A cheap, effective home server — using Windows 8

A cheap, effective home server — using Windows 8

Windows 8 has taken it on the chin for all sorts of transgressions — both real and imagined — but for one application, it’s an excellent option.

As a home or small-office server, it might be just the excuse you need to take advantage of Microsoft’s discounted Win8 pricing.

Why an average PC user might want a server

First, a bit of history on Windows-based home servers. Released in 2007, Microsoft’s Windows Home Server (WHS) was a product that never got its due from most PC users. However, I liked it so much I wrote a Windows Secrets article and a book extolling its many virtues. My admiration for the product has only grown with time.

Unfortunately, I was part of a small minority of PC users who used WHS — and our number is dwindling rapidly. WHS never sold well, and Microsoft earlier this year put a nail in its coffin (along with Small Business Server), announcing that henceforth Windows Server 2012 was its small-office server product — with a starting price of U.S. $450, just for the software. I don’t know about you, but $450 sounds reasonable for a home-server price — with hardware included.

That change pushed me to look at Windows 8 as a possible home-server platform. Windows Home Server had many features you can’t duplicate with Windows 8. But Win8 does provide what matters most to me — simple, cheap, fully redundant, and easily extended storage. And it does so quite well via Windows 8 Storage Spaces, which lets you set up a bunch of hard drives as one big drive. (I wrote about Storage Spaces in the Jan. 12 Woody’s Windows.) You can, for example, have three, four, or five separate, physical discs and access them all as a single D: drive.

Somewhat similar to RAID 5, Win8 keeps redundant copies of everything. If one drive dies, all files are automatically preserved and available without a hiccup. If you run out of space on that virtual D: drive, just install another hard drive (internal or external) and Windows 8 absorbs the additional space in the D: drive.

For backup, Win7 Pro, Vista Home Premium, Vista Business, and all versions of WinXP can automatically archive files to a network drive. (You use the File History applet to back up a Win8 workstation PC to a network drive.) To back up those systems to a Win8 server, simply point them to the server and specify a backup schedule.

The one major catch? Windows Home Server backs up workstation system files — a competency not equaled by a Windows 8–server setup.

Windows 8 plays brilliantly on mixed networks, in my experience. It connects with Windows XP, Vista, Win7, Xbox, and various Mac machines faster and easier than any previous version of Windows I’ve used (and I’ve used them all at one time or another). Win8 supports HomeGroup, making it easy to share files, printers, and media with Win7 machines. It also has the most extensive printer and peripheral support of any Windows (at least for any recent peripheral — yes, some of the old drivers still require XP), the best power management, and the best built-in antivirus protection.

In server applications, Windows 8 works just fine in a headless configuration: connect a monitor, keyboard, and mouse for the initial setup; then disconnect them and use them elsewhere. The server can now be put somewhere out of the way — up on a high shelf, in a cabinet (with ventilation, of course), etc. It needs only power and a connection to your router.

Thereafter, accessing the server via Windows’ Remote Desktop works like a champ — at no extra cost. Use any workstation that supports Remote Desktop (even an iPad, as detailed in the Aug. 18, 2011, Top Story). You can also set up a SkyDrive connection and access any file on the server from the Internet, with proper authorization.

Here’s the part that should be really appealing: it’s cheap! If you have an older Windows computer lying around, you can get the Windows 8 Pro upgrade (site) for just U.S. $40.

Assuming the system has 2GB of RAM, the only added cost might be larger hard drives. Win8 works with every kind of hard drive imaginable: internal, external, and even those old IDE drives (which could mean trying to figure out how many drives can be crammed into the box).

If you’re already running a Windows Home Server, set up a Win8 server on the network and pull the plug on the WHS machine after you’re comfortable with the new setup.

Given the hype over Cloud computing, it would be easy to assume that local servers are passé. Yes, you can subscribe to Cloud-based, server-like services such as Microsoft’s Office 365 (see the April 28, 2011, Top Story for more info) or Google Apps, but they come at a cost. Storing that rapidly growing collection of music, digital photos, and family videos on SkyDrive, for example, runs $50 per year for 100GB of storage space — the maximum for one account. (Google offers up to 16TB of storage for $800 per month.) Even if you buy a couple of terabyte drives, a Win8 server is faster and more flexible than the Cloud — and is still a relatively inexpensive option.

