Questions tagged [security]
The protection of computer systems and information from threats such as theft or data destruction.
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Securely erasing all data from a hard drive
I am about to sell my old desktop PC and I am cautious about some of my sensitive information being available to the purchaser, even after reformatting the hard-drive, using data recovery software.
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Automatically login and lock
I want to configure Windows 7 to login automatically after the computer is switched on. That's not because I'm lazy and don't like typing passwords. That's because I want programs that are configured ...
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Is my host machine completely isolated from a virus-infected virtual machine?
If I am running a Windows 7 virtual machine on a Windows 7 host using
VMWare or VirtualBox (or anything else) and the virtual machine is completely
overloaded with viruses and other malicious software,...
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How do I disable administrator prompt in Windows 8?
I am using Windows 8 Enterprise on my development machine. Most of the time, I need full administrator for debugging, changing system files, etc.
In Windows 7, setting UAC to "never notify" would ...
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How can I make a Windows PC bullet-proof for home users? [closed]
I realize that virus-proof on a Windows PC is far fetched, but in the interest of keeping time spent as the "family-tech-support" to a minimum, I am looking for ideas to lock a computer down to the ...
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How do I safely investigate a USB stick found in the parking lot at work?
I work at an embedded software company. This morning I found a USB stick in the parking lot in front of the building. With all the stories of "dropped USB stick attacks" in mind, I'm obviously not ...
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Why do I need to run commands as administrator if my account is member of administrator group?
If my account is already a member of the administrator group why do some functions on Windows 7 require me to run them as administator? I kind of thought that was implied?
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How to reliably keep an SSH tunnel open?
I use an SSH tunnel from work to go around various idotic firewalls (it's ok with my boss :)). The problem is, after a while the ssh connection usually hangs, and the tunnel is broken.
If I could at ...
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How to securely delete files stored on a SSD?
From a (very long, but definitely worth to read) article on SSDs:
When you delete a file in your OS, there is no reaction from either a hard drive or SSD. It isn’t until you overwrite the sector (on ...
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Password protect a folder
What are the available options for password protecting a folder? I'm talking about requiring a password to actually access the folder, not just user access rights. Is the third-party software out ...
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Finding out which app is using the webcam
Yesterday I was working on my laptop. Suddenly I noticed that the indicator light of the webcam was on, despite the fact that I wasn't making a video call or using the webcam in any other way at the ...
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"This file came from another computer..." - how can I unblock all the files in a folder without having to unblock them individually?
Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista have this deal where zone information is preserved in downloaded files to NTFS partitions, such that it blocks certain files in certain applications until you "unblock"...
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How to block all traffic but one IP in Windows Firewall?
I'm trying to use Windows 7 firewall to block all outgoing and incoming traffic, from all IP's and for all protocals, except for UDP to and from one particular IP address.
The reason why is because ...
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Is there a keystroke that can lock the Mac OS X screensaver?
On Windows I can hit Windows + L to lock my desktop. On Leopard there doesn't seem to be this capability. While I can set the screensaver to come on very quickly, I would like to hit a key combo to ...
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How much information can my ISP see?
Is it possible for my ISP to see the passwords that I enter on websites and in chat programs? And what about SSL websites that start with https, do they encrypt my username and password before ...
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Dispose or Recycle Hard Drive
I have 3 old 3.5" internal hard drives sitting gathering dust at the moment. 2 are SATA, and one IDE. I want to either start putting them to use, or dispose of them to clear up some space.
What is ...
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If Mac code signing is tampered with, what might fail?
What annoyances or real problems may occur when the digital signature of a Mac application is broken?
Applications on a Mac can be digitally signed. When the signature is somehow broken, I know a few ...
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How to find Windows 7 File Transfer History?
Is it possible to find out which files are transferred to an external usb flash drive in certain period of time?
To be more clear. If I/someone have a flash drive and take some data from me. How do ...
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How to wipe free disk space in Linux?
When a file is deleted, its contents may still be left in the filesystem, unless explicitly overwritten with something else. The wipe command can securely erase files, but does not seem to allow ...
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Permission to make symbolic links in Windows 7?
How can I grant a particular user the permission to create symlinks in Windows 7?
I've searched through "Group Policy" and Google, but haven't found anything.
On a side note, is there a way to ...
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Is using multiple passes for wiping a disk really necessary?
To stupid people, like me, you would have thought overwriting each bit on a disk would render the data completely unrecoverable.
Why do disk wiping tools have the option for multiple passes, i.e. 3 ...
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How to unlock an ATA password-locked HDD with an upper-case password if the BIOS accepts only lower-case?
I accidentally locked an HDD with an ATA password, trying to issue a secure erase command. It was on Linux, I entered this command :
hdparm --security-erase PWD /dev/sda
So the password is PWD (no ...
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Why FUSE might be considered insecure on server?
OpenSUSE comes with several predefined permissions settings. Paranoid one is most restrictive. While I understand why it blocks stuff like virtualization or tty broadcasts for non-root users I don't ...
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votes
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Destroy a hard drive without proper equipment
I need to make two hard drives unreadable. Unfortunately, I have some constraints which make this harder than usual (in particular, they rule out the answers to other questions):
I don’t have a ...
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Would Microsoft Security Essentials be adequate protection? [closed]
Is Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) adequate protection for my computer?
What is the experience with this product?
I found out about a comparison of AV Suites. MSE did VERY well.
