Is Windows Vista really superior to all predecessor Windows operating systems? Well Microsoft is beating the old drum of Vista as the most secure Windows platform available since the introduction of the operating system.

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When I was looking at the documentation for the registry and keys associated with the command processor I came across this:

Hmm. For the fun of it I opened up the key and put ‘notepad.exe’ in the AutoRun value.(To see how this actually worked)

Any time I opened a console application, or a command prompt window notepad would launch - and the command processor would not start until it was closed. This includes the users login script.

So. This means whatever program I put in this key will execute, and the command processor will wait for it to finish before continuing.

This is perfect for something I was trying to do a few months back. I wanted to dynamically set a few environment variables - and have them available to any console based application. I tried putting it in the logon script, but that didn’t work since the environment variables only lasted for that session.

I ended up using the CALL command within each batch file I had. This was difficult because the batch files were part…

• Microsoft Releases “Administrative Templates” for Windows Vista
  If you have Vista machines in an Active Domain, here are the templates you need to manage them via GPO.
  (tags: GPO Domain )
• VIA HD Audio Driver Package v4.0a
  For Windows Vista, Windows Vista 64-Bit, Windows XP 64-Bit, Windows 2000, Windows XP Compatible with VIA HD Audio Codec VT1708 paired with VT8237A/VT8251 ( VT1708 )
  (tags: Audio Drivers )

Windows Vista operates external hard drives that are connected with USB differently than internal drives. Write caching is disabled so that you can safely remove the drive at almost any time. This is a great feature for USB thumb drives that are frequently inserted and removed from your computer. But if you have a large hard drive that is in an external enclosure that you never disconnect from your computer, write caching is also disabled which can decrease performance.

This tweak is going to show you how to increase the performance of your external hard drives by turning write caching back on as well as activating advanced performance. Let’s get started:

1. Click on the start button, then right click on Computer and select Manage.
2. Click on Device Manager on the side menu.
3. Expand Disk drives and locate your external drive from the list.
4. Right click on the drive and select Properties.
5. On the Policies tab, select Optimize for performance.
6. Next, check Enable write caching on the disk and Enable advanced performance as shown below.

7. Hit OK and

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Well this entry deals with the current security setup I have on my computer.
And explains why I have them installed.

Security comes in several layers I’m not talking about OSI.

1. Router Firewall / NAT.
2. Software Firewall (Application based firewall)
3. Hostbased Intrusion Protection (HIPS)
4. Antivirus.
5. Anti Spyware.

1. The first one is pretty simple either you have it or you don’t.
My router I got with my broadband comes with NAT but no Firewall.
NAT = Network Address Translation.
NAT offers a nice first layer of defense for hackers, because they need to figure out what the internal network is.

The internal network can be easy to figure out on a specially crafted website, there are several websites that show your internal IP address on your network.

eg. http://ip-lookup.net/lan-address

You…

Remember the video of a Ferrari crashing (lightly) when filming the new Project Gotham Racing 4 advertisement from a few months back? Well here’s the final version of the ad for PGR4 which features the non-crashing version of the stunt. Notably the company behind the visual effects, Method Studios, also produced the recent jaw-dropping Halo 3 “Believe” videos.

If anyone’s interested in the “making-of”, a few YouTube videos from bystanders have surfaced showing exactly what happened on the road.