Putting the Win8 server pieces together

Here, in more detail, is what you need for creating a first-class Windows 8 server:

1. A PC that can run Windows 8: Just about any PC made in the past five or six years will work. It needs 2GB of system memory (though Win8 will run with 1GB) and a reliable connection to your network, which usually means a LAN cable. That should also let you access the server via the Internet, such as when you’re on vacation.

In my experience, processor speed is not all that important. Most relatively recent PCs have sufficient CPU horsepower. Any graphics card will do, especially if the server is run headless.

2. Three hard drives: If you want full, automatic, real-time, redundant backup, you need a small drive for the system (30GB should suffice) and two drives for data — the bigger the better. No need to get solid state drives; they’re overkill on a server. (Partitioning a drive will work, but it increases the chances of losing both C: and D: drives at the same time.)

3. Windows 8 Pro: The Pro version includes Remote Desktop Server, which enables remote connections — especially useful if you’re going headless. The basic version of Win8 can also work if you use one of the dozen or so Remote Desktop alternatives such as LogMeIn (site).

4. A Microsoft account: On a Windows 8 workstation, a Microsoft account is useful but not necessary. On a Win8 server, however, a Microsoft account makes it easier to set up SkyDrive and its Fetch feature, discussed below. (You can sign up for an Outlook.com account without divulging any personal information.)

That’s all it takes. Some Windows Home Server users have already discovered that WHS boxes work nicely as Win8 servers, and they are making the switch — presumably for the princely sum of $40. All they need is enough temporary network space to store their WHS data during the upgrade.

Installing and running Win8 Pro as a server

In a nutshell, here’s how hard it is to install and run a Windows 8 server:

Step 1. Install Windows 8 on the server box and hook it into your network.

Step 2. Set up the folders you want.

Step 3. You’re done.

OK, it’s not quite that simple, but it’s mighty close. Here’s what I did to put a Windows 8 server on my home-office network:

► Install and connect Windows 8: There are numerous ways to install Win8 Pro — any of them will work.

You’ll want some basic instructions in using both the traditional Windows 7–style desktop, which hasn’t changed much, and the new Metro interface (which you’ll rarely use or even see on a Win8 server). I would, of course, recommend my recently completed Windows 8 All-in-One for Dummies (shameless self-promotion, I know), but it won’t be available until October. For now, others have posted tutorial snippets on YouTube.

When the time comes to specify or set up a homegroup, be sure to join the current homegroup or start a new one.

► Set up user accounts: I created separate user accounts on the Win8 server for every user on my network. You don’t have to do it, but it will make it easier to assign specific access permissions to every nook and cranny of the server. Hold your nose, however; you have to use Win8’s Metro interface to set up the new accounts.

► Get Storage Spaces working: I have detailed instructions on setting up Storage Spaces in my Jan. 12 Woody’s Windows article, which includes links to additional information in a Building Windows 8 blog. If you want to dive right in, start in the Control Panel’s System and Security/Storage Spaces applet. Don’t go crazy setting up multiple Storage Spaces, because you need only one. (It can span all of the available data hard drives on the Win8 server.) Set up a Storage Space called, oh, “Server,” and assign it drive-letter D:. Make it a mirrored space, which automatically sets up dually redundant, real-time copies of everything put on the Storage Space drive.

► Set up folders inside the D: drive: To have Windows 8 server work much as Windows Home Server does, you need to create folders called “Music,” “Photos,” “Public,” “Software,” “Users,” and “Videos.” Otherwise, give each new data folder any name you like.

Now set up access restrictions for each folder — or open the folders up to anybody on the network. Click each folder in File Explorer (formerly Windows Explorer) and select the Share tab. If you want to share folders with everyone in a homegroup, choose either HomeGroup (View) or HomeGroup (View and Edit). Thereafter, those folders will appear in the Libraries list of every PC connected to the homegroup.

