Short summary: To continue to provide backward compatibility for older (poorly written) applications, Microsoft will likely not patch what may become one of the most dangerous vulnerabilities in Windows. It effects all versions, even the newest Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems. System administrators must manually test and patch each system according to what critical applications are used - to prevent business critical systems from breaking completely - or risk infection.
For a decent analysis on what the problem is, and why Microsoft likely won’t be releasing a hot fix via Windows Update see this article:
ars technica : Windows DLL-loading security flaw puts Microsoft in a bind
A Microsoft KB article was released last night announcing a mitigation fix available to system admins. The process includes adding a new REG key and installing a hotfix that enables that key on the OS.
Restrict the DLL search path algorithm (Machine Global, Application Specific, WebDAV or Remote Folders) KB2264107
Please note that if you intend to deploy this fix you will need to manually apply the patch to each system and import a reg key.
Test all business critical apps on this patch before you deploy widely!
In my opinion Microsoft should bite the bullet on this in favor of security – this is potentially one of the most dangerous exploits we shall see this decade. Expect rampant virus infections very soon on un-patched systems. The catch-22 is that deploying this fix will likely break older 3rd party software that used dangerous DLL calling methods. (No names, but there were some big companies that did this right up until last year - “financial software” cough cough.)
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Tabnabbing - new phishing technique
Ever walk away from your computer, or change focus to a different application for a while and forget where you were surfing?
Might want to be careful. A new phishing proof of concept that affects Firefox, Chrome, IE 8 and most other browsers that support simple scripting and tabs might fool you into thinking you were about to log onto your email account -- or your bank!
It's called Tabnabbing, and a malicious site might use it to change the information on a web page to something that looks like your bank, Gmail account, or even a gaming account log in page. (Hit that link above to see more info as well as a harmless working demo of the technique.)
Quote:
How The Attack Works
1. A user navigates to your normal looking site.
2. You detect when the page has lost its focus and hasn’t been interacted with for a while.
3. Replace the favicon with the Gmail favicon, the title with “Gmail: Email from Google”, and the page with a Gmail login look-a-like. This can all be done with just a little bit of Javascript that takes place instantly.
4. As the user scans their many open tabs, the favicon and title act as a strong visual cue—memory is malleable and moldable and the user will most likely simply think they left a Gmail tab open. When they click back to the fake Gmail tab, they’ll see the standard Gmail login page, assume they’ve been logged out, and provide their credentials to log in. The attack preys on the perceived immutability of tabs.
5. After the user has entered their login information and you’ve sent it back to your server, you redirect them to Gmail. Because they were never logged out in the first place, it will appear as if the login was successful.
/quote
You know the drill by now: inform your friends, parents, siblings, co-workers and make sure that official looking log in page to which you're about to respond is one YOU pulled up - not one that just happened to be there when you got back from that bio-break.
UPDATE: If you use Firefox with NoScript, version 1.9.9.81 of said NoScript includes an experimental tabnabbing blocker.
Might want to be careful. A new phishing proof of concept that affects Firefox, Chrome, IE 8 and most other browsers that support simple scripting and tabs might fool you into thinking you were about to log onto your email account -- or your bank!
It's called Tabnabbing, and a malicious site might use it to change the information on a web page to something that looks like your bank, Gmail account, or even a gaming account log in page. (Hit that link above to see more info as well as a harmless working demo of the technique.)
Quote:
How The Attack Works
1. A user navigates to your normal looking site.
2. You detect when the page has lost its focus and hasn’t been interacted with for a while.
3. Replace the favicon with the Gmail favicon, the title with “Gmail: Email from Google”, and the page with a Gmail login look-a-like. This can all be done with just a little bit of Javascript that takes place instantly.
4. As the user scans their many open tabs, the favicon and title act as a strong visual cue—memory is malleable and moldable and the user will most likely simply think they left a Gmail tab open. When they click back to the fake Gmail tab, they’ll see the standard Gmail login page, assume they’ve been logged out, and provide their credentials to log in. The attack preys on the perceived immutability of tabs.
5. After the user has entered their login information and you’ve sent it back to your server, you redirect them to Gmail. Because they were never logged out in the first place, it will appear as if the login was successful.
/quote
You know the drill by now: inform your friends, parents, siblings, co-workers and make sure that official looking log in page to which you're about to respond is one YOU pulled up - not one that just happened to be there when you got back from that bio-break.
UPDATE: If you use Firefox with NoScript, version 1.9.9.81 of said NoScript includes an experimental tabnabbing blocker.
