Password Security

Password Security

With most websites requiring you to create an account, do you find yourself in a bit of a pickle when it comes to inventing passwords? Many people use the same password for all their online accounts and often forget the password they came up with months ago. Hands up who doesn’t feel like banging your head against the wall trying to remember the password you created months ago..?

Let’s face it - everyone has problems with creating and remembering secure passwords. That’s why  decided to help.

Tips on how to create and remember your passwords:
•Use the first letters of a sentence that you will remember,e.g. "I have 3 cats: Fluffy, Furry and Shaggy" gives: Ih3c:FF&S, or “Bouncing tigers have every right to ice-cream” becomes: Bther2I-C.

•Take the name of the website and then add your personal twist, like your height or your friend’s home address (e.g. “AmazonOceanRd6’ 2”). Avoid using your own contact details like your phone number or house number.

•Remove the vowels from a word or phrase e.g. "I like eating pancakes” becomes: Ilktngpncks”.

•Use a phrase from your favourite book and then add the page, paragraph or chapter number.

The Do’s and Don'ts of creating passwords

Do:

•Mix letters, numbers and symbols, and use case sensitivity (upper and lower case letters)

•The longer the better. Use passwords that are longer than 6 characters.

•Change your passwords at least every 60 days, cycling the numeric values up or down makes the new password easy to remember.

•Try copying and pasting at least some of the characters in your password that way keyloggers won’t be able to track your keystrokes.

Don't:

•Don’t use words or phrases or numbers that have personal significance. It is very easy for someone to guess or identify your personal details like date of birth.

•Avoid writing your password down, use a reputable password manager to manage all your passwords.

•Don’t use the same password for several logins, especially if they involve sensitive financial or other personal information.

•Don’t tell anybody your password.

•When registering on websites that ask for your email address, never use the same password as your email account.

Source:-Internet

Professional Onsite Tools To Carry Out.......

When you’re out on a troubleshooting call, the last thing you want is to be unprepared. Not only does it make you look bad, it’s unprofessional and reflects poorly on your company. Because you can’t always know what you are getting into, it’s best to travel with more than enough. Luckily,


Here’s a list of  items you shoud have on every run out.

1: ccleaner
Ccleaner is a freeware utility for system optimization, privacy, and cleaning. This tool will remove unused files from a hard drive and clean up online history. But more important, it includes an outstanding registry cleaner. Just be sure you use this tool with caution so you don’t delete files that are actually important.



2: AVG
AntivirusAVG Antivirus is one of the first lines of defense I suggest to clients. And although AVG Free is fine for household use, make sure you are suggesting the Pro version for your commercial clients. The Pro version adds many features, including the ability to scan for rootkits.



3: Puppy Linux (or Knoppix)
You never know when you are going to require a tool that can run checks on hardware that a running operating system can’t do. With either Puppy or Knoppix, you can reboot your machine into a live system and do maintenance that Windows simply can’t do while running.



4: Extra flash drives
How many times have you done backups or needed to save log files and had nothing to save to? I always carry numerous flash drives of various sizes. I even carry empty flash drives in case a client needs one. Those items can always be billed.



5: Combofix
Combofix can really save your hide. This tool will scan for known malware and/or spyware and safely remove it. When Combofix completes its scan/removal, it will generate a report you can save and reference later (when billing or when a similar behavior strikes.)



6: Paper and pen
Paper and pen will always win. You never know when you need to jot down notes. And although most consultants are never too far away from their trusty laptops, you can’t leave your laptop with the client so they can read your recommendations. Being able to quickly jot down an error message or thought is so much easier with your trusty pad and writing utensil.



7: Malware Bytes Anti-Malware
Malware Bytes Anti-Malware is one of the best tools for removing malware from a PC. Unlike a lot of its competition, Malware Bytes Anti-Malware can safely remove even advanced malware.