►Set up SkyDrive and Fetch: From the SkyDrive home page, download and install SkyDrive. There’s a description of Fetch, and instructions on how to install it, on a Building Windows 8 Team blog. If set up properly, Fetch lets you access files on the Win8 server from any Web browser anywhere in the world.

► Attach each workstation to the new server: I suggest you start by putting a shortcut to the server at the top of each workstation’s Start menu. Then add shortcuts to appropriate server folders in Windows Explorer. While you’re at it, install SkyDrive on each workstation. On Win7 Pro, Vista Home Premium and Business, and all XP machines, point the Windows backup program to the server’s D: drive. Yes, you can set up access to the Win8 server from Macs, too — the name of the server appears in Finder as a Shared device.

A reminder: The one backup feature provided by WHS but not by Win8 is archiving workstation system files. That you’ll have to do separately. The Win8 server is providing the most important backup task: redundant storage of your data.

If all that sounds daunting, don’t worry — it’s really straightforward. And you can make your own tweaks as you go along — such as adding Dropbox or Google Apps or video-streaming across the network. Remember, it’s fairly easy because your new Windows 8 server is, in fact, just a regular, everyday Windows 8 machine.

Disconnect the monitor, and you don’t even have to deal with Metro — unless you want to play some of those fancy new Windows Store games. Who could ask for more?

'Computer frustration' is a video genre

By Kathleen Atkins When I’m having a miserable episode of computer life, I find it comforting to hear about bad days in other people’s computer lives. It’s not just that misery loves company. It’s also that fellow sufferers have survived to tell the tale. So for our general consolation, here’s someone else’s video story of computer frustration. Play the video

If you use IE, don't — at least not for now

A serious vulnerability in Internet Explorer 6 through 9 has come to light, and there’s no patch at this time.

If you must use Internet Explorer for specific applications, use another browser as much as possible and remove or disable Java.

Yet another zero-day exploit targets IE

Microsoft Security Advisory 2757760, dated Sept. 17, warns of a newly disclosed IE vulnerability that could allow remote-code execution — which means an attacker could take over a targeted PC with the same rights as the current user. (This type of threat is why we recommend setting up a non-admin account on the PC you use most of the time.)

According to the advisory, Internet Explorer 10 (included with Windows 8) is not threatened. But that caveat is irrelevant because few Windows users are running Win8 for any purpose other than testing the new OS.

What to do: Here, in a nutshell, are your options:

1) Use another browser. Until Microsoft releases a patch for this new threat, simply do all your Web browsing with Firefox or Chrome — and make sure they’re fully updated.

2) Remove Java. If you must use IE, ensure that Java is fully disabled or not installed. I discussed this in my Sept. 6 Patch Watch column.

3) Use the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit. If you can’t operate without IE and Java, Microsoft’s EMET software can help. A RationallyPARANOID blog has a helpful how-to guide for installing EMET. Brian Krebs also has an excellent post on using the toolkit to protect IE.

Look for more on EMET — what it is and how it protects you — in next week’s regularly scheduled Patch Watch. And if Microsoft releases an out-of-cycle IE update before then, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, keep an eye out for a soon-to-be-released Microsoft fixit for Internet Explorer; it should provide protection until a patch is ready. I’ll post an update in the Lounge when it’s released.

A fine-tooth comb process for malware removal

It can seem like a bad tradeoff: quick malware scans can sometimes miss things, but thorough scans can take hours and seriously slow your system.

The solution? Combine the two scan types so you’re extremely well protected and you don’t lose productivity.

Seeking an alternative to standard AV scans

Peter is frustrated by the time most anti-malware software takes to scour his system.

• “I’d like an article on how to use ‘fine-tooth comb’ utilities to remove a virus, so that you don’t have to wait for a scanner to finish.”

I understand where you’re coming from, Peter. AV scans can be a pain — the process can take hours on large hard drives with lots of software. It can also seriously bog down your machine while it’s running.

But the best malware authors are extremely clever. They’re able to hide their malicious code almost anywhere on your hard drive and disguise their malware as innocent software — even as part of the operating system. So there’s no practical shortcut to finding viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, and other types of infections.

