PDF & XPS DOCUMENTS

2007-03-24T06:29:00.000-07:00

Reposted from Kim Komando news letter:

Convert documents to PDF

This add-in is designed for Office 2007. It allows you to convert Office documents to PDF. The format is great for professional portfolios or other archives. It's also great for e-mail; Recipients can open your documents with the freely available Adobe Reader.

The add-in also allows you to convert to XPS. This is a Microsoft format that competes with Adobe's PDF.

(I would clarify that XPS is displayed in your browser and while it competes, it's certainly a different animal in that sense.)

COMPOSITE BLOCKING LIST

2007-03-07T13:43:00.000-08:00

Please read the following carefully:

Repeated detections/delistings should be taken even more seriously, because:

The CBL will refuse to delist an IP if the problem continues after multiple delistings.

The CBL's users expect us to list compromised machines, and we cannot in good faith continue delisting an IP when it's known to be compromised: no exceptions.

If too many delistings occur, the CBL may insist on waiting several days to confirm that the problem has been fixed before delisting.

A DEARTH OF EMAIL

2007-02-05T17:35:00.000-08:00

This morning was the culmination of 3 bad days. Over the weekend Redshift went down for 6 hours on Saturday and 2 hours on Sunday when PG&E blew up equipment. Today I awoke to find the new mail server crashed so hard it required turning off the power.

My apologies for the inconvenience. And the answer to the question, “Have I lost any email?” Probably. However it may show up tomorrow. If you have something critical, please call the sender and have it resent.

That’s all the bad news.

The good news is your web mail is back up on both email servers. You will need to enter your website address and add mewebmail as shown below. When you enter your name, be sure to enter your username and the domain. Viola’.

(If your email isn’t listed below, someone else is hosting it and you can safely ignore this.)

http://www.billholdridge.com/mewebmail enter bill@billholdridge.com for the username, etc.
http://www.buygardensource.com/mewebmail enter lou@buygardensource.com for the username, etc.
http://www.carolerose.com/mewebmail and so on ...
http://www.ccbcbrasil.com/mewebmail
http://www.compudentsystems.com/mewebmail
http://www.crowleysales.com/mewebmail
http://www.cyclesgladiator.com/mewebmail
http://www.doblerandsons.com/mewebmail
http://www.ellenmcewen.com/mewebmail
http://www.fieldfreshproduce.com/mewebmail
http://www.georgedentsales.com/mewebmail
http://www.ibunchit.com/mewebmail
http://www.kimstemler.com/mewebmail
http://www.luciennewines.com/mewebmail
http://www.metzfarms.com/mewebmail
http://www.metzfresh.com/mewebmail
http://www.moceoproduce.com/mewebmail
http://www.montereybaymultisport.com/mewebmail
http://www.sunsationfarms.com/mewebmail
http://www.tomdeluc.com/mewebmail

WEB MAIL

2007-01-28T19:06:00.000-08:00

Is backup for all of you that have been asking for several weeks. Enjoy.

And so you know I know, yes all the SPAM is back because this version does not support any SPAM filtering.

BETTER IN BELGIUM!

2007-01-09T23:41:00.000-08:00

Coffee's better, food's better, hotel's better, internet's better (Amsterdam was €22 for 24 hours, limited to 400MB vs free with the room), chocolate's better. What's not to like about Belgium?

Is today only Wednesday? Yes, I think so.

Tuesday was spent at the Nike European HQ with very limited Internet access. Followed by the longest, most difficult drive I've ever taken in Europe from Hilversum, NH to Hasselt, Belgium. The number of transitions from road-to-road were tough at night after a long day, jet lag and questionable dinner where the waitress started us out an appetizer of glass shards (four exploding glasses dropped on the table) followed by a 5 minutes before she got around to refilling the lettuce in the salad bar. Obviously service (automatically included in the bill) isn't a high priority in the NH.

