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Mobile malware is coming. Get prepared.

Dave Farquhar security December 28, 2012December 28, 2012android, antivirus, avast, firewall, malware, Nook Color, Play Store, samsung

One thing I’m seeing in the predictions-for-2013 columns is that mobile malware is going to increase this year. While I can’t be certain it’s going to happen, all of the ingredients are there. The only thing stopping it is motive.

I’m familiar with Avast antivirus on Android. It’s nice. Whenever I download an app from the Google Play store, it scans it, and if it finds something it doesn’t like, it intervenes. Read more

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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How to schedule scans with Avast (even the free version)

Dave Farquhar security December 20, 2012antivirus, avast, defense in depth, performance penalty

Scheduling scans with Avast is easy, as it turns out, if non-obvious. Launch Avast, then, non-intuitively, click Scan Now. Click Settings, then, buried on the left is an option called Scheduling.

I recommend doing a quick scan at least once a day and a full scan at least once a week. If you’re using Avast as a secondary scanner, be sure to have your primary scanner scheduled to perform scans too. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Get defense in depth with antivirus by installing Avast as a secondary scanner

Dave Farquhar security December 13, 2012December 5, 2015antivirus, avast, chrome, defense in depth

Two antivirus programs on one system? Heresy, right?

Well, not if one is designed to play second fiddle. As it turns out, Avast, one of the best free antivirus programs, can do just that. Just download it, run the installer, and pick the second option–“Compatible install – install as the second line of defense.” Be sure to de-select the option to install Google Chrome and make it your default browser, unless you want that. Free programs often come with ridealongs.

Dave Farquhar

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8-character passwords are obsolete

Dave Farquhar security December 11, 2012November 3, 2025antivirus, Password Safe, passwords

In case you missed it, a researcher has built a system that can crack every possible 8-character password in less than six hours. 8-character passwords are obsolete.

If he’s got it, so do the bad guys. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Workable two-factor authentication

Dave Farquhar security November 30, 2012AT&T, Fraud, internet providers, passwords, real estate, Two-factor authentication, vector, yahoo

I’m several months late to this party, but I just saw Marcel’s post on Google’s two-factor authentication with a smartphone.

He’s right. It works until someone steals your phone. Once someone steals your phone, you’re in a world of hurt. It’s just a compromise, until we find a way to do two-factor authentication the right way.

The right way is with a smartcard, issued by some sort of central authority. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Ars Technica: 64-bit Firefox on Windows needs to be a priority

Dave Farquhar security, Software November 28, 2012November 3, 2025Ars Technica, firefox, randomization

Ars Technica said yesterday that Mozilla needs to make 64-bit Firefox on Windows a high priority. I agree with this completely. With web browsers, you can’t have too much security, and Firefox on Windows is a big target.
Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Reduce your RAID failure rate

Dave Farquhar Hardware, security November 5, 2012April 18, 2017compaq, dell, hp, raid array, Western Digital

It’s not often that you end up talking about computer hardware at church. It’s especially not often that you end up talking about a RAID failure at church. But one such conversation got me thinking again about ways to reduce RAID failure rate.

This past Sunday, I talked with the executive director, who told me five of the drives in the 8-drive RAID array failed all at once. “That’s not supposed to happen,” he said.

It isn’t. But I know why it did.

Dave Farquhar

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Dvorak is wrong about the cyber war

Dave Farquhar security October 14, 2012January 19, 2026

So John C Dvorak (I’ll call him John Dvorak because he hates it–John Dvorak John Dvorak John Dvorak) says that cyber warfare, like Y2K, is a bunch of hooey.

I lived through Y2K, and I’m fighting the cyber war. He’s wrong on both counts. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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How to encrypt PDF files for free

Dave Farquhar security October 10, 2012AES, Libre Office, Microsoft Office, pdf files

Yesterday I wrote about the importance of encrypting documents before you send them via e-mail. But what if you don’t have a PDF creator, other than Microsoft Office or Open/Libre Office?

It turns out you can encrypt PDF documents, including those you create with office software, for free–with caveats.

Dave Farquhar

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How to send banking documents securely over e-mail

Dave Farquhar security October 9, 2012Adobe Acrobat, AES, office 2007, PKZIP

When you’re getting a loan, sometimes you have to send documents like bank statements electronically. If you want the money in those bank accounts to actually stay there, you need to protect those documents before you send them.

There are three relatively easy ways to do it, depending on what software you and the person on the other end have.

Dave Farquhar

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