Category: Security

Running old programs on Vista (tips and tricks)

Paul

So We’ve talked about how to get Vista to shut down better.  So I thought we talk about getting Windows XP programs to run on Vista and be more stable.  You can do this with Windows XP, ME, 2000, NT,. and 95 programs.

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  • Run the program in compatibility mode — This is something Vista comes with now for running old programs in Vista. To do this you will have to do some minor things.  Go to where the program is and right click on the program.  Select properties>compatibility.  Select “Run this program in compatibility  mode for:” Select  windows Operating System that you think would work with the program.

  • Run the program as Administrator —  This is a really good tip and trick to sometimes get programs to run with vista.  It goes hand in hand with the last one.  Right click on the program and select “Run as Administrator”.  I find some old programs don’t know about the kernel protection in Vista and you need to give them permission to use the kernel for the program to work.

  • Give the program special access —  Yes this one takes a little skill but should fix some of the problems with vista and old programs.  Right click on program and select properties.  Select security, and then select the group you want to associate with it.  I always suggest putting it in the administrator group because of the problems with Vista and the kernel.

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These few tips and tricks will greatly increease the likely hood of a old program to run in Vista.  Now remember if you have a Vist x64 Version you might need to do the Run as Administrator more than not.  I am not sure why I just know it is sometimes required.  Let me know what other tips and tricks you use with Vista and I’ll be sure to pass them along!!

Preventing the Unthinkable!

Paul

Imagine yourself having been using Gmail and you go on lunch.  When you get back you try to log into your Gmail account, and it is locked?  Yesterday Chris Brogan His friend and colleague came back after lunch and his Gmail account was locked out.  So I want to talk about some ways to prevent the Unthinkable!

Yes, you too, could be locked out of your Gmail account and have no way to access your web services like friendfeed or other services like that. Unless you have your passwords stored someplace either in Firefox or IE.  That is so unsafe, letting Firefox or IE remember you passwords, check out one of my previous post about that!!  If you are locked out of your Gmail account and you don’t remember the password.  What next?  Here is what I do.

I use Roboform and back that up nightly to an Amazon E3 Server.  I also make copies to a local spare Hard drive. Roboform comes with the best Syncing software and also a very powerful password generator. It encrypts your passwords until you enter your master password.

I was reading Todd Cochranes Article about this. I wanted to make a point on having your password safe and secure and easily accessible!! Todd Cohcrane is right about having a backup plan. I have always said in the past, backing up is very important.  Having a local application do your mission critical stuff is important.  So check out his article and check out Roboform.

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Microsoft security update cripples IE

Paul

Users started posting messages to multiple Microsoft support newsgroups almost immediately after Microsoft released the MS07-069 security bulletin on Dec. 11, saying that they were unable to connect to the Internet, either because IE refused to open or because when it did open, it could not reach various sites.

“About 60% of the time, I would get an ‘Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and must close’ dialog,” reported Bill Drake on the Windows Update newsgroup. Others echoed those comments on IE-specific forums, noting that both IE6 and IE7 balked at loading, or while loading, some pages, particularly home pages, on both Windows XP and Windows Vista machines.

ther users on the support forums weren’t much help, except to suggest uninstalling last Tuesday’s security update. That’s what Decker did. “We uninstalled [MS07-069] and have had no problems since then,” he said.

[Via ComputerWorld]

With Vista, I do think the reason I’ve not had any problems is I don’t use IE. LOL I use Firefox but another reason is that I’ve also installed the SP1 RC1 on my system. That also might fix the problem could someone check it out and let me know!!

Hot, sexy bot sweet-talks personal data out of chatters

Paul1 Reply

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Security software company PC Tools warns that the bot can easily be used for malicious purposes. The company said that the program’s ability to mimic human behavior to dupe chatters is worrisome, and could readily be used to collect all manner of information. “As a tool that can be used by hackers to conduct identity fraud, CyberLover demonstrates an unprecedented level of social engineering,” said PC Tools senior malware analyst Sergei Shevchenko in a statement. “CyberLover has been designed as a bot [robot] that lures victims automatically, without human intervention. If it’s spawned in multiple instances on multiple servers, the number of potential victims could be very substantial.”
[Via Arstechnica]

This is really a security issue here. Never give out your personal information online. I just want to post this to remind people not everything online is safe.

Vendors worried Vista IPv6 too slippery for managed networks

Paul

Researchers have raised new questions about the security of Vista’s IPv6 implementation. James Hoagland from Symantec and Suresh Krishnan from Ericsson wrote an Internet-Draft that calls attention to the Teredo protocol and the fact that many firewalls don’t understand this protocol, and therefore can’t inspect the packets embedded within it.

Teredo is Vista’s last resort to connect to the IPv6 Internet. First, Vista looks for an IPv6 router on the local LAN. If so, the router will provide the Vista machine with IPv6 addresses and “native” (not tunneled) connectivity. If there is no IPv6 router, but the Vista machine has a public IPv4 address (i.e., not one from the 10-net or any of the other private address ranges from RFC 1918), it uses the 6to4 tunneling mechanism that embeds IPv6 packets in IPv4 packets. However, 6to4 can’t create IPv6 addresses from a private IPv4 address. Teredo, the third mechanism, is able to do this, so if you’re behind a network address translator (NAT) then Vista uses Teredo.

[Via Arstechnica]

Go read the full article on this little development with the IPv6 and Vista Machines. I know it worries me!!