If you need the registration key that's associated with an application, but you've forgotten it, call the Belarc Advisor. If you want to know how many disk drives are installed in your computer and how close they are to capacity, call the Belarc Advisor. How much memory? Call the Belarc Advisor. Security updates? Yep. Belarc Advisor. Accounts set up on the system? You know who to call, so you've probably noticed a pattern here and you're wondering how much all this analytical power costs. For home users, it's free.
Belarc Advisor analyzes software, hardware, and the operating system running on a computer. It also reviews security configurations and does a pretty good job of reporting problem areas. Besides being easy to install and not including any additional applications that you don't want, it stores information about your computer on your computer and not on somebody else's server.
When starting the program, you'll see a message explaining that the application needs to have administrator privileges on the machine. It won't write any information to sensitive areas of the computer and it won't make any changes, but to provide a comprehensive look at the computer, it needs privileges that allow it to see the entire computer.
Click any of the smaller images for a full-size view.
Press Esc to dismiss the larger image.
The advisor checks the computer's antivirus application and reports whether it's up to date, and enumerates any missing security updates. After that, the system report is more or less standard for such applications: Operating system details, what kind of computer it's running on, processor and main-board information, drives and memory, hard drive capacities and contents, network drives, user names, printers, controllers, the display system, communications, group policies, attached devices, and a network map.
Installed applications that have embedded license information will be displayed. This is useful if you need the installation key when registering the software online, but have forgotten what it is.
There's also a long list of software versions and usage. The Belarc Advisor will tell you if an application has been used within the past 7 days, within the past 90 days, within the past year, or not used for more than a year. Some applications will not be marked, indicating that the advisor lacks the data to determine last use.
Don't consider the key retrieval function to be silly. What if you need to migrate an application (or a bunch of them) to a new computer? Without the appropriate installation key, you'll be stuck in demo mode. The Belarc Advisor will retrieve the keys for software installed on the system. If you don't have all the software keys used by applications on your computer stored somewhere, download this application, retrieve the keys, copy the keys, and save them in a file!
The advisor shows security updates that apply to the computer but are not currently installed and it recommends installing any security updates that are classified as Critical or Important.
The Belarc Advisor is a favorite for geeks, but isn't solely for geeks.This is a useful application regardless of your level of geekiness. Some of the information may puzzle even the technologically elite, but don't let that scare you away. There's lots of useful information here even for those who think ram is a goat.
Additional details are available on the Belarc website.
The question most people are asking these days about Windows 10 is "When?" When will Windows 10 be released? It might be in June, but certainly will be prior to the end of summer. That puts Microsoft slightly ahead of schedule, so where are we now?
The Windows Technical Preview was released for computers in September of last year and previews are now available for tablets and phones. Microsoft's goal is to build an operating system that provides a unified interface from servers to phones and everything in between. Windows 8 and 8.1 were the first steps along that path, the company skipped Windows 9, and Windows 10 appears to have largely achieved cross-platform similarity.
Now Microsoft has released the software developers kit (SDK) that will allow developers to build apps intended to work on phones, tablets, and computers. "Universal apps" is the term Microsoft uses to describe software that's designed to provide similar experiences on all types of computing devices.
Developers will have access to numerous new functions that will be available in Windows 10. The "Adaptive UX" user interface is expected to allow apps to adapt to any screen -- from those on smart phones to those on desktop computers. The user interface will also allow apps to modify their behavior depending on the method a user has chosen to work with the computer -- touch screen, mouse and keyboard, voice, or some combination.
The successor to Internet Explorer, Spartan, will do something that no Microsoft browser has ever done before: It will be designed so that code from what Microsoft calls "major Web entities" can be used. This means that code from Adobe that has been inserted into other browsers, can now be used in Spartan. Typography and design should be improved and possibly some of the special tweaks that site designers have been forced to include for IE compatibility will eventually no longer be needed.
Technical Preview build 10041 is currently being pushed out to preview subscribers who are in the "slow ring", which is most of us. Fast-ring subscribers receive updates sooner, but those in the slow ring benefit from input provided by fast-ring subscribers. The new build isn't available for Windows Phones and it also doesn't yet include the "Project Spartan" browser that will replace Internet Explorer. Microsoft isn't saying anything about when preview subscribers will get a close-up look at the new browser.
The new build includes a security update that addresses the FREAK vulnerability and a variety of updates that resolve certain crash situations.
See "Running As Fast as You Can to Stay in the Same Place" in Short Circuits for an account of problems installing the Technical Preview on a computer with an odd-resolution screen.
Walking around the block half a dozen times might make you feel like you're making progress, but in the end all you've done is expend time and energy only to find yourself where you started. That was my experience last weekend with the Windows 10 Technical Preview on an older Toshiba Satellite computer.
I'm not yet willing to trust the Technical Preview on the desktop system, which I need to function reliably. I also don't want to trust it on an up-to-date notebook computer that I need to use nearly every day. So far, then, the Windows 10 preview is installed only on a 32-bit notebook that I hardly ever use.
