the windows are closing on Windows (XP and Vista)

Support is ending for some versions of Windows.

April 13, support for Windows Vista without any service packs will end...

and on July 13, support for Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) will end.

If you're running one of these versions after support ends, you won't get security updates for Windows.

"An unsupported version of Windows will no longer receive software updates from Windows Update. These include security updates that can help protect your PC from harmful viruses, spyware, and other malicious software, which can steal your personal information..."

"...To continue support, make sure you've installed Windows Vista SP2.

"...To continue support, make sure you've installed Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3)."

"There's no SP3 for the 64-bit version of Windows XP. If you're running the 64-bit version of Windows XP with SP2, you have the latest service pack and will continue to be eligible for support and receive updates until April 8, 2014...

"Even if you have an unsupported version of Windows XP or Windows Vista without any service packs, Windows will continue to start and run as usual."

DON'T PRESS F1!!!

There have been reports of attacks on computers from the internet via Internet Explorer...

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"Microsoft is investigating new public reports of a vulnerability...on supported versions of Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 through the use of Internet Explorer..."

Affected Software

Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4

Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows XP Service Pack 3, and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 with SP2 for Itanium-based Systems, and Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition Service Pack 2

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/981169.mspx

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"On Friday 2/26/2010, an issue was posted publicly that...an attacker...could convince a user to visit the web page and then get them to press the F1 key in response to a pop up dialog box....

"Anyone believed to have been affected can visit: http://www.microsoft.com/protect/support/default.mspx and should contact the national law enforcement agency in their country. Those in the United States can contact Customer Service and Support at no charge (for computer security related issues) using the PC Safety hotline at 1-866-727-2338 (PCSAFETY). Customers outside of the United States can visit http://support.microsoft.com/international to find local support information."

http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2010/02/28/investigating-a-new-win32hlp-and-internet-explorer-issue.aspx

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"...Windows 2000 and Windows XP are impacted...Windows 2003 Server is also impacted...With this issue, it is possible for a malicious web page to display a dialog box which will trigger the execution of arbitrary code when the user presses the F1 key. The prompt can appear repeatedly when dismissed, nagging the user to press the F1 key. Platforms are affected regardless of the Internet Explorer version installed."

http://blogs.technet.com/srd/archive/2010/03/01/help-keypress-vulnerability-in-vbscript-enabling-remote-code-execution.aspx

Do the Taskbar Shuffle

Sometimes I have A LOT of things running on a computer. I multitask so much, using so many programs at the same time, I have used three computers...at the same. There can be a lot open in my Windows System Tray, and on my Taskbar...

"Taskbar Shuffle is a simple, small, free utility that lets you drag and drop your Windows taskbar buttons to rearrange them...Middle-click to close programs on your taskbar..."

It does work as advertised. But wait! There's more! "Tweak taskbar button grouping", meaning that you can move and arrange what's on you taskbar. ("And then, I heard the angels sing...")

There are "portable" versions: versions of Taskbar Shuffle you do not install into Windows. Just copy it to a storage device (hard drive, USB drive, etcetera) and execute the program.

("And if you act now...")

Its' designed for Windows Vista/XP/2000/NT/95/98. There is a 32-bit version, and a 64-bit version.

According to the Frequently Asked Questions section of the website: "...when I have Taskbar Shuffle running for several days and I randomly check, its memory usage is usually under 1mb (which is VERY low)...if you ever see it using much more than 4mb and that bothers you, simply exit and restart the program..."

And, it's free.

brand new Diskeeper 2010 now available

Diskeeper 2010 defragments enabling better performance. It can: defragment the paging file, defragment the Master File Table, and consolidate directories. And there's an option for boot-time defragmentation (according to my report in DkBootTime.log, pagefile.sys and hiberfil.sys are amongst the files that are optimized).

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From the Readme.txt file (of the x86/32-bit version):

C. CHANGES IN DISKEEPER 2010

IntelliWrite is a ground breaking technology that prevents the majority of fragmentation from ever occurring, dramatically improving Windows system performance.

...IntelliWrite reduces the need for disk head movement and results in a reduction of system resource usage and power consumption.

F. KNOWN INCOMPATIBILITIES

1. Acronis Backup and Recovery -- To avoid any potential data loss we don’t recommend defragmenting volumes on which Acronis Backup and Recovery is enabled.

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Make sure the version of Diskeeper you are considering is compatible with the operating system you are using. For example: Diskeeper Home is not designed for Windows Vista Business edition...

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Before using Diskeeper, I checked my hard drive for errors with Chkdsk (automatically fixing file system errors, and attempted to recover bad sectors).

According to the Diskeeper Performance Report, after installig Diskeeper, the read and write access time improved 50%.

