Sysinternals Desktops Utility

Probably you have already seen the Sysinternals suite (originally by Russinovitch and Cogswell). Micro$oft bought them out in 2006.

The utilities are still being updated, and expanded. They are incredibly useful.

One that I find especially useful is the Desktops utility. This gives Windows the possibility of multiple virtual desktops a la Unix.

Of Bitlocker and TPMs

As Win7 becomes more widely accepted than the unpopular Vista, it is likely that Bitlocker should become more widely used. BL is included with the Enterprise (corporate) and Ultimate (home) versions of Win7.

This article will review some basic concepts, give some "how-to" recipes and experience, then will finish with some new VB code that can help out with older TPMs.

Socat

Socat – ssl-enabled netcat + much more

During recent VA testing, I needed an ssl-enabled Netcat to shovel some hand-crafted attacks at a web server.

After looking at and rejecting ncat - too rough around the edges – I turned to socat.

Socat turned out to be a well-honed jewel of a program. This write-up gives a quick overview of features, and also quickly documents install and basic use.