AVG is a smaller application, so it does not bloat your system with features that you will never use.  I am yet to ever need the Lotus Email function in my Symantec products….but I did pay for it! AVG offers neat, effective protection which stays silently minimized in your system tray and only activates when needed to protect your system.

This is precisely one of the best things about AVG Anti-Virus. It works completely in the background, without the need of half the system resources and of course, without constantly bothering you with warning windows or update messages. You can just go on with your work and you won’t even notice you have an antivirus application up and running.  The default install has slightly more verbose language than I like, but you can edit the settings and disable these notifications.

AVG Anti-Virus features real time system protection against viruses and spyware, an email scanner, special plug-ins for Office and a browser toolbar that lets you browse the web safe and sound. Please note that installing the AVG Toolbar with Yahoo! obviously installs the Yahoo! toolbar.  You can opt to not install it if you choose.

The whole package should be enough to ensure you’re not infected with any virus. Also, the program integrates seamlessly with Windows Explorer, thus allowing you to scan files from context menus by right clicking. AVG Anti-Virus’s database is automatically updated on a daily basis so you are always protected even from the most recently discovered threats.   You can obviously change the settings as to how frequently the database is updated.  From what I have seen, the database is very comprehensive and provides more than adequate protection.  The program supports scheduled scans as well so for those that are super paranoid, you can have it run every night, or every week without having to sit there.

AVG is offered in English, German, French, Italian, Portuguese and Brazilian (Portugese) and works on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 and many Linux flavours.  We’ll have more articles on that later.

Special Offer

Get AVG Anti-Virus 9.0 – 2 years for the price of 1! today.

We’ll start from the assumption that you actually installed Version Cue. To use a Version Cue Server, you’ll need to turn it on and configure initial settings. Once you’ve configured initial settings, you can configure additional Version Cue Server settings in the Version Cue preferences and specify advanced server settings (such as enabling SSL) in Version Cue Server Administration.

For a video on setting up the Version Cue server, see Version Cue Video.

1. Do either of the following:

Click Start My Server in the Adobe dialog box or in Adobe Bridge.

Open the Control Panel and double-click Adobe Version Cue CS3 (Windows) or click Adobe Version Cue CS3 in System Preferences (Mac OS), and then click Start.

Version Cue starts Version Cue Server Administration and displays the Initial Configuration window.

2. In the Initial Configuration window, specify a system administrator password in the Password text box.
Note: Be sure to note the password you specify. If you forget the system administrator password, you’ll need to reinstall the Version Cue Server.

3. Specify a name for the server in the Server Name text box.

4. Choose an option from the Server Visibility menu:

To prevent other users in your network from seeing the server, choose Private. Private Version Cue Servers can be accessed only from your local computer.

To make the server visible to other users in your network, choose Visible To Others. (You must configure the server to be visible to grant others access to projects on the server.)

Note: If Version Cue is installed on a Windows computer that uses a firewall and you want to share the server with others, make sure that TCP ports 3703 and 5353 are left open. If you’ve enabled SSL for the Version Cue Server, also leave port 3704 open. If Version Cue CS2 is installed on the same computer, also leave port 50900 open (and 50901 if you’ve enabled SSL).

5. Choose an option from the User Accounts menu:

To enable users to access the server without an existing user account, choose Automatic User Creation. If you select this option, Version Cue creates a new user account without a password when a new user accesses the server.
If you enable automatic user account creation and then subsequently enable LDAP support, LDAP users are automatically imported when they access the server with their LDAP account name. Users imported in this fashion are added to the Everyone group, given a user access level of None, and are not able to log into Version Cue Server Administration. Use this technique to automatically assign LDAP users default access rights to projects on a Version Cue server without having to explicitly import users.

To specify that only named users, defined in Version Cue Server Administration, can access the server, choose Manual User Creation.

6. Click Save & Continue to log in to Version Cue Server Administration and specify advanced server settings.

Set Version Cue Server preferences

You can configure many Version Cue Server settings in Version Cue preferences, such as the amount of RAM available to Version Cue and the location of the Data folder. To configure advanced settings, such as enabling SSL, changing the name of the Version Cue Server, specifying server log options, resetting user locks, or backing up the server, you must use Version Cue Server Administration.

Access Version Cue Server preferences

1. Do one of the following to access Version Cue preferences:

Open the Control Panel and double-click Adobe Version Cue CS3 (Windows) or click Adobe Version Cue CS3 in System Preferences (Mac OS).

