Apparently I have been living under a rock for a few months and didn’t realize that PayPal (and eBay) is offering a security key to help protect your accounts.   These are being distributed as a result of eBay’s purchase of Verisign.   The concept behind the key fob is make the login a two factor authentication process instead of just a username and password.

This two factor process takes something you know (your password) and something you have (your PayPal key fob) to authenticate you to the system.   You use the key fob by entering the 6 digit number displayed on the screen.  This number changes every 30 seconds.  This way if you are foolish enough to fall for one of those PayPal phishing emails and give up your password.  The phisher will still have to have your PayPal key fob in order to access your account.   This same protection is available for your eBay account using the same key fob.

Right now it seems that these keys are free for businesses accounts and are $5 for individual users.    I believe it is a fair price to pay to secure access to my PayPal funds and ultimately my bank accounts.

Mine came in the mail today.  I followed the painless registration process and have tested it out for usability and so far I have to say I am pretty happy.  I wish the PayPal key fob was a little bit sturdier, at first glance it seems to be cheaply made.   I will just have to see how it survives on my key ring.

If you don’t have your PayPal key fob yet, get it here.

It looks as if Microsoft has taken Windows Defender out of beta.   I didn’t see a press release or any chatter about it but the website is promoting it as a new version.   If you are running the beta version of the product, you will need to download the release version.  The betas will expire at the end of the year. 

From the website:

Windows Defender is a free program that helps protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software. It features Real-Time Protection, a monitoring system that recommends actions against spyware when it’s detected and minimizes interruptions and helps you stay productive. Now with 2 free support incidents for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

To download Windows Defender go to the Windows Defender website.

Technorati Tags: Windows Defender – Spyware – Anti-Spyware

This article is the continuation of an article I brought to your attention in a  previous post.   From Oreilly’s Windows Dev Center, we have the continuation of a look into how Windows XP filesharing works.  In this article we take a look further into the Simple file sharing and where Windows keeps this data in the registry.

It is a good read for every windows administrator, head on over to the Windows Dev Center and check it out.  If you missed part 1 you can read it at the following link.

Read the full article.
Technorati Tags: Windows XP – Filesharing – Computer Security – Simple File Sharing

What a gem.. I discovered this article on O’riellynet earlier today that starts to explain XP file sharing. This part of the series concentrates on sharing files on the same XP machine. This article is definitely has a more techinical audience in mind. The next article promises to look at XP file sharing over the network.

“How simple is file sharing in Windows XP? The rationale behind the Simple File Sharing user interface first introduced in XP was apparently to make the task of sharing files easier for users. But I frequently find home users who complain they don’t really understand file sharing in XP and that the file sharing user interface (the Sharing tab) of Windows 2000 was easier to use and understand. Let’s delve into this matter a bit by examining what happens under the hood when you use one form of sharing available in XP, namely same computer sharing.” — by Mitch Tulloch

The computing world has become dependent on various types of tunneling. All remote access VPN connections use tunnels, and you’ll frequently hear the geeks talking about SSH tunnels. You can accomplish amazing things with tunnels, so sit back and relax while you enjoy a gentle introduction to tunneling and its uses.

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Microsoft spent a whole day at the Black Hat conference extolling the security enhancements in its upcoming Vista operating system, and hackers showed that the OS can be hacked regardless.

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FileChucker is an AJAX-based web application that lets you accept file uploads on your own website. It’s simple to install (just one file), packed with features, fully configurable, nice looking, and very handy for when you want to share files with anyone. And during uploads FileChucker shows a progress bar & table.

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