10 things to look for in a laptop

Laptops are all the rage. Once reserved for mobile professionals and elite executives, notebook PCs are replacing desktop computers in many organizations and homes. Driven by changing habits and the ease of locating and joining wireless networks, sales of laptop computers began exceeding those for desktop models in mid-year 2005. The trend shows no signs of easing.However, just buying a laptop doesn’t ensure you automatically become an effective mobile computer user. In fact, the odds are you’ll end up with a subpar PC if you purchase a model directly from many retailers’ shelves.

Due to competitive pressures, many office supply and electronics chains aggressively market very low prices for laptop computers. The problem is, because of cost constraints, many of those PCs aren’t well-equipped for most real-world computing. Here are 10 things to look for in your next laptop to help you choose a model that readily meets your needs.

#1: Operating system

Most PCs sold in office supply and major big box electronics stores come preloaded with Microsoft’s consumer operating system. Deploying PCs powered by Windows XP Home or Vista Home Basic might not appear problematic, at least at first. In many cases, it may even appear beneficial. Why pay for the more expensive business edition if all you really need to do is write documents, crunch spreadsheets, send and receive e-mail, and use the Internet?

As so many organizations and users have discovered in the real world, the business versions of Microsoft’s operating system offer many features that may well become necessities down the road. Many a client has found the migration from a workgroup environment to a client-server system complicated by the need to purchase new Windows XP Professional or Vista Business licenses (not too mention the time and cost associated with upgrading each user computer).

Microsoft’s consumer operating systems typically don’t support joining server domains. Nor have they readily enabled hosting remote desktop connections. For this reason, when purchasing a laptop PC, be sure it comes preloaded with the Microsoft operating system that will meet all your professional computing requirements.

#2: CPU

Laptop models advertised at attractive price points often don’t have potent CPUs. When selecting a portable computer, buy a model with a CPU tailored to the rigors of mobile computing. Fail to do so, and you could end up with a PC that takes seven to eight minutes to fully boot into Windows, provides minimal battery life, and can’t reasonably power the applications you use.

Intel’s new Core 2 Duo CPUs (Figure A) perform exceptionally well. In addition to packing considerable processing power, these chips use less energy (resulting in improved battery life) and generate less heat than previous Pentium CPUs. Laptops featuring these chips (2.0 GHz and higher) should meet most users’ computing needs for the next three or four years (the timeframe in which accountants amortize information technology assets).

Figure A

Intel’s Core 2 Duo CPU is a potent CPU that’s the favorite of many road warriors.

#3: RAM

Many Windows Vista laptops are marketed as having a full 1 GB of RAM. While 1 GB of RAM works well for most Windows XP installations, it typically isn’t enough to enable a Vista system to work smoothly. Any users planning to run multiple applications simultaneously on a Windows Vista laptop should consider loading the notebook with 2 GB of RAM.

While most users don’t think of themselves as power users, 2 GB of RAM should be the norm for individuals planning to maintain multiple Office application windows while surfing the Internet and checking e-mail. Anyone planning to edit digital photographs or play more advanced games on a Vista system should also upgrade to 2 GB of RAM.

#4: Video card

Video performance is notoriously shortchanged on laptop computers. This is especially true for $500 notebooks frequently featured on the front covers of electronics and office supply store circulars.

Windows Vista operating systems, in particular, require potent video cards to maximize the system’s many new features (including its resource-demanding Aero interface, translucent menus, and Flip 3D technologies). Windows XP computers that must power three-dimensional engineering and drafting programs also require strong video cards, as do gaming systems, regardless of OS.

When preparing to purchase a laptop computer, consider selecting a model with at least 128 MB of onboard RAM. If you plan to run drafting and engineering applications, video production software, or games, you should upgrade to video adapters with 256 MB of RAM.

#5: Ports

Many users assume that any modern laptop computer has numerous USB ports, as well as VGA, DVI, serial, and parallel ports. Those same users may learn a painful lesson; increasingly, in another effort at managing costs, laptop manufacturers are reducing the number of ports found on their PCs.

Budget notebook computers often ship with only a pair of USB ports, with no serial, parallel, or DVI ports and only a single VGA port (if a video port is even included). When purchasing a laptop, review the model’s technical specifications and make sure that the chassis includes the ports you require. While most PCs now include integrated wired NICs, they don’t always have PC Card slots, so that’s an additional factor to consider before purchasing a new unit.

#6: Screen size

Carefully review your monitor needs before ordering a new notebook. You may think that a 17-inch widescreen display is just what you need. Ultimately, that may prove to be too big.

