Seems that if you have an XP professional system and add a drive, that drive gets formatted by default as a 'dynamic' drive.

If you then reformat the boot disk and install XP Home, you can no longer read that additional drive. XP Home doesn't recognize 'dynamic' drives, only XP Professional does.

So, when I copied all of the email, favorites, documents, jpgs, mp3s, and other stuff the user didn't want to use over to the 75gb additional drive for safety and so I could put things back once the boot disk was sterilized and reinstalled with a fresh OS, I was unable to use that data with the new XP Home system. Lovely.

Solution?

Added a 40gb drive of my own, formatted as fat32 under XP Home.

Booted to Knoppix 3.4, copied all of the data from the 'dynamic' 75gb drive to the normal fat32 20gb drive. (there was only about 12gb of data in all)

Booted back to windows, converted the unreadable 'dynamic' drive to the XP Home-friendly 'Basic' drive type. (This ERASES the disk, so be warned.)

Copied all of the data from the 20gb fat32 drive over to the freshly formatted 75gb ntfs partition.

Rebooted again, to remove the 20gb drive and put the lid back on.

Took about 4 hours.

posted by MikeM at 11:33 PM    

 
I just got two of these in my inbox - they are getting slicker. Sounds authentic! Good thing I have html disabled in my outlook and thus I could SEE the fake link - see below. Note that if you have HTML enabled, all you will see is the paypal link underlined. I changed the angle brackets to square brackets so you could see it here.

**************************************

Dear user,

We recently reviewed your account, and suspect that your PayPal account may have been accessed by an unauthorized third party. Protecting the security of your account and of the PayPal network is our primary concern. Therefore, as a preventative measure, we have temporarily limited access to sensitive PayPal account features.

To restore your account access, please take the following steps to ensure that your account has not been compromised:

1. Login to your PayPal account.

2. Confirm your identity by completing the account verification process.

3. Review your recent account history for any unauthorized payments sent or received, and check your account profile to make sure not changes have been made. If any unauthorized activity has taken place on your account, report this to PayPal immediately.

To get started, please click the link below:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_verification-run [http://A-SCAMMERS-SERVER/login/login.html]

For more information about how to protect your account, please visit PayPal's Security Center, accessible via the "Security Center" link located at the bottom of each page of the PayPal website.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and appreciate your assistance in helping us maintain the integrity of the entire PayPal system. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.



Sincerely,

The PayPal Team

Please do not reply to this e-mail. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and choose the "Help" link in the header of any page.

PayPal Email ID PP147


posted by MikeM at 8:32 PM    

 
Warning of a new virus :

VBS.Krim.G@mm

This virus will arrive in an email with the following:

Subject: SYMANTEC NORTON ANTIVIRUS
Body: REMOVE VIRUS SASSER
Attachment: mirko.bat

Remember, NEVER click on any attachment you aren't expecting. Random 'presents' from friends or strangers are most likely infected.
posted by MikeM at 12:11 PM    

 
Feed the Worms Who Write Worms to the Worms - The economic logic of executing computer hackers. By Steven E. Landsburg

posted by MikeM at 8:16 AM    

 
Here is a very good article on the importance of Good Passwords.
posted by MikeM at 8:40 AM    

 
BBC - Science & Nature - Horizon - Mega-tsunami: Wave of Destruction
Old news - but interesting, just the same. Here is the main link, the above is the transcript of the tv show.
posted by MikeM at 9:55 AM    

 
It seems that the phisher folk have found some new bait. The newest angle(r) involves sending out fake "order confirmation" messages bearing links that lead to web pages containing exploits for some older IE vulnerabilities. The idea is that no one will be able to resist simply looking at where the link points, and that the phisher will then snag a few unpatched folk in the process. Let's keep those browsers patched, people. And be careful out there...

posted by MikeM at 9:41 AM    

 
Sad news for all Babylon 5 fans : Richard Biggs, the actor who played Dr. Franklin on "Babylon 5" died suddenly (suspected stroke or brain aneurism) on Saturday morning. He was 43. His youngest child is only 1 month old. There is a nice note on the website of Melissa Gilbert & Bruce Boxleitner.

Here is the direct link to Melissa & Bruce's Tribute Page

posted by MikeM at 10:21 AM    

 
I'm in a cleaning mood today - cleaned out my closet and got eight trashbags full of old clothes in the trunk of my car! I'll drop them off at goodwill sometime. I also went through my bureau and got another couple of bags of old shorts and such. I mean, be serious, am I ever going to get back into those 36/38 pants? 16" neck shirts?

I haven't been able to wear some of these since high school (1984), yet I continue to carry them with me as I move. Hmph. Not this time.

Yep - I might have to move. Patty is divorcing me, long story and I don't understand it myself yet. I might be able to keep the house, but there is always the chance that I will be house-hunting soon, and in this housing environment, I'll never find something this nice anywhere close to where we are now.

Patty will be moving to New Jersey to be closer to her family. I'll stick it out here. I have a great job and some great friends.
posted by MikeM at 9:04 AM    

 
Md. Comptroller Stickers It to 'Em : "Schaefer: He says what you think."