Monday, April 5, 2010
PDF's are the new vector for malware - and now PDF worms are coming
I've ranted in the recent past about PDF vulnerabilities based on exploitable holes or embedded javascript.
Now comes the real warning about the near future: A built-in feature inherent to the PDF format can be used to run arbitrary code on your machine . . . without using javascript or any actual vulnerabilities. The only mitigation is that Adobe at least asks the user if code might be run -- but some tricky social hacking can still cause unaware users to click OK on the wrong box.
Worse, another growing competitor to Adobe: Foxit PDF, does not even warn the user that code is about to be invoked. It just quietly lets the code run without any user interaction!
For a YouTube video demo of this nasty feature in action:
PDF: Launch a Command
For a downloadable test to try your luck with your favorite third party PDF reader see:
Escape from PDF credit to Didier Stevens.
And for the extension of this logic towards the inevitable PDF driven worm, see:
Are PDF's Wormable?
YouTube Video: PDF Worm Demo - No JavaScript Required
The authors are not releasing the method, but I can tell you that once the concept is released, which it has been, someone on the wrong side will figure it out soon enough.
Adobe, Foxit and other PDF reader providers need to look into this ASAP.
Edit: Thanks to theweaselking in the comment below -- Foxit Reader has an update that will change the behavior to match Adobe's product in this scenario. If you use Foxit make sure you've accepted the latest updates.
Of course - I would rather have three changes from both companies.
1) Make the message that asks the user for permission immutable.
2) Give us an option to turn off the third party viewer feature entirely -- just like we can turn off JavaScript in the Preferences. Such calls from within a PDF would be totally ignored.
3) Bonus! How about fixing Adobe and Foxit so they run properly as a Low Integrity Process in Vista and Windows 7 (and Windows Server 2008 / R2.) Mandatory Integrity Control in Win 7 and Vista works very well as another barrier to malware by forcing high risk processes to run at lower permissions than the OS. Unfortunately many popular utilities that should be considered high risk do not take advantage of this feature.
Now comes the real warning about the near future: A built-in feature inherent to the PDF format can be used to run arbitrary code on your machine . . . without using javascript or any actual vulnerabilities. The only mitigation is that Adobe at least asks the user if code might be run -- but some tricky social hacking can still cause unaware users to click OK on the wrong box.
Worse, another growing competitor to Adobe: Foxit PDF, does not even warn the user that code is about to be invoked. It just quietly lets the code run without any user interaction!
For a YouTube video demo of this nasty feature in action:
PDF: Launch a Command
For a downloadable test to try your luck with your favorite third party PDF reader see:
Escape from PDF credit to Didier Stevens.
And for the extension of this logic towards the inevitable PDF driven worm, see:
Are PDF's Wormable?
YouTube Video: PDF Worm Demo - No JavaScript Required
The authors are not releasing the method, but I can tell you that once the concept is released, which it has been, someone on the wrong side will figure it out soon enough.
Adobe, Foxit and other PDF reader providers need to look into this ASAP.
Edit: Thanks to theweaselking in the comment below -- Foxit Reader has an update that will change the behavior to match Adobe's product in this scenario. If you use Foxit make sure you've accepted the latest updates.
Of course - I would rather have three changes from both companies.
1) Make the message that asks the user for permission immutable.
2) Give us an option to turn off the third party viewer feature entirely -- just like we can turn off JavaScript in the Preferences. Such calls from within a PDF would be totally ignored.
3) Bonus! How about fixing Adobe and Foxit so they run properly as a Low Integrity Process in Vista and Windows 7 (and Windows Server 2008 / R2.) Mandatory Integrity Control in Win 7 and Vista works very well as another barrier to malware by forcing high risk processes to run at lower permissions than the OS. Unfortunately many popular utilities that should be considered high risk do not take advantage of this feature.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
"We're suing you" spam technique tries to get you to open infected attachments
It's my understanding (but I'm not a legal expert) that if you were actually being served as a defendant in ANY legal action, you would be getting physical paper delivered to you one way or another.
Email legal summons? I don't think so.
Real law firm, fake spam email, real virus. See the Wall Street Journal article.
This might also be construed as a denial of service on the actual law firms phone lines . . . I can't imagine the pain those guys must be feeling as their phone rings off the hook.
Email legal summons? I don't think so.
Real law firm, fake spam email, real virus. See the Wall Street Journal article.
This might also be construed as a denial of service on the actual law firms phone lines . . . I can't imagine the pain those guys must be feeling as their phone rings off the hook.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Dear NVidia . . .