How’s that?

Think about how you’ll be using the laptop. If the computer will truly be used most often on the road, placing the notebook in a protective case, lugging it onto a cramped airplane, removing it for baggage inspectors, carrying it into a meeting room, and transporting it wherever else you go is made exponentially more difficult for each inch of display size beyond 12 inches.

Models with 12-inch displays are much easier to carry through doorways, into tight airline seats, and in coffee shops. They’re also much lighter.

If your laptop will see only occasional travel, a larger model may be just what you need. But if not, consider purchasing a 12-inch model. You can always mate it to a 22-inch widescreen on your desk. Just be sure the laptop offers the correct ports to do so, as described in item #5.

#7: Integrated wireless

There should almost be a rule that any laptop sold today include an integrated 802.11g wireless (WiFi) adapter. But of course there is no rule, and not all models include one.

Make sure that the laptop you’re considering includes the WiFi technology you use. For many, that will soon mean that the laptop includes integrated 802.11n compatibility. Read specifications closely to verify that the model you’re buying provides the wireless connectivity you require.

#8: Integrated Bluetooth

Integrated Bluetooth technology used to be a luxury in laptops. Most users associate Bluetooth now with the wireless hands-free headsets used with cellular telephones, but Bluetooth is also growing in importance when it comes to connecting handheld devices to laptops.

Bluetooth technology enables synchronizing cell phone contacts, e-mail, calendars, and tasks lists wirelessly with a laptop. The same Bluetooth technology can also be used to add a wireless mouse to a notebook.

#9: Track pad

Most every laptop now comes equipped with a track pad mouse and corresponding click buttons. Some models include a simple track pad, while others include a track pad and an integrated pointer (usually nestled between the G and H keys). These so-called pencil-eraser pointers (Figure B) have long been popular, gracing everything from older Toshiba models to newer ThinkPads.

Figure B

The “pencil-eraser” pointer (shown here in blue) is the favorite of many mobile users.

It’s not important to choose a laptop computer that includes a sophisticated track pad and pencil-eraser pointer. Just make sure you select a notebook PC that features the pointing device you prefer.

Some models permit scrolling pages when two fingers are used versus scrolling within the currently displayed page when a single finger is used (such as with Apple laptops). Other laptops feature track pads that contain two separate tracking areas, such as are found on Compaq Presarios, for scrolling entire pages versus the contents of those pages.

Review the model you’re preparing to buy to confirm you find its track pad agreeable. Even if you plan to use an external mouse, there are times when you’ll be without it and the track pad is all you’ll have.

#10: Battery life

Battery life is a critical consideration but not a deal breaker. When purchasing a laptop, if the only battery option doesn’t provide the lifespan you require, you can always buy a second battery.

Many users, however, don’t want the hassle that comes with carrying multiple batteries. In such cases, upgrade laptop orders to include 12-cell batteries (if available) instead of a standard six- or nine-cell battery. Bigger batteries almost always last longer, which is usually a key factor for mobile professionals traveling by air.

Just be aware that the larger cell batteries often have a greater footprint. In other words, they could violate a notebook’s aesthetic look. But no one ever said functionality doesn’t come at a price.

Summary

Laptops, increasingly, are decreasing in price. But a cheap laptop isn’t necessarily a good laptop. Ensure that the laptop you buy meets your computing needs by carefully considering these 10 factors before making a purchase.

Firefox: Some security tips

There are several reasons why Firefox is the Web browser of choice for many of us. Providing a safe Web surfing experience is one of the more important ones. I’d like to offer some tips that will make surfing the Web with Firefox even safer.

It’s important to easily determine whether a Web site that should be using https, actually is. When Firefox first came out it used a method that was easily discernible. The address bar would turn yellow and a lock icon would appear on the right-hand side of the address bar:

That feature was replaced by a small blue frame surrounding the Web site’s faviconin the third version of Firefox. Additionally, clicking on the blue field reveals more information about the Web site’s SSL certificate:

I’m not particularly convinced the new approach is better. It’s easy to miss whether the site is using https or not, especially if the favicon is blue. Also, I’ve read that the blue frame and most favicons are easy to forge.

As to why the change, my guess would be that Firefox developers thought Extended Validation (EV) certificates were going to become the norm and focused on a way to better display the EV information. I think they succeeded, placing the Web-site’s name in a green frame is very distinguishable:

It’s a nice concept, but the use of EV certificates isn’t that prevalent, which kind of defeats the whole purpose. If my memory serves me correctly, less than one percent of all Web sites using SSL have EV certificates. It’s understandable though. By design, the vetting process is more in-depth, which drives up the cost of obtaining an EV certificate.

