Ending End-of-life Windows with Linux

Zorin Linux

XP, and now Windows 7, are end-of-life-ed. What that means is that the software may continue to live, but Microsoft says it will consider them as if they were dead. In reality, end-of-life means end of Microsoft support, unless one is a massive corporation or a government able to pay huge support contracts. Microsoft continues to update these unsupported operating systems, but the average user will not receive those updates -- except, in the rare case where a security issue is so critical that Microsoft feels responsible.

End-of-life is more than just not receiving updates from Microsoft. Vendors stop making versions of their software for your operating system. You might be happy with Word 2003, but your browser may decide not to work any longer. In short, you don't want to be on an unsupported operating system.

Microsoft would like you to upgrade to the newest operating system. But what if you cannot? Old operating systems are generally found on equally old PCs. Old equipment may not be able to support newer operating systems. And, if they do, you may not have the disk space to install it or have the processing power to make the experience feel quick enough to be usable.

In comes Linux. Linux is not a single operating system. No one runs an operating system called "Linux". Linux is a core set of technologies that are based on UNIX. There many versions of Linux, called distros, on the market. Some are commercial, in that you pay for them, and most are free. Fortunately for end-of-life Windows users, there are a number of Linux distros designed specifically to ease the transition from Windows to Linux. One of the prime examples is Zorin Linux, but there are perhaps a dozen others. These distros offer interfaces that can be adjusted to look like specific versions of Windows. You want XP, done. You want Windows 7, fine. Windows 10, no problem. Because Linux tends to run well on older hardware, the transition will not be accompanied by reductions in speed. Some distros even come with utilities that will backup all your Windows data and then import that data into your new Linux distro.

If you are not sure which distro you like, or just nervous about Linux, you can run a distro from a USB device or dual install it  with your current Windows installation -- assuming you have the free disk space.

So, before tossing our your end-of-life PC, give Linux a shot. You'll be happy it allows you to keep your old PC and may find that Linux is the operating system you will want on your next new computer.

Microsoft System Sweeper

System Sweeper is an important tool that Microsoft apparently uses to scan computers that are manifesting problems that are otherwise not identifiable. I gather that people calling Microsoft for help and still have weird problems will be directed to this free utility. It's a shame that more people don't know about this utility because it finds viruses, trojans, and even root kits.

One of the problems with antivirus software is that once a bad piece of software gets on a computer, it can hide from the av software. This is especially true of root kits -- which dig under the operating system. The only way to find such deeply buried malware is to scan the computer's hard drive before it has been booted. That means booting from another device. System Sweeper comes from Microsoft as a bootable system. The image file one downloads is burned to a CD-ROM. The CD-ROM boots into a specialized version of Windows that has as its own function the running of System Sweeper. So far, most of the people I have given this disk to have come back reporting at least minor problems that they previously did not know about.

I suspect the main reason Microsoft does not make this important tool well known is because most users don't understand the idea of downloading ISO images and how to boot the CD-ROM drive. Because problems on your users' systems will come to haunt your network, it makes sense to make disks for your users and help them run this utility on their home computers.

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Secunia: Automating the Windows Software Updating Process

Secunia is one of a short list of firms that perform vulnerability testing. While it does not perform many of the tests that a Blink does, it is light and can be run from Secunia's web site. Most users are aware that Windows system updates are important -- or at least they don't interfere with the automated updating system -- but many of the new threats come from applications such as Flash and Acrobat. These programs are in direct contact with the Internet in a way that exposes them to all types of attacks. Few users would think to even check to make sure these applications are updated.

Secunia is also very useful to finding applications you may not have even remembered installing. On my system it found an ancient version of WinZip. It clearly was not something I was checking for updates, yet many attachments come as zip files and WinZip will automatically start up to uncompress the zipped file. If the attachment was dangerous, WinZip would have been compromised. So, a program like Secunia is important to keeping track of all the potential entry points to your Windows computer.