I don't want your stupid PhysX driver, nor do I want your "3D Vision Discover Driver."
Please give me the option during a driver update to not install those components in the first place.
At least I can uninstall them separately after the fact, but it's extra work for me and my clients. (And usually a second reboot before I can get back to work.)
Signed,
- meh
Please give me the option during a driver update to not install those components in the first place.
At least I can uninstall them separately after the fact, but it's extra work for me and my clients. (And usually a second reboot before I can get back to work.)
Signed,
- meh
Saturday, February 13, 2010
PDF Vulnerabilities, Adobe, Critical Updates and YOU
For some time I've dreaded going through the update process for Adobe Reader and Acrobat. Let's face it; the process is painful and can take a long time if you don't have super-high-speed broadband.
But in the last year being current on Adobe patches has become as important as being current on Windows patches.
Last month we saw an explosion of exploits that entered the victims machine via malformed PDF files. Adobe patched Acrobat and Reader versions 8.x and 9.x to close that exploitable vulnerability in the middle of January.
Now it's one month later and we have a new vulnerability that's already being actively exploited by malware distributors. Adobe will be releasing another new update to block it this coming Tuesday, Feb 16th.
As painful as it is, if you accept PDF's via email or view PDF's on the Internet via any browser - you need to be completely up to date to protect yourself.
If you've been letting Adobe's auto-updater run and accepting updates when it offers them - the pain won't be too bad. If you turned it off in the past, or have ignored the update requests - then you've got up to an hour or so of updates to get through. I suggest you start now, then check again Tuesday night or Wednesday morning for the new patch when it's released.
Here's the painful part if you're behind:
1) If you are running any version older than 8.x, you need to upgrade NOW to 9.x. Get thee to www.adobe.com and download the newest Reader. (On a side note, while you are there, update your Adobe Flash and Shockwave plug-ins for your browser too!) If you bought and use Acrobat 5, 6 or 7 -- it's time to bite the bullet and get the newest version. Remove that old version completely . . . seriously. However there are alternatives that are more affordable. (See the list at the bottom of this post.) If this is you, be sure to completely UN-install the older version first, and reboot even if you are not asked before installing the new version.
2) Open Reader and click the Help, Check for Updates option. (If you're running Vista or Windows 7 you need to right click the Reader icon and "Run as Administrator" first.)
3) Allow the update to download and install. Reboot if asked, no need if not asked.
4) Repeat from #2 until you finally get the message that there are no new updates.
5) If you have Acrobat, repeat the entire process for that as well.
I just did this to a new clients old machine -- it took about an hour to download and install ALL the updates to bring his copy of Acrobat 8.0 completely up to date. It required two reboots. It required several iterations of steps 2 through 4.
My rant: Why can't Adobe provide roll-up updates that would bring any version of 8.x or 9.x completely up to date with one download and install cycle!? I mean jeez, join the 21st century already would you Adobe?
Now: if you have an ancient version of Acrobat, you should know that there is no need to pay Adobe 450 bucks or more to get the ability to create or edit PDF files. Gone are the days of their monopoly on the format. Here are some alternatives that range from free to "less expensive than Adobe" depending on your usage requirements.
If you need to create (but not directly edit) PDF's from any program you can use that programs Print To function using the excellent and free CutePDF Writer. It installs and behaves like a printer, but instead of paper it "prints" to a PDF file in your Documents folder.
If you own Office 2007, and you need to create PDF's only from Office programs, then you can download and install the free Microsoft Office 2007 Save as PDF or XPS add on directly from Microsoft's download site.
If you need to edit, merge, create forms and just about any other creative task relating to PDF's I suggest either CutePDF Professional or the new "Foxit Phantom PDF Suite". They both include page sizes for all professional fields, load very quickly compared to Adobe Acrobat Professional, and do not (yet) have the security problems plaguing Adobe products. (That may change if they become a big enough target.)
And of course, you could always get the latest version of Adobe Acrobat.
Compare features and price, do your research, and decide.
But in the last year being current on Adobe patches has become as important as being current on Windows patches.
Last month we saw an explosion of exploits that entered the victims machine via malformed PDF files. Adobe patched Acrobat and Reader versions 8.x and 9.x to close that exploitable vulnerability in the middle of January.
Now it's one month later and we have a new vulnerability that's already being actively exploited by malware distributors. Adobe will be releasing another new update to block it this coming Tuesday, Feb 16th.