A well-kept secret

A good friend of mine let me in on what I’d call a hidden gem and I wanted to pass it along. It’s not perfect, but it certainly helps increase awareness of whether a Web site is using https or not. Besides it’s simple to do:

1. Type about:config in the address bar.
2. Firefox will display the following warning.
3. Click on the “I’ll be careful, I promise” button.
4. Enter “browser.identity.ssl_domain_display” (minus quotes) in the Filter box.
5. Double click on entry, which opens a dialogue box.
6. Change the entry from zero to one.

What this does is change the appearance of how the address bar displays information for Web sites using regular SSL certificates. As you can see below, except for the frame being blue instead of green it looks identical to what’s displayed by a Web site using an EV certificate. This should help reduce the risk of confusing secured Web sites with unsecured ones.

Revisit Perspectives

In August of 2008, I wrote an article about a Firefox add on called Perspectives. I’m not going to rehash the details; suffice it to say that I highly recommend installing it. Then forget about it. The application works quietly in the background making sure SSL certificates are valid. Now that I said that, I want to revise the configuration I used in the initial article, even though it makes Perspectives a bit noisier.

The two changes I’d like to propose are:

• Uncheck the default setting of “Allow perspectives to automatically override security errors”.
• Change “When to Contact Notaries” from the default to “Contact Notaries for all HTTPS sites”.

Perspectives isn’t perfect and the above changes may give additional false positives, but using the new settings will increase security while surfing the Web.

SSL Blacklist

Firefox version three checks a certificate’s revocation status using the online certificate status protocol. There’s a problem with that though. Like EV certifications the use of this protocol is very limited. In a somewhat ironic twist, all SSL certificates do contain information about where to obtain a certificate authority’s certificate revocation list, but Firefox isn’t setup to use them. Hmmm, this means Firefox isn’t capable of knowing whether a majority of existing SSL certificates are valid or not.

Màrton Anka seeing this deficiency developed the SSL Blacklist add on for Firefox. The application detects and reports on weak/revoked certificates or those that are still using the weak MD5 hash algorithm.

NoScript: a favorite

If you follow my articles, you will know that I think highly of Giorgio Maone’s Firefox add on NoScript. Giorgio realized that a vast majority of malicious Web sites use JavaScript exploits to leverage control of a victim’s computer. So he developed NoScript, which gives the user control on whether to allow or disallow execution of certain JavaScript code that NoScript deems as possibly harmful.

As you might guess, it’s a fairly noisy add on. NoScript is going to ask you quite often on whether you trust the site enough to allow JavaScript code execution. If that’s too granular, you have the option to change the setting “Scripts Globally Allowed (dangerous) from the default of disabled to enabled.

Doing so will make NoScripts considerably less intrusive, but any protection from JavaScript vulnerabilities is also removed. On a good note, even with scripts globally allowed you are still afforded protection from ClickJacking.

Final thoughts

There you have it, four tips that I use and recommend to all of my clients. None of them are perfect solutions, but they certainly elevate user security when surfing the Web with Firefox. Let me know if you have any favorite security add ons for Firefox that I may have missed. Also if you have started using Internet Explorer 8, I’d be curious to learn how it compares to Firefox security-wise.

10 great new features in OWA 2010

Outlook Web Access can come in quite handy, but it’s always been a little feature-deprived and difficult to configure. Now at last, OWA delivers a more Outlook-like experience.

I admit it: I’m an Outlook junkie. I live and die by my email. It’s the primary way I get new business, submit my articles, receive feedback from readers, communicate with vendors, conduct personal business, and stay in touch with family and friends. I rely on Exchange and Outlook to deliver my messages and attachments to me (often hundreds per day), to organize them in a way that fits my priorities, and to manage them so that I can find them when I need them. I also depend on the calendar to keep me apprised of what I’m supposed to be doing and when and where I’m scheduled to do it.

I always upgrade my desktop and laptop computers to the latest version of Outlook as soon as it’s stable (while still in beta) to take advantage of whatever enhancements have been added. Most of the time, then, I’m working with the latest and greatest that Microsoft has to offer. But there are times when I have to use someone else’s system or a public computer to access my mail and calendaring information. Of course, I don’t have to have the Outlook client installed to do that; I can use Outlook Web Access (OWA) instead. However, up until now, I’ve always felt a bit of a disconnect when using OWA. It works. It works, but not like Outlook. It was always clunkier and much less configurable, slowing me down in the processing of all those mail messages.

