Using Vista? Then I highly recommend getting a decent 1GB+ thumb drive, and use it for ReadyBoost; while the FAQ says 256MB is enough, for best performance I’d shoot for more. There is little difference under normal operation, it’s under high loads that ReadyBoost really shines.
On my main PC (with 1GB RAM), I would see fairly frequent freezes when several applications were open (primarily when memory utilization passed 80%). With a minor upgrade to 1.5GB RAM, and a 1GB thumb-drive* for ReadyBoost, the system became much more stable. This may be among the best new features in Vista.
I’ve frequently blasted Vista for the poor performance compared to XP, but with a few tweaks, it runs quite well.
- These drives (SanDisk Cruzer Mirco U3) work well, once to get the drivers working properly. If possible, pick a different drive; these are a pain at times.
I installed Vista last night twice; the first was an upgrade from XP Pro on my laptop, the other a fresh install on my desktop. The experience was quite interesting for both; here are a few thoughts about the process:
Laptop My laptop has a fairly modest configuration, 1.73GHz Pentium M, 512MB, 80GB hard-drive, and Mobil Intel 915 64MB for the graphics. It’s been running Windows XP Pro, last night I went through the upgrade process to Vista Business.
Like many in this field, I am always looking for ways to improve my workflow, improve my productivity, achieve more. Part of this is evaluating new tools that help me get work done, tools that become critical to my process. While looking at something that could be useful, I had a startling realization — but there are a couple of things I’d like to cover first.
Supporting What You Love I always try to pay for things that make my life better and support businesses that give me real value.
The last release of YAWAST was on January 1, 2020; while the release history was sometimes unpredictable, the goal was a new release each month with new features and bug fixes. I intentionally took January off from the project. In February, I left the company I was at; the team of penetration testers there had helped to inspire new features while looking for ways to make them more productive. But something else happened in February, an issue was opened – something that appeared to be simple, but in fact, made me realize that the entire project was in doubt.
During a recent discussion about the DarkMatter CA on a Mozilla mailing list, it was found that their 64-bit serial numbers weren’t actually 64 bits, and it opened a can of worms. It turns out that the serial number was effectively 63 bits, which is a violation of the CA/B Forum Baseline Requirements that state it must contain 64 bits of output from a secure random number generator (CSPRNG). As a result of this finding, 2,000,000 certificates or more may need to be replaced by Google, Apple, GoDaddy and various others.
I really enjoy what I do, and though I work in a chaotic environment, I really do love my job. Being in the Software Development industry has some really nice perks, being a developer in today’s world really is a great thing. Development isn’t easy though, it is quite mentally demanding; clear focus is of paramount importance. Without absolute focus, progress will only be a dream. This fact is a key player as to what makes being in this industry so great.
