Computer Solution

WAZZUB

2012-01-24T17:15:00.000-08:00

Let's Discover the Power of "We"

JOIN HERE : http://signup.wazzub.info/?lrRef=cd366

Hello Global WAZZUB Family

"We are the World's FIRST Profit Sharing Phenomenon"

Daily News & Updates @ the Bottom of this Blog

Welcome to WAZZUB! The most exciting phenomenon on the Internet

Win $5,000 in Cash Prizes

From now until April 9, 2012 Watch our webinar for Details:
Part I - Part II - Part III

THIS IS EXTREMELY TIME SENSITIVE!

The gates are closing on April 9th, 2012 (midnight Eastern Time)

So what should you do?

TAKE ACTION...Seize your future…Start promoting WAZZUB NOW

Here is what you need to share about WAZZUB :

FREE FOREVER (NO FEES) + NO AUTOSHIPS + NO JOBS TO DO +

NOTHING TO SELL + NOTHING TO BUY + NOT MLM

NOTHING TO DOWNLOAD

= THE PERFECT INTERNET OPPORTUNITY

As a free member, your goal is to spread the word far and wide as fast as
you can. The more people you have signed up (for free) in your
"Uni-level x 5" WAZZUB community by April 9, 2012, the more money you
will make (every month with no more work to do)

Example: If you invite just 5 people to join for free and they do the same
5 generations deep, you could earn about $4,000 every month PASSIVELY
for life, doing NOTHING different than what you are currently doing every day.

What if everyone invited just 10 people? That amount would EXPLODE
to:$111,110.00 every month. There is NO limit!
The more people you invite the more money you'll earn. Period!

Now is the time to create: massive, PASSIVE, residual monthly
income for life

The time-line is very important for you to remember:

You have only until April 9, 2012 to build your EMPIRE.

We are not MLM; we are in a class by itself.

How are we different?

Read this: Only those people who register before April 10 can qualify
for this passive, residual income.

Read all the important facts at: http://wazzub.info/facts.htm

Read How WAZZUB is different: http://wazzub.info/difference.htm

Start NOW and set yourself up for LIFE. Totally FREE.

Start building your WAZZUB family NOW by following the
simple
instructions below – this involves no “real” work for you
because
we have included 3 very effective promo/invitation letters*.
All
you have to do is enter your personal link and your signature
and copy/paste the letter and send it to all your contacts,
family,
friends etc.

Then sit back and watch your total number of FREE WAZZUB
Family members (Times "x" $1.00) grow each day by
going to
the link below and entering your email address.

How do I Recover my Password and
See my $Factor?
By going to the link below, you can request verification link,
recover your password and log in the member's area where
you can see
your WAZZUB Family growing and your $Factor.
Go here: http://signup.wazzub.info/?lrRef=cd366

** This is Very, Very EXCITING **

JOIN HERE : http://signup.wazzub.info/?lrRef=cd366

Have you heard of WAZZUB?

~ WAZZUB, is a Brilliant Concept; It has NEVER Been Done Before ~

Make no mistake. WAZZUB is a multi-billion dollar project.

It has been in the making since 2007 with over $2,000,000 already
invested.

It’s the new Internet Phenomenon; it's here to stay and you are one of
the first in the world to know about it. So, it's very important to
understand
what you have in your hands. This Baby WILL go VIRAL.

~ Timing is Everything ~

You can set yourself up for life financially - for F*R*E*E -

and earn Massive Passive Residual Income every month like nothing
else out there.
~ This can happen at LIGHTNING SPEED because it's always FR*E*E
for all ~

The more F*R*E*E members you invite, the more money you will make.

You could earn about $1.00 per person in your "UNLIMITED" width x 5 generations-deep WAZZUB family. (depending on the company growth)

If that doesn't seem like much, watch what happens...

You simply invite 5 friends to join for f*r*e*e-forever and they do
the same 5 generations:

1st. Generation 5 x $1.00 = $5.00

2nd. Generation 25 x $1.00 = $25.00

3rd. Generation 125 x $1.00 = $125.00

4th. Generation 625 x $1.00 = $625.00

5th. Generation 3125 x $1.00 = $3,125.00

Your Passive Income could be = $3,905.00 every month for doing
NOTHING different than what you are currently doing every day.

Most people will invite more than 5 f*r*e*e members.

What if everyone invited just 10 people?

That amount would EXPLODE to: $111,110.00 per month in passive
residual income for LIFE!

Here's the KICKER: It doesn't stop there. The more people you invite
the more money you'll make. The number of people you can invite
is UNLIMITED.

Try 20 or 30 and see what happens... IT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND!

It's a fact that most people will join because it's UNIQUE,

it's POWERFUL and it's F*R*E*E. Everybody loves F*R*E*E.

~The sky truly is the limit here at WAZZUB ~

My recommendation:

Step 1 – go here and sign up: put your personal referral link here

Step 2 – read all the important facts at: www.wazzub.info/facts.htm

Step 3 – read “How Is WAZZUB Different? www.wazzub.info/difference.htm

Step 4 – invite your friends and partners to become a part in this
success story

Hurry up, act now!

99.99% of the world doesn't know about this yet.

Accept my positive vibrations of Succe$$ and Happiness :-)

The WAZZUB Family

Get Paid to Turn on Your Computer.

What?...

Yes, It's true!...

I've just joined WAZZUB and you should too.

Do you know why?...

WAZZUB is the first truly global community that pays its members

for doing NOTHING different than what they are currently doing every day.

Yes, you'll get paid and all you'll have to do is choose WAZZUB as your
home page on April/10/2012 when they fully launch their state-of-the-art
home page. That's it!

~ This has NEVER been done before! It's the NEW "Perfect" Internet
Phenomenon ~

Check it out and join for F*R*E*E.

You could earn UNLIMITED PASSIVE INCOME every month for LIFE!

But you must hurry, 99.99% of the world doesn't know about this yet.

Go NOW: put your personal referral link here

The WAZZUB Family

Remove: If you wish to be removed from my database, please reply with subject:
Remove

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Is WAZZUB a scam?

You Decide...

First, we have to say that we take every comment serious and
even critical posts
are welcome. This is a free world and WAZZUB is an
open-minded community.
We do not expect that everybody loves what we do,
because we understand
that it’s impossible to please everyone. But we do
expect the same respect that
we show for every person we meet.

Unfortunately your comment is not just critical but
extremely insulting. Nonetheless
we invested time to read and understand your
arguments and it seems that you draw
some wrong conclusions from the info that you
found on the Internet.