Enter Exchange 2010’s implementation of OWA. Finally, the Web experience almost mirrors the Outlook client experience. In this article, I’ll show you 10 improvements in OWA 2010 that make accessing your Exchange mail on the web a whole new — and much better — experience.

1: Conversation view

OWA 2010 provides the same conversation view and experience as Outlook 2010: By default, messages are displayed in threads so that all the messages on a particular topic are grouped. No more searching for a previous message to check what the response is referring to. When a new message in a thread comes in, the whole thread gets moved chronologically to the date/time of the new message. Conversation view has its benefits and drawbacks, but if you don’t like it, you can turn it off. Just right-click Arrange By, scroll down to Conversations, and deselect Show Messages In Conversations.

2: Ignore option

If you belong to mailing lists, you’ll appreciate this new feature in Outlook 2010, which you also get with OWA 2010. Sometimes, the group will engage in discussions that don’t interest you at all. Now you don’t even have to see them. Just select Ignore Conversation from the action menu and any further messages in that conversation will be automatically deleted. This can be a real time-saver.

3: Forward as an attachment

It’s a little thing, but sometimes it’s the little things that matter most. With OWA 2010, you can forward an email message as an attachment. This can come in handy if you need to forward a message to someone but don’t necessarily want the person to open it immediately. You can create an original message where you can tell the person about the attachment — or example, you might forward a message that possibly contains a virus to someone who provides technical support for you.

4: Delivery report

Another new option on the action menu is Open Delivery Report. If you’ve ever sent an important email and then agonized over whether it got to the recipient, this feature will be one of your favorites. You can search for messages you’ve sent to a specified recipient, messages you’ve received from a specified recipient, or messages with specific words in the subject line. The delivery report will show you on what date and at what time the message was submitted and when it was successfully delivered.

5: Same premium experience without IE

One of my pet peeves about previous versions of OWA was that to get the best experience, you had to use IE. It didn’t work the same in other browsers, such as a Firefox. You got a “light” version of OWA instead. And if the only computer available to log on to the Internet was a Mac with just Safari as the browser choice, it was no fun at all. OWA 2010 supports the complete, premium experience on Mac OS X with Safari as well as with Firefox.

6: Integrated IM/presence information

OWA 2010 integrates directly with Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2, allowing you to see the presence status (available, busy, away, etc.) of other users within your organization and even engage in a chat with them. You can also engage in multiple chat sessions with different people at the same time.

7: Opening another user’s mailbox

With Exchange 2003, you couldn’t open another user’s mailbox from OWA. With Exchange 2007, you could — but it opened in a new IE window and you couldn’t select the mailbox from the Global Address List (GAL). With Exchange 2010, you can select a mailbox to open from the GAL, and it “nests” into the left pane along with your default mailbox. OWA also remembers which mailboxes you opened and displays them when you log on the next time.

8: Side-by-side calendars

Another feature that’s been on the OWA wish list of many Outlook users is the ability to open up a shared calendar and view it side by side with your own calendar. This is invaluable if you need to make plans that include coordinating your schedule with someone else’s. You can share your calendar with other users of your Exchange 2010 server.

9: Exchange Control Panel (ECP)

In OWA 2010, the Exchange Control Panel replaces the Options page in OWA 2007. Users can do more with the ECP, such as creating and managing distribution groups, tracking their own messages, setting up retention policies for their messages, and updating the property fields information in their Active Directory user accounts.

10: Access to mailbox archives

OWA 2010 allows users to access archived mailboxes from within the OWA interface so that you can get access to the archived messages no matter where you are.

Clean And Optimize Your New Computer

When you buy a new computer it is often loaded with extra software that you just don’t need.  OEMs are paid by software companies to bundle trial versions in hopes that you will buy the full product. The preloaded junk is a waste of disk space, memory and can even hurt the performance of your new computer so it is a good idea to remove it all.

While it is possible to manually remove each extra piece of software on your computer there is a great free tool called PC Decrapifier that will automate the process.

To get started download the latest copy of PC Decrapifier.

After the software is downloaded on your computer just run the executable. There is no installer for this software.

Click Next on the Welcome, license and Warning screens.  Select if you are running the utility on a new computer and then click Next.

You will have the option to create a Restore Point that will allow you to revert your changes using Windows System Restore.

