• Microsoft Active Directory Migration Tool version 3.1 is availabe for download. http://snurl.com/2wv4d #
• Save Windows 3.11. Ed Bott is right. It is not bloated and fast too. http://snurl.com/2waft #
• Cloud computing: 12 reasons to love it or leave it http://snurl.com/2wake #
• Microsoft Announces Software-Plus-Services Adoption on the Rise With Assistance From Hosting Providers http://snurl.com/2wam5 #
• Sysinternals Process Monitor v1.35 is ready for download. It seems this update only brings App-V support. http://snurl.com/2vnqw #
• Windows XP SP3 is on Windows Update. Use Windows Service Pack Blocker Kit if you don’t want it on your machines. http://snurl.com/2vnsy #
• Is Diane Greene leaving the sinking ship or was she fired? Former Microsoft exec becomes new VMware CEO http://snurl.com/2vo0h #
• TrueCrypt 6.0a is out: faster, create encrypted hidden operating system, system drive encryption on Vista and more. http://snurl.com/2vo4s #

Josh from the InfiniteAdmin blog has an interesting post about solid state disk (SSD) encryption. He raised doubts that drive encryption tools such as TrueCrypt are secure enough if applied to SSDs. Like memory sticks SSDs are flash drives that usually work with NAND technology. Therefore, these concerns also apply to USB sticks.

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TrueCrypt 5 is available for some days now. Today, I found time to have a look at the new version of my favorite free encryption tool. The most noteworthy new feature certainly is its ability to encrypt system drives/partitions. Until now TrueCrypt was only an alternative to the Encrypting Files System (EFS) under Windows. Now, Truecrypt 5 also competes with Vista’s Bitlocker. In this post, I explore the pros and cons of both crypto tools.

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There has been a lot of media coverage about Bitlocker recently. It is supposed to be a solution for laptop users who want to encrypt their whole hard disks under Vista. You can’t encrypt your whole system partition with Truecrypt, but, in my view, is a much better solution if you want to secure confidential data.

Update: Please, also check out my review about TrueCrypt 5.

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Poptop is an open source VPN server supporting Microsoft’s PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol). It allows you to use a Linux Server as a VPN Server for Windows machines. This way you can encrypt any communication between the Linux server and your Windows workstation easily. You can use NAT (Network Address Translation) to hide your workstation’s IP address when you access the internet thru the VPN Server. Windows comes with a built-in and easy-to-configure VPN client. Nothing has to be installed on the Windows machine. In this post, I would like to share my recent experience installing Poptop.

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How many passwords do you use? I’ve already given up counting mine. The list just keeps getting longer and longer, since i use a new password for every application or web site. (I hope you do this too.) Of course, it’s hard to remember all of them. So I save them in an encrypted file using Locknote. Infinite Password Generator offers another solution for this password problem. Instead of saving your passwords with a password manager, you generate the password each time you need it. Sounds strange, but it works.

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The major problem with any password-saving software is that passwords have to be loaded into the computer’s memory when you want to access them. This is a security risk. Passwordsaver (PWS) is a USB stick that solves this problem. It doesn’t show the passwords on the computer screen, but on its own tiny display.

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I just had a quick look at Folder Lock for Windows. It has more or less the same functionality as TrueCrypt which I discussed recently. It can make folders invisible and encrypt them as well. The advantage of Folder Lock is that you don’t have to reserve space on your hard disk for your encrypted folders. It can encrypt an existing folder. However, it is not free. It costs $30.

Update: Please, also check out my review about TrueCrypt 5.

TrueCrypt is a nifty free Open Source disk encryption tool. It encrypts a whole hard disk or partition and also can create virtual volumes. TrueCrypt uses encrypted container files which can be mounted like hard disks. Under Windows, you can assign a driver letter to such a virtual device. I tested version 4.1 for Windows.

Update: Please, also check out my review about TrueCrypt 5.

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How do you secure your passwords? As a sys admin you probably have countless accounts and I hope you don’t use the same password for all of them. I use by far too many passwords to remember them all. Writing them down is the only solution.

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