8: MiFi-like device
There are times when you need your good old friend Google. But what happens when your client’s network is down or when you can’t join their wireless network? You need to be able to have a connection with you at all times. Most mobile providers offer portable wireless access points (like the Verizon MiFi). These tools can get you wireless access where ever you have a cellular signal.



9: Ethernet cable
How many times have you had to scramble for another Ethernet cable? Whether it’s to hook up a printer or that other machine that’s just “sitting around doing nothing,” most clients won’t be prepared with spare cables. Having a spare can also provide your own laptop with connectivity when you can’t get on your client’s wireless network.



10: Snacks
You’ve been tirelessly working on an issue and lunch time comes and goes. You’re trying to track down that virus and your stomach is growling. If you’re like me, you start getting a bit grouchy once that hunger really sets in. Do yourself a favor and carry around a snack to avoid this problem. You and your clients will be happy you did

Enjoy...source internet.

10 Open Source Windows Apps Worth Checking Out

I understand that most people associate open source with Linux. But there are quite a few solid applications for the Windows operating system, developed and maintained by the open source community. Oh sure, there’s OpenOffice and Firefox; but it doesn’t end there. I’m going to introduce you to 10 open source applications for Windows. You may never have heard of some of them or knew the port existed, but they’re definitely worth a look.

1: VLC
VLC is one of the most flexible multimedia players available. It supports a vast number of audio and video formats, including H.264, Ogg, DivX, MKV, TS, MPEG-2, mp3, MPEG-4, and aac, and it supports streaming and TV capture cards. VLC isn’t limited to viewing multimedia files, either. It can convert and transcode formats, too.

2: Gnumeric
Gnumeric is the spreadsheet portion of the GNOME Office suite (as well as a stand-alone tool). Gnumeric has been around for quite some time and is an outstanding entry in the spreadsheet world. Gnumeric currently has 520 spreadsheet functions (154 of which are unique) and is faster than any spreadsheet application you have ever tried. Gnumeric can read many spreadsheet formats, but if you’re looking for a clone of Excel, look elsewhere.

3: Abiword
Abiword is also a part of the GNOME office suite (as well as a stand-alone tool), and it can serve all your word processing needs. With Abiword, you can create and collaborate. It’s lightweight, fast, reliable, and (like all tools on this list) free! Abiword can read and write both Microsoft Office and OpenOffice document formats.

4: Audacity
Audacity is an incredible piece of software for recording and editing sounds. You can use it to record live audio, convert analog recordings to digital, cut/copy/splice, change speed and pitch, and import/export numerous formats. Audacity can also remove noise and add effects. If you’re looking for an open source recording studio, don’t overlook Audacity.

5: Inkscape
Inkscape is a powerful vector graphics editor similar to Illustrator, Corel Draw, and Xara X. It closely adheres to W3C standard SVG file format, so you can be sure that any SVG file created with (or edited by) Inkscape will work with any other standards-compliant tool. One nice aspect of Inkscape is the availability of numerous tutorials, which you will find on the Inkscape site and on other sites.

6: X-Chat 2
X-Chat 2 is one of the best IRC clients available. Although many users are foregoing IRC in favor of standard IM tools, IRC is still a valuable resource for consultants and IT admins. I still frequent Ubuntu Classroom chats to learn as much as I can from the developers of Ubuntu. There are plenty of excellent chat rooms out there; why not use the best chat app available?

7: FreeMind
FreeMind is “mind mapping” software that’s ideal for keeping more dimensional notes on projects, classes, thoughts, etc. The best thing about mind-mapping tools is they are not as limiting as standard “task” tools or to-do lists. Note: FreeMind is written in Java, so you will need Java installed.

8: TurboCASH
TurboCASH is a personal finance manager and entry-level accounting package for Windows. It has been around for a number of years, so it has a solid foundation as well as a large following. TurboCASH is used by more than 100,000 companies in more than 80 countries.