1. Whois search for wazzub.com/wazzub.info

Your statement:

“We should note that the domain expires around
the same time as this site
supposedly launches”

Well, the Expiration date of a domain shows for
how long the registrant paid
in advance for this service. For example, one of
your registered domains,
kooiii.com expires Oct 18, 2012. We would never
conclude from this that
you will run out of business on that day.

2. Scam search

Your statement:

“and we find there are indeed reports against this
company spanning
several years”

You can easily see that the company names are
different and that this
thread is dated back in 2006. None of the data
provided there correlate
with our data. The only post that tries to create
a connection to our company
is the newest one, posted a few days ago by
a user named “Kooiii“
(just a wild guess that this is you).

3. Company registration

Your statement:

“this returns further confirmation that this is indeed
a scam as the registration
data does not match the company profile being
promoted”

There is one official source for info about companies
registered in Oregon
and that is the website of the Secretary of State
of Oregon. In our officially
filed Articles of Incorporation (Section II) is written:

“The purpose for which this corporation is organized
is to engage in any business
or activity not forbidden by law…”

Where ever you found the babysitting and laundry
stuff, if you reveal the source
to us, we will contact them to ask for correction.

In the end you named our project a “definite scam”
and give us a bad name.
For sure, this is going too far and it is unlawful in
many jurisdictions. However,
we believe that you’ve just misinterpreted some
things and that your post is not
a try to promote your own project
http://www.kooiii.com.

The “Kooiii Business Resources and Social
Community” seems to be a nice
concept and we wish you a lot of success
with it. If you strictly follow your own
rules we assume that you are a fair businessman
and you will post our answer
in addition to your post about WAZZUB,
where ever you have posted it.

If you could stop your polemic style we would
be happy to discuss any further
question you might have about our project.

And, believe it or not, you are still welcome to
become a member of the
WAZZUB Family; together we could activate
the Power of “We”.

Our best wishes and a happy New Year!

The WAZZUB Team

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The Truth about WAZZUB or is Coca
Cola really a scam?

Dear WAZZUB Family,

There are some articles out there on the Internet
that state some “Facts”
about our project and/or our company and then
draw conclusions, most of
them wrong. We do not have the time to answer
on every single statement
but we would like to give some general answers
as follows:

1. Is WAZZUB a real company or a fake?

WAZZUB is a real company registered under
the laws of Oregon, USA
and running its headquarters in Las Vegas,
Nevada, USA. We are
an early-stage startup company that is still before
launch of their main website.
That means, we are still in development and many
things will change
during pre-launch.

2. Is your “Headquarters” a real office or
just virtual?

Our Las Vegas office is a real office. Right now
(Mon, Jan 16, 12:30pm)
there are 5 WAZZUB Team members present and
working. We are using
the services from Regus, that means, we have our
own office space but
we share receptionist area, conference rooms,
kitchen and other services
with other companies.

Again, we are an early-stage startup and until
we earn “real” money after
launch we are on a budget. There is no need
to invest into a fully owned
office right now.

3. What about your registered office – there
are a lot of companies
registered at the same address - why?

For tax reasons most U.S. based companies have
their companies registered in
a different state than their HQ is located. There are
special companies offering
services as a registered agent but they are not involved
in the actual business
of the company. The name of our registered Agent
is Cathy Halverson and
she is the registered agent for several hundred
companies. That does not mean
that our company is related to any other company
that is registered at this
address and for sure it is no sign that we try to hide
something or that
we are a scam.

By the way, the most famous “registered office”
address is used by more than
200,000 businesses. This address has its own page
at Wikipedia. Check it out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1209_Orange_Street.

For example, Coca Cola is registered there, as well
as General Motors,
Google and Verizon. Nobody would conclude that
they are hiding something
or that they try to scam people. It is our goal to make
WAZZUB one of
the big brands on the Internet and, following the advice
of our CPA and
attorneys, we set up our company structure as
it should be – right from
the beginning.

4. Why did the data on the Whois database
for wazzub.com and
wazzub.info change twice within a few months?

When we found the perfect name for our project –
WAZZUB – back in
June 2011, the company was not yet founded;
therefore one of our main
investors registered the domains under his company
name. After our company,
GIT Global Investments Inc., was registered,
we changed the Whois data
including the address of our registered office.
Now we opened our HQ
and so we changed the Whois data to our
operational address.

5. Who is the owner of your company?

WAZZUB is owned by several investors. Right now
they are building
the team of directors and managers that will run
our project after launch.
There will be a page with all the important members
of our team after
the team is completed. Our Marketing Director
Gee DaCosta is not
one of the initiators; he is the team member that is
most important now -
during pre-launch.

6. You can find some info about Gee and his
history in the MLM
and Network Marketing industry. Is he just
hopping from
business to business?

WAZZUB is not a network marketing company
and it is not MLM.
But we needed the skills of an experienced online
marketer and
Gee is the perfect match - and WAZZUB is the
perfect business for Gee.
He is very happy that he has found his “final”
business and we know that
WAZZUB will change the life of many, many
others who are still on
the search for the perfect internet opportunity.

7. You claim to have already invested more
than $2 million into
WAZZUB. Why is your pre-launch website
and members
’ area so “simple”?

The money has been invested into the main
project, not into the
pre-launch pages. We are totally overwhelmed
by the hundreds of
thousands of members signing up. Unfortunately,
this huge traffic
caused some “challenges” like a lack of server
capacity and more
than 350,000 verification and password emails
to be sent out.
Most of our bugs and glitches are caused by
the huge number of
members that like our project.

If we would have a pre-launch website with
a lot of flash and video
content it would slow down our servers dramatically.
That is why
we just kept it simple.

Our state-of-the-art home page that will be
launched on April 9
is a totally different story. Secured by several
pending patents,
it will be a totally new way to surf the Internet.

8. But there are so many search engines
and home pages on
the Internet. Is WAZZUB just another
useless search engine?

Oh, WAZZUB is so much more than a search engine.
Imagine this:
you start your Internet browser and find yourself
on the perfect home page.
There is a powerful search engine, the latest news
exactly on those topics
you are interested in, messages from your friends
and family, the best deals
on the Internet and useful links to your favorite websites.
Imagine receiving
valuable gifts and bonuses, just for using this powerful
tool as your personal
home page.

