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Saturday, January 31, 2015

The Windows winsxs folder grows over time - How To Clean up un-needed update and installation files

I was analyzing the Disk Space used by my Windows 7 NTFS, file system. I use an App, called Baobab, Disk Usage Analyzer, in Linux. This is a Duel Boot System. With Win7 and Fedora 20 Linux. And I found a curiously large folder, at, (C:\Windows\winsxs). So, I did a quick Google Search and found this info...

Don

How to address disk space issues that are caused by a large Windows component store (WinSxS) directory

Article ID: 2795190

Symptoms

When you examine the size of the C:\Windows folder, you may notice that the C:\Windows\winsxs directory seems to use lots of disk space.

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Cause

The Windows component store (C:\Windows\winsxs) directory is used during servicing operations within Windows installations. Servicing operations include, but are not limited to, Windows Update, service pack, and hotfix installations.

The component store contains all the files that are required for a Windows installation. And, any updates to those files are also held within the component store as the updates are installed. This causes the component store to grow over time as more updates, features, or roles are added to the installation. The component store uses NTFS hard links between itself and other Windows directories to increase the robustness of the Windows platform.

The component store will show a large directory size because of how the Windows Explorer shell accounts for hard links. The Windows shell will count each reference to a hard link as a single instance of the file for each directory in which the file resides. For example, if a file that is named advapi32.dll is 700 KB and is contained in the component store and in the \Windows\system32 directory, Windows Explorer would inaccurately report that the file consumes 1,400 KB of hard disk space.

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Resolution

The component store cannot reside on a volume other than the system volume because of the NTFS hard links. If you try to move the component store, this will result in the inability to correctly install Windows updates, service packs, roles, or features. Additionally, we do not recommend that you manually remove or delete files from the component store.

To reduce the size of the component store directory on a Windows installation, you can decide to make the service pack installation permanent and reclaim used space from the service pack files. However, if you make the service pack installation permanent, the service pack is not removable.

To remove the service pack files from a Windows installation, use the following in-box utilities:

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 installed: VSP1CLN.EXE
Windows Vista Service Pack 2 or Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 installed: Compcln.exe
Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 installed: DISM /online /Cleanup-Image /SpSuperseded or Disk Cleanup Wizard (cleanmgr.exe)

Scavenging may also be performed proactively on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 installations by forcing a removal event on the system. Scavenging will try to remove any unwanted system binaries from the installation and enable Windows to reclaim the disk space. To issue an uninstall event on a Windows installation, add and remove any unwanted system component that is not already installed, and then restart the Windows installation. Scavenging will be performed during the following restart of the operating system.

Note Scavenging is performed automatically on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 installations.

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More information

Read More...
https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2795190

How to Reduce the Size of Your WinSXS Folder on Windows 7 or 8

The WinSXS folder at C:\Windows\WinSXS is massive and continues to grow the longer you have Windows installed. This folder builds up unnecessary files over time, such as old versions of system components.

This folder also contains files for uninstalled, disabled Windows components. Even if you don't have a Windows component installed, it will be present in your WinSXS folder, taking up space.

Why the WinSXS Folder Gets too Big

Windows/winsxs folder grows over time - How To Clean up un-needed update and installation files: windows/winsxs folder - Google Search; How to Reduce the Size of Your WinSXS Folder on Windows 7 or 8; How to address disk space issues that are caused by a large Windows component store (WinSxS) directory

Friday, January 30, 2015

Fedora Linux Manual - Chapter 18. Upgrading Your Current System

18.1. Determining Whether to Upgrade or Re-Install
18.2. Upgrading Your System
18.3. Troubleshooting and Cleanup

This chapter explains how to upgrade your Fedora system.

18.1. Determining Whether to Upgrade or Re-Install

This recommended reinstallation method helps to ensure the best system stability possible.

Before you choose to upgrade your system, there are a few things you should keep in mind:

Individual package configuration files may or may not work after performing an upgrade due to changes in various configuration file formats or layouts.
Third party or ISV applications may not work correctly following the upgrade.
If you have additional third-party package repositories (such as rpmfusion) enabled, note that software installed from those repositories may not function properly after a system upgrade. Fedora does not maintain third-party packages and cannot guarantee that such repositories are up-to-date.

Upgrading your system installs updated versions of the packages which are currently installed on your system.

The upgrade process preserves existing configuration files by renaming them with an .rpmsave extension (for example, sendmail.cf.rpmsave). The upgrade process also creates a log of its actions in /var/log/fedup.log.