In Windows, double-click the Version Cue icon  in the system tray at the lower-right of the screen.

In Mac OS, click the Version Cue icon  in the menu bar at the top of the screen, and choose Version Cue CS3 Preferences from the menu.
Note: The Version Cue icon is hidden by default. To make it visible, select Show Version Cue CS3 Tray Icon (Windows) or Show Version Cue CS3 Status In Menu Bar (Mac OS) in Version Cue Server preferences.

2. Click the Settings tab in the Adobe Version Cue CS3 dialog box.

Make the Version Cue Server visible

1. To grant others access to shared Version Cue projects on the server, choose Visible To Others from the Server Visibility menu. To hide the Version Cue Server from other users, choose Private.

Note: If Version Cue is installed on a Windows computer that uses a firewall and you want to share the server with others, make sure that TCP ports 3703 and 5353 are left open. If you’ve enabled SSL for the Version Cue Server, also leave port 3704 open. If Version Cue CS2 is installed on the same computer, also leave port 50900 open (and 50901 if you’ve enabled SSL). For instructions, see Windows Help.

2. Click Apply.

Specify a workgroup size

1. From the Workgroup Size menu, choose the number of people who use the Version Cue Server on a typical day. This setting controls how the Version Cue Server handles the potential load.

2. Click Apply.

Keep the Version Cue icon visible

1. Select Show Version Cue CS3 Tray Icon (Windows) or Show Version Cue CS3 Status in Menu Bar (Mac OS) to keep the Version Cue icon visible.

2. Click Apply.

Turn Version Cue on when the computer starts

1. Select Turn Version Cue CS3 On When The Computer Starts.

2. Click Apply.

Connect to remote servers

Note: You can perform this task only if you have access to the full Version Cue feature set. See Accessing Version Cue features.

When you need to work on Version Cue projects that are located on a different subnet, you can use the IP address of the computer to access the remote Version Cue Server, as long as it is configured to be visible to other users. Version Cue Servers within your subnet that are configured to be visible are visible automatically.

1. Do one of the following:

In Acrobat, Flash, Illustrator, InCopy, InDesign, or Photoshop, choose File > Open. If you’re using the OS Dialog box, click Use Adobe Dialog. Click Version Cue in the Favorites panel, and choose Connect To Server from the Tools menu or Connect To from the Project Tools (Acrobat) menu .

In Bridge, choose Tools > Version Cue > Connect To Server.

2. In the Connect To Server dialog box, type the IP or DNS address and port of the Version Cue Server (for example, http://153.32.235.230). If you’re connecting to a server that is on the same system as a Version Cue CS2 workspace, append the port number 50900 to the end of the Version Cue URL (for example, http://153.32.235.230:50900).
Display the Version Cue Server Administration login page to identify the Version Cue URLs that remote users and WebDAV applications need to access the server. Alternatively, view the URLs in the Inspector in Bridge.

3. Click OK.

A shortcut to the remote server is automatically included in your list of available Version Cue Servers.

Connect to a Version Cue Server using WebDAV

Adobe recommends managing non‑Adobe files with Adobe Bridge. However, if you’re collaborating with other users who don’t have access to Adobe Bridge, they can use the Version Cue WebDAV Server URL to access projects on a Version Cue Server.

You can access a Version Cue Server by using a WebDAV-enabled application, such as a Microsoft Office application. In Windows, specify a project on a Version Cue Server as a network place by specifying the project’s WebDAV URL. In Mac OS, specify the project’s WebDAV URL by using the Connect To Server Command from the Finder. Before attempting to connect, refer to your application’s documentation on using its WebDAV features.
Enter the Version Cue WebDAV URL, the port number (3703, or 50900 if you’re connecting to a server that is running on the same system as a Version Cue CS2 workspace), webdav, and the project name. For example: http://153.32.235.230:3703/webdav/ project_name

The Azure solution has been designed to help developers deploy web-based services centred around Visual Studio quickly and easily by not having to worry about the infrastructure costs or overhead that are typically associated with application delivery.

Once a you are ready to deploy you can select how many nodes you want to use in the Microsoft cloud of computing power, you reserve a those nodes and pay for just those node.  As your web service becomes more popular, you can log in to the management web site and increase the node count with just a few clicks.
Windows Azure pricing is based on how much storage, bandwidth and computing time an application uses.

Visit the Windows Azure Community Technology Preview

Read the Microsoft Press Release

The Microsoft service is playing catch up to the Amazon.com service that has been around for quite some time, called Elastic Computing Cloud (Amazon EC2).