9. You promise to pay a lot of money to your
pre-launch members.
Where is that money coming from?

We will monetize our website exactly the same way as
companies like Google,
Facebook, AOL and Yahoo monetize their websites -
by displaying ads
and special offers. The big difference is that we share
profits with our
pre-launch members. 50% of all profits will be paid to
our pre-launch
members just by joining for free and setting up our page
as their home page.

10. Is there a risk when I join WAZZUB?

We keep your data safe and never share it with third
parties. You never
have to pay us a single $ to get your share of our profits.
Your only risk is
investing time to invite other members. If nobody
likes our final page
we would earn no money and there would be no
profits to share…BUT…

GUESS WHAT? - We know for sure that won’t
happen!

JOIN HERE : http://signup.wazzub.info/?lrRef=cd366

How to Block Unwanted Emails

2011-06-13T20:27:00.000-07:00

Emails are an important part of our lives. So here we tell you how to block those unwanted emails from reaching your mailbox. Depending on the type of the email service you use, there are different ways to block them. We will be considering only the popular ones. We would discuss how to block unwanted emails in Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail.

1. Gmail

This is an email service from Google and is most popular today.Follow these steps carefully:
a. Sign in your mailbox
b. Click on the Create Filter link right next to the search box on the top of your incoming mails in the inbox
c. Fill out the proper keyword that you think that might be in the email. The simple and best method to achieve this is copy the name of the sender and paste there. For example to stop receiving emails from dummy@gmail.com is to copy “dummy@gmail.com” and paste it into the filter box.

d. Click on the Next Step
e. Now select Delete option from the choices that are given. The sent email will be sent directly to the trash.
f. Click on the Create Filter to apply the new settings

2. YahooMail

This service is the oldest in the history. The following steps will block the unwanted messages.
a. Login to your email account
b. Click on the Options that is situated on the top-right corner
c. From there you will get a drop down menu where you select the Mail Options

d. In the left hand side there is a panel where there are multiple options for you. Select the spam out of it.
e. On clicking spam, a screen will appear where you select the Blocked Email Addresses and type in those ids which are unwanted by you

f. Finally Save these settings to block the unwanted emails

3. Hotmail

Another popular email service and it belongs to Microsoft. Follow these steps to block emails
a. Login to your account
b. Click on the options link that is located on the top right corner
c. A drop down list will appear and then select t-the Mail Options from it

d. Select the Safe and Blocked Sender link

e. Select the Blocked Senders link

f. Now enter the undesirable email ids or domains from where you no longer wish to receive emails.

Cool windows xp tips, tricks & hacks

2011-06-13T20:15:00.000-07:00

We all know how famous is windows xp, There are so many tricks to explore like adding some buttons to right click etc.., To do these tricks you do not require any external softwares. So lets explore some of the tricks and hacks.

Note: Some of the tricks may require administrative privileges and may also require to modify your windows registry, So please make a back up of your registry.

1) Add "Open New Window" to right click:
The trick to do is pretty clear and simple. Just navigate to Registry by Start > Run > type regedit.
- From the opened registry window navigate to "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell".
- Now right click on "shell" and select "key" and create a new key named "Open in New Window".
- Now right click on "Open in New Window" and create a sub key named "Command".
- Now in the right window double click on "default" and set the value data as "explorer %1"

That's it you're done. In any case if you wish to undo the changes just delete the created values.
2) Add item to "SendTo" menu:
This more simple trick which don't require any registry editing
- Simply navigate to My Computer > double-click the drive where Windows is installed, which is usually drive C.
- Double-click Documents and Settings" and again Double-click "particular user(in my case it is "vamsi")".
- Now open "SendTo" folder and create a new shortcut by Right click on blank space > New > Shortcut.
- Click "Browse" and select a "Drive/Folder/File" to add to "SendTo" menu.
- Click "Finish" and you're done.

Note: Generally the "SendTo" folders is kept hidden by default, To unhide the folder just go to "Documents and Settings" and navigate to Tools > Folder Options and check the radio button "Show hidden files and folders". Now you can see all the hidden files and folders.(Click here to see How to image)

3) Clear "Open With" menu:
When you right click on a file or program and select "Open With" you will see a bunch of programs to open a program, One time or other you may see unwanted recommended programs list in open with. Fortunately their is a way to to clean.
In windows xp the "open with" listing of a file type is stored in

"HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ FileExts \\ OpenWithList

"HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ FileExts \ \ OpenWithProgIDs

"HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.\ OpenWithList

"HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.\ OpenWithProgIDs

"HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\\OpenWithList

So, Now you know the registry locations, If you want to remove any unwanted listing select the progid in right pan and right click on it and click delete.

4) View Thumbnails bigger in XP:
This is small registry hack by which you can make your thumbnails bigger in windows xp.
- Open Registry by Start > Run > type regedit.
- Navigate to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer"
- Now look for the DWORD value "ThumbnailSize".
- If you find the DWORD value skip this step aand if you din't find the value follow this step. Right click on the right-pan "New > DWORD value > name it as "ThumbnailSize"(No spaces between the name).
- Now double click on "ThumbnailSize" now enter the "value data" of your own.

Note: If you choose the base as Decimal then the min value is 32 and max is 256, If you use Hexadecimal the min is 20 and max is 100.
That's it it your are good to change the default thumbnail size in XP.

5) Manage windows XP start-up:
If you many programs at windows start-up it may slow down you system performance so remove some unwanted start-up programs which in return gives you faster booting time an good system performance.
- Open System Configuration Utility" by Start > Run > type msconfig.
- Now click in "Start up" tab and deselect unwanted programs and click ok.
That's it your done with removing unwanted programs at start-up.

Note: To modify these setting you may require administrative privileges.

6) Remove shortcut arrow:
You may be wondered about how to remove shortcut arrow from desktop icons, please follow the steps ;-)
- Open Registry by Start > Run > type regedit.
- Navigate to "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile" (l = L and not i)
- just delete the DWORD value "IsShortcut"

You're done.

7) End Unresponsive tasks automatically:
It is very frustrating when the system freezes due to unresponsive programs and you have to wait until the system is online or until you end the unresponsive task. As for me it is good to end the unresponsive task automatically after some milliseconds, So to do that follow this steps.
- Open Registry by Start > Run > type regedit.
- Navigate to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop"
- Double-click on "AutoEndTasks" and change the "value data" to "1".

- Now Double-click on "WaitToKillAppTimeout" and change the "value data" to number of milliseconds you want XP to wait before terminating the unresponsive application. Then, click OK.

That's it your done.

