Windows Vista

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The Ultimate Vista Troubleshooting Toolkit

If Windows Vista is operating at less than peak efficiency, chances are there's a simple cause. Find the problem, fix it, and you're back at full speed. So where do you begin digging? In this screenshot gallery, Ed Bott describes 10 built-in diagnostic utilities that every Vista user should know...

Tags: Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Operating Systems, Microsoft Windows, Software, Ed Bott, Windows Vista, performance, utilities

Image galleries 2008-05-06

Taming Vista's User Account Control

The User Account Control feature in Windows Vista has been known to drive normally level-headed people over the edge with frustration. But shutting it off isn't the best answer. In this walkthrough, Ed Bott explains how to tone down the hard edges of UAC without sacrificing its protection. by Ed...

Tags: Windows Vista, User Account Control, UAC

Image galleries 2008-04-29

Fixing Windows Vista on a Sony Vaio

Last month I had a chance to use a pair of Sony Vaio notebooks that together gave Windows Vista a terrible name. In this screenshot gallery, I’ll give you a close-up look at what I had to do to turn Sony’s messy, half-baked Windows installation into one that is worthy...

Tags: Sony, Vaio, Windows Vista, speed-up tips

Image galleries 2008-04-21

Windows Vista Media Center in HD

After years of waiting, the pieces of Windows Media Center are finally clicking into place. With CableCARD support and the latest generation of Media Center Extenders, Vista can deliver just about any kind of digital media throughout a household, without breaking the bank. Here's how Windows expert Ed Bott put...

Tags: Windows Vista, Media Center, HDTV

Image galleries 2008-04-04

Windows Vista Service Pack 1

On March 18, 2008, Microsoft made Windows Vista Service Pack 1 available for general download via Windows Update. Here's what you can expect from the installation process. by Ed Bott

Tags: screenshots, Windows Vista, Service Pack 1, SP1

Image galleries 2008-03-18

Blue Pill Project extends VM rootkit cat-and-mouse tussle

LAS VEGAS - The intellectual cat-and-mouse tussle over hiding and finding virtual machine rootkits has hit a new gear with a team of researchers dismissing the notion of "100 percent undetectable" malware and the release of source code for a new "Blue Pill" rootkit.As previously reported, Thomas Ptacek, co-founder of...

Tags: Zero-day attacks, Windows Vista, Vulnerability research, Viruses and Worms, Spyware and Adware, Rootkits, Responsible disclosure, Pen testing, Patch Watch, Microsoft, Metasploit, Hackers, Exploit code, Data theft, Browsers, Botnets, Black Hat

Blog posts 2007-08-02

OpenBSD team mocked at first ever 'Pwnie' awards

LAS VEGAS -- The OpenBSD team has won an award for the most spectacular "mishandling" of a critical security vulnerability.Here's why:The OpenBSD team refused to acknowledge the bug as a security vulnerability and issued a "reliability fix" for it. A week later Core Security had developed proof of concept code...

Tags: Zero-day attacks, Wireless, Windows Vista, Wi-Fi security, Vulnerability research, Viruses and Worms, Responsible disclosure, Pen testing, Patch Watch, Mozilla, Microsoft, Hackers, Google, Firefox, Exploit code, Data theft, Browsers, Botnets, Apple

Blog posts 2007-08-02

Hacker movements: Murphy joins Apple; Caceres to Matasano

LAS VEGAS - On the heels of Google's hire of browser hacking whiz Michal Zalewski comes news that another well-known vulnerability researcher is moving over to the vendor side.Matthew Murphy, an outspoken hacker who is credited with several major flaw discoveries, has confirmed he is joining Apple as a product...

Tags: Windows Vista, Vulnerability research, Viruses and Worms, Responsible disclosure, Punditocracy, Pen testing, Patch Watch, Mozilla, Microsoft, Hackers, Firefox, Exploit code, Data theft, Browsers, Botnets, Black Hat, Apple

Blog posts 2007-08-01

Remembering five years of vulnerability markets

Guest Editorial by David EndlerWhile compiling some stats this week for our Zero Day Initiative two year anniversary, I came across this recent news article by the Associated Press, Researchers Seek Cash for Software Flaws. It's the latest in a long line of media coverage on the launch of...

Tags: Botnets, Black Hat, Apple, Zero-day attacks, Wireless, Windows Vista, Wi-Fi security, Vulnerability research, Viruses and Worms, Symantec, Rootkits, Responsible disclosure, Punditocracy, Pen testing, Patch Watch, Passwords, Open source, Mozilla, Microsoft, Metasploit, Hackers, Google, Firefox, Exploit code, Data theft, Browsers

Blog posts 2007-08-01

Apple monster update fixes iPhone, Safari, Mac OS X flaws

LAS VEGAS -- Apple has issued a monster update with patches for about 50 security vulnerabilities affecting iPhone, Safari and Mac OS X users.In a race against the clock, the company rushed out iPhone v1.0 with fixes for four different vulnerabilities that could allow hackers to take full control of...

Tags: Zero-day attacks, Windows Vista, Vulnerability research, Viruses and Worms, Spyware and Adware, Responsible disclosure, Pen testing, Patch Watch, Open source, Mozilla, Metasploit, McAfee, Hackers, Google, Digital rights management, Data theft, Browsers, Botnets, Black Hat, Apple

Blog posts 2007-07-31

Google hires browser hacking guru

Google has snapped up one of the sharpest minds in the hacker community, luring Michal Zalewski to help lock down its long list of Internet facing products.Zalewski, a 26-year-old computer security whiz from Poland, joined the search engine giant about a week ago to work as an Information Security Engineer.He...