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Pigs Fly!

InfoWorld has a very good post on Microsoft's recent security advances. Microsoft has spent billions on security and now it is beginning to show. It's not that security is extremely difficult on its own; rather, it is the combination of security and compatibility with old software and old hardware that is the trick. Apple has been able to switch operating systems and start all over again. DOS application, on the other hand, still run on Windows. Personally, I prefer Apple's model but I can understand why Microsoft felt it had to drag its history into the future.

The posting covers a number of the new techniques that closes the doors on the most common avenues for attacks. Whether we like Windows or not, I think we can all agree that reducing the number of zombie computers slinging spam by the billions is a highly desirable goal.

What does all this mean to you? Basically, the answer to whether Windows is security or not must now be considered seriously and not just addressed by a derisive laugh.

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Alternative To for knowing your options

One of the great difficulties with working on the cheap is that the software your school uses or would like to use is beyond your budget. While there are many places to find which Mac or Linux based program can replace a Windows program, there are not many sites that provide lists of alternative programs on the same OS. Alternativeto.net does just that.
Alternativeto.net lets you click on a program you use or might want to use to see what other programs do the same thing. The site is still quite basic, but given the lack of alternatives, this site is a lot better than nothing.
If anyone knows of better sites, please put them into the comments area.

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Blue Screen of Death

MaximumPC has a great article on the dreaded "Blue screen of death" window that sometimes appears after a sudden crash in Windows. While the message can be an indication of a fatal problem, it also supply you with the information needed to fix the computer. Too often users see the screen and assume that it's only useful to a computer technician -- and then only to make sure the headstone for your dead computer reads correctly. MaximumPC makes it clear that it's far more likely that a recent hardware addition is the cause of the blue screen.

One problem that MaximumPC did not cover is how to handle the situation where the blue screens sails past in a fraction of a second as part of endless loop of failed boots/restarts. My trick with such situations is to use a video camera to video the screen and then replay the recording until I can read the blue screen.

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Viruses cannot do what you cannot do

I've long held that one of the best methods of stopping viruses and other attacks is to refrain from using accounts with administrative privileges. What most people miss about virus attacks is that while a virus does things that you don't want to have done, but it does these unwanted actions as you. The computer operating system, in other words, believes that the requests from the virus is coming from you. Just another example of how computers don't "think" like a person. The idea of "why would anyone want to do that?" does not come into play with a computer.

If you are using a computer that cannot delete/create/modify applications, it is very unlikely that a virus would be able to do so, as well. Both OS X and Windows Vista deal with this issue by running in a standard -- limited -- mode and asking for permission. Of course, if you're one of those people who automatically clicks on permission pop-up windows, this security system does little good.

Beyondtrust has just released a report that documents that removing administrative rights on a Windows computer can protect it from over 90% of common security vulnerabilities. This is higher than even I was thinking it would be but it does confirm the notion that restricting user rights is a great security strategy.

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Windows NT Reborn

As the debate goes on whether Microsoft should continue to offer XP or force everyone to Vista, a group of programmers have been reverse engineering Windows NT. The resulting operating system is called ReactOS and the idea is not as crazy as it may seem. BTW, I used NT for many years -- and still do on a few older computers -- and my only real complaints were that it did not support USB drives, did not have a built-in firewall, and that defragmentation was not in as a disk tool.

Why is ReactOS cloning XP and not NT, you may ask? As I understand it, they are not trying to copy a specific version of NT, but are attempting to create the architecture of the NT family of OSes. That includes everything from NT to Vista. Their point is that NT is the best possible platform for a graphical desktop. Linux and Unix were created for the command line and even Mac OS is built on the very old BSD Unix -- true, but what Apple has done with it kind of proves the reverse point. Anyway, I'm willing to see them make their point with a finished product.

