Category: Security

Top 10 New Features in Windows Server 2008

Top 10 New Features in Windows Server 2008

“So if there’s a corruption detected someplace in the data structure, an NTFS worker thread is spawned,” Russinovich explained, “and that worker thread goes off and performs a localized fix-up of those data structures. The only effect that an application would see is that files would be unavailable for the period of time that it was trying to access, had been corrupted. If it retried later after the corruption was healed, then it would succeed. But the system never has to come down, so there’s no reason to have to reboot the system and perform a low-level CHKDSK offline.”

I usually don’t write about enterprise-related information because, honestly, usually I find it boring. For the heck of it the other day I was reading something at BetaNews when I came across this article. I am a beta tester for Windows Longhorn (AKA Windows Server 2008), but as you might gather I am not exactly the most technical beta tester they have for this.

Anyways, I thought this particular feature was quite useful and hopefully this is one of the features that get rolled into Vista when they release SP1 (including the kernel update) in Q2 2007. Anything Microsoft can do to reduce the number of restarts would be great.

Interesting Links: 5.25.07

  • Google-Dell browser tool ‘spyware,’ charges OpenDNS founder -Calling something spyware or ad ware these days is quite a powerful thing to do if you want to discourage users from trusting something. In my opinion, based on the description of this browser add-on, I’d agree with labeling this pre-installed crap as adware. Luckily we have PC Decrapifier to easily remove this pre-installed garbage.
  • How eclectic is your musical style? – This requires an account at Last.fm, but you should have an account already anyways. I scored a 75/100 which I feel is a little low considering I do in fact have quite a variety in music taste. Oh well, it’s fun to play with anyways.
  • The Pessimist’s Mug – I really need to get one of these mugs. Hilarious…

Adobe CS3 May Disable your Firewall

Hide your firewalls! Adobe’s CS3 may try to disable them:

If you are using the OS X firewall, and you’ve recently installed Creative Suite 3, you should probably be checking your firewall right about now. That’s because the Adobe Version Cue CS3 installer will shut off your firewall. More specifically, during the installation for Version Cue, the installer has to turn off the firewall in order to set up some TCP ports. These ports need to be open for communication to and from the Version Cue server, and the firewall would otherwise prevent the installer from tinkering with them. The problem occurs once Version Cue setup is done. Rather than turn the firewall back on at the end, the Version Cue installer inexplicably leaves it turned off, opening your Mac up to all sorts of nastiness. There’s no word on if it’s a bug or just a curious omission, but if you buy any of the affected versions of CS3 in the next few months, it would be a good idea to check your firewall after installation.

Wow, this is remarkably stupid on Adobe’s part. Sure, I understand having to temporarily disable the firewall during the setup/installation, but to leave the firewall turned off is just stupid and borderline negligent. That would be like a person installing a new front door which requires him to temporarily take apart the lock on the door, he then finishes installing the new front door, but intentionally does not reassemble the door lock. Adobe better fix this, and ASAP. P.S. this only applies to OS X users in case you didn’t read the above quote.

Windows Live Folders Beta Information

Windows Live Folders beta

After the intial signin to the service, the user is presented with the Folders homepage, showing the 3 folder types that can be created, as well as some default folders and a storage capactiy meter. After creating your own folders, these will appear on your homepage too. My storage meter says 250MB for the time being the beta should have more.

This sounds like it could be useful for “normal” people as long as they do this correctly. What they need to do is embed this into Vista (somehow), ideally people should open “Computer” (formerly “My Computer”) and the Live Folder storage should appear right there. Ideally the Live Folders should act EXACTLY like a normal hard drive. Screens shots are included in the article, but unfortunately they are rather small and useless. Hopefully the beta for this will open up soon.
It is almost kind of important to mention that the rumor is Live Folders will offer 500MB of free storage. Let me mention that this is absolutely pathetic when you consider AOL’s Xdrive offers 5GB free, Mozy offers 2GB, and Box.net offers 1GB for free right now. This is ignoring the fact that Google’s rumored storage offering is going to be “unlimited”. Microsoft needs to offer a MINIMUM of 5GB of storage.

New Bill To Protect Bloggers Under Shield Law

New bill to give bloggers same shield law protection as journalists

The House of Representatives has amended the Free Flow of Information Act of 2007 to include provisions to protect bloggers from being required to divulge their sources under certain situations in the same way as journalists. Instead of requiring journalists to be tied to a news organization, the bill now defines “journalism” to focus more on the function of the job: “the gathering, preparing, collecting, photographing, recording, writing, editing, reporting, or publishing of news or information that concerns local, national, or international events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to the public.”

Well this is great news. It took them long enough to get this right.

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09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

Processing Key for HD-DVDs

Here is the Processing Key which should work on all HD DVD discs (and maybe even Blu-Ray discs) released so far:

09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

It’s the HD-DVD Processing Key for most movies released so far. I was not aware that a string of numbers and letters was copyrightable. Perhaps its just my ignorance but it seems that someone is abusing the DMCA again. Now, even if this number stopped working (and it will, thanks to the revocation procedures in HD-DVD’s encryption scheme) or if it were a hoax, the decryption system has already been figured out and is implemented in a software program called BackupHDDVD.

