Have you lost or forgotten your Windows password?
It's one of the security best practice to enable password on your Windows user account to ensure you have adequate protection from malicious access to your personal files.
It is a common practice to forget your computer password if you're not using it for a while or perhaps just returned from holidays. Unfortunately, currently Windows operating systems doesn't have an option to reset your password like we commonly see in web applications such as Facebook, Hotmail etc.
In the majority of the cases, I have seen users have to format and reinstall the Windows to access their computer again but unfortunately they have to sacrifice loss of their personal data if they haven't backed-up.
So what to do? How to crack/reset the password of the Windows operating system?
I recently come across this nice password resetter tool "Password Resetter", which cracks windows password in minutes without affecting your personal data.
As stated on their website that it can recover 99,9% of passwords from nearly any Windows installation in a matter of seconds! You do not need to remember old passwords in order to crack your Windows password.
Password Resetter recovers the lost Windows administrator or user password from any Windows Operation System. It supports Windows Vista, XP, NT, 2000 and the newest Windows 7.
How to use Password Resetter?
1) Download a copy of Password Resetter.
2) Burn the image on CD/DVD. The package comes with the detailed tutorial.
3) Once the bootable CD/DVD is ready, boot the system with this CD/DVD. Select the user account and then click on reset button.
Another cool feature?
It supports USB, which means you can crack/reset your Windows password with USB drives in case you do not have CD/DVD.
This is not a freeware, you will need to purchase this software for around $35 for personal use.
Medical Device Security in a Hospital Network
Medical devices are everywhere today. In your doctors office measuring your blood pressure, at your cosmetician (for hip reductio) and in the hospital for everything from patient monitoring to robot-assisted surgery.
The people that develop embedded medical devices based on Intel platforms know that Windows is vulnerable.
Lacking embedded Linux know-how, medical device developers often end up adopting Windows and Visual Studio as a default. Using Windows is a security-blanked for developers who grew up the Microsoft monoculture and are scared of the Linux command line.
But – make no mistake using Windows in networked embedded medical devices is a mistake.
This is big mistake #1.
The top 2 threats to a medical device are software defects and software updates. Consider the implications of updating patient monitoring devices in a hospital with an infected USB stick or an infected Windows notebook.
In product development (and medical device are no exception), the support and version update process is often something left for the end of the project. At that point, when the product manager asks how are we going to update the software in the field – the hands raise in favor of USB memory stick updates as an “interim” solution.
It is crucial to use threat analysis on systems of networked medical devices in order to arrive at the right, cost-effective countermeasures (apropos the management challenge of large number of VLANS…). Threat analysis must be an integral part of the SDLC (software development life cycle) – done early in the process and validated from time to time whenever there are significant design, configuration or environmental changes.
Threat analysis enables a medical device vendor and the hospital security team to have an objective discussion on balancing the need to protect the hospital network asset with protecting the availability of the medical device itself and concomitantly – the safety of patients that are dependent on the device – patient monitoring is the first example that comes to mind.
Unfortunately many device vendors and their hospital customers use a system management model based on Microsoft Windows and business IT management practices. This is big mistake #2.
Medical device vendors need to assess their software security and not assume that an embedded medical device running Windows XP is no different from any other Windows PC on the network running Office 2007.
To use an analogy from the world of real time embedded systems – consider avionics as key to safety of the pilot and success of the mission. Avionics are not managed like a network of Windows PCs and neither should medical devices on the hospital network.
A medical device in a hospital network – whether it monitors patients, assists in surgery or analyzes EEGs – is an embedded device in a extremely heterogeneous and hostile environment that should simply not be vulnerable to Microsoft Windows malware.
Embedded medical devices should be based in embedded Linux – and not a stock version of Red Hat – but rather built ground up from the latest Linux kernel, with the minimum set of services and software (Qtk etc…) needed to run the application. The software update process should be part of the design – not something bolted on after the implementation.
Developing for embedded Linux is not copy and paste from Windows. It requires expertise to setup the basic infrastructure. But – once that infrastructure is up, the medical device developer and it’s hospital customer can be confident that they are standing on a secure platform and not a house of glass built on a foundation of sand.
Looking for a top free firewall for Windows 7?
Here you find top free firewalls for Windows 7 including, but not limited to, the Windows 7 built-in firewall. There used to be much more free firewalls software for Windows until Microsoft built in a firewall in its Windows XP operating system. That Windows integrated firewall has been beefed up in Windows Vista and further improved in Windows 7.
Free firewall for Windows 7
- Ashampoo FireWall
- Comodo Firewall
- Online Armor Firewall
- Outpost Firewall
- PC Tools Firewall Plus
- Sunbelt Personal Firewall Version
- VirusBuster Internet Security Suite
- Windows 7 Firewall Control
- ZoneAlarm Basic Firewall
References
Comodo Internet Security - http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/
Online Armor Free - http://www.online-armor.com/products-online-armor-free.php
Outpost Security Suite - http://free.agnitum.com/
PC Tools Firewall Plus Free Edition - http://www.pctools.com/firewall/
VirusBuster Internet Security Suite - http://www.virusbuster.hu/en/products/home-users/vb-internet-security-suite#rendszerkovetelmeny
ZoneAlarm Free Firewall - http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/zonealarm-pc-security-free-firewall.htm
Least Privilege Security for Windows 7, Vista, and XP - Security
Russell Smith, renowned Windows security expert, discussed how adhering to the principle of least privilege can benefit the security of your environment, including reducing support incidents and improving user productivity. To attend the webinar, register for one of the following dates:
Least Privilege Security for Windows 7, Vista, and XP: Tuesday, November 2, 2010, 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. PDT
Least Privilege Security for Windows 7, Vista, and XP: Wednesday, December 1, 2010, 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. PST
In the webinar, Russell notes that running administrator-level privileges on desktop PCs increases total cost of ownership (TCO) by 36.3%. He also discusses the fact that although users tend to view security as restrictive, enforcing proper security measures actually benefits users because it helps meet their expectations for speed, reliability, and productivity.
Problems associated with elevated privileges include the following:- Malware—The more users running with elevated privileges, the greater the risk of infection.
- Data leakage—Having more users with elevated privileges increases the chance of data loss.
- Help desk costs—Giving users the right to change system configuration can lead to problems.
- Unlicensed software—Users with admin privileges can install personal software, as well as unwittingly infect their systems by running fake antivirus software.
- System/network slowdowns—Problems that users create on their own systems affect not only those systems but also the network.
- Elevated privileges allow users to circumvent the management controls that are designed to protect systems and networks.
