When attackers take advantage of an exploit, one of their first goals is to gain superuser (root or administrator) access to the compromised system. If the compromised process is already running with ...

People who have had bad experiences on Windows disks that performed poorly after they had become very fragmented often wonder if they need to apply some kind of periodic analysis and defragmentation ...

There are many ways to move files between Unix and Windows. In my mind, they fall into three categories — secure copy (let’s not even think about ftp), shared drives, and file synchronization. Each ...

As a rule, we at CIO believe that talented people faced with cutting-edge opportunities should go for them. Occasionally, however, the cutting edge looks a little too sharp and the yellow light goes ...

One of the problems that seems to plague nearly all file systems — Unix and others — is the continuous buildup of files. Almost no one takes the time to clean out files that they no longer use and ...

The “What’s the difference between UNIX and Linux?” question can be answered similar to the analogy section that many of us had to complete on the SAT test; UNIX is to DOS as Linux is to Windows. That ...

Unix is one of the IT world’s few living legends. It has been in continuous use since its birth in 1969 and its storied past is like that of a nation: Inept rulers brought it to the brink of ruin, a ...

Microsoft released MS-DOS, a DOS-based operating system, in August 1981, and Windows 1.0 in November 1985. They then co-developed OS/2 with IBM as a successor to DOS, but the project ran into ...

What defines an operating system isn’t a geeky label or a collection of ramblings from the mouths of its community members. Nor is it some empty and pointless certification offered up by an obscure ...