7-Zip is a file archiver with a high compression ratio.

http://www.7-zip.org/

Acronis True Image with Universal Restore – Disk Imaging tool

http://www.acronis.com/

Belarc Advisor – Audits installed software, list keys, hardware, Microsoft patches, and generates a report

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

Clonezilla is an OpenSource clone system with unicasting and multicasting! Goodbye to Ghost

http://clonezilla.org

CPUz. Accurate PC motherboard, RAM, graphics card details and MUCH more without opening up the box

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

cURL a command line tool for transferring files with URL syntax, supporting FTP, FTPS, HTTP, HTTPS, SCP, SFTP, TFTP, TELNET, DICT, LDAP, LDAPS and FILE.

http://curl.haxx.se/

DBAN – Darik’s Boot and Nuke (DBAN) is a self-contained boot disk that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers.

http://www.dban.org/

Desktop Restore is a tiny shell extension that records the position of your desktop icons and lets you easily restore your favorite desktop layout.

http://www.midiox.com/desktoprestore.htm

ExamDiff is a good file-comparison tool

http://www.prestosoft.com/edp_examdiff.asp

File-Rescue Plus is an easy to use recovery utility to remotely scan WindowsHard Drives, and removable media

http://www.softwareshelf.com/products/file_rescue_plus_enterprise.htm

GParted is the GNOME partition editor for creating, reorganizing, and deleting disk partitions.

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

InfraRecorder is a graphical tool for burning ISO images. Supports many DVD and CD drives that are available, burn ISO images, CDs and DVDs.

http://infrarecorder.org/?page_id=5

Iometer is great to pound on hard drives – a good I/O subsystem measurement and characterization tool

http://www.iometer.org/

Kdiff3 is a file-comparison tool that does unicode, editing, directories and 3 way merge, all for free.

http://kdiff3.sourceforge.net/

Kon-Boot – Log into any local or domain account on a pc without a password. Very cool tool.

http://www.piotrbania.com/all/kon-boot/

Lansweeper is a network inventory tool that performs hardware scanning, software scanning, and reporting on Active Directory (AD) users. Needs SQL.

http://www.lansweeper.com/

LUA BugLight – For finding out where a program hangs with it run under restricted mode so you can make system changes

http://blogs.msdn.com/aaron_margosis/archive/2006/08/07/LuaBuglight.aspx

MyDefrag-4.0 – Flexible Hard Drive Defrag program with a scripting language

http://www.kessels.com/Jkdefrag/

Nmap Security Scanner version 5.00.

http://nmap.org/

Norton removal tool. LOL:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Uninstallers/Norton-Removal-Tool.shtml

Notepad++ features a tabbed interface, syntax highlighting for all popular programming and scripting languages, bracket matching, and macro recording.

http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/download.php

Offline NT Password & Registry Editor – Boot CD that can change local account passwords

http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/

Paint.NET is a huge improvement over Windows’ built-in Paint program for image manipulation.

http://www.getpaint.net/download.html

Password Safe allows you to safely and easily create a secured and encrypted user name/password list.

http://passwordsafe.sf.net

PEESR – Periodic Emailed Event Summary Report. Order today and save 10% with coupon code SUNB-PXTO-SAUG

http://jntae.com/peesr/peesr.html

PING makes a sector-based image copy of a disk partition. The bootable PING ISO tool copies a full system disk to on a bigger disk.

http://ping.windowsdream.com

SpinRite Boot CD – Hard Disk recovery tool

http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

Sunbelt Sandbox. Upload suspicious files to the Sunbelt Labs and have them scanned. Similar to VirusTotal

http://www.sunbeltsecurity.com

Superscan 3.0 – fast little port scanner. A quick way to tell whats on the network.

http://www.foundstone.com/us/resources/proddesc/superscan3.htm

Sysinternals – An sysadmin’s best friend – especially Process Explorer that shows why a PC is slow

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx

Total Commander is a powerful shareware file manager for all flavors of Windows

http://www.ghisler.com/

TrueCrypt. Brilliant file and whole-disk encryption

http://www.truecrypt.org

UBCD4Win is a bootable recovery CD that contains software used for repairing, restoring, or diagnosing almost any computer problem.

http://www.ubcd4win.com/

Ultimate Boot CD has over 100 tools for diagnostics and repair.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Ultra VNC. Say no more:

http://www.uvnc.com

UltraTech’s list of tools that needs some updating but has dozens of popular tools and their links

http://KB.UltraTech-llc.com/?File=Utils.TXT

USB Deview. Untangle all those devices sensibly. In fact, most of Nir’s utilities are pretty good

http://www.nirsoft.net/

VIPRE Rescue is a command-line utility that will scan and clean an infected computer that is so infected that programs cannot be easily run

http://live.sunbeltsoftware.com/

VirtualBox is a powerful, free x86 virtualization tool for Windows, Linux and more

http://www.virtualbox.org/

Voidtools – everything search engine. Locate files and folders by name instantly.

