HP/Compaq V2010us upgrades

I have been doing a little searching on the net to see what upgrades are available for my aging V2010us and found a few, but what I didn't find was people who actually tried them. So I decided to post the ones I have done so other know that they do work.

First upgrade I did was go from 2x256MB DDR ram 2x 512 PC2700's
-This is the stated limit and I thought it good enough for me, simple I know.

Second I replaced my Celeron M 1.4 with a Pentium M 1.7GHZ
-As long as you stay with the same processor core you are fine. There is a fair amount of work that has to go into this around 1 - 1.5 hours and some patience.

Third I swapped my old Fujitsu 4200 rpm drive with my Maxtor OneTouch III mini's.
-Which by the way is a Seagate 5400.3 this made a 15-25 minute difference in battery times for the better! The real problem with this upgrade was the foam tape on the OneTouch's Seagate drive!!

So there is the small list, and with about $150 you can extend your precious V2000 series for another 1-2 years!

If you have any questions please fell free to post them.

Russia vs Estonia - Cyber War...

Cyber warfare is on the rise between quarreling countries.

NATO Nervous As Russia Accused Of Unleashing Cyber War To Disable Estonia

A three-week wave of massive cyber-attacks on the small Baltic country of Estonia, the first known incidence of such an assault on a state, is causing alarm across the western alliance, with NATO urgently examining the offensive and its implications.

While Russia and Estonia are embroiled in their worst dispute since the collapse of the Soviet Union, a row that erupted at the end of last month over the Estonians' removal of the Bronze Soldier Soviet war memorial in central Tallinn, the country has been subjected to a barrage of cyber warfare, disabling the websites of government ministries, political parties, newspapers, banks, and companies.

NATO has dispatched some of its top cyber-terrorism experts to Tallinn to investigate and to help the Estonians beef up their electronic defenses.

"This is an operational security issue, something we're taking very seriously," said an official at NATO headquarters in Brussels. "It goes to the heart of the alliance's modus operandi."

Read more here

BITS gone bad

This is via Computerworld there was a discussion almost exactly one year ago to the day about this little situation with BITS.

Enjoy

Hackers hijack Windows Update's downloader:

Stealing Windows' BITS gets bad code past any firewall
--------------------------------------------------------

May 10, 2007 (Computerworld) -- Hackers are using the file transfer component used by Windows Update to sneak malware past firewalls, Symantec researchers said today.

The Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) is used by Microsoft Corp.'s operating systems to deliver patches via Windows Update. BITS, which debuted in Windows XP and is baked into Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista, is an asynchronous file transfer service with automatic throttling -- so downloads don't impact other network chores. It automatically resumes if the connection is broken.

"It's a very nice component, and if you consider that it supports HTTP and can be programmed via COM API, it's the perfect tool to make Windows download anything you want," said Elia Florio, a researcher with Symantec's security response team, on the group's blog. "Unfortunately, this can also include malicious files."

Florio outlined why some Trojan makers have started to call on BITS to download add-on code to an already compromised computer. "For one simple reason: BITS is part of the operating system, so it's trusted and bypasses the local firewall while downloading files."

Malware, particularly Trojans, which typically first open a back door to the system for follow-on code, needs to sidestep firewalls to bring additional malicious software -- a keylogger, for instance -- to the PC. "[But] the most common methods are intrusive [and] require process injection or may raise suspicious alarms," said Florio.

"It is novel," said Oliver Friedrichs, director of Symantec's security response group. "Attackers are leveraging a component of the operating system itself to update their content. But the idea of bypassing firewalls isn't new."

Symantec first caught chatter about BITS on Russian hacker message boards late last year, Friedrichs added, and has been on the lookout for it since. A Trojan spammed in March was one of the first to put the technique into practice.

"The big benefit BITS gives them is that it lets them evade firewalls," said Friedrichs. "And it's also a more reliable download mechanism. It's free and reliable, and they don't have to write their own download code."