All of the programs that load automatically on startup will be displayed. Check the programs you want to remove and click Next.

Before any items are removed you will have to confirm the changes.

Next you will be shown all of the applications installed on your computer. Check the items you want to have uninstalled and click Next.

Once again you will have to confirm the changes before they are made.

Now PC Decrapifier will work through the list of applications and uninstall each software. Depending on the software you may see additional confirmation screens that you will need to click through to uninstall. Once completed your computer will be a lot cleaner and performing much better!

How antivirus software works: Is it worth it?

We are told, in order to survive on the Internet, our computers need protection afforded by antivirus applications. If that’s true:

• Why do computers still get infected?

• Would it be a lot worse if we didn’t use antivirus programs?

Pondering those questions, I realized I may not have all the facts. So I began researching antivirus methodology. Here’s what I found out.

What we are up against

Take note, the bad guys are motivated. Leveraging malware-infected computers to make money is easier and safer than any other illegal endeavor. That said, I’d like to think we (victims) are motivated as well, especially since it’s our money they’re after. So why do cybercriminals have the upper hand? For starters, they benefit from:

• Vulnerable software: It’s a given; software, especially complex code, will have exploitable bugs.

• Element of surprise: Normal users do not look for vulnerabilities in software. The bad guys do, affording themselves opportunities to exploit weaknesses long before the rest of us know about them.

• Playing catch up: It’s difficult to determine what malware will look like, forcing antivirus developers into a reactionary mode.

Example

I couldn’t ask for a better example than what recently happened to Google. Attackers leveraged unknown (zero-day) vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer to gain a foothold in Google’s supposedly-secure network. Check how close the exploit follows the three steps I outlined above:

• Vulnerable software: Internet Explorer has an exploitable vulnerability.

• Element of surprise: Only the attackers knew about it.

• Playing catch up: AV companies are trying to develop a detection method and Microsoft is scrambling to create a fix for Internet Explorer.

Still not understanding why antivirus applications are failing to protect our computers, I pursued the matter with an experienced software engineer. He pointed out that it’s hard to remove something you can’t find. Talk about an understatement. I get it though; detecting malware is not as easy as we’re lead to believe. My next step, find out why.

Malware detection

Malware detection can be divided into two methods; signature-based malware detection and behavior-based malware detection. Antivirus applications can employ one or both of the methods; depending on the sophistication of the program. Signature-based malware detection has been around for many years, so let’s look at that first.

Signature-based malware detection

Signature-based malware detection depends on pattern recognition. Here’s how it works. The AV application scans the file in question, comparing specific bytes of code against information in its malware-signature database. If the scanned file has a pattern duplicating one in the database, the file is considered malware. The antivirus application will then either quarantine or delete the file, depending upon the program configuration.

Shortcomings

Presently, signature-based malware detection is included in almost every antivirus program. That said, AV companies are trying to move away from signature-based malware detection due to the following:

• Signature-based malware detection is not effective against new or unknown malware.

• New malware is being created daily, requiring the signature database to be updated ever more frequently.

These are valid concerns and why AV companies are investing a great deal of time and effort translating to behavior-based malware detection.

Behavior-based malware detection

Behavior-based malware detection makes sense because it monitors how programs act, not the software build. To explain, if abnormal behavior is detected, the program is flagged, regardless if the software seems correct. Behavior-based malware detection is broken up into two types; anomaly-based and specification-based malware detection.

Anomaly-based malware detection

The key ingredient to anomaly-based malware detection is determining what is considered normal behavior. Thus, any variation from the normal profile would be considered suspicious (anomalous). For example, normally a program, when executed, does not create any files. Then, all of a sudden, the program moves a file into one of the operating system’s folders. That action would immediately be flagged by this type of antivirus software.

Anomaly-based malware detection can be further divided into:

• Passive detection: Uses scanning to detect derivations from the program’s normal profile.

• Active detection: Involves executing a questionable program within a controlled environment such as a sandbox or virtual machine. Then observing the behavior of the program. If the program meets certain negative criteria, it will be flagged as suspicious.

As good as this sounds, anomaly-based malware detection has shortcomings. False positives are more common with this type of detection, simply because of the complexity of modern-day programs. Second, if an attacker makes sure his malcode behaves like a good program, it will not be detected. Threatfire Zero-Day Malware Protection is an example of anomaly-based malware detection software.

