Easybits, get off my computer now!

I have discovered on my desktop a shortcut icon to something called GameXN, a program which was installed unbeknownst to me. After some research I found out that this is the "game go organizer" or whatever that is called, a software product coming from Easybits (there is no link here, therefore no free publicity),  a Norwegian Company based in Oslo, developing the "Skype game channel". What in the world?! Who asked for games? This might have happened while I opened Skype the last time. Can we trust any messages or prompts that pop up in familiar applications any longer. No wonder Skype users are or were riled. My installation took place only a week ago. Look and see if you have a folder called C:\ProgramData\GameXN, then uninstall it, if you did not request that installation.

Credential Manager is a nice security feature but it could be puzzling too

Credential Manager, a security feature previously introduced in Windows Vista, now improved, allows you to store credentials, such as user names and passwords that you use to log on to websites or other computers on a network. In the search box (available when clicking on "Star" or when pressing the "Windows Key", to the left of ALT) type 'credential' and then click on "Credential Manager" when it appears. Same as "Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Credential Manager." If you are connected to a network you should be able to see the computers you usually interact with listed in the Windows Credentials section. There is however a puzzling entry in the Generic Credentials section called virtualapp/didlogical which appears to a puzzle for a lot of folks on the Internet, including myself. In Channel 9, people behind the scenes at Microsoft, somebody asks: can someone ​at ​Microsoft ​confirm, ​whether the ​"virtualapp​/didlogical" ​entry in ​the ​Credential ​Manager was ​created by ​Windows ​Live?...

The oversimplification that wishes to sell

You just need to visit the blogosphere on any given day to find oversimplified "reviews" about Windows security in general, not just in Windows 7, on which fanatics of other operating systems base their prejudices against Microsoft ... usually born from having used Windows 98 and, maybe, maximum XP and nothing else. The latest one, proclaiming that Windows 7 [is] vulnerable to 8 out of 10 viruses, which also got an echo in the usual ZDNet blog (see post below) by the same security merchants, er, "evangelists", concludes that "you still need to run anti-virus on Windows 7" (duh!). It is more than just running an antivirus program and following the prompts of the User Access Control (UAC) mechanisms: you need to "make sure you're taking advantage of all the ways that Windows can help keep your computer as secure and safe as possible" following the security checklist for Windows 7, as suggested by Microsoft. There is nothing wrong with selling antivirus software, except when it is offered under the guise of a study or a test.
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SMB 2.0 vulnerability does not affect Windows 7

Microsoft, upon investigation of new public reports of a possible vulnerability in the Server Message Block (SMB) implementation, has released an update (dated 18 September 2009) that includes information on the easy way to disable SMB 2.0, a first exploit for code execution released to small number of companies, ways that help prevent attacks, and the status of fixes. The original advisory 975497, published 12 days ago, warned about vulnerabilities in SMB that could allow remote code execution, which could indeed happen only with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, BUT NOT with Windows 7, as it was wrongfully reported (not surprisingly by a "security evangelist" working for an Internet security company. I can't help but wonder, is this just the first time?). SMB 2.0, of which CIFS—Common Internet File System is a "dialect"—is the file sharing protocol used by Windows-based computers and this new version is included in Windows Server 2008 and Vista as part of core networking improvements.