The major difference that pushes Amazon.com’s solution ahead of Microsoft is the fact that it is no based on one solution.   With just a few clicks you can deploy a Linux, OS X or a Windows solution with prebuilt images. 

Amazon’s solution is priced according to how much storage (cheap), bandwidth (not as cheap) and computing time (relatively cheap).
To use Amazon EC2, you simply:

• Create an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) containing your applications, libraries, data and associated configuration settings. Or use pre-configured, templated images to get up and running immediately.
• Upload the AMI into Amazon S3. Amazon EC2 provides tools that make storing the AMI simple. Amazon S3 provides a safe, reliable and fast repository to store your images.
• Use Amazon EC2 web service to configure security and network access.
• Choose which instance type(s) and operating system you want, then start, terminate, and monitor as many instances of your AMI as needed, using the web service APIs or the variety of management tools provided.
• Determine whether you want to run in multiple locations, utilize static IP endpoints, or attach persistent block storage to your instances.
• Pay only for the resources that you actually consume, like instance-hours or data transfer.

You can read more about Amazon EC2 here.

Obviously, the best bets are the commercial software since it is in their best interest to be at the top of the game.  The shareware solutions although they are excellent are not always the most up to date.  But if your bank account is empty, they will do the trick.

Spybot Search & Destroy v1.5 – is by far the best anti-spyware solution. It offers real-time protection through its TeaTimer function (even though it is a little annoying).  The signature database is quite comprehensive, containing about 106.700 entries at the time when I reviewed it.  You can find additional documentation here including how to automate the scans.

Ad-Aware 2007 Free v7 – is one of the most well-known anti-spyware solutions. Most of the features are disabled and only available if you purchase the software.  It is nonetheless an excellent product to use.

AVG Anti-Spyware Free Edition v7.5 – is a free trial version of AVG Anti-Spyware Pro that disables most of its features after 1 day of use. So, initially you get a fully featured anti-spyware solution that offers real-time protection and automatic updates. After that you will be asked to buy the "Pro" version or, you can continue using it for free but with less features. Eventually you will be left with only the anti-spwyare engine. You will have to manually update the application and also make manual scans of your system. Even so, AVG Anti-Spyware Free Edition v7.5 is a good solution that offers a good detection engine and a very nice and easy to use interface.

Comodo BOClean Anti-Malware v4.25 – is a strange application since once you install it, it runs silently in the background as a memory-resident application without giving you any warning messages, pop-ups, or anything else. The GUI appears ancient and has only minimal configuration options.  It is an excellent tool, but you will find yourself wondering if it is actually doing anything – but don’t worry – it is!

Spyware Terminator v2 – is probably the most full featured and robust spyware removal tools out there. It offers effective real-time protection without sacrificing too many system resources. The number of updates & signatures is excellent, the features and spyware detection rate are almost as good as the scanning speed.

SpywareBlaster v3.5 – just like Comodo BOClean, this application acts like a prevention tool that protects your PC from spyware, adware, dialers, browser hijackers, and other potentially unwanted programs. Unlike Comodo, SpywareBlaster does not update itself automatically. If you want the ‘Auto Update’ feature you will have to buy a license key. The interface is better than Comodos but, even so, it still feels like an outdated application.

Some of the tips are obvious…..but people aren’t very bright so the obvious has to be stated.

1). Read the ratings.  Most Torrent sites have User Feedback Areas, if it’s reported as a Fake, then it probably is.  You will have a user or two who are working with the forger who will “pad the stats” but generally speaking if it’s fake it’ll be listed as such.

2). Download the Preview.  Some Torrents offer Sample.avi files so that you can see the quality.  Download it first and look at the quality, if it looks like part of the trailer….it’s a fake.  Don’t download it.

3). RAR Files.  If the file is RAR-ed stay away from it.  The file is most likely password protected and to get the password you will need to visit a web-site or install software.  SCREW THAT!  You’re begging for a virus then!  ZIP Compression passwords can be easily cracked so they go with RAR so that you have to visit their sites and generate traffic for them.

4). aXXo is a real person.  aXXo does exist and has phenomenal movies.  The fraudsters taint his good name by releasing fakes.  You can find the official list of his offerings here and here.  If you are picking them up from anywhere else, you are most likely going to get fakes.

5). Size Matters.  aXXo releases are built for a CD.  One CD.  That’s it.  If it says aXXo and is 2GB, it’s not real.  Stay away from it.

