Frequently when troubleshooting or cleaning PCs (ah, the joys of small business IT) it’s useful to have a bundle of tools that you can use. I generally use multiboot antivirus CDs created with Shardana Antivirus Rescue Disc Utility (SARDU) with additional utilities put in the Extras directory, but sometimes it’s hard to beat the convenience of a USB flash drive. Unfortunately very few flash drives still have the hardware write protect switch that was common years ago.
Here’s a listing of drives that still include that hardware write protection, along with some other options that might work though not as well. This listing is based on reports from several discussion boards in 2009-2010 as well as a list prepared and maintained by c’t Magazine (German) (or via Google Translate). Where available I provide links to the manufacturers and possibly to stores where the drives are available. Please comment with any corrections or additional drives to be added to the list.
Continue reading List of USB Flash Drives with Hardware Write Protection Switch
My antivirus reported an infected file (setpwrcg.exe) this morning, with a file date of 7/19/2004.
There were a few things that struck me as odd about this:
It didn’t seem like a randomly-generated name, Most viruses/worms don’t seem to bother to set their file dates, particularly not to 5 years ago, I haven’t been [...]
IF support staff for a service you are using need access to your account or information within it, they can get that access without needing your password. Nobody should be asking for your password.
This applies to email (e.g. Hotmail/Windows Live, Yahoo, Google and many others), social networking (Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc.), online photos (Flickr, etc.), and especially applies to your banking and finances. NO bank or financial services employee should ever ask for your password – bank policies generally prohibit them from doing so as a firing offense.
Think of someone asking for your password the same way you’d think about a stranger walking up to you on the street and saying “Hi, I’m with the village. I need your home address and your house keys.” No matter how friendly and professional looking, would you just give your keys to a stranger like that?
Continue reading NEVER Give Out Your Password
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