TTC Shelbyville – Technical Blog

The site that hosts the Linux kernel’s source code, Kernel.org was compromised earlier this month. The discovery was made on August 28th, and steps are being taken now to enhance security for the site and recovery is underway…read more on ReadWrite Enterprise

Bill Mullins has an excellent review of the utilities to repair Windows on Tweaking.com.   Visit his site for a complete review.  Thanks Bill!

Fast facts – Windows Repair can do the following:

Reset Registry Permissions
Reset File Permissions
Register System Files
Repair WMI
Repair Windows Firewall
Repair Internet Explorer
Repair MDAC & MS Jet
Repair Hosts File
Remove Policies Set By Infections
Repair Icons
Repair Winsock & DNS Cache
Remove Temp Files
Repair Proxy Settings
Unhide Non System Files
Repair Windows Updates
and more…

File Repair software is a powerful tool to repair your corrupted files. It scans the damaged file and extracts maximum data from it to a new usable file.
File Repair – easily repair corrupted files..

Cyber criminals are using highly dynamic malware to circumvent traditional signature-based defenses with 94% of malicious executables and malicious domains changing within 24-hours.  Malicious infections enter 99% of enterprise networks.

Gmail has an excellent way military personnel can call home.  Read more on their blog – Military Calls

A desktop station that allows simultaneous syncing for up to 49 iPads or other USB devices changes the way information is managed and distributed. ….USB hub allows simultaneous syncing of 49 iPads.

Transcend and ITRI unveiled a small USB stick that can offer up to 2 TB of storage. USB 3.0 flash drive with 2 TB of storage.

This sort of information should be useful to forensics investigators, folks trying to cover their tracks, folks trying to uncover people’s track….Forensically interesting spots in the Windows 7, Vista and XP file system and registry (and anti-forensics).

This article is a little old but good – it shows where data can be hidden…

Increase the maximum transfer size of USB storage devices in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2

Microsoft HotFix

After you install this update, to increase the maximum transfer size of USB storage devices, follow these steps:

1. Click Start (Windows Orb)- type regedit in the Start Search box-press Enter.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\usbstor\VVVVPPPP
3. Click Edit, point to New, and then click DWORDValue.
4. Type MaximumTransferLength, and then press Enter.
5. Click Edit, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type a value to specify the maximum transfer size between 64KB and 2MB. For example, you select Decimal and type a value between 65535 (64K) and 2097120 (2M).
7. Exit Registry Editor.

Here’s a set of quick tweaks to adjust Windows 7 networking.  Always backup your computer before performing any tweak.

Open a command prompt as an administrator and type the following -

netsh int tcp set global congestionprovider=ctcp
netsh int tcp set global ecncapability=default
netsh int tcp set global chimney=enabled
netsh int tcp set global dca=enabled
netsh int tcp set global netdma=enabled
netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled
netsh int tcp set heuristics disabled

CTCP or Compound TCP – Improves throughput
ECN-provides routers with an alternate method of communicating network congestion
TCP Chimney Offload – Offloads all TCP processing for a connection to your network adapter
Direct Cache Access (DCA) – or direct cache access allows a network controller to deliever data directly to your cpu cache
NetDMA – enables support for advanced direct memory access.
TCP Autotuning – RWIN auto tuning behavior
Heuristics – Windows 7 has the ability to automatically change its own TCP Window auto-tuning behavior

To return to your default settings, go to a command prompt as an administrator and type -

netsh int tcp set heuristics default
netsh int tcp set global chimney=default
netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=normal
netsh int tcp set global congestionprovider=default
netsh int tcp set global ecncapability=default
netsh int tcp set global netdma=disable
netsh int tcp set global dca=auto

If you have trouble navigating to sites and time out to Facebook or Microsoft for example, or you want to improve your download speeds -you may need to set your MTU settings -

So what do you set your MTU to?  Normally your MTU is set to 1500.   Every connection is different.  First log into your router if you have one and set it to 1492.  Retry the sites that are timing out.  If this did not work, you may need to set the MTU on your network card.

Use TCPOptimizer for Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 (easy) -

or you can go to a command prompt (as an administrator with elevated privileges) and type -

netsh interface ipv4 show subinterface

(to see the name of your network Interface – it is important to write down the MTU settings and network interface name at this time)

To set the MTU value to 1492, type the following command at a a command prompt (Note: You MUST substitute the name of your network connection  -

netsh interface ipv4 set subinterface “The Name of Your Connection” mtu=1492 store=persistent

Many users have reported an increase in download and internet speeds after adjusting their MTU to 1492.  This setting may not be the optimal setting everyone.

Optimize your Nvidia video card by overclocking it… Link

 

 

A new worm called Morto has begun making the rounds on the Internet in the last couple of days, infecting machines via RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol). The worm is generating a large amount of outbound RDP traffic on networks that have infected machines, and Morto is capable of compromising both servers and workstations running Windows.   New Worm Morto Using RDP to Infect Windows PCs.

Many laptops and usb wireless devices have the 943xx chipset and drivers are often not written well or are not very good.  Here’s an excellent link to these drivers.   These drivers may say a vendor’s name in the description but this may work.  Always have a backup of your computer.   There is never a guarantee that alternate drivers will work.

Note:   The setup may say no compatible hardware is found.  Manually install the drivers.

FEMA mobile apps

FEMA Text Messages


A new and separate service from the new app, our text message updates will allow cell phone users to receive text message updates from FEMA.

• Text PREPARE to 43362 (4FEMA) to sign up to receive monthly disaster safety tips
• Text SHELTER + your ZIP code to 43362 (4FEMA) to find the nearest shelter in your area (example: shelter 12345)

  (For availability of shelters and services, contact your local emergency management agency.)

• Text DRC + your ZIP code to 43362 (4FEMA) to find the nearest disaster recovery center in your area (for example, if you lived in Annandale, Virginia with a Zip Code of 22003, you’d text DRC 22003).

Need Microsoft Word to open with a font you use more often than any other font?

• Click on Home
• Click the small pull down tab
• Set your font style and size
• Click set default

IBM has publications published in their online library called Redpapers.  These white papers, user guides and Redbooks contain a vast amount of information for anyone in information technology.  Here’s the link to IBMs library.

“Apache Killer” tool spotted in the wild…The developers behind the open source Apache Foundation issued a warning for all users of the Apache HTTPD Web Server, as an attack tool it has been made available on the Internet and has already been spotted being actively used.

CompTIA expanded its Security Trustmarkprogram to include two levels of the business accreditation, which identifies companies that follow industry-accepted best security processes. 

CompTIA expands Security Trustmark Program.

Since the start of this year, globally, there have been 365 data loss incidents involving 126,727, 474 records. According to research by Juniper Research, 90% of organizations have suffered data breaches in one form or another over the past 12 months. Testament to this is the number of household brands that have inadvertently divulged the information of hundreds of individuals:

 

 

Have you been hacked this month?.

Here’s several websites to check your computer for viruses and malware.  Are you aware that nearly 70% of computers have malware or spyware?   It only takes a few minutes to check your computer.
AOL Computer Checkup

Audit My PC

BitDefender

CA Technologies

ESET Online Scanner

Kaspersky Virus Scanner

McAfee Security Scan

Panda Security Antivirus Scan

Qualys Browser Check

QualysGuard Malware Detection

Symantec Security Check

TrendMicro HouseCall Virus Scan

Webroot Spy Sweeper

Multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in Google Chrome, where some have unknown impacts and others can can be exploited by malicious people to bypass certain security restrictions and potentially compromise a user’s system    Multiple vulnerabilities in Google Chrome.