Security: New Critical Security Patch

A few days ago Microsoft released a critical patch known as MS08-067 (958644). If you have Automatic Updates turned on, and have it setup to install the patches for you automatically then you should have received this patch already. If you don't, I would suggest that you manually install it (download information).

This patch fixes a new security vulnerability in the Server Service that could allow remote code execution. For those of you who don't know what that mean, it basically means that someone can run a program on your computer without your knowledge.

Windows Vista: Creating Shutdown/Restart Shortcuts

Want to create a quick and easy to way restart or shutdown Vista from an icon in your desktop, quick launch bar or your Start menu? Follow the instructions below.

• Right-click an empty area on your desktop and select New > Shortcut.
• In the field labeled 'Type the location of the item,' type: shutdown.exe /s /t 00 (note: those are zeros, and not 'O's). You can also use the command shutdown.exe /r /t 00 to restart your computer instead of shutting it down.
  
• Press the Next button, then give your shortcut a name (i.e.: Shut Down), then Press the Finish button
  
• Optional: if want a different icon image. Right-click the new item you just created, then click the Shortcut tab and press the Change Icon button to select a different image to display.

Software: Virtual Desktops

Microsoft's Sysinternals group has release a new utility called 'Desktops', which is a virtual desktop manager. Basically, it allows you to have several applications open, and assign them to different virtual desktops.

So for example, let say that you have eight different programs open, but they can be grouped into 4 different categories. You can assign related application windows to different virtual desktops. So when you switch to that desktop, those application windows will be visible to you.

The advantage to using a program like this is that it allows you to organize your application windows. You can also assign hot-keys, or you can use the icon in the Notification area to switch between desktops.

Solid State Drive (SSD) vs. Hard Disk Drive (HDD) Performance Test

I don't post a lot of these videos, but I thought this was a very good comparison of a Samsung Solid State Drive (SSD) vs a standard Hard Disk Drive (HDD). SSD uses the same type of memory as portable flash drives. The SSD wins in weight, reliability, speed, and power consumption.

The problems with SSD, is that its more expensive and the available capacities are limited right now when compared to HDD.