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Before I get to the geeky/techy stuff below, my summary is: I have used Diskeeper for years, and recommend it.

Per their website: "We are so confident that our products will improve computer speed and reliability at your home or business that we fully guarantee your purchase for 30 days. If you are not completely satisfied with your software purchase, simply contact customer service within 30 days of your purchase date for a full refund of the software purchase price."

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To try to allow you to be able to compare some values, I'm sharing some of its reports of one of my computers.

Here is the analysis Job Report:

Findings and Recommendations

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Diskeeper has completed analysis of this volume and found

7,372 low performing files and/or directories and 63,184

excess fragments.

The count of low performing fragments is 56,326.

Very heavy fragmentation detected on this volume. You

should turn on Automatic Defragmentation and allow it to

run full time for maximum performance.

The free space on this volume is moderately fragmented.

Keep Automatic Defragmentation turned on to correct this

problem.

Health

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Critical!

The overall health of volume C: is severely affected

The overall health is at "Critical" for the following

reasons:

1. The volume is heavily fragmented. The count of low

performing fragments is 56,326.

2. The free space on this volume is moderately fragmented.

The percentage of low performing free space is 1%.

Access Time

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Time to read fragmented files on volume C

Current read time: 8 minutes

Optimum read time: 4 minutes

46 % improvement

Time to read all files on volume C

Current read time: 33 minutes

Optimum read time: 29 minutes

12 % improvement

Statistics

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Volume Files

Volume size = 95,143 MB

Cluster size = 4 KB

Used space = 60,801 MB

Free space = 34,342 MB

Percent free space = 36 %

Free Space Fragmentation

Percent low performing free space: = 1 %

Total free space extents: = 45,076

Largest free space extent: = 880 MB

Average free space extent size: = 780 KB

Low-Performing files percentage

% of entire volume = 12 %

% of used space = 19 %

Directory fragmentation

Total directories = 22,125

Fragmented directories = 455

Excess directory fragments = 1,559

File fragmentation

Total files = 180,973

Average file size = 358 KB

Total fragmented files = 13,750

Total excess fragments = 61,623

Average fragments per file = 1.34

Files with performance loss = 7,126

Paging file fragmentation

Paging/Swap file size = 2,047 MB

Total fragments = 1

Master File Table (MFT) fragmentation

Total MFT size = 215 MB

MFT records In Use = 204,638

Percent MFT in use = 92 %

Total MFT fragments = 2

(In the Most Fragmented Files section of the report, \System Volume Information\_restore appeared the most.)

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Here is the Job Report after I defragmented:

Findings and Recommendations

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Diskeeper has completed a defragmentation run on this

volume and there remain 1 low performing files and/or

directories and 2 excess fragments. (There were 63,196

excess fragments before the defragmentation run, and now

there are 99% fewer.)

The count of low performing fragments is 0.

Little or no fragmentation detected on this volume. You

should keep Automatic Defragmentation turned on full time

to maintain maximum performance.

Health

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Healthy

The overall health of volume C: is minimally affected by

fragmentation due to the low level of fragmentation.

There are no volume health issues related to fragmentation.

Access Time

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time to read fragmented files on volume C

Current read time: 29 minutes

Optimum read time: 0 microseconds

100 % improvement

Time to read all files on volume C

Current read time: 29 minutes

Optimum read time: 0 microseconds

100 % improvement

Statistics

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Volume Files

Volume size = 95,143 MB

Cluster size = 4 KB

Used space = 60,805 MB

Free space = 34,337 MB

Percent free space = 36 %

Defragmentation method = Max Disk Performance

Free Space Fragmentation

Percent low performing free space: = 0 %

Total free space extents: = 3,762

Largest free space extent: = 990 MB

Average free space extent size: = 9,346 KB

Low-Performing files percentage

% of entire volume = 0 %

% of used space = 0 %

Directory fragmentation

Total directories = 5,674

Fragmented directories = 0

Excess directory fragments = 0

File fragmentation

Total files = 154,555

Average file size = 420 KB

Total fragmented files = 0

Total excess fragments = 0

Average fragments per file = 1.00

Files with performance loss = 0

Paging file fragmentation

Paging/Swap file size = 2,047 MB

Total fragments = 1

Master File Table (MFT) fragmentation

Total MFT size = 215 MB

MFT records In Use = 204,831

Percent MFT in use = 92 %

Total MFT fragments = 2

Most Fragmented Files

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Fragments File size Most fragmented files

None

HACKING EXPOSED: Network Security Secrets & Solutions

HACKING EXPOSED: Network Security Secrets & Solutions, 6th Edition" is 720 pages, and over two pounds, full of information. And I found, as stated in the forward: "...Its goal is education..."

