Sandboxie is another application developed with the intent to keep your computer safe. Sandboxie works by creating a, you guessed it, sandbox for applications to run in. Specifically, it addresses the problem of: "I downloaded this file and I'm not sure I trust it. I need to run it though. How do I find out if it's malicious or what changes it will make to my computer?" Besides … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2009
Hardcopy Advanced Configuration (Part 2)
Continuing my series on making Hardcopy do just about everything you want, I present Part 2 of the walkthrough for Hardcopy. This will get into some more advanced topics, but increases the versatility of what Hardcopy can do. This will also incorporate any new things I've found (best practices) from working with individuals to configure Hardcopy for their environment. In the … [Read more...]
Improving Vista File Search
Configuration One of the coolest features of Vista, which is now somewhat available for Windows XP, is the search feature. With background indexing, there's no denying that Vista's search functionality is zippy, faster than Windows Search ever was before. Along with the fact that the animated creatures are gone (the dog by default, "Goodbye Clippy 2.0"), Vista's file search is … [Read more...]
Book Review: Exploiting Software – How to Break Code
Exploiting Software - How to Break Code by Greg Hoglund and Gary McGraw is an earlier work by the same authors of the previously reviewed Rootkits. This one dives into the security risks for poorly coded software. Copyright 2004, the book provides lots of examples of exploitable code from wrongfully used functions and improper coding methods five years ago. Despite its age (5 … [Read more...]
ThreatFire – Proactive Antivirus and Spyware Protection
What they call Behavioral Virus and spyware protection, I call proactive. Instead of being reactionary and delayed behind viruses and spyware, ThreatFire is able to analyze the behavioral habits of programs to determine if it is a virus before a definition (thumbprint identifying the virus) even exists. Chances are if it sounds like a virus and quacks like a virus, it's … [Read more...]