Comcast Corp. acknowledged "delaying" some subscriber Internet traffic, but said any roadblocks it puts up are temporary and intended to improve surfing for other users.

The statement was a response to an Associated Press report last week that detailed how the nation's largest cable company was interfering with file sharing by some of its Internet subscribers. The AP also found that Comcast's computers masqueraded as those of its users to interrupt file-sharing connections.

Internet watchdog groups denounced Comcast's actions, calling it an example of the kind of abuse that could be curbed with so-called "Net Neutrality" legislation. It would require Internet providers to treat all traffic equally — as has largely been the case historically.

Comcast has repeatedly denied blocking any Internet application, including "peer-to-peer" file-sharing programs like BitTorrent, which the AP used in its nationwide tests.

On Tuesday, Mitch Bowling, senior vice president of Comcast Online Services, added a nuance to that statement, saying that while Comcast may block initial connection attempts between two computers, it eventually lets the traffic through if the computers keep trying.

We've always been a fan of alternative operating systems. Though honestly most have simply been too clunky or difficult for the novice user. So we decided to give PC-BSD a shot and came away very pleasantly surprised.

Here are some highlights from the PC-BSD site discussing PC-BSD and its requirements. For a comprehensive look at what's in this release, see the changelog and the release notes on the PC-BSD site.

Highlights of this release:

• Moving the FreeBSD base version to 6-STABLE
• Xorg 7.2
• KDE 3.5.7
• Compiz-Fusion 0.5.2
• Support for Flash7 in native BSD browsers. (Konq, Opera, Firefox)
• Official NVIDIA drivers to simplify activating Hardware acceleration.

Minimum system requirements:

• Pentium II or higher
• 256MB Ram
• 4GB of free Hard Drive space (Either partition, or entire disk)
• Network card
• Sound card

Now we know that some of you are probably very skeptical about the idea of using BSD as your desktop operating system. Maybe you've never heard of it. Maybe you have heard of it but have heard that it's not very user-friendly or that the software is hard to install or manage. Put aside whatever preconceptions you have about PC-BSD because you're in for a real treat—if you're in the market for a new operating system.

ESET, the leader in proactive threat protection, has been named to Deloitte’s prestigious Technology Fast 50 Program for San Diego, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications and life sciences companies in the area by Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, one of the nation’s leading professional services organizations. Rankings are based on the percentage revenue growth over five years from 2002 to 2006.
   
   “We are proud to be included in Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 for the fifth consecutive year,” said Anton Zajac, CEO of ESET. “Recent high-profile rankings have continued to showcase ESET's rapid growth and underscore the dedication of our employees and partners, who continue to produce the types of premium products that customers expect.”
   
   ESET’s increase in revenues of 3,900 percent from 2002 to 2006 resulted in a number two ranking in the Technology Fast 50 for San Diego. The average increase in revenues among companies who made the Technology Fast 50 for this region was 179.3 percent. “To rank in Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50, companies must have phenomenal revenue growth over five years. ESET has proven to be one of the fast-growth success stories in San Diego, and we applaud their dedication to making their vision a reality,” said Theresa Drew, managing partner, San Diego Practice, Deloitte & Touche LLP.

Place the following code into the header of any php document and it will redirect the page access to the correct site name. while preserving the script name and the query arguments.

// If the server name is not www.sitename.com we can do the redirect to www.sitename.com. 
// The only time we can is if the method is a GET
// (no way to pass along the POST arguments) and its on port 80 (don't want to redirect the SSL).
if ( strcmp( strtolower( $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] ) , "www.sitename.com" ) != 0 &&
	strcmp( strtolower( $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] ) , "get" ) == 0 &&
	$_SERVER['SERVER_PORT'] == 80 )
{
	header("Location: http://www.sitename.com" . $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] );
	header("HTTP/1.0 301 Moved Permanently");
	exit ;
}

Place the following code into the header of any asp document and it will redirect the page access to the correct site name while preserving the script name and the query arguments.

<%
  ' If the server name is not www.sitename.com we can do the redirect to www.sitename.com. 
  ' The only time we can is if the method is a GET
  ' (no way to pass along the POST arguments) and its on port 80 (don't want to redirect the SSL).
if ( strcomp( lcase( Request.ServerVariables("SERVER_NAME") ) , "www.sitename.com", 1 ) <> 0 _
    AND Request.ServerVariables("SERVER_PORT") = 80 _
    AND strcomp( lcase( Request.ServerVariables("REQUEST_METHOD") ) , "get" , 1 ) = 0 _
) then
    URL = "http://www.sitename.com" & Request.ServerVariables("SCRIPT_NAME")
    if len ( request.servervariables("QUERY_STRING" ) ) > 0 then
        URL = URL + "?" + request.servervariables("QUERY_STRING" )
    end if
    Response.Status="301 Moved Permanently"
    Response.AddHeader "Location", URL
    Response.End
end if
%>

IT'S ABOUT TIME!!!