Although BITS powers the downloads delivered by Microsoft's Windows Update service, Friedrichs reassured users that there was no risk to the service itself. "There's no evidence to suspect that Windows Update can be compromised. If it has a weakness, someone would have found it by now.

"But this does show how attackers are leveraging components and becoming more and more modular in how they create software. They're simply following the trend of traditional software development," said Friedrichs.

Florio noted that there's no way to block hackers from using BITS. "It's not easy to check what BITS should download and not download," he said, and then offered some advice for Microsoft. "Probably the BITS interface should be designed to be accessible only with a higher level of privilege, or the download jobs created with BITS should be restricted to only trusted URLs."

Microsoft was unable to immediately respond to questions about unauthorized BITS use.

Original Article

Remembrance

Good looking and a hybrid hard drive? You bet!

I want that!

Have a look at this LG Notebook:






















Dual Core T5300
1GB Ram 667 DDR2
120GB 2.5" MH80 Hybrid Drive
14.1" WideSreen display
ATI® Mobility™ Radeon® X2300
(128MB VRAM, *HyperMemory™ Support)

Have a look here

Microsoft decides to F-up your Pc with the new version of WGA

Ok I know I tend to complain about Microsoft my fair share and the fact that I still use it irritates some, but to bad I think Windows in itself is a great product. It is when Microsoft decides to do something like they did to me this morning that I get pissy and write about it.
When I logged onto my pc this morning I had an AU(auto update) available, it was the "NEW" Microsoft WGA tool mentioned here.
According to the article it was Opt-in right? WRONG!!! I'll explain.
Upon declining to install this new version of WGA, I was greeted with the typical are you sure and don't display this message again prompts, no problem. But as soon as I opened Windows Media Player 10 it shot up an error like this:












What the hell! So I opened the detail tab and what did await me?
This oh so helpful page:









Gee thanks for the information Microsoft!!!

Now please note that I had in no way opted-in nor downloaded the or WGA update this was a push by Microsoft and it totally screwed my morning!

Every day I get closer and closer to going Linux only and this is another large push in that general direction. Simply because I don't want my pc calling Microsoft I can't use Windows Media Player 10? WTF!!!

German Handballers celebrate title at BK?

Look at the crowns!

What's on your Thumb Drive?

I decided to compose a list of what's on my USB thumb drive(128MB) version, My 512MB and 1GB are a mess but this little baby is my pride and joy. 54.3MB of computer fixing fun in an easily accessible format. To organize all the programs I utilize Pegtop's PStart, I love free software!

Here are the screen shots of my PStart interface, broken down by sub-category:







Here is the entire list:
7-Zip - Freeware compression and file manager
Autoruns - Comprehensive listing of autostarts by Sysinternals
Calc - Common windows calculator
CCleaner - Portable version of CCleaner
Checksum Calc - CRC, MD5 and SHA1 hash program
cureit - My custom Dr.WEB CureIt!
CyberShredder - File shredder/eraser
DeepBurner1.08 - Freeware version of Deepburner
DirPrint - JRdirprint portable and free
dtaskmanager - Extended taskmanager
Ewido - Ewido(GriSoft) Micro stand alone scanner
FileAssassin - Unlocks and deletes files in use
FileZilla - Best open source FTP program
FoxIT - Stand alone PDF viewer
Hash - Another hash program CRC32, MD5, and SHA1
HDDScan - Diagnose Hard disk errors
Hex Cyngus - Hex file editor
HexEditor - HDD Hex editor 2.3 NOT 3.0
ICEECC - File verification and repair tool
IrfanView - One of the most used graphics views today
KeyFinder - Magic Jellybean key finder 1.5
KFLite - Key finder thing lite
lads - List Alternate Data Streams
LCISOCreator - Simple ISO creation utility
NetStatViewer - Graphic replacement for NetStat
NetWorkScanner - Softperfect network scanner
Notepad++ - Universal text editor
odbg110 - Olly debugger 1.10 reverse engineering app
PFE - Programmers file editor(discontinued)
PK204g - Command line PKWare(Oldie but goodie)
PMMon - Power management viewer(battery status etc.)
ProcessExplorerNt - Another Sysinternals masterpiece
RDP - Remote Desktop client courtesy of Windows
RegCleaner - A Microsoft original
ReNamer - Comprehensive file renamer by Den4b
RootkitRevealer - Again Sysinternals
SIW - System Info for Windows v1.66
TcpView - And Sysinternals again!
TerraIM - AOL/ICQ IM program
TweakUI - One of Microsofts very useful tools
Undelete plus - Recover those oops files easily
UniExtract - Unpack or Unarchive almost anything!
virtualcd - A virtual CD mounter from Microsoft
WhatChanged -A system snapshot utility(Not avail)
WinDiff - File comparison tool in the SP2 ResKit
xvi32 - Small fast Hex editor
xyplorer - Great Explorer replacement Xyplorer 4.5
Zip2Sfx - Freeware SFX creator

