Blog Archives
How to Obtain Microsoft Windows Updates
Posted by Nikesh Jain
There are two ways to obtain Microsoft Windows updates:
- Directly from the Microsoft Download Center, where you can choose your desired updated versions from the list of new and popular downloads.
- By using Automatic Update feature in Windows. This is the recommended option of the two because by turning ON the automatic updates feature, Windows automatically searches and delivers all the critical and security updates to your computer and you never need to visit update web site to scan for updates. All you have to do is keep a check on an icon that appears in the notification area at the far right of your taskbar every time new updates are available for your system.
Here is how to turn ON Automatic Updates and help protect your Windows PC
- Click Start ► Run… then type control and click OK to open Control Panel.
- If your are viewing Control Panel in Classic View, click System and head on to Automatic Updates tab under system Properties windows and change settings for automatic updates.
» Instead, if you are under control panel category view, click Performance and Maintenance ► click System, and then click the Automatic Updates tab to choose the update option you want. Update option Automatic is recommended as it automatically downloads and installs updates at your chosen time.
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Posted in How to, Tips & Tricks, OS - Windows 7, OS - Windows 8, OS - Windows Vista, OS - Windows Xp
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Tips on How to Speed Up Your Computer
Posted by Nikesh Jain
Listed here are tips on how to speed up computer:
- Remember to free up your disk space using disk clean-up or disk defragmenters. Unnecessary files like temporary internet files can slow down your computer so get rid of them, empty your recycle bins frequently, and make sure that your important files are placed on the external hard drive.
- Scan for viruses and worms, spyware and adware. Always check for these nasty programs because they make your computer work slowly more than anything. You need to purchase PC fixer software that can remove these programs.
- Clean up your desktop. If your desktop is flooded with files your computer will eventually function slowly.
- Uninstall unused programs. Your computer might have lots of unused programs installed on it; uninstall them because once a program is installed, it makes a connection between the program and the operating system which also make your system run slower even if you do not use them.
- Do not start up programs automatically when turning on your computer. Make sure that you close programs you do not use that open when you start up your computer.
- Defragment your hard drive. Defragmenting your hard drive places all of your information for each file in one place which will result to a faster computer experience.
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Related articles
- How to Improve Your PC’s Speed for Free in Seven Easy Steps (thinkanytime.wordpress.com)
Posted in How to, Tips & Tricks, OS - Windows 7, OS - Windows 8, OS - Windows Vista, OS - Windows Xp
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How-to Remove System Tool 2011 Virus Easily
Posted by Nikesh Jain
Aias: System Tool 2011
Damage Level: Medium
Systems Affected: Windows 9x, 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7
Image Credit – Life StreamsYou may have tried for hours trying to remove this virus just like I did in vain but finally here I found a very simple method to remove this malicious software made to look like a legitimate anti-virus program.Screen Shot Image:
- All you have to do is enter the serial key to register “System Tool” and follow the rest of the steps.
The key is WNDS-S0DF5-GS5E0-FG14S-2DF8G
- After inputting this key wait for little and you PC will restart automatically and all is okay again.
- Then you can go ahead and delete icon from desktop and remove the software from program.
Share with all your friends. Its useful…!
Thank you.
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Posted in OS - Windows 7, OS - Windows 8, OS - Windows Vista, OS - Windows Xp, Security & Antivirus
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Windows Vista tweaks to speed up your system.
Posted by Nikesh Jain
Default settings that Windows Vista comes with are more meant for hardware of future than hardware of today. If you are looking for your vista to run faster and perform better, it is essential that you optimize your Vista settings. Read on to find out 4 powerful Windows Vista tweaks to speed up your system.
- Tweak 1 ► Get Rid of Unnecessary Programs from System Start Up
One of the most powerful vista tweaks is to remove all unnecessary programs from the start up menu. Start up should only contain those bare minimum programs which are really necessary to be started up when your program boots. If there are some programs which are not that essential, but still need to be there in start-up, you can reschedule them to a lower priority & attach them to one of the multi-processes.
- Tweak 2 ► Turn off TCP Auto Tuning and Remote Differential Compression
Vista uses these to augment the gigabyte network. However, these end up being too much of an overhead for normal networking. The networking speed is enhanced by up to 30 percent when you disable these options.
- Tweak 3 ► Defrag Your Hard Disk
Over time, application and files become scattered in different places on your system’s hard disk, affecting the system’s performance greatly. When you defrag your disk, it brings all these scattered pieces together, thus, improving the Windows system’s speed. You can run the disk defragmenter from
Start ► Menu Programs ► Accessories ► System Tools ► Disk Defragmenter.
- Tweak 4 ► Disable the “System Restore” Feature
It was with Windows XP that this feature was first introduced. Windows Vista enhanced it further with introducing additional document versioning. Though it does sound very good and useful, it does have a great impact on the resources. If you think your system is already not running as it should be, you surely won’t want additional duplicates on your system further downgrading your system’s performance. Thus, another of effective vista tweaks would be to disable this feature.
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- How to Do Everything with Windows Vista Media Center ebook free download
- Review Your Startup Programs to Speed up Your PC
- Creating a Bootable Back-up of Windows Vista on a USB Drive
- The 35 Best Tips and Tricks for Maintaining Your Windows PC
Posted in How to, Tips & Tricks, OS - Windows Vista
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How to Fix Boot Problem in Windows 7
Posted by Nikesh Jain
Click on “Repair Your Computer” as shown.
Again some windows component will load and then the below screen appears
Click on “Command Prompt” and enter the following command to fix boot issue.
Step 8
Now restart the system, it will boot correctly and windows will work fine.
Related articles
- Easy Steps to Improve Your PC’s Boot Up
- How to Fix Boot Problem in Windows 7 (thinkanytime.wordpress.com)
Posted in How to, Tips & Tricks, OS - Windows 7
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25 More Tech Tips and Tricks
Posted by Nikesh Jain
As a result, everybody, even experts, winds up with knowledge holes—things everybody thinks everybody else knows about the basics of consumer electronics.
When I started writing down the ones I figured everybody should know, my column was twice as long as it’s supposed to be. But hey—on the Web, nobody can hear you exceed your word count. I lopped out half of them and saved them for this e-newsletter.
Think of it as “Today’s Pogue Column (Cont’d).”
Screenshots
*Especially if you’re a beginner (or an expert), it’s frequently useful to capture the image of what’s on the screen — an error message or diagram, for example.
*In Windows, PrintScreen key copies the whole screen image, as a graphic, onto your invisible Clipboard, so you can paste into an e-mail message or any other program (“This is what I’m seeing! What do I do now?!”). If you add the Alt key, you copy only the front window.
*On the Mac, press Command-Shift-3. (Command is the key with the propeller on it, next to the Space bar.) You hear a snapshot sound, and you get a graphics file on your desktop—a picture of the entire screen image.
*If you press Command-Shift-4 instead, you get a crosshair cursor; you can draw across just one portion of the screen. Or, if you now tap the Space bar, you turn the cursor into a little camera icon. You can now click on just one window or toolbar that you want to copy.
