A recent Prevx blogpost details information on the new TDL3 rootkit, which they have deemed, “the first x64 compatible kernel mode rootkit infection in the wild.” Followed with more information in a post today.

While much of the information presented by Prevx is highly technical, there are some takeaways for the average user. Most importantly, this 64-bit infection requires administrator privileges. The best option is to run as a standard user, but it also won’t run if User Account Control (or UAC) is activated. I run as standard user, and there is really no reason for your account to run as administrator.

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Chances are you know the rules for creating a secure password. Don’t use a dictionary word. Use upper and lowercase letters. Use at least one special character. Unfortunately, most people don’t follow even these basic rules. Recently, advances in computational power have made them as obsolete as your AOL account. Say goodbye to the old rules, and the concept of a password. Hello passphrase.

How does an attacker crack a password? Two common methods are dictionary attack, and “brute force” attack. A dictionary attack uses a database of common words and likely character sequences to guess the password. A “brute force” attack tries every possible combination of the 95 characters on a keyboard until they find the right one. Obviously, a one character password would be easy to brute force attack, as it would require a maximum of 95 attempts. Adding a character makes it exponentially more difficult (by 95 times). For example, a two character password has 95 x 95, or 9,025 possible combinations. A 3 character password 9,025 x 95 (95^3), or  857,375 combinations. Read the rest of this entry »

Two years ago Spanair flight JK-5022 crashed, killing 154 of 172 on board. According to El Paris (via Google Translate), this was at least in part due to a PC located on the ground in the headquarters of the airline. That computer was supposed to sound an alarm signal when three similar technical problems registered on the same device. While the plane that crashed had accumulated three incidents, they were not registered in time because the system was infected by malware (trojans).

Investigators believe this may be the cause of the crash. The judge said that if these three incidents had been identified earlier, the plane never would have taken off.

The big box store where you bought your HDTV might have made more on the sale of the HDMI cable than the TV. While the margins on big ticket items like HDTVs are small, the margins on smaller ticket accessories can be very fat. How do you sell a $229 HDMI cable when a $29 would work just as well? I guess you mislead consumers by mislabeling them.

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Today Intel announced plans to buy McAfee for $7.7 billion dollars. Most people are asking, “Why?”. Why would a chip maker acquire a security company?

The answer may lie within Moore’s Law. Simply stated Moore’s Law states that the number of transistors on a chip will double every 2 years. Intel seems to have difficulty figuring out what to do with all those transistors. Most computer users don’t need a quad core CPU. Yet Intel continues to roll out more cores.

However, as anyone who has installed an antivirus program knows, it’s probably the single biggest resource hog on your system. Slowing everything from email and the Internet, to startup and shutdown. What if the major components of an antivirus program could be placed in a special section of the CPU, or even its own core? Whether you’re a gamer, enthusiast, or just an average user you’d enjoy the benefits of being able to run an AV without the associated system slowdown.

Have you ever removed an antivirus, or run a system without an antivirus because of performance issues? Need a free antivirus program, check out our recommendations.

In the early days of computers and computer games, flight simulators were king. The latest versions were waited for with eager anticipation. Realism in gauges, physics and controls left even seasoned pilots impressed.

Whether it was a combat sim in an F4, F16 fighter jet or Red Baron’s bi-plane, or a realistic airplane simulator like Microsoft Flight Simulator, I played a lot of these games. However, I haven’t played one for years. If this short video is any indication, that is about to change. The graphics are jaw-dropping:

Microsoft Flight announced on Tuesday as part of it’s plans for Games for Windows and Windows Phone 7. Looks like Flight will also have an online component as it will be, “Live-enabled”.

OTL by OldTimer is like HijackThis — on steroids. OTL scans your system for malware, and produces detailed logs. It’s primarily a malware diagnostic tool, but has advanced removal abilities. It is used alone, or with other tools to  remove malware completely.

OTL is a flexible, multipurpose, diagnostic, and malware removal tool. It also has some curative ability.

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I remember a time when you had to go to a specific room in your house if you wanted to use your computer. It was creatively named “THE computer room”. Emphasis on “THE”. This room was the only room in your house where there was a computer, and if you wanted to do something on said computer, you usually had to schedule time or compete in feats of strength. Today, I have a computer in a holster on my hip (it’s a phone, but still), I’ve got a laptop that I can take everywhere, I’ve got a desktop in my “computer room”, and if I’m feeling really squirrelly, I could take home one of the netbooks from work. Not only can I have a computer everywhere I go, but virtually every TV on the market now has connectivity options for hooking up a computer so you can surf your faciespaces and mytubes and tweeterbooks from your sofa during commercial breaks without having to trudge one room over to “THE computer room”. One problem, my laptop is heavy (it’s a little old) and it makes my legs hot if it’s not on a table. Plus I can’t leave it connected all the time (it’s how I do my job). My desktop is way too large to carry into the living room and it’s fans are so loud that i can hear them right now across the house (also, the wife would get angry if I started running cables through the walls). And the netbooks? Well they’re great, but they’re not mine.

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There are some classic questions in tech support. “Where is the “Any” key?”. After being told to “press any key”. “My cupholder broke.” Actually their CD-Rom tray broke from setting cups on it, etc.

Here’s a very recent one from the Microsoft forums that’s destined to join others as a classic:

I have a question,

I recently took delivery of my new Dell, which came with the 32bit version of Windows 7, however the PC is capable of running at 64bit.

If I install Windows 7 32bit twice would that make it 64bit?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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What certifications should I get? We often get this question in our forums. While certifications seems to have become less important related to job experience, in this tight job market the opposite seems true. Courtesy of networkworld.com, here are the top 5 certifications for 2010. Please follow the source link for all the gritty details:

1. VMware Certified Professional
2. Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist
3. Cisco Certified Architect

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