CTFMon.exe - Removal

What Is the Ctfmon.exe (Ctfmon.exe) File?
Ctfmon.exe activates the Alternative User Input Text Input Processor (TIP) and the Microsoft Office Language Bar.

What Does the Ctfmon.exe File Do?
Ctfmon.exe monitors the active windows and provides text input service support for speech recognition, handwriting recognition, keyboard, translation, and other alternative user input technologies.

See this Microsoft knowledge base article to remove: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q282599

Vista "Craplets"

'Craplets' could damage Vista launch: Microsoft exec.

A senior Microsoft Corp. executive says the company is concerned that uncertified third-party software loaded onto new computers by manufacturers could hurt the launch of consumer versions of its Windows Vista operating system later this month.

In a discussion Tuesday night at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the Microsoft official told CBC News Online, on condition of anonymity, that the world's largest software maker is frustrated by legal shackles that prevent the company from restricting what kinds of software major computer makers install on new PCs.

Read the original article at the CBC

I have to say that I do see Microsoft's point with this, most users will blame them for any and I mean ANY problems with Vista. When in all actuality a majority of the time it is 3rd party applications that are at fault.

Did you get your child a new computer over the holidays? Read on

With the threats worldwide to our children from internet predators every little step we take to protect them counts.

What can you do you ask?

Education - This the most important factor in dealing with these issues, a simple don't talk to strangers will not cut it in todays world as children as a whole love to interact with others online. And may easily fall prey to internet whacko's.

The folks over at MSBLOG have a great post on this very subject here so sit down with your children and watch and discuss this topic to better protect our youth.

I also highly recommend the Report Desktop Abuse Client a well desinged program to help your children immediately report offenders/sites that target them.

Kid safe Search engine

Many of us try to shield our children from offensive websites using software and hardware to filter out the "bad" why not have a search engine designed for kids?

the people over at Zoo.com thought the same way and launched a kid safe search engine back in Q4 of 2006, kudos folks!

http://www.Zoo.com/

Corporate vs Home AV software - why is it lighter?

I see this question asked many times around the Internet in different places or some derivative there of.

First off what people need to understand is that companies rarely update their computer systems as fast as you would at home. A large company roll-out takes at least a year from start to finish, not to mention that is a large chunk of change to spend. If you are missing the resources to complete either of these tasks, your upgrade may happen pieces at a time or not until the resources are allocated.

Another reason is application compatibility, this goes hand in hand with the above statement. If you don't have the resources to test manage the new systems what good would they do your company?

What does this have to do with AV software you ask?
The above examples leads to "legacy" systems being ever present in a corporate environment, since legacy systems are much less powerful than what you would use on a normal day at home the AV industry has taken note and tries to keep the resource usage down.

