Getting rid of an old computer?

Ah...the smell of new computers in the morning... there is little in life which is better (except for bacon...bacon > most things in life)anyway...

So you just got your new computer, you backed up the data off the old one, moved it to the new one and are ready to take that old box to the recycling center (you wouldn't just throw it in the trash would you)

Not so fast...

One major mistake I see individuals and companies make on a nearly daily basis is taking their old computer and just throwing it in the trash. This is a big mistake. Before you throw out any computer, you need to make sure all data is properly removed. I can't count the number of computers I have gotten for free that were loaded with personal information, and not just silly things like family photos, I'm talking about bank statements, quicken files, "personal" photo albums, etc.

Reformatting your hard drive will discourage most people from looking for information, but it is not really deleting your data, just flagging the parts of the hard drive as empty. To really delete you data, you actually need to delete it, and then write more stuff over it. To do this, you need a special tool.

While there are several commercially available piece of software out there that can do this, I'm not a fan of any of them because they cost money. I'm cheap, I like free things, so I use DBAN,

*************WARNING***************

DBAN IS PERMANENT DATA REMOVAL, DO NOT USE DBAN ON A DRIVE YOU MIGHT EVER NEED DATA OFF OF AGAIN.

DBAN is an outstanding tool that deletes your data, then overwrites its it to make sure it is gone. It then repeats this up to 7 times if you want it to. (Department of Defense requires a minimum of 5 overwrites). It is incredibly simple to use, you just pop the disk in, pick the drive, and poof! all data is gone (ok, the poof! might take an hour or so depending on the size of the drive) but still, once you have done this, the recovery would take way more time and money (if possible at all) than almost any person or companies data is worth.

For businesses who need to remove data from drives frequently, there is EBAN which allows you to wipe data from dozens of computers at once.

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What's a Netbook?

Anyone who has been looking around for a new computer as of late has probably seen the growth of a relatively new class of computers, the NetBook. They are small, cheap, and portable. Sounds perfect right? Maybe not...

Many people are dazzeled by the low price (Dell's 9" Inspiron Mini starts at $249.99) so they may hurry into buying one without considering what they are actually buying.

The basic differences between netbooks and notebooks are:

• Netbooks are smaller and lighter usually
• Netbooks tend to have less RAM
• Netbooks have a superior battery life
• Netbooks have smaller hard drives
• Netbooks have less powerful video cards

A netbook might be ok for you if you want to:

1. Browse Websites
2. Check your email
3. View pictures
4. Stream media from sights like YouTube and Hulu (non Hi-Def)
5. Light word processing

Buy a standard notebook if you want to:

1. Edit photos and video
2. Stream Hi-Def video
3. Don't want to carry an external drive around.
4. Heavy MS Office work (mostly because the small screen size makes these tasks harder after long periods)

Are netbooks for everyone? No, but they absolutely have their place in the world. Would I buy one? I'd like to pick up one of the Dell Inspiron Mini's sometime. It would not be my primary computer, but I could definitely blog from it, and do a lot of my other day to day web tasks, and then remote desktop to my primary and do work if I didn't feel like going to my desk.

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Physical Security Matters

With all the talk of firewalls, anti-virus software, spam filters, and anti-spyware software it is sometimes hard to remember one of the most important aspects of secure computing; keeping your computer in a secure location. I know what you are thinking, you use a strong password or a biometric lock on the computer so even if it stolen, your data will be safe. You are wrong.

Law #3 of Microsoft's 10 Immutable Laws of Security states:

"If a bad guy has unrestricted physical access to your computer, it's not your computer anymore"

I work on computers every day, and getting around passwords on desktops, laptops, and servers is so common it is routine. In fact, the only time it gets a second though is if I have to do it remotely, but I some times take for granted that many people don't understand how easy it really is. I was reminded of this a few days ago, and it started with an urgent call.

A very good client of mine gave us a call because one of their colleagues was having some trouble and was in a pinch. He had been having some trouble with the fingerprint reader on his HP laptop, after calling HP support and spending several hours trying to troubleshoot the problem, they decided it would be best to just disable the finger print reader, and see if they could prove that was the cause to they could get it replaced, so he did as support asked. The problem was, this person didn't know the password to his computer because he had been using the fingerprint reader for so long. Now he had a computer, which needed a password he didn't know. He was in a panic. He was thousands of miles from his office, needed access to the info on his laptop to do business, and the best HP could do for him was ask that he mail them the computer and they would reinstall windows for him. They were not hopeful when they called us, but have no fear...its only a password after all. We asked the client to bring in his computer, and he did while barely grasping for hope as we assured him this wouldn't be an issue.