The only way to truly ensure that a system is completely malware-free is to scan every single file.

Fortunately, you can get fine-tooth comb malware protection without having to twiddle your thumbs, waiting for a long scan to finish.

The following approach to malware scanning is highly automated, gives deep-scan thoroughness, and has almost no negative impact on PC productivity. Once set up, it requires almost no user involvement at all — it’s virtually set-and-forget!

There are four elements to this process:

1. First line of defense: Use an efficient, automatic, full-time/real-time scanner.

Virtually all the major antivirus/anti-malware tools offer this option. Real-time scanning blocks new malware infections by examining the files that are downloaded, changed, or created as you use your PC.

For example, when a new e-mail message arrives on your hard disk, a real-time scanner checks it for malware. When you launch a program, real-time scanners verify that the .exe (or other executable file) isn’t carrying a malicious payload. When you save files, these scanners ensure they’re free of malware. And so on.

Keep in mind, however, that real-time scanners typically don’t check files that are unchanged. They scrutinize only the files you’re actively using, which keeps a scanner’s impact on system performance to a minimum.

The tool I use, Microsoft Security Essentials (free; site), enables real-time scanning by default and has had no perceptible performance impact on my systems.

2. Second line of defense: Schedule daily, automatic quick scans.

Different software packages use different names for this kind of scan, but the idea is to rapidly look at just the most dangerous file types — typically runnable system files (.exe, .dll, .cab, .bin, .com, etc.) that are most likely to carry a hostile payload. Because quick scans look only at the most dangerous file types on a drive, they’re much faster than the deeper-scan types I’ll get to in a moment.

Most major security tools offer several options for scanning thoroughness and scheduling. I use MSE’s built-in scheduler to do daily quick scans at 6 a.m. (as shown in Figure 1).

On my systems, MSE’s morning quick-scan takes only a couple of minutes, so it’s finished long before I’m ready to use my PC — and thus has zero impact on my productivity.

3. Third line of defense: Schedule weekly full scans.

Full scans examine every file on your hard drive — including file types that we wouldn’t typically expect to potentially harbor malware. This is the “fine-tooth comb” you speak of, Peter. As you noted, full scans takes some time, but they should leave viruses and other malware nowhere to hide.

I use Windows’ Task Scheduler to set up a full, weekly MSE scan in the middle of the night; so once again, there’s absolutely no impact on my productive use of the PC.

Microsoft has brief, online tutorials for using Task Scheduler with Win7, Vista, and XP. As part of my Windows Administrative Tools series, I’ll have a more in-depth discussion of Task Scheduler in an upcoming Windows Secrets article.

4. Fourth line of defense: Verify your defenses with a monthly standalone scan.

Also run a standalone scan whenever you suspect that any of the above scans might have missed something.

A good standalone scanner can backstop your regular AV tool. With their own, separate scanning engines and virus reference files, they might detect malware that was otherwise missed. Examples include ESET’s Online Scanner (site), Microsoft’s Safety Scanner (site), and Trend Micro’s House Call (site). Each has its own scanning technology and malware reference files.

Standalone scans are typically the slowest scans of all, often taking many hours on large hard drives packed with files. To prevent these lengthy scans from messing up my workday, I manually trigger standalone scans in the evening, when I’m done with my PC. With the evening and all night to work, the scan will be over by the time I need to get back to work.

The odds of malware slipping past all four levels of scanning are truly minuscule. Talk about your “fine-tooth comb.” And best of all, it shouldn’t slow down your work!

Huge accumulation of FLTxxx.tmp files

Eric Stork’s XP system went haywire, filling a partition with Windows indexing files.

• “Recently, one of my XP systems started to constantly interrupt me with ZoneAlarm notices of new FLTxxx.tmp files. Worse, the files accumulated by many hundreds, completely filling the partition containing my tmp folder.”I eventually discovered the cause: XP’s Indexing Service. After I disabled the Indexing Service, the problem disappeared.

  “A Google search turned up many others who also encountered this problem — but no fixes.”

