Windows XP: Stop Security Center From Nagging You

Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) added the Security Center, which centralize most security-related functions to one control panel. By default, if it finds a problem it will start nagging you to fix it. For example, if you turned off automatic updates or it doesn't recognize your anti-virus application. Here is how to turn off this feature:

• Open the Control Panel folder
• Open the Security Center control panel
• In the left pane, click the link labeled "Change the way Security Center alerts me"
• Uncheck the item(s) that it's complaining about (i.e.: firewall, automatic updates, or virus protection)
• Press the OK button.

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-078 - Critical: Security Update for Internet Explorer (960714)

Microsoft just released an Out-of-Band security bulletin MS08-078. Generally any Out-of-Band security patches are important, because they fix a problem that needs to be addressed now. MS08-078 (960714) is a critical security update for Internet Explorer.

Here is an excerpt from the Microsoft site about this patch: "This security update resolves a publicly disclosed vulnerability. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted Web page using Internet Explorer. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

This security update is rated Critical for Internet Explorer 5.01, Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1, and Internet Explorer 7."

If you can't or don't want to install the patch right now for some reason, here are some instructions on how to set the security level of IE's Internet zone to High. This can protect you by blocking any scripting technology (i.e: Javascript, Flash, Silverlight, etc.) from running on any web site. Although by using this feature you will disable most web sites functionality, such as dropdown menus and animation.

• Open an Internet Explorer
• From the Tools menu select Internet Options..., and click the Security tab
• Click the Internet zone icon in the top part of the dialog box and move the slider control below it to High.

Note: To get around issue this you must add the sites to the Trusted Sites zone, its in the same dialog as the Internet zone outline in the instructions above.

Windows Vista: Starting Programs with Elevated Privileges

Do you need to automatically start applications that require elevated privileges when you log into Windows Vista? To accomplish this we are going to have to use the Vista Task Scheduler.

Follow the instructions below to learn how to do this:

Note: You need an account with administrative privileges to the computer for this tip to work.

• Remove the programs from the Startup group if they are already there
• From the Search field in the Start menu type "Task Scheduler".
• In the Task Scheduler, press the "Create Task..." link in the Action panel on the right.
• Type a name for the new task, for example "Start Notepad"
• Check the "Run with highest privileges" checkbox
• Click the Triggers tab.
• Press the New button.
• From the "Begin the task" dropdown menu, select "At log on."
• In the setting section, choose the "Specific user or group" radio button (change if necessary).
• Press the OK button
• Click Actions tab, and press the New... button.
• Enter the path for the program that you want to be launched, the press the OK button
• Press the OK button

Windows Vista: Re-Activating the Built-in Administrator Account

In previous versions of Windows the built-in Administrator account was enabled default (this was before Vista). This was a major security risk because hackers knew which they account they needed to attack to get complete access to the computer.

In Vista if you do a clean install (not an upgrade), this account has been disabled by default. If for some reason you need to reactivate this account (which I recommend against unless there is a good reason) the instructions are below:

• Log on to the machine with a local administrator account (if you don't have one already then these instructions will not work for you).
• In the Search field under the Start menu type MMC.EXE and press the Enter key. Press Continue button in the UAC prompt to open the console.
• From the File menu, select "Add/Remove Snap-in".
• In the "Available Snap-ins" list on the left, scroll down and select "Local Users and Groups", then press the Add button.
• In the "Choose Target Machine" dialog box, select "Local Computer" press the Finish button, then press the OK button.
• Expand the "Local Users and Groups" icon in the left pane and click the Users folder.
• In the right pane, right-click Administrator account and select Properties
• In the General tab, uncheck "Account is disabled" box, then press the OK button.
  

Software: Picasa 3 (Free Photo Editing/Management Application)

I have used Picasa for managing my photos for years. Its one of the best free photo editing and media management applications available (in my opinion).

The application has gotten better with several new enhancement that Google has added in this release. Below is a brief summary of changes in the new version of Picasa 3:

• Improved automatic sync between your PC and the Picasa Web Albums site.
  
• Improved photo collage tool
• New editing tools include a : retouching, text, and smart cropping tool.
• A new movie making tool that allows you to create video slide shows from your photos, videos, and music. The tool also allows direct upload of your videos to Picasa Web Albums or YouTube.
• One of my favorite features is the new photo viewer for browsing photo on your hard drive.

For more information about the new features, check out this article.

Security: What is Clickjacking?

If malware, spam, phishing, and other threats were not bad enough, the latest Internet security threat is called Clickjacking. Basically its a way of tricking you to click on disguised Web links, so that an action is performed on your local computer without your knowledge.

For example, using this exploit you can be tricked into turning on your web cam, or installing malware. All browsers are vulnerable to this type of threat, so this is not just isolated to I.E., Firefox, etc.



The way the attack works is you go to a site that has been modified by a malicious attacker, then the content (i.e.: web pages, flash animation, etc.) of the site tries to trick you into clicking links and buttons that you might not realize you're clicking. They do this by disguising the content to look like something else.

If you're really worried about this type of attack, then you need to disable scripting technologies like Javascript, and Flash for all sites in your browser. Then you need to enable it for approved sites only. The drawback is that many sites rely on this technology to make them more interactive. Thus disabling this technology can cripple a web site's experience.

To help protect you, here are some resources:

• For Firefox there is a free open-source plug-in called NoScript that can block the execution of JavaScript except for sites that you approve.
• For Internet Explorer, under Internet Options... in the Security tab you can set the Internet security slider to high. This should block all scripting technologies from running on any web pages you visit. If you want grant permissions to specific web site, you need to add them to your Trusted Site list.
  