*In both cases, you can hold down the Control key to copy the image to the Clipboard instead of leaving a file on the hard drive.
E-mail
* If you get a message from your bank or eBay about a problem with your account, it’s probably a “phishing” scam. It’s a fake, designed to lure you into typing your name and password so the bad guys can have it. Delete it. If you’re concerned, visit the institution’s Web site in your browser by typing in its address (like Citibank.com) — not by clicking the link in e-mail.
* Before you pass on any amazing item you get by e-mail—Obama’s a Muslim, the bubble boy wants greeting cards, the Nieman-Marcus $400 cookie recipe — first check it out at Snopes.com, the world clearinghouse for Internet scams and rumors.
* If a blue underlined link shows up in an e-mail message, you can mouse over it without clicking to see what Web site it plans to open.
* If you get a message from someone you know that relates a horror story about being mugged in England (and needing you to wire money immediately), delete it. It’s a popular scam — even if it’s the correct e-mail address of someone you know.
* File too big to send by e-mail? Then use yousendit.com or transferbigfiles.com. You can transmit huge files, using the site as a free intermediary parking space.
Editing Text
* On your keyboard, there’s a difference between the Backspace and Del keys. Press Backspace to delete the typed character to the left of the blinking insertion-point cursor, as usual. Pressing Del, however, removes the character to its right.
* In Microsoft Word, when you paste in text from another document—say, a Web site — you may not want all the boldface, colors, fonts and other formatting from the original source. Instead of using the regular Paste command, in that case, open the Edit menu and click Paste Special. Click Unformatted Text. You’ll get just the text, without the fanciness.
iPhone
* You can magnify the iPhone’s screen, for ease in reading tiny type, by double-tapping with three fingers. Then pan around by dragging with three fingers.
Of course, you first have to turn this feature on. Do that by tapping Settings, then General, then Accessibility. (On the same screen, you’ll find an option to make the text bigger in the built-in iPhone programs, which is handy in its own way.)
* Has your iPhone screen image suddenly become mysteriously enlarged? There’s nothing quite as alarming as seeing jumbo text and graphics, and nothing restores the phone to the way it’s supposed to be.
I can’t tell you how many people trek off to the Apple Store to get their “broken” iPhones fixed. Of course, the real problem is that you’ve accidentally turned on screen zooming (described in the previous tip). Double-tap with three fingers to restore the screen magnification.
Other Cellphones
* When your phone starts ringing, you can silence it quickly by pressing any key on the sides. (It’s still ringing — you can either answer it or let it go to voicemail — but at least you’ve cut the sound.) That’s good to remember when you’re someplace where phone silence is golden: for example, at a concert, in surgery or in church.
Web
*Don’t reach for the mouse to go back to the previous Web page. Just tap the Backspace key. (Alt+left-arrow key also works for Back, and Alt+right-arrow for Forward. In this article, if you have a Mac, substitute the Option key for Alt.)
* After you type a word or phrase into a Search box, don’t click the Search button. Just press the Enter key.
(The Enter key also works to click “Go” after you’ve typed an address, or the highlighted button, like “O.K.” or “Print,” in most dialog boxes. Yes, there are people who don’t realize that.)
* On brand-name Web sites (eBay, Facebook, Amazon and so on), click the upper-left logo to return to the site’s home page.
* At translate.google.com, you can choose languages you want to translate from and to. Then you paste in some copied text (or the address of a Web site). In a flash, the text is translated — roughly, to be sure, but at no charge.
* Who needs a dictionary? In the Google search box, type “define schadenfreude” (or whatever the word is). Press Enter.
Computers
* The Esc key (top left of the keyboard) means, “close this” or “cancel this.” It can close a menu or a dialog box, for example.
* You can duplicate a file icon (instead of moving it) if you press the Alt key as you drag it out of its window.
* You can switch among open programs by pressing Alt+Tab (or Command-Tab on the Mac). On the Mac, the much less known Command-tilde (the ~ key, upper left corner) switches among windows in a single program.
Mac Specials
* Anything you can print, you can turn into a PDF document — an amazingly convenient feature. Choose the Print command — but instead of choosing Print, click the PDF pop-up menu and choose Save as PDF.
* It’s often very useful to have a document, Web page or e-mail message read aloud to you — to “proof-listen” to it, for example, or just to listen to an article while you’re getting dressed in the morning. In the Speech pane of System Preferences, turn on “Speak selected text.” Click Set Key to choose a key combination. Pressing it makes the Mac read anything on the screen, at the rate, and in the character voice, that you’ve specified.
Related articles
- 25 More Tech Tips and Tricks
- Why You Should Use A Random PIN
- A Baker’s Dozen Tips for Spring Cleaning Your Mac
- Essentials to Carry in Your Laptop Bag.
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How to conserve your laptop battery
Posted by Nikesh Jain
Suggestions
Don’t Run It Down to Empty
Most laptops probably won’t allow you to set the critical battery level at 0 percent–and you shouldn’t try. Squeezing every drop of juice out of a lithium ion battery (the type used in today’s laptops) strains and weakens it. Doing this once or twice won’t kill the battery, but the cumulative effect of frequently emptying your battery will shorten its lifespan.
Keep It Cool
Heat breaks down the battery, and reduces its overall life. When you use your laptop, make sure the vents are unblocked. Never work with the laptop on pillows or cushions. If possible, put it on a raised stand that allows for plenty of airflow. Also, clean the vents every so often with a can of compressed air. You can buy this for a few dollars at any computer store. Be sure to follow the directions on the can, and do this only when the notebook is off.
Some people recommend you store it in the refrigerator, inside a plastic bag. While you should keep a battery cool, the last thing you want is a wet battery, and condensation is a real danger in the fridge. Instead, store it in a dry place at room temperature. A filing cabinet works fine.
Use It Every Once In A While
You don’t want the battery to go too long without exercise or let it empty out entirely. If you go without the battery for more than two months, put it in the PC and use it for a few hours, then remove it again.
Give It a Rest
If you’re going to be working exclusively on AC power for a week or more, remove the battery first. Otherwise, you’ll be wearing out the battery–constantly charging and discharging it–at a time when you don’t need to use it at all. You’re also heating it up (see “Keep It Cool,” above).
You don’t want it too empty when you take it out. An unused battery loses power over time, and you don’t want all the power to drain away, so remove it when it’s at least half-charged.
If you’ve never removed your laptop’s battery and don’t know how, check your documentation. (If you don’t have it, you can probably find it online.) The instructions generally involve turning the laptop upside-down and holding down a button while you slide out the battery.
Longer Life Between Charges
Dim your screen
Your laptop’s backlight requires a lot of juice. Keep it as dim as you can comfortably read it.
Shut off unneeded hardware
Turn off your Bluetooth, and if you’re not using the Internet, turn off your Wi-Fi receiver, as well. Don’t use an external mouse or other device. And muting the PC’s sound system not only saves power, it avoids annoying everyone else in the café.
