In the past year, most customers are not fired up about one proven security measure I grew to appreciate in my Unix days: user versus root accounts. » More: XP User Accounts – Limited accounts are a hassle – why use them?
Archive for November, 2005
XP User Accounts – Limited accounts are a hassle – why use them?
November 22nd, 2005Files downloaded from web server get cut off
November 8th, 2005I recently had trouble after installing Panda Platinum Antivirus on my Apache webserver – any files that got downloaded were cut off at 128Kb.
The solution is here
Quote:
If you encounter problems running Apache 2 under Windows, such as corrupted or incomplete file downloads, unexplained error messages, or a conflict with a software firewall, please place the following directives in httpd.conf to see if they eliminate the issue:
EnableSendfile Off EnableMMAP Off Win32DisableAcceptEx
The general problem is that many people install various add-ons to windows (such as software firewalls, virus checkers, etc) that break some of the advanced functionality that Apache uses to speed the sending of files. The above directives turn off the advanced functionality and make Apache fall back to more basic (but slower) techniques
EndQuote
These directives fixed the problem once apache was stopped, then started up again.
Apache – htaccess password protected directories
November 5th, 2005#####Background
There are two files needed for to password protect directories in Apache – a .htaccess file and a password file.
This is a rudimentary solution – simple and effective security measure to password protect a portion(s) of a site.
This tutorial is written for windows users – however this method and format will work on any system Apache is installed. Unless the login and password authentication is running over SSL or TLS, your login, password, and any other information is sent as plain text. Any network sniffer can capture this information – especially easy over wireless with no security or using WEP. You have been warned.
#####Setup
* `.htaccess` – tells apache certain directives for a directory. Here it will authenticate users with a specific password file. The .htaccess file goes in the directory you want to protect. You can place copies of it anywhere you want login/password security – as long as an absolute path for the password file is used. Any directive that has spaces must be enclosed in “quotes like this”, as is done below for AuthName and AuthUserFile.
* `password.file` – the file with the users and hashed password
#####Usage
The file `.htaccess` needs to be created at the command line in Windows. Windows explorer will say `.htaccess` is not a valid file name. One can use notepad/wordpad/etc to edit the file.
AuthType Basic AuthName "Directory Access" AuthUserFile "C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\etc\passwd.txt" require valid-user
* `passwd.txt` file: This file can be called anything, I used `passwd.txt`.
* `htpasswd.exe` added block characters to the file, I removed them using text editor. The “/” will work in windows for directories. htpasswd runs at the command line.
C:\APACHE\BIN>htpasswd -c ../etc/passwd.txt bert Automatically using MD5 format. New password: mypassword Re-type new password: mypassword Adding password for user bert C:\APACHE\BIN>htpasswd ../etc/passwd.txt ernie Automatically using MD5 format. New password: hispasswd Re-type new password: hispasswd Adding password for user ernie
Uncomment the line containing `LoadModule` in `httpd.conf` so it looks as below
LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so
Put the `.htaccess` file in the directory(ies) to be secured and you are set.
Panda Antivirus Control Panel -enable and settings keys greyed out
November 4th, 2005Panda Antivirus Control Panel -enable and settings keys greyed out
I ran into this with a a customer – turned out the issue was remaining pieces of Norton Internet Security was killing the Panda config script iface.exe.
Solution: use rnav.exe at Microsoft’s site or find it at Symantec.com
After this, Panda should work – or else reboot and if necessary reinstall Panda.
Internet Explorer cannot access the internet
November 4th, 2005First see if your internet connection is up – can you use windows update or Mozilla/Yahoo Chat/MSN Messenger to access anything on the net? Click on the “refresh” key on your browser to ensure its not pulling up a cached page. » More: Internet Explorer cannot access the internet