10 Immutable Laws of Security

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Law #1: If a bad guy can persuade you to run his program on your computer, it’s not your computer anymore

Law #2: If a bad guy can alter the operating system on your computer, it’s not your computer anymore

Law #3: If a bad guy has unrestricted physical access to your computer, it’s not your computer anymore

Law #4: If you allow a bad guy to upload programs to your website, it’s not your website any more

Law #5: Weak passwords trump strong security

Law #6: A computer is only as secure as the administrator is trustworthy

Law #7: Encrypted data is only as secure as the decryption key

Law #8: An out of date virus scanner is only marginally better than no virus scanner at all

Law #9: Absolute anonymity isn’t practical, in real life or on the Web

Law #10: Technology is not a panacea

Source: 10 Immutable Laws of Security

MSN Toolbar Suite

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The MSN Search Team has just released a new beta for the MSN Toolbar Suite

Some of the features as listed on the website include:

– Find anything on your computer
– Find email messages
– Fill out forms online
– Block Pop-up ads

Now what’s kind of baffling is that even though all of the above features are provided for free, one would expect or hope that this would have come standard as part of the actual operating system. Nevertheless, if a tool can help with information retrieval then I’m all game.

Dell Inspiron 1150 experiences slow performance after installing XP SP2

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I assisted a client today who was experiencing very sluggish system performance on her Dell Inspiron 1150 after installing Windows XP SP2. After a quick Google/ Dell Forum search it appears that there are multiple people experiencing the same problem. Below are the steps I took to resolve the problem:

– Upgraded BIOS from A04 to A06 by running the BIOS update provided on the Dell Support Site

– Ran Dell’s QuickSet utility to configure the Power Settings for the laptop to be ‘always on’.

– Checked Windows Power Settings to confirm that the power scheme selected was set to something other than Portable/ Laptop

– Reset BIOS settings by pressing Alt + F

Some other recommendations:

– Roll back the processor driver that restores the processor.sys driver over the intelppm.sys installed by XP SP2.

© 2022 Leonard Nelson. All Rights Reserved. The content on this site reflects my own personal opinion and does not represent the views of any other individual or organization. All suggestions, solutions, advice and opinions come as-is with no warranty or responsibility implied.

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