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The FCC has extended the 'Do-Not-Call' Registry so that numbers will not be automatically be removed. When it was first set up in 2003, numbers were to be removed after 5 years. I, personally, have had the experience of numbers being removed after a couple of years, so I still recommend checking from time to time to be sure your numbers are still on there. [more]
For more information:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/small-business/2008/06/fcc_extends_donotcall_registry.html
http://www.ftc.gov/donotcall
A study by Verizon Business contends nearly 9 out of 10 data breaches could have been prevented with reasonable security measures in place. The study also indicates the great majority (73%) result from external threats. However, it is also pointed out that damages are usually greater from internal threats. A summary of the study can be found at http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Your-Data-Breach-Was-Probably-Avoidable/
When building a terminal server, don’t forget to uninstall IE Enhanced Security BEFORE you install terminal services on a Windows 2003 Server, especially if you plan to sysprep the server and image it. For some reason, if you don’t do this, certain keys are left behind in the registry and in the default profile user hive (ntuser.dat file) that cause issues. IEES is uninstalled, but new user profiles created on that server still have remnants and do not function as expected. Users may get the IEES pop-ups when visiting any site that is not in their trusted sites list and it seems to affect JavaScript execution privileges as well. Here is the Microsoft article that addresses this issue (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/)933991). The workaround if this has happened is to follow Method 4 and then rebuild the affected profiles. If Method 3 is followed, it doesn’t seem be a complete fix from our experience.
There are two SCSI driver standards that are available for most SCSI HBA’s. The older standard (SCSIport) has been replaced by a newer technology (STORport). STORport allows faster I/O, duplexing and other advantages. You should use the STORport drivers for all HBA’s when available. This is especially revelant for FC cards. The details are: [more]
Classic SCSI (SCSIPort):
Storport:
More details: http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/6...eb/Storport.doc
Do not install Vmware tools with the complete option on ESX guests to prevent possible problems with your backups. This installs the shared folders feature which is not available on ESX. This causes the VMware tools to keep a file (hgfs.dat) open and can cause backup errors. To disable the shared folders feature, remove hgfs from the registry key ProviderOrder under KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\Order\. [more]
See http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1317 for more information.
The Remote Desktop Connection client has been updated in XP SP3. Besides the layout changes shown below, one of the changes in RDP 6.1 is the /console switch. To connect to the console of a machine, you must now use /admin bringing the final command to “mstsc /v servername /admin”. [more]
Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in Cisco ASA and PIX devices running version 7.x and 8.x software. Cisco has released free software updates to address the vulnerabilities. Installation of updates will require after hours work and device reboots.
For more information about individual vulnerabilities, refer to the following link:
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/707/cisco-sa-20080604-asa.shtml
[more] If you'd like help updating your Cisco ASA and PIX devices, please contact CoNetrix at [email protected] or call (800) 356-6568.
For most people who are running Exchange, the combination of “Recover Deleted Items” and standard backups will be enough to restore most deleted emails. But what about when a user is using a PST file instead of an Exchange mailbox and they deleted an item from the Deleted Items folder? Instead of having to listen to a users agonizing sobs when you deliver the “I’m sorry, we tried everything we could but we were unable to save him” line, try the below ‘the gloves are off’ recovery method. [more]
A PST is essentially a database. Items are records within the database and there is an index that points to each item. When you empty the Deleted Items folder, Outlook doesn't actually delete the items, it just deletes the items' listings from the index. The item is still in the PST, but unrecoverable because Outlook has no idea where it is without the pointer in the index. The space the item takes up is called "whitespace".When you Compact a PST, the item is finally removed permanently and the whitespace is recovered, often shrinking the PST by many megabytes. Once the PST has 20% "whitespace", Outlook begins compacting the PST. If the Deleted Items folder contained a lot of messages, Outlook may begin compacting the PST immediately and the items will be deleted forever within a few minutes.
To recover the items which are no longer in the index you need to force Outlook to rebuild the index by causing corruption. You can cause corruption by using a Hex editor to delete some characters from the beginning of the PST file. If you delete the wrong ones you'll cause corruption but not in the index and Outlook won't rebuild the index.
Recover the Deleted Items
Acquire a simple Hex Editor. I like XVI32 since it is simple and doesn’t require installation.
I ran across a cool add-on to IE 7 called IE7Pro. I use a lot of extensions to Firefox, but this add-on to IE has a lot of helpful features rolled into one install. Here is a list of some of its features:
[more]The inline search adds a search bar like found in Firefox that finds as you type. You use the F3 and Enter key to cycle to the next result and you can highlight all the results on the page see them all at once. If you'd rather search the web instead of the current page, you have the option to highlight the word or phrase, right-click it, and choose the Search With menu item. The Search With function will display the search results for the term in a new tab using Google, Yahoo!, Live Search, or another search engine of your choice.
The Refresh Current Tab feature is a cool way to ensure your always looking at current information on website that don't automatically refresh on their own. This is great for situations where you want to keep a news site or a web based monitoring utility up all day long and view the latest information without having to refresh the page everytime you look at it.
My favorite feature is the webpage capturer. This feature enables you to easily save a page to an image file. No more Ctrl+Print Screen and pasting into MS Paint or Word. Now you can save screenshots directly from the browser into a JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG, or TIFF. This is a real time saver.