by Milos Topic on January 20, 2010
I have recently moved my primary work laptop to 64-bit Windows 7 Enterprise and while I am overall pleased with the operating system (OS) I found that some apps which didn’t run on Vista don’t work on 7 either.
Some of those which I use frequently are Timbuktu Pro and a custom built application to manage user access permissions on our NetDrive storage solution (dependent on Novell Client). Since having access to both of these is important to me, on Vista I ran them inside a Virtual PC instance running Windows XP SP3. Now that I’m using Windows 7 the idea is basically the same but it has been implemented a bit differently.
Windows XP Mode is the tool of choice in 7, it runs an instance of XP (as the name indicates), but it is much better integrated with the OS itself. Boot up, usage, resource allocation, exchange of files between your primary OS and the virtual one is much smoother and more efficient this time around. Furthermore, unlike Virtual PC on Vista it doesn’t require a separate Windows XP license or media to install it. Simply, go and download Windows XP Mode, install it, then download Windows Virtual PC (both available from the same page), install it and you are in business.
Nicely done Microsoft.
by Milos Topic on January 19, 2010
While certainly not one of better security practices we are all guilty of saving passwords in Firefox (and other browsers of choice) for frequently visited websites. If you visit a particular site daily it is much more convenient to allow your web browser to save your user name and password for later use. This is fine as long as you use a master password and understand potential issues should you lose your computer or should its security be compromised in any way.
However, let me get back to the topic of this post, exporting and importing saved passwords from Firefox. This is a task you might want to do for several reasons such as moving your files to a new computer or reinstalling the operating system on your existing machine. Whatever the reason might be one of the easiest ways to export/import your passwords from/to Firefox is an add-on appropriately named, Password Exporter.
Password Exporter add-on for Firefox will export all saved passwords into an XML file and allow you to import the same at a later time. Once you have installed this add-on and restarted Firefox you will then be able to export/import your passwords by going to Tools –> Options… –> Security –> Import/Export Passwords.
IMPORTANT
If you allow a web browser to save passwords make sure you use a master password. Also, even more important, don’t save login credentials for financial institutions. Most banks don’t allow for this anyway since they don’t provide a login cookie, but if your bank does, opt against saving it.