Windows Search indexing is a demanding process that can consume a lot of CPU time and disk space — even when it’s working properly! This resource consumption can be a real problem on older, XP-era hardware that doesn’t have the horsepower of newer systems.

Thus, when things go awry — such as with the creation of a ridiculous number of tmp files — the problem can become acute.

Microsoft’s Support article 940157 offers instructions and an automated fixit for many kinds of problems with Windows Search. But on XP systems, it may be better to disable the Search indexer (MS article 899869 shows how) and use a different tool.

I used to recommend Google Desktop Search as an alternative, but Google announced last fall that it was discontinuing work on the product. The software is still available (e.g., on a CNET download page) and still works, but you should be aware that it’s becoming an unsupported product.

Other good, full-text, desktop-search alternatives include Copernic Desktop Search (free and commercial; site); and Agent Ransack (free; site).

If you just need to locate files by name and location — not by the contents inside — Locate32 (free; site) is a good choice.

And note that the problem will go away when you eventually move to Windows 7. Its Search is reliable, powerful, and light years ahead of XP’s. See Woody Leonhard’s two-part article on “Getting the most from Windows Search.” Part 1 ran in the Sept. 22, 2011, issue; Part 2 on Oct. 6, 2011.

Smart readers suggest more SMART utilities

After reading the Sept. 6 article, “Using and understanding SMART hard-drive tools,” several readers wrote in to share their favorite hard-drive monitoring utilities.

• “May I suggest SourceForge’s open source CrystalDiskInfo [info/download site]? It’s free.” — Roger
• “SpeedFan is another SMART analysis tool that you can add to your list. Not only do the SMART reports give you an easily understood digital and graphic picture of disk drive functions, but you also get a numeric percentage rating for [hard-drive] performance and condition.

  You’ll find many other great features, including temperature monitoring and case fan–speed control, all of which are very configurable. The download (site) is free.” — John Matenkosky

Thanks, Roger and John!

Video-streaming services you might like to try

Forget about cable television — you can get all the entertainment you need from the Internet.

We all know about Netflix and Hulu Plus, but here are three good streaming-video sites that might be new to you.

Out-of-the-way video experiences on the Web

Streaming sites such as Netflix and Hulu Plus have wonderfully large libraries of movies and television shows. But they don’t have everything. If your cinematic tastes tend toward the old or the esoteric, if a classical concert sounds like a great way to spend the night at home, or if you want live coverage of just about anything, here are services that could be right up your alley.

All three services stream video over the Internet to your PC. But getting that video to your big-screen TV might be more complicated. Only one of the three is available on some Internet-capable HDTVs and Blu-ray players. Two, however, work with Roku (website), and two have their own iPad app as well.

Of course, there’s a good chance you can connect your computer to your television. I discussed this in a Feb. 2 article, “Turn that spare PC into a digital video recorder.” (Scroll down to the section, “Ways to make the PC-to-HDTV connection.”)

You’ll probably want to check these out on your computer first, in any case.

Fandor: The cinephile’s streaming paradise

I know, it’s a horrible name. But take my word for it: Fandor (website) is not intended for 14-year-old fantasy geeks. It does have a Fantasy section, but that contains little-known Japanese horror pictures, early Georges Méliès (Wikipedia info) shorts, and much more — just not the latest warriors-versus-monsters blockbuster.

Fandor is the streaming video site for serious cinephiles (full disclosure: I’m one). Here you can find classic silent westerns such as 1903’s The Great Train Robbery and new-but-obscure (and well-reviewed) films such as Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. The site’s thousands of titles include still-loved silent comedians and those long forgotten. You’ll also find unintentionally funny B westerns as well as documentaries such as Affluenza and From the Journals of Jean Seberg. You’ll find Orson Welles’s The Trial, Lina Wertmüller’s Love and Anarchy, and two versions of Metropolis — the “complete” 2010 restoration and Giorgio Moroder’s strange, rock-oriented 1984 reworking.

When you don’t know what to watch, try The Fandor Channel (see Figure 2), which screens films at set times, just like standard television channels.