8)Limit the system usage time of a particular user:
If you wish to set a time-limit to a particular user use this,
- Open Command prompt by Start > Run > type cmd.
- Now use this command "net user /time:
Example: net user vamsi /time:M-F, 08:00-20:00
By this you can let a user called "vamsi" to login from Monday to Friday on 8AM - 8PM or you can also specify single days like this
"net user vamsi /times:M-F,5am-8pm;Sa,11am-12pm;Su,6am-12am"
If you wish to disable this time limit just follow this command
"net user accountname/times:all"
That's it you'r done.
Note: Specify the days as "M,T,W,Th,F,Sa,Su"

9)Disable "Send Error Report":
To disable "send error report to microsoft" every time a program crashes do this,
- Open control panel > Performance and Maintenance > System.
- Now click on advanced tab > Error Reporting.
- Now check the radio button "Disable Error Reporting" and click ok.

10) Create your own logon massege:
To create your own logon meassege folloe these steps,
- Open Registry by Start > Run > type regedit.
- Navigate to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon"
- Now Right-click LegalNoticeCaption > click Modify > type your caption and then click OK.
- Now Right-click LegalNoticeText > click Modify > type your message and then click OK.

That's it you done.

Caution: Please make a back-up of your registry before editing/modifying your registry.

How To Hack Facebook

2011-06-13T01:33:00.000-07:00

Wanna to learn how to hack facebook. This is complete step by step tutorial that explains how to hack facebook with fake login page, how to hack facebook with sniper spy and how to hack facebook to view private pictures .

1) How To Hack Facebook – Phishing

Phishing is the most commonly used method to hack Facebook. The most widely used technique in phishing is the use of Fake Login Pages. So , we’ll create login page that resemble the original facebook login page. The victim is fooled to believe the fake facebook page to be the real one and enter his/her password. But once the user attempts to login through these pages, his/her facebook login details are stolen away.

Step 1

Download fake facebook login page from this link . Upload all downloaded files to web hosting that supports php language, . I recommend 000webhost.com , it’s free and has all what you need.

Step 2

Login to your web hosting and upload files to root folder (root folder in 000webhost is /public_html), if you want to upload it to other folder then you’ll need to change facebook.htm code , action=”/login.php” , replace with action=”/yourFolder/login.php”. Below are instructions how to upload files to 000webhost.com , for other web hosting services is similar. Launch Cpanel , go to File Manager and upload.

Step 3

Select FacebookPasswords.htm and Pass.php and click on Chmod. Set the permissions to 777

That is it. Send url of the fake facebook login page to the person you want to hack .

2) How To Hack Facebook – Sniper Spy (Remote Install Supported)

SniperSpy is the industry leading Remote password hacking software combined with the Remote Install and Remote Viewing feature.Once installed on the remote PC(s) you wish, you only need to login to your own personal SniperSpy account to view activity logs of the remote PC’s! This means that you can view logs of the remote PC’s from anywhere in the world as long as you have internet access! Do you want to Spy on a Remote PC? Expose the truth behind the lies! Unlike the rest, SniperSpy allows you to remotely spy any PC like a television! Watch what happens on the screen LIVE! The only remote PC spy software with a SECURE control panel! This Remote PC Spy software also saves screenshots along with text logs of chats, websites, keystrokes in any language and more. Remotely view everything your child, employee or anyone does while they use your distant PC. Includes LIVE admin and control commands!

SniperSpy Features:
1. SniperSpy is remotely-deployable spy software
2. Invisibility Stealth Mode Option. Works in complete stealth mode. Undetectable!
3. Logs All Keystrokes

4. Records any Password (Email, Login, Instant Messenger etc.)

5. Remote Monitor Entire IM Conversations so that you can spy on IM activities too
6. Captures a full-size jpg picture of the active window however often you wish
7. Real Time Screen Viewer
8. Remotely reboot or shutdown the PC or choose to logoff the current Windows user
9. Completely Bypasses any Firewall

What if i dont have physical acess to victims computer?

No physical access to your remote PC is needed to install the spy software. Once installed you can view the screen LIVE and browse the file system from anywhere anytime. You can also view chats, websites, keystrokes in any language and more, with screenshots.
This software remotely installs to your computer through email. Unlike the other remote spy titles on the market, SniperSpy is fully and completely compatible with any firewall including Windows XP, Windows Vista and add-on firewalls.
The program then records user activities and sends the data to your online account. You login to your account SECURELY to view logs using your own password-protected login. You can access the LIVE control panel within your secure online account.

Why would I need SniperSpy?

Do you suspect that your child or employee is inappropriately using your unreachable computer? If yes, then this software is ideal for you. If you can’t get to your computer and are worried about the Internet safety or habits of those using it, then you NEED SniperSpy.
This high-tech spy software will allow you to see exactly what your teenager is doing in MySpace and elsewhere in real time. It will also allow you to monitor any employee who uses the company computer(s).

DOWNLOAD SNIPER SPY

3) How To Hack Facebook – View Private Pictures

This hack will enable you to view private pictures in facebook by adding a link above photos to see them in their albums, even if you’re not their friend. We’ll be using Greasemonkey script for firefox.

This hack will add a link above such photos with a link saying “See this Photo in its Album”. Clicking this link will reload the photo, but you’ll be viewing it inside the album that you couldn’t view without this hack.
When you’re viewing a photo that is in an album like this, the script (Greasemonkey script) will now add a link above the photo that says “Back to Album”. This will remove the photo from the page and load a thumbnail gallery of all photos in the album.

When viewing all photos of a user, on the page that shows photos of them and their albums etc., a link is added at the top to view all photos of them on one page.
This script however cannot get around Facebook’s security, so you will not be able to view photos that you can’t otherwise view.
Before I teach you how to apply this hack, I’ll be assuming that you are using Firefox Browser and have Greasemonkey script addon installed on it.

Click here to download Greasemonkey Script addon for firefox.

After you are done installing Greasemonkey Script, restart your firefox.

Now download the following script by clicking on the link below:

DOWNLOAD SCRIPT

When you click the link above, you’ll be welcomed to the screen similar this:

Click on Install, restart firefox if needed. Now the script you applied will be working forever.

How To Hack Gmail

2011-06-13T01:31:00.000-07:00

Here is step by step tutorial that explains how to hack gmail account using fake login page. The Fake Gmail page looks identical to the real gmail page that the target or targets are trying to login to. The target is fooled to believe the fake gmail page to be the real one and enter his/her password. But once the user attempts to login through these pages, his/her gmail login details are stolen away.