Anyway, ReactOS is well worth following. Visit has a number of problems. If you buy HP -- the lowest priced units these days -- Vista comes with all types of add-ons and gadgets. It's amazing and disgusting what HP has done with Vista. Dells are better in this regard, but Vista is still something I'm trying to get used to. But, if you have an older unit, Vista is probably not going to be a solution. You cannot buy the OSes from Microsoft that were created for the older units you may have. Whle Umbutu Linux may be a great desktop solution for many, it may still be a hard sell to the administration. Mac OS isn't going on your old Dell Optiplex, so you may find that ReactOS is your only option.

It's too early to know how ReactOS will pan out, but I'm happy to see this option being developed. The man behind the architecture of NT, David Cutler, created one of the all time best OSes: VMS. You probably never heard of it, but it may be running your banking account. VMS was a revolutionary OS and I always wondered how Microsoft could hire such a genius and get NT out of the process. But, after reading the ReactOS introduction pages, I'm now thinking that perhaps Cutler did a better job than I had thought.

I wish ReactOS well. The option of having a free Windows-based OS that can be used on older computers or as an alternative to Vista is one that I am happy to see. I will certainly follow the progress of this project. They have a bootable CD that you may wanto to try out. I will.

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Earth blog day and green pc

October 15th is blog action day for global warming. While this is a school technology blog, we all have to live on this planet. So, I picked a device that is about as friendly a computer as possible. The Fit-PC is a small sized PC that consumes only 5 watts of power. It also produces no sound due to not having a fan.

This unit would be great for a number of situations where electrical power is not ample or noise is a concern. The small size would allow a small computer lab to bolt the unit to the bottom of a bench. The down side is the lack of CD-ROM drive and its lower performance. But let's face it, even a low-end PC has more than enough power for word processing and for Internet browsing. This unit can be installed with Windows XP or Linux. They don't say what will happen when Vista is the only Windows OS.

And, this makes for a good firewall. It may cost a bit more than reusing an old PC and open source firewall applications, but it can live in a small closet in a way that an old 486 tower could not.

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What in the world is my computer doing?

One of the most common questions I get is: why is my computer suddenly going so slow? There are often explainable reasons, such as a new version of a program having been installed or a download of a patch in the background. But sometimes there isn't a clear answer. I found this blog posting which provides an easy way to capture what is connecting to the Internet. If nothing else, you'll learn just how many of your programs are communicating with the Internet. Most of them will.

This system is very useful but it may not discover today's Trojan horses. The new Trojans and spyware try to appear to be a legitimate program so that a personal firewall will not block its communication.

Give it a try. It doesn't cost anything and you'll probably learn something useful.

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Ophcrack: Your double-edged sword

Ophcrack is one of many password cracking tools. While I cannot attest to their claims that they can crack 99.9% of passwords within seconds, it does should like they can get most passwords quicker than you would like. One of their tricks is to have a very large number of passwords encrypted into their protected form. The software then compares the encrypted password it finds on your system with the ones it has made. Once it finds it, it then knows the password required for that pattern to be produced.

The good side of this program is that it can help you to unlock computers that you don't have the password for. This can happen when you either forget, someone as reset it to something you don't know, or the computer has been donated and the owner is not around.

But, the downside is more obvious. A student could put in the ophcrack CD, boot the computer off that CD and then get the password. While I'm not positive, I suspect that finger scanners would not be much help because the finger scanner is only to confirm you identity and then the system inserts a password. The password would be sitting on the system. Probably it's complicated enough that you don't have to worry, but you may want to find out. The only system I would have confidence in would be a smart card system where the password is always changing and checked against a server in a remote and hopefully well-protected location.

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What does Microsoft know about you?

The answer is quite a lot. This article gives the most complete list I've seen of what types of information Microsoft's Vista operating system collects and then sends to Microsoft. XP also collects information but not on this scale. Microsoft would certainly point out that this information goes into making their products better and their service to you more effective. That may not mean much to you if the government decides to collect these records -- as they have with searches on the major search sites -- or the RIAA figures out how to get them.

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