Specification-based malware detection

Right now, specification-based malware detection (Point IV-B) is our best hope for reducing malware problems. That’s because, all actions taken by any programs (operating system and applications alike) are mediated by a predetermined policy. For example, if so configured, the policy would disallow execution of files downloaded from a Web site specified by the person in charge of the computer.

The advantage of specification-based malware detection is its flexibility and minimal false positives when compared to anomaly-based malware detection. One example of specification-based malware detection is NovaShield AntiMalware.

My findings

I seldom find quarantined malware on computers. I’ve noticed something else. Most infected computers protected with typical antivirus programs require specialized scanners to remove any offending malware. After writing this article, I know why that is.

Final thoughts

Being one of those “rather be safe than sorry” types, I will continue to suggest using an antivirus program. What I will change, is the type of antivirus program I recommend. They definitely will include anomaly and specification-based malware detection methods.

10 common backup mistakes

Despite their best intentions, IT pros sometimes fall short when it comes to implementing a reliable backup solution. See whether these any of these mistakes sound familiar.

All of us in IT have been taught from Day One that performing regular backups is critical to an organization’s well being. Yet even seasoned pros sometimes make certain mistakes. Here are a few of the common mistakes I’ve encountered.

1: Not making system state backups often enough

In Windows environments, system state backups have a shelf life. For domain controllers, the shelf life is equal to the maximum tombstone age (60 days by default). After that, the backup becomes null and void. Even for non domain controllers, the age of the backup is an issue.

Each computer on a Windows network has a corresponding computer account in the Active Directory. Like a user account, the computer account has an associated password. The difference is that the password is assigned, and periodically changed, by Windows. If you try to restore a system state backup that is too old, the computer account password that is stored in the backup will no longer match the password that is bound to the computer account in the Active Directory, so the machine won’t be able to participate in the domain. There are workarounds, but it is usually easier to just make frequent system state backups of your servers.

2: Failing to adequately test backups

We all know that we should test our backups once in a while, but testing often seems to be one of those tasks that either falls by the wayside or that isn’t done thoroughly. Remember that making the backup is only the first step -if you can’t restore from them, you’re dead in the water. You need to ensure that those backups will work if and when you need them.

3: Not using an application-aware backup application

For some applications, a file-level backup is insufficient. A classic example of this is Microsoft Exchange, which requires an Exchange-aware backup application. Failure to use such a backup application causes the data that has been backed up to be in an inconsistent (and often unrestorable) state. It is therefore important to know which applications reside on your servers and to make note of any special application-specific backup requirements.

4: Shipping backup tapes offsite too quickly

One of the companies I used to work for used a courier service to ship backup tapes offsite. Each morning at 8:00, the previous night’s backup tapes were transported to an offsite storage facility. One morning, we had a server failure at about 9:30. Unfortunately, we couldn’t perform an immediate restoration because the tape had been shipped offsite. It was almost 4:00 before the tape could be located and returned to us. By that time, the server had been down all day. While you should keep backups off site, consider waiting until the end of the business day to remove the previous night’s tapes from the building.

5: Having a single point of failure

Always remember that your backups are your safety net. If a server fails, your backups are the primary (and sometimes the only) mechanism for returning the server to a functional state. Because backups are so critically important, you should construct your backup architecture in a way that avoids (at least as much as possible) having a single point of failure. If possible, have a backup for your backups. You never want to find yourself in a situation in which you did not get a backup the night before and you are just praying that the server doesn’t fail that day because you have nothing to fall back on.

6: Forgetting to plan for the future

Years ago, I managed the IT department for a large organization. While I was on vacation, some of my staff decided to surprise me by cleaning out a storage room that had become badly cluttered. In doing so, they threw out some obsolete computer equipment.

While this initially seemed harmless, some of the old equipment was in the storage room for a reason. Each quarter, the organization made a special backup that was kept as a permanent archive. Over time, though, backup technology changed. Although the company had decided at one point to switch to a newer tape format, I had kept the organization’s old tape drives and an old computer that had a copy of the backup software installed on it, just in case we should ever have to read any of the data from an archive tape. The lesson to be learned is that although change is inevitable, you should always make sure that you have the necessary hardware and software to read your oldest backup tapes.

7: Not considering the consequences of using backup security mechanisms

For most organizations, IT security is a high priority. But sometimes, security can be a bad thing. I have seen real-world situations in which a backup could not be restored because nobody knew the password that had been used on the backup tape. I also once saw a situation in which an organization used hardware-level encryption and then upgraded to a new tape drive that didn’t support the previously used encryption (which meant that old backups could not be restored).