The Nike Help Desk could not have been any kinder, letting me use their lone DSL connection to the Internet.

Today is Pam's tour of the DC in Laakdal. This is the European equivalent of Memphis but about 20% of the size.

AT THE LEIDSEPLEIN ... TAKE 2

2007-01-07T23:45:00.000-08:00

Pronounced lide-sa-pline but you already knew that.

An early arrival at the airport paid off with a seat change to the bulkhead just behind business class. Wonderful leg room! That almost made up for the 3 hour delay due to "unscheduled mechanical repairs". All that said I had a reasonable flight and the people next to me did mention I slept. I only hope I didn't drool or snore.

The forecast in Amsterdam for the next 9 days is rain, light rain, heavy rain and showers. I think the canals are really drainage. However, we plan to make the best of it with gortex and trams around the city. We are still up in the air about what to do for the weekend but that is several days away.

I'll do some scouting around today while Pam is at Nike Europe. Then tomorrow evening we head down to Hilversun and Lockdaw. Should be fun.

I have an unusual Internet connection. Long story short, I'm limited to 400MB of data in a 24-hour period. When you are used to GB's of data, 400MB is not much. However, if I run out, I can head over to the laundromat that has free Internet. Go figure. However the chairs and view aren't as nice.

One other thing we immediately noticed was cigarette smoke. We in CA are spoiled by no smoking almost everywhere. Here the norm appears the french equivalent of the baguette, you must have one in your hand at all times. We returned to the room last night smelling of smoke after 30 minutes in a pub for a bier and dinner at a restaurant.

And yes the stories you have heard are true about pot. Haven't seen/smelled so many people smoking since I was in the dorm in college.

Oh my gosh, the sun has come out. I may have to leave for a run soon while I don't need boots.

ALL SNAP

2007-01-05T06:02:00.000-08:00

If you like your windows aligned on your desktop, this utility provides that functionality.

allSnap is a small system tray app that makes all top level windows automatically align like they do in programs such as Winamp or Photoshop.

http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~iheckman/allsnap/

DEFENDER DIES ...

2007-01-05T04:39:00.000-08:00

Windows Defender has hit a snag. If you are getting a message:

"Application failed to initialize 0X800106ba. A problem caused windows defender service to stop. To start the service, restart your computer ..."

This is due to Window's Defender expiring. You need to go to the Microsoft web site and download the latest and greatest version. It should fix the problem as my upgraded systems don't see this happening.

AT THE LEIDSEPLEIN ...

2007-01-03T17:23:00.000-08:00

And I'll be there and other places in Amsterdam, Netherlands between the 6th and 17th.

However, I won't be out of touch:

Send email -> I'll call you back from Amsterdam.
Call (831) 649-2575 (office) -> message to call Holly Davis @ 443-9942 for emergencies.
Call (831) 224-2875 (cell) -> forwarded to call my Skype VoIP phone #.
Call (831) 207-4121 (skype) -> get me in Amsterdam or leave voice mail.

WINDOWS LIVE ONE CARE

2006-12-11T08:05:00.000-08:00

Clients,

Costco has Windows Live One Care for $12.99 at the register, call it $14.00 per copy. Compare that to the $40+ renewal fees for Symantec, Norton, McAfee, etc. It doesn't help SPAM but it's does cover virus and spyware.

If you have a renewal coming up it's worth considering.

WHY WAIT ... PLENTY OF REASONS

2006-12-01T06:45:00.000-08:00

Clients,

Sure you can buy the hardware but I'm going to tell you from experience that a clean install is _always_ better than an upgrade. I know Microsoft tells you it will work. These are the same guys that gave us Window ME. So sit back, drink another cup of coffee and wait until you can get that box _with_ Vista pre-installed.

If you aren't going to wait, here's the catch phrase you need to know: Vista Capable or Premium Ready. Vista Capable is self-explanatory. Premium says you are ready for Home Premium or Ultimate Vista.