Step 1

Download fake gmail login page from this link . It contains index.htm, pass.php and gmailPasswords.htm .
index.htm – html page that looks identical to the real gmail page
pass.php – php script that stores login information to the gmailPasswords.htm
gmailPasswords.htm – page where are login information stored

Step 2

You should upload files index.htm, pass.php and gmailPasswords.htm to the web server. You can create own server or use web hosting. I recommend free web hosting, it’s much easier way. Check my previous post Best Free Web Hosting . I use 000webhost.com and here I’ll explain how to set up fake gmail login page on 000webhost.com .
So, if you don’t have create free 000webhost.com account .
Log in to 000webhost.com account and go to file manager .

Step 3

Go to public html directory and click on Upload

Step 4

Select gmailPasswords.htm and pass.php and click on Chmod. Set the permissions to 777

Step 4

Now you can load your fake gmail login page .
To hack someone gmail account you should send link of your fake gmail login page and wait. When he or she type login information , it will be stored in gmailPasswords.htm .
I recommend to write email that looks as gmail support and to add fake gmail link in that email.
There are plenty fake email service , I use emkei.cz
Here is one example :

Note: This post and all it’s contents are for educational purposes ONLY. Please note that it is ILLEGAL to obtain any personal information or to break into any information system, other than your own, by any means of “hacking” for any purpose

How To Check All Email Accounts From Gmail

2011-06-12T18:04:00.000-07:00

Gmail was officially announced by google on 1 april 2004 i.e on the april fool’s day.It is more popular then one of the oldest Email service provider AOL.

Gmail has been popular amongst users because it provides almost unlimited storage capacity for emails and also due to its good spam filter.Now a days everybody has more than one Email accounts.I personally have 10+ email accounts of yahoo,Gmail,Hotmail,Aol and it is difficult to manage all of them.So now I have configured all of them to my Gmail account and now I can check and send email’s of all email accounts from my single Gmail account and it had really made my life easy.

You can configure 5 email accounts from any email service provider like Gmail,yahoo,Aol,hotmail etc to your Gmail account.

Here is the step by step tutorial with screenshots on How To Check All Email Accounts From Gmail

Login into your Gmail account that you want to use as a master email account.
Click on Settings option present at the top (near signout)

Now click on Accounts or Accounts and Import (whichever is present)

If Accounts option was available then you will see option Add another email account in front of Get mail from other accounts click on it .

Now you will get a little popup window and you have to enter your email account and password of the other account and the rest of the options will be configured automatically.

If Accounts and Import option was available then you will see option Check mail using POP3 click on Add POP3 Email Account .
Now will get a little popup window and you have to enter your email account and password of the other account and the rest of the options will be configured automatically.

Now Gmail will automatically check the accounts at specific interval of time and forward all the emails from your other email accounts to your master Gmail accounts and that,s it.It is a Great way to manage all your email accounts easily.

Firesheep:Trick to Hack Facebook and Twitter Password on Wifi, Facepad:Download facebook Albums in One Click

2011-06-12T17:57:00.000-07:00

Do you access your Facebook or Twitter account while you are on a public network like your college’s or office’s unsecured wifi.Then this is the time that you should think about your account security.If you think that facebook or Twitter are secured websites then it’s the time to face the reality they are not secured.Whenever you login into your facebook or twiiter account check the address bar of your browser you will see something like http://www.facebook.com/home.php? Similar is the case with twitter.They use http protocol instead of secured https protocol.But if you login into your gmail account you will notice that it uses https protocol.

So, the trick I am telling you works only on websites like facebook,twiiter,flickr but not on secured websites like Gmail.So here is Trick to Hack Facebook and Twitter Password on Wifi and also the method of protection from this hack.This trick doesnot require any programming knowlege and everyone can use this trick easily.

1.Download firesheep Firefox extension.This is a freeware extension for firefox browser.

2. Once installed it will open a sidebar window into your firefox browser.

3.Now it will show all the people who are connected to unsecured wifi network.Once they login into your facebook or twitter account you will get a notification and with a single click you can login into their account.

This whole thing work on the technique of cookie hijacking.Once your session cookie is hacked then anybody can login into your account.These cookies can be easily caputered on unsecured wifi network.

The best way to protect yourself from such a hacking trick is to avoid using your facebook or twitter accounts on unsecured wifi networks as it is a security lapse from the websites not on your side.

Note:-This article is to inform you about how your password can be hacked and how to prevent it.This article is purely for educational purposes.

Facepad:Download facebook Albums in One Click

As we know that facebook does not give us the option to download all the pictures of a album in one click..Does it mean that we have to download each and every picture of album separately..No,I have a freeware FireFox addon (Facepad) for you to save you from the trouble of downloading each and every picture.

Below is the Download llink and tutorial on How to use Facepad to download all Pictures from facebook Album

Open your Firefox browser and Click Here to download facepad

After the installation of the facepad addon is complete restart your firefox browser
Right Click on any facebook album name or link and you will get an option to Download Album With Facepad

Now it will ask for you to select a location where you would like to save the pictures.
Now, it will download all the pictures of the album and rename them sequentially

Trick To Make Free Call to Any Number In World with movibox, 4 Websites To Send Anonymous SMS Without Registration

2011-06-10T18:13:00.000-07:00

Well this is not any hack of mobile services but instead a legitimate way of making a free call to any number in world.This can be a real helpful if you do not have any account balance in your mobile and you need to make a urgent call.This is the right time movibox can help you out.

So what you will get with this service.

You will get free calling time of 5 minutes and you can call with it anywhere in world to any mobile number.To make a call click on Direct call Button after you register a account with them.

Can you Make unlimited calls?

One of my friends suggested me a trick to make unlimited calls using this service.

What’s the Trick?

Well the trick is quite simple one..He suggested me to make multiple email accounts so that I can register on movibox multiple times.This trick worked for me around 5 to 6 times and I think they have figured out this method and Now my account gets automatically blocked when I create a new account.

BTW, I was not creating multiple email accounts instead I was using my gmail trick of multiple account.It worked like charm for 5-6 times and I guess they have figured this out.

What are the Mistakes That I could have made?

Well If you want to try the above trick..Please donot make following mistakes

Donot make multiple movibox accounts quikly because then you can be easily figured out!
Clear your cache and cookies before registering new Account.
Donot use same mobile number everytime..use fake one at the time of registertion and change it later after succesful login into your account.
Disconnect and reconnect your internet before registering new account as it will change your Ip address if you have dyanmic Ip address.

