Decayed & Abandoned

Recently, while driving with Michael to my parent’s farm in Sterling I had plenty of time for reflection.  As we passed through places like Last Chance, Atwood, Woodrow and Hillrose, I saw many homes dead and abandoned.  The family farm or ranch bought out by corporations with the decaying dwellings of the former owners left to time.  I realized just how true that the family farm and ranch is slowly coming to an end.  I saw further signs of the times with makeshift signs for Sheriff’s on farm trucks, and gas stations turned into homes.

I  also realized, as a virtual assistant, how blessed I am to be working in such a way that my geography literally doesn’t matter, as long as I have an internet connection and phones (which I can get online).  In this economy, a virtual assistant can thrive because of the abundance of work.  Knowing the abundance of work comes from the fact that many of our clients have let go staff is a bitter knowledge, but one that must be accepted. The work must still be done.

I realized that these tiny places like Last Chance which didn’t even have a gas station, could still house a thriving virtual assistant.  That Woodrow, with its handful of buildings, could still be a hub of activity.

As virtual assistants we are blessed to be able to both have a viable career, and extremely satisfying life.

I for one, am truly grateful for this industry.

Kathy Ritchie, ~thebestva

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Microsoft Security Advisory (2286198)

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/2286198.mspx

Disable the displaying of icons for shortcuts

Note Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk. For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys And Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or view the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe.

1.	Click Start, click Run, type Regedit in the Open box, and then click OK
2.	Locate and then click the following registry key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile\shellex\IconHandler
3.	Click the File menu and select Export
4.	In the Export Registry File dialog box, enter LNK_Icon_Backup.reg and click Save Note This will create a backup of this registry key in the My Documents folder by default

Impact of workaround.Disabling icons from being displayed for shortcuts prevents the issue from being exploited on affected systems. When this workaround is implemented, shortcut files and Internet Explorer shortcuts will no longer have an icon displayed.

Disable the WebClient service

Disabling the WebClient service helps protect affected systems from attempts to exploit this vulnerability by blocking the most likely remote attack vector through the Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) client service. After applying this workaround, it will still be possible for remote attackers who successfully exploited this vulnerability to cause Microsoft Office Outlook to run programs located on the targeted user's computer or the Local Area Network (LAN), but users will be prompted for confirmation before opening arbitrary programs from the Internet.

To disable the WebClient Service, follow these steps:

Impact of workaround. When the WebClient service is disabled, Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) requests are not transmitted. In addition, any services that explicitly depend on the Web Client service will not start, and an error message will be logged in the System log. For example, WebDAV shares will be inaccessible from the client computer.

These were the official Microsoft workarounds.

However, there seems to exist also another solution: deploying a GPO that denies running the executable files from all but C drive. This should solve the problem, however, it could be largely uncomfortable (but safe) for users and is recommended only for experienced administrators.

Thanks to Peter Gramantik