Here's the stick:

Don't wait to buy a new PC

There's no need to wait to buy a new PC this holiday season. When you buy a Windows Vista Capable or Premium Ready PC, you can be confident that it will run Windows Vista. When you shop, just follow these tips:

Look for a PC with the "Windows Vista Capable PC" logo.
For an even better Windows Vista experience, including the breakthrough Windows Aero user experience, ask for a Windows Vista Capable PC that is also "Premium Ready."
Be sure to ask your retailer about an Express Upgrade to Windows Vista.

IT'S 2006 BUT IT'S STILL WINDOWS TOO

2006-11-28T17:21:00.000-08:00

Clients,

Merry Christmas from the politically incorrect. Here's hoping your Christmas Season is one to be enjoyed rather than endured.

With that in mind I'd like to remind you of BJ's 1st rule of tech support: "Reboot before you call me." 95%+ of the problems on Windows can be cured by a simple Start -> Shutdown -> Restart. It's simple, it's fast and it makes all your holidays happy(ier).

PREPARE FOR A GLUT OF SPAM

2006-11-26T06:24:00.000-08:00

October was a record month for spam. And things are only going to get worse. As Christmas approaches, spammers will be sending more and more messages. They'll be pitching everything from iPods to fake Rolexes.

This year, spammers have a new weapon in their arsenal: SpamThru. This Trojan connects an infected computer to a botnet. And the botnet is capable of sending more spam than other botnets. Combined with new ways of tricking spam filters, we're in for a record season.

As you're cleaning out your inbox and spam folder, don't get tempted by any of the offers. Just delete the messages.

(Reposted from Kim Komando)

NEW MICROSOFT CRITICAL UPDATES & IE7

2006-11-14T18:28:00.000-08:00

Clients,

Take 'em. Go get 'em!

However, I'll say this about upgrading to IE7, think about it. It's big and 20-30 minutes to finish. If you don't have the time, don't start because you can't quit once it starts.

I've got IE7 on my box. It's good but it's incompatible with a number of things I do. Most, if not all of the special connections I make to routers, etc., won't be anything you experience. And to be honest I've seen a number of web sites that were broken by IE7 get fixed over the last few days. This is simply normal. Early adoptors pay a price, the rest of us cruise along at their expense. If you don't want any bumps, wait until Jan. 2007.

In the mean time, get those updates to keep the bad guys out of your computer.

WINZIP 11 BETA BACKUPS

2006-11-12T07:38:00.001-08:00

For some of us, new fancy, makes the coffee as well as does the backup software doesn't help what we are trying to accomplish. I fell into the Beta 11 version by accident when purchasing a license for a client. Normally I ignore betas as I have work to get done and I have enough problems with flakly software without resorting to beta headaches. This turned out to be different.

I didn't send WinZIP a list of wants but someone did:

1) Let me choose folders and files.
2) Let me encrypt the archive.
3) Let me specify a destination and date tag it.
4) Let WinZIP decide what compression algorithm decide which gets the best compression on a file by file basis and don't bother me with the details.
5) Let WinZIP FTP the file to a remote location when done.
6) Let WinZIP email me the compressed or uncompressed log of what happened.

For those of use doing remote, drop dead, when the system and the backs have been destroyed type backups, WOW! Stop the databases, copy them and bring them back on-line. WinZIP backs up the copies and delivers the file to the offsite server and emails you the results good or bad.

At the offsite server, create a script that deletes ZIPs older than your drop-dead retention time of 1 week, 1 month, etc. Viola'.

WINZIP 11 Beta

FREE SECURITY TOOLS

2006-11-08T05:40:00.000-08:00

Foundstone, a division of McAfee, has some free downloads for security professionals. They include security assessment utilities, forensic tools and scanning tools. These tools are designed for business networks.

http://www.foundstone.com

WHEEL MOUSE TRICKS

2006-10-28T11:43:00.000-07:00

What happens when you mix the mouse wheel with key combinations?