Avoid multitasking
Run as few programs as you can get away with. If possible, stick to the one application (word processor, browser, or whatever) you’re currently using, plus your antivirus and firewall in the background. And if you’re not on the Internet, you don’t need those two.
Avoid multimedia
Save chores like photo editing and watching old Daily Show videos for when you have AC power. And if you must listen to music, use your iPod or mp3 player (or similar device).
Know when to sleep and when to hibernate
You need to think about when you want to save power by sending your laptop into Standby or Sleep mode, and when you want to hibernate it.
There’s a difference. XP’s Standby and Vista and Windows 7′s Sleep modes keep your PC on, using some power, but less of it than in normal use. Hibernate saves the PC’s state to the hard drive, then shuts it off entirely, so that no power is used.
On the other hand, Windows takes much longer–sometimes minutes–to go into and come out of hibernation. And those are minutes that the battery is draining heavily and you can’t work.
XP’s Standby mode isn’t really all that efficient. If your laptop will be inactive for more than about half an hour, hibernate it. Otherwise, use Standby.
But Vista and Windows 7 do a much better job with their Sleep mode. Don’t bother hibernating your PC unless you think you’re going to go more than two or three hours without using it.
Myth: Adding RAM saves battery life. True, more RAM means less hard drive access, and the hard drive uses a lot of electricity. But RAM uses electricity as well, and unless you’re doing a lot of multitasking (not a good idea when you’re on battery power), more RAM won’t reduce hard drive use.
Warning: If you put your laptop in sleep mode, make sure the battery is [near] fully charged. As your applications opened are saved in memory, it is using battery power. If you run out of power, everything you were running at the time is gone – but not your data except what you hadn’t saved. Likewise, if your laptop is in sleep mode and there is a power failure, the laptop will switch to the battery. But if the battery is too weak, everything you were running at the time is gone – but not your data except what you hadn’t saved.
[Note: These tips – it is still your decision to do it – were accumulated from various sources. If you battery is already “on the way out” it will just prolong it a bit. Don’t expect the battery life in a charge to improve.]
Posted in How to, Tips & Tricks, OS - Windows 7, OS - Windows 8, OS - Windows Vista, OS - Windows Xp
Tags: AC power, affiliate, BATTERY, battery software, Blogger, Blogging, Business, comments, Design, Email, engines, HIBERNATE, History of the battery, IPhone, iPod, jobs, Laptop, Lithium-ion battery, Marketing, Media, Personal computer, SLEEP, Social, Themes, tips, windows 7
How to Improve Your PC’s Speed for Free in Seven Easy Steps
Posted by Nikesh Jain
3. Click on the battery icon on the taskbar in the lower right-hand corner of your screen. This displays the power options menu. If “High Performance” is not selected as the power plan, select it. This power plan maximizes system performance.
4. End application processes which are not in use at a particular time. These processes compete with the programs you are running for available computer memory and speed. Such processes include Bluetooth, dictionaries, search bars etc (you can always restart them when you need them by running the applications again). To end processes, open the Task Manager. There are several ways to do this:
a. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc. This is the quickest way.
b. Right-click on the taskbar and choose Task Manager from the menu.
c. Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete and choose Start Task Manager from the options that appear.
In the Task Manager, click on the Processes tab to display currently running processes and right-click on the process you want to end. Select End Process or End Process Tree to end that particular process. If you are not sure what process it is, read the descriptions that accompany each process.
5. Disable the Windows Aero color scheme (this is the functionality that gives your computer interface a transparent, glassy look). Windows Aero consumes computer memory and it is advisable to switch to another color scheme which uses less computer memory if your computer is running slow. To do this, right- click on an empty position on your desktop window and select Personalization from the menu that appears. You can also open Personalization by clicking on the Start button and selecting Control Panel and then clicking on Personalization. Under Personalization, select Windows Color and Appearance and choose another option such as Windows Vista Basic or Windows Classic.
6. Defragment your hard disk regularly. As data is added, changed and deleted from your hard disk, it creates non-contiguous portions of data (spaces usually occur where data has been deleted and changes made to data are saved in locations different from the original files). This is known as fragmentation and causes your computer to work harder to find a particular piece of data. This tends to slow a computer down. Defragmenting your hard disk rearranges the data so that it works more efficiently. Defragmentation usually runs on a schedule but you can run the disk defragmenter manually. To do this, click on the Start button and select Computer. Right-click on your primary hard disk (or any other hard disk partitions you would like to defragment) and choose Properties. Click on the Tools tab and select Defragment Now. When the application opens, click on Defragment now.
7. Run Disk Clean Up. This option deletes unnecessary files from your hard disk and frees up space which enables your computer to run faster. To do this, click on the Start button and select Computer. Right-click on your primary hard disk (or any other hard disk partitions you would like to clean) and choose Properties. Click on the General tab and select Disk Cleanup. Select the files you would like to delete, click OK and then click Delete Files to confirm.
Follow these steps and there will be a noticeable improvement in your computer’s speed and performance.
Posted in How to, Tips & Tricks, OS - Windows 7, OS - Windows Vista, OS - Windows Xp
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10 Reasons Why PCs Crash you must Know
Posted by Nikesh Jain
Fatal error: the system has become unstable or is busy,” it says. “Enter to return to Windows or press Control-Alt-Delete to restart your computer. If you do this you will lose any unsaved information in all open applications.”
1. Hardware conflict
2. Bad Ram
3. BIOS settings
4. Hard disk drives
6. Viruses
7. Printers
8. Software
9. Overheating
10. Power supply problems
Posted in How to, Tips & Tricks, OS - Apple Mac, OS - Linux, OS - Ubuntu, OS - Windows 7, OS - Windows 8, OS - Windows Vista, OS - Windows Xp
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Top Five Tips To Keep Your Computer Secure
Posted by Nikesh Jain
If your house was like your computer, it wouldn’t come with locks and you could be burgled from thousands of miles away. Obviously, you’d secure your castle before moving in – so why don’t we do the same for computers? Here are our top five computer security tips that’ll help keep the invaders out.
Passwords
Most people know the password to Ali Baba’s cave was, “Open Sesame”, but such predictability is also true with computer users. “123456″ is the most used password, while “12345″, “123456789″, “Password”, “iloveyou”, “princess” and “rockyou” are all in the top-ten. Pick something unique!
It’s also good practice to use different passwords for different websites. This is because if your password is stolen from one website, the hacker might try to use it to access your accounts elsewhere.
Updates
Everyone hates updates – they’re intrusive, irritating and almost constant. Aside from annoying us, however, they’re vital to fix potential security holes.
Your web browser, Windows, OSX, Java and Flash are the most-targeted culprits, so make sure you always accept these updates as soon as they are available. I know, it’s annoying, so here’s a message to developers: stop making us restart our computer to apply an update – we’ll be more likely to do it!
