Catch up on Microsoft patching fast
Last week, Microsoft quietly released its convenience update pack for Windows 7, 8.1., and Server 2008R2. This is a great opportunity to catch up on Microsoft patching, as it incorporates all of...
View ArticleCompress system files doesn’t show up in Disk Cleanup
One of the new features of Windows 10 is better file compression, which was intended to help Windows fit better in low-resource devices like tablets. But it’s helpful on computers with SSDs too. But...
View ArticleLenovo and Best Buy team up for a $149 laptop this year
Cheap laptops are nothing new this time of year–they’ve been practically a holiday tradition since 2002 when Sotec released a decent laptop for $900, which was jaw-droppingly low for the time–but this...
View ArticleAnother reason to block fonts at the proxy
Last week Apple released a bunch of patches up and down its product line. One of the vulnerabilities it fixed in OS X was a vulnerability in its font parser. In the past you could mitigate...
View ArticleNeed a Commodore motherboard? Believe it or not you’re in luck
Individual Computers is working on, of all things, a replacement Amiga motherboard that will fit in an Amiga 500 or Amiga 1200 case. The board will use the AGA chipset that the Amiga 1200 used, but the...
View ArticleWindows 7 spies on you like Windows 10 now
This is a few days old now but needs to be addressed–a lot of people were planning on staying on Windows 7 because they don’t like Windows 10’s new privacy settings, but unless you uninstall some...
View ArticleHappy 20th birthday to Windows 95
It was on August 24, 1995 that Windows 95 was released, amidst much anticipation. It was the most widely anticipated Windows release of all time, and the runner up really isn’t close. The idea of...
View ArticleRandom question: Will ARM overtake x86?
Here’s an interesting question I got recently: Will ARM overtake x86? I think the answer depends on how you define “overtake.” If you mean everyone setting aside x86-based computers in favor of...
View ArticleA guide for safe and private web browsing
Continuing in the theme I’ve been following for the last couple of days, here’s a guide to security and privacy with web browsers. Like the guide I linked to yesterday, I’m not sure I agree with it...
View ArticleDroidpocalypse? Josh Drake says no.
Josh Drake, the researcher who discovered the Stagefright vulnerability in Android that lets an attacker hack into an Android device by sending a specially crafted picture or video in a text message,...
View ArticleGoogle’s migrating corporate apps to the cloud is less crazy than it sounds
Google is moving its corporate applications to the Internet. A year ago I would have said that’s the dumbest thing I ever heard. Today I’m not so sure. Sticking stuff in the cloud is the popular answer...
View ArticleThe Forbes Flash hack is a good example of a watering hole attack
You may have heard people like me talk about watering-hole attacks. It’s an indirect attack on someone by compromising a third party and using that to get in. In this case, back in November, attackers...
View ArticleWhat to look for in a cheap laptop in late 2014
So the sales fliers for the 2014 Christmas shopping season are out, and I’m seeing tons of cheap laptops. If you only have $200 to spend, they have something for you. Some of them look like they’re...
View ArticleHow to rebuild a PC in a hurry
Sometimes rebuilding a PC is faster than trying to fix it, and if you’re dealing with a virus infection, it’s better to rebuild than try to clean. It’s impossible to know if the system is 100% clean...
View ArticleBash is worse than heartbleed! Oh noes!
A really bad remote code execution bug surfaced yesterday, in Bash–the GNU replacement for the Unix shell. If you have a webserver running, or possibly just SSH, it can be used to execute arbitrary...
View ArticleFixing “invalid global switch” errors in WMIC queries containing dashes
I use WMIC a lot to gather data in my job, but querying computers that have dashes (a.k.a. the minus sign, the “-” character) in the names cause an error message that says “invalid global switch.” The...
View ArticleVuescan: A review from a non-photographer’s perspective
Vuescan is a third-party scanning tool for most versions of Windows, OS X, and Linux. It supports hundreds of scanners, including those abandoned by manufacturers. It’s probably better than what came...
View ArticleThrottling the Raspberry Pi
If you run the Raspberry Pi as a small server, you may want to throttle the CPU when it’s not under load to save energy. The settings are in /boot/config.txt. Here’s what I did with mine. The lines I...
View ArticleWhy every breach is different
I’ve grown used to being asked what unpatched vulnerability was used in the most recent breach, in an effort to make sure some other company is protected. I appreciate the desire to learn from other...
View ArticleDon’t wait for Service Pack 1
I was on a conference call discussing the Microsoft product lifecycle with several coworkers and our Microsoft-assigned support engineers when someone asked if a server version of Windows 10 was going...
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