Lessfeet

I’m always saying use good passwords. Use upper and lower case letters and numbers. I do all of this but one has to have an algorithm to remember ones passwords. The problem is in order to use the password algorithm it has to be easy. Something you can do in your head. My algorithm is so easy that if you discovered one of my passwords it would be no problem to figure out the rest. An algorithm that you can do in your head must be more difficult and hopefully you have the gray matter to use it or you must try something else.

LastPass is the answer. LastPass generate pseudorandom passwords for you and store them on a secure website. Then LastPass can auto-fill passwords as you need them. It can even log you in automatically. It took me a while but I generated all new passwords for all of my logins, they are all different and they are saved securely on the LastPass site.

Are you secure on the net? May you are! Maybe you aren’t! The Internet
is always being monitored by hackers, bots and other things looking for
computers that have open ports that can be attacked.

ShieldsUP is a site from the security and harddrive expert Steve Gibson at GRC.Com.

ShieldsUp scans your computer to see if there are any vulnerable ports
on you computer to exploit. See if you computer is vulnerable.

Steve along with Leo Laporte host a security podcast call Security Now which covers many advanced security topics.

That’s right! Never pay for an anti-virus or spy-ware programs again. Microsoft has a new anti-malware program and they are giving it away. Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spy-ware, and other malicious software. It’s easy to install. It effortless to use and Security Essentials does not slow your computer down as far as I can tell. For XP, Vista and Windows 7. Download it today.

One of the more stupid things I’ve heard said over the years of working in tech support is “Install this free CA Security Suite. It will remove the viruses (viri) that are slowing your Internet down.” WRONG! If you are installing an anti-virus because you are having problems, don’t! A full anti-virus not only will not help you it will most likely add to your problems.

If you think your problem might be caused by something infecting your system try these online scanners instead…

Kaspersky free online virus scanner
BitDefender Online Scanner
Eset
McAfee FreeScan
Trend Micro HouseCall

If these sites don’t work for you it may be a side-effect of a virus. In this case I would reinstall.

It is well known that no one should be running there computer logged in as an administrator. When you run as administrator you are running a risk of getting infected with something (virus [viri], spyware, others). When you run as a admin (Short for administrator) anything that can access your user-account has the same privileges as you (admin) so everyone should be using an account with lesser credentials.

XP Home: I know nothing works when you run as a limited user on XP Home and it is all but imposible not to run as admin except when using “SteadyState” a great program from Microsoft to edit user privileges and keeps your computer’s software in perfect working condition .

In Vista: After creating an admin account, login to “admin account”. Once logged in go to “Users Control Panel”, select “Admin” account and “Create Password”, select your user and switch Type to “Standard”.

When your in your standard user account and you do anything that will change the system it will prompt you for the password. You should think long and hard before putting in this password.

Windows XP Pro: This can be done in Windows XP Pro but it is much harder to configuer using GPE (Group Policy Editor). SteadyState is a much better choice for non-experts.

It is well known that no one should be running there computer logged in as an administrator. When you run as administrator you are running a risk of getting infected with something (virus [viri], spyware, others). When you run as a admin (Short for administrator) anything that can access your user-account has the same privileges as you (admin) so everyone should be using an account with lesser credentials.

It is confirmed! What I said about WPA was correct. If you use a very strong password when using WPA-TKIP you are safe from everyone but the most determined hacker. They would have to really want to get in your network pretty bad to set in front of your house for days and may weeks with a very criptic password. Still they would not have full access. I still have not switched my wireless to WPA2 but I have a great password. Get your perfect passwords from GRC!

I’ve previously posted about Sandboxie. I use and think it works well but I don’t know why or how. Here is an intire

Security Now podcast

I have actually been incorrect! There has been a problem with WPA wireless encryption. I was misinformed! There is a problem with the variety of WPA called WPA-TKIP. It still would take great effort and time to crack it if the password was good but to be on the safeside change your settings to WPA2-AES. If your router does not have WPA2 just use WPA-TKIP and a really good password. Get them here!

Truecrypt is a free open-source disk encryption software for Windows Vista/XP, Mac OS X, and Linux. I installed and used it on thumbdrive and then a partition of a harddrive. It was easy to setup and use. It worked flawlessly! True would be a excellent solution for those who need to carry confidential information on a laptop.

Main Features:
* Creates a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mounts it as a real disk.
* Encrypts an entire partition or storage device such as USB flash drive or hard drive.
* Encrypts a partition or drive where Windows is installed (pre-boot authentication).
* Encryption is automatic, real-time (on-the-fly) and transparent.
* Provides two levels of plausible deniability, in case an adversary forces you to reveal the password:
1) Hidden volume (steganography – more information may be found here).
2) No TrueCrypt volume can be identified (volumes cannot be distinguished from random data).