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- Vista activation cracked
- The inquirer reported that Microsoft’s unhackable activation of Windows Vista has been hacked by brute force.The method is simple but effective; using the power of modern PC’s the crack hacks away trying to guess valid keys in a brute-force manor. Once a genuine key is correctly guessed it can...
- Tags: Legal, Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows Vista
- Blog posts 2007-03-03
- Microsoft Word gets ODF support
- Users of Microsoft’s Word 2003 are now able to read, edit and save files in ODF format OpenDocument. The OpenDocument format is based on XML but can also take the form of a compressed archive which in turn contains files graphics, directories and other useful data. Despite the...
- Tags: Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Word, Open Source, OpenDocument Format, Openoffice
- Blog posts 2007-02-26
- Vista UAC: A security manager's perspective
- Microsoft’s UAC has come under intense fire. It appears that the consensus among security researchers is that UAC is not an effective security control. An example of the arguments against relying on it as a workstation access control is contained in an eWeek article by Lisa Vaas (“Microsoft:...
- Tags: HIPAA, Identity Theft, It Management, Malware, Microsoft, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft&rsquo, s UAC, Security, Tom Olzak, Viruses, Vista, Vista UAC, Windows Vista
- Blog posts 2007-02-27
- Don't Ignore the My Places bar
- One of my favorite short cuts is the My Places bar, although I wish Microsoft would stop prefacing everything with “My.” The pronoun isn’t friendly; it’s juvenile. Despite its name, the bar is a great timesaver once you customize it. The My Places bar first appeared in Office 2000. It’s...
- Tags: Uncategorized, Microsoft Office
- Blog posts 2007-04-08
- Windows Longhorn Server (successor to Windows 2003 Server)
- Not much has been said about Longhorn Server thus far with most of the talking aimed at the much anticipated Windows Vista successor to Windows XP. Windows Longhorn Server is slated to arrive in 2007. Windows Longhorn Server and Windows Vista really need to be homeruns for Microsoft. Failures here...
- Tags: Longhorn, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Longhorn, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows 2003, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, operating system, security, server, steven s. warren, The Hot Button, Windows Longhorn Server
- Blog posts 2006-11-28
- Optimize Virtual PC
- Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 is Microsoft’s flagship workstation software virtualization product. After installing Virtual PC and loading your environment, follow these 10 steps for optimal performance.
- Tags: Microsoft Virtual PC 2004, PC, steven s. warren, Uncategorized, Virtual Pc, virualization
- Blog posts 2007-02-28
- PIM synchronisation with the help of .mac
- Recently, I know, I’ve been talking a lot about the joys of switching to Mac; and at risk of annoying those who don’t really care, I wanted to mention how I deal with personal information management PIM synchronisation under Mac OS X.Synchronisation of personal information such as appointments, contacts and...
- Tags: Synchronisation, Software, Os X, Mac, General, Data Synchronisation, Apple
- Blog posts 2007-04-23
- CRM solutions don't often include IT details, but they should
- Even though IT is integral in implementing any form of full-scale Customer Relationship Management CRM solution, IT departments at opposing companies rarely have anything resembling a synergistic relationship. The reason, of course, is that IT is most often not the customer. We act more as a...
- Tags: Comments, CRM, CRM solution, Customer Service, Enterprise, general, Healthcare, Hit, information technology, patch management, Patching, Practices, relationship building, server, Virus
- Blog posts 2006-12-18
- Microsoft warn of more 0-day attacks
- Microsoft recently released a security advisory (932553) warning of new “zero-day” attacks using a vulnerability in Microsoft Office 2000, XP, 2003 and 2004 for Mac. The advisory reports that in order for the attack to be successful a user must open a maliciously crafted document.Excel is currently the preferred...
- Tags: Security, Antivirus, Mcafee, attack, Microsoft Corp., XLS
- Blog posts 2007-02-05
- Microsoft confirms Vista Speech Recognition remote execution flaw
- After my initial reports on the first Vista Remote Exploit, a Microsoft spokesperson responded to me with the following message.Thanks for your patience as I looked into this. I heard back from the folks at the MSRC, and they let me know that Microsoft is investigating public reports of a...
- Tags: Security, News, Vista, Desktop, speech recognition, speech recognition feature, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Vista
- Blog posts 2007-01-31
- Can Windows Vista put security vendors out of business?