You’re less likely to find well-known and easily accessible classics on Fandor — no Hitchcock, no Kurosawa (much of whose work you’ll find on Hulu’s Criterion channel). The only John Ford film I found is the little-seen December 7.

As you might expect, the quality of these films varies quite a bit. For many, good prints simply no longer exist. On the other hand, if your bandwidth and hardware support it, Fandor streams in HD. (I’ve compared these streams to Blu-rays of the same titles, and Blu-ray wins. But that’s true with all streaming services.)

Fandor costs U.S. $10 a month, which is a bit higher than either Netflix or Hulu Plus. However, half of that subscription goes to filmmakers and distributors, which helps promote independent films. You can sign up for a two-week free trial.

Berliner Philharmoniker: Mozart in your living room

Moving from the classics to the classical, the Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall website brings one of the world’s most respected symphony orchestras into your home — whenever you like. It’s like a season ticket, except you can see the musicians in close-up, and you don’t have to leave the house.

Concert Hall streams live concerts about once a week, while they’re being performed in Berlin. Of course, as with live concerts everywhere, you have to be there on time. However, given differences in time zones (at least to my Pacific time zone), the times are rarely convenient. For instance, on September 23, Emmanuel Pahud will conduct Haydn’s Symphony #95, Jörg Widmann’s Flûte en suite for flute and orchestra, and Beethoven’s 7th, starting at 8:00 p.m. in Berlin. But in California, that’s an 11:00 a.m. matinee. (And if you live in Bangkok, the concert will start at 1:00 a.m.)

Fortunately, Digital Concert Hall offers more than live broadcasts. Its Concert Archive (shown in Figure 4) contains over a hundred additional concerts that can be filtered by conductor, composer, or soloist. The site also streams a small collection of documentaries.

Technically and artistically speaking, the concert presentations are among the best I’ve watched. They’re well shot, well edited, well mixed, and — of course — well played. Multiple cameras capture the musicians’ concentration and technique, and the video director almost always cuts to the right instrument at the right beat. I found the high-definition image quality also excellent — some of the best I’ve seen streamed over the Internet (although older archived concerts, not in HD, look considerably worse).

Audio is also excellent, even though it’s only two-track stereo. I would prefer 5.1 surround to get the sense of a real concert hall.

The Berliner Philharmoniker doesn’t play cheap. A subscription costs €14.90 a month, almost U.S. $20 as I write this. There are no free trials, but you can get a 48-hour “ticket” for €9.90 (about $13).

In addition to your PC, Digital Concert Hall plays on Roku and various other Internet-capable HDTVs from Samsung, Sony, LG, and possibly others. There’s no iPad app.

USTREAM: Many streams, most of them live

Now that we’ve covered movies and music, what’s left? How about video streams in nearly every possible category?

USTREAM (site) presents live video streams from pretty much anyone willing to share them — from professional news companies to pet owners who point a webcam at the doggie bed and leave it there. Much of the content looks like a massive collection of public-access channels, but you can also find more complete versions of the daily news.

Checking USTREAM’s News category while writing this story, I found a live (but silent) stream from the streets of Cairo. I also checked out PBS’s News Hour, Majority Report, and Bloomberg West. The site isn’t just news: other categories include Entertainment, Sports, Music, Tech, Spirituality, and Pets & Animals.

And not all the video on the site is live. You can scroll down the page to see no-longer-live “Recent News Highlights” from trusted sources such as The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press.

Although these recorded highlights are always available, that’s not the case with the live streams. At any given moment, many or perhaps most of them are blank. Occasionally, you’ll be told when the stream will go live again.

Advertiser-supported, USTREAM costs nothing to watch — assuming you stick to streams that cost nothing. The service also lets professional content providers set up subscription and pay-per-view content.

You’re not required to sign up for an account to watch free videos, unless you want to upload your own streams. There is, however, an advantage to doing so: you can select your favorite streams and USTREAM will notify you when they go live.

If you’d rather watch streams on something other than a computer, USTREAM has iOS and Android apps. As nearly as I can tell, the service isn’t available on any Internet-ready HDTV or set-top box. (USTREAM did not respond to my query, and Roku told me it doesn’t support the service.)