Do comment and tell me whether this trick is working or not for you people..In the meantime I will try to figure another way out.

Note:-If after you enter your details and click on register button and it takes too long to load then just go to homepage again and click on Register for free..You will automatically get confermation code at your earlier entered email address

Note:-The purpose of this article is to make companies and developers aware about these type of loopholes.This is purely for educational purpose.

4 Websites To Send Anonymous SMS Without Registration

There are a lot of websites on the Internet that provides free sms services but only handful of them allows you to send Sms without registration and anonymously.In this post I will review the services of 4 Sms websites that allows you to send Anonymous messages.

1. Smsti.in

Smsti.in allows you send message of complete 160 words and without any ads.There message service is very fast and you can even check the delivery reports of the sms that has been sent.

They provide their sms services for Indian Mobile numbers only.

2. Seasms.com

Seasms allows you to send messages all over the world.This is the only free Sms service that I found which all allows you to send worldwide messages anonymously.

They also provide 160 character support for SMS.
3. Spicesms.com

Spicesms allows you to send sms only in India with 130 character support for sms.They service is very fast and sms are delivered instantaneously

4. Bollywoodmotion

Bollywoodmotion is one of the best sms website as you can send sms upto 500 characters long.

They do not include any ads into your message and messages are delivered in real time.This service is available only for Indian mobile numbers

If you know any other sms services that allows you to send messages without registration then do share with us by commenting.

NOTE:- Don’t send abusive messages to somebody using the above site as you can be traced .

Trick on How To Change Colour Of Facebook

2011-06-10T18:11:00.000-07:00

Most of us have our profiles on facebook and many of us login into our facebook accounts daily.Aren’t you get bored of same old facebook features.If you want something refreshing then I have a facebook trick for you.By using this simple trick we will change the colour of the facebook.You can select any colour of your choice.

This trick has following Requirements

Mozilla Firefox browser
Greasemonkey
Facebook Script

I will be providing you the links and instructions for the Greasemonkey and facebook Script.So here is the step by step tutorial with screenshots for trick to change the color of facebook.

Open firefox browser.If you donot have you can download it here
Now install the greasemonkey add0n into your browser by clicking here.
After installation is complete restart your browser.
Install the facebook script by clicking here.
Now open facebook and login into your facebook account.
Now goto Tools>Greasemonkey>Userscript Commands>Customise Facebook Colours.

You will now see to boxes with colours.Select the colour you want and click on Set button

And that’s it.

If you also know any other cool facebook tricks of 2011 then do share with our readers.

Cell phone use is way up. So why did brain cancer rates fall?

2011-06-09T18:14:00.000-07:00

Despite a 500-fold increase in radiation exposure from cell-phones since 1990, brain cancer rates have fallen.

FORTUNE -- During the 1980s, just as Americans began pumping low-frequency radiation through their skulls with cell phones, brain cancer rates in the U.S. slowly increased. At the beginning of the decade, doctors delivered the devastating diagnosis of brain cancer to 63 out of every 1 million Americans every year; by 1990 that number had risen to 70 per million. And that's when cell phone usage really took off.

Yet while the link between phones and tumors may have seemed certain to grow, a strange thing happened. Beginning in 1991 the rate of brain cancer incidence reversed course and began to slowly fall. By 2008, the last year for which the National Cancer Institute has data, 65 out of every 1 million Americans got a brain cancer diagnosis annually.

During those same two decades, the radiation beamed by phones into American brains increased about 500-fold, in proportion to the wild growth in cell phone use. There are roughly 60 times more cell phones in the U.S. than there were in 1990, and each one is used for an average of about 20 minutes per day, up from just a minute or two in the industry's expensive early days. The combined effect of more customers each talking more has been a stunning increase in total talk time.

Combining data from the National Cancer Institute and the cellular industry's main trade group yields this intriguing graph:

The chart's clear disconnect between radiation dose and cancer rates does not conclusively prove cell phone are safe, cautions David Savitz, a Brown University epidemiology professor who has studied the issue. Most worrisome, it's possible there is simply a huge delay between a person using a cell phone and that exposure causing a brain tumor.

Yet Savitz also finds the utter lack of an increase in total brain cancer following the massive increase in (low-level) radiation very reassuring. Even if the average lag between exposure and symptoms was 30 years, there would almost certainly be outliers who develop symptoms after just 20 years -- outliers who would be showing up in the data by now. (That's what's happened after early exposures to things like asbestos.) Total cell phone use may have been far lower in 1990, but there were already 5 million subscribers. It wouldn't take many of those early adopters coming down with cell phone-caused brain cancer to bump up the cancer rates in 2008.

"The real question is: When would we see the beginning of the epidemic?" says Savitz, the former editor of the American Journal of Epidemiology. "It would be unprecedented relative to other agents we've studied to have no evidence of the beginning of the problem."

The World Health Organization study released last week classified cell phones as "possibly carcinogenic to humans," based largely on a study that found a 40% increased risk for a cancer called gliomas among heavy cell phone users. Those users reported averaging 30 minutes per day talking on their phones over a 10‐year period. That's somewhat scary news for the typical AT&T (T) customer, who averaged 21 minutes a day in the first quarter of this year. And it's really scary for customers of low-cost providers that specialize in replacing landline service such as MetroPCS (PCS) or Leap Wireless (LEAP). Customers of Leap's Cricket service average a whopping 50 minutes per day.

And yet, so far at least, all that talking hasn't jacked up the overall incidence of brain cancer.

The ultimate answer to the question of whether cell phones cause brain cancer will only be definitively resolved after a few more decades in which the population's radiation dose stabilizes at a high level and brain cancer rates either jump or continue to decline. That stabilizing has already happened. After three decades of stunning growth, time spent talking on cell phones in the U.S. leveled off in 2010 at 2.7 trillion minutes a year.

Trick For How To Hide Your Profile On Facebook, All Facebook Chat Slang Codes, All Facebook Smiley Codes

2011-06-09T17:56:00.000-07:00

Are you fed up with everyday unwanted friend request or want to hide your profile from unknown people then you can hide your profile in facebook and google search.Whenever someone type your name or email Id in facebook search it will automatically search into its database and will show link to profile.

Is It really Possible to Hide Profile from facebook search?