Also, make sure your antivirus software is up-to-date. That includes if your free trial has run-out. No virus protection at all? Shame on you! Norman provides a comprehensive security package (Norman Security Suite PRO), but even if you’re with someone else, remember to update!
WEP Wifi
If you’ve bought a new router in the last three years, feel free to ignore this section. Otherwise, you should check the security settings on your wifi. Hopefully, you’ll be on WPA or WPA2 – these are up-to-date security formats and you’ll be okay (although WPA2 is much better than WPA).
If it says WEP, however, it’s time to upgrade. WEP is an ancient technology that can be hacked in around 30 seconds. Oh dear. You might be able to change to WPA on the router, but most likely we’re talking about a trip to the shops.
Internet Cafes and Public Wifi
Some people need caffeine to help them through the day, others need the internet. Luckily, internet cafes provide both. Unluckily, each time you log-in to one with your own computer, you’re putting it on a strange network that’s accessible by people you don’t know.
Your non-HTTPS data is particularly at risk from snooping, which means people could read your Facebook communications. For Facebook, you can add HTTPS in your account settings, but other traffic may be less secure. Remember: don’t bank in public.
Backups
Should the worst happen, backups are the only way of getting your computer back to exactly how it was. You can do this useful by transferring files onto an external harddrive, or use an off-the-shelf solution like Norman’s (Norman Online Backup) to do all the fiddly-bits for you.
The (somewhat dramatic, I admit) question I ask is – if your house burnt down, and you could restore it with a couple of mouseclicks – would you do it?
| DIGITAL LIFE • http://www.cubesquare.co.cc
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Keyboard Shortcuts For Computer System
Posted by Nikesh Jain
Windows key + R = Run menu
This is usually followed by:
cmd = Command Prompt
iexplore + “web address” = Internet Explorer
compmgmt.msc = Computer Management
dhcpmgmt.msc = DHCP Management
dnsmgmt.msc = DNS Management
services.msc = Services
eventvwr = Event Viewer
dsa.msc = Active Directory Users and Computers
dssite.msc = Active Directory Sites and Services
Windows key + E = Explorer
ALT + Tab = Switch between windows
ALT, Space, X = Maximize window
CTRL + Shift + Esc = Task Manager
Windows key + Break = System properties
Windows key + F = Search
Windows key + D = Hide/Display all windows
CTRL + C = copy
CTRL + X = cut
CTRL + V = paste
Also don’t forget about the “Right-click” key next to the right Windows key on your keyboard. Using the arrows and that key can get just about anything done once you’ve opened up any program.
Keyboard Shortcuts
[Alt] and [Esc] Switch between running applications
[Alt] and letter Select menu item by underlined letter
[Ctrl] and [Esc] Open Program Menu
[Ctrl] and [F4] Close active document or group windows (does not work with some applications)
[Alt] and [F4] Quit active application or close current window
[Alt] and [-] Open Control menu for active document
Ctrl] Lft., Rt. arrow Move cursor forward or back one word
Ctrl] Up, Down arrow Move cursor forward or back one paragraph
[F1] Open Help for active application
Windows+M Minimize all open windows
Shift+Windows+M Undo minimize all open windows
Windows+F1 Open Windows Help
Windows+Tab Cycle through the Taskbar buttons
Windows+Break Open the System Properties dialog box
acessability shortcuts
Right SHIFT for eight seconds…….. Switch FilterKeys on and off.
Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN……. Switch High Contrast on and off.
Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK……. Switch MouseKeys on and off.
SHIFT……. five times Switch StickyKeys on and off.
NUM LOCK…… for five seconds Switch ToggleKeys on and off.
explorer shortcuts
END……. Display the bottom of the active window.
HOME……. Display the top of the active window.
NUM LOCK+ASTERISK……. on numeric keypad (*) Display all subfolders under the selected folder.
NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN……. on numeric keypad (+) Display the contents of the selected folder.
NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN……. on numeric keypad (-) Collapse the selected folder.
LEFT ARROW…… Collapse current selection if it’s expanded, or select parent folder.
RIGHT ARROW……. Display current selection if it’s collapsed, or select firstsubfolder.
Type the following commands in your Run Box (Windows Key + R) or Start Run
devmgmt.msc = Device Manager
msinfo32 = System Information
cleanmgr = Disk Cleanup
ntbackup = Backup or Restore Wizard (Windows Backup Utility)
mmc = Microsoft Management Console
excel = Microsoft Excel (If Installed)
msaccess = Microsoft Access (If Installed)
powerpnt = Microsoft PowerPoint (If Installed)
winword = Microsoft Word (If Installed)
frontpg = Microsoft FrontPage (If Installed)
notepad = Notepad
wordpad = WordPad
calc = Calculator
msmsgs = Windows Messenger
mspaint = Microsoft Paint
wmplayer = Windows Media Player
rstrui = System Restore
netscp6 = Netscape 6.x
netscp = Netscape 7.x
netscape = Netscape 4.x
waol = America Online
control = Opens the Control Panel
control printers = Opens the Printers Dialog
internetbrowser
type in u’re adress “google”, then press [Right CTRL] and [Enter]
add www. and .com to word and go to it
more at DJ Nykeh
Posted in How to, Tips & Tricks
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7 Steps to Securing your Home Wireless Network
Posted by Nikesh Jain
The benefits of home wireless network are amazing. From the ability to be out in the backyard working while the kids are swimming in the pool, to not having to run cables all throughout the house for your network connectivity; the list of benefits are outstanding. I wouldn’t go back to a wired home network unless I absolutely had to.
However, what many people may not realize is that a wireless network can be an open door to others having full reign on your personal data.
A few simple steps can be taken to provide the best method of security on your home wireless network.
Use this as a guide for building a new home wireless network, or as a way to take inventory of where your existing home wireless network stands.
1) Router/WAP Password
As soon as you get your Router / WAP (Wireless Access Point) immediately change the password. Most of the common Router/WAP products today will have default passwords assigned that are well known and publicized. Choose a strong password for this device.
Here are a few tips on choosing a good password:
- It should be at least 6 characters long
- It should have a mixture of upper and lower case characters
- It should have a mixture of numbers, characters and/or punctuation marks
- Try to use uncommon words for your password
2) Protect your Wireless Network with Encryption
Always use WPA-TKIP encryption. Wifi Protected Access (WPA) is the new security standard adopted by the Wife Alliance consortium. The older “WEP” encryption has many weaknesses. Using WEP is like closing the door but not locking it.
You will need to be sure that both your router/WAP support WPA-TKIP as well as all of the wireless network interfaces on all of the devices attaching to your wireless network (Desktop, laptop, printer, etc). Some of the older network cards may only support WEP. Do yourself a favor and upgrade to better card.
3) SSID Best Practices
The SSID can be thought of simply as the network name. You should be sure to change this name from the default name that came with your router/WAP. Making the name something that is not common is a good practice.
You will likely also have the option of either broadcasting or not broadcasting your SSID. The most secure method for a home network would be to NOT broadcast the SSID. It just makes it that much more difficult for a hacker to gain entrance to your network.