Appeal court quashes earlier e360 compensation ruling.

Anti-spam operation Spamhaus, previously ordered to pay $11 million to mass-mailing firm e360 Insight after refusing to contest a case accusing it of falsely labelling those behind e360 as spammers, has had the fine thrown out in an appeal court.

The case was first brought last autumn, and after initially challenging the charges Spamhaus withdrew from the case, as the US court in which it was brought had no jurisdiction over the organisation's UK-based operation. e360 was thus granted a default ruling in its favour, with the $11.7 million fine called for based on its own uncontested evaluation of the damage caused by Spamhaus filtering out its mails. The spam fighting organisation was also ordered to apologise publicly and to remove e360 from its 'ROKSO' list of known spammers in perpetuity - another ruling whose legality has been questioned by the appeal court.

The appeal court ruling still grants 360 the case, due to Spamhaus' refusal to contest it, but has passed the settlement award back to the lower court to be analysed more closely. Spamhaus continues to include e360 on its list of spammers, and has suggested e360 brings the case to a UK court, where its activities would fall under stricter anti-spam laws. Attempts by e360 to have Spamhaus's domain registration revoked have been ignored by US courts.

A Wired.com blogger looks into the case in more detail here, and carries a full copy of the latest ruling (in PDF format) here.

Microsoft released six updates on Tuesday for at least nine security flaws, fixing critical issues in Word, Internet Explorer and the e-mail programs that the company ships with its Windows operating systems.

The most widespread vulnerability appears to be in the way Internet Explorer handles a script error, allowing an attacker to access freed memory. The flaw has been rated critical on for both IE 6 and IE 7 running on Windows XP and Vista. Because Internet Explorer runs in an enhanced security configuration on Windows Server 2003, that platform is not impacted as severely. The three other vulnerabilities fixed by the Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer had a maximum severity of Moderate.

Another vulnerability in the way Microsoft's e-mail programs handled news groups via NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol) was rated Critical for Outlook Express and Important for Windows Vista's Mail application. The software giant rated a vulnerability in Microsoft Word only Critical for Office 2000 and Important for later versions of the productivity suite. A security hole in the Kodak Image Viewer also received a Critical rating by Microsoft.

Windows users should patch their systems as soon as possible. Online attacks have increasingly used flaws in Internet Explorer to redirect unwary visitors, using IFrames, from legitimate sites to malicious sites that compromise the victims computers. The MPack infection tool kit is one of the programs commonly used to automate the process. Espionage attacks emanating from servers in China, among other nations, have regularly used Office flaws to infect the victim's computer.

Despite the $4.5 billion price to bid in the auction of 700-MHz spectrum, the auction represents the best opportunity for smaller businesses to participate in broadband expansion, FCC Chair Kevin Martin told a House committee Wednesday.

On Thursday, the FCC announced it would delay the auction date by eight days. It is now set for January 24. In addition, there will be a $10 billion limit on the auction bidding.

The auction will foster deployment of rural broadband, Martin said, because the rules will require licensees to serve at least 70 percent of their geographic area. The Commission has tried to ensure these areas have the same access to broadband enjoyed elsewhere in the country. The open-access provisions are a critical factor in making the spectrum accessible to small businesses.

Learn More

The launch of Microsoft Surface marks the beginning of a new technology category and a user-interface revolution. Surface, Microsoft’s first surface computer, provides effortless interaction with digital content through natural hand gestures, touch and physical objects. Surface computing breaks down traditional barriers between people and technology, changing the way people interact with all kinds of everyday information — from photos to maps to menus.

We will offer on this site regularly updated versions of the media kit, which includes press releases, background material and images. Please visit frequently to receive the latest news and information about Microsoft Surface.

Internet Explorer 7 has been available for over a year now, and yet its marketshare continues to struggle, relative to the dominance IE 6 enjoyed. Microsoft's own IE Blog paints a rosier picture, but more importantly, it informs us about some new changes to MS's latest browser.