Although less convenient, re-installing rather than upgrading Fedora guarantees that all packages are equipped with the latest default settings. If a package does not migrate settings when it is upgraded, then the package's configuration may become outdated while the package itself does not. This is unlikely, but if you are concerned about configuration settings and are willing to spend more time setting up the latest version of Fedora, you may want to consider re-installing.

Fedora releases are supported through two releases, plus one month. For example, Fedora 19 will receive updates until one month after the release of Fedora 21. If you are moving from an older, unsupported Fedora release, you should re-install rather than upgrade.

Warning

As software evolves, configuration file formats can change. It is very important to carefully compare your original configuration files to the new files before integrating your changes.

Note

It is always a good idea to back up any data that you have on your systems. For example, if you are upgrading or creating a dual-boot system, you should back up any data you wish to keep on your hard drive(s). Mistakes do happen and can result in the loss of all of your data.

Go there...
https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/20/html/Installation_Guide/ch-upgrade-x86.html

Fedora Upgrade Apps: rhinstaller/fedup · GitHub; rpmorphan; Fedora People - ppisar.fedorapeople.org; xsuchy/fedora-upgrade · GitHub; rhinstaller/fedup-dracut · GitHub

Fedora Project: Fedora Project; Fedora Forum; Ask Fedora: Community Knowledge Base and Support Forum; Fedora Weekly News; Planet Fedora; Join Fedora!; Release Notes; Report #312471 | Problem Tracker; Report #105266 | Problem Tracker; Bug 879663 – [abrt] mate-control-center-1.5.0-2.fc18: Process /usr/bin/mate-display-properties was killed by signal 11 (SIGSEGV); mate-control-center-1.5.1-1.fc18; Report #181719 | Problem Tracker; wgwoods/fedup · GitHub; wgwoods/fedup-dracut · GitHub; MyDNS - Next Generation DNS Server; MyDNS-NG - Browse Files at SourceForge.net; Knot DNS; View file inode directory inode information using stat command | Linux Training on Basic Linux Commands Example; Moving or rename files and directory using Linux mv command - Basic Linux Command. | Linux Windows Install Setup Configuration Project; Fedora 19 | Fedora Online; automatic updates | Fedora Online; Fedora; Fedora Documentation - Welcome; MirrorManager; Index of /fedora/linux; Chapter 18. Upgrading Your Current System

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Lightspark a free open source Flash Player - lpf Local Package Factory - Adobe Flash Player info

I run Fedora Linux, on most all of my Systems. Now, Mozilla Firefox, is Blocking older versions of Adobe Flash Player. I have noticed some videos, on http://www.weather.com/weather/today/l/76020:4:US. That, I like to watch, from time to time. Have not been working for over a month now (01-27-15). These videos, have been working and not working, on and off for for the last several months. So, I figured, it was their Site, having some kind of problems. But, today. I checked my Plugins, in Firefox and found that Adobe Flash Player was out of date. I thought. That, I had my system set to update Flash and all Apps, Automatically. Using Apper, for Yum. But maybe now. I loose track, of what I have done, on each system, sometimes. So, I installed Lightspark, A free, open source Flash player. On my Fedora 19 System. And will do this on my other Fedora Systems, as well. And I updated to the newest Security Release of the Adobe Flash Player for Mozilla Firefox. NPAPI (Extended Support Release) 11.2.202.440. I Had to install the Adobe Flash update, manually. By downloading it from their Site and running the RPM file. But, I swear I haven't had to do manual updates, for a couple of years, now. Now, it shows to be up to date, in Firefox Plugin Check (Plugin Check & Updates — Mozilla) and on the Adobe Flash, site (Adobe - Flash Player Test Page). Not sure if Lightspark, will be used, automatically, now. But, looks like it could be a replacement for Adobe Flash. I may uninstall Adobe Flash, later and see. But, I just want things to work, right now. I also installed, lpf - Local Package Factory. It may help, with the Adobe Flash Updates. Allowing them to install automatically. Without any user feedback. Not sure. I will research this more later. I found these Apps, in the Yum Extender App and read through the info on their Web Sties, linked there...

Don

Mozilla Firefox - Flash Player Plugin on Linux 11.2.202.424 and lower (click-to-play) has been blocked for your protection.

Why was it blocked?: Old versions of the Flash Player plugin have known vulnerabilities (CVE-2014-9163). All users are strongly recommended to update their Flash plugin.
Who is affected?: All users who have these versions of the plugin installed in Firefox.
What does this mean?: The problematic add-on or plugin will be automatically disabled and no longer usable.
When Mozilla becomes aware of add-ons, plugins, or other third-party software that seriously compromises Firefox security, stability, or performance and meets certain criteria, the software may be blocked from general use. For more information, please read this support article.

Lightspark

Overview

Lightspark is an LGPLv3 licensed Flash player and browser plugin written in C++/C that runs on Linux. It aims to support Adobe's newer Flash formats and AVM2 virtual machine.

Current status

The latest released version in 0.7.2, download it from here.
Lightspark currently supports YouTube well enough for daily use. For up-to-date information regarding support of various other websites see this wiki page.

Report bugs

We really need your bug reports to help Lightspark become a mature and high quality Open Source Software.
Please see here for tips on how to report a bug.

Contact

Mailing list: lightspark-users@lists.launchpad.net, Archives and subscribe information.
IRC channel: #lightspark on Freenode

Donate

Go there...
http://lightspark.github.io/

I also installed, lpf - Local Package Factory.

lpf - Local Package Factory lpf is designed to handle two separate problems:

Packages built from sources which does not allow redistribution
Packages requiring user to accept EULA-like terms.

It works by downloading sources, possibly requiring a user to accept license terms and then building and installing a rpm package locally.

A lpf package is really about two packages. The target packet is the real package doing useful work. The lpf package contains what's needed to build the target package.

The envisioned usage is that a user

Installs the lpf packet as normal
Is prompted when a update/rebuild is needed
When pushing the "Update" button, gets a guided tour handling EULA acceptance, building and installing the target package.

Installation

Read More...
https://github.com/leamas/lpf

Flash Player by Adobe: Adobe - Adobe Flash Player; Adobe Flash Player Download; Download a free trial or buy Adobe products | Adobe downloads; Adobe - Flash Player Test Page

Adobe Flash: Adobe - Flash Player 10: Installation instructions; Adobe - Flash Player 10: Installation instructions; Adobe - Install Adobe Flash Player; Adobe Community Help - Search Community Help

Adobe info: Adobe - Flash Player : Settings Manager; Adobe - Flash Player : Settings Manager - Website Storage Settings panel

Firefox and Addon's: About DownThemAll!; Adblock Plus has been installed; BetterPrivacy Help; DownloadHelper - Media download Firefox extension; Dr.Web - innovation anti-virus security technologies. Comprehensive protection from Internet threats.; Dr.Web Link Checker Options; FoxyProxy; grizzlyape.com; Plugin Check & Updates — Mozilla; Why does the world still need the Mozilla Foundation? | VentureBeat | Dev | by Chris O'Brien; Linux Today - Why does the world still need the Mozilla Foundation?; Blocked Add-ons :: Add-ons for Firefox; GNU Gnash - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF); Flash Player for Linux - Lightspark; leamas/lpf · GitHub; Apps/Videos - GNOME Wiki!; Plugin Check & Updates — Mozilla

Firefox Plugin Check: about:config; current version plugin iTunes Application Detector - Google Search; current version plugin NPAPI Plugins Wrapper 1.3.0 - Google Search; current version plugin Xine Plugin - Google Search; current version plugin Xine Plugin « Photodeus Blog; Mozilla — Plugin Check & Updates — mozilla.org; Plugin installation - VDR Wiki; Search bar - Easily choose your favorite search engine | Firefox Help; Secure Search - Click&Clean; Xine-plugin - VDR Wiki

Firefox Addon's Plugins for Linux Flash and Java and More: Add-on Search Results for download :: Add-ons for Firefox; Adobe - Adobe Flash Player; Adobe - Download Adobe Flash Player; Adversity Adblock List; Amazon.com - Wish List; Amazon.com - Wish List; Andy Halford So long and thanks for all the fish; Auto-Sort Bookmarks :: Add-ons for Firefox; Bookmark Deduplicator :: Add-ons for Firefox; Bug 467 – Please add avconv support (should replace ffmpeg, no longer supported by upstream); Cusser.net; Customize controls, options and add-ons | Firefox Help; Custom New Tab :: Add-ons for Firefox; custom new tab :: Search :: Add-ons for Firefox; Download Manager Tweak :: Add-ons for Firefox; Download Youtube Videos HD 1080p, Megavideo, Dailymotion, Vimeo, Metacafe, etc. :: Add-ons for Firefox; Firefox - Click&Clean; FoxyProxy Update Release Notes 06-16-11; Free Website Monitoring by AlertFox; fvd speed dial :: Search :: Add-ons for Firefox; Image in New Tab :: Add-ons for Firefox; Image Search Options :: Add-ons for Firefox; index-137561.html; Java Tester - What Version of Java Are You Running?; Known Adblock Plus subscriptions; Meet the Speed DNS Developer :: Add-ons for Firefox; Mysites - the best speed dial and start page :: Add-ons for Firefox; ► NetVideoHunter - Download videos and music from almost any website; New Tab JumpStart; New Tab Plus :: Add-ons for Firefox; new tab :: Search :: Add-ons for Firefox; New Tab Tools :: Add-ons for Firefox; New Tab Tools :: Add-ons for Firefox; New Tab Wallpapers :: Add-ons for Firefox; ► New version (1.9.5) to fix the issue with Aurora and Nightly Firefox versions; Open Bookmarks in New Tab :: Add-ons for Firefox; PageTweak - Ad Blocker, Video Downloader, Translator... :: Add-ons for Firefox; Proxy Software, Tested Proxy Lists and Private Proxies | DelicacySet Inc. > Proxies; Proxy Tool Addon for Firefox - Directly access to website to access to ForexTool, Google, Yahoo and Bing web sites; ScribeFire Next :: Add-ons for Firefox; Scribefire :: Search :: Add-ons for Firefox; SkipScreen -- Incredible Rapidshare and Megaupload download helper! :: Add-ons for Firefox; SmartLinks for SkipScreen; SmartVideo For YouTube; Speed DNS :: Add-ons for Firefox; Tile Tabs :: Add-ons for Firefox; TweakTube - YouTube Enhancer / Video Downloader :: Add-ons for Firefox; Update 4.7.4 - Video DownloadHelper; Update 4.9.11 - Video DownloadHelper; Update 4.9.12 - Video DownloadHelper; Vacuum Places Improved :: Add-ons for Firefox; Verify Java Version; Video conversion with DownloadHelper; Video conversion with DownloadHelper; Website Monitoring by AlertFox; What's New? iMacros Upgrade Completed; YouTube Center :: Add-ons for Firefox; Youtube Video Center :: Add-ons for Firefox; Adblock Plus :: Add-ons for Firefox; Pixlr Grabber :: Add-ons for Firefox; ScrapBook :: Add-ons for Firefox; Adblock Plus Pop-up Addon; Element Hiding Helper; adstomper / adblockedge — Bitbucket; firefox-showip - ShowIP Firefox/Iceweasel Extension - Google Project Hosting

Firefox and Add-ons: Add Bookmark Here ² :: Add-ons for Firefox; bookmarks .json :: Search :: Add-ons for Firefox; Cooliris | Discover More; CoolPreviews :: Add-ons for Firefox; CoolPreviews by Cooliris, Inc.; CouponsHelper :: Add-ons for Firefox; DeeperWeb Search - The Essential Search Engine Addon and Plugin; DownloadHelper - Media download Firefox extension; DownThemAll!; FoxyProxy; FoxyProxy Forums • Index page; FoxySpider :: Add-ons for Firefox; GBookmarks (Google Bookmarks for Firefox) :: Add-ons for Firefox; Hola Better Internet; How do I add a device to Firefox Sync? | How to | Firefox Help; Known Subscriptions | AutoProxy; Lightbeam for Firefox :: Add-ons for Firefox; Welcome to Firefox 4; What's New? iMacros Upgrade Completed; Online Bookmark Manager - StartAid :: Add-ons for Firefox; Linux Today - Firefox 27 Looks to Boost Web Security; 13 Best Firefox Add-ons of 2013 | The Den; Google/Yandex search link fix :: Add-ons for Firefox; S3.Google Translator :: Add-ons for Firefox; Bluhell Firewall :: Add-ons for Firefox; Fastest Search :: Add-ons for Firefox; Click&Clean :: Add-ons for Firefox; URL Link :: Add-ons for Firefox; Links to local pages do not work - MozillaZine Knowledge Base; User Info for ViJo :: Add-ons for Firefox; Babylon 10 Translation Software and Dictionary; ImTranslator - Plug-in for FireFox. Version 7.5; ImTranslator add-on for Firefox - YouTube; Firefox no longer works with some versions of Windows XP | Firefox Help; Install Firefox on Windows | Firefox Help; Mozilla Firefox 26 System Requirements; Download YouTube Videos as MP4 :: Add-ons for Firefox; Yes popups ← Projects ← MPAM Rebooted; Fireclam :: Add-ons for Firefox; ▶ The Web We Want: An Open Letter - YouTube; MaskMe - Block Spam With Disposable Emails And Protect Your Passwords; google bookmarks :: Search :: Add-ons for Firefox; Fess Google Bookmark Extension :: Add-ons for Firefox; Google Bookmarks IncSearch :: Add-ons for Firefox

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

This tool may make it easier for thieves to empty bank accounts | Computerworld

Another Scary way for Frauds to steal our Identities...

Don

News

This tool may make it easier for thieves to empty bank accounts

FraudFox is designed to spoof a browser fingerprint, an advanced method for tracking users

By Jeremy Kirk

IDG News Service | Jan 20, 2015 4:26 AM PT

Banks and payment services are in a constant fight to detect account fraud, employing sophisticated ways to detect abnormal activities. One of those ways is "fingerprinting" a Web browser, or analyzing its relatively unique software stamp.

Web browsers relay a variety of data to websites, including a computer's operating system, its time zone, language preference and version numbers for software plug-ins. When those parameters change, along with others such as an IP address, it may mean an account is being fraudulently accessed.

To prevent being locked out of an account, fraudsters can use a variety of methods to appear legitimate when browsing by using virtual machines and special browser plugins. But an enterprising developer has developed a software package that makes spoofing a browser fingerprint much easier.

Called FraudFox VM, the software is a special version of Windows with a heavily modified version of the Firefox browser that runs on VMware's Workstation for Windows or VMware Fusion on OSX. It's for sale on Evolution, the successor to the Silk Road online contraband market, for 1.8 bitcoins, which is about US$390.

It has been under development for a number of weeks by an Evolution vendor going by the nickname "hugochavez," whose avatar is a photo of the former Venezuelan president. The developer appears to have a good reputation, according to comments on an Evolution forum.

What FraudFox aims to do is make it faster and easier to change a browser's fingerprint to one that matches that of the victim whose account they're going to exploit, or simply mix up their own digital crumbs when browsing. It's not a new tool per se, and more advanced cybercriminals may already know the techniques, but FraudFox consolidates the functions.

FraudFox's effectiveness may depend on what service it is used against. Browser fingerprinting is just one metric used to detect fraudsters, said Ken Westin, senior technical marketing manager and security analyst with computer security company Tripwire, via email.

It's unclear how FraudFox would deal with detection of a person's IP address, as security systems also watch for use of proxy services such as Tor. "It will be interesting to see the tool when it is available and to test against existing fraud detection tools," he wrote.

Nearly every company that does sensitive online transactions uses browser fingerprinting, said Avivah Litan, a vice president and payments security analyst with Gartner. But browser fingerprinting has been losing effectiveness because of the use of techniques wrapped into tools such as FraudFox, she said.

"We always tell our clients they can't completely rely on it, especially if it's the only measure they use," Litan said via email. "But now, device/browser fingerprinting could be beginning to face its death sentence."

FraudFox's control panel has drop-down boxes to select an OS version, whether that OS is 32- or 64-bit, the language, time zone and screen resolution. Another menu allows the selection of the fonts installed, another metric that can be tracked. A browser can be selected, as well as its version number and what version of Adobe System's Flash plugin is running.

The variety of options and the speed at which an attacker can change their fingerprint means that it likely will "be very useful for e-commerce and online banking fraud specifically," said Andrew Komarov, CEO of IntelCrawler, a Los Angeles-based security company.

A forthcoming feature for FraudFox will be a "profile generator script." That script is designed for use with a phishing page. If a victim can be lured to the page, the script will automatically collect the person's browser fingerprint. Those details are wrapped into a ".fox" file, which can then be used to quickly configure FraudFox.

One trial user of FraudFox who claims to have tested it praised it. The reviewer wrote that FraudFox helped increase the percentage of cards he was able to authorize through payment processors using Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode, two security mechanisms used for online card-not-present transactions.

"I am very happy with this product and I am willing to purchase this real soon," wrote the person, nicknamed "Coin."

Send news tips and comments to jeremy_kirk@idg.com. Follow me on Twitter: @jeremy_kirk

Jeremy Kirk — Australia Correspondent

Jeremy reports on security and regional news for the IDG News Service.

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