If you do not broadcast your SSID you will just need to manually configure the SSID properties on your client computers.
4) MAC Address Filtering
Some router/wops have the ability to set it such that only specific network hardware addresses can have access to utilize your home wireless network. This is done by specifying the exact “physical hardware address” (or, “MAC address”) of the Wireless Network Interface card on the machines you want to give access to.
While this might not make sense if you have a lot of people randomly coming over and wanting to connect to your Wireless network, it certainly gives you an added step in a tightly secured wireless network.
5) Static IP Addresses vs. Dynamically assigned IP Addresses (DHCP)
DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol) is a tool that allows your router/WAP to assign you an IP address automatically. This does come in handy when you have multiple people on a network that may be constantly coming and going.
However, on a typical home network things are pretty static and there generally isn’t much of a need for DHCP. Turning DHCP off will provide a more secure wireless network environment. With DHCP on there is the possibility for a hacker to allow your router to assign them an IP address and gain access to your network.
When you turn off DHCP you will need to manually assign a static IP (one that does not change) address to all of the computers that will need to use your Wireless Network.
6) Utilize the Firewall Features of your Router/WAP
Most Router/WAP devices today come with a Firewall feature that can either be enabled or disabled. Be sure the Firewall Feature is enabled. It surprises me how many people miss this very basic step.
7) Do not connect to any other open Wireless networks
I know it can be tempting at times to search for other available wireless network and connect to them for internet connectivity. The truth is, unless you have been given specific rights to do this, it is illegal practice. Not only that, but when you join your computer on another wireless network you become a target for others on that network to hack into your computer.
Following the above 7 steps will do you a lot of good in a world where hackers strive to find weaknesses to exploit.
Related articles
- 7 Steps to Securing your Home Wireless Network | DIGITAL LIFE – http://www.cubesquare.co.cc (thinkanytime.wordpress.com)
- 7 Steps to Securing your Home Wireless Network | DIGITAL LIFE – http://www.cubesquare.co.cc (techanytime.wordpress.com)
Posted in How to, Tips & Tricks
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Window xp Decrease your Applications startup time
Posted by Nikesh Jain
By default, Microsoft includes the /prefetch:1 switch to speed up it’s Windows Media Player application start time. This switch can be used for other Windows applications and also many third party programs.
Related articles
- Strategies For Removing Malware and Viruses (thinkanytime.wordpress.com)
- Window xp Decrease your Applications startup time | DIGITAL LIFE (techanytime.wordpress.com)
- Window xp Decrease your Applications startup time | DIGITAL LIFE (thinkanytime.wordpress.com)
- How to Improve Your PC’s Speed for Free in Seven Easy Steps (thinkanytime.wordpress.com)
Posted in How to, Tips & Tricks, OS - Windows 7, OS - Windows 8, OS - Windows Xp
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Protecting Your Computer
Posted by Nikesh Jain
Protecting Your Computer
In a nutshell this is what you’ll need to keep your computer humming along:
- Have some kind of anti-malware protection on your computer and keep it current. While many new notebook computers and PCs come with trial anti-malware software, it is up to you to keep it current (for a price). There are, however, free alternatives.The foremost among them is Microsoft’s own Security Essentials. It doesn’t come with Windows, but can be easily downloaded and installed. Other free programs include the popular AVG; AVast, Avira and BitDefender (they have paid versions as well) while the usual suspects round up the paid products: MCAfee, Norton, Panda, Kaspersky and Trend Micro. This is not an exhaustive list by any means as there are many other free and paid programs that can be used.
- Keep your computer up to date.You can rely on automatic updates, but to be sure that nothing is being missed you may want to manually run updates from time to time – particularly on the Operating System and the Web Browser.For example, in Windows Vista and 7, click on Start button and in the search box type in Windows Update – the first program listed will be the Windows Update program. Click on this and check if you have any updates to run. In XP, go into the Control Panel and click on Windows Update there.With the browser, if you are running Windows Explorer, your Windows Update will update that. With other browsers, check their help files for how to update them. Besides that, also be sure that you have your firewall up and running.
- Don’t fall for bogus phishing scams, fake anti-virus scans, software from “nowhere.” Because of increased protection, malware programmers are hitting the most vulnerable target in the chain – you. If they can get you to install the program from a fake anti-virus scan that pops up while you’re surfing,a bogus link in your e-mail, in your messenger or on a website then they get by all those protections that have been carefully laid in place. Just don’t do it.
OK – you got “something” – Now what?
No computer is perfect – even with all your protections in place, something may slip through. If something does, there are things that can be done to minimize damage and risk.
- If you have access to a second computer, download onto a flash drive some tools to scan and hopefully fix your PC. Typically you can grab one or two antivirus programs available (I’d recommend AVG or AVast mentioned earlier) and a good, free anti-spyware program (I highly recommend Malwarebytes). Install these on the infected computer and run a full scan on the computer. Depending on how bad the infection is, you may need to pull the computer off the Internet while running these scans.If you can get to the Internet, then be sure to get the latest updates for these programs. You may also look into running either Panda’s or Trend Micro’s online scanner programs. Be sure to scan ALL drives.
- If you have second computer or the infected computer has access to the Internet – then simply look up your computer’s symptoms online to see what other people are seeing and possible ways to fix it. There will be some dead ends, but often you can find out what is causing you the problems as well as how to fix it.
- After all the scans, run the more advanced tool, HijackThis from Trend Micro (a free tool) to see exactly what is running. HijackThis also gives you the ability to manually remove items as well.While you are at it, you can also run Trend Micro’s other free tools, RUBotted and RootkitBuster. If you cannot make heads or tails of the log files from HijackThis, there are many sites out there that will help you with it.
- If all else fails, you can always format and restore your PC back to the original configuration.
What about everyone else?
What about other Internet connected computers and devices that aren’t Windows based? Are they vulnerable to malware? You bet that they are!This includes Linux; FreeBSD; OSX and UNIX based computers; Android; BlackBerry; iOS; Microsoft and Symbian based SmartPhones/devices. Is there anything that you can do to protect yourself here?There is.
Besides making sure that you are up-to-date on all the latest software patches, just know what kind of software and apps you are loading. Many companies, such as Symantec and others, are now making security software for these other non-Windows based operating systems and devices.
While there hasn’t been widespread infections in the past – it doesn’t mean that they won’t be the target in the future – remember, there is no such thing as a perfect, invulnerable OS.Of course, it’s up to you if you to do this if you think you may need protection on these other items.
Wrapping it up
Keeping your PC safe isn’t rocket science. It involves keeping your security software, operating system and other software up-to-date; watching what gets installed on your computer and knowing what to do if something gets through. When it comes to security, no one tip can possibly cover everything. So, we open this up to you too – what do you use personally to keep your computer safe.
| DIGITAL LIFE – http://www.cubesquare.co.cc
Related articles
- How’ll you get Faster Removal of Trojan Viruses from your Computer?
