Answer Description

Reliability Monitor is an application available in some Windows operating systems that will show a timeline of events recorded by Windows. This includes security warnings, application failures and other informational messages. Using Reliability Monitor you can view when the application crashed, error/crash details and try to identify a pattern or cause for the crashes.

Answer Description

Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a tool that provides an encrypted secure tunnel between two networks or between a client device and a network. Enterprises use VPNs to allow secure connection of mobile devices like laptops and smart devices to the internal company network. Typically when you are in a company office a VPN will not be needed, but when you are working from a coffee shop or from home then a VPN can give you secure access to company servers and systems.

Wikipedia

A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network. The benefits of a VPN include increases in functionality, security, and management of the private network. It provides access to resources that are inaccessible on the public network and is typically used for remote workers. Encryption is common, although not an inherent part of a VPN connection.A VPN is created by establishing a virtual point-to-point connection through the use of dedicated circuits or with tunneling protocols over existing networks. A VPN available from the public Internet can provide some of the benefits of a wide area network (WAN). From a user perspective, the resources available within the private network can be accessed remotely.

Answer Description

Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) is a special boot type that downloads an image from a server on the network. Fixed Drive is a boot type that uses an internal HDD or SSD. eSata is a type of external drive attachment. FTP is a protocol for transferring files and not a boot type.

Wikipedia

In computing, the Preboot eXecution Environment, PXE (most often pronounced as pixie, often called PXE Boot/pixie boot.) specification describes a standardized client–server environment that boots a software assembly, retrieved from a network, on PXE-enabled clients. On the client side it requires only a PXE-capable network interface controller (NIC), and uses a small set of industry-standard network protocols such as DHCP and TFTP. The concept behind the PXE originated in the early days of protocols like BOOTP/DHCP/TFTP, and as of 2015 it forms part of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) standard. In modern data centers, PXE is the most frequent choice for operating system booting, installation and deployment.

Answer Description

/Applications is the location of most applications installed on Mac OSX and macOS. C:\Program Files\ and C:\Program Files (x86)\ are similar folders on Windows OS editions. Linux operating systems can greatly vary, but on many you can find many applications at /usr/bin.

Answer Description

The pwd (Print Working Directory) command will display the user's current directory. The ls command will display the contents of the current directory.

Wikipedia

In Unix-like and some other operating systems, the pwd command (print working directory) writes the full pathname of the current working directory to the standard output.

Answer Description

NSLOOKUP will return the IP Address of a domain name by querying a computers assigned DNS Servers for the information. NSLOOKUP is well known as a Windows command but can be used on some Unix based systems as well.

Wikipedia

nslookup (from name server lookup) is a network administration command-line tool for querying the Domain Name System (DNS) to obtain the mapping between domain name and IP address, or other DNS records.

Answer Description

An Unattended installation can be used to install Windows 10 without the usual user interface and configuration wizard. This is done by creating a new installer with an answer file which is used to configure the install without prompting the user to answer questions.

Answer Description

Chrome OS is a proprietary operating system made by Google. It is mostly used on laptops known as Chromebooks. Android is not proprietary, the OS and it's source code can be found online for free. Many Android editions exist, some made by Google some made by others like Samsung or online communities.

Wikipedia

Chrome OS (sometimes styled as chromeOS) is a proprietary Linux-based operating system designed by Google. It is derived from the open-source Chromium OS and uses the Google Chrome web browser as its principal user interface. Google announced the project, then based on Ubuntu, in July 2009, conceiving it as an operating system in which both applications and user data reside in the cloud: hence Chrome OS primarily runs web applications. Source code and a public demo came that November. The first Chrome OS laptop, known as a Chromebook, arrived in May 2011. Initial Chromebook shipments from Samsung and Acer occurred in July 2011. Chrome OS has an integrated media player and file manager. It supports Progressive Web Apps and Chrome Apps; these resemble native applications, as well as remote access to the desktop. As more Chrome OS machines have entered the market, the operating system is now seldom evaluated apart from the hardware that runs it.Android applications started to become available for the operating system in 2014, and in 2016, access to Android apps in Google Play's entirety was introduced on supported Chrome OS devices. Support for a Linux terminal and applications, known as Project Crostini, was released to the stable channel in 2018 with Chrome OS 69. This was made possible via a lightweight Linux kernel that runs containers inside a virtual machine.