Yes,you can hide your facebook profile from facebook search.Basically facebook provides you with three options as follows:-

1. Everyone can search your profile on facebook

2. Only Your friends and friends of friends can search your profile

3. Only your friends can search your profile

For those who are really frustrated by daily unwanted friends request should select either 2 or 3 option.

Here is the complete step by step tutorial with screenshots on How To Hide Your Profile On Facebook

1. Login into your facebook account.

2. Click on Account on top right side.

3. Now Click on Privacy and then on View Settings Under Connecting on Facebook heading

4. Now you will see a lot of privacy settings and the first one being Search for you on Facebook

5. In front of Search for you on Facebook you can select any one of the three options from the drop-down box as per your need.

6. You can also change your other privacy settings from here.

All Facebook Chat Slang Codes

Slang’s have become very common in chat’s,Sms,emails.People new to these slang’s find really difficult to understand converstion.On the other hand it saves a lot of time and effort if slang’s are used.I will give the most commonly used Slangs with there meanings that are used in facebook chat or Sms.

You can also read my post on facebook Smiley Codes

Here are the Most Commonly used Facebook chat slang’s

ASAP As Soon As Possible

GN Good Night

M/F Are You Male or Female?

ASL Tell me your Age,Sex and Location

IDK I don’t Know

SD Sweet Dreams

BRB Be Right Back

JK Just Kidding

Tnx Thanks

BTW By The Way

K Okay

TY Thank You

ROFL Rolling on Floor Laughing

LOL Laugh out Loud

TTYL Talk to you later

FYI For Your Information

LMAO Laugh My Ass Out

WTF What The F**k

FB Facebook

LMFAO Laugh my f**king ass off

WTH What the hell

GM Good Morning

LMK Let Me Know

zzz Sleeping

BFF Best Friends Forever

Jk Just kidding

B4 Before

L8 Late

gr8 great

plz please

sry sorry

bbz babes

kk okay

kl cool

This List is far from Complete but it has the most commonly used slang codes in facebook chat.If I missed some then do share them with our readers by posting comments.

All Facebook Smiley Codes

We all use facebook but still alot of us are unware of how to use smileys in chat.Some of us just think how the other person have sent a smiley.Well it is very simple to send smileys in facebook chat.You have to just enter a code and it will automatically convert into a smiley.I am providing here a complete list of smiley codes that can be used on facebook.Even if you already use or know some of the codes even then you will find this list very useful becuase you will find a lot of new codes

If you liked this post then dont forget to like it on facebook

Email and web scams: How to help protect yourself

2011-06-08T20:52:00.000-07:00

When you read email or surf the Internet, you should be wary of scams that try to steal your personal information (identity theft), your money, or both. Many of these scams are known as "phishing scams" because they "fish" for your information.

On This Page

How to recognize scams
How to report scams
What to do if you think you have been a victim of a scam
Tools to help you avoid scams

How to recognize scams

New scams seem to appear every day. We try to keep up with them in our Security Tips & Talk blog. To see the latest scams, browse through our fraud section. In addition, you can learn to recognize a scam by familiarizing yourself with some of the telltale signs.

Scams can contain the following:

Alarmist messages and threats of account closures.
Promises of money for little or no effort.
Deals that sound too good to be true.
Requests to donate to a charitable organization after a disaster that has been in the news.
Bad grammar and misspellings.

For more information, see How to recognize phishing emails and links.

Popular scams

Here are some popular scams that you should be aware of:

Scams that use the Microsoft name or names of other well-known companies. These scams include fake email messages or websites that use the Microsoft name. The email message might claim that you have won a Microsoft contest, that Microsoft needs your logon information or password, or that a Microsoft representative is contacting you to help you with your computer. (These fake tech-support scams are often delivered by phone.) For more information, see Avoid scams that use the Microsoft name fraudulently.

Lottery scams. You might receive messages that claim that you have won the Microsoft lottery or sweepstakes. These messages might even look like they come from a Microsoft executive. There is no Microsoft Lottery. Delete the message. For more information, see What is the Microsoft Lottery Scam?

Rogue security software scams. Rogue security software, also known as "scareware," is software that appears to be beneficial from a security perspective but provides limited or no security, generates erroneous or misleading alerts, or attempts to lure you into participating in fraudulent transactions. These scams can appear in email, online advertisements, your social networking site, search engine results, or even in pop-up windows on your computer that might appear to be part of your operating system, but are not. For more information, see Watch out for fake virus alerts.

How to report a scam

You can use Microsoft tools to report a suspected scam.

Internet Explorer. While you are on a suspicious site, click the gear icon and then point to Safety. Then click Report Unsafe Website and use the web page that is displayed to report the website.
Hotmail. If you receive a suspicious email message that asks for personal information, click the check box next to the message in your Hotmail inbox. Click Mark as and then point to Phishing scam.
Microsoft Office Outlook. Attach the suspicious email message to a new email message and forward it to reportphishing@antiphishing.org. To learn how to attach an email message to an email message, see Attach a file or other item to an email message.

You can also download the Microsoft Junk E-mail Reporting Add-in for Microsoft Office Outlook.

What to do if you think you have been a victim of a scam

If you suspect that you've responded to a phishing scam with personal or financial information, take these steps to minimize any damage and protect your identity.

Change the passwords or PINs on all your online accounts that you think might be compromised.
Place a fraud alert on your credit reports. Check with your bank or financial advisor if you're not sure how to do this.
Contact the bank or the online merchant directly. Do not follow the link in the fraudulent email message.
If you know of any accounts that were accessed or opened fraudulently, close those accounts.
Routinely review your bank and credit card statements monthly for unexplained charges or inquiries that you didn't initiate.

Identity theft protection tools to help you avoid scams

Microsoft offers several tools to help you avoid phishing scams when you browse the web or read your email.

Windows Internet Explorer. In Internet Explorer, the domain name in the address bar is emphasized with black type and the remainder of the address appears gray to make it easy to identify a website's true identity.
The SmartScreen Filter in Internet Explorer also gives you warnings about potentially unsafe websites as you browse. For more information, see SmartScreen Filter: frequently asked questions.
Windows Live Hotmail. Microsoft's free webmail program also uses SmartScreen technology to screen email. SmartScreen helps identify and separate phishing threats and other junk email from legitimate email. For more information, see SmartScreen helps keep spam out.
Microsoft Office Outlook. The Junk E-mail Filter in Outlook 2010, Outlook 2007, and other Microsoft email programs evaluates each incoming message to see if it includes suspicious characteristics common to phishing scams. For more information, see How Outlook helps protect you from viruses, spam, and phishing.