Shift & Spin - change the page
Open several pages in your web browser. The hold down the Shift key spin the wheel on your wheel mouse The browser goes either backwards or forwards, depending on which direction you spin.

Ctrl & Spin - change the font size
Open a page with text in your web browser. Hold down your Ctrl key and spin the wheel in a web browser (Explorer, Netscape or FireFox). It makes the text larger or smaller depending on which way you spin.

SONY BATTERIES

2006-10-28T06:05:00.000-07:00

Sony's battery recalls have been made official. On Monday, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a formal recall for the batteries.

Last week Gateway joined in, recalling 340,000 batteries. Apple, Dell, Lenovo, Fujitsu, Sony and Toshiba have all recalled batteries.

To see if your laptop battery is under the recall, visit my site.

- reposted from Kim Komando.com -

My comment; we trashed DELL as they were the first company to recall. Now they look like the most responsible party. Hmmm.

VISTA COUPONS

2006-10-28T06:03:00.000-07:00

Microsoft announced a coupon plan for Vista. If you buy a new computer running Windows XP, you'll get an upgrade coupon. It gives you a discounted or free upgrade. Most manufacturers are expected to participate. The coupons cover purchases between Oct. 26 and March 15. So if you buy a new computer, make sure it includes the coupon.

- reposted from Kim Komando.com -

VISTA VENTURI

2006-10-26T19:57:00.000-07:00

Clients,

The venturi effect is dragging us all towards the VISTA release/upgrade.

I have several thoughts.

First, this will be a good upgrade, you will likely benefit from going to VISTA. If you are purchasing new system, get it with VISTA.

Second, this is going to cost you some _bucks_! Microsoft is a master at extracting money from customers. The Vista upgrade costs are reasonable but when you add the other numbers up, you are going to ask what happened to your wallet.

Here is how this will go. You upgrade to VISTA, you want some of the new, cool features available, which means your Windows 2000 server needs to be upgraded to Windows 2003 ($'s). And you find your Windows 2000 server hardware isn't adequate to run Windows 2003 ($'s). Or you find your Windows 2000 Terminal Server now needs to be upgraded to Windows 2003 server, which requires a 2003 Terminal Server License ($'s). Then you want to have the Windows Live software available. Cool! But you need a Windows 2003 server with the licnensing upgrades ($'s). Can see where I'm headed ($'s)?

I'm not telling you VISTA is bad. I'm just reminding you that Microsoft did not rise to the Fortune 10 on luck. Can you spell licensing ($'s)? And we haven't talked about the interoperability of Microsoft Office file versions or new versions of anti-virus, etc.

Finally we come to the subject of security. The ugly truth is security isn't declared; it's tested. So Microsoft can tell us VISTA is going to be the most secure OS ever. The reality is, until all the hackers in the world have had at it and _failed_, it's not secure. Only time and failure demonstrates something is secure.

I'm not a wet blanket, I'm simply saying to some of us, keep your powerder dry and wait for Service Pack 1.

FIND OUT THE HEALTH OF YOUR HARD DRIVE

2006-10-21T07:12:00.000-07:00

reposted from Kim Komando Show Electronic Newsletter - Oct. 21, 2006

Hard drives have a lifespan of three to five years. But I've seen some die after two years. I have a few that are still chugging along after 5 years. There's really no good way to judge how long one will last.

There may be signs, though. If you hear a popping or a cat-like sound, your drive may be failing. Problems starting Windows may also be caused by a failing drive. I had a drive that would disappear and then reappear in Windows Explorer. A few days after this started, it died.

Programs are available to monitor the health of hard drives. They use the drive's self-monitoring tools. HDD Health and HD Tune are two such utilities. They're free.

Advance notice is always helpful. But I wouldn't count on it. Back up your data. Remember the other kind of crash–when your laptop crashes to the floor. Those crashes come without warning. So, there's no substitute for backing up.

