Computer Tips -Tech Info

Do I really need a hardware firewall? I’m running XP Service Pack 2 with the built in firewall? (or norton, or zonealarm?) Well, personal firewalls (the name that software firewalls go by) are good for a great many things that hardware firewalls AREN’T. They do have their limitations though and I’ll try to cover those in this post. Of course, a software firewall is running on the pc that you use to connect to the internet and one of the functions it serves is to “close the doors and windows” or those open ports that a computer can listen for connections on.

Read the rest of this entry »

When I saw a story on incidents.org with the title PCI Compliance, I wondered what SANS was doing covering a hardware standard…. oops. PCI in this case means Payment Card Industry. It turns out that Sams Club has had a security breech that has exposed customers credit card information. The data seems to have been pinched from those buying gas between Sept. 21st and Oct. 2nd.

Read the rest of this entry »

I saw this earlier today, but had thought it was an issue already covered (just before Thanksgiving there was an opera security update I think.) Anyway… Secunia has an advisory on a security vulnerability in the Opera Web browser. Users are encouraged to upgrade to v. 8.51. The SecurityFix has the story. Download link here http://www.opera.com/download/

Read the rest of this entry »

For a long time I really disliked seeing USB network adapters. The main reason is the performance. USB 1 can only do ~ 12Mbps which compared to a 10/100 ethernet controller “significantly limits your ability to do more than 10…” Even USB 2 supports 480 Mbps which should give you the ability to get full throughput of up to 200mbps with full duplexing. However, I still cringed at USB network adapters….

Read the rest of this entry »

Sans has the tip that information on the critical Windows updates expected tomorrow from Microsoft has started to be released.

MS 05-54: Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer

This will hopefully patch the javascript issues…

MS 05-55: Vulnerability in Windows Kernel Could Allow Elevation of Privilege.

Read the rest of this entry »

Lookes like VMWare has officially released the first version of their VMPlayer. The previous was a pre-release preview/beta. It looks like it’s now officially a 1.0.0-final.

Read the rest of this entry »

Now, it can be useful to run several versions of the same program at the same time (especially if it’s a web browser.) I’ve accomplished this under linux with internet explorer, but didn’t realize there was a way to do so on Windows. Sunbelt blog found a good guide to installing Internet Explorer 7 beta 1 on a system without tampering with their (working) IE 6 install.

Read the rest of this entry »

This is another “wolf in sheeps clothing” alert. The Sunbelt blog has information and tips on a number of other sites that are posing as either the Windows security center page, or a page not found error. The windows security center spoof once again claims the following “Attention! Your system is under control of remote computer with IP address >>>>>>> The remote computer has access to the following folders on your PC: \windows\system32 \program files\internet explorer \my documents drive C;\ files, click here to download official anti-spyware software. Your private info is collected by w32.sinnaka.a@mm”

Read the rest of this entry »

For those of you new to linux and using a debian based distribution… here is a good introduction to the world of apt-get. Apt-get is a tool for installing software, updating software, uninstalling software and even for doing complete distribution upgrades.

Read the rest of this entry »

This would be a good thing for clamantivirus. eEye is considering “adopting” clamav for inclusion in their Blink product. The idea is that they would improve clamantivirus and then start integrating it as antivirus scanning functionality in their product. This would be really promising for the prospects of having clamav (clamwin) do real-time, on-access scanning on the windows platform.

Read the rest of this entry »