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Windows Secrets Newsletter • Issue 224 • 2009-12-10 • Circulation: over 400,000 |
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BONUS DOWNLOAD
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Table of contents INTRODUCTION: Free subscribers: watch for an invite next week TOP STORY: Secure flash drives keep you safe on the road KNOWN ISSUES: Credit-card extended warranties come in handy WACKY WEB WEEK: Tetris may not be so random after all LANGALIST PLUS: How to correct Msconfig ghost entries IN THE WILD: Windows 7 suffers from Server Message Block flaw PATCH WATCH: ATL flaw makes IE vulnerable to attack |
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INTRODUCTION Free subscribers: watch for an invite next week
By
Brian Livingston
I announced last month that all newsletter subscribers would be invited into a new, totally free service that we've been quietly developing on the Windows Secrets site. Paid subscribers received advance invites on Dec. 2, and in just a few days it'll be the free subscribers' turn to splash around in the resource pool. Every subscriber to the free version of Windows Secrets will receive an invitation via e-mail on a random date between Dec. 14 and 16. Our notifications will go out in a gradual series, so we don't overload the place with all 400,000 of us at once. The message will include a link as your free ticket into the service. Be assured that the message isn't a phishing hoax. The e-mail will bear your reader number at the top. This is a "shared secret" that no spammer could know. I won't repeat here all of the goodies that you'll enjoy access to. For details, simply visit my Nov. 26 column. Then watch your inbox early next week for a holiday gift that we're extremely proud to give you. Thanks for your support! Brian Livingston is editorial director of WindowsSecrets.com and co-author of Windows Vista Secrets and 10 other books. |
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TOP STORY Secure flash drives keep you safe on the road
By
Scott Dunn
In a Sept. 24 Top Story, I described how to evade keyloggers when using a public PC by storing your personal information on a flash drive. If you don't mind paying a little extra to maintain your privacy and security, a specialized flash drive called IronKey can help you stay safe while using an untrustworthy computer. Anyone concerned about security — and that's just about everybody — should consider using a flash drive to transport sign-in info and other personal data when traveling. Following my story on thwarting keyloggers, several readers suggested the IronKey flash drive as an even-stronger security measure. Billing the device as the "world's most secure flash drive," the company claims IronKeys are waterproof, tamperproof, and able to endure extreme physical conditions. Beyond the sheer ruggedness of its devices, each of which is encased in metal, the firm takes multiple approaches to securing your data. The first time you use an IronKey device, the product prompts you to create a master password and set up an account on the IronKey.com site. As part of the sign-up process, you're asked to provide answers to personal questions that can be used to identify you if you forget your password. You can also select images and provide a passphrase to help you authenticate e-mail sent to you by IronKey and thus avoid being fooled by a phishing mail. After you complete these steps, the product goes through its authentication routine and then is ready to use. Hardened flash drive is one tough nut to crack The first time you use your IronKey flash drive, you need to enter the master password to do pretty much anything. If you forget or lose the password, you can sign in to the IronKey site to retrieve it. If you lose the drive itself, you can report it lost so that no one else can sign in to your account. The setup routine creates an IronKey icon in the notification area of the Windows taskbar. When you click this icon, you're presented with a main menu and control panel. In this way, IronKey is similar to U3 flash drives and portable application suites such as winPenPack. (See my Oct. 18, 2007, Top Story for more on portable apps and U3 drives.) You can customize the IronKey menu by adding shortcuts to any other portable apps you install to the drive. IronKey's identity manager lets you store user names and passwords for the sites you frequent, so you can sign in with a simple point-and-click. Because the IronKey device provides your password directly to any secure sites you visit, keyloggers see no keystrokes to capture. IronKey preinstalls a version of Firefox on the drive, which means no cached or temporary files are left on the computer you're using. If, for some reason, you can't or won't use Firefox, not to worry. You can choose instead to open an Internet Explorer window while the IronKey drive is in place. The device inserts an icon onto IE's title bar to give you access to IronKey's menu choices. These are only a few of IronKey's many security features. Others of note include the following:
