Yeah, that Notepad. It has a feature that few know about, and I’m not talking about word wrap. You can actually use it as a log file. By typing “.LOG” on the first line of a Notepad file and then saving the file, you automatically add a current date and time stamp every time you re-open the file.…
End of an Era: It’s Time to Stop Making Fun of Microsoft Security
A lingering feeling that I’ve had for roughly the last year was solidified for me last week at Blackhat/DEFCON. Making fun of Microsoft’s security program is now passe. In fact, it’s so far gone that the opposite is now en vogue. And for good reason. I’ve been doing a lot of work on risk assessment, threat modeling, and…
The Real Reason Apple is So Popular Right Now
I was in CompUSA the the other day and noticed quite a few people in the Apple section. I realized that this was becoming increasingly common everywhere I went. Indeed, much Apple love these days. But why now? I mentioned to an employee in the PC section that Apple interest seemed to be getting stronger overall, and asked…
Staying Sharp With Microsoft
Normally the first thing I do on a Windows system (after installing 40,000 updates and restarting three times) is install Firefox. A number of non-Microsoft habits follow, including using Google as my search engine. Well, I’m not going to do that anymore — at least not in Windows. From now on, when using my Windows system (Vista +…
Vista’s Security Hobbled By Microsoft’s Own Insecure Past
Yesterday I wrote about Joanna Rutkowska’s work that highlighted a serious security flaw in Windows Vista. Her finding was that in Vista, many applications require that they be installed with administrator privileges, and that during the install process users are given two options: 1) install with elevated privileges, or 2) don’t install the application at all. Yesterday’s post…
Leopard Instead of Vista: Three Reasons Why Your Next Computer Should Be A Mac
With the new release of Microsoft’s Vista operating system, many are considering their upgrade path. Is it time for a new PC? Should I wait for Vista? What’s this Mac stuff all about? In this article I’m going to put forth a very simple argument, which essentially boils down to this: For anyone wanting to perform basic computer…
OS X vs. Windows Security: Discovered vs. Undiscovered Vulnerabilities
With Apple OS X’s surging popularity many are wondering how vulnerable Apple’s OS X operating system is relative to Windows. You essentially have two sides — one saying that it’s inherently more secure (and hence less successfully attacked), and the other side saying that it’s only because of marketshare that fewer issues have surfaced. A Model I think…
My Time In Windows These Days
I just realized something today — the majority of my time in Windows is spent waiting for the OS to reboot after doing updates. It seems whenever I log in for the first time in a few days, or, increasingly a couple of weeks, I tend to be forced into the following drill: Log in. Open programs to…