http://www.voidtools.com/

WinDirStat is a very good disk space usage visualization and cleanup tool for Microsoft Windows

http://windirstat.info/

Windows Installer CleanUp Utility for failed or partially installed software

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

Wireshark is a popular network protocol analyzer (sniffer), used in many industries and educational institutions.

http://www.wireshark.org/

XML Notepad is a specialized MS XML editor with a small footprint. It has a Tree View and a Node Text View and a built-in XML Diff capability.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=72d6aa49-787d-4118-ba5f-4f30fe913628

ZoomIt lets you magnify portions of your screen while doing demos and presos, as well as draw on and annotate the screen.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/bb897434.aspx

This looks like it could he a answer to alternative energy.

-summey

look promising

- Summey

Google says it made the move primarily to better manage its high electricity costs, but also to give it more flexibility in pursuing the goal of becoming completely carbon neutral. “We want to buy the highest quality, most affordable renewable energy wherever we can,” a representative told CNET news. A company buying and selling energy to help it manage costs isn’t unusual, but — then again — Google isn’t your typical company.
There is some expectation that Google will actually enter the energy business at some point, whether it sells direct to consumers or partners with existing utility companies. Back in January, the same representative told CNET, “We want the ability to buy and sell electricity in case it becomes part of our portfolio.” Then there was the announcement that the company was developing low cost mirrors for use in solar panels. And, of course, there’s the Google PowerMeter, which allows users to track electricity usage, as long as they have the proper equipment to upload the data.

Google has extended its reach across almost every type of Web service into the world of smart phones, announced a plan to (at least experimentally) enter the ISP business, developed a netbook OS, and now has implied that it may attempt to enter the consumer electricity market. With each passing day, those folks previously dismissed as paranoid for comparing Google to Big Brother seem a little less crazy. [From: CNET and ITworld]

According to a recent report, malicious PDF files now account for 80% of all exploits in 2009.   There are many blogs that will be able to analyze it ever which way for you; but I wanted to keep it short and sweet and focus on what does this mean for you and I?   The obvious answer is we need to keep your software up to date.   The not so obvious answer…  How about switching to an open source software such as Foxit Reader that doesn’t have these issues?   That’s what my company has chosen to do.

Foxit won’t help any with the Flash problems, but it will with the PDF exploits, as well as some good ‘ol common sense.  Don’t open a PDF from someone you don’t know, or a website that isn’t trusted, or that just doesn’t look right.

-Andrew

Cant wait to get this phone!

-Summey

Numerous outlets reported that Googles Gmail and 30 other companies were hacked by the Chinese. Ars Technica reports many say the hack was targeted against Chinese dissidents.

The cyber-assault came to light on Tuesday when Google disclosed to the public that the Gmail Web service was targeted in a highly-organized attack in late December. Google said that the intrusion attempt originated from China and was executed with the goal of obtaining information about political dissidents, but the company declined to speculate about the identity of the perpetrator.

McAfee reported evidence that a vulnerability in Internet Explorer was exploited in the attack.

Google Enterprise president Dave Girouard blogged to inform Google App clients their data was safe. “This incident was particularly notable for its high degree of sophistication. This attack may understandably raise some questions.” Girouad stated “We believe our customer cloud-based data remains secure.”

Many have reported the most successful technique of Chinese hackers involves phishing and social engineering. These hackers determine their targets, then send a spear phish targeted email to a specific employee posing as someone from the company or a vendor. Once the target clicks a link they may download a remote control or malicious software completing the attack. On a broader scale they may send a blast to everyone in the company and ultimately hook a few employees giving them access to company accounts.

This all means that it’s not just sweaty skeevy money making criminal hackers involved in the penetration of your networks. There is a strong possibility that hacking is being sponsored by foreign governments who have a much bigger agenda.

All the more reason to beware and alert in regards to your security.

1. Never click on links in the body of an email. NEVER!
2. Always be suspect of any external or internal communications. You could be a target of a phish.
3. Before you go divulging usernames and passwords to anyone in response to an email, pick up the phone to verify the need
4. Make sure your PC is fully and automatically updated with its critical security patches.
5. Anti-virus must be run automatically and fully up to date.
6. Its not enough to just run anti-virus. Run a program that immunizes your PC against keyloggers
7. Get a credit freeze. Go to ConsumersUnion.org and follow the steps for your particular state. This is an absolutely necessary tool to secure your credit. In most cases, it prevents new accounts from being opened in your name. This makes your Social Security number useless to a potential identity thief.
8. Invest in Intelius identity theft protection and prevention. Not all forms of identity theft can be prevented, but identity theft protection services can dramatically reduce your risk. (Disclosures)

Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Speaker discussing being an imposter and social engineering invasions on the Montel Williams Show