One that I found ...
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Windows 7 equivalent for ntrights.exe
What is an equivalent for ntrights.exe on Windows 7?
I need it to be able to be run from the command line.
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answers
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How to block everything (all incoming and outgoing internet access) except those applications are in firewall white-list?
Is it possible to auto block all applications incoming/outgoing internet connection except for example Firefox with default windows firewall?
I would like to block everything, even including windows ...
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3
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Is the wifi password stored somewhere in windows-7? [duplicate]
One of my friend connected me to the wifi in our area . Now my computer automatically connects to that wifi. I don't need to enter the password. I wanted to browse internet using my android phone. ...
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In Windows 7, How to query times, when the computer was locked?
Is there a way to get a list of the following times:
whenever windows is locked (using windows+l combo)
whenever windows is unlocked
in the past week?
I've tried poking in the event log, to no ...
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answer
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Create firewall "profiles" for Windows 7 [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Limiting network connections to specific sites when travelling / tethered (in windows)
Is there any way to configure a couple of firewall profiles in Windows 7?
As I use ...
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Unique Browser / User ID?
So I was wondering if it's possible to uniquely identify a user accessing a site?
Essentially, is there a stagnant/static id or code produced by a machine within a web request or within a browser that ...
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votes
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How to mess up a PC running Windows 7? [closed]
Ok, so for my PC class I have to find 3 hacks that would mess up the lab's PC. Me and my partner are going to mess up the PC and then another team will try to fix it. The system on it is Windows 7. ...
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answers
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How to remove security from a PDF file?
I am trying to fill out some docs, but the provided PDFs are "SECURED", meaning I can't use FoxIt's typewriter tools.
Is there any way to remove the security?
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How is Linux not prone to viruses, malware and those kinds of things?
How is Linux protected against viruses?
This question was a Super User Question of the Week.
Read the blog entry for more details or contribute to the blog yourself
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Short, easy to understand explanation of GPG/PGP for nontechnical people?
Does anyone have a link to a good, but short (1-2 paragraphs) explanation of the benefits of using GPG/PGP signing and encryption for Email focused at non-technical readers? That is, why would someone ...
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Malicious "confirm navigation" dialogs?
Some sites, like StackExchange, pop up an "Are you sure you want to leave this page?" dialog when you try to leave under certain conditions, such as if you have a post you haven't finished editing. ...
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How to prepare your PC or laptop for theft [closed]
Of course preventing them from getting stolen is the top priority, but invariably, someone is going to get jacked. What are some good practices to minimize the damage incurred when your PC is stolen?
...
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4
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Linux Group Permissions not being enforced correctly.
I am running Ubuntu 10.04 server and am having some very counter-intuitive experiences with users/groups. For example:
sudo touch test_file # create empty file
sudo groupadd test ...
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How to determine what is running in DLLHOST.EXE that's missing /ProcessID switch?
I have multiple dllhost.exe processes running on my Windows 7 computer:
Every one of these image's command line is missing (what I am thinking is) the requisite /ProcessID:{000000000-0000-0000-0000-...
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votes
4
answers
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How to encrypt an USB stick?
When storing personal data on a USB stick, data needs to be encrypted to ensure privacy. Regrettably, this is far from easy to do without introducing a lot of overhead; ideally, the whole encryption ...
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Is windows remote desktop secure?
Is windows built-in Remote Desktop secure? I mean, does it use any encryption methods? or someone can hijack the data that have been transferred between two system?
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How to add a local file to trusted zone in IE8?
I want to add a file on my local drive (C:\something.html) to the Trusted Zone in IE8 (my OS is Windows Server 2003). The Add Sites Dialog box, does not seem to take entries for files on the local ...
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How can I disable the "Open File Security Warning" when I want to run downloaded executable files?
I would like to disable the "Open File Security Warning" that says "Do you want to run this file?" whenever I double click on an .exe I download. I have Windows 7 Home Premium, so I don't have the ...
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Unintentional mouse movements, am I paranoid?
I have noticed for a few months that my mouse will randomly jerk across the screen. I'm super paranoid about security. But this is just silly!
Has anyone else experienced this, and found out what ...
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Is it really possible for most enthusiasts to crack people's Wi-Fi networks?
Can most enthusiastic users (even if they are not professionals) use well-known techniques to break through the average home router's security?
Some basic security options are:
strong network ...
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votes
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scp to remote server with sudo
I have a file on server A (which is behind a NAT so not directly addressable). The file needs to be copied to server B in a directory restricted to root. I have an account on server B with sudo ...
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How to find source process of unknown popup in Windows 7 [duplicate]
A random popup appears in Windows 7 titled as Information with a progress bar and a clock. The window sometimes says Please wait a moment..., and the progress bar moves very slowly and disappears.
I ...
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Are saved Remote Desktop credentials secure on the local machine?
Are saved Remote Desktop credentials secure (loosely speaking) on the local machine? They aren't stored as clear text anywhere at least, are they?
Edit: I understand the inherent risks of saving ...
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Are the insides of LCD monitors dangerous?
I have an LCD monitor that is cracked. So far nothing leaks out but if something starts leaking should I be concerned?
I have searched and read everything from:
It is safe to be around and handle ...
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How to report a malicious site to Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, etc. so that they will warn users [closed]
I completed a project a year ago. Now a few modification were needed.
While trying to test the site, there was an index.html file with a malicious script which had an iframe to another site's jar ...
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