Three Important Ways Windows 8 Provides Password Protection

More than ever, passwords are a part of our lives, the key to our digital identity. On average, each of us has 25 online accounts, and that is beyond the internal systems you also need to authenticate to in your business. You should have unique, complex passwords for each system, but who can remember all of that? Windows 8 will include features that make it easier to manage your digital identity so your business's data stays safe.

The Problem with Passwords

In the BuildingWindows 8 blog earlier this week, Microsoft’s Dustin Ingalls said that despite each of us having 25 online accounts, on average we only have six unique passwords. Anyone trying to gain entry to your company's data knows that if they can get access to any password a user has, there's a good chance they can use it to gain entry to other services. There are generally four methods attackers will use to access a password: phishing, keylogging, guessing, and cracking. Windows 8 will address each of them in the following ways.

1. Protect Against Phishing and Keylogging

These tools protect your computer against malware, which once installed can access your entire computer and any remote resources to which you have access.
Secure Boot: Using UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface), the boot-up process of your computer is protected so bootkits and rootkits are prevented.
SmartScreen: By collecting information about bad websites and software, SmartScreen can use the reputation of a URL or application to determine how safe it is to open, protecting from known attacks and cautioning about those that are uncertain.

Windows Defender: Previously thought of as virus protection, Windows Defender now protects against all types of malware, including viruses, worms, bots and rootkits.

 2. Protect Against Guessing and Cracking 

The strength of your password is critical in combating guessing and cracking. Windows 8 makes it easier to create, use and manage unique and complex passwords.
Store Accounts: Windows 8 allows you to save the login name and password for websites that allow it, similar to most web browsers. Not only Internet Explorer, but other web browsers and software can make use of it, making it easier to use unique and complex passwords that you don’t need to remember.
Sync Passwords: If you use multiple computers, having passwords stored on one doesn't help when logging into a service on another. Windows 8 can sync your account information through Windows Live to trusted PCs, making unique and complex passwords a more practical option.
Virtual Smart Card: Using the Trusted Platform Module found in many business PCs, passwords can be avoided by using a software-based version of a smart card that works wherever physical smart cards do.

 3. Protect Against Your Own Forgetfulness

Finally, users won’t use strong passwords if they are afraid they will forget them, which is easy to do when managing so many of them. Windows 8 makes recovering from a forgotten password easier.
USB Recovery: Creating a USB recovery stick before you forget your password will help you reset it should that ever happen.
Reset from Another PC: If you use a Windows Live ID to login, you can reset your password from another PC.
Two Factor Authentication: By linking your account to a secondary email address or a mobile phone, you can reset a lost password by proving you are the rightful owner of the account.

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How to Delete Your Browser History

If you share a computer with someone else, you might not want that person to be able to check your Internet browsing history. That record is easy to erase, however, in all of the major browsers. Here's how to delete your browser history in Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.

Erase Your Internet Explorer History

A useful keyboard shortcut for deleting your browsing history in Internet Explorer is Ctrl-Shift-Delete. If you press this combination of keys in a recent version of Explorer, you'll bring up a dialog box that lets you specify what you want to keep and what you want to purge. Simply check the boxes next to the history you want to remove, and then click Delete. Job done.

Clear Out Your Chrome History

like this for Chrome users have access to the same slick keyboard shortcut as Internet Explorer users. Press Ctrl-Shift-Delete in Chrome, and you'll see Google's options for deleting your browser history. As with IE, simply check the boxes next to the history items you want to clear, but be sure to examine the options available to you in the drop-down menu at the top. This menu allows you to specify how much of your history you'd like to delete. You can choose to excise the past hour, day, week, or month--or you can obliterate everything since the beginning of time.

Delete Your Browsing History in Firefox

Firefox fans, too, have access to the same keyboard shortcut for deleting browser history as IE and Chrome users: Press Ctrl-Shift-Delete to summon the history-clearing options that are available to you in Firefox. If you don't see a detailed list of what you can and can't delete, click the Details arrow to reveal the specifics. As with Chrome, you have the option of choosing a time range to clear. The options are a bit different, however. In Firefox, you can clear the last hour, the last 2 hours, the last 4 hours, the last full day, or your entire Firefox history.

 

Erase Your History in Safari

Like most browsers, Safari has a ton of keyboard shortcuts, but it doesn't have one for deleting your browser history. Instead, click the gear icon in the upper-right corner, and select Reset Safari. In the resulting pop-up menu, check the items that you want to clear; then press the Reset button to purge your data

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MouseTracer Free

• Version: 1.01
• Downloads Count: 60
• License Type: Free
• Price: $0
• Operating Systems: Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows XP
• Requirements: Microsoft .Net 4.0 Framework, 20MB hard disk space
• File Size: 7.84 MB
• Author: Ashampoo GmbH

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Editorial Review of MouseTracer Free

Some people would call this software useless, but not me. Nope. Ashampoo's MouseTracer software only seems useless to people without imagination. You know the type. They drive reliable sedans and have productive day jobs. It’s hard for them to see the brilliance behind an app that tracks, in real time, the speed and distance a mouse travels. They can’t grasp the excitement of an interface that reports results, rally-race style, on a desktop scoreboard, complete with speedometer. It’s a smaller world they live in. They aren't like you and me.
For example, most people never give a thought to how often strangers--or worse yet, co-workers--might be fondling their mouse. Me? I think about it all the time. Now, without either a webcam or motion detection software, I can be sure my mouse remains cootie-free when I am away. Move my li'l buddy so much as an inch and I'll know. Thanks MouseTracer!
While we're on the subject of mouse abuse, this software also happens to be an excellent wrist speed and endurance training tool. How fast can you move your hand back and forth? How many miles can you keep it up? Jokes aside, if your mouse is traveling several miles, so are all the muscles and ligaments in your mousing wrist and arm. When the mouse training starts to hurt, don't push through the pain: Consider making keyboard macros with software like AutoHotkey.
Still, there are some things about MouseTracer that cheese me off. To start, no, I don't want to install your taskbar, Ashampoo. No, I don’t want MouseTracer's URL to be my homepage either. Yes, I am sure. This is freeware installation tomfoolery. I'd like to think it's here for a laugh, but the joke ain't "haha" funny. Neither are the occasional “service messages” that pop up during settings adjustments that amount to little more than Ashampoo advertisements. Tsk. I'd also like to see a breakdown of distance by direction. Do I move my mouse more left than right? Do I move it more up than down? People who collect string want to know.
This aside, I like MouseTracer. Sure, it does nothing of consequence, but the same is true of many elected officials who have less style and cost more. I invent a new use for it every day. Give it a try. You probably will too.

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