As painful as it is, if you accept PDF's via email or view PDF's on the Internet via any browser - you need to be completely up to date to protect yourself.
If you've been letting Adobe's auto-updater run and accepting updates when it offers them - the pain won't be too bad. If you turned it off in the past, or have ignored the update requests - then you've got up to an hour or so of updates to get through. I suggest you start now, then check again Tuesday night or Wednesday morning for the new patch when it's released.
Here's the painful part if you're behind:
1) If you are running any version older than 8.x, you need to upgrade NOW to 9.x. Get thee to www.adobe.com and download the newest Reader. (On a side note, while you are there, update your Adobe Flash and Shockwave plug-ins for your browser too!) If you bought and use Acrobat 5, 6 or 7 -- it's time to bite the bullet and get the newest version. Remove that old version completely . . . seriously. However there are alternatives that are more affordable. (See the list at the bottom of this post.) If this is you, be sure to completely UN-install the older version first, and reboot even if you are not asked before installing the new version.
2) Open Reader and click the Help, Check for Updates option. (If you're running Vista or Windows 7 you need to right click the Reader icon and "Run as Administrator" first.)
3) Allow the update to download and install. Reboot if asked, no need if not asked.
4) Repeat from #2 until you finally get the message that there are no new updates.
5) If you have Acrobat, repeat the entire process for that as well.
I just did this to a new clients old machine -- it took about an hour to download and install ALL the updates to bring his copy of Acrobat 8.0 completely up to date. It required two reboots. It required several iterations of steps 2 through 4.
My rant: Why can't Adobe provide roll-up updates that would bring any version of 8.x or 9.x completely up to date with one download and install cycle!? I mean jeez, join the 21st century already would you Adobe?
Now: if you have an ancient version of Acrobat, you should know that there is no need to pay Adobe 450 bucks or more to get the ability to create or edit PDF files. Gone are the days of their monopoly on the format. Here are some alternatives that range from free to "less expensive than Adobe" depending on your usage requirements.
If you need to create (but not directly edit) PDF's from any program you can use that programs Print To function using the excellent and free CutePDF Writer. It installs and behaves like a printer, but instead of paper it "prints" to a PDF file in your Documents folder.
If you own Office 2007, and you need to create PDF's only from Office programs, then you can download and install the free Microsoft Office 2007 Save as PDF or XPS add on directly from Microsoft's download site.
If you need to edit, merge, create forms and just about any other creative task relating to PDF's I suggest either CutePDF Professional or the new "Foxit Phantom PDF Suite". They both include page sizes for all professional fields, load very quickly compared to Adobe Acrobat Professional, and do not (yet) have the security problems plaguing Adobe products. (That may change if they become a big enough target.)
And of course, you could always get the latest version of Adobe Acrobat.
Compare features and price, do your research, and decide.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
New attack vector via IE may prompt out of cycle hot-fix from Microsoft
From http://www.itworld.com/security/93009/attack-code-used-hack-google-now-public
and http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10436083-245.html
“The dangerous Internet Explorer [ exploit ]attack code used in last month's attack on Google's corporate networks is now public.”
Short summary of action items:
If anyone you know still uses IE 6 or 7 – for any reason – get them to upgrade ASAP. IE 8 might be vulnerable on XP, likely not on Windows 7 at default security settings (although if the end-user has lowered security defaults on the Internet Zone, or turned off Protected Mode, then all bets are off.)
Firefox 3.5.7 with current versions of the NOScript + Adblock Plus plugins installed and properly used by the end-user is a fairly safe browsing tool.
Not browsing the web until a hot-fix is released is not likely a satisfactory solution, but tempting none-the-less . . .
and http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10436083-245.html
“The dangerous Internet Explorer [ exploit ]
Short summary of action items:
If anyone you know still uses IE 6 or 7 – for any reason – get them to upgrade ASAP. IE 8 might be vulnerable on XP, likely not on Windows 7 at default security settings (although if the end-user has lowered security defaults on the Internet Zone, or turned off Protected Mode, then all bets are off.)
Firefox 3.5.7 with current versions of the NOScript + Adblock Plus plugins installed and properly used by the end-user is a fairly safe browsing tool.
Not browsing the web until a hot-fix is released is not likely a satisfactory solution, but tempting none-the-less . . .