6). Watch for misspelled words.  Forgers are not the smartest and their grammar and spelling are atrocious. If the title of the movie is not spelled correctly, don’t download it.

7). Use P2P Guardian.  Use P2P Guardian for your downloads.  The MPAA has in the past released fake films to trap people.  P2P Guardian blocks the IP Addresses of MPAA, Government and Law Enforcement agencies so you won’t be able to download anything from them, and they can’t see what you are downloading.  If the download won’t start or it’s really slow, it’s a fake.

8). Use FakeFinder.  FakeFinder is a software utility that will block out fake files and those who are hosting and tracking them.  A+ software.

Follow this guide and happy downloading!

• Windows 2003 Standard Server
• Windows 2003 Enterprise Server (32-bit and 64-bit versions)
• Windows 2003 Datacenter Server (32-bit and 64-bit versions)
• Windows 2003 Web Server

The following is an overview of each edition.

Standard Edition

Windows Server 2003 Standard edition is an ideal choice for most network chores. It supports
four-way symmetric multiprocessing (SMP), and 4GB of RAM. You can use Standard
edition for Network Load Balancing (but not for Cluster Services) and for Terminal
Server hosting.

In any organization, this edition is perfect for file services, supporting Distributed
File System (DFS), Encrypting File System (EFS), and Shadow Copies. You can also use
Standard edition for Remote Installation Services (RIS), and for web services. This
edition can run all network management services, .NET application services, and
multimedia. You can use Standard edition as an all-purpose server for departmental
and small-site locations. For small organizations, Standard edition works well in any
role, from providing file and print services, to acting as a domain controller.

Enterprise Edition

Enterprise edition is the bigger brother to the Windows Server Standard Edition created to meet all the needs of businesses of all sizes.
It supports eight-way SMP, 32GB of RAM in the 32-bit version, and 64GB of RAM
in the 64-bit version. It can be part of the server clusters, handling up to eight nodes.
The ability of this edition to scale makes it a good choice for any role in an organization,
offering a solid base for applications, web services,
and infrastructure management.

Enterprise edition replaces Windows 2000 Advanced Server.

Datacenter Edition

The BIG brother of the Windows platform, Datacenter edition supports 32-way SMP
in the 32-bit version, and 64-way SMP in the 64-bit version. It can handle 64GB RAM in
the 32-bit version, and 512GB RAM in the 64-bit version. Eight-node clustering is built
in. As with its Windows 2000 version, Datacenter is available through OEMs who
participate in the Datacenter program, and who provide support. This edition is ideal of large multimillion dollar organization looking for a stong backbone for the IT infrastructure.

Web Edition

This a new Windows Server product and is built to develop and run a web site. It includes IIS 6.0,
and other components that let you host web applications, web pages, and XML web
services. You cannot use Web edition to install any network management services, such as Active Directory, DNS
services, or DHCP services, nor can you run web server farms that require clusters. Web edition is not available as a retail product; you must
purchase it preinstalled from an OEM, or from a Microsoft System Builder partner.

Before we begin, you need to have access to the system, this is not for breaking into a system, but rather recovering a password to an account without destroying it.  If you are looking to break into a Linux Box because you’ve forgotten the password follow the instructions here or here.

The passwords in linux systems are typically stored (encoded) in the file /etc/passwd, but with the shadow suite installed, you’ll see an ‘x’ in the password field in /etc/passwd, and the password will be stored in /etc/shadow.

Here is a portion of my shadow file. The password hash field begins with $1$.

Now if you want to get/crack/recover the password you need to use a program called John the Ripper.  To install it, open Terminal and type;

sudo apt-get install john

Then to crack the password type

sudo unshadow /etc/passwd /etc/shadow > mypasswd

sudo john mypasswd

Now in my scenario I purposefully used a simple password just for speed.  If the password is a dictionary word, or short, it will be cracked almost instantly.  If the password has special characters or is long, it will obviously take longer.

Once the password is cracked if you type;

sudo john –show mypasswd

You will see the username and the password in clear text, and the best part of all is that the account has not been damaged in any way.

When you play the video you’ll be presented with a screen telling you that you don’t have the appropriate player and that you need to visit a particular website to get the player.

http://download.domplayer.com/

Once you download it, it will most likely say that you are not in a country that they can accept payment from!  Bullshit!

They then redirect you to another site.  The 3wPlayer.  This is the spyware laden piece of crap.

