Computer Tips -Tech Info

Tag: xp

  • Windows Vista Beta notes…

    What follows are some notes that I’ve taken on the Vista beta that I installed into a VM. I’ve got a lot of toying around yet to do with it (and at least one Internet Explorer bug I want to mention.) But… I’ll go ahead and post this. [warning – rambling and long text…]

    A few days back I undertook an effort of self torture. After finally getting the Vista Beta 2 downloaded and having Vmware server up and running I thought I’d give a go at installing and see what things looked like. I did NO pre-googling for tips and so this is a pure “discover as you go” process.

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  • More Vista talk coming in

    While, I’m still waiting to get the Vista Beta download anyway… I’ve seen the first of what I expect will be many posts out and about complaining about the upcoming OS from Microsoft. Admittedly it’s a beta and after seeing a lot of beta-release candidate – final cycles from open source software, I’m sure much will change. However…. some good points are raised.

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  • Windows Vista Beta download

    Yes, this is legitimate and officially sanctioned. Microsoft is releasing the beta version of Vista Ultimate for download. This page gives details on the download. It is also possible to request a dvd. (The download is a dvd iso – a bit over 3 GB). It will expire June 1, 2007 (I assume Vista will be out by then…) It should be able to upgrade an existing XP install or do a fresh install (PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS WITH YOUR MAIN DESKTOP WITHOUT SERIOUS BACKUP FIRST.) It will be unable to roll back to the previous OS (fresh wipe and install would be required.)

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  • I’ve NEVER liked UPNP…. now I have another reason….

    I remember the first Windows XP vulnerability was a Upnp vulnerability. I have made one of my first visits on any new XP system a visit to grc.com to disable it on an XP workstation. But, it’s the great thing – makes life so much easier for setting up network devices. “You just don’t like it cause it puts you out of business….” It looks like Upnp is a really “malicious hacker friendly” kind of thing, especially when it’s installed and running on a gateway router… let’s say you have a hardware firewall with Upnp. Normally, you plug in an IP camera and maybe the IP camera uses Upnp to open a port so it’s accessible from the outside world. Nice, simple right? Well… what if you download a “browsing experience enhancement toolbar” that opens up another port on the firewall so you can act as a mail relay?

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  • Quickbooks “An error has occurred in the script on this page”

    I ran into an install of Quickboos Pro 2005 that was having a peculiar problem. When any company file was opened I was seeing an Internet Explorer Script Error message (quickbooks uses Internet Explorer to parse the company page ( Usually C:\Program Files\Intuit\Quickbooks\Components\Pages\Comppage.qpg ) The error basically said “An error has occurred in the script on this page” it gave a line and char number and there were three different Error: messages. One was Object Required and another was Class not registered. This is a Windows XP Pro system with all current updates for windows AND quickbooks.

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  • Windows XP Print what’s on the screen or make a screenshot using the … print screen button

    This is one that’s not as obvious as it should be. Every keyboard has a “print screen” button – usually it’s in the group over above the insert/home/pageup/delete/end/pagedown block. Sometimes (especially on laptops) it’s shared with something else. But…. most people will notice if they press “print screen” on a windows pc… not much seems to happen. (On my KDE/Linux desktop it pops up a program called ksnapshot…) If the print screen key is shared with another function (say on a laptop) you may need to press the function button at the same time as the print screen button to get the following to work.

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  • Exploit Prevention in software

    There’s been a lot of talk about hardware enforced DEP as a mitigating factor in some of the exploits in the last six months. There’s also a new software product that can limit the impact of zero-day exploits. The software is for windows and is called SocketShield. Suzi at Spyware Confidential has taken it for a testdrive on an unpatched XP system through some nasty exploit sites….

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  • The Vista stories keep coming – Vista bad news for small security companies

    VuNet has an article today on the coming of Vista and the imminent doom of the smaller security companies. The hardest hit will be anti-spyware and personal firewall vendors they say. It may well be true, it does sound like a different approach to user permissions (limited priviliges by default?) IE7 running in a sandbox, i.e. no permission to touch anything else …. which should cut down on the spread of browser exploits turning machines into spyware infested bots…

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  • Vista’s rocky road….

    Microsoft hasn’t got a lot of positive free publicity about Vista that I’ve seen. I read about a Gartner Group suggesting that it wouldn’t be available until 2nd quarter 2007. (Which was shortly after Microsoft said they wouldn’t make 4th quarter 2006 if I recall…) I’ve seen a lot of analysts talking about how the really big features they were excited about have been shelved to get it out the door. And, well… of course, I don’t expect a positive, rah-rah Microsoft article from the Register… but they’re reporting on a Yankee Group analysis of the upcoming OS…

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  • Microsoft updates for May

    It looks as though there are two critical updates to be had today, one moderate/low (depending on the OS version.) The critical updates are one biggy for Exchange server which is reported to break some functionality with regards to Blackberry -> exchange server integration… This is an obviously important patch to get in since the vulnerability would allow for remote code execution. The other critical patch….

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