Answer Description

The Windows Performance Monitor is used to check the state of resource usage and should be used as part of the process of verifying that additional resources are required.

Wikipedia

Performance Monitor (known as System Monitor in Windows 9x, Windows 2000 and Windows XP) is a system monitoring program introduced in Windows NT 3.1. It monitors various activities on a computer such as CPU or memory usage. This type of application may be used to determine the cause of problems on a local or remote computer by measuring the performance of hardware, software services, and applications.In Windows 9x, System Monitor is not installed automatically during Windows setup, but could be installed manually using the Add/Remove Programs applet, located in the Control Panel. It has few counters available and offers little in the way of customization. In contrast, the Windows NT Performance Monitor is available out-of-the-box and has over 350 performance measurement criteria (called "counters") available. Performance Monitor can display information as a graph, a bar chart, or numeric values and can update information using a range of time intervals. The categories of information that can be monitored depends on which networking services are installed, but they always include file system, kernel, and memory manager. Other possible categories include Microsoft Network Client, Microsoft Network Server, and protocol categories. In Windows 2000, the System Monitor of Windows 9x and the Performance Monitor of Windows NT 4 and earlier, as well as another program called Network Monitor, were merged into a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) plug-in called Performance, which consisted of two parts: "System Monitor" and "Performance Logs and Alerts". The "System Monitor" naming was kept in Windows XP. Some third-party publications referred

Answer Description

Some malware, known as Rogue antivirus or Rogue security software, will pretend to be antivirus software in an attempt to trick users into paying a fee to remove malware. Most likely it will just install more malicious software or do nothing (after charging the user of course).

Wikipedia

Rogue security software is a form of malicious software and internet fraud that misleads users into believing there is a virus on their computer and aims to convince them to pay for a fake malware removal tool that actually installs malware on their computer. It is a form of scareware that manipulates users through fear, and a form of ransomware. Rogue security software has been a serious security threat in desktop computing since 2008. An early example that gained infamy was SpySheriff and its clones.

Answer Description

Tailgaiting is when an unauthorized person "tails" an authorized person through a secured entryway without the authorized person's knowledge.

Wikipedia

In security, piggybacking, similar to tailgating, refers to when a person tags along with another person who is authorized to gain entry into a restricted area, or pass a certain checkpoint. It can be either electronic or physical. The act may be legal or illegal, authorized or unauthorized, depending on the circumstances. However, the term more often has the connotation of being an illegal or unauthorized act.To describe the act of an unauthorized person who follows someone to a restricted area without the consent of the authorized person, the term tailgating is also used. "Tailgating" implies no consent (similar to a car tailgating another vehicle on a road), while "piggybacking" usually implies consent of the authorized person.Piggybacking came to the public's attention particularly in 1999, when a series of weaknesses were exposed in airport security. A study showed that the majority of undercover agents attempting to pass through checkpoints, bring banned items on planes, or board planes without tickets, were successful. Piggybacking was revealed as one of the methods that was used in order to enter off-limits areas.

Answer Description

Microsoft Active Directory is a directory service for organizing user accounts, servers and client operating systems. Additionally it provides helpful features like enforcing password policies, running login scripts, applying user account restrictions and much more.

Wikipedia

Active Directory (AD) is a directory service developed by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. It is included in most Windows Server operating systems as a set of processes and services. Initially, Active Directory was used only for centralized domain management. However, Active Directory eventually became an umbrella title for a broad range of directory-based identity-related services.A server running the Active Directory Domain Service (AD DS) role is called a domain controller. It authenticates and authorizes all users and computers in a Windows domain type network, assigning and enforcing security policies for all computers, and installing or updating software. For example, when a user logs into a computer that is part of a Windows domain, Active Directory checks the submitted username and password and determines whether the user is a system administrator or normal user. Also, it allows management and storage of information, provides authentication and authorization mechanisms and establishes a framework to deploy other related services: Certificate Services, Active Directory Federation Services, Lightweight Directory Services, and Rights Management Services.Active Directory uses Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) versions 2 and 3, Microsoft's version of Kerberos, and DNS.