Often the files themselves are pretty good, it’s just the header information that is being incorrectly read.  There are two tracks for video in an AVI file and most player read one of them.  This player picks up the other one, making the file play a few seconds and the rest appear to be garbage.

You can download a utility from Wildman Productions that will remove the crap and allow you to play the video normally.

It is mirrored on our site here.

Once you download it, just simply run the file.

In the Input File click the browse button to locate the file.

Click corresponding button in the Output File section to specify where you want to save the file.

When you are ready click Convert.

In about 20 seconds your file will be repaired and you can play it in Windows Media, VLC, Quicktime….whatever you want!

The technique involves modifications to the system’s HOSTS file.  What is the HOSTS file you ask?  For you newbies out there a HOSTS file is a computer file used to store information on where to find a node on a computer network. This file maps hostnames to IP addresses.

So?  Who cares right?  Wrong!!!!  Observe this simple technique to hijack your computer without you ever knowing or suspecting!

The trick is to get you to download and install my little program, or execute my ActiveX control, or for me to plant it in some shareware somewhere, a million different ways of me delivering it to your computer.  As part of the program I have a simple entry in your HOSTS file.  A typical HOSTS file should look like this;

No big deal.  But if my little program modifies your HOSTS file to appear as the one below;

When you launch your web browser and type in www.google.com you are redirected to www.goitexpert.com my friend!  Same with the Citibank Web Login.  You get sent to www.goitexpert.com.  You can use this technique to set up a fake web site.

Even the title in the address bar says http://www.google.com since as far as the browser is concerned, you are at Google’s web page.  Try the technique for yourself!

This is where you get into trouble.  If I wanted to “rip off” Citibank’s web site, I could and you would never know it.  The address would still appear as if it were Citibank’s and you would try logging in as you normally do, and you wouldn’t be able to login.  But I would have your username and password!

By the time you realized what has happened, you would be broke!

How do you stop this type of attack?  You can obviously buy Anti-Virus Anti-Spyware software, but they won’t help much.  My HOSTS file actually has several needed entries and neither my anti-virus or spyware software has ever complained about entries in the HOSTS file.

The sure fire way to prevent HOSTS file abuse is to mark it read-only.  Locate your HOSTS file in c:windowssystem32driversetc and right-click on it.

Go to Properties and put a checkmark in the box that says Read-Only.

As a result of this you will be prompted whenever an attempt is made to write an entry to this file.  The prompt will say that you are trying to modify a read-only file and will prevent the action.  Unless of course the coder was smart enough to try and modify the attributes before hand.

Oh but you use Linux so you are safe from this technique?  WRONG!! The /etc/hosts file is just as vulnerable.  If you are logged in as a user that can modify system files, you are vulnerable, and often to install software you have to be logged in as root or at least with sudo rights.

You should mark the /etc/hosts file as read-only as well.

Shred is a simple command line utility that’s included with many Linux distributions, and it repeatedly overwrites a file with garbage data to render the file unrecoverable. Used in its simplest form (simply ’shred <filename>’), it will overwrite the file 25 times to obscure everything in it, and leave the file on your drive. But with the addition of command arguments, Shred becomes much more powerful and effective.

The shred command arguments are: [from the Shred help file]

-f, –force (change permissions to allow writing if necessary)
-n, –iterations=N (Overwrite N times instead of the default (25))
-s, –size=N (shred this many bytes (suffixes like K, M, G accepted))
-u, –remove (truncate and remove file after overwriting)
-v, –verbose (show progress)
-x, –exact (do not round file sizes up to the next full block; this is the default for non-regular files)
-z, –zero (add a final overwrite with zeros to hide shredding)
–help (display help and exit)
–version (output version information and exit)

For example, to delete a file called temp.log securely, open Terminal and type

shred -vfzu temp.log

which would turn on verbose mode (v) to show you what Shred is doing,
force file permissions to enable you to shred the document (f),
add a final overwrite of zeros to hide the shredding (z),
and then delete the file (u).

To add shred to the context menu open Terminal and type;

sudo apt-get install nautilus-actions

Then go to System – Preferences – Nautilus Actions Configuration.

Click import and select the shred.schemas file. When you restart your shell it will appear in the context menu.

NOTE: While this tool is helpful, and much better than ‘move to trash’, it is not a 100% secure method of data removal. Note that the man page for shred, has a caution warning that journaled file systems like ext3, ext2 and Reiser render this less effective since data is not necessarily overwritten in the exact same location as the original file.