There is no denying that it is important to secure your backups, but it is equally important to consider the consequences of your security measures. If you find yourself having to restore a backup after a major system failure, the last thing you need is an ill-conceived security mechanism standing in the way of the recovery.

8: Backing up only data

I once had someone tell me that I should be backing up only my data, as opposed to performing full backups that included the server’s operating system and applications. His rationale was that data-only backups complete more quickly and consume fewer tapes. While these are valid points, I completely disagree with the overall philosophy.

If an organization has a server failure and needs to perform a full recovery, it is usually possible to reinstall the operating system and the applications and then restore any data. However, time is of the essence when trying to recover from a crash. It is much faster to restore everything from backup than it is to manually install an operating system and a set of applications. More important, it is often difficult to manually configure a server so that it matches its pervious configuration. Backing up the entire server ensures that its configuration will be exactly as it was before the crash.

9: Relying solely on a disk-to-disk backup solution

Disk-to-disk backup solutions offer many advantages over traditional tape backups. Even so, a disk-to-disk backup solution should not be an organization’s only backup, because the backup server is prone to the same risks as the servers it protects. A hurricane, lightning strike, fire, or flood could wipe out your backup server along with your other servers. For this reason, it is important to dump the contents of your disk based backups to tape on a frequent basis.

10: Using a tape rotation scheme that’s too short

One organization I worked for used a two-week tape rotation. This seemed to work fairly well, but we found out the hard way that two weeks just weren’t enough. The organization had an Exchange server fail because of corruption within the information store. When we tried to restore a backup, we found that we had backed up corrupt data. The corruption had existed for some time and had grown progressively worse. Every one of the backup tapes contained corrupt data, so the server could not be restored. This is a perfect argument for periodically testing your backups, but it also underscores the importance of using a long rotation scheme or at least keeping some of your backup tapes as long-term archives.

Free Virus Removal Tools

Getting a virus on your system is frustrating to say the least, and can be hazardous to the health of your computer. Indeed, today’s malicious software can even steal your identity and wreck your hard-earned credit rating. To help fight back, here’s a list of free tools, tips, and tricks to get rid of viruses and keep them from getting back on your system.

Free Virus Removal Tools
Sure the antivirus vendors want to make money, but if you ever get the chance to meet one of their virus researchers, you’ll find their real motivation is to protect users. As corny as that may sound, it’s true. That’s why when stubborn or fast-spreading infectors are discovered, antivirus vendors release special tools to remove the malware – and give the tools away free. It’s no substitute for installed antivirus software, but if you’re already infected and in a pinch, it’s the next best thing to, well, installed antivirus software.

• Create a free rescue CD – a rescue CD lets you access the system from a clean boot. A few vendors provide these free of charge and it takes only a few minutes to create one, so there’s no excuse not to have one on hand.
• McAfee AVERT Stinger – McAfee AVERT Labs offers a handy utility to run in Windows that cleans some of the more common malware.
• Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool – Microsoft offers a free tool to remove prevalent software active on the system. The tool is offered via Automatic Updates, Windows Updates, and Microsoft Updates, or it can be manually downloaded using the provided link.
• Symantec Virus Removal Tools – Antivirus vendor Symantec offers a wide range of free cleaning tools for individual malware removal.
• F-Secure Virus Removal Tools – Another good choice for individual malware removal are these free tools from F-Secure.
• For a second opinion scan or a not-so-stubborn infector, try one of the Top Online Scanners

Free Virus Repair and Prevention Tips

How to Repair a Boot Sector Virus – Though boot sector viruses are rare in the U.S. and most European countries, they are still prevalent in other parts of the world.

Make an Antivirus Rescue CD – In case you missed it above, free downloadable rescue CDs.

Eight Ways to Stop Virus Infection – Prevention. Prevention. Prevention. These are the essential steps.

How to Make Sure Your Antivirus is Working – Viruses, worms, and trojans often disable your antivirus software when they infect your system. This prevents the antivirus software from being updated and detecting the presence of the malware. Here’s how to check to ensure it’s working.

How to Avoid Macro Viruses – From the SANS Institute, tips on avoiding macro viruses.

How To Prevent Email Worms – Security configuration changes you need to make to your favorite email client software.