Heh! I like this guy. He did indeed say exactly what most folks think. If you are going to live in America, learn to speak the friggin' language! The horrible accent of most foreigners makes it incredibly difficult to understand them, and then they get upset when you let it be known that you simply cannot understand their mangled pidgin version of english.
posted by MikeM at 2:09 PM    

 
Last night I watched 'Charlies Angels : Full Throttle'' - not bad! Most of the effects were over-the-top, but still well done. Impossible things being done by gorgeous women wearing interesting outfits. Pretty good formula! Lucy Liu is one HOT lady. Demi Moore as well.
posted by MikeM at 7:24 AM    

 
Saturday I watched Subterano , a pretty bad movie that was watchable nonetheless. Lucky I had a BlockBuster coupon for a free movie. I wouldn't have wanted to PAY for that. People stuck in a huge parking garage that a rich kid transformed into a for-real video game.
posted by MikeM at 1:56 PM    

 
All you security types out there, beware...
Cisco Source Code Reportedly Stolen

posted by MikeM at 9:12 AM    

 
Speeders on Italy's highways will be thinking "The Cops Are Chasing Me in a WHAT?" when they look in the rear view mirror...
posted by MikeM at 3:07 PM    

 
Another vulnerability in a home security firewall product : Symantec Client Firewall Remote Access and Denial of Service Issues

Basically, if you use any Norton or Symantec firewall or internet security packages, run LiveUpdate NOW. The patch is there, but you have to apply it.

This puts the Internet community in the same position as we were prior to the release of the Witty worm several weeks ago. Remember Witty? The worm that trashed the data on thousands of computers? It attacked a very similiar problem with BlackIce firewalls and wrote to random sections of the hard drive - causing random data loss, corrupted files, and unbootable systems.

posted by MikeM at 4:33 PM    

 
Here is a good article that explains the next big thing in computers - PCI-Express: the AGP8X Replacement.
posted by MikeM at 10:24 AM    

 
Ad-aware Plus
posted by MikeM at 3:53 PM    

 
Norton Internet Security 2004
posted by MikeM at 3:51 PM    

 
Important! Wired News: Browser Hijackers Ruining Lives

The moral of this story is that you should ALWAYS keep your anti-virus software up to date, as well as apply ALL critical patches from Microsoft, AND install a good anti-spyware agent, such as Ad-Aware. You also need either a software or hardware firewall to be fully protected.

If your computer gets infected with a trojan, virus, worm, spyware, or hacker intrusion that puts porn or other illegal materials on your machine, YOU could be held responsible! I have also heard of many cases where a machine was hijacked and used to send spam to millions of people, resulting in the user of that machine losing internet access when the ISP cut them off!

Please, apply patches weekly or more often! Install an Antivirus, anti-spyware, and firewall and keep them all up-to-date.

Norton Internet Security is a good package that includes a software firewall, anti-virus package, and a somewhat useful spam filter - not sure how good. When you add this to ad-aware (registered), you have a good defense for your computer for under $100.
posted by MikeM at 3:34 PM    

 
Losing My Partition
By Francisco Rangel

(To the tune of Losing My Religion by REM)

Oh, drives get bigger
They're bigger, and you
begin to split them.
You start to make partitions
To organize your files
Oh no! A bad resize!
I messed it up.

That's me at the keyboard
That's me at my laptop
Losing my partition
Trying to save all my files
But I don't know if I can do it
Oh, no! Boot sector's crunched.
I hadn't backed it up.
I know that I'll be formatting
I know that I'm not the king
There's nothing left to do but cry

Lost all my pictures
Every system file, my
Pow'rpoint presentations.
Trying to save my notes to you
Now I feel like a stupid fool, fool
Oh, no! I've messed it up
I screwed it up

Partition this
Partition this
The goof of the century
My Deskstar's death.
The sign that told me
that my disk failed.
What if I use undelete,
Or, flailing around?
Now I've lost too much
I thought that I had it covered
I thought that I could convert
I think I thought 'twas worth a try

But that was FAT 16
That was FAT 16
That's me at the server
That's me at the keyboard
Losing my partition
My job is lost, I'm so screwed
Well it looks like I really blew it
Oh, no! I lost some files
My database is gone
I thought RAID was there to help me
I thought it was idiot-proof
I think it should have saved my drive

But it's not just a dream
Try. Fry
Why try?
I lost my Windows theme
Vent some steam
Drink caffeine
Scream
posted by MikeM at 7:53 AM    

 
Wow. One Petabyte of storage in 10 racks. A lot of storage, but since that is only 1000 terabytes, and it is now possible to get a single 250gb HD for 200 bucks, I expect this to be the introductory size. Far larger arrays are possible within this same space!
Petabox

posted by MikeM at 7:35 AM    

 
Been an eventful week, for me anyway. I finally got the software working to rip my CDs to 192-bit variable WAV files and compress them into high-quality MP3 files in the same folder. Apparently on the install somehow some random characters got into the parameter field to run the external LAME compression util, so while I could dump CDs to WAV files, I couldn't compress them to MP3. While I could still play them, carting several 45mb wav files around is harder than 4.5mb MP3 files. This boils down to me spending time duping several CDs to my hard drive so I can make custom CDs for myself. Note that I never share or make them public, so this is legal.