With streaming services such as these, as well as the better-known ones like Netflix, you really don’t need a cable or satellite subscription. But you’ll still need to sleep, exercise, interface with other human beings, and earn a living — which might set some needed limits on how much you use these services.

Can you come back from a bad website unscathed?

When Lounge member WindowWasher found himself redirected to a site he’d not intended to visit, he backed out of it. But he worried that he’d not managed his retreat safely.

He then wondered how to prudently assess the real danger of sites such as the one he’d just visited. He posed the question in the Security & Scams forum and received some helpful advice.

The following links are this week’s most interesting Lounge threads, including several new questions for which you might have answers:

Office Applications
General Productivity	Any good Excel tutorials?
Word Processing	Word format change affects whole document
Spreadsheets	Pasting volatile formula in Excel 2007
Databases	TreeView control gives event errors
Presentation Apps	Inserting Excel sheet into PowerPoint
Visual Basic for Apps	Accessing Excel spreadsheet from Word using ADO
Microsoft Outlook	Back up Outlook address book?
Non-Outlook E-mail	Get signal when message arrives in Gmail?
Other MS Apps	OneNote questions
Windows
General Windows	Version of Genuine Advantage validation tool no longer supported
Windows 8	Weather app broken
Windows 7	Remove .jpeg photo tags in Windows 7
	Win7 PC sign-in to Windows 2000 Server no longer working
	Missing icons in tray
Windows Vista	Subscribing to Windows calendar
Windows XP	Is setup50.exe necessary?
Windows Servers	Upgrading to Windows Server 2012 Standard from SBS 2011
Internet/Connectivity
Internet Explorer	Need cookie manager for IE 9
Third-Party Browsers	Unable to access webpage: Hidden setting?
Application Servers	Online calendar: How to sync with iPads?
Networking	New network card not working
Social Media	The Facebook firing
Other Technologies
Non-Microsoft OSes	BIOS boot-device menu
Security & Scams	Possible to check website for spyware/malware/etc. by going there?
Maintenance	Create a factory-image restore disc
Hardware	How long will mouse last?
Graphics/Multimedia	What video card supports big desktop/dual monitors?
Other Applications	Looking for easy-to-use, customizable, voice-control software

starred posts: particularly useful

If you’re not already a Lounge member, use the quick registration form to sign up for free. The ability to post comments and take advantage of other Lounge features is available only to registered members.

If you’re already registered, you can jump right in to today’s discussions in the Lounge.

Testing new new OS-updating procedures in Win8

Many of Windows 8’s changes, such as its tiled start menu, are readily apparent; other changes are far less obvious but arguably more important.

Take system updates, for example: changes in Win8 should make it easier and safer to keep the OS secure and up to date.

Less-intrusive OS updating for Windows users

There’s been no end of debate on whether Windows 8’s new look is a major leap forward or a monumental mistake. But the changes in how Win8 handles updates show that Microsoft has been listening to long-standing user complaints. Specifically, those annoying, repeated reboots for nearly every Windows update should disappear in Win8. By design, scheduled updates should require a single reboot — once a month, as explained in the Building Windows 8 blog, “Minimizing restarts after automatic updating in Windows Update.”

(Unfortunately, this enhancement will not be back-ported to Windows 7 or XP, which is effectively at end-of-life.)

Eventually, the reboot warnings intensify

To date, we’ve had just one official Windows 8 update, as noted in last week’s Patch Watch. But we can already see a difference. On a Win8 test system configured with automatic updating enabled, I didn’t get that typical Windows warning that the PC had automatically rebooted to apply updates. Instead, I received reminders that the update was installed and that Win8 will need to reboot to apply it, as shown in Figure 1. (However, the system would have automatically rebooted if I had saved my work and signed out.)

Those gentle warnings became more strident after three days. At that point, Win8 would still not reboot because there were open applications that might have contained unsaved data — as long as I remained signed in. But on the next sign-in, Windows 8 warned, I would have 15 minutes to save my data (see Figure 2).