For starters, IE 7 will no longer require a Windows Genuine Advantage validation check for download or install. You can just download away from the Microsoft's Internet Explorer page or use Automatic Updates.

The Windows XP version of IE7 has been tweaked a bit, too. The menu bar defaults to being visible instead of hidden, the "first run" and online tours have been updated, and the MSI installer has streamlined installation for network admins and enterprise customers.

These aren't big changes, to be sure. The biggest deal is clearly the removal of the WGA check. It certainly begs the question: Where is the next Internet Explorer? When is it coming, and what features should we expect? Microsoft has been especially quiet on the subject.

France is hoping to shut down spammers more quickly through a system that makes it easier for users to notify ISPs (Internet service providers) when unsolicited e-mails are coming from their network.

The French government funded the development of an open-source toolbar for Microsoft Corp.'s Outlook and Mozilla Corp.'s Thunderbird e-mail programs that people can use to report suspected spam, said John Graham-Cumming, an Englishman who built the software for the project, called Signal Spam. See article.

While it is a novel idea it as other solutions lacks understanding of two of the root problems. One of the biggest problems with this approach is it assumes that end users have any idea at all what they are doing. We are a web host and commonly see our users forward all the mail from their domain to their ISP email account. When they mark something as spam using an approach like this they typically end up reporting their own email server.

The last issue is with regard to spoofing the source email address. Until someone comes up with a viable solution to truly determine a source to determine if it is valid all these approaches are flawed from the start.

When eBay (EBAY) bought Skype Technologies for $2.6 billion in late 2005, few could fathom why the online auction company saw so much in a money-losing Internet phone service. Two years later, eBay is admitting it made a mistake.

On Oct. 1, eBay confirmed that it overpaid for Skype—by nearly $1 billion—and that the popular Web-calling business has not performed up to the rosy forecasts set back in 2005. In announcing a $1.43 billion charge against profits, eBay also revealed a broad management reshuffle in which Skype co-founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis will be leaving their posts.

About a half-billion dollars of the charge is for a payment to Zennström, Friis, and other early Skype investors. Although it might sound like a plump farewell present, that payout is well short of the $1.7 billion those shareholders stood to receive from eBay if Skype had met the targets for users, revenue, and profits set in the 2005 buyout agreement.

Considering Skype's rapid growth since the acquisition, it can't be an encouraging sign that its founders and early investors are cashing out well before the clock has run out on the original performance goals. When eBay bought Skype, it agreed to pay Skype shareholders as much as $1.7 billion extra if Skype met certain user growth and financial targets in 2008 and 2009. In accepting $530 million, those investors agreed to forgo any future payments, suggesting that none were likely. eBay plans to record that payment, plus $900 million more, as an impairment charge recorded in the third quarter.

The Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar provides several features for exploring and understanding Web pages. These features enable you to:

Explore and modify the document object model (DOM) of a Web page.
Locate and select specific elements on a Web page through a variety of techniques.
Selectively disable Internet Explorer settings.
View HTML object class names, ID's, and details such as link paths, tab index values, and access keys.
Outline tables, table cells, images, or selected tags.
Validate HTML, CSS, WAI, and RSS web feed links.
Display image dimensions, file sizes, path information, and alternate (ALT) text.
Immediately resize the browser window to a new resolution.
Selectively clear the browser cache and saved cookies.
Choose from all objects or those associated with a given domain.
Display a fully featured design ruler to help accurately align and measure objects on your pages.
Find the style rules used to set specific style values on an element.
View the formatted and syntax colored source of HTML and CSS.

The Developer Toolbar can be pinned to the Internet Explorer browser window or floated separately. Get it here!

There have been many questions about timing issues with AMD dual core. It seems that AMD is certainly working to address many of them with XP and 2003 server with these tools offered at the AMD site. Learn More

SYMPTOMS

Full Article

A vulnerability in Ask.com's toolbar for Internet Explorer could allow an attacker to take control of a person's computer, according to security advisories.

The problem concerns a buffer overflow flaw in the toolbar and involves an ActiveX control, according to an advisory posted by security vendor Secunia APS, which rated the problem as "highly critical," its second most severe rating. It affects version 4.0.2 of the toolbar and possibly others.

Proof-of-concept exploit code for the vulnerability has been publicly posted on other disclosure forums, with a person named "Joey Mengele" credited with finding the flaw. Ask.com officials contacted in London were not immediately available to comment.

The Ask.com toolbar sits below the address bar and can perform a variety of category-specific searches, such as weather information, stock quotes or search a person's desktop, as well as Web searching.