Here is a nice write up (including the key) over at Wired.

Here is some the source code for decoding HD-DVDs: hddvd_decoding.txt

Here is the application that runs under windows: Decoding HD-DVDs (Usage: mkb [volume_id] )

Here is the source code for getting this to run under Linux, download aacauth right here.

p.s. A big heart felt “fuck you” goes out to the RIAA and the HD-DVD group. If you don’t like this then go right ahead and send me your little cease and desist. You can’t stop us, you can’t stop this number, and you can’t win with your pathetic DRM.

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Share Your Music With AIM BuddyTunes

Share Your Music With AIM BuddyTunes

So what does this plugin do?  It will stream your iTunes music library to your buddies with AIM Buddy Tunes. This plugin extends iTunes network streaming to your friends on your buddy list, so they can hear what great musical taste you have. Browse songs and playlists and just click play to listen. 

To get started make sure you turn on your sharing preference in iTunes.  You can do that via the Edit menu in iTunes and choosing Preferences.  Select the Sharing tab and make sure “Look for Shared Music” and “Share my library on my local network” are both checked.  Download the plugin and run AIM 6.1 or AIM Lite.  In the shared list you will see other buddies music libraries who have the plugin installed.

Very interesting, and I definitely don’t see this being around “officially” for very long before the record companies bitch slap AOL for this one. I grabbed a copy of this plugin so if/when they take it down let me know and I’ll throw up a mirror for it. Oh, and too bad it only works with iTunes. I dropped iTunes like the bad habit that it really was…

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Windows Home Server April CTP

Windows Home Server Beta/CTP Preview

the ‘C’ in CTP alternatively stood for consumer, customer, and community. “We think of it as the ‘C-cubed’ build,” he said, noting that they had staged the release of the CTP so that first-tier testers such as MVPs, Microsoft Insiders, and Microsoft employees could give them a few days to triage the build before it shipped to the wider test pool. Regarding the public beta, over 45,000 people were accepted into the program previous to the CTP release, and Hendrick says there are another 10,000 to 12,000 waiting in the queue. The CTP represents a visual freeze of the product: “What you see is what it will look like [when it’s finalized],” Headrick told me. WHS is “98 percent” feature complete, he said, and only a few minor changes will be made between now and the final version.

Well it is nice to finally be able to talk about this… I’m a Microsoft Insider, and as such have been unable to discuss the April CTP build of Windows Home Server that I received about a week ago. To be honest, I have not had the time to install it, but the general feedback I’ve been reading from other Insiders has been positive so I am quite excited to get some time to get my current Home Server updated. Paul has some screenshots available at WHS CTP Screenshots Part 1 and WHS CTP Screenshots Part 2.

Once finals are done I will get this installed, or maybe next week when I am procrastinating my studying for said finals, and then I’ll be able to write a little bit more about what has actually been updated. Check out Paul’s screenshots and hold tight.

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Zune v2.0 Details Leaked

Zune 2.0 Details Leaked

Zune 2.0 and the Flash Zune, AKA little Zune, were leaked. Here are the details. 

  • Zune 2.0 and the Flash Zune will be out this year
  • Zune 2.0 is like Gen 1 but thinner
  • Larger HDD, same doubleshot finish
  • Flash Zune is 3 by 1 1/4 by 1/4
  • Flash Zune is video capable
  • Flash Zune’s Screen covers 75% of the front
  • Flash Zune will have WiFi
  • Flash Zune will have doubleshot
  • Design phase is over, but some tweaks to hardware will occur
  • 2.4 million next gen Zunes will be made before 2007’s holiday season, and that 2/3 of em are the Flash Zune players. 

Amazing espionage and good fortune by Zune Scene agents. Unconfirmed, of course.

Interesting, although this isn’t exactly shocking information when you really think about it. Thinner? Duh. Bigger HDD? Duh. Smaller model with a flash HDD? Duh. Anyways, here is my thoughts on what they did right with Zune v1 and what they should do with Zune v2.

Lets see what the Zune did right with v1:

  • Killer UI, yup
  • Killer screen, yup
  • Killer video quality, yup
  • Basic Wifi support, yup (I said basic…)
  • Relatively attractive design

Things they should improve on in v2:

  • Fix the damned Wifi, make it not suck
  • Enable Wifi purchasing of music
  • Enable Wifi syncing
  • Enable divx/xvid support to attract customers
  • Make the device thinner, and lighter
  • Increase the HDD size of the high-end model (60, 80, 100GB range)
  • Release a compact model with a smaller flash HDD (4, 6, 8GB range)
  • Make it very easy to transfer to/from the Xbox 360 music, photos, videos
  • Similar to above, stream off Media Center and Xbox 360 to Zune.
  • Enable the damned mass storage device setting out of the box.
  • Remove all DRM from the Zune store (They are already working on this one)

That’s all I can think of off the top of my head.

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