Speaking of resource usage, this is kept down in most corporate antivirus' by "dialing down" the protection at the end user level.
You may think that is a little crazy but what needs to be kept in mind is that in a corporation there is much more supporting hardware in the network to alleviate threats at the entry points rather than at the end user level. Thus negating the need for "useless bloat" in the program.

The last major reason in my opinion is user intervention, in a corporate environment work stations are managed by the respective IT departments and require little, or more often no user intervention. In complete contrast home users are expected to be able to manage their own systems and more than often they fail miserably in this respect. Just have a look at the root cause of botnet effectiveness. Antivirus vendors realized this early on and are trying to automate and more clearly explain the needs and actions of their software solutions, thus increasing "heaviness" of the utilities.

So in conclusion to the main question of "Why are corporate antivirus solutions lighter than home versions" there is not an almighty above all reason, but in general it is due to user intervention, needs, and money.

I hope this post shed some light on the situation, and please note this is not a definitive answer but rather a general observation.

HTH

Exploit surfaces for Windows Vista/XP/2003

Well seems this exploit provides an escalation of privileges to an ALREADY authenticated user.

eWeek article below:
Vista Exploit Surfaces on Russian Hacker Site


I can't yet tell how this is going to effect the adoption of Microsofts self proclaimed "Most secure operating system yet"

Since it is not publically available yet the threat seems low, but if businesses weren't leery enough of adoption yet then this might help seal it. But who knows, definately not me!!

Later

Latest adventure with software

Well this one is going to be quick, but here goes. I was trying to open a large.rar file with IzArc and it froze so I took a step back fired up taskmgr and killed the service. Well needless to say it was not that easy, take a look at the screencap below.

I can't remember when the last time I had to do a manual shutdown and reboot of Windows XP. This just goes to show that more than likely it is the software built for Windows vice Windows itself that is the culprit.

How do I know you ask? Well 7zip, Winrar, Winzip, and Pkzip all worked fine.

Nice find for the holiday season

I was surfing LifeHacker this week and came across the posting from digitalFAQ.com about the DVD+/- media ie. life expectancy and quality of DVD-r's and thought it would be great information to put out in more channels as the holiday season is filled with new technology gifts.

You can read the repot online via the DigitalFAQ link above or download it in pdf here.

ciao!

First AVERT notice for Vista is here

Tonight I received the first AVERT notice for the new Microsoft Windows Vista operating system, all I have to say is "here we go..."

For those that don't know AVERT stands for "AntiVirus Emergency Response Team" and is run by McAfee.

You can read the whole article here, but I doubt you want to it is boring unless you are a geek, hey wait a second.....

Nostalgia

Today I have been working on my recovery disk and ran into a program that needs to create a boot floppy, it has been over 5 years since I had a computer with a floppy in it and god only knows how long since i actually used one. So I brought out the USB floppy and started to create the disk. In the middle of the process something struck me as odd, and I was damned if I could figure it out. During the VM's boot sequence I hit me like a ton of bricks, it was the sound of the floppy humming away. Almost soothing, like running into a person from your past that stirs up fond memories. Just you and those 25 floppies to "trial" Windows95 from your friend whos new computer came with the companion cd.

Ok so some may think that is taking it a little far but I suggest you give it a shot, makes me want to install Windows 3.11 from floppies again just to play Doom.....

Ahh the memories...

I must be tired.

Lack of activity

I would like to humbly apologize for the lack of activity here lately. I am actively searching for a job and that takes up most of my time. Hopefully once the phone interviews and face to faces are done I will be able to put up some more informative posts.

And yes I know that practically no one reads my blog, so mainly this is a message to myself.

Later...

Wipe it!

Ok first off hope everyone had a good holiday here in North America.

Secondly, over at LifeHacker they had a nice little DLD called Undelete plus, and yes it does exactly what it sounds like. But it also gives you the ability to wipe the found files.
PRESTO!! no more files, how securely they are deleted I cannot confirm, I assume it is one to three wipes. For a completely free program this is a wonerful deal.

Until next time...