- Strategies For Removing Malware and Viruses
- How to resolve the unresponsive Dell Inspiron Touchpad or Mouse? | Digital Life – http://www.cubesquare.co.cc (thinkanytime.wordpress.com)
- Protecting Your Computer | DIGITAL LIFE – http://www.cubesquare.co.cc (thinkanytime.wordpress.com)
Posted in Security & Antivirus
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Essentials to Carry in Your Laptop Bag.
Posted by Nikesh Jain
For the Geek on the go, there are essentials that you need! Last year Tech Tips covered some of these essentials with “Must-Have Tech Gear To Maximize Productivity Outside The Office”. In this week’s Tech Tip, we are going to cover some of the essentials to carry in your laptop bag as well as offering some guidance for picking the right laptop bag for your life on the go.
The most basic essential
Choosing just the right laptop carrying case could be called getting the most basic essential accessory for your laptop. While there is a wide array to choose from, you can narrow down your search by thinking about how you’ll use your bag. If you are a student, then perhaps a laptop backpack would be your style. Is it essential to protect your laptop from unforeseen accidents, then maybe an aluminum notebook case would be your style. Do you just need your laptop lightly protected but easy to carry? Then look at one of the sleeve options. There is also the basic laptop bag – inexpensive, easy to carry and stow away, but that gives your laptop good protection. These come in a variety of materials, from simple nylon to nicely appointed leather. For the traveling set, there are upgraded luggage type bags – complete with wheels and travel handle as well as TSA approved bags for the jet setting Geek.
Whatever bag you get, be sure that it fits your needs. Is it large enough for your laptop (or perhaps too big?). Will it fit all the extra goodies that you want to bring along? If you have an eBook reader or tablet, does it have a special compartment that can easily accommodate and protect this device as well? Does it include accessories such as a shoulder strap, or it is lockable? All these need to be considered for getting “just the right bag.”
Some more obvious essentials
Some of the more obvious essentials to have include three mentioned in the Must-Have Tech Tip as well as a few others:
- Mouse with nano receiver.
- USB flash drive.
- Power strip.
In addition to those essentials, some others would be:
- Presentation pointer (some mice, such as HP Bluetooth credit card mouse, have a built in presenter).
- Mini Bluetooth module (if your laptop doesn’t already have Bluetooth).
- 3G or 4G modem (if your laptop doesn’t have built in 3G) or in lieu of that:
- A cell phone device that acts as a Wi-Fi hotspot (such as Verizon’s MiFi service). This is a great service to have on long road trips where there may be multiple devices that can connect to the Internet.
- Noise canceling headphones – be sure that you get one that easily folds down for traveling.
Some less obvious essentials to have in your laptop bag are:
- Identification (like a business card) in case your bag is lost.
- Some kind of tracking software on your laptop (much like BlackBerry’s Protect or Apple’s Location services for iPhone/iPad). There are software options that can be used to help locate a misplaced or stolen laptop (such as Lojack for Laptops).
- Spare battery (but not if you are planning to fly).
- Automobile cigarette lighter DC power cable for laptops or automobile power inverter (also great for long trips).
- Laptop travel mat – some kind of surface that allows the laptop to stay put but keep the fans clear and the heat away from you.
- Essential cables. Think how you are going to use your laptop – are you going to need a cable to connect to a projector or HDTV. Will you need a cable to connect your camcorder or cell phone? Will you be staying at a hotel that only offers wired Internet, and need an Ethernet cable? All things to think about when looking for items to include in your case.
- Cleaning cloth for the screen (even if it is not a touchscreen). Be sure that you get one that is safe for LCD screens.
In conclusion
There are a myriad of essentials and must-haves that you can get for your laptop bag. With this Tech Tip we have looked at the bag itself, some of the must-have essentials to the not so obvious essentials. We encourage you to plan ahead when traveling with it and we hope that this Tech Tip helps gives you some good ideas on what essentials you’d most like to have in your laptop bag.
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Why You Should Use A Random PIN
Posted by Nikesh Jain
There’s safety in numbers – but only if your PIN isn’t your birthday or one of 100 commonly used examples. In fact, according to research by Cambridge University, using your birthday means that there’s an 8.9% chance a stranger could guess your PIN in three attempts.
This means that if everyone was to use their birthday as a PIN (and, thankfully, only around 7% of us do), thieves would be able to get into our accounts once every 11 tries.
The results showed that 84% of PINs for iPhone’s and banks used random or “pseudo-random” numbers. This is the safest type of PIN available, so if you’re issued a random PIN, you should really keep it.
For the non-random PINs, 23% of us use dates – with 29% using their own birthday. Romantically, 26% use their partner’s or a family member’s birthday. 9% use a pattern on the keypad and 5% use a numeric pattern such as repeated numbers.
The problem for the 29% that use their own birthday is that their bank card is usually found in their wallet, alongside information that reveals their date of birthday (such as a driver’s license). In fact, 99% of survey respondents reported keeping their bank card in their wallets along with a card that revealed their birthday.
This means, to quote Cambridge, “if an attacker knows the cardholder’s date of birth and guesses optimally, the chance of being successful is nearly 9%.” That’s pretty high!
Luckily, for the majority of us that use the randomly-generated PIN the bank issued, there’s only a 0.03% chance that the attacker will be able to guess our pin in three attempts. Phew.
I think there’s one oversight here, however – what if your random PIN is accidentally the same as one of the most-common PINs, like 1234? Then you’re back in the high-risk area of having your PIN guessed.
The guys at Cambridge suggest banks could use the following PIN blacklist to prevent the use of these predictable numbers. Until this practice is wide-spread, however, I suggest that you read the list below, and if you PIN is in it, change it!
0000, 0101-0103, 0110, 0111, 0123, 0202, 0303, 0404, 0505, 0606, 0707, 0808, 0909, 1010, 1101-1103, 1110-1112, 1123, 1201-1203, 1210-1212, 1234, 1956-2015, 2222, 2229, 2580, 3333, 4444, 5252, 5683, 6666, 7465, 7667.
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Install A New Hard-disk
Posted by Nikesh Jain
Running out of hard disk space, yet also want to keep all the files that are currently on the system in perfect order? Install an extra hard disk, and see your available space rise!
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Microsoft Demos Office 15 & Windows Live Metro
Posted by Nikesh Jain
Windows President, Steve Sinofsky’s article about Windows 8 on ARM, Microsoft shared a video demonstrating how the product looks as of now. During the demo, Microsoft showed what Office 15 will look like on a tablet and the Metro version of Microsoft’s Windows Live suite of applications. Here are the screenshots:
Microsoft Office 15 Word
Microsoft Office 15 Excel
Microsoft Office 15 PowerPoint
Microsoft Office 15 OneNote
Windows Live Calendar
Windows Live Metro Photos
Windows Live Metro Mail
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Posted in Free HD Wallpapers, Gadgets / Networking, OS - Windows 8
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Strategies For Removing Malware and Viruses
Posted by Nikesh Jain
Perhaps these tips will save you some money during these dark economic
times. I can’t promise that these tips will work for you but for the DIY user who’s not afraid to get their hands dirty, it might prove to be very useful. So lets get right to it:
Phase 1: Safe Mode (with networking?)