As of Tuesday afternoon local time, WabiSabi Labi Ltd., a Swiss company that specializes in selling vulnerability information, was still auctioning the Ask.com toolbar problem for a minimum of $705, although no bids were listed.

WabiSabi Labi's auctioning of security vulnerabilities has caused a stir among security analysts who believe software companies should be discreetly notified of vulnerabilities and allowed to patch the software so as to not put users in danger. The company maintains security researchers should be rewarded for their work.

The geographical regions are as follows:

REGION 1 -- USA, Canada
REGION 2 -- Japan, Europe, South Africa, Middle East, Greenland
REGION 3 -- S.Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Parts of South East Asia
REGION 4 -- Australia, New Zealand, Latin America (including Mexico)
REGION 5 -- Eastern Europe, Russia, India, Africa
REGION 6 -- China
REGION 7 -- Reserved for Unspecified Special Use
REGION 8 -- Persevered for Cruise Ships, Airlines, etc...
REGION 0 or REGION ALL -- Discs are uncoded and can be played Worldwide, however, PAL discs must be played in a PAL-compatible unit and NTSC discs must be played in an NTSC-compatible unit.

DVDs encoded for regions other than Region 1 cannot be played on a region 1 DVD player, also, players marketed for other regions cannot play region 1-stamped DVDs

Secure Notepad

Secure Notepad is a Notepad replacement that is (almost) identical to the original, but offers several additional security features. In addition to saving files with the standard .txt extension, you can choose the .etxt format, which allows you to encrypt your file with a password and additional key file. Furthermore, the program includes a handy fade-out feature that automatically fades the content of a text file to plain white if the Notepad window is not active.

Get It Here

The 8.0.2 update fixes the following two issues on both the Macintosh and Windows platforms.

SQL injections in web applications

The update updates server-side code generated by Dreamweaver to protect databases against SQL Injection.

Active content

The update fixes a problem with the code generated by Dreamweaver when it inserts active content such as a Flash file in a web page. In the latest versions of Internet Explorer, the generated code by Dreamweaver does not allow users to interact with the active content unless they click it. The update fixes the code generated by Dreamweaver so that users don’t have to click the active content. The update also provides a way to repair the code of existing pages with active content.

Learn More

ActiveServers, Inc. to Distribute SmarterTools Software

Markus Hahn of Coder's Lagoon offers this bit of freeware. We have put it through its paces and confirm it does a fantasic job. It makes a great free drive wipe tool as well.

One powerful file encryption and security tool for the Windows platform. As the successor of highly successful BFA97, Blowfish Advanced CS offers a bunch of new and improved features which are:

• Blowfish, Twofish, AES, RC4, TDES, Serpent, CAST
• Strong key support, handling and cryptography
• Fast: encrypts megabytes of data per second
• Data compression using LZSS, deflate and BZIP2
• Secure wiping of files and clearing of empty disk space
• Comfortable user interface with built-in file browser
• Easy working with encrypted files
• Complete integration into Windows Explorer
• Automation of daily routines by using job files
• Dozens of options to finetune the application
• Small: fits on half of the space of a floppy disk!
• Trustworthy: the complete source code is available
• Quick language switch (German and English)
• Runs on all Win32 versions, from 95 to Vista
• Personal Edition without any restrictions!

Check out the FAQ page, if you have further questions. You might want to read the change notes to get information about the latest features and fixes. Or just look at a screenshot.

If you want to give it a try, please download the installer:

Blowfish Advanced CS - Installer
(908 kB)

MD5: e1 40 82 3e ec 62 34 0f 1b 5f 3c b4 0e 63 ca 1f

For users who don't need or want an installer, who like to save some download time or who face problems with the regular installer here's the compact ZIP file version. Please follow the steps in README.TXT (or LIESMICH.TXT for German users):

Blowfish Advanced CS - Files Only
(614 kB)

MD5: 65 ed 16 da b0 96 4f 9b d8 6b 62 bd 5a 00 ab d9

The complete source code of Blowfish Advanced CS is available under the Apache 2.0 License. The application itself is written in Delphi and C/C++. Please check out the included BUILDING.TXT file for details about how to built, and LICENSE.TXT for the legal aspects.