It is full of all kinds of knowledge.

Table of contents

Part I: Casing the Establishment

Chapter 1. Footprinting

Chapter 2. Scanning

Chapter 3. Enumeration

Part II: System Hacking

Chapter 4. Hacking Windows

Chapter 5. Hacking Unix

Part III: Infrastructure Hacking

Chapter 6. Remote Connectivity and VoIP Hacking

Chapter 7. Network Devices

Chapter 8. Wireless Hacking

Chapter 9. Hacking Hardware

Part IV: Application and Data Hacking

Chapter 10. Hacking Code

Chapter 11. Web Hacking

Chapter 12. Hacking the Internet User

Part V: Appendixes

Appendix A. Ports

Appendix B. Top 14 Security Vulnerabilities

Appendix C. Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks

Some of the new material includes:

the "Hacking Hardware" chapter (about physical locks, access cards, RFID, laptop security, USB, U3, Bluetooth, firmware, hard drives)...

Windows hacks (covering Terminal Services, Kerberos sniffing, man-in-the-middle attacks, Metasploit, device driver exploits, new password cracking tools)...

and UNIX hacks (such as THC Hydra, Solaris input validation attacks, dangling pointer attacks, DNS cache poisoning, UNIX Trojans, and kernel rootkits).

Some of the tactics and strategies that attackers use to gather information to prepare targets for attacks are noted, like: culling IP addresses, wardialing (it can still be effective), and spoofing e-mail messages (pretending to be support and administrative personnel).

To defend against attacks, you must understand the enemy. Preparing against access is better than trying to make repairs after a system has been. (Once someone has been inside you don't know what was left in the system, and where it was left at.) Instructions on how to perform network reconnaissance show how a network, and connected devices(firewalls/routers/etcetera), can be diagrammed. And there is a section regarding how to identify potential probing activities, and attacks.

This book can be used as a checklist of things that can sometimes be unintentionally available, but are: (web) cameras, and remote administration services...and the Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop Web Connection. Misconfigurations exist, and so do exploits that target them.

In Chapter 4, "Hacking Windows", there's a great reminder about proper password management. I've noticed that people seem to be better at it, but it's good to review best practices.

In the book the authors point towards many other sources of information and reference. There are suggestions of other books to enlighten and educate about how some prepare to access a network. And other websites and software that will allow you to test the openess of a network (hardware and services) and website.

(After going through the book, I remembered how there are instances where administrators and content managers are given more consideration than support and security managers and personnel...until there's a problem.)

If you are responsible in any way for a network or website, get this book. If there is anyone that works for you that is responsible for a network or website, get this book for their library!

The website of the book is http://www.hackingexposed.com

On the McGraw-Hill website, go to http://www.mhprofessional.com/c/pressroom/pressroom.php?pressnid=152

TCP/IP not secure in Windows 2000 and XP

As usual, when it comes to computing, we go forward and not backward...

Over the past week I have disposed of many electronic devices because...they are old. They worked, but no longer in "supported" scenarios: with current operating systems, with current connections (parallel printer/serial ports), etcetera.

And now, I read that "Vulnerabilities in Windows TCP/IP Could Allow Remote Code Execution". Per Microsoft: "An update for Windows XP will not be made available...Microsoft has decided not to patch Windows 2000 for the TCP/IP vulnerability..."

I am not surprised, and expect this attitude...until I remember that netbooks are being released with Windows XP as the operating system! And I had been seriously considering getting one...

For other computers, in regards to their hardware and software, it's time to evaluate whether Windows Vista (or 7) will be compatible. (As well as some version of Linux...)

can't boot to an operating system

Tom had called into our show to say he had been unable to boot to Normal mode, Safe mode, and a command prompt.

Advanced troubleshooting for general startup problems in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308041/

He might be able to boot into the Recovery Console...

Try to use System Restore...

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He might need to try to do a "repair installation":

How to perform a repair installation of Windows XP if Internet Explorer 7 is installed
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917964/

How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315341

If you perform an in-place upgrade of Windows XP, all existing restore points are removed and a new system checkpoint restore point is created after the in-place upgrade is complete. Do not perform an in-place upgrade if you may have to use System Restore to restore your computer to a previous state.

You may lose data or program settings after reinstalling, repairing, or upgrading Windows XP.

If you have Windows XP Service Pack 2 installed on your computer, you must reinstall Service Pack 2 after you reinstall or repair Windows XP...

After you perform an in-place upgrade or repair installation, you must reinstall all updates to Windows...