He came by the office and took a seat as he settled in for what he could only assume was going to be a battle. I took hold of the laptop, popped in my trusty password reset CD, booted to that oh so wonderful command line interface, set the local administrator password to blank, rebooted the computer and a few seconds later, was welcomed with that oh so familiar sound of Windows loading.

The client sat in astonishment. How was it that after hours on the phone with HP, being told there was no hope, we had now given him access to his data in under 5 minutes. He praised us, thanking us, and singing our graces to our client, who in turn emailed our boss to let him know just how much they appreciated us being around.

Now I am good at what I do...but this was no major feat. Resetting passwords really is that easy. While doing it remotely can take hours, days or years against a properly secure system, once that computer is in my hands, it is only a matter of seconds before the data is mine.

 

So what can you do to prevent someone malicious from doing this to you?

• Keep servers in a locked and secure environment which is monitored both electronically and by a human.
• Keep desktops in safe areas, and if disable booting to a CD, Floppy, or USB drive.
• Set a BIOS password so the above setting cant be changed easily.
• Keep your laptop within arms reach, especially if on a business trip. Once that thing is gone, it is gone and so is your data.
• Use encryption software on external drives so if they get lost or stolen, the data is still secure.
• Use strong passwords, yes this is still important.
• If possible, encrypt the data on your drive, or at least data in folders where critical data is stored.

So let this be a lesson. Security is not a single piece of software, it is not an expensive firewall, it is good planning and a set of well placed items to deter a thief, this includes the kind that sneak in through windows at night.

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Windows 7

There is a lot more buzz as of late about Windows 7 since the Beta was recently opened and is now closing soon. I have it installed on one of my spare computers and so far, its like a much leaner, more friendly version of Vista, which is good.There are already dozens, if not hundreds of reviews out, so I wont write one on the Beta, I did however want to address one of the issues that I have been hearing about, and that is "How many version of 7 will there be?"

One of the biggest marketing issues I saw with Vista was how they sold the versions. Not only did you have the traditional full and upgrade versions, but you also had 4 consumer versions available (Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate), this made a total of 7 SKUs for people to choose from, that's too many. So Today when Microsoft announces there would be 6 Windows 7 SKUs without including the upgrades, everyone basically freaked out. So lets just clarify right up front that when you go to the store, you WILL NOT have that many choices. The versions you will see on the store shelves are:

 

Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgrade and full versions)

• Includes AERO interface (like Vista)
• All Media Center functionality
• Windows Home Network Functionality
• Muti-Touch capability
• Premium Games

and

Windows 7 Professional (Upgrade and full versions)

• Everything in Windows 7 Home Premium
• Professional Network Capabilities (RDP, Domain Support, Offline files, etc)
• Mobility Center
• Presentation Center

That is it. Then what are the others you ask?

Windows 7 Starter Edition

• This will not be available to consumers, only to OEMs (manufactures) and will be used mostly for new netbooks as it requires very little resources and has several major operating limitations by design.

Windows 7 Home Basic

• This will be available to consumers...in emerging markets, not to anyone in the United States.

Windows 7 Enterprise

• This will only be available to Volume License customers, not for retail sale
• Includes all features of Windows 7 Pro
• Also includes Bit Locker Drive encryption
• Direct Access
• Branch Cache

Windows 7 Ultimate

• This will only be available in limited supply, it is essentially a home version of Windows Enterprise, and most users will never need to bother with it as those who need the technology will likely have access to the Volume License version for much cheaper.

So that is all, yes many version will be out there, but no, you will not have to worry about picking which one is right for you.

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Are you being tracked?

I got an email this morning from one of my family members, it was forwarded to them from one of their friends concerned about a part of a very large well known web site tracking users that visit it. Apparently he thinks its an invasion of privacy for them to see what he is doing on their site, and on their affiliate sites.

My thoughts?

The tracking with clearly disclosed in their Terms of Service.  The site offers their services free of charge, and the way they pay for it is they sell advertising on their site and on affiliate sites. In order to sell advertising they need to know what demographic is using their site at the time so they can post the proper advertisement. I think this is fair, and I think they are doing it with a lot of transparency. They do not specify the data they gather, but I can tell you on this site, I track the following data.

• IP Address - Give me a general idea of where readers are from
• Time of visit - Doesn't really help me, but is logged by default.
• Length of visit - Am I providing enough content
• What pages were visited - what posts are popular
• Who referred you - Lets me know how you found me (RSS, Google search, link on another page, etc)
• What was the last page you read before leaving

This is basic info that just about every web site tracks. It helps the publisher know who's reading it, and what they like/dislike. As someone who works as an IT professional, and who takes security very seriously, this doesn't bother me, because I know it is harmless. Now, if a web site dumps a piece of software onto your computer and tracks every web site you go to...then there is a problem.

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