Computer Tips -Tech Info

At this point I’ve exhausted all the topics on network and computer security that I was eager to cover. As things change/ ideas strike I may well add to this series. One direction I see it going is talking in detail about several network utilities and more advanced topics like looking into web site ownership, […]

Just when you thought we had a good understanding of the recent zero-day WMF (Windows metafile exploit) it’s worse. Sans is reporting on a new variation on the exploit released today. They have gone to yellow (again) to warn people. Here are some details. This exploit was “made by the folks at metasploit and xfocus, […]

This should probably go in the Windows tech support category too… but, as I’ve talked about before I’ve spent a good amount of time using different linux livecd’s. I’ve even made a few livecd’s of my own with Mandrake (now mandriva) linux, using the mklivecd scripts. One of the nice things about a livecd is […]

So, most everything so far has been targetted to high speed internet users or business networks. That means if I use dialup I’m safe. Wrong. For starters, in many ways dialup internet is LESS of a risk than high speed broadband for two main reasons. First, high speed/broadband connections are typically on ALL the time. […]

This is really the same zero-day wmf vulnerability, but there is a twist. It’s been found that Lotus Notes v. 6.x and up are vulnerable to the Windows Meta File (WMF) exploit that’s making the rounds. Probably not surprising given that there are reports of many vectors of attack, not JUST the web browser. What […]

Can I say enough times that after a bad trojan infestation you should format and reinstall? I’ve cleaned up the infested image that I “sacrificed” to the WMF exploit and as I’ve said you’re pestware install will likely be somewhat different. An exploit is just the road, the spyware and viruses are the cars. Once […]

Once upon a time I did an article about the biggest computer security vulnerability ever. I’ve also passed along the old “the most dangerous part of a car is the nut behind the wheel” joke. If you haven’t got it yet, the computer user can be the “weakest link”. Let’s face it, you’ve got antivirus, […]

I’ve talked about Antivirus software as an essential. Today we’re going to look at Antispyware software. There is a difference. By definition a virus is a piece of software that infects other files or copies itself. A worm is a virus that spreads without user intervention. (From one open network port to another for instance.) […]

All in all, what I’ve documented was a bit over three hours worth of attention to the machine (much more for the full scans, but I didn’t have to stand and watch them.) I didn’t document a sidetrip to a second antivirus scanner. It’s nice to see a system cleaned up that had been so […]

Brian Krebs at the securityfix has a good article for those that are getting a new pc for Christmas (or those that know someone who is.) He has a nice outline of setting up limited privilege user accounts, installing windows updates, using a firewall and using antivirus. This is a nice concise guide to get […]