Answer Description

Most likely your email has been compromised or hijacked. Malicious actors often compromise or purchase compromised emails so they can send links to viruses or phishing websites to that email's contact list. Because the emails come from a real account they are often trusted by the recipients, leading them to click links that ask them for usernames, passwords or to download some malicious application.

Answer Description

Android is a mobile operating system that uses a custom Linux kernel. You can imagine a kernel as the brain of an operating system. The type of kernel used in an OS determines what type of OS it is. Linux flavors use a Linux kernel, Windows editions use the Windows NT kernel, iOS and macOS use Apple's XNU kernel (XNU itself is based on Unix). Easy right?

Wikipedia

Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Android is developed by a consortium of developers known as the Open Handset Alliance and commercially sponsored by Google. It was unveiled in November 2007, with the first commercial Android device, the HTC Dream, being launched in September 2008. Most versions of Android are proprietary. The core components are taken from the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), which is free and open-source software (FOSS) primarily licensed under the Apache License. When Android is installed on devices, ability to modify the otherwise FOSS software is usually restricted, either by not providing the corresponding source code or preventing reinstallation through technical measures, rendering the installed version proprietary. Most Android devices ship with additional proprietary software pre-installed, most notably Google Mobile Services (GMS) which includes core apps such as Google Chrome, the digital distribution platform Google Play, and associated Google Play Services development platform. Over 70 percent of Android smartphones run Google's ecosystem; some with vendor-customized user interface and software suite, such as TouchWiz and later One UI by Samsung, and HTC Sense. Competing Android ecosystems and forks include Fire OS (developed by Amazon), ColorOS by OPPO, OriginOS by vivo and MagicUI by Honor or custom ROM such as LineageOS. However, the "Android" name and logo are trademarks of Google which imposes standards to restrict the use of Android branding by "uncertified" devices

Answer Description

Google's Chrome OS is unique from other operating systems in that it primarily uses the web browser as it's user interface (Google Chrome). On some devices users can also install Android apps from the Google Play Store. It is not possible to run applications available for other operating systems like Windows and Mac on Chrome OS (unless they have a web version).

Wikipedia

Chrome OS (sometimes styled as chromeOS) is a proprietary Linux-based operating system designed by Google. It is derived from the open-source Chromium OS and uses the Google Chrome web browser as its principal user interface. Google announced the project, then based on Ubuntu, in July 2009, conceiving it as an operating system in which both applications and user data reside in the cloud: hence Chrome OS primarily runs web applications. Source code and a public demo came that November. The first Chrome OS laptop, known as a Chromebook, arrived in May 2011. Initial Chromebook shipments from Samsung and Acer occurred in July 2011. Chrome OS has an integrated media player and file manager. It supports Progressive Web Apps and Chrome Apps; these resemble native applications, as well as remote access to the desktop. As more Chrome OS machines have entered the market, the operating system is now seldom evaluated apart from the hardware that runs it.Android applications started to become available for the operating system in 2014, and in 2016, access to Android apps in Google Play's entirety was introduced on supported Chrome OS devices. Support for a Linux terminal and applications, known as Project Crostini, was released to the stable channel in 2018 with Chrome OS 69. This was made possible via a lightweight Linux kernel that runs containers inside a virtual machine.

Answer Description

These limitations are only for the FAT32 file system and cannot be modified.

Wikipedia

File Allocation Table (FAT) is a file system developed for personal computers. Originally developed in 1977 for use on floppy disks, it was adapted for use on hard disks and other devices. It is often supported for compatibility reasons by current operating systems for personal computers and many mobile devices and embedded systems, allowing interchange of data between disparate systems. The increase in disk drives capacity required three major variants: FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32. The FAT standard has also been expanded in other ways while generally preserving backward compatibility with existing software. FAT is no longer the default file system for Microsoft Windows computers.FAT file systems are still commonly found on floppy disks, flash and other solid-state memory cards and modules (including USB flash drives), as well as many portable and embedded devices. FAT is the standard file system for digital cameras per the DCF specification.

Answer Description

A ransomware attack involves encrypting user's data and witholding the encryption key until a ransom is paid. Darn it, Jackal!

Wikipedia

Ransomware is a type of malware from cryptovirology that threatens to publish the victim's personal data or perpetually block access to it unless a ransom is paid. While some simple ransomware may lock the system without damaging any files, more advanced malware uses a technique called cryptoviral extortion. It encrypts the victim's files, making them inaccessible, and demands a ransom payment to decrypt them. In a properly implemented cryptoviral extortion attack, recovering the files without the decryption key is an intractable problem – and difficult to trace digital currencies such as paysafecard or Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are used for the ransoms, making tracing and prosecuting the perpetrators difficult. Ransomware attacks are typically carried out using a Trojan disguised as a legitimate file that the user is tricked into downloading or opening when it arrives as an email attachment. However, one high-profile example, the WannaCry worm, traveled automatically between computers without user interaction.Starting as early as 1989 with the first documented ransomware known as the AIDS trojan, the use of ransomware scams has grown internationally. There were 181.5 million ransomware attacks in the first six months of 2018. This record marks a 229% increase over this same time frame in 2017. In June 2014, vendor McAfee released data showing that it had collected more than double the number of ransomware samples that quarter than it had in the same quarter of the previous year. CryptoLocker was particularly successful, procuring an estimated US$3 million before it was taken down by authorities, and

Answer Description

A mantrap is often used to secure server rooms, distribution closets or IT resources that may be susceptible to attack by tailgaters.

Wikipedia

A mantrap, airlock, sally port or access control vestibule is a physical security access control system comprising a small space with two sets of interlocking doors, such that the first set of doors must close before the second set opens. Airlocks have a very similar design, allowing free ingress and egress while also restricting airflow. In a manual mantrap, a guard locks and unlocks each door in sequence. An intercom and/or video camera are often used to allow the guard to control the trap from a remote location. In an automatic mantrap, identification may be required for each door, sometimes even different measures for each door. For example, a key may open the first door, but a personal identification number entered on a number pad opens the second. Other methods of opening doors include proximity cards or biometric devices such as fingerprint readers or iris recognition scans. Metal detectors are often built in to prevent the entrance of people carrying weapons. This use is particularly frequent in banks and jewelry shops. Fire codes require that automatic mantraps allow exit from the intermediate space while denying access to a secure space such as a data center or research lab. A manually-operated mantrap may allow a guard to lock both doors, trapping a suspect between the doors for questioning or detainment.

Answer Description

Partitioning is the act of logically separating a single physical disk. Allowing an Operating System to perceive a hard drive as multiple hard drives.

Wikipedia

Disk partitioning or disk slicing is the creation of one or more regions on secondary storage, so that each region can be managed separately. These regions are called partitions. It is typically the first step of preparing a newly installed disk, before any file system is created. The disk stores the information about the partitions' locations and sizes in an area known as the partition table that the operating system reads before any other part of the disk. Each partition then appears to the operating system as a distinct "logical" disk that uses part of the actual disk. System administrators use a program called a partition editor to create, resize, delete, and manipulate the partitions. Partitioning allows the use of different filesystems to be installed for different kinds of files. Separating user data from system data can prevent the system partition from becoming full and rendering the system unusable. Partitioning can also make backing up easier. A disadvantage is that it can be difficult to properly size partitions, resulting in having one partition with too much free space and another nearly totally allocated.

Answer Description

Blocking access to anti-virus or anti-malware websites is a common tactic used by malware once installed. It may block access to the website, show a fake error message or redirect to a fake version of the website to trick the user. Its likely this PC has been infected with malware.