Monthly Archives: May 2014

9 posts

Open source encryption tool TrueCrypt recommends user to switch to BitLocker

Embed from Getty Images The web site of the popular open source encryption tool TrueCrypt suddenly disappeared and visitors are redirected to a SourceForge page with this note: “WARNING: Using TrueCrypt is not secure as it may contain unfixed security issues”, and the web site also mentions that the development of TrueCrypt was ended in 05/2014 after Microsoft ended the support for Windows XP, but the web site does not give any reason why the development of […]

HP 7 plus tablet out of stock

Within weeks of the release, HP 7 Plus tablet was already sold out. HP 7 Plus running on Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 is a low-end tablet with low-end hardware, and some people criticized that this tablet is cheap and shabby, but in my opinion, with a price tag of less than $100, this tablet is very impressive and is a perfect gift for young kids: you will not feel so heart-broken when your kid accidentally […]

Duplicate headers received from server

This error is very common to ASP.NET developers. If you have a web application that generates some file on the fly then prompts the user to download the file, then you may encounter “duplicate headers received from server” error. Most likely the web application will use Response.AddHeader() method to push the file to the browser for downloading, something like this: Response.AddHeader(“Content-Disposition”, “attachment;filename=” + outputFileName ); If the variable outputFileName contains comma, then you will get […]

Are you ready to switch to Linux?

The official support for Microsoft Windows XP ended one month ago, and if you are still using Windows XP, then you really should either upgrade to Windows 7 or higher, or switch to another OS. You may have been recommended to switch to Linux, but the question is “are you ready to switch to Linux”? Linux is an excellent open source operating system and can replace Windows for sure, but Linux is not for everyone to […]

Some companies still don’t allow complex password

Different company may have different password requirements, and there is no universal password guideline to follow. However, there are some common best practice for creating strong and complex passwords.For example, the commonly accepted minimum length of password is 8 characters, but more and more companies suggest or require more than 12 characters. Strong passwords should mix lowercase letters with uppercase letters, and contain numbers as well. Another important component of a strong password is to […]

How to create a secure password that you can remember – part two

In my previous post, I shared some tips on creating a strong and secure password in an easy way. Let me recap the steps just in case you forgot. 1. Choose a phrase (about 12-14 characters long without space) that is only known to you, for example, “Ilovepancake!”. 2. Capitalize the first letter of each word, in this case,  “l”->”L”, “p”->”P”. 3. Replace some letters with numbers or special characters, for example, “o”->”0″(number zero), “a”->”@”, […]

How to create a secure password that you can remember – part one

Among all the existing and developing authentication methods, the username/password combination is still the most commonly used and very effective way to authenticate user. You need password to access your email, your social media account, your bank account, your credit card account, etc. Among all the passwords of yours, which password do you think is the most important? In my opinion, the most important password is the password of your primary email account (if you […]

DropBox disabled shared links due to vulnerability

If you are a DropBox customer, you may have noticed your shared link does not work any more. It has nothing to do with you, and it is because DropBox disabled all shared links due to a recently discovered vulnerability that may give other people access to files via shared link without consent. What does it mean? DropBox users can share files or folders in their DropBox, but only those people who know the shared […]

Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides are stand-alone apps now

Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides have been part of Google Drive since the launch of Google Drive app, but not any more. On Wednesday, the last day of April, Google announced Google Docs and Sheets  will not be bundled in Google Drive (Slides will soon be the same), instead they will be stand-alone apps and users will need to install separately. If you haven’t installed them, when you try to open a document or spreadsheet, […]