You'll find more information about the product on the IronKey site. Create your own secure, bootable flash drive If you don't want to shell out for an IronKey, you can still use a flash drive for added security when you have no choice but to use a shared computer. One strategy is to load an entire operating system onto a flash drive and then boot from it rather than the PC's hard drive. Be aware, however, that many Internet cafés won't let you boot their computers using a flash drive. Even if you can boot a public PC from a flash drive, doing so is unlikely to evade hardware keyloggers. Still, you may find booting from a flash drive useful in some cases. In my Mar. 20, 2008, Top Story, I discussed how to install a version of Linux on a flash drive . If you'd prefer to load Windows XP onto a flash drive, instructions are provided in WS contributing editor Mark Edwards's Mar. 27, 2008, PC Tune-Up column on the subject. Scott Dunn is associate editor of the Windows Secrets Newsletter. He has been a contributing editor of PC World since 1992 and occasionally writes for the Here's How section of that magazine. |
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KNOWN ISSUES Credit-card extended warranties come in handy
By
Dennis O'Reilly
Most experts recommend against paying for an extended warranty when you purchase a PC or peripheral, partly because you may already be covered beyond the vendor's standard warranty period. If you used a credit card to buy the system, your card company's extended warranty could be the key to a free repair or replacement. In his Dec. 3 Insider Tricks column, WS contributing editor Scott Dunn points out that paying for an extended warranty is usually not a good idea. A reader named "Jojo" reminds us of an added layer of protection that you may not be aware of:
Scott's article also referred to the incomprehensibility of most online end-user license agreements (EULA). James Lawson recommends a free tool that attempts to make sense of these nonsensical documents:
Now we have to worry about labeler security? An article last month on the Web site of Boise, Idaho, television station KCBI reported that discarded old fax machines retain on their carbon ribbons any images that were recently received. This could provide quite a treat for thieves seeking Social Security numbers or other personal information you may have received via fax. Richard Murray points out another unexpected source of potential security breaches:
The Known Issues column brings you readers' comments on our recent articles. Dennis O'Reilly is technical editor of WindowsSecrets.com. |
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WACKY WEB WEEK Tetris may not be so random after all
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PERMALINKS Use these permalinks to share info with friends We love it when you include the links shown below in e-mails to your friends. This is better than forwarding your copy of our e-mail newsletter. (When our newsletter is forwarded, some recipients click "report as spam," and corporate filters start blocking our e-mails.) The following link includes all articles this week: http://WindowsSecrets.com/comp/091210 Free content posted on Dec. 10, 2009:
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YOUR SUBSCRIPTION The Windows Secrets Newsletter is published weekly on the 1st through 4th Thursdays of each month, plus occasional news updates. We skip an issue on the 5th Thursday of any month, the week of Thanksgiving, and the last two weeks of August and December. Windows Secrets is a continuation of four merged publications: Brian's Buzz on Windows and Woody's Windows Watch in 2004, the LangaList in 2006, and the Support Alert Newsletter in 2008. Publisher: WindowsSecrets.com LLC, Attn: #120 Editor, 1700 7th Ave., Suite 116, Seattle, WA 98101-1323 USA. Vendors, please send no unsolicited packages to this address (readers' letters are fine). Editorial Director: Brian Livingston. Senior Editor: Ian Richards. Editor-at-Large: Fred Langa. Technical Editor: Dennis O'Reilly. Program Director: Tony Johnston. Web Developers: Dan Engler, Damian Wadley. Research Director: Stephanie Small. Copyeditor: Roberta Scholz. Contributing Editors: Yardena Arar, Susan Bradley, Scott Dunn, Michael Lasky, Woody Leonhard, Ryan Russell, Robert Vamosi, Becky Waring. Trademarks: Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. The Windows Secrets series of books is published by Wiley Publishing Inc. The Windows Secrets Newsletter, WindowsSecrets.com, Support Alert, LangaList, LangaList Plus, WinFind, Security Baseline, Patch Watch, Perimeter Scan, Wacky Web Week, the Logo Design (W, S or road, and Star), and the slogan Everything Microsoft Forgot to Mention all are trademarks and service marks of WindowsSecrets.com LLC. All other marks are the trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. HOW TO SUBSCRIBE: Anyone may subscribe to this newsletter by visiting our free signup page. WE GUARANTEE YOUR PRIVACY: 1. We will never sell, rent, or give away your address to any outside party, ever. 2. We will never send you any unrequested e-mail, besides newsletter updates. 3. All unsubscribe requests are honored immediately, period. Privacy policy HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: To unsubscribe from the Windows Secrets Newsletter,
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