Personal Computing Demystified.
Windows 7
Windows 7 SP1 – sorry for the hype.
Jul 21st
I’ve been running Windows 7 SP1 for about a week now.. and it has been largely underwhelming. I knew that there were no new features in the service pack, mainly just specific bug fixes and a few low-level security fixes – I guess I was expecting more. Maybe a shiny SP1 badge or something. Oh well. So, why would Microsoft release a hodgepodge of patches in this manner? I think I know the reason – Corporate Adoption. There’s an unwritten rule in IT shops across the globe – don’t install a new Microsoft OS until it reaches service pack 1 status. IT managers would rather read about the trials and tribulations of installing the latest and greatest OS from an outside source than from an internal email from the sysadmins they employ. While I believe that Windows 7 is seeing higher adoption rates (that statement is based on how we’re handling it in my company) it still hasn’t attained that magical SP1 badge and that *might* be keeping some folks away from deploying it.
So.. brass tacks. When SP1 pops up for you to install via Windows Update – go for it. As with any update be sure you have a backup just in case.. and if you’re not doing backups, you should be. Click here for my thoughts on that.
Happy Computing!
Read PDF Files? You might be asleep at the wheel and headed over the cliff..
Jul 7th
Back in March of this year a security expert figured out a way to use a specially-crafted Adobe PDF file to cause your computer to run an executable file embedded in that PDF document. If you understood what I just wrote there’s a pretty high likelihood that you heard about the flaw and did your Adobe update last week when the patch was released. If you didn’t really get any of that you’re probably one of millions of people who don’t pay attention to the little blinking update icons sitting down there in your system tray. If that’s you, you need to change your ways! Most of the virus and malware issues I see are a result of two things: outdated virus subscriptions and missing system updates. Updates, especially Windows updates can be tedious. This is one of those things that you just have to do, so make the time!
Important Updates to do:
- Antivirus (it should be doing this automatically)
- Windows Updates (I’m not a fan of auto-applied updates – do them manually as the icon pops up)
- Java updates (these are less frequent, do them as they come up)
- Adobe updates (also infrequent, so catch them when they arrive)
Software updates are a fact of life on any platform – including Mac and Linux. In fact.. Linux updates come out much more frequently than Windows updates. Manage these little annoyances and you’ll have fewer computer issues!
`Tis the season.. but don't donate that PC yet.
Dec 7th
With the release of Windows 7 in time for the holiday buying season I’ll bet that more than one of you plan to purchase a new PC this year.. and you may already have. Congratulations! You’ll certainly
Photo by ercwttmn
enjoy better performance and increased efficiency from your new system, no doubt. So, what do you do with your old system? You could pass it down to a family member – many folks do that. You could keep it and use it for the kids. You could prop a door open with it. The list goes on and on. If you’re like most folks though.. you’ll gather up that old PC and take it down the street to your favorite charity and donate it for the good feeling and the tax writeoff. If this is your plan, STOP! Charity is a great thing.. but you need to think this through. You have personal data on that PC. You’ve done your online banking on that PC. You’ve probably allowed your browser to save some of your passwords on that PC. Just a few of the above items are more than enough information to allow someone to gain access to your entire electronic life at your expense. Did you attempt to delete the data? That delete key on the keyboard probably doesn’t work the way you think it does. For example.. say I keep a Word document on my hard drive that has all of those passwords that I don’t want to forget in it. I’ve decided after some time that I’m going to sell my old computer at a yard sale, so I go to “My Documents” and delete the file before I sell it. The file doesn’t show up in “My Documents” anymore and I’ve emptied my recycle bin, so it is gone, right?
Wrong. Very Wrong.
What really happened inside the guts of your machine is this: your operating system marked the spot where that file lives on disk as “overwriteable” so the space on disk can be used later. The file is still very much there, only hidden. Theoretically.. I could purchase your machine, take it home, remove the hard disk and plug it into my already-running PC with an adapter. I can run one of several programs I have for examining your old hard disk and “undelete” those files.. and Voila! I have your password file.
I’m going to do a little experiment. I’m going to head to my local donation center and purchase a used PC. I’ll bring it home and do just what I illustrated and see what I can see. I’ll chronicle the experience here to illustrate what I’ve been talking about and I’ll then properly destroy what I’ve found. Stay tuned!
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