Author: Dave Farquhar

I can save you $99

Dave Farquhar Windows , , ,

Microsoft is willing to install a clean copy of Windows in its retail stores on any PC for a flat fee of $99. (Windows license not included, of course.) They’ll also optionally include Microsoft’s Windows Live Essentials programs, the ad-supported starter editions of Word and Excel, Microsoft Security Essentials antivirus, and Zune media player software.
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The real benefits of having a CISSP

Dave Farquhar security , , , , , ,

Another question from the big box o’ Google search queries: What are the real benefits of having a CISSP?

I don’t want to be flip, but here it is in two words: job security. Read more

Things I wish everyone knew about home Mac security

Dave Farquhar Macintosh, security , , , , , , , , ,

On Wednesday evening, I wrote about basic computer security from a Windows-centric perspective. I knew some people who needed help in a hurry, and given there was a 90% or so chance they were running Windows, I took that route.

Some of my buddies who use Macs passed it along. And much of what I said then does apply, but I’d like to clarify a few of those points.
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Is the Windows firewall safe enough?

Dave Farquhar security , , , , ,

Is the Windows Firewall safe enough? I wish more people would ask that question rather than make assumptions.

I wish I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard an unsubstantiated statement like “Windows firewall is junk.” I went looking, and the best I could find was this, an editorial that said it doesn’t do enough to address outbound connections, particularly on a program-by-program basis.

OK, point taken. But “enough” is a moving target.

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Things I wish everyone knew about home computer security

Dave Farquhar security , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m a security professional by trade, with two certifications. I’m not responsible for defending your computer networks, but I want your networks to be secure. There’s a really simple reason for that. If your computer and your network is secure, then it isn’t attacking mine. Or anyone else’s.

Several fellow subscribers to a train-related interest group that I like got hacked recently, and have been sending out spam messages. They’ve received a lot of advice in the hours since. Some of it has been good, and some not as good. So I tried to think of some things that people could do in about 30 minutes to keep the crooks at bay.

Incidentally, the computer crooks won’t be going away. Computer crime happens because the criminals can make more money doing that than doing something legal. The only way to make it stop is to make it too hard, so that getting a real job becomes more profitable. You won’t solve that problem in 30 minutes, but if we all take that single step down that road, we’ll make the world that much safer. So, with that, let’s roll up our sleeves. Read more

3D printing hits $500

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized

The Solidoodle is the first fully assembled 3D printer to hit the magic $500 price point.

Nobody has reviewed one yet, and the device makes some significant compromises in order to get to that price point. Given that, I won’t be among the first to buy one. I’ll reserve that decision for a time when we know what it can and can’t do. But if we look at history, that $500 milestone is important.

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Getting Firefox out of the doldrums

Dave Farquhar security, Software , ,

John C. Dvorak asks what’s wrong with Firefox, and suggests forking as a possible solution.

It sounds to me like one or more plugins he’s running is causing problems. I run Firefox on Vista (unfortunately), with as few plugins as possible, and I don’t have the issues he describes. Memory usage does spiral out of control if I go long enough between restarting the browser, but restarting the browser once a week keeps it tolerable.
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Doc, what security settings are you using on your network?

Dave Farquhar security ,

A reader who will remain anonymous (he can out himself if he wishes) sent me an interesting observation. He was in his doctor’s office last week, and out of curiosity, he ran a wifi scanner on his phone just to see what networks were available and how they were secured.

What he saw wasn’t pretty. Especially considering he was in a building full of doctors, lawyers, and financial advisors. Read more

Remove ghost device drivers from Windows 7

Dave Farquhar Windows , , , , ,

If you want a way to remove ghost device drivers from Windows 7, or other recent versions of Windows, it just got easier.

What’s a ghost device driver? When you change or remove hardware from a Windows system, Windows keeps the old device driver lingering. You don’t see it in Device Manager, but the time Windows spends chasing ghosts increases boot time, in addition to consuming some memory, registry space, and disk space.

It’s not as much of a problem as it used to be, but if you want your system to run as quickly and smoothly as possible, you don’t want it wasting time managing hardware you’ll never use again. (Don’t worry–if you change your mind and plug the hardware back in, Windows will reload the driver.) Read more

The difference that posting frequency makes when blogging

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized

Some time ago, I gave the advice that it doesn’t really matter if you post every day or not.

I think my rationale was that quality matters more than quantity, or at least it should. And although I still believe that in an ideal world, quality should matter more than quantity, now I have around 18 months of data that I can look at.

Here are the trends that I see.
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