PayPal is piloting a new feature that more financial institutions should consider and every PayPal client should use. They are making Verisign security key fobs available to PayPal users for a nominal cost of $5 each. The cost includes shipping. The key fob generates a new six digit password every thirty seconds. You enter this, along with your password, when signing onto PayPal. Even if someone gets your password they cannot access the account without the key fob (well, there is an exception). PayPal’s Security Key FAQ sums up it’s [...] Read the rest »
SyncToy – Free Backup Utility (Windows)
SyncToy is a free utility from Microsoft that runs on Windows XP and Windows Vista. The latest version is version 1.4 which was released in October 2006. At it’s basic level SyncToy allows the synchronization of two directories. In this article I’ll show how I’ve used it to schedule backups to an external drive. The specifics can be changed to meet your specific needs. I started looking into alternative backup solutions when the windows software that came with the Maxtor external drive proved buggy. Requirements My requirements are simple: Must [...] Read the rest »
iTunes 7.4.2 Released
Apple has released iTunes 7.4.2 for both Mac and Windows. In typical Apple fashion the description is a terse: iTunes 7.4.2 addresses an issue with creating ringtones using iTunes Plus song purchases and includes bug fixes to improve stability and performance. Hey, it’s been over a week since the last update. Maybe all Mac software should have “broadband” as a requirement. It’s needed to download all these updates. The update is available through Software Update or as a direct download. It’s 38MB for the Mac and 49MB for Windows. Mac: [...] Read the rest »
FAT32: Windows <-> OS X
My MacBook is setup to to dual-boot OS X and Windows Vista (using Apple’s Boot Camp), It can also run Vista under VMWare Fusion. I wanted to reformat my Maxtor OneTouch external drive so that I could use it for both OS’s on my MacBook. The Maxtor had been exclusively Mac therefore formatted with the Mac OS Extended file system. Format Recap Mac OS Extended: The format that’s “native” to OS X. Windows Vista cannot handle this format at all. FAT16: The original disk format. Windows and OS X can [...] Read the rest »
The OS Quest Trail Log #7
It’ll be a short log this week. While the Quest has been busy this week, most of the work will make it into individual posts during the next week. I’ve been looking at Jungle Disk and Amazon S3 for backing up. I’ve also been looking at Microsoft’s free SyncToy as a simple backup alternative. Software of Interest Flying Meat has a new image editor out called Acorn that’s receiving positive reviews. From a feature perspective it seems to be a steal at it’s $40 intro price (no mention when the [...] Read the rest »
Microsoft Stealth Updates
Update 9/29 – see end of article. Microsoft has been found to be sending stealth updates to Windows PCs even if you’ve used the setting to be notified of updates but not to install them. The updates were first noticed by the folks at Windows Secrets and confirmed by ZDNet. Microsoft confirmed that they send updates to Windows Update itself if you have it turned on. And if you say you want to be notified of updates and not have them automatically installed they ignore you and just apply the [...] Read the rest »
Apple Plans OS X 10.4.11 Update
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/09/12/three_dozen_fixes_planned_for_mac_os_x_10_4_11.html AppleInsider is reporting that Apple is planning to release 10.4.11 just prior to it’s launch of Leopard in October. Read the rest »
Parallels 3 Build 5160
Parallels released a minor upgrade to Parallels 3 Desktop for Mac (aff). It’s a free update to Parallels 3 owners and is an 88MB download. It’s available through the built-in Parallels software update feature or as a direct download. Parallels 3 Upgrade Checklist Download the update and run the installer (which is an automatic prompt through their software update). Start each of your VMs. When you start a VM for the first time after the upgrade the Parallels Tools Setup will run so you can update Parallels Tools. The file [...] Read the rest »
Security Quest #1b: Microsoft Patch Tuesday
Another month and another Microsoft Patch Tuesday so there’s another set of patches from Microsoft. This month is relatively mild. The only OS Security update is for the old Windows 2000 SP4, nothing for Windows XP or Vista. The Visual Studio and MSN Messenger updates are only rated as “important”. These should still be installed as the rating indicates an exploit that could have serious repercussions. It just means the exploit can’t be used to spread malware without user action. None of these updates apply to my Windows PCs or [...] Read the rest »
Security Quest #1a: Introduction and Catching Up
I’ve been running another site called the Spam Chronicles which was last updated after Patch Tuesday in August. I’ve accepted that I don’t have time to keep both sites up to date. So, long story short – I’ll stop even thinking about updating the Spam Chronicles and will instead incorporate the new content here when it’s appropriate. The current Spam Chronicles will stay up, no reason to pull it down. When winter sets in I may find time to do a redesign. A new feature here will be the Security [...] Read the rest »