Bottom line: You get ample warning that the system is going to shut down and restart.

Other security components unchanged or enhanced

The underlying warnings, alerts, and log files that make up Windows Update have not changed in Windows 8. The Windowsupdate.log file looks just as it does in earlier versions of Windows. With detailed logs of what updates were installed and when, it’s still just as daunting to read and decipher as ever — including those annoyingly cryptic error codes for a failed update.

Win8 users will see regular Windows Defender updates automatically installed. Defender is now a component of the new OS, providing basic antivirus and spyware protection. You can still install third-party anti-malware software. A Microsoft Windows 8 Compatibility Center page lists AV apps known to work with the OS.

In fact, it might be wise to review the entire software listing found on the Compatibility Center site. You might find that an app critical to your needs is incompatible with Win8. The list is, however, not all-encompassing. For example, I’m testing two popular apps as replacements for Win8’s start menu; Classic Shell (site) isn’t listed in the Center, and Start8’s (site) status is “No info.”

Along with Win8 updating, updates for Office and other Microsoft applications have also improved — somewhat. You must still opt into Microsoft update (not to be confused with Windows update). However, as with system updates, a Microsoft update will not automatically force a reboot if there is a chance of losing unsaved work.

With some tweaks and add-ons, I think I’m starting to warm up to Microsoft’s most controversial OS — especially where updating is concerned.

Windows Secrets newsletter site hacked!

Windows Secrets might be the source for all things Windows — including security. But even we’re not immune from hackers.

In the past couple of days, many of our subscribers reported receiving spam that appeared to come from Windows Secrets. But we can assure you, the e-mails did not come from us. We’ve always been committed to protecting our subscribers from unwanted junk mail — and we still are.

A brief timeline of the site break-in

Sept. 11: Using a brute-force password-cracking technique, a hacker gained access to the Windows Secrets website via a compromised administrator account.

Sept. 12: The hacker planted malicious code on the site which potentially gave him (or her) the ability to access our database.

Sept. 17: Windows Secrets subscribers (and WS editors) started receiving unexpected e-mails from “Windows Secrets” that were purely and obviously spam.

That was when we first learned there was a problem. Our IT and development personnel quickly identified the exploited account and disabled access. They also then removed the malicious code. They are now making a full audit of Windows Secrets and the rest of the iNET Interactive network.

The critical question: What was compromised?

We know this will be the first question almost all WS subscribers ask. (It was one of the first questions we asked ourselves.) We haven’t confirmed the exact data extracted; however, the information that could have been exposed includes the following: subscriber name, e-mail address, reader number, ZIP code (if applicable), geographic region, and hashed password — all the entries on your profile page.

We do not keep credit-card information on the site. Our credit-card processing is passed to a third-party service with a high level of security. At this time, we have no indication that credit-card information was compromised. If that changes, we’ll notify you.

What you should do to protect yourself

Going forward, we recommend the following:

Passwords: As is common practice, we store passwords as hashes. That said, password-cracking apps can easily decode hashes if a password is relatively simple, as noted in our Jan. 19 In the Wild column.

For that reason, we strongly suggest you immediately go to your Windows Secrets Preferences page and change your password. That’s especially important if you use the same password for WS and other websites. (It’s never good practice to use the same password on multiple sites.)

Newsletter e-mails: We send two regularly scheduled e-mails. The weekly newsletter goes out most Wednesday evenings so that subscribers receive it early Thursday. We send out paid-subscriber renewal notices on Tuesdays; you should receive these once a year, unless you’re a lifetime subscriber. We have no plans to change that schedule.

If you receive an unexpected e-mail from Windows Secrets, don’t click any of the links in the message.

What’s next for Windows Secrets

As a result of this breach, our IT personnel have taken additional measures to strengthen the security of Windows Secrets and our systems. We know that our subscribers put an enormous level of trust in Windows Secrets, and we take your privacy extremely seriously. So this episode is especially painful for us.

Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience this might have caused you.

Thanks for supporting Windows Secrets.      — The Windows Secrets newsletter staff