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
New Trojan horse that encrypts files: the .vicrypt file extension
Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10388541-245.html
Symantec's technical description and removal tool:
http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2009-102708-2133-99&tabid=2
There's a new Trojan propagating across the web that encrypts files and changes their extension to .vicrypt. Rather than popup enticements to "offer decryption services" (ransom-ware) to the victim, they are relying on end-users searching for that file extension, in the hopes of landing on the malware authors website, where a tool is being sold.
Now you can get a free removal and decryption tool from Symantec, see link above.
This virus is not yet wide-spread, and hopefully won't become so. But if you see that file extension on your system, you should review the details and get cleaned up.
Symantec's technical description and removal tool:
http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2009-102708-2133-99&tabid=2
There's a new Trojan propagating across the web that encrypts files and changes their extension to .vicrypt. Rather than popup enticements to "offer decryption services" (ransom-ware) to the victim, they are relying on end-users searching for that file extension, in the hopes of landing on the malware authors website, where a tool is being sold.
Now you can get a free removal and decryption tool from Symantec, see link above.
This virus is not yet wide-spread, and hopefully won't become so. But if you see that file extension on your system, you should review the details and get cleaned up.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Prepare for your Windows 7 Upgrade after October 22, 2009
Here are a few tips to help prepare for your Windows 7 upgrade once it's released to the public on October 22nd.
- Run the Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor :
From Microsoft: In general, if your PC can run Windows Vista, it can run Windows 7. But if you're not running Windows Vista, or are just not sure if your system is ready to run Windows 7, there's a quick way to do a simple check.
Just download, install, and run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Beta. You'll get a report telling you if your PC can run Windows 7 and if there are any known compatibility issues. If an issue can be resolved, you'll get suggestions for next steps. For example, it may let you know that you need an updated driver for your printer and where to get it.
- Centralize or identify your data and take a full backup of it:
Make sure everything you care about is either located under your "My Documents" folder, or that you know where it is. When you perform an upgrade to Windows 7, you will find that making a full copy of your data onto an external storage device -- such as a USB drive, then deleting all your data on the old hard drive, will make for a much faster and smoother upgrade experience. Once you've completed the upgrade, copy your data from that external storage back to the proper folders.
- Get Windows 7 compatible drivers for all your system devices in advance:
Go to the sources for your devices: nvidia.com for NVidia video cards for example, Intel for your Intel network adapters, or your motherboard manufacturer for so-called integrated network adapters. Get a copy of each driver, expand it using WinZip or 7zip if needed, all into a special sub-directory on a separate partition or onto that external storage device you used earlier. At the very least get that network driver -- even if you skip the others -- so that once Windows 7 is up and running you can use auto-update to get further drivers as needed.
- Check your hard drives health:
Most problems that I've seen so far with interrupted upgrades were due to hard drive failures that happened before the upgrade. This may be an excellent time to upgrade your hard drive to a newer, faster model . . . You should at the very least force a full chkdsk on your drive. Open a CMD prompt (in admin mode under Vista, or normal under XP) and type: "chkdsk c: /f" and press enter. Answer "Y" without the quotes to any questions asked, then type EXIT and press enter. Now reboot your system and let the scheduled disk check proceed uninterrupted.
You can also do a deeper analysis using any of the excellent tools available online that can read your hard drives SMART status. All attributes from that analysis should read OK. If any show as weak, or failed, replace the drive. Here are two of my favorites:
Speedfan (use the SMART tab to check HDD status.)
Hard Disk Sentinel
- Add more RAM:
Now is the time to finally upgrade your on-board memory. If you're already at 3 or 4GB of RAM, disregard. If not, I recommend adding or replacing your RAM to get to the 4GB level. Windows 7 will run under less, but it will run great if it has more memory to use -- and so will your applications. If you're sitting at 2GB or less, it's highly recommended that you upgrade.
- Check your RAM's health:
One of the more . . . interesting . . . scenarios where an upgrade can fail is when some of your RAM has gone bad. It worked fine on the old system, but Windows 7 uses more RAM than older operating systems and will reveal weaknesses that you did not know existed. Before you upgrade - and even when you buy new RAM - you should test the installed memory to be sure it's in good shape.
A decent memory tester can be found at:
Memtest86+
Download the ISO and burn it to a CD, then boot to that CD and run the test through at least two full passes. If you get a 100% pass, you're good to go.
- Consider upgrading to the 64 bit version of Windows 7:
If your hardware is fairly recent, and you have 4GB or more of RAM, then you will find that Windows 7 64-bit will run faster, be more stable, and is more secure against some of the worst exploits on the internet than the 32-bit edition. This will likely require a clean install for you though, so it's up to you to balance your needs and scenario. Windows 64-bit is much more compatible with older applications than any previous 64-bit OS from Microsoft, plus there is a much larger library of drivers for old and new devices for 64-bit than ever before.
- Run the Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor :
From Microsoft: In general, if your PC can run Windows Vista, it can run Windows 7. But if you're not running Windows Vista, or are just not sure if your system is ready to run Windows 7, there's a quick way to do a simple check.
Just download, install, and run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Beta. You'll get a report telling you if your PC can run Windows 7 and if there are any known compatibility issues. If an issue can be resolved, you'll get suggestions for next steps. For example, it may let you know that you need an updated driver for your printer and where to get it.
- Centralize or identify your data and take a full backup of it:
Make sure everything you care about is either located under your "My Documents" folder, or that you know where it is. When you perform an upgrade to Windows 7, you will find that making a full copy of your data onto an external storage device -- such as a USB drive, then deleting all your data on the old hard drive, will make for a much faster and smoother upgrade experience. Once you've completed the upgrade, copy your data from that external storage back to the proper folders.
- Get Windows 7 compatible drivers for all your system devices in advance:
Go to the sources for your devices: nvidia.com for NVidia video cards for example, Intel for your Intel network adapters, or your motherboard manufacturer for so-called integrated network adapters. Get a copy of each driver, expand it using WinZip or 7zip if needed, all into a special sub-directory on a separate partition or onto that external storage device you used earlier. At the very least get that network driver -- even if you skip the others -- so that once Windows 7 is up and running you can use auto-update to get further drivers as needed.
- Check your hard drives health:
Most problems that I've seen so far with interrupted upgrades were due to hard drive failures that happened before the upgrade. This may be an excellent time to upgrade your hard drive to a newer, faster model . . . You should at the very least force a full chkdsk on your drive. Open a CMD prompt (in admin mode under Vista, or normal under XP) and type: "chkdsk c: /f" and press enter. Answer "Y" without the quotes to any questions asked, then type EXIT and press enter. Now reboot your system and let the scheduled disk check proceed uninterrupted.
You can also do a deeper analysis using any of the excellent tools available online that can read your hard drives SMART status. All attributes from that analysis should read OK. If any show as weak, or failed, replace the drive. Here are two of my favorites:
Speedfan (use the SMART tab to check HDD status.)
Hard Disk Sentinel
- Add more RAM:
Now is the time to finally upgrade your on-board memory. If you're already at 3 or 4GB of RAM, disregard. If not, I recommend adding or replacing your RAM to get to the 4GB level. Windows 7 will run under less, but it will run great if it has more memory to use -- and so will your applications. If you're sitting at 2GB or less, it's highly recommended that you upgrade.
- Check your RAM's health:
One of the more . . . interesting . . . scenarios where an upgrade can fail is when some of your RAM has gone bad. It worked fine on the old system, but Windows 7 uses more RAM than older operating systems and will reveal weaknesses that you did not know existed. Before you upgrade - and even when you buy new RAM - you should test the installed memory to be sure it's in good shape.
A decent memory tester can be found at:
Memtest86+
Download the ISO and burn it to a CD, then boot to that CD and run the test through at least two full passes. If you get a 100% pass, you're good to go.
- Consider upgrading to the 64 bit version of Windows 7:
If your hardware is fairly recent, and you have 4GB or more of RAM, then you will find that Windows 7 64-bit will run faster, be more stable, and is more secure against some of the worst exploits on the internet than the 32-bit edition. This will likely require a clean install for you though, so it's up to you to balance your needs and scenario. Windows 64-bit is much more compatible with older applications than any previous 64-bit OS from Microsoft, plus there is a much larger library of drivers for old and new devices for 64-bit than ever before.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Migration in Process from Livejournal
This space under construction . . . I'm in the process of migrating all my Livejournal entries (sadly, sans comments) over to Blogger. Due to a Google imposed limitation of 50 posts per day -- to prevent abuse -- this will take me at least a week from today.
Once the posts have been successfully moved, I will lock the LJ side and continue my musings about computer security right here on Blogger.
Thanks for your patience while the dust settles!
Thanks to http://linuxlore.blogspot.com for his excellent Blog2Blog application, which is making this chore much more feasible than I first suspected!
Once the posts have been successfully moved, I will lock the LJ side and continue my musings about computer security right here on Blogger.
Thanks for your patience while the dust settles!
Thanks to http://linuxlore.blogspot.com for his excellent Blog2Blog application, which is making this chore much more feasible than I first suspected!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)