Another notebook computer (64-bit Toshiba Satellite with a solid-state drive) seemed like a good choice. I use it every day, but not for essential functions. This seemed like and ideal computer to use for testing.
The Windows 10 Technical Preview is supposed to install over an existing Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 installation and retain all existing applications. Instead, I was offered the option of keeping my data files or keeping nothing. That's the behavior I saw on the 32-bit notebook, so I decided to go ahead with the installation.
The process started, continued for a while, and then the installer told me that it could not install Windows 10 as an upgrade. This computer is a dual-boot system with Ubuntu Linux, so I removed the Linxu partition and tried again. Nothing doing.
The next step involved booting from the installation CD and installing Windows 10 from there. Knowing that this would make reverting to the previous version of Windows impossible, I used Macrium Reflect to create a disk image.
The Windows 10 installation started, ran, and concluded without a problem. I connected to the network, signed in with my Windows credentials, and entered the new security code that Microsoft sent to my phone. Perfect.
Or, as Maxwell Smart used to say, "Missed it by THAT much!" The installer had been unable to detect the computer's monitor except as a generic flat panel (resolution, 1024x768) and the result was unpleasant because the resolution should be 1366x768.
Visiting Toshiba's support site, I found the latest video drives (2012) and downloaded the installer, which immediately told me that it could not install the video drivers.
So it was Macrium Reflect to the rescue. After plugging in the external hard drive that contained the disk image, I dropped the Macrium recovery CD into the computer's tray and rebooted.
Several times around the block, and I'm right back where I started.
The Macrium Reflect restore completed, I unplugged the external drive and removed the recovery CD, and the computer booted to Windows 8.1 as if nothing had happened, except for several hours of essentially wasted effort.
The title, of course, is a reference to Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass:
"Well, in our country," said Alice, still panting a little, "you'd generally get to somewhere else—if you run very fast for a long time, as we've been doing."
"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"
Well, there's a surprise. The USTelecom Association, a trade group that includes most of the big broadband providers, and San Antonio's Alamo Broadband, have filed suit against the Federal Communications Commission in an attempt to upset the FCC's Net Neutrality ruling.
USTelecom says the rules are not "legally sustainable" and claims that it does not block or throttle traffic. Assuming USTelecom's members do not block or throttle traffic, one wonders why they feel the need to file suit against a rule that would prohibit them from doing something that they already claim not to be doing.
The two suits (and more are probably coming) are likely to drag on for several years. The legal question might be whether USTelecom and Alamo Broadband have the "legal standing" to sue.
Legal standing refers to the ability of a plaintiff to demonstrate sufficient connection to, and harm from, a particular issue. Standing is typically the result of certain conditions being applicable:
Alamo says the FCC ruling exceeds the commission's authority and that the ruling is "arbitrary and capricious" as well as being contrary to the Constitution and law. Not that we would suspect a telecom trade association and a broadband provider would work together to file nearly identical but separate suits in two different courts on the same day, but the USTelecom suit reads a lot like the one filed by Alamo and also claims that the ruling was made in violation of notice and comment procedures. Perhaps they didn't notice the months and months of public comments that were so intense that they caused the FCC's antiquated communications equipment to fail.
Several times.
Apps are everywhere, but downloading them from anywhere other than the device's official store can be dangerous. By default, Android devices will install apps only from the Play Store. This can be changed, but doing so exposes the device to malware.
Palo Alto Networks says that a widespread vulnerability in Google's Android mobile operating system can allow attackers to hijack the installation of a seemingly safe Android application. The process silently replaces a valid Android package file (APK) with an APK that will install malware.
The problem affects about half of all current Android devices and could allow attackers to distribute malware, compromise devices, and steal user data. In response, Palo Alto Networks has released an application that allows Android users diagnose their devices.
The flaw, discovered by Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 threat researcher Zhi Xu, exploits Android's Package Installer in a way that allows attackers to silently gain unlimited permissions on compromised devices.
During installation, Android applications list the permissions requested to perform their function. A messaging app might request access to SMS messages, but not GPS location, for example. The flaw allows attackers to display a limited set of permissions being requested while potentially gaining full access to all services and data on the user's device, including personal information and passwords.
So you might think that you're installing a file manager or a barcode scanner and that the application is requesting a reasonable and limited set of permissions, but when you give the app permission to proceed, it takes more than it requested.
The Unit 42 threat intelligence team has worked with Google and Android device manufacturers such as Samsung and Amazon to help patch the vulnerability in affected versions of the operating system. Some older-version Android devices may remain vulnerable, though.
The vulnerability affects only those Android applications downloaded from third-party sources, not those installed from the Google Play Store. The company recommends that users who have vulnerable devices install applications only from Google Play because they are downloaded into a protected space that cannot be overwritten by the attacker. Most devices that are running Android 4.3_r0.9 and later are safe, but some Android 4.3 devices have been found to be vulnerable.
To test your device, download the scanner from the Google Play Store.
For more information, visit the Palo Alto Networks website.