9: Amaya Web Browser
Amaya Web Browser is that alternative browser you’re looking for to stand as either a testing ground for WC3 compliance or if you just want to be different. But Amaya is not just a browser. It’s also a Web editor. Believe it or not, the Amaya browser has been around since 1996 and is directly hosted by the W3C.

10: ClamWin
ClamWin is an antivirus tool for Windows based on the venerable ClamAV for the Linux operating system. ClamWin offers all the standard features you’re used to in an antivirus tool, as well as Outlook and Explorer integration. The only difference between ClamWin and the competition (besides the price) is that it does not use a real-time scanner. Other than scheduled scans, you have to manually scan a file for a virus. Because of this, ClamWin is not for the lazy.

Source : - Internet..................

10 issues to consider during virtualization planning

Virtualizing your servers offers significant advantages, but effective planning is crucial to your success. Make sure you have satisfactory answers to these key questions before you get underway.


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Server virtualization is becoming increasingly popular, and it seems that everyone is in a mad dash to virtualize their datacenter. While there’s no disputing the benefits of server virtualization, there are some questions you should address before you begin to virtualize your servers.

Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.

1: Does my virtualization plan include a single point of failure?I recently did a consulting job for an organization that had virtualized all of their servers. The problem was that they’d placed all of their virtualized domain controllers onto a single host server. If that host had died, it would have taken all the domain controllers with it. It’s important to plan your virtual server deployment so that the failure of a single host server will not have catastrophic consequences.

2: Are all my applications supported in a virtual environment?Believe it or not, some fairly common applications are not supported on virtual servers. For example, some versions of Exchange Server are supported only on physical servers. Others are supported only on specific virtualization platforms. Before you begin virtualizing your servers, make sure that your applications will be supported in a virtual environment.

3: Do I have any servers that are not good virtualization candidates?Some servers simply do not make good virtualization candidates. This is especially true of servers that run resource-intensive applications or that require special hardware. For example, some enterprise applications enforce copy protection through the use of a dongle. Dongles are almost never supported in a virtual environment.

4: How will domain controller placement work?Earlier, I mentioned that you shouldn’t place all of your domain controllers on a single host, but there is more to domain controller planning than that. You have to consider whether you want to virtualize all your domain controllers. If you do virtualize all of them, you will have to decide whether the host servers will be domain members. Making the host servers domain members when all of the domain controllers have been virtualized leads to a “which came first, the chicken or the egg” paradox (although it can be done).

5: What is the most suitable virtualization platform?Numerous server virtualization products are on the market, and each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Be sure to take some time and figure out which product will work best for your own situation.

6: What is the contingency plan if a host server dies?While a server failure is never good, its effects are compounded in a virtual environment. A host server failure can take down several virtual servers and cripple your network. Because host server failures can be so disruptive, you need to have a plan that will help minimize the impact of an outage.

7: How many guest machines can each host accommodate?Probably the single biggest mistake administrators make when virtualizing a datacenter is overloading the host servers. It is critical that you do some capacity planning ahead of time to determine how many guest machines each host server can realistically accommodate. Since every guest machine is different, you need to at least have an idea of where you would like to place each guest machine when you begin the capacity planning process.

8: What software licenses will be required?Software licensing often works differently in a virtual environment. For example, if you are using Hyper-V, you may not be required to license the Windows operating systems that are running on your guest machines. Things aren’t always so cut and dried, though, because the actual license requirements vary depending on the versions of Windows being used. Make sure that you understand the license requirements for the operating systems and applications that will be run on your guest machines.

9: How will the old server hardware be used?The virtualization process often results in a number of leftover servers. You might be able to repurpose some of them as virtualization hosts, but you might end up having to retire them. In any case, you should have a plan for your old server hardware.

10: What is the plan for existing server clusters?Although cluster nodes can sometimes be virtualized, you may find that the nodes perform better on physical hardware. If you do decide to virtualize your cluster nodes, just make sure that you don’t put all of them on the same host server. Otherwise, you will defeat the purpose of having a cluster because the host will act as a single point of failure.

Source:- Internet {TechRepublic}