Archive for January, 2007
Burning a CD in Windows XP
Windows XP comes with native CD burning capability. It’s not the greatest but it can be convenient. I have found that many PC owners do not know how to use it or are even unaware that the capability exists. A detailed description of using the XP CD burning application is given at this link. [...]
More on Vista content protection
In a previous post, I pointed out Peter Gutmann’s analysis of the problems that he saw coming from Vista’s stringent Content Protection Policy (CPP). Gutmann’s article was widely read and raised some very troubling issues. A Microsoft blog has appeared that presents a FAQ about CPP. Over at ZDNet, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes discusses some of the [...]
Windows XP Consumer versions get extended support
Microsoft’s intentions for future support of consumer versions of Windows XP have been none too clear. Up to now, it appeared that support for the Home version might end this year. (Support for Windows XP Professional was being continued until at least 2009.) Home PC owners who were thinking that they might have to change [...]
Serious Trojan horse problem
The most serious outbreak of malware-carrying email in a while is now going on. Over 300,000 computers are already infected. I have received quite a few of the so-called “Storm worm” messages. Be alert for emails with various subjects that look like sensational news headlines. There are also other variants, such as stock [...]
Speed up Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP
One of the new features of IE7 is a phishing filter. Unfortunately, checking sites to see if they are possible phishers can slow down your computer. Sites with multiple frames can even use so much CPU time that the system crawls. Microsoft has a patch to help with the problem at this link. Microsoft says
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Perspective from another source
Caroline Baum is not involved with technology except as a user. She is a well-known financial commentator and writer for Bloomberg. Her professional expertise is the Federal Reserve, not Microsoft so I find her comments about computer subjects to be very interesting as an example of a savvy but non-technical computer user. Here is what [...]
Vista SP1
Vista is still a few days off from a consumer release but Mary Jo Foley reports that Microsoft has finally owned up to a time frame for a release of Service Pack 1, which she says is the second half of 2007. Sounds like Christmas, 2007 might be a good time for a new computer.
A grim outlook for Internet security
Roger Grimes is a security professional who writes a regular column at InfoWorld. His latest column paints a very bleak picture of Internet security. He begins:
One third of all U.S. adults had their identity and financial information stolen or lost in 2006 alone. Bogus messages make up 90 percent of the e-mail traffic on the [...]
Don’t call us, we’ll call you
We all get bombarded with messages that we do not want- phone solicitations, spam email, junk snail mail, and so on. Today’s NY Times has an article with some suggestions on how to cut down on all these unwanted intrusions. There are places that maintain lists of people who want to be left alone. [...]
How to defend against ActiveX and other malware exploits- Part II
In this post. I will discuss software methods for isolating the browser so that any malware cannot be passed to the rest of the system. The software makes use of virtualization methods or a “sandbox”. I have posted on this subject previously and will give some added details.
A “sandbox” is an isolated part of memory. [...]