WIRELESS: WEP vs WPA vs WPA2

2006-09-27T06:02:00.000-07:00

Brute force time to break encryption:
WEP < 10 minutes
WPA - 21 character password > 4x10^-20 years
WPA2 - more ...

CompuDent uses https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm to generate unique 63 character passwords for WPA encryption. This offers secure wireless encryption while supporting older hardware that doesn't contain the WPA2 standard.

Reposted from Kim Komando tip:

The long answer starts in 1999 with WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), the oldest Wi-Fi protection standard. It failed to live up to its name. It sticks with the same key, making it relatively easy to break. Nowadays, WEP can be cracked in a matter of minutes.

The Wi-Fi Alliance developed WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) in 2003 to address WEP's weaknesses. Improvements included TKIP, which changes the encryption key for each data transmission.

The choice between TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol) and AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is a choice between old and new technologies, respectively. So the short answer to your question is that AES is more secure.

WPA is compatible with many older access points and network cards. In most cases, only an update is required.

However, WPA was a stopgap measure. At the time, the Wi-Fi Alliance was working on its 802.11i standard. Released in 2004, it is commonly known as WPA2.

WPA2 uses AES for encryption. It is stronger than the RC4 encryption scheme shared by WEP and WPA. But AES requires modern hardware.

WPA2 should be your first choice. That includes AES. I have general instructions for a complete WPA2 setup on my site.

If your computers' networking components (Wi-Fi cards or USB adapters) don't offer WPA2 options, switch the setup to WPA. On your access point, that means TKIP. If the adapters on your computers allow only WEP, look for updates online.

Both WPA and WPA2 offer good security. WPA is theoretically breakable, but can be secure on a practical level. With a strong password of 21 characters or more, a WPA network can withstand an attack for years. Unfortunately, most people don't use strong passwords.

In either WPA or WPA2, your password is the weakest link. Make it as strong as you reasonably can. You can find complete steps for making strong passwords on my site.

SANDBOXIE

2006-09-15T06:48:00.000-07:00

Here's a small tool I came across while listening to Steve Gibson's Security Now broadcast; sandboxie. It creates a virtual hardrive (or sandbox) where everything you download while browsing is saved. It protects your computer from junk being downloaded without your knowledge.

U3 & ME

2006-09-11T18:20:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased a 2G U3 or Smart Drive to test it out. Silly me thinking I could load my Outlook, Word and Excel for free. However, just because my expectations were outrageous, does not mean it isn't a cool thing for some of you.

A Smart Drive or U3 drive is a USB flash drive that has it's own small Operating System. You plug it into a Windows box and viola'; instant applications, etc. The advantage is I can carry not only the files but the applications around in my pocket instead of my desktop or notebook.

There are enough free applications to make this attractive: FireFox for surfing the Internet, Thunderbird for email and some other assorted apps.

So here's where this might get pretty cool. Email & web browsing; OK. I want to do a PowerPoint presentation, I usually need to know the box I'm showing it on has the same version, fonts, etc. If I could have the PP Viewer loaded on the U3 drive along with my presentation, I could be assured any box would work.

Well it ain't there yet but you can figure it will get there soon.

EXCHANGE ANYONE?

2006-09-11T12:10:00.000-07:00

DELL has a nothing box for under $700. Nothing until you realize you can get a 5-person Exchange server going for $700! Since this includes the OS, it's a deal. DELL SBS 2003 for < $700

PACIFIC GROVE TRIATHLON

2006-09-08T15:27:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow and Sunday is the Pacific Grove Triathlon. It is probably the best spectator's triathlon on the central coast. The Olympic distance starts at 7:15 on Saturday for the amateurs and 11:45 for the Pros. The Sprint distance starts at 7:15 on Sunday. Come out and watch what is one of the fastest growing sports. My wave starts at 8:15.

http://www.tricalifornia.com/

DUMPING AOL

2006-09-08T07:31:00.000-07:00

If you're an AOL subscriber, you have a masochistic streak. But there is now a painless path to self-improvement.