Software: FREE EASEUS Partition Manager Home Edition

Are you looking for a free alternative to the commercial version of Partition Magic? Then you might want to check out EASEUS Partition Manager Home Edition, its a free hard disk partition management application. It allows you to: create, format, re-size, delete, move hard disk partitions, and more.

It runs on Windows 2000/XP/Vista (32-bit) Operating Systems. This version of the software is only free for personal use, if you're a business you will have to buy a licensed version.

Windows Vista already has built-in functionality to create, shrink, extend and delete a partition. So I would suggest trying this built-in functionality first. If you're running Windows XP or below, then you might want to try this software.

Note: I need to note that I have not personally tested this program, so use it at your own risk.

Software: ShellRunas v1.01

Note: This tip is more technical then the way I generally write. Although, the people who would use this feature should understand what I am talking about.

Sometimes when they upgrade software they change or remove things. Most of the improvements in Windows Vista I really like, but one small feature that was removed that I really used was the "Run as..." context menu command.

This Windows XP feature allowed you run a program under a different set of user credentials then the one you logged in with. You won't often need this functionality, unless you do systems administration. There is also a command line version of this utility that is still available, but its just not as easy to use.

Mark Russinovich and Jon Schwartz created ShellRunas v1.01 to add this functionality back into Windows Vista. To get this program to install, use the Run... command (press WinKey+R) and type "[path]\shellrunas.exe /reg" (you need to include the [path] where the executable is located.

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.

Cool Tip: Reducing the USB Power Charger Clutter

Here is a very cool tip to help reduce the power cord clutter that can be created when you're charging your USB gadgets.

Remember: You want to find a USB hub that has a power adapter.
You can see some examples of what I am talking about here.

Software: Microsoft Pro Photo Tools v2

Microsoft recently released a new version of their Pro Photo Tools. Here is excerpt from the site explains the software, "The Pro Photo Tools allow you to add, change, and delete common metadata properties for digital photographs. You can place photos on the Live Earth map and then drag them to the right location. The GPS information will be stored back into the photos. If you have a GPS device, you can load track route files from the most popular formats (NMEA, GPX, and KML) and see them on the map. " For more information, see the following web page.

Windows security rendered useless? Uh, not exactly | Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report | ZDNet.com

ZDNet.com reports: "Oh dear. The Chicken Little contingent is out in full force. Break out your Kevlar helmets, everyone, because the sky is falling on Windows! At last week’s Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, researchers Alexander Sotirov and Mark Dowd presented a paper that outlined some new attack vectors they had discovered targeting some security features introduced in different versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista. It’s a fascinating paper, rich in technical detail and hewing to the Black Hat tradition of providing clues that others can follow to discover, exploit, and ultimately fix vulnerabilities in widely used computer code."

This is a technical article, but it's very interesting. If you want to understand what is really going on with state of Windows Vista security then read this.

F-Secure E:VOLUTION

Keeping up with all the latest malware that is being created is an overwhelming job for any anti-virus company. Some have stated its even a losing battle. This is a very interesting video where Mikko Hyppönen discusses the various motives of Crimeware in a follow up to Re:solution. After watching it, you can begin to see why its getting its such a tough job.

Google Chrome Could Nuke Microsoft From the Internet Market

eWeek reports: "Google launches Chrome as an alternative to Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Opera. Analysts from IDC and Forrester believe Chrome can be Google's definitive Web operating system, making it quite an achievement for application development. If Google can make Chrome consumers' gateway of choice for Web services such as search and SAAS applications, it will extend Google's search advertising empire."

I am in the process of checking this out for myself before I make any comments. Although I just wanted to post this just in case someone didn't know about it. Read the article for more information.

Internet Explorer: Microsoft Releases Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2

For those of you that like to run the latest and greatest browser, here is information on IE8 Beta 2. Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine Online reports: "Microsoft released its Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 test product today, and the company spilled a lot of pixels explaining the beta's new features, with some details for Web developers. The public release of the new beta can be accessed here."

Here is the download site IE8.

Video: Remove all remnants of the Windows Vista SP1 installation files

TechRepublic did a great job of documenting the removal of Windows Vista SP1 installation files. Here is an except from the site: "When you install Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1, the installation process leaves behind about 800 MBs of original Windows Vista files–in case you later want to remove SP1. Relative to current hard drives, 800 MBs isn’t that much space. But, it’s still enough space to store a couple hundred MP3 files or a few video clips. Personally, I just don’t like useless files taking up space on my drives. In this IT Dojo video, I show you how to remove all those old files using the SP1 Files Removal Tool."

If you want more information, check out my article on this subject.

Security: Personal Firewalls Review Site

Want to know how well your personal firewall might protect you from personal identity from being stolen. Check out this great comparison from matousec.com.

Here is except from their site describing the project: "This project examines personal firewalls, Internet security suites and other similar products for Windows OS that implement process-based security. We call all such products personal firewalls. In our opinion, personal firewalls should prevent spying and data and identity theft. So, we require personal firewalls to include host protection features too. The list of personal firewalls we are aware of is available on the product list page. We know that our terminology may be in conflict with the common understanding of what the firewalls are. To distinguish between personal firewalls and firewalls in the common sense, we call the later packet filters. A typical example of a packet filter is WIPFW. Most of the personal firewalls include a packet filter component. Simple packet filters are not worse than personal firewalls, they are just different kind of software – for different kind of users. This project does not examine stand-alone packet filters."

Last update: 2008-08-01