Basics of windows security

I found this download on Microsoft while searching for some Keith Brown books: Windows Security Overview. A nice starting point.

Fun with hardware

As I said when I started this blog, I am way behind on the basics. Point in case, I didn't know how to make bootable discs until a few days ago. All the references I looked up said how to do it with different softwares (Nero, Windows, etc) but they never explained exactly what I was doing. After several failed attempts (a few months ago) at creating a disc to resurrect my old HP Pavillion, I gave up. Just recently, I have had another window of time to try and bring it back to life. Currently, I have two hard drives that I am having separate issues with, but, I couldn't determine which drives are still good without having the ability to format the discs and try to install an OS. At first, I thought, as I read through the walk throughs, that the bootable image was the .iso I would get from MSDN. For some reason, it became clear that the first sector of the boot disc needed the boot files, just like a floppy would, to install. So, just putting the .iso to a disc would do no good. Once I got this realization, it made sense. Initially, I had two different formats for the boot sector data. One in .bin format and another in .ima. After the little light bulb went off that the boot data was to be stored in the first sector, I did a file compare on my .bin and .ima files. Identical information resides on both. So, back to the walk throughs I found online. Since I have a slightly newer version of Nero, these steps didn't exactly apply, but, I was able to get enough of the idea to do the trick. The information about No emulation and using the hex address of 0000 along with 4 sectors allowed my third attempt at doing a new bootable disc to go off without a hitch. To verify it, I loaded up a new virtual PC, pointed to the CD and away it went. I was pretty happy to get a test going without wasting time troubleshooting hardware (bad hard drives). So, the next test will be to set up my box again and throw in the new disc. Seeing as I have two hard drives, I should be able to get through my diagnostic tree a little more quickly. One less unknown to wrestle. Now, back to my search for a few clues...

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As a follow up, I am loading the XP disc on my 10 GB drive right now (the old that I am fairly confident works fine). Another good link I was using when I made the disc was this: http://www.howtohaven.com/system/createwindowssetupdisk.shtml I am looking at getting a little 80 gig Western Digital to replace the suspect drive. 34 bucks, plus shipping. I could probably get something comparable from E-bay for 30-40 bucks, shipping included. Either way, a fairly cheap solution to use as a backup machine for light duty. Hey, I learned something over the holidays.

Leveraging XP RDC limitations

Some fun with hacking away at XP's single RDC limitation. Once I've got results on the hack, I'll add my experiences, comments, blow ups.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/06/13/enable-multiple-concurrent-remote-desktop-connections-or-sessions-in-windows-xp/