Virtual Memory

The most simple and comprehensive definition of virtual memory can be found on wikipedia, it states that Virtual memory is a computer system technique which gives an application program the impression that it has contiguous working memory, while in fact it may be physically fragmented and may even overflow on to disk storage. Systems that use this technique make programming of large applications easier and use real physical memory (e.g. RAM) more efficiently than those without virtual memory.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_memory
Information: Virtual Memory is always in use, even when the memory required by all running processes does not exceed the amount of RAM installed on the system.
How do I know the recommended virtual memory size? It’s easy, its 150 percent of the available RAM size…
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555223

Maximum size for virtual memory on 32-bit OS is 4GB, and in 64-bit OS is 16TB.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/294418

Applying Computer Settings

In a windows 2003 environment were frontend backend setting is applied for exchange server for example, the booting phase where the message “Applying computer settings” appears, during this message the server will try to reach the local DNS, if for some reason that wasn’t possible the server will enter a coma and will never wake up to give you the login screen.
During my search on the internet when I first ran into this problem, all article suggested that APC UPS battery agent is the reason for the coma, while in fact I don’t have that installed because I have a centralized UPS for all the servers room and not per server, that was a dilemma since I couldn’t think of something else, I started troubleshooting the server from safe mode which actually worked, the server will reach the login screen and bypass the coma phase.
After testing various settings for some time I discovered that unplugging the network cable from the server then booting up will make the server bypass the coma and will reach the login screen, the only obvious reason was that the server looked for the DNS and couldn’t establish a logical connection, while when removing the Ethernet cable it sever the physical connection to the LAN forcing the server to use its cash which enabled the server to bypass the coma.

What makes a strong password

To an attacker, a strong password should appear to be a random string of characters. The following criteria can help your passwords do so:
Make it lengthy Each character that you add to your password increases the protection that it provides many times over. Your passwords should be 8 or more characters in length; 14 characters or longer is ideal.
Many systems also support use of the space bar in passwords, so you can create a phrase made of many words (a "pass phrase"). A pass phrase is often easier to remember than a simple password, as well as longer and harder to guess.
Combine letters, numbers, and symbols. The greater variety of characters that you have in your password, the harder it is to guess. Other important specifics include:
The fewer types of characters in your password, the longer it must be. A 15-character password composed only of random letters and numbers is about 33,000 times stronger than an 8-character password composed of characters from the entire keyboard. If you cannot create a password that contains symbols, you need to make it considerably longer to get the same degree of protection. An ideal password combines both length and different types of symbols.
Use the entire keyboard, not just the most common characters. Symbols typed by holding down the "Shift" key and typing a number are very common in passwords. Your password will be much stronger if you choose from all the symbols on the keyboard, including punctuation marks not on the upper row of the keyboard, and any symbols unique to your language.
Use words and phrases that are easy for you to remember, but difficult for others to guess. The easiest way to remember your passwords and pass phrases is to write them down. Contrary to popular belief, there is nothing wrong with writing passwords down, but they need to be adequately protected in order to remain secure and effective.
In general, passwords written on a piece of paper are more difficult to compromise across the Internet than a password manager, Web site, or other software-based storage tool, such as password managers.
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/privacy/password.mspx

TCP/IP binding to NIC

It’s amazing how missing binding of TCP/IP to a network interface would not affect the connectivity or speed or even data transfer, but on the other hand it will play a big role in the process of joining a domain controller, it will start giving error messages about how the format of the specified network name is invalid, but still you get to authenticate to active directory, after viewing Microsoft TechNet to find more about this subject, I found the following article that describes in details the process of binding TCP/IP to NIC http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/reskit/w2000Msgs/3855.mspx?mfr=true

GFI EndPoints Security

While browsing for a software that will give me the capability to control jump drives access, I stumbled upon GFI EndPoints security, in the past I’ve used GFI tools to have better control over ISA servers using GFI WebMonitor, therefore I trusted that any GFI tool will WAW me, after I downloaded the trial version and read the user manual, I was amazed by the simplicity and diversity of this amazing control tool, it authenticated to active directory and run as a service… that’s all I needed to know to completely rely on this truly amazing tool, although one can use group policy to control peripheral access without the need of any third party tools, but using GFI is just simple and time effective.

Virus and Xware Scanners doesn’t remove infection?

If your machine is ever infected by a virus of some kind, and the virus scanner you have identified it but couldn’t delete it, then the virus have attributes, so all you have to do is to clear the attributes on the virus and then delete it manually if you want, attributes can be A (archive) S (system) R (read only) H (hidden)…
Use DOS commands to clear the attribute(s) of the virus… use attrib then minus switch then the attribute type, for more help on that refer to DOS and type attrib /?
This doesn’t apply to xware all the time, sometimes xware are processes that are running, which means also scanners can’t delete them, so find there process in task manager… kill it and then find the file which is most likely in the prefetch folder under windows…
Each virus or xware is unique and the above may or may not apply.