- I believe some security vendors are worried about their future -- and rightly so. The out-of-box experience for Windows Vista will include a two-way outbound and inbound firewall, anti-spyware protection, an operating system that asks for permission prior to allowing administrative tasks, and a redesigned Internet Explorer 7 that works...
- Tags: firewall, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows XP, security, security company, spyware, spyware protection, steven s. warren, The Hot Button, Windows Vista
- Blog posts 2006-11-16
- Save the penguins with Linux?
- The British government recently claimed that systems running Linux are greener than those running Windows operating systems. Why? Quite simple—a report by the US Department of Government Commerce claims that comparing equivalent systems running on Linux and Windows, the Linux systems will require less memory and slower processors...
- Tags: General, Microsoft, Environment, Government, Open Source, Windows Vista, Linux
- Blog posts 2007-03-26
- SSTP: Microsoft's SSL VPN
- For years IPSec has been the reigning protocol for establishing VPN connections. However, challenges facing organizations attempting to use this technology to facilitate roaming user access are forcing network managers to look at SSL VPN as an alternative. Not to be left behind, Microsoft is working on its...
- Tags: Encryption, End-user Communication, IPSec, It Management, Longhorn, Microsoft, networking, Security, SSL, SSL VPN, SSTP, Telecommuting, Tom Olzak
- Blog posts 2007-01-22
- Vista is not ready for the corporate world
- The honeymoon is over.Reality has set in since I upgraded to Windows Vista last month; the jubilee I first felt running Windows Vista has gradually come to a frustrating halt. Oh, VENDORS.Yes, third party Vendors are ruining my Windows Vista experience. I can’t even begin to tell you how many...
- Tags: Uncategorized, The Hot Button, Microsoft, Windows Vista, steven s. warren, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Vista, administrator, software
- Blog posts 2007-02-05
- Security alerts often go unnoticed by IT pros. Why?
- In a time when data security is so important, how well does your company monitor who is accessing your data? My guess is not very well at all. Even though corporate compliance laws such as HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley help keep data protection fresh on the minds...
- Tags: alarm, Analysis, Audit, Beliefs, Bill Elmore, Compliance, Data, Data Breach, Data Security, Enterprise, Hipaa, Identity Theft, information technology, IT Security, Privacy, Security, security alert, Sox
- Blog posts 2007-01-08
- Getting to Secure Internet Identity Management
- Considering the coverage it got, it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that in a February 6, 2007 keynote address at the RSA conference in San Francisco, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and Microsoft chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie announced the software giant’s support for OpenID. Gates and...
- Tags: CardSpace, Identity Theft, IE, InfoCard, Internet, It Management, Longhorn, Microsoft, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows CardSpace, OpenID, Relying Party, Security, Tom Olzak
- Blog posts 2007-02-12
- Vista can't do it alone
- Microsoft as an organization has been loudly touting the security improvements in Windows Vista when compared to XP. However, there seems to be some dissention within the software giant’s ranks.According to Mark Russinovich, a technical fellow in Microsoft’s Platform and Services Division, hackers will simply adapt their attacks to...
- Tags: Vista, Windows, UAC, Security, It Management, Hacking
- Blog posts 2007-04-24
- The problem with NetBIOS
- During the past week, our engineering team and I have been having a discussion about what to do about a problem involving the use of Microsoft SMS to patch laptops connected via SSL VPN. The issue is the apparent requirement that we open NetBIOS ports through the SSL VPN...
- Tags: Compliance, Cybercrime, HIPAA, Internet, It Management, NetBios, networking, Security
- Blog posts 2007-03-26
- RootKits 101
- As Windows users, it seems we are under continuous attack from viruses, trojans, spyware and malware. It is a constant battle to keep machines free and clean. As if there already isn’t enough to worry about, rootkits are blasting onto our desktops and servers at an alarming rate. It is...
- Tags: Microsoft Windows, rootkit, Rootkits, steven s. warren, The Hot Button, Windows Vista
- Blog posts 2006-11-21
- Windows Vista can be as expensive or inexpensive as you want it to be
- Security. When I hear this word it is comforting to me as it should be to you. Windows XP SP2 has been a very secure release for Microsoft. Windows Vista is touted to be the most secure release of Microsoft to date and I tend to agree. But … If...
- Tags: hardware, Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Vista, operating system, Security, steven s. warren, The Hot Button, Windows Vista
- Blog posts 2006-12-11
Harnessing the power of waves
Planting solar gardens
Fill your car for $1.10 a gallon?