Mac OS X: Updating your software

2011-06-08T20:43:00.000-07:00

Summary

Apple frequently releases software updates that you can download. The Software Update feature in Mac OS X makes it very easy to determine and get exactly what you need.

Products Affected

Mac OS X 10.3, Mac OS X 10.4, Mac OS X 10.6, Mac OS X 10.5

Getting updates immediately

From the Apple () menu, choose Software Update.

Apple menu in Mac OS X 10.5 and later
Software Update checks for available updates. In the Software Update window, select the items you want to install, then click Install. Usually, you should install all available updates. (Mac OS X v10.3 only: Click the Check Now button.)
Enter an administrator account name and password.
After installation is complete, restart the computer if required.

You can repeat these steps to see if more updates are now available. Because some software updates are prerequisites for others, you may need to repeat these steps several times to complete the software update sequence.

Note: Mac OS X v10.5 and later can automatically run Software Update checks in the background and let you know when an update is available for your computer.

Getting updates immediately (Mac OS X v10.2.8 or earlier)

Additional Information

Scheduling an update

The Software Update pane (in System Preferences) lets you schedule automatic checks for updates. By default, it automatically checks for updates weekly. You can change the interval from weekly to daily or monthly, or you can turn off scheduled checks if you want.

Mac OS X v10.5 and later allows you set Software Update to download important updates automatically. You will be notified when the updates are ready to be installed.

Hiding certain updates

Sometimes you may see an update in the Software Update list that you don't need. You can hide it if you want to.

Using standalone installers from Apple Support Downloads

Sometimes a standalone installer may be more useful than the automatic Software Update feature. Examples include when you:

Anticipate needing the file again later.
Need to install on multiple computers and need a portable file.
Have a faster Internet connection available to you at another computer.
Have no Internet connection on a computer that needs the update.

You can get standalone copies of many Apple software updates from Apple Support Downloads.

Carefully read the stated system requirements before using a standalone installer. Be sure to install updates in the correct order when applicable, or only on compatible computers when applicable.

Reference releases; update vs. upgrade

Mac OS X v10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5 themselves are not downloadable updates, they are reference releases, also called upgrades. This means, for example, you can't upgrade from Mac OS X v10.3 to Mac OS X v10.5 via a downloadable installer. Reference releases are available from the Apple Store online, Apple Retail Stores, and Apple Authorized Distributors (AAD).

Updating apps that were purchased from the Mac App Store

Software Update does not show updates available for software that was purchased from the Mac App Store. To update your purchased apps, open App Store on your Mac, then click the "Updates" view at the top of the App Store window. This will show all available updates for apps currently installed on your Mac.

Trick to Install Themes on Facebook, Check Whether Your PC is Male or Female

2011-06-08T18:16:00.000-07:00

Facebook is the most famous social networking site with awesome apps and games. But unlike orkut, facebook does not support themes. But you can install themes on facebook by just using a simple trick. So you just need to follow the steps given below to successfully install themes on Facebook.

Step 1 : Open firefox browser.If you donot have you can download it from here.

Step 2 : Now Download Stylish addon for firefox From here.

Step 3 : After installation is complete restart your browser.

Step 4 : Install Any of the themes From here.

Step 5 : To switch between the themes you have installed on your firefox browser go to Tools den select Addons option and choose Stylish and disable all other themes except the one you want.

Some Examples how your facebook will look after installing Various themes :

Check Whether Your PC is Male or Female

Today I am going to discuss about an amazing trick using which you can easily find out whether your pc is male or female. To find out whether your computer is male or female just follow the steps given below.
Step 1 : First of all open Notepad.

Step 2 : Now type the code given below in notepad:

CreateObject("SAPI.SpVoice").Speak"i love you"

Step 3 : Now save the file as computer_gender.vbs. (you can save the file with any name like anything.vbs)

Step 4 : Double click the file to run it.

If you hear a male voice, your computer is a male and if you hear a female voice then your computer is a female. So what are you waiting for? Check now whether your computer is male or female and share your computer’s gender with us.

Trick To Block Any Website On Your Computer

2011-06-08T17:59:00.000-07:00

If you want to block certain websites on your computer without any software then this trick can be very helpful to you.You can block any number of websites and if blocked they cannot be opened in any browser like google chrome,firefox,opera and Internet explorer.

For this trick we will edit the host file of the windows and will use the Ip address 127.0.0.1 (i.e localhost).Whenever somebody will try to open the blocked website the user will be redirected to local host.This trick works in windows xp,vista and windows 7

Here is the Trick To Block Any Website On Your Computer

Open My Computer/Computer
Navigate to your Operating system drive (Usually C drive)
Now goto Windows –>System32–>drivers–>etc
Here you will see your Hosts file.Open this file with notepad.
Now move to the last line in this file and add the address of the website to be blocked prefixed by 127.0.0.1

For example In the screenshot below I have blocked google-analytics.com on my computer

Remember that you should insert the Url of the blocked website with and without www prefix as shown in the above screenshot

Now Save the file.

Note:-You should open notepad with administrative privileges otherwise you won,t be able to save it

Top 10 Cool Google Tricks, How to Set Auto Reply Status on Google talk or Gtalk

2011-06-07T01:45:00.000-07:00

Today I am going to discuss about 10 really cool and funny google tricks.

1. Google gravity

Open google.com, Type Google Gravity in the search box and click on I’m feeling Lucky button.Feel the effect of gravity on google. All page components will fall down due to gravity.

2. Epic Google

Open google.com, Type Epic Google in the search box and click on I’m feeling Lucky button. Each component on the page will start growing bigger and bigger.

3. Google Hacker

Open google.com, Type Google Hacker in the search box and click on I’m feeling Lucky button. How google will look if it was made by a hacker.

4. Annoying Google

Open google.com, Type Annoying Google in the search box and click on I’m feeling Lucky button.

5. Meaning Of Search For Google

Open google.com, Type search in the search box and click on I’m feeling Lucky button.

6. Loneliest Number

Open google.com, Type loneliest number in the search box and click on Search button. Find out which number is the loneliest number according to google.

7. Meaning Of Recursion

Open google.com, Type Recursion in the search box and click on search button. You can notice Did You Mean: Recursion text on top of results and it is recursively linked to the same page.

8. Google Loco

Open google.com, Type Google loco in the search box and click on I’m feeling Lucky button.

9. The number of horns on a unicorn

Open google.com, Type number of horns on a unicorn in the search box and click on search button.

