Tag: copy_files

Turn Off Hidden Shares

With all the attention that spyware, phishing, e-mails, and corporate hackers get on any given day, we mustn’t forget that good ol’ Windows itself can be the source of a security hole. It turns out that Vista has a back door that could permit someone else to read any file on your hard drive, and the same problem exists in Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP. But don’t expect a fix anytime soon. This bug is a “feature.”

Before you can copy files from one PC to another on your network, you need to share the folder containing the files. That’s contrary to conventional wisdom, which holds that you should share only those folders you want made public and keep everything else unshared.

Enter Administrative Shares, which let network administrators perform maintenance remotely. The feature—which is turned on by default works by sharing your entire hard drive, and then hiding the share by adding a $ character as a suffix. But unless you’re in a corporate environment, you have nothing to gain by leaving this back door open and everything to lose. Read More»

Posted in Windows Vista, Windows XP | 1 Comment »

Tricks When Opening/Saving Files (Windows)

Did you know that the Open Dialog Box, and the Save Dialog Box that are common to most Windows programs contain much of the functionality of the Windows Explorer? The window pane that shows the list of files available to open (or to overwrite) is essentially a miniature Explorer, and as with Windows Explorer, there are a myriad of viewing and sorting features available. You can even do things like delete files, rename files, copy files to the clipboard, and more.

The default display is list view, but it can be changed icon views, the detail view, and even the thumbnail view. In the details view, the columns can be sorted. Most of the functions that are available in the context menu of the Windows Explorer are also available here. Read More»

Posted in Windows Vista, Windows XP | No Comments »