On Wednesday, Symantic began asking customers of pcAnywhere, their premeir PC remote control application, to stop using it until they have developeed and released patches for a number of vulnerabilities. 

From their release document:

• If the attackers place a network sniffer on a customer’s internal network and have access to the encryption details, the pcAnywhere traffic – including exchanged user login credentials – could be intercepted and decoded.
• If the attackers get their hands on the cryptographic key they can launch remote control sessions and, thus, access to systems and sensitive data. If the cryptographic key itself is using Active Directory credentials, they can also carry out other malicious activities on the network. [emphasis added]

Frankly, I’ve not been particularly fond of single-signon solutions, such as Active Directory, just because of these types of problems.

Link: HELP-NET SECURITY – Symantec advises customers to stop using pcAnywhere

I have made several attempts to send this information to someone via email, and each time, it was either rejected by their mail service, or eaten by my own spam filter!  So after fighting with the mail servers for far to long — I still have no idea what, specifically, was setting off the spam alarms — I decided it would be best to side-step them completely and instead of writting up the long document describing what needed to be done, I’d just record it as a how-to video:

Backup Windows with Linux rsync:

In case you missed it, or wanted to cut/paste it, here is the file backup.bat referenced in the video.  It does not contain the “–delete” parameter, so if you want to use it, you’ll need to add it yourself.  You’ll also need to make sure both the source directory and target directory fit your needs.

One thing to keep in mind when dealing with both Windows and Linux is that they handle naming conventions for hard-drives differently.  In Windows, a drive is usually refered to with a letter and colon combination, such as drive C: for the main drive, or D: for the CD/DVDROM or second hard-drive, etc.  With Linux, all devices, including hard-drives, are managed as files and directories. For Cygwin, you’ll find the Windows drive C: refereed to as /cygdrive/c/, and drive D: as /cygdrive/d/.

I should also point out that the directory and filename separator is also different between Windows and Linux.  Windows uses a back-slash (“\”), so a program file in the windows directory would be at C:\WINDOWS\PROGRAM.EXE.  But Linux uses the forward-slash (“/”), so that same file would then be refered to as /cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/PROGRAM.EXE. 

One other thing to note is that Linux systems are case sensitive, whereas Windows is not. So the file /cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/PROGRAM.EXE and /cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/program.exe could actually be two different files.

• The Linux Operating System is 20 Years Old! http://t.co/8Faajna #

 
You already said goodbye to iPhone; now it’s the iPod’s turn.

This was provided by my friends Sue and Steve Soucy: Step-by-step instructions on how to backup your Facebook account.  The best part is, this is a function provided by Facebook for FREE!

• Researchers one step closer to 'bootless' computer http://ow.ly/2VB07 by injecting spinning electron in one-atom-thick layer of graphite, #
• Motorola tries to fend off countersuit from Apple http://ow.ly/2VB3l by filing for a declaratory judgment against the iPhone maker. #
• Google Testing Chrome OS Release Candidate http://ow.ly/2VBbi Official Release about a Month Away. #

• Google’s Self-Driving Car Spotted On Highway Almost A Year Ago http://ow.ly/2RpSd (with videos, too). #

Very cool.  A couple of guys decided to build a Formula One simulator.  This is the result.  Pretty awesome!

You are probably familiar with donating clothing and other household goods, but did you know you can also donate computers to charitable organizations, too?  There are both national organizations and local Phoenix organizations that will happily accept computer and technology donations.  But remember, computer donations must be made to an organization listed with the IRS in order to be tax deductible.  Also, for taxes, you can only claim the fair market value — fair market value is the price the computer would sell for on the open market.

First, identify the Phoenix non-profits that are eligible to receive tax deductible donations.  You can search the IRS website by organization name or just get a list of all the eligible organizations in Phoenix.

Determine the computer’s fair market value by using the Used Price website.  You can also use the current selling prices of similar items in the same condition from eBay, Craigslist, or even the classified section of the Arizona Republic.  If you get different values, use the average price as the fair market value of the computer.

Send or take the computer’s to the charity — you may have to contact them first to ensure you’re taking them to the right location.  If the systems or components don’t work, you should ask if the charity accepts non-working systems — if they don’t, contact another charity.

Some places to consider:
Computers With Causes: Arizona Computer Donation,
AZ Strut: Computer Recycling and Donations,
You’re local Goodwill store,
or even your local Church

But one thing to remember before donating that old computer is to be sure to wipe all of personal data from it.  You might be surprised at how many donated machines are found to still fully loaded with family pictures, word documents, or even tax information!