WPA Encryption No Longer Secure
Security researchers Erik Tews and Martin Beck have succeeded in partially cracking the WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) encryption, which until now had been considered safe.
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7.11.2008 WPA crack details revealed
German researchers have published a paper that claims to give details of how to crack the Wi-Fi Protected Access encryption standard.
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12.11.2008 Wise Registry Cleaner 1.9
Wise Registry Cleaner is one of the safest Registry cleaning tools available in the market today.
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8.4.2007 Two Vista Registry Hacks
Thanks to rzalonis for this post in our forum. Here are two easy registry hacks for minor performance gains.
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17.4.2007 Wise Registry Cleaner 2.9.4
Wise Registry Cleaner is one of the safest Registry cleaning tools available in the market today.
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27.10.2007 Auslogics Registry Defrag 4.1.6.75
Auslogics Registry Defrag is an extremely useful program to keep your registry as compact as possible. As a result of keeping the registry defragmented and as small as possible, your computer performance will be much improved.
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18.1.2008 Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience
You may ask yourselves, why should this article be any different from all those tweaking tutorials around the Internet or, better yet, why should you read this when you can install a program that does it all for you?
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23.10.2008 No More Registry from Vista SP1 and XP SP3 to Windows 7?
Windows 7 is the next iteration of the Windows operating system that will succeed Windows Vista. Following the availability of the latest Windows Client, Windows Vienna was the codename for the next version of Windows.
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16.1.2008 Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience VI
The moment has come once again to pimp your Windows XP with the skills of a power user and the tool that will always be at your disposal, Notepad. This article, along with the previous ones, will allow you to enhance and customize your operating system with advanced IT knowledge.
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29.11.2008 Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience - Part II
Allow me to start this article by recommending you read (if you haven’t already) the first part of this “tweaking series,” as it sets the ground rules that must be followed in order to get the job done right.
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24.10.2008 Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience - Part III
Welcome back to the registry optimization saga! If you’re just joining us, please start by reading at least our first episode, which describes a few rules that must be followed in order for the optimization process to take place successfully...
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25.10.2008 Symantec tool cleans up Windows XP SP3 registry corruption
Symantec Thursday released a free tool that wipes spurious entries from Windows' registry that had crippled some PCs running the company's security software after they were upgraded to Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) or Vista SP1.
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9.6.2008 Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience - Part V: Desktop Icons
Once again, it's time to enhance your Windows XP operating system exactly the way you want and without paying a cent on expensive programs that do something so simple that even a kid could handle it.
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26.11.2008 Windows Registry Editor, Task Manager and Folder Options Disabled by New Infection
January 2008 comes with a new trend when talking about computer security because lots of worms, Trojan horses, viruses or other pieces of malware attempt to disable important Windows functions in order to hide their files.
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14.1.2008 Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience - Part IV: Display Properties
Welcome to yet another episode of our Microsoft Windows XP tweaking saga. If you're not familiar with the procedure, please start by reading the first article in the series, so as to fully understand how exactly you should use the lines below and how to run the tweaks.
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12.11.2008 Registry Tweaks to Enhance Your Windows XPerience - Part VIII: Add or Remove Programs
In part eight of the our tweaking series we’ll go through a few Control Panel optimizations for Windows XP power users that may not interest most people using their operating system for basic tasks.
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26.12.2008 Disable and Remove Half-Open TCP Connections Limit (to Unlimited) in Windows 7 and Vista SP2 with EnableConnectionRateLimitin Registry Key
Officially, the incomplete half-open outbound TCP connection attempts allowed at any one time is now unlimited by default in Windows Server 2008 and Vista SP2 (Service Pack 2), and Windows 7. Actually, the ability to limit or restrict number of half-open outgoing TCP connections system can create or establish is built into Windows Vista SP2 and Windows 7, however it’s disabled by default.
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8.6.2009 The Growth of the Windows Registry from 16-bit Windows to XP SP3 and Vista SP1
The Windows registry has been around since the 16-bit editions of Windows, and will continue to be a key component of the operating system even after Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Widows XP Service Pack 3, and even after Windows 7.
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18.1.2008 Retrieve CD Key/Product Key From Windows Registry with Product Key Finder
You must keep CD Key/Product key of any software or application at handy place since you may not know when you will need that key again.
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9.7.2009Fifteen minutes to crack WPA protocol, says researcher
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is considered a superior encryption protocol to the aged and inherently flawed WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), but it is
not without its vulnerability, as one researcher is preparing to demonstrate...
betanews.com -
06.11.2008Shipping Seven: The Registry
Could the registry be replaced? Sure, in software, pretty much any change is possible.
In practice though...If you were to
replace the registry, you would end up with something that pretty much looks exactly like the registry.
Go take a look at all the
programs on your hard disk that use the registry APIs in
in advapi32.dll...
winbeta.org - 16.01.2008
WPA is going the way of WEP, cracked in 15 minutes flat
According to PC World the days of securing your WIFI network using Wi-Fi Protected Access
(WPA) may be over, as researcher Erik Tews will show how he was able to crack WPA encryption in around 15 minutes at a the Tokyo PacSec Conference in two weeks time.
WPA was designed to overcome the insecurities in
hacked Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) which can be hacked in a few minutes using a modern laptop.
Erik Tews will be demonstrating how he
cracked the WPA encryption to read the data being sent from a router to a laptop.
To read the data being sent Tews found a way to crack
the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) key without resorting to using a dictionary attack which, security experts have agreed that the protocol
might be vulnerable too.
Although this is a big step Tews was still unable to crack the keys used to encrypt the data being sent back to the
router from the laptop.
If the demonstration lives up to its headline then the days of WPA look to be numbered. This would come as a big
blow to both consumers and corporations alike.
WPA is the most common standard of encryption in uses but, there is also a newer more
secure standard WPA2, (which uses Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and is unaffected), although support is still patchy. Consumer may find they are
forced to still rely on the now unsecure WPA encryption to connect their devices to the network.
For Business this is even bigger headache.
The TJ Maxx chain had hundreds of millions of customer details stolen due in part to the fact that they were still using the cracked WEP standard.
It’s easy to see a situation where hackers may try to do the same using WPA forcing corporate users to VPN or WPA2 dumping devices that
can’t support these protocols.
Read full story.....
neowin.net - 06.11.2008
Windows registry forensics guide: Investigating hacker activities
When analysing a compromised Windows system, investigators and system administrators can glean enormously useful information about attackers' actions
by looking through the Windows registry, a hierarchical database storing tens of thousands of settings on a modern Windows box. Whether an outside
attacker compromised the box, an inside employee engaged in nefarious activities, or malware inexplicably infected the machine, the Windows registry
contains wonderful gems of information for investigators. In this tip, we'll look at what information investigators can gather about user activity
via the registry. Next month, we'll focus on how investigators can pull useful registry information associated with the overall operating system.
winbeta.org - 06.06.2008
VeriSign Raises .com, .net Registry Fees
VeriSign said late Thursday
that it would raise the
registry fees on both .com and
.net domains October 15 by as
much as 10 percent. The
increase is the first in eight
years, the company says...
betanews.com - 06.04.2007
GPU-Accelerated Wi-Fi password cracking goes mainstream
The once thought 8 character length password may no longer be safe, after the GPU-accelerated password recovery attack can break weak WPA/WPA-2 PSK
passwords. The Elcomsoft Wireless Security Auditor mentioned that its software can work completely off-line and find passwords by analyzing a dump of
network communications, and display them in plain-text. The Wireless Security Auditor does require the source of a valid log of wireless
communication. Experts have urged IT managers to move from 8 character WMP passwords to 12 or 15, in a quote from David Hobson: "It's a
wake-up call to IT managers, pure and simple. IT managers should now move to 12 and even 16 character keys as a matter of urgency.
Read full story.....
neowin.net - 24.01.2009
New WMV PowerToy & registry key documentation
The birth of the VC-1 Encoder SDKs will reduce the need for these over the next few months, but Alex has updated his WMV PowerToy and also revised our
documentation about the registry key options.
Here's the new PowerToy. It mainly removes a few options that we determined weren't in the Format SDK 11 implementation, particularly
adaptive chroma search and default adaptive deadzone.
And here's the new, hopefully final registry key documentation,
reflecting the above and other useful tidbits we've learned.
winbeta.org - 09.09.2007
Adobe Acknowledges Flaw in PDF for Windows, Urges Registry Hacks
Confirming a statement made by Petko D. Petkov on his GNUcitizen.org blog over two weeks ago, Adobe has released a security advisory warning of a
potential exploitable flaw in its Acrobat and Adobe Reader software. Adobe's suggested system registry fix suggests a maliciously crafted PDF can be
made to send e-mail undetected...
betanews.com - 09.10.2007
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner 1.25 Final
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner
is a free registry repair
software that allows you to
safely clean and repair
registry problems with a few
simple mouse clicks. Problems
with the Windows Registry are
a common cause of Windows
crashes and error messages.
Registry problems can occur
for many reasons, including
references left behind after
uninstall; incorrect removal
of software; missing or
corrupt hardware drivers; or
orphaned start-up programs.
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner
will scans your Windows
registry for invalid or
obsolete information and
provide a list of the errors
found. After fixing the
invalid entries, your system
will be more stable and run
faster. For maximum safety,
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner
will make a backup of the
repaired entries. You will be
able to restore any changes
made using the software by
choosing Restore registry
backup. It is strongly
recommended to back up your
data before using
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner
!
Changelog:
* Add checking for
update.
* Show the
problem count after scanning
every item.
* Change
donation agent.
neowin.net - 25.12.2006
FreeBSD 6.0 Heads Out the Door
The FreeBSD Project on Friday
heralded the 6.0 release of
its venerable Unix based
operating system. FreeBSD 6.0
brings to the table a number
of improvements over version
5, including a multithreaded
filesystem to speed up disk
access, and expanded support
for wireless networking and
the WPA protocol...
betanews.com - 05.11.2005
DirecTV to pay $5.3M penalty
[b]Officials announced a $5.34
million settlement Tuesday
with satellite TV provider
DirecTV over alleged
violations of the Do Not Call
rule, the largest civil
penalty ever obtained by the
Federal Trade Commission in a
consumer protection
enforcement
case.[/b]
The
FTC's action "demonstrates
that the registry is a program
consumers can continue to
believe in," said FTC
Chairwoman Deborah Platt
Majoras at a press conference
held Tuesday morning.
"Sellers are on the hook for
calls placed on their behalf
and for their benefit," she
added. "It is not named the
Do Not Call Registry for
nothing."..
winbeta.org - 14.12.2005
How to change Registry Permissions with RegIni.exe (VBScript)
Alejandro Magencio: Today I'll show how we can set the following permissions on a registry key with
RegIni.exe and a VBScript :
- Creator Owner Full Control
- Users Full Control
- Power
Users Full Control
- Administrators Full Control
- System Full Control
I will set the permissions here for testing
purposes:
winbeta.org - 11.03.2008
Windows XP Service Pack 3 RC2 via Windows Update (Public Availability Program)
Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Candidate 2 is available to the public. Specific registry settings will allow you to be offered SP3 via Windows
Update.
Download the script and run it on a machine currently running Windows XP Service Pack 2. The script sets a registry key
on your system. The registry key is required for Windows Update to recognize your machine as a valid target for Windows XP Service Pack 3 RC2.
Versions of Windows XP Service Pack 3 prior to Release Candidate 2 should be removed before attempting to use the registry key.
Windows Update will not offer Release Candidate 2 to machines with previous versions of the Windows XP Service Pack 3 beta.
It is
recommended that you apply the resulting update package to an activated, genuine copy of Windows XP, in a test environment. As with any pre-release
software, it is also recommended that you back up files and settings on your machine before applying this update package.
winbeta.org - 20.02.2008
Symantec tool cleans up Windows XP SP3 registry corruption
Symantec Thursday released a free tool that wipes spurious entries from Windows' registry that had crippled some PCs running the company's
security software after they were upgraded to Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) or Vista SP1. The tool, SymRegFix, had been promised by Symantec two
weeks ago when users reported that upgrading to XP SP3 emptied Windows' Device Manager, deleted network connections and packed the registry with
thousands of bogus entries.
Symantec initially blamed Microsoft for the snafu, but later accepted some responsibility. Last week, the
company said the combination of a Microsoft process and the SymProtect feature of its Norton-branded consumer security software had added the errant
registry entries, and it told users to turn off that feature before upgrading. Symantec's SymRegFix clean-up tool can be downloaded from the company's site.
neowin.net - 09.06.2008
Rumors: Microsoft to buy
Softricity
There are persistant rumors
all over the web since
yesterday, which say that
Microsoft would fear VMWare's
June products releases. To
compete with them, according
to those rumors, Microsoft is
in talks with Softricity, a
virtualization specialized
company, about buying
possibilities.
A source close to Microsoft
gave its comments about the
story: "It's coming down to
the final stretches,", but
also notes that it's not a
done deal yet, and that things
could still change.
If the rumor says
right, the deal would be
accomplished before the end of
the WinHEC 2006 (Windows
Hardware Engineers Conference)
event, which kicks in next
week.
The point
of buying Softricity is pretty
clear: Giving its Windows
Virtual Server products an
advantage over competing
companies' virtualization
products, along with adding
yet another feature to its
next flagship Operating System
Windows Vista, this feature
would allow application
developers to create a virtual
registry unique to their
application instead of using
the main system registry, and
to avoid DLL conflicts. These
new features in Windows Vista
would be another move in order
to get away from the
getting-old system registry
concept, a tendency that began
with the release of the
Microsoft .NET development
platform...
jcxp.net - 20.05.2006
Microsoft's XP SP3 Patch Fixes Anti-Virus Glitch
Microsoft issued a hotfix for Windows XP Service Pack 3 last week that it says "could resolve" a Windows registry corruption problem associated with
third-party security software. The problem was first discovered just over a month ago, and it notably affected users of Symantec's Norton Antivirus suite of products.
Some users who
installed XP SP3 reported seeing garbled system entries that cluttered the Windows registry. The corruption in the registry led to problems such as
lost Internet and wireless connections, along with uninitiated restarts caused by sporadic registry subkeys.
Microsoft provided an
explanation for the problem in a Knowledgebase posting on Friday. The
issue "occurs when the Fixccs.exe process is called during the Windows XP SP3 installation," the KB article explains. "This process creates some
intermediate registry subkeys, and it later deletes these subkeys. In some cases, some antivirus applications may not let the Fixccs.exe process
delete these intermediate registry subkeys." When the problem occurs, "certain applications" within Windows, such as "Device Manager and Network
Connections" may be unable to function, Redmond added.
neowin.net - 02.07.2008
The ultimate tweaker's guide to Windows
But just because the operating system doesn't look and work the way you want doesn't mean that you're stuck with it as is. Windows is extremely
tweakable; if you dig a little, you'll find that you can customize it in almost any way you want.
To help you out, we've put
together this guide to tweaking Windows. It covers both XP and Vista and lets you do all kinds of things you might have thought were impossible --
replacing your boot screen, hacking the Control Panel, speeding up Windows Flip 3D and more. Look for the XP logo and Vista logo icons to see which
tips work in which OS.
The hacks vary in the expertise you'll need. In some cases you'll get down and dirty with the Registry,
so if you're not certain you know how to make a DWORD value, for example, read our story "The tweaker's guide to the
Windows Registry" first. (Be sure to read the instructions for backing up the
Registry before you attempt any Registry edits whatsoever.)
In other cases, you'll just have to dig into hidden corners of
menus and folders. But in all cases, you'll tell Windows exactly how you want it to behave ... and it will bow down to you, the master.
winbeta.org - 18.10.2007
Symantec pins blame for XP SP3 registry corruption on Microsoft
But some users say Microsoft tech support told them it's Symantec's fault
Symantec Corp. Thursday said it was
Microsoft's code that crippled some PCs after upgrades to Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) emptied Device Manager, deleted network connections, and
packed the registry with thousands of bogus entries.
"We finally got to the bottom of this last night," said Dave Cole,
Symantec's senior director for product management of its consumer software. "All of these problems are related to the same thing: a Microsoft file
that created all the garbage entries ."
He also said that some of the same symptoms had been acknowledged by
Microsoft when users updated to Windows XP SP2 several years ago; Cole referenced a pair of Microsoft support documents to back up his claim.
winbeta.org - 23.05.2008
Is Malware Hiding in Your Windows Registry?
Security company says vulnerability could allow malicious software to lurk undetected...
pcworld.com - 31.08.2005
Symantec tool cleans up XP SP3 registry corruption
Symantec Corp. yesterday released a free tool that wipes spurious entries from Windows' registry that had crippled some PCs running the
company's security software after they were upgraded to Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) or Vista SP1.
The tool, SymRegFix, had
been promised by Symantec two weeks ago when users reported that upgrading to XP SP3 emptied Windows' Device Manager, deleted network connections and
packed the registry with thousands of bogus entries.
Symantec initially blamed Microsoft for the
snafu, but later accepted some responsibility. Last week, the company said the combination of a Microsoft process and the SymProtect feature of its
Norton-branded consumer security software had added the errant registry entries, and it told users to turn off that feature before upgrading.
winbeta.org - 06.06.2008