IM Safety Tips – In some crowds, instant messaging (IM) is more popular than email. But IM carries its own set of risks. These tips will help reduce the risk.Free Antivirus Software
There’s no such thing as a free ride, or is there? If you’re an experienced user and don’t mind putting in a little elbow grease, you can build your own security suite:

Free Virus Scanners

ZoneAlarm Personal FirewallFor those who want a more holistic all-in-one solution:

Top Antivirus Software

Top Spyware Scanners

Safer Way To Recover Deleted Data

Repairing damaged data/partitions on is a very risky job. Even if you use the best toolkit and are absolutely sure in what you are doing, you are still risking your files shall something go wrong.

Changes made to the damaged data/partition are irreversible; it is just too easy to overwrite an important system structure that holds vital information about your disk, files and data.
How many times have you experienced that sickening feeling when your hard drive suddenly fails?
How many times have you experienced that your hard disk just does not boot and all the data may be gone forever?

A hard drive failure is one of the most common problems and worst nightmares faced by computer operators all over the world.

Precious data is lost either at home or in big corporate environments.
What can be done in these situations?
Well, there are certain solutions that can be performed by you in order to revive your hard drive. We will talk about the solution later. First, let us discuss why a hard drive fails.
Whether the data on the hard drive can be recovered or not depends on the extent of the problem.

A hard drive can be damaged due to firmware corruption, electronic failure, mechanical failure or a logical failure. Many times your hard drive may lose data due to the combination of the above mentioned factors. A hard drive may also develop bad sectors due to which the data on those sectors is lost or becomes unreadable.
Firmware refers to the information used by the computer to interact correctly with the hard drive. If the firmware fails or becomes corrupted, then important data on the hard drive is lost. In case of an electronic failure there maybe occur an electrical surge that can knock out the controller board on the hard drive and make it unusable. However data can be recovered by data recovery experts who use specialdata recovery software.

Swapping the controller board with another one can prove to be dangerous as the information on the controller board is unique to the hard drive on which it is fitted. In comparison to electronic failure a mechanical failure can turn out to be worst as data recovery can almost become impossible.

Mechanical failure includes head crash and also read/write head failure. Head crash can occur due to physical shock, power surges and movement of the computer. Next come the logical errors. Logical errors have nothing to do with the hardware part. Logical errors can occur due to corruption of the file system on the hard drive or improper entries in the file allocation table.

In case of hard drive failure it is vital to call the data recovery experts. In most cases, the information on the hard drive is important and you cannot bear to lose it. The experts enhance the possibilities of hard drive recovery in the case of failure of hard drive due to software malfunction, virus attacks and other reasons mentioned above.

Data can be recovered on any type of operating system including all versions of Windows as well as Apple Macintosh, Novell, Linux, Unix and also on all types of file systems like FAT, FAT32, NTFS, NTFS5, HFS, HFS+, NWFS, EXT2 and EXT3. The experts may take the hard drive to their workshop in order to recover the lost data and then return it to you in a few days. Most of the data recovery experts have their own laboratories that are involved in testing the hard drives and repairing them.
Loss of data is the last thing that you as the customer would ever want. This is where the data recovery experts come into the picture. They cannot extract only data from hard drives, but recover data also from tape drives, cds, dvds and other important storage media. You as the consumer can take up some preventive measures like backing up all your important data at least once a week. Windows has its own feature rich backup program. There are other backup software programs available in the market that can avert a possible disaster.
You can try recovering your data using data recovery software but read the instruction very carefully you can add more damage to harddrive rather than fix it, another problem is the time it may take for an expert to help. This can be a slow and tedious process. I recommend having a second complete computer source such as a laptop (for portability) that you can continue your work. This way you are never completely down and you can share important data between the two.

Dress Up Firefox with Personas

I’m not saying Firefox is ugly, but when it plays in the sandbox, the cat covers it up. Thank you, thank you, I’m here all week.
Actually, I didn’t realize just how gray and drab-looking Firefox was until I started fiddling with Personas 2.0.
This new feature from Mozilla Labs lets you choose from thousands of themes with which to spruce up Firefox.
Granted, the browser has supported themes for years, but those require downloading, installing, etc.–and in my experience, many of those themes are just overkill.

Personas are more like window dressing: They add a splash of color and design to the menu/tab/toolbar area, but that’s it.

Even better, you get to see a live preview of any theme before installing it. Just mouse over any theme in the Personas gallery, wait a second or two, and presto: It appears. You can do likewise in the Personas menu that gets added to Firefox under Tools, Personas.
The only downside to using Personas is the time you spend looking at all the different options–and trying to settle on just one. (It would be cool if it could automatically apply a different one each day or something, much like Windows 7 can cycle wallpapers. Maybe version 3.0…)