Blowfish Advanced CS - Sourcecode
(1013 kB)

MD5: fb fb 6f 7e 5f 33 c8 60 42 e8 57 4f f3 72 22 99

The MPack toolkit has received a fair amount of media attention causing it to become one of the most desired Web browser exploit toolkits in the underground hacker scene. The original author was selling the MPack toolkit for $1000 USD, including a year of free support, and additional exploit modules for around $100 USD. Personally like the quote from the author when asked; Do you feel sorry for the people whose machines are infected by an attack? Well, I feel that we are just a factory producing ammunition. Now there is some logic for you!

However, considering the toolkit is written in a script language, it is easy to redistribute and modify. The toolkit is being sold by others now for as low as $150 USD. That is a whopping 85% off. Talk about clearance sale. The sellers likely didn't even need to buy it themselves, but rather probably found some of the multiple Web sites that did not employ standard Web site protections, allowing them to download the whole kit for free.

How it works is clearly outlined and Trend Micro does at least offer a method of discovery. What is odd with all the press about this organized criminal approach to fraud and thieft is governments, security firms, and anti virus companies of the world are doing very little. Now that the cat is out of the bag the variants will be haunting the world making the internet totally infested with poor ignorant users. As the list of variants grows each with its own twist on the base. What is at the core besides ignorance, is the social engineering part of this type of threat.

More details and articles on the topic. EWeek, Microsoft, BBC, Wikipedia

There are many marketing companies that promote web traffic to different Web pages, software installations, etc. They use what they call  'affiliate programs', paying money for every software installed or traffic generated. This web traffic is very assorted: activex, rogue-antispywares, bundles, banners, fakecodecs, iframes, etc.

Although some of these marketing enterprises can be well-intentioned, other have been specifically created by & for cybercriminals to earn money. Here we can see a gif file that was being used by one of these companies in order to advertise itself in an underground malware forum:

A short time ago, analyzing  a Trj/Sinowal variant (a banking Trojan) to discover where it was sending the information to, it was found one of these websites. It was discovered that this site had 4 different kits to install malware through exploits in the same server the page was hosted in:

There was an IcePack, a Traffic Pro, a Prime Exploit System, and a very basic kit that only used two exploits and had no name. These kits were downloading two Trojans: Trj/Galapoper and Trj/Sinowal. This is not the first time we see something similar. The web sites where they promote themselves use to be very eye-catching, here you can see some examples:

http://fantasticdollars.com/
http://iframe911.com/
http://www.iframebiz.com/
http://loads.cc/

What seems to be the solid theme throughout this whole deal is that most of the Trojan Variants are based on a kit called Mpack.

Growing up in rural Lacrosse, Wash., Robert Moore reached adolescence and discovered he was a high school misfit. Suffering from several ailments, including narcolepsy, Moore skipped playing sports, the normal path to small-town popularity.

He moved to Spokane, graduated from North Central High School and became skilled enough to land several jobs, including a project for one firm needing anti-spam software.

In 2005, a Florida man, Edwin Pena, found Moore's site and asked him to create a tool for detecting certain types of network computers that worked with a new technology, Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP.

About a year later, FBI agents showed up at Moore's north Spokane home and arrested him, charging him with federal wire fraud and computer hacking. They also arrested Pena in Miami. Pena, 25, jumped bail and fled the country and is believed to be living in South America.

Moore, now 23, was nabbed because he designed the software tools Pena used to bilk Internet phone companies of more than $1 million in unpaid VoIP phone charges.

Next month, Moore will begin serving two years in a federal prison at a site not yet revealed. The New Jersey federal judge who sentenced him also ordered Moore to pay $152,000 in restitution to victims of the scheme.

The case created international attention. It marked the first large-scale hacking of the VoIP system. Moore used his 12 home computers to find vulnerable network doorways, called ports.

He pleaded guilty to the charges, acknowledging his role but saying he was just a provider of information that Pena misused for personal gain.

"What I did was totally wrong, and I have to pay for it," Moore said. "But Edwin was the guy who stole the minutes and resold them. All I did was find passwords for (network computers) that he wanted to use."

Many who wrote about or discussed the VoIP break-in said Moore's use of fairly unsophisticated tools, coupled with some special software he designed, pointed out major security holes in many corporate networks.

Secure Computing back in June first reported, attackers are using a fake video link on the site to initiate infection with the Trojan, which bombards victims with porn adware, before installing data-stealing code.

To make matters worse, the only defence against such attacks on the popular video-hosting website is the diligence of YouTube's security personnel, who can remove attacks as soon as they find them. However, according to Secure Computing's Paul Henry, this gives the malware distributors a window of opportunity of at least a few hours.