Almost every version of Windows out there (from Windows 95 all the way up to the most recent Windows 7) have a hidden menu you can access at boot that gives you access to a diagnostic profile called Safe Mode. Safe Mode is a sort of back door mode into Windows that loads the absolute (or nearly) bare minimum of device drivers and background services. It’s sort of a bare bones environment that is suitable to start your repair from primarily because most viruses aren’t auto-started by the system in this mode, but it’s not perfect. More on that in a moment.
To access Safe Mode you need to press the F8 key on your keyboard at a VERY specific time. Typically when you turn your computer on you’ll see a screen that either has the logo of the manufacture of the PC or perhaps some generic startup relating to your BIOS. At some point that all goes away, your screen will be black for about 3 seconds, and then Windows will proceed to boot with the little scroll bar loading away. It’s during (or just before) that 3 second window of blackness that you need to start tapping the F8 key. If done correctly, you’ll be presented with a menu that looks like this:
You’ll use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move the highlighting selector bar. Typically I will select Safe Mode With Networking, as this allows me to access the Internet and download utilities as well as give these utilities access to definition updates for itself later.
After you select Safe Mode With Networking and press Enter your screen will be bombarded with a slathering of strange and mysterious words…
Don’t worry, this is normal. (Note: If instead of this screen above you get another menu asking what version of Windows you want to boot, just press Enter again).
Eventually you will get to the familiar blue colored user login screen and you might see an account called Administrator shown there that you’ve never seen before. If you do, go ahead and select it to log in as “Administrator”. Otherwise, select your own user name.
Once you’re logged in you have a few options you can take. The safest way to get started is to actually bring a copy of your utility software with you on a thumb drive or CD to install it from, instead of downloading via a web browser. The reason it’s not a good idea to try and download via a web browser is because a lot of viruses tend to wrap themselves around a browser’s EXE file so that when the browser starts, so does the virus. This could potentially happen with a lot of other software so it’s best to try and resist the temptation to run any programs except for the cleaning utilities we’re about to install.
Phase 2: Cleaning
There are only three pieces of software I typically use with great success in the field for removing viruses and malware. They are:
All of the above are free with the exception of Malwarebytes, which functions with all its features on a 30 day trial when you first install it (note that you will see an error message appear when you tell it to start the trial while in Safe Mode; this is normal and you can ignore the error by clicking the OK button when it appears). To keep the full version running you have to buy it for the low one-time payment of $25 and I strongly recommend it. Apart from these three the only other tool I use is Google, which I’ll use to lookup exact phrases found within suspicious malware to see if I can find other people talking about that particular virus somewhere online and hopeful discover what unique thing they did to remove it. Fair warning: Your mileage may vary.
I typically start by installing Malwarebytes first (however I have had one experience where I wasn’t able to do this until after I ran Combofix so you might need to flip the order of these two tasks), applying the most recent update for it and then running a full scan, removing all infected objects it finds. A typical scan can take around a half hour to do. When it’s finished, you just need to click the “Show Results” button and then make sure the results listed all have check marks next to them and then click “Remove Selected” in the bottom left. If an object doesn’t have a check mark when you first view the results it means Malwarebytes thinks it could be a false-positive result. Use your best judgment and google to determine if either the file is malicious and/or if the file is a necessary part that can be removed without grief. A reboot will likely be required when it is finished. Be ready to hit F8 again when you do this so you can come back into Safe Mode and continue your work.
One thing I’ll often do while I’m waiting for a Malwarebytes scan to complete is take a look at the MS Config utility and see what items are enabled to auto-start when you boot into the system. To access this, click Start, then click Run (or just click into the search box if you’re using Windows 7) and type in “msconfig” without the quotes into the box and click OK. Then click the Startup tab at the top.
In this startup list are programs that are told to run right away when you first log into your system. Almost all of these items are non-essential and to be on the safest side you could probably get away with unchecking all of these items, but that’s usually overkill and might rob you of some convenient feature you’d like to have. Look carefully down the list for items that have empty path names, or very bizarre characters in their name… I have to admit that at this point experience with this stuff comes in to play. If you don’t know what something is you could look it up by name with google on a separate computer before deciding to uncheck it Alternatively, you could use the uncheck-all-the-things strategy and then go back later to add check marks back into the few items you know you need enabled. You can also check out the Services tab which is to the left of the Startup tab, check the box that says “Hide all Microsoft items” and then use the same judgment to decide if there are third-party services running in the background that don’t need to be. Google is your friend here for helping to determine if a service is useful or not.
Another thing I’ll do while waiting for a scan to complete is open the Add/Remove Program (Programs & Features) applet from the Control Panel to view all the software that’s been installed on the system. I target toolbars of any kind first, next by software that is unfamiliar to the user. Again, google is a useful reference here because you don’t want to remove something that’s known to not be malicious.
The next step is to run Combofix which you can find a tutorial about by clicking here. It is pretty strait forward: double-click on the combofix.exe file that you downloaded and follow the on screen instructions. It’s own scan will also take about 30 minutes or so but it is very sensitive so once you kick it off, don’t touch the computer until its finished. There is almost no interaction required with the software and it will automatically remove anything malicious it finds, producing a log with a lot of interesting jargon at the end that you can forward on to an expert for further analysis if you’d like.
After all this I’ll typically reboot the system and let it boot normally and then install Microsoft Security Essentials, running a full scan with it right after and checking to make sure the trial mode has been enabled on Malwarebytes.
If all of the above didn’t work, something I’ll try next is to reboot back into safe mode and use the control panel to create a new user account, then log off and log back in under that new account and repeat all the same steps above. The reason this might help is because viruses tend to damage registry entries for accounts that existed when it found and infected the system. Because we’re creating a new account in an environment that hopefully didn’t auto-launch the virus, we can then create a fresh account with it’s own default settings and preferences that hopefully won’t be manipulated by the virus. This kind of problem could also be reversed using the System Restore utility but I’ve found that a lot of times (not always) I try to use this utility none of the restore points are any good. I wouldn’t be surprised if previous restore points are destroyed by certain viruses making it even more difficult to undo the damage done. In situations like that I’ve occasionally just created a new user account and migrated all the important user data (documents, etc.) from the old account to the new account, deleting the old one in the end because it’s irreversibly broken.
One last tip I’ve run across in a training video for a competitor of mine who will remain unnamed is to shut the system off by force instead of doing a soft reboot during this cleaning process. In other words, hold the power button down for 5 seconds and then turn the computer back on after 20 seconds. The reasoning behind this is that there are a few viruses out there that alter the shutdown script of events that take place during an ordinary shutdown and one of the events it injects into the script is to reinstall the virus during shutdown from a rogue location, as a Plan B so even if the live version of the virus is caught and removed it might be able to recreate the file from an encrypted copy of itself elsewhere. If you decide to do this my only advice would be to backup the entire hard drive before doing so. It’s technically dangerous… but probably not THAT dangerous… it’s best to remain on the safe side and not use shortcuts.
Finally a word about a couple of common viruses in particular I’ve run into in the last year:
A few of these viruses going around exhibit the symptom of making all your files and shortcut icons on the desktop vanish. This is often done with a combination of changing the file attributes to enable the hidden flag, or by moving the files to a hidden location. It is sometimes also conjoined with malware that tries to frighten you into thinking your hard drive is on the verge of failure, or at the least, claims to be antivirus software itself. The goal of all such attempts is to get you to give up your credit card number. Please don’t.
I’ve had great success removing the virus that causes these files to go missing but after it’s been removed it’s not always so easy to reverse the damage and restore the missing icons. Fortunately there is one program out there that, for the most part, has been able to do this for me very simply and it’s simply called “Unhide”. Use this program after going through all the above steps to be sure you’ve removed traces of the virus and hopefully it will get all of your stuff back for you. You can download Unhide from here.
One other common symptom I’ve seen certain viruses exhibit is hijacking certain registry entries to alter file associations, specifically one which makes your computer forget what to run EXE files with, asking instead what program you’d like to open another program with. I have found that in Windows 7 one trick of working around this is to right-click on a program shortcut and then click Run as Administrator. This uses a separate registry association which hopefully has not been affected by the virus. Using this Right-Click>Run as Administrator trick you should be able to run your scanning utilities like Malwarebytes and Combofix from within Safe Mode.
Phase 3: Prevention
Now that we know how much of a pain these kinds of viruses can cause we should talk a little about where they come from and the different ways they can end up on your computer. I wrote a much longer blog about this topic which you can read here. Basically it boils down to this:
- Make sure you install all available software updates for Windows itself as well as 3rd party software and plugins like Adobe Flash, Acrobat and Java (among others). Updates are your friend and help to patch recently discovered security vulnerabilities.
- Pay attention to links people send you in emails. It’s quite possible their email account has had its password stolen and is being used by a robot to send spam email with links to malicious websites out to everyone in their address book. Warn your friends if you suspect their account has been compromised and suggest they change their email accounts password before following the steps above to attempt to remove a potential infection.
- Use good anti-virus software. As recommended above, I prefer MSE and Malwarebytes. Combofix is only to be used as an emergency utility; it doesn’t have a real-time monitoring feature.
- Consider using a software firewall to block unwanted inbound traffic and unexpected outbound traffic. Zone Alarm Free is an excellent choice for this.
- Use an ad-blocking plugin to further reduce the chances of a virus sneaking in through a flash-based advertisement. Ad-Block for Firefox is a great option. You can also get it for Google Chrome from here.
- Along with these plugins, consider using a better browser. Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome have both become superior to Internet Explorer, especially in terms of security.
- Avoid installing “toolbars” for your browser. If you install one by accident, disable it in your browser or better yet uninstall it via your control panel.
- Avoid using P2P file-sharing software like Frostwire or MP3Rocket. These methods of file sharing do not have any form of user moderation and anybody can wrap a virus inside a file then name it something innocent/sensational looking to trick people into downloading it and installing a virus.
- Consider adding a parental filter to your computer; you don’t need kids for this. Having a web filter like K9 Web Protection can be helpful to block your computer from accidentally trying to connect with a known malicious server.
- Lastly, though this is too extreme for most people: Consider switching to Linux on your desktop. Linux is free, open-source and is even more secure than MacOS. Seriously.
I hope this advice has been helpful. Please leave comments or suggestions about other tips and tricks you use to help remove malicious software in the comments section below!
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Posted in How to, Tips & Tricks, OS - Windows 7, OS - Windows 8, OS - Windows Vista, OS - Windows Xp
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6 Tips To Secure Your Facebook Account
Jun 27
Posted by Nikesh Jain
1. Enable HTTPS
Using HTTPS instead of simple HTTP means that you are securing your communication between the server and your computer. No one will be able to hack between your computer and the server so you can be sure that all the information delivered to and from your computer is completely safe. Modern browsers can highlight the secure URLs with the information about the certificate issuing authority.
To enable HTTPS, you can login to your Facebook account and go to “Account -> Account Settings“.
Select Account Security under Settings tab and check the box beside Browse Facebook on a secure connection (https) whenever possible
2. Use Facebook two- step authentication (Login Approvals)
Like Google, Facebook has also introduced two-step authentication service called Login Approvals. This service lets you login to your Facebook account by using your password plus a security authentication code sent to your mobile device. By enabling this service, you will no longer be able to login to Facebook by only using your password. You will always be required to use the password and security code sent to your mobile device.
3. Check for Facebook email phishing attacks and scams
While you are in Facebook, you should never click on suspicious links even if the messages were sent from your friends. Most Facebook scams spread by posting messages to walls of all friends of the infected user. The best place to get updated news about Facebook scams is Facecrooks.com. This site will give you details about all the recent scams and other threats spreading on Facebook. Visit Facecrooks.com frequently to find out more about Facebook threats.
You should also take extra care when reading a message from Facebook. Always double-check the email address of the sender before taking any action or clicking on any link in the email. All the emails sent from Facebook will originate from facebookmail.com domain. Emails from any other domain claiming to be from Facebook will be scam and not legitimate.
4. Enable login notifications
Enabling login notifications in Facebook will notify you when someone logs in from a suspicious location or computer. This is important if you always use your Facebook from the same computer and same Internet connection, Facebook will know your location and will trust the computer you’re working on. If you or someone else logs in from another location, you’ll get a notification from Facebook about the suspicious account activity.
To enable login notification, go to “Account -> Account Settings“.
Under settings tab expand “Account security -> Login notification“, check the following two boxes:
§ Send me an email
§ Send me a text message
You should also check Facebook Login history regularly and see if any suspicious person has logged into your Facebook account. Facebook history will tell you the recent IP addresses and devices used to login to your Facebook account.
5. Use Facebook one-time password service on public computers
Like Hotmail, Facebook also provides the facility of one-time password. One-time password is a temporary password which can only be used once and expires within 20 minutes of creation. To enable this service, you’ll need to activate a phone number so that Facebook can send messages to your mobile. To register and activate a phone number you can go to “Account -> Account settings”.
Under Mobile tab, you can activate your phone to use Facebook one-time password service. The temporary password will be sent to your mobile and you’ll be able to login to Facebook once using that password.
6. Check Allowed Applications Frequently
You should always keep an eye on which application you have allowed and what that application is doing. You should never install an app that looks suspicious. Always search the Internet for its reviews and install the app only if it has good rating.
I hope following all these points will give you a better and secure experience with Facebook. Last of all I would like you to attempt a security quiz from Facebook. In this quiz you’ll be asked questions about security and you can see how informed you are regarding Facebook security. You may also take a look at managing Facebook privacy options.
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