Essential Computer Security

Andy Greenberg wrote an article for Forbes.com titled Accounting For Human Error, which illustrates how human beings, the users themselves, are the weakest link in the security chain. Enterprises spend millions, or even tens of millions of dollars on security technology and security expertise to ensure their networks and data are protected, but it only takes one person breaking policy (whether through negligence, ignorance, or malicious intent) and the data is compromised. He is not the first one to point this out.
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Tags: Blog by Tony Bradley
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I used to regularly remove programs I hadn’t used in the past 30 days or any data that was more than a week old in order to salvage every last byte of hard drive space. That is no longer necessary. Now computers come standard with 250 Gb or larger drives. Even a terabyte drive is reasonably priced for many users. That changes the problem from one of scrounging hard drive space to one of organizing and managing the vast expanse of data. To learn more about how to manage and partition hard drive space in Windows Vista, read this article I wrote for Biztech Magazine.

Tags: Blog by Tony Bradley
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To tell the truth, these are almost the only 5 products worth considering, not just the top. There are hundreds of anti-spyware products available, including many that claim to be anti-spyware but are malware products in and of themselves. Products like these 5 (Windows Defender, AdAware Personal SE, Spybot Search & Destroy, Webroot Spy Sweeper, and McAfee Anti-Spyware) represent commercial products from vendors you can trust. [Read more →]

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Are you still running your computer with no antivirus or other malware protection installed? Do you have really old security software installed that has not been updated to protect against current threats? Do you just like to play with new, cutting edge products to see what new features are coming out? If any of these scenarios applies to you, perhaps you should visit the Windows Live OneCare 2.0 site and download a Beta copy of the yet-to-be-released software. [Read more →]

Tags: Blog by Tony Bradley
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Depending on the activities you engage in and the sites you visit, you can get some questionable, or sometimes outright malicious stuff installed on your computer. When you have a PC for your kids, or if you are sharing a PC with your kids, this can be an even bigger problem. Windows XP and Vista offer System Restore that will allow you to “go back in time” and restore your computer to a previous state, but there are even better solutions available as well. Windows Vista has excellent parental controls, but if you are running Windows XP you have to install the right tool for the job. Microsoft developed Windows Steady State to allow users of Windows XP more control over how the system is accessed and used (particularly by children) and to provide users (or parents) with a simple method for returning the computer to its formerly pristine state.

Tags: Blog by Tony Bradley
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Companies understand the importance of data. Hardware and software can be replaced, but lost data can’t. Those companies that don’t truly understand the value of consistently backing up critical data are probably mandated to do so anyway by one of the various regulatory requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley or HIPAA. Companies also have administrators that are paid to be expert in managing data and they are tasked with performing the backups. That is great for companies. What about home computer users? [Read more →]

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To view a summary of the August bulletins, visit Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for August, 2007. Click the links below to view the individual Microsoft Security Bulletins and to download any patches that might be required for your system. You can also visit Windows Update to automatically determine what patches or updates your system needs.

• Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-042
  Vulnerability in Microsoft XML Core Services Could Allow Remote Code Execution
  Microsoft Criticality: Critical
  • http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-042.mspx
• Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-043
  Vulnerability in OLE Automation Could Allow Remote Code Execution
  Microsoft Criticality: Critical
  • http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-043.mspx
• Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-044
  Vulnerability in Microsoft Excel Could Allow Remote Code Execution
  Microsoft Criticality: Critical
  • http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-044.mspx
• Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-045
  Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer
  Microsoft Criticality: Critical
  • http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-045.mspx
• Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-046
  Vulnerability in GDI Could Allow Remote Code Execution
  Microsoft Criticality: Critical
  • http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-046.mspx
• Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-047
  Vulnerability in Windows Media Player Could Allow Remote Code Execution
  Microsoft Criticality: Important
  • http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-047.mspx
• Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-048
  Vulnerabilities in Windows Gadgets Could Allow Remote Code Execution
  Microsoft Criticality: Important
  • http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-048.mspx
• Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-049
  Vulnerability in Virtual PC and Virtual Server Could Allow Elevation of Privilege
  Microsoft Criticality: Important
  • http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-049.mspx
• Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-050
  Vulnerability in Vector Markup Language Could Allow Remote Code Execution
  Microsoft Criticality: Critical
  • http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-050.mspx

Tags: 2007 by Tony Bradley
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