It is a backdoor designed to give the attacker remote control over a compromised computer. It changes essential system settings and modifies certain files. Zlob starts automatically on every Windows startup and stays hidden in background. It waits for remote connections and allows the attacker to download and install additional software, execute certain commands and manage the entire system. Zlob can be very dangerous. Use antivirus and spyware removal tools in order to get rid of this parasite. Some of Zlobs versions pretend to be video codecs to attract people.

Kill processes:
msmsgs.exe pmsngr.exe kdqrn.exe 02.exe kdvhv.exe kdoaf.exe kdkwb.exe kdkat.exe kdlfk.exe kdefp.exe

Delete registry values:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\RegSvr32=%System%\msmsgs.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell=explorer.exe,msmsgs.exe
HKCU\Software\Internet Security\
HKCU\Software\HQvideo

Delete files:
msmsgs.exe isaddon.dll isamini.exe pmsngr.exe Programs\\Media-Codec\\ecodec.exe kdqrn.exe Temp\\02.exe kdvhv.exe Temp\\nsq3.tmp\\modern-header.bmp Temp\\nsq3.tmp\\nsExec.dll kdoaf.exe kdkwb.exe System\\kdkat.exe System\\kdlfk.exe System\\kdefp.exe

Almost 36 hours after a software problem caused widespread outages in eBay Inc.'s Skype service, engineers continue to work to fully restore this extremely popular Internet telephony and instant messaging service, while many business users deal with work disruptions.

Although steady progress was made throughout the day Friday, the problem, which has affected millions of Skype users, hasn't been fully fixed,

At midnight GMT Friday, an official provided the latest update on Skype's Heartbeat blog, saying that the sign-on problems have been resolved, but that the instant messaging presence and chat may take a few more hours to be fully operational for all.

"If you are one of the minority who may still be experiencing problems, please be patient. You do not need to adjust or restart your computer. Skype will start working for you very soon," wrote Villu Arak [cq]. "We will issue a further update when we know that Skype is functioning normally, or if there is further material news."

"The outage has had quite a profound effect on my working day, and has meant spending time setting up other chat clients and networking with colleagues via alternative means," Michael Pick, a freelance blogger and social media consultant, wrote in an e-mail interview Friday.

The partner event registration page of the Microsoft UK events website, has been defaced by a hacker who managed to discover and exploit a web application vulnerability in one of the parameters used by the form on the website, which could previously be accessed at:

http://www.microsoft.co.uk/events/net/eventdetail.aspx?eventid=8399 [taken offline]

The hacker, known by the name "rEmOtEr", managed to deface Microsoft’s page by taking advantage of an SQL Injection vulnerability in one of the parameters used by the form that was embedded in the URL of the page. This particular parameter was not being filtered, thus it allowed the hacker to pass any type of crafted code directly to the database being used by this form.

Full Article

Enable the Display of File Extensions in Vista:

1. Open a folder or open explorer
2. Click the Layout button (to the left of the Views button) as shown in the picture below.

3. Click Folder Options
4. Click the View tab
5. Uncheck Hide extensions for known file types
6. Click OK

Ok Backup just sucks in Vista so let's get a method to get a handle on things for free.

SyncToy 1.4 for Windows Vista is available as a free download from the Microsoft Download Center. The easy to use, customizable application helps you copy, move, rename, and delete files between folders and computers.

There are files from all kinds of sources that we want to store and manage. Files are created by our digital cameras, e-mail, cell phones, portable media players, camcorders, PDAs, and laptops. Increasingly, computer users are using different folders, drives, and even different computers (such as a laptop and a desktop) to store, manage, retrieve and view files. Yet managing hundreds or thousands of files is still largely a manual operation. In some cases it is necessary to regularly get copies of files from another location to add to primary location; in other cases there is a need to keep two storage locations exactly in sync. Some users manage files manually, dragging and dropping from one place to another and keeping track of whether the locations are synchronized in their heads. Other users may use two or more applications to provide this functionality.

Now there is an easier way. SyncToy, a free PowerToy for Microsoft Windows Vista, is an easy to use, highly customizable program that helps users to do the heavy lifting involved with the copying, moving, and synchronization of different directories. Most common operations can be performed with just a few clicks of the mouse, and additional customization is available without additional complexity. SyncToy can manage multiple sets of folders at the same time; it can combine files from two folders in one case, and mimic renames and deletes in another case. Unlike other applications, SyncToy actually keeps track of renames to files and will make sure those changes get carried over to the synchronized folder.

Get it Here: