Category Archives: PC Issues

General information about PC hardware or software

burning ISO files with Gnomebaker

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Once you have GnomeBaker open, go to the Tools menu at the top and select “Burn CD Image” (or “Burn DVD Image” as appropriate). It will then prompt you for the ISO file and recorder device to use, as well as at what speed, etc.

via burning ISO files with Gnomebaker – FedoraForum.org.

Duh.  It was right in front of me all along.  For some reason Brasero keeps returning errors on burning a simple .iso file.  It is consistent between reboots.  This might be due to some weirdness with the motherboard on medusa and how the kernel deals with the SATA interface.  I already noticed a problem with acpi messing with an ethernet PCI card on the only PCI slot on the motherboard.  Something is not right with this hardware setup.   The DVD player has also “gone offline” after trying to read error ridden Netflix DVDs.  Something is causing it to go offline and it is either the linux kernel or the hardware accepting commands from low level windows drivers.   This could also be a vm problem.

The bottom line: gnomebaker works and seems to work better.  Gnomebaker deserves a link in the Tools category.

This is how Windows get infected with malware

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CSIS has over a period of almost three months actively collected real time data from various so-called exploit kits. An exploit kit is a commercial hacker toolbox that is actively exploited by computer criminals who take advantage of vulnerabilities in popular software. Up to 85 % of all virus infections occur as a result of drive-by attacks automated via commercial exploit kits.

The purpose of this study is to reveal precisely how Microsoft Windows machines are infected with malware and which browsers, versions of Windows and third party software that are at risk.

via This is how Windows get infected with malware.
I have never been a big fan of constantly chasing patches but this conclusion has me rethinking my thoughts on this…

The reason why patching are essential

The conclusion of this study is that as much as 99.8 % of all virus/malware infections caused by commercial exploit kits are a direct result of the lack of updating five specific software packages.

I think the main problem here is that all these PCs were directly connected to the Internet.  The simplest solution of using a hardware router and NAT should stop these kind of attacks from ever hitting the PC.   I’m still leery about constantly applying patches because sometimes the patches themselves are buggy and may introduce new vectors into your OS.  Software upgrade needs to be planned as a general policy for the entire PC or sets of PCs and not dictated to by a mere application or OS vendor.

Mount dd images in Windows

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Tools for OSForensics – OSFMount – Mount dd images in Windows.

OSFMount allows you to mount local disk image files (bit-for-bit copies of a disk partition) in Windows with a drive letter. You can then analyze the disk image file with PassMark OSForensics™ by using the mounted volume’s drive letter. By default, the image files are mounted as read only so that the original image files are not altered.

Linux CD / DVD Locked and Drive Is Not Opening / Ejecting CD

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You might also try disallowing the kernel from locking the cdrom. Sometimes a rogue process will hold onto the drive for no real reason. This way is often much cleaner than killing the process.

# Temporarily unlock the cdrom
echo 0 > /proc/sys/dev/cdrom/lock

# Permanently unlock the cdrom
echo “sys.dev.cdrom.lock=0″ >> /etc/sysctl.conf

via Linux CD / DVD Locked and Drive Is Not Opening / Ejecting CD.