Tags: Zero-day attacks, Windows Vista, Vulnerability research, Viruses and Worms, Spyware and Adware, Spam and Phishing, Responsible disclosure, Pen testing, Patch Watch, Passwords, Open source, Mozilla, Microsoft, Metasploit, Hackers, Google, Firefox, Exploit code, Data theft, Browsers, Botnets, Black Hat

Blog posts 2007-07-30

Hasta la Vista, Nvidia

If you own an Nvidia display adapter and you run Windows Vista, I have good news and bad news.The good news? Nvidia has released another update of its drivers for 32–bit and 64–bit Vista. ForceWare Release 162 was posted to Nvidia’s website on July 26.The bad news? The list of...

Tags: Windows Vista, Hardware

Blog posts 2007-07-30

Vista Hands On #18: Log on automatically

Today's tip is in response to a reader question:When Vista is booting it displays the welcome screen and requires me to click on the icon with my name on it before it will continue to boot. My old machine with XP did not make me do this, it continued to...

Tags: Windows Vista, Vista Mailbag

Blog posts 2007-07-30

German hacker denied entry into U.S. for Black Hat training

Thomas Dullien, a prominent security researcher who has been a fixture at the annual Black Hat security conference, has been denied entry into the U.S. to attend and conduct training at this year's confab.Dullien (left), a German reverse engineering whiz known in hacker circles as "Halvar Flake," said he was...

Tags: Zero-day attacks, Windows Vista, Vulnerability research, Viruses and Worms, Responsible disclosure, Pen testing, Patch Watch, Passwords, Microsoft, Metasploit, Hackers, Exploit code, Digital rights management, Data theft, Cisco, Browsers, Botnets, Black Hat

Blog posts 2007-07-29

Problems arise with Vista's activation system

Last month I began hearing rumblings of problems with the product activation system in Windows Vista. Last week I got to see the problem firsthand. The bottom line? The simple act of updating some hardware drivers – without making any changes to the hardware itself – can result in the...

Tags: Windows Vista, Hardware

Blog posts 2007-07-26

Protocol abuse adds to Firefox, Windows security woes

Security researchers have discovered a new set of protocol abuse problems with Mozilla Firefox, warning that the popular open-source browser is a sitting duck for code execution exploits.Billy (BK) Rios, a hacker who has warned repeated about risky and unnecessary URIs registered on Windows, has released proof-of-concept exploits that shows...

Tags: Zero-day attacks, Windows Vista, Vulnerability research, Viruses and Worms, Spyware and Adware, Rootkits, Responsible disclosure, Pen testing, Patch Watch, Passwords, Google, Firefox, Exploit code, Data theft, Browsers, Botnets, Apple, Spam and Phishing, Hackers

Blog posts 2007-07-26

Critical ActiveX flaw haunts LinkedIn toolbar

The flaw, which is not yet patched, was discovered by researchers at VDA Labs. A proof-of-concept demo has been released to show how a PC can be hijacked if a LinkedIn toolbar user is lured to a booby-trapped Web site.The toolbar is marketed by the social network site to...

Tags: Botnets, Browsers, Data theft, Exploit code, Firefox, Hackers, Microsoft, Mozilla, Passwords, Patch Watch, Responsible disclosure, Spyware and Adware, Viruses and Worms, Vulnerability research, Windows Vista, Zero-day attacks

Blog posts 2007-07-24

Free utility looks for missing security patches

Secunia has shipped a downloadable version of a free utility that scans Windows machines to find missing software patches.The tool, an enhancement to the Secunia Software inspector (a Web-based scanner I've covered before), can be used to inspect and monitor more than 4,200 different PC applications to flag dangerous vulnerabilities.This...

Tags: Hackers, Metasploit, Spyware and Adware, Botnets, Google, Firefox, Exploit code, Vulnerability research, Patch Watch, Data theft, Browsers, Windows Vista, Pen testing, Apple, Viruses and Worms, Passwords, Open source, Responsible disclosure, Mozilla, Microsoft

Blog posts 2007-07-24

Mozilla caught napping on URL protocol handling flaw

Uh-oh. The latest twist in the URL protocol handling vulnerability saga has left eggs on the faces of the security folks at Mozilla.It turns out that Mozilla's Firefox is just as guilty Microsoft's Internet Explorer when it comes to passing dangerous data to third party applications.Over the last two...

Tags: Zero-day attacks, Windows Vista, Vulnerability research, Spyware and Adware, Viruses and Worms, Responsible disclosure, Pen testing, Patch Watch, Open source, Mozilla, Microsoft, Metasploit, Google, Firefox, Exploit code, Data theft, Browsers, Botnets, Black Hat

Blog posts 2007-07-23

MPack exploit kit creator speaks

SecurityFocus.com reporter Rob Lemos has a fascinating interview with one of the developers of MPack, the exploit kit used in thousands of drive-by malware attacks.In the interview, presented from multiple IRC conversations and edited/reordered for clarity, Lemos does a nice job of peeking behind the dark curtain of exploit writing...

Tags: Zero-day attacks, Windows Vista, Vulnerability research, Viruses and Worms, Spyware and Adware, Spam and Phishing, Rootkits, Responsible disclosure, Pen testing, Patch Watch, Passwords, Microsoft, Metasploit, Hackers, Google, Firefox, Exploit code, Data theft, Browsers, Botnets, Black Hat

Blog posts 2007-07-20