I found some great instructions on doing this in Maximum PC, an article that not only told me what to download, but how to install and configure it to get one-click ripping working!

I also just located another article I found online that covers the same information.


We also saw Kill Bill 2, a great movie, but not as much fighting and such as the first one, so I prefer the first one, of course. This one wrapped up all of the storyline threads rather nicely, and ended on what I consider to be a great note. We saw it on mother's day - a very fitting ending for such a nice day.


posted by MikeM at 3:36 PM    

 
Falling in Love -- a Gender-Bending Experience?

posted by MikeM at 8:42 AM    

 
If you are wondering how to get rid of the Sasser worm, you need to go to this website and download the patch : MS Patch Download Center

Then go to this site and download the removal tool : Symantec Security Response - W32.Sasser Removal Tool

Run the patch, then run the removal tool.

You also need to go to the Windows Update Site and fully update your system with ALL of the critical updates. This may force you to also upgrade your browser to MSIE 6 (with patches) and perhaps apply one or more Service Packs to your system. All this will take a LONG TIME and many reboots.

Microsoft. Gotta love 'em.

posted by MikeM at 4:01 PM    

 
Here is a new website I just found, Information System Security, nice site, has a huge number of useful links to all manner of websites related to computers and security.

posted by MikeM at 1:40 PM    

 
Happy Cinco De Mayo! (and happy birthday to me! I'm 37 now!)
posted by MikeM at 4:17 PM    

 
WARNING: There is a new virus going around that pretends to have a fix for other viruses, including the Sasser worm. W32.Netsky.AC@mm

The email has the following characteristics

Subject: Escalation

Attachment: Fix_[random.virus.name]_[random.number].cpl

Note:
[random.virus.name] is a variable. It's one of the following strings:

* NetSky.AB
* Sasser.B
* Beagle.AB
* Mydoom.F
* MSBlast.B

[random.number] is a decimal number between 0 and 32767.

For example, the attachment name could be Fix_Beagle.AB_12345.cpl.


From: (one of the following)
o support@symantec.com
o support@nai.com
o support@norman.com
o support@sophos.com
Message:

Dear user of [email.server],

We have received several abuses:

- Hundreds of infected e-Mails have been sent from your mail account by the new [random.virus.name] worm
- Spam email has been relayed by the backdoor that the virus has created

The malicious file uses your mail account to distribute itself. The backdoor that the worm opens allows remote attackers to gain the control of your computer. This new worm is spreading rapidly around the world now and it is a serios new threat that hits users.

Due to this, we are providing you to remove the infection on your computer and to stop the spreading of the malware with a .special desinfection tool attached to this mail.

If you have problems with the virus removal file, please contact our support team at . Note that we do not accept html email messages.


[random.team]

Attach: [attachment.name]

Note:
[email.server] is avariable, if the worm try to send itself to the email address "someone@somewhere.com", should be somewhere.com

[random.virus.name] is a variable. It's one of the following strings:
* NetSky.AB
* Sasser.B
* Beagle.AB
* Mydoom.F
* MSBlast.B

[from.address] is the from address of this email

[random.team] is a variable. It's one of the following strings:
* Norton AntiVirus Research Team
* MCAfee AntiVirus Research Team
* Norman AntiVirus Research Team
* Sophos AntiVirus Research Team

[attachment.name] is the attachment name of this email

posted by MikeM at 8:33 AM    

 
List of Security Patches for the Sasser Worm - all Windows Operating Systems. The link leads to a search results page for 'ms04-011', which is the Microsoft bug report listing. From here, you can download the patch for your specific machine.
posted by MikeM at 12:07 PM    

 
If you have not patched your systems recently, you WILL be infected by the latest worm unless you have an effective firewall guarding you. All Windows users should download and apply this patch immediately! If you have already patched using the Microsoft Update Service then you should be OK.

Download details: Security Update for Windows 2000 (KB835732)

Download details: Security Update for Windows XP (KB835732)

posted by MikeM at 8:44 AM    

 
Nice weekend! Got in some weeding and yard work, cleaned out the pool chemical storage shed, got the pool running and fairly clean. Went shopping with Patty and got a few necessities, such as Matrix:Revolutions and Caddyshack on DVD.

Patty is working on her book - over 50k words now, half done! Watched a lot of hockey, played some AD&D (three trolls kicked our tushes - four 7th lvl characters!), very little computer time this weekend.

Maybe someday soon I'll have time to either begin converting my VHS tapes to DVD or (using a new toy I just got) converting my cassettes to CD (or vice-versa!). I also want to get my older computer up and running, along with Patty's old system, get it all networked, and get my hardware router-firewall put into place.

*sigh* never enough hours in the day. Ah well.

Tonight is workout night again - M-W-F every week is what we try to do. Sometimes events or lack of willpower interfere, but mostly we stick to the schedule. Hopefully I'll be fairly buff in a year or so.

posted by MikeM at 7:34 AM