Review your Event Logs

I was just browsing my event log and found the following entry in system:

Remote session from client name a exceeded the maximum allowed failed logon attempts. The session was forcibly terminated.

This normally would not be a concern except I've the message was logged every minute or so.  After further review I see that this has been going on for the last 3 months! (as far back as my event goes)

Clearly someone is trying to hack into my computer through the Remote Desktop Service.  I do have a forwarding rule in my ISP's router that forwards port 3389 to my desktop.  Being as 3389 is the default port for remote desktop, I guess I should not be surprised that this was happening.

So what did I do?  I changed the default RDP port.  Yes, that's right "Security by obscurity"  Not the preferred solution but it should slow down the attacks.

I updated the forwarding rule in the ISP router/firewall and updated my desktop RDP port using http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306759  The desktop computer firewall also had to modified to support the new port.  The firewall rule for RDP on port 3389 is locked  so I just created a new one for the new port.

I also changed the Local Security Policy's Account Lockout Policy to 3 attempts and 30 minutes to reset.    This should slow someone down as well.

Luckily I have a strong password according to http://www.passwordmeter.com/

Score:	79%
Complexity:	Strong

So I suggest you do take some time to review your event logs.  It's surprising what you might learn.

Some important Google Chrome Add-Ons

Google Chrome has been released more than two years ago and it's the browser of choice for many people. Despite having won hearts for its speed and elegance, Google Chrome does have some minor flaws that you might want to fix. Here are some of them:

1. No confirmation when closing multiple tabs

Google Chrome does't show a warning when you close a window with multiple tabs. If you accidentally close Chrome windows, you can install Chrome Toolbox. The next time you close many tabs, you'll at least get a warning.

2. Basic history page

Google Chrome's history page is pretty basic and you can't restrict the list to a certain time interval.
The History 2 extension comes to the rescue by allowing you to sort web pages based on the day/week you visited them. History

2 allows you to delete multiple items from your history page at the click of a button – something that's not possible by default.

3. Missing image properties

There's no way to quickly examine an image when you're in Chrome. Fortunately, you can install Image Properties Context Menu, an extension that lets you right-click on an image and find information about the image size, location, dimensions and more.

4. No support for feeds

Chrome simply doesn't recognize RSS feeds and all you get is a page with gibberish text. If you install the RSS Subscription extension developed by Google, you can quickly subscribe to any feed using Google Reader, iGoogle, Bloglines or My Yahoo.

5. You can't send a web page by email

While other popular browsers allow you to quickly send any web page you're viewing by email, such an option is nowhere to be found in Google Chrome.
Worry not, because you can create a simple Javascript bookmarklet to open your default email program with the current URL. If Gmail is what you use, you can alternatively install the Send from Gmail extension to send the web page to Gmail.

6. No session manger

Closing Google Chrome and reopening it does not restore previously opened tabs. In order to do that, go to the Options dialog and enable Reopen tabs that were open last.
If you want advanced session saving options like the ability to create multiple sessions, try the Session Buddy addon for Google Chrome.

7. You can't switch to a tab from the Omnibox

Firefox 4 lets you switch to any open tab by typing relevant words into the address bar. If you'd like to see a similar feature in Chrome, install theSwitch To Tab extension.
The next time you have too many open tabs, just type sw followed by some words from the page. Hitting Enter switches to the tab that's listed as the first match.

And as a bonus, on You Tube you can not set you’re preferred stream to HD.  Get the Auto HD for YouTube

Enjoy.

Reviewing ReactiveUI

I am reviewing the ReactiveUI code now and I have to say it’s some of the coolest code I’ve seen in a while!

I really like the base ReactiveValidatedObject class for building ViewModels.  The view models become so much easier for validation and INotifyPropertyChanged:

string _Name;
[Required]
[StringLength(35, MinimumLength = 3, ErrorMessage = "Names have to be between 3 and 35 letters long")]
public string Name {
    get { return _Name; }
    set { _Name = this.RaiseAndSetIfChanged(x => x.Name, value); }
}

The MemoizingMRUCache class looks very handy and I also like how the logging is accomplished.

The sample that comes with it has great comments and I learned more about MEF in the process.

It has a Ruby feel to with with a rake build script.

I have so much more to review.

we hatez your browser or how not to design web sites in 2011!

While visiting the www.MVA.Maryland.gov website I discovered the following message:

The eMVA store is not available to Google Chrome users. Please use another browser.


In the words of Jar Jar... "how rude"