I hate proxies but they seem necessary in the Corporate world. Getting all the websites, programs, widgets, etc working as people want can cause much pain and suffering.
This is a simple post, but hopefully it'll save someone a few hours of frustration.
We have a group that has to use Yahoo! Messenger for chat. So I put them on our web filter/proxy, allowing the Yahoo IM access. (Note, our proxy requires NTLM/Active Directory authentication to allow traffic). Those not using Yahoo's client (like those using Pidgin) connected fine. But the official Yahoo client seemed like it wasn't passing the Windows Authentication to the proxy and not connecting. Setting the client's proxy settings to Direct Connection did not work; Yahoo was still pulling Internet Explorer's proxy settings.
After a few hours of searching, I came across this Microsoft KB article: How to Set Up Yahoo Messenger to Use Only Integrated Authentication on Your ISA Server Computer. In the article, it advises that you set your Internet Explorer settings to enable "Use HTTP 1.1 through proxy connections".
Apparently Yahoo Messenger client doesn't send a keep-alive header in it's NTLM request, thus not keeping itself authenticated. Telling it to use HTTP 1.1 forces this, since the keep-alive header is default in 1.1.
Check out the Microsoft article (linked above) for more information, but this simple checkbox fixed the issues for my users. It's not JUST for ISA; I'm not using ISA and it worked for me.
May 12, 2009
February 22, 2008
Wow. This is amazing and scary at the same time. Basically, some researchers figured out that in order to bypass harddrive encryption when you have physical control over the device, you can read the contents of the RAM chips to obtain the encryption key. This is not an attack on the encryption itself. It's like finding the key to the super-secure door under the welcome mat. Even if power is cut from the device, data stays in RAM for a certain amount of time (this time can be expanded by freezing the chips with a bottle of canned air). Booting the device to a special tool allows for the memory to be copied and analyzed. They can even remove the ram chip and put it in another laptop for analysis. The only secure way to protect yourself is to power the laptop down completely and guard it for a few minutes for the memory to finally clear.
Be sure to spend the 5 minutes watching the video in the article.
What's even more interesting is that most folks transport their laptops in a power saving mode, such as in standby or hibernation. Even I carry my laptop around in standby. All it takes is for someone to steal the laptop and the encryption won't matter.
This just proves that carrying information around is not safe. The approach I've been trying to take with my users is to give up the fat client laptops for a thin client laptop approach, such as offerings from Neoware or HP. The idea is to leave all information on the corporate network and require my traveling users to log in via secure VPN and RDP directly to their desktops. On top of not storing information, the thin clients are sturdy, don't have moving parts, run our VPN software just fine, easy to replace (no user specific information to transfer to another laptop), and are fairly cheap (approx a third of the cost of a regular laptop). I usually just keep a couple laying around for loaners; so if someone who doesn't travel much can check one out and I don't have to set up anything on it for them, only have to enable RDP on their desktops.
February 14, 2007
How to delete all Outlook Calendar items in Outlook 2002 and in Outlook 2003: "This article describes how to delete all of the items in the Outlook Calendar folder."
Simple, but useful.
February 13, 2007
Anti-Dupe: "Anti-Dupe for Microsoft Outlook is a free Outlook addin utility that analyzes and removes duplicate Outlook entries. With Anti-Dupe you can:
* Remove Outlook duplicate emails.
* Remove Outlook duplicate contacts.
* Remove Outlook duplicate appointments.
* Remove Outlook duplicate tasks."
How to repair Outlook folders using the Inbox Repair Tool: "If Microsoft Office Outlook 2000 (or higher) can not open your mailbox folders and it is reporting that your Inbox folders or Outlook PST file may be damaged, then you should use the Inbox Repair Tool supplied by Microsoft. "
September 09, 2006
Most of us have had a brand new computer at one time. It's a great feeling. You boot up windows and within 30 seconds you are surfing the net, checking your email, or playing your favorite game. 10 months down the road things aren't so nice anymore. You power up your computer and it seems to take forever to load.
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