System Restore

During our latest show we were discussing how to use System Restore...here are links to more information:

How to restore the operating system to a previous state in Windows XP
Article ID : 306084
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306084

How to start the System Restore tool at a command prompt in Windows XP
Article ID : 304449
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304449/

Start System Restore from a command prompt

Applies to all editions of Windows Vista.

Start your computer in safe mode with command prompt.

At the command prompt, type rstrui.exe, and then press ENTER.

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/6b969e00-d4ec-4d3a-bffe-b96107e3bda91033.mspx

restoring/recovering files

There was a question about how to restore files in Windows...

============================

If the file is in the Recycle Bin, it can be easily restored from there:
open the Recycle Bin...
select the file(s) to restore...
restore the file(s)...
and, when you are done, close the Recycle Bin window.

I found a (Windows 2000) description at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows2000/en/advanced/help/recycle_bin.htm

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If you have the Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate versions of Windows Vista you can try to restore a previous version...or shadow copy...of the file.

"Previous versions are either backup copies—copies of files and folders that you back up by using the Back Up Files wizard, or shadow copies—copies of files and folders that Windows automatically saves as part of a restore point....

"Right-click the file or folder, and then click Restore previous versions..."

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If the file was "deleted" from the hard drive, you can consider software that will try to help you recover the file. There's a lot of these products available...at the moment, I don't have any that I can recommend over others.

OCT. 28 ONLY, free software for Windows apps on Macs

On Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008, any one visiting the CodeWeavers' Web site (www.codeweavers.com) will be given a deal code that will entitle them to one free copy of CodeWeavers' award-winning CrossOver software. Each copy comes complete with support.

CrossOver Mac allows you to install many popular Windows applications and games on your Intel OS X Mac...Just click and run your application directly from the OS X Finder. Clicking a Windows file or document — including email attachments — will launch the appropriate Windows program, allowing you to work on the files...without needing a Microsoft operating system license.

using 32-bit programs on 64-bit Windows

There have been some reports that some programs could not be installed on a 64-bit version of Windows...

Per Microsoft:
"Many programs designed for a computer running a 32-bit version of Windows will work on a computer running 64-bit versions of Windows without any changes. However, in some cases there might be differences in performance. If a 32-bit program uses embedded drivers, the drivers might not work in the 64-bit environment..."

how to link files and programs

During our radio show, Vincent called asking how to associate files with programs...

How to change which program starts when you double-click a file in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307859

1. Open My Computer or Windows Explorer, right-click a file for which you want to change the program that opens that file type, and then use either of the following methods to change which program starts:
• Click Open With to choose the program that you want.
• Point to Open With, and then click Choose Program to choose the program that you want.
2. Notice that theOpen With dialog box appears. Use one of the following methods to select the program that you want to use to open this kind of file:
• In the Programs list, click the program that you want.
• Click Browse, locate and then click the program that you want to use, and then click OK.
• Click Look for the appropriate program on the Web to browse the Internet for the program that you want.
3. Click to select the Always use the selected program to open this kind of file check box if it is not already selected.
4. Click OK.

From now on, Windows XP will open all files that have this file name extension in the associated program. (To change this, follow these steps again and associate a different program with this file name extension.)

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This article contains more information about how to create file associations for a file types that are not associated with a program...

enable scrolling of All Programs

Tom called during our radio show and asked how to scroll the list of programs in his All Programs menu...

You Cannot See the Full All Programs List Because the List Extends Off the Screen
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/812445

1. On the taskbar, right-click Start, and then select Properties.
2. Click the Start Menu tab, and then click Customize.
3. In the Customize Start Menu dialog box, click the Advanced tab. 
4. Under Start menu items, click to select the Scroll Programs check box.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

sending (error) information to Microsoft

We've had some discussion about the Microsoft Online Crash Analysis (MOCA): feeling uncomfortable about submitting information, some do not want to send the report. I ask all to reconsider, and DO send it...

"Microsoft actively analyzes all error reports and prioritizes them based on the number of customers affected by the Stop error covered in the error report. We will try to determine the cause of the Stop error you submit, categorize it according to the type of issue encountered, and send you relevant information when such information is identified...we might need to collect a number of similar error reports from other customers before a pattern is discovered...

"...No personal information is written to your hard drive or shared outside of our service."

Some of the information I have seen informed me: what was causing a conflict or problem, who the manufacturer is, which device is involved, etcetera.

"sticky keys"

George called asking for help with a "locked keyboard": he had held down some keys, and now is having problems using the keyboard.

(We did not have a lot of time left in the show so we took his telephone number, and I called him at a later time.)

After talking with George and his wife, I thought "Sticky Keys" may have been enabled. I was correct.

Look for an icon in the system tray...