Symantec’s Dirtiest Sites 2009

Symantec says that visiting one of these sites, without downloading or clicking on anything in particular, could put you at risk of exposing your computer to infection, and worse, put your identity, personal and financial information into the hands of cybercriminals.

Multimedia sites and adult sites also feature heavily in the list. However, the remainder of the dirtiest sites cover subjects ranging from laser engraving and gaming cheats, news sites and glove retailers.

The US hosts the majority of these ‘dirty sites’ but was closely followed by China, Germany, Canada and the UK.

Symantec said it has chosen not to publish the list due to the explicit nature of the URLs.

Is this site safe?

http://cheatspulse.com/useful-cheats-and-glitches-in-farmville/

Useful site providing access to a number of Internet tools such

• Authoritatively check if a domain exists or is available
• Examine the DNS data on a particular domain
• Generic Whois Lookup on domain / IP address
• Query the InterNIC (Domain Registry/Whois) Database – (.com, .org, .net, .edu, .int)
• Lookup a CO.UK/ORG.UK/NET.UK/PLC.UK/LTD.UK/SCH.UK Domain in the UK Database
• Show DNS Data on an Individual Host
• Perform Traceroute on Domain Name / IP Address

http://www.demon.net/external/

Virus scanning recommendations for computers that are running:

• Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 and services such as Active Directory, DNS, DHCP as well as Microsoft Windows Update or Automatic Update related files
• Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7: Microsoft Windows Update or Automatic Update related files

KB822158…

Anti-Virus Exclusions in the Enterprise…

The Trials Manager for the V10_04 Beta has cut off any further participants and the projected release date for General Availability V10.04 is December 14th. V10_04 will support Windows XP, Vista, and 7 in both 32 and 64 bit.

Source…

Edge USer Group UK (all developers and IT Pros working on the Microsoft technology stacks)…

Powershell User Group…

SharePoint User Group…

Windows Management User Group…

Windows Server User Group…

Other User Groups…

As quoted from the OpenID Foundation’s Web Site…

OpenID eliminates the need for multiple usernames across different websites, without needing to create new passwords

You get to choose the OpenID Provider that best meets your needs and most importantly that you trust. At the same time, your OpenID can stay with you, no matter which Provider you move to. And best of all, the OpenID technology is not proprietary and is completely free.

If you use services, such as Google, Yahoo! and WordPress.com, you already have your own OpenID.

OpenID is a decentralized standard, meaning it is not controlled by any one website or service provider. You control how much personal information you choose to share with websites that accept OpenIDs, and multiple OpenIDs can be used for different websites or purposes. If your email (Google, Yahoo, AOL), photo stream (Flickr) or blog (Blogger, WordPress, LiveJournal) serves as your primary online presence, OpenID allows you to use that portable identity across the web.

How to sign in with each of the following providers on an OpenID enabled website?

Benefits of OpenID…

How do I log in with OpenID?

OpenID in action

HJSplit is an easy-to-use little application from Softonic which can split any file you like into parts of a predefined size, making sharing them easier. It can also join split files back together and compare parts to see if they’re the same.

By default, Windows 2000 allows authenticated users to join ten machine accounts to the domain – by granting "Add workstations to domain" privilege to the Authenticated Users group by default.

251335 Domain users cannot join workstation or server to a domain

This default was implemented to prevent misuse, but can be overridden by an administrator by making a change to an object in Active Directory.
Note that users in the Administrators or Domain Administrators groups, and those users who have delegated permissions on containers in Active Directory to create and delete computer accounts, are not restricted by this limitation.

The Default Limit of the Number of Computers an Authenticated User Can Join to a Domain can be overridden by using either of the following methods:

• Use the Ldp (Ldp.exe) tool included in the Microsoft Windows Resource Kit.
• Use an Active Directory Services Interface (ADSI) script to increase or decrease the value of the Active Directory ms-DS-MachineAccountQuota attribute. To do this:
  1. Install the Windows 2000 Support tools if they have not already been installed. To install these tools, run Setup.exe from the Support\Tools folder on the Windows 2000 Server or the Windows 2000 Professional CD-ROM.
  2. Run Adsiedit.msc as an administrator of the domain.
  3. Expand the Domain NC node. This node contains an object that begins with "DC=" and reflects the correct domain name. Right-click this object, and then click Properties.
  4. In the Select which properties to view box, click Both.
  5. In the Select a property to view box, click ms-DS-MachineAccountQuota.
  6. In the Edit Attribute box, type a number. This number represents the number of workstations that you want users to be able to maintain concurrently.
  7. Click Set, and then click OK.

A more secure method of joining computers to the domain is to pre-create the user’s computer account

1. From the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in, right-click the container where the account resides.
2. Click New, and then click Computer.
3. In the Computer name box, type the name of the Windows 2000-based computer that you want to add to the domain.
   Make sure the computer’s name is also entered in the Computer name (pre-Windows 2000) box (this should occur automatically).
4. Click Change. Select the user or group that will be joining this computer to the domain, and then click OK.
5. If you want Windows NT 4.0 and previous operating systems to use this computer name object, click to select the Allow pre-Windows 2000 computers to use this account check box, and then click OK.

Method 2: Grant the "Create Computer Objects" and "Delete Computer Objects" Access Control Entries (ACEs) to the User

1. From the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in, click Advanced Features on the View menu so that the Security tab is exposed when you click Properties.
2. Right-click the Computers container, and then click Properties.
3. On the Security tab, click Advanced.
4. On the Permissions tab, click Authenticated Users, and then click View/Edit.
   NOTE: If the Authenticated Users group is not listed, click Add and add it to the list of permission entries.
5. Make sure the This object and all child objects option is displayed in the Apply onto box.
6. From the Permissions box, click to select the Allow check box next to the Create

More Information:

The number of workstations currently owned by a user is calculated by looking at the ms-DS-CreatorSID attribute of machine accounts.

Source (KB243327, KB251335)

Applies To…

Google Chrome OS represents Google’s view point of what an OS should be like in this era. Originally announced back in July of this year, Google wanted to target its open source OS initially for netbooks users to provide them fast experience using reduced boot and startup time. Speed, security and simplicity will be the main aspects of Chrome OS.

Key features in Chrome OS includes:

• Open source
• Lightweight
• Faster than any other OS in the market
• To be available in second half of 2010
• Targeting netbooks PCs due to lightness
• Key aspects – speed, simplicity, security
• Redesigning the security architecture to eliminate the need for users to deal with viruses, malware and security updates
• Will run on x86 and ARM chips
• Web-based applications will automatically work with the OS
• Developers can build apps with web as platform
• More inclined for netbooks used to browse the net more
• Runs on top of a Linux Kernel

Google Chrome OS VMware Image is out now! and can be downloaded from here.

Follow the complete step-by-step guide posted here on How-to install Chrome OS in Windows 7

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