Michael Horowitz's Blog Archive

If you own a Lenovo ThinkPad and Internet Explorer starts hanging, here's the fix.

There is no need to disable Autoplay to protect a Windows computer from an infected USB flash drive. A simple zap to the registry, courtesy of Nick Brown, offers excellent protection in a simple easy way.

Many people are confused about Windows Autorun and Autoplay, even though they may not know it. A large part of the confusion stems from terminology. Microsoft uses the words to mean different things at different times and, perhaps most importantly, has no terminology to fully describe protecting your computer from an infected USB flash drive.

One way that the Conficker/Downadup worm spreads to untold millions of computers is by infecting USB flash drives. Here is a detailed examination of of how the autorun.inf file on a flash drive is used to trick people and infect Windows PCs. A sample autorun.inf file is provided that can be used to test the defenses of a computer against attack from infected flash drives.

Microsoft has made, what I think are, mistakes in changing the user interfaces on their two most important products, Windows and Office. Each is doing it's best to drive away existing customers. The techies at Microsoft seem to lack an understanding of the needs of normal people and thus may have started the company on its inevitable decline.

A real life example of removing malicious software from a brutally infected Windows XP computer provides an opportunity to compare multiple antivirus programs.

While hard disk passwords can offer great security, there are two sides to every coin. Here we examine the limitations of hard drive passwords and take a first look at bypassing them.

The official website of major league baseball, mlb.com, is pushing malicious software according to Alex Eckelberry of Sunbelt Software.

The often-overlooked hard disk password feature can offer improved security. On some computers, hard disk passwords can be used in conjunction with power-on passwords to offer two independent security schemes with a single password. ThinkPads do this, the Acer Aspire One netbook does not. At least the Aspire One offers hard disk passwords, many computers don't.

One defensive computing topic that doesn't seem to get the attention it deserves is protecting the hard disk with a password. The protection is a big step up from a Windows or power-on password, it requires hardly any time and effort and it's free. If you can get it.

An explanation of this new Computerworld blog, one focused on preventing computer problems. The blog is aimed at people for whom a computer failure would be a huge problem, as in not being able to run a business or perform their job. It will be mostly educational, and short on opinions.