The SANS (System Administration, Networking, and Security) Institute is a key resource for IT professionals. One of the most helpful and free sections of its web site is the Reading Room, providing white papers on security leadership, forensics, incident handling, and auditing. During a recent visit to the Reading Room I found a treasure called [...]

One of the techie mailing lists I’m subscribed to had a post to Slashweb’s 25 Best Programmer Comics.  I don’t always have time for the off-topic chatter, but this one drew enough feedback I’m glad I eventually did.  Several had me nearly in tears.  Just for fun I even whipped up a poll to see what [...]

First things first – my first computer was a Xerox with a CPM operating system.  There, now that I’ve established that I’m no spring chicken I can reminisce about the days of the 16-bit Windows Recorder applet.  This keyboard macro recorder would allow a few keystrokes to invoke useful or repetitive text. Fast forward to [...]

Seems vendors are finally listening.  Dell announced they’re going to quit loading bloatware onto Vostro laptops.  Maybe someday all the mass producers will only install what the buyer wants.  Too many consumers get duped into allowing trialware to install only to find annoying nags or worse when it times out.  Maybe it could be named ransomware? [...]

During a June vacation while catching up with some reading on the sands of a hot beach I read this article in CIO Magazine. It was one of those articles that, while interesting, didn’t register an immediate impression. As time has passed I’ve found myself reflecting on the article and using the basis of it [...]

I’ve resisted the blog movement long enough.  Though I hope we never see an end to the communities and friendships built in list mail services I have accepted the idea that some topics would be better in something other than an e-mail client. I’m hoping to develope my blogs as a place between formal FAQs and [...]