AOL is allowing anyone to use its software and services for free, and has slashed the price on dialup accounts to $9.95/month. Here's the AOL page with info about the new pricing.

Current subscribers may have to ask for a reduction in their monthly bill! It's not clear that AOL is doing it automatically. If you're currently paying AOL $26/month, then follow up and make sure your bill is reduced.

WEATHER WATCHER

2006-09-07T06:24:00.000-07:00

I posted a simple sunrise/sunset tool on August 30th. Well I've found another nice, not obtrusive, no advertising weather tool. Take a look at this site and see if it fits something useful for you. It doesn't have all the advertising of WeatherBug so some of you won't want it; Weather Watcher.

SAFEGUARDING YOUR DATA

2006-09-06T19:27:00.000-07:00

from - Cyber Security Tip ST06-008

When you store sensitive personal and work-related data on your computer, it is especially important to take extra security precautions.

Why isn't "more" better?

Maybe there is an extra software program included with a program you bought. Or perhaps you found a free download online. You may be tempted to install the programs just because you can, or because you think you might use them later. However, even if the source and the software are legitimate, there may be hidden risks. And if other people use your computer, there are additional risks.

These risks become especially important if you use your computer to manage your personal finances (banking, taxes, online bill payment, etc.), store sensitive personal data, or perform work-related activities away from the office. However, there are steps you can take to protect yourself.

How can you protect both your personal and work-related data?

Use and maintain anti-virus software and a firewall - Protect yourself against viruses and Trojan horses that may steal or modify the data on your own computer and leave you vulnerable by using anti-virus software and a firewall.

Regularly scan your computer for spyware - Spyware or adware hidden in software programs may affect the performance of your computer and give attackers access to your data.

Keep software up to date - Install software patches so that attackers cannot take advantage of known problems or vulnerabilities (see Understanding Patches for more information). Many operating systems offer automatic updates. If this option is available, turn it on.

Evaluate your software's settings - The default settings of most software enable all available functionality. However, attackers may be able to take advantage of this functionality to access your computer. It is especially important to check the settings for software that connects to the internet (browsers, email clients, etc.). Apply the highest level of security available that still gives you the functionality you need.

Avoid unused software programs - Do not clutter your computer with unnecessary software programs. If you have programs on your computer that you do not use, consider uninstalling them.

Consider creating separate user accounts - If there are other people using your computer, you may be worried that someone else may accidentally access, modify, and/or delete your files. Most operating systems (including Windows XP, Mac OS X, and Linux) give you the option of creating a different user account for each user, and you can set the amount of access and privileges for each account. You may also choose to have separate accounts for your work and personal purposes. While this approach will not completely isolate each area, it does offer some additional protection.

Establish guidelines for computer use - If there are multiple people using your computer, especially children, make sure they understand how to use the computer and internet safely. Setting boundaries and guidelines will help to protect your data (see Keeping Children Safe Online for more information).

Use passwords and encrypt sensitive files - Passwords and other security features add layers of protection if used appropriately (see Choosing and Protecting Passwords and Supplementing Passwords for more information). By encrypting files, you ensure that unauthorized people can't view data even if they can physically access it. You may also want to consider options for full disk encryption, which prevents a thief from even starting your laptop without a passphrase. When you use encryption, it is important to remember your passwords and passphrases; if you forget or lose them, you may lose your data.

Follow corporate policies for handling and storing work-related information - If you use your computer for work-related purposes, make sure to follow any corporate policies for handling and storing the information. These policies were likely established to protect proprietary information and customer data, as well as to protect you and the company from liability.

Dispose of sensitive information properly - Simply deleting a file does not completely erase it. To ensure that an attacker cannot access these files, make sure that you adequately erase sensitive files (see Effectively Erasing Files for more information).

Follow good security habits - Review other security tips for ways to protect yourself and your data.

TRUECRYPT

2006-09-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

TrueCrypt is free open-source, on-the-fly encryption for Windows. If you have data you want to secure on your computer, this is a free and secure way to do it. Some of the details follow:

On-the-fly encryption means that data are automatically encrypted or decrypted right before they are loaded or saved, without any user intervention. No data stored on an encrypted volume can be read (decrypted) without using the correct password/keyfile(s) or correct encryption keys. Entire file system is encrypted (e.g.., file names, folder names, contents of every file, free space, meta data, etc).

WINDOWS LIVE ONECARE FAMILY SAFETY

2006-08-31T06:29:00.000-07:00

Windows Vista will include deeply integrated parental controls to assist parents in monitoring kids' time online and preventing access to inappropriate web sites.

A more limited service for Windows XP is now available under the name Windows Live OneCare Family Safety. This is a beta release without all the features planned for the final product; at some point it will be more or less integrated into the Windows Live OneCare security service. Here's an article with more details about the beta version, and here's more info from Microsoft.

The Windows XP service prevents access to inappropriate sites but doesn't do anything else. The Vista service will add time restrictions and fine-grained control over specific programs and services - instant messaging, for example.

In a brief test today, it was a bit confusing to set up the accounts for family members but more disturbing that Internet access was glacially slow or broken. That could be opening day jitters, though, and the developers acknowledge on their blog that the setup process needs work. For the moment I've uninstalled it and gone back to testing Safe Eyes.

Reposted from bruceb.com/news/

SIMPLE SUNRISE & SUNSET

2006-08-30T14:31:00.000-07:00

If you are like me, as the days grow shorter it's important to know whether I'll be running or cycling in the dark. I googled a lot of tools but this was the simplest. Download it and save it in your startup folder. It puts a little sun or moon in your system tray with a tooltip that gives you sunrise, sunset and time to the next.

INTEL CORE 2 PROCESSORS

2006-08-30T09:12:00.000-07:00

You may have read the media coverage of Intel's blazing new processors, the first significant jump in processor technology in five years. They're so much faster than current processors that the tech magazines and labs are stunned. And they use less power, allowing them to run cooler. Yesterday the mobile versions of the processors for notebooks were rolled out.

This is a quantum leap. It's huge. Consequently Intel has dropped the price of its older processors and there's a lot of them in the channel, but there's every reason to believe that within six months the new processors will be the only reasonable choices on the market.

This new line of processors are named "Core 2." There are several models with the name "Core 2 Duo" and one named "Core 2 Extreme." Shop carefully as you are going to see a lot of low price "Dual Core" models, but if you want the newer technology, go for the "2".

Portions repeated from BruceB.com/news.

IMPORTANT DOWNLOADS

2006-08-29T19:13:00.000-07:00

CompuDent has provided a quick link to many useful downloads for clients on this page.

MOZY

2006-08-28T17:43:00.001-07:00

If your files aren't backed up, shame on you! Put two gigs of them on Mozy for free. Even if you have a backup, use Mozy as a second level of protection. In exchange for free storage you receive weekly e-mail advertisements—a small price to pay. PCMag reviewed this product as an Editor's Choice.

If you want a truly secure encryption, use GRC's password generator. Get a totally random password such as, "SwjWNZujrl7CrgR1Jh9uuPEyxW91WgYC0MCOqNqc1EcdsOcwxpNASRecBNmMaH0". Save the password to a file on your computer and use it for encryption.

RESURRECTING OLD COMPUTERS

2006-08-28T17:15:00.001-07:00

Kim Komando daily tip on 8/16/6

Why you should recycle that piece of junk because it is cheaper to simply buy a new one. Or why do we think computers are different from VCRs, DVD players or anything else we choose to replace rather than repair, etc. because it is cheaper?

I will add one caveat - it will require time (AKA $'s) to move your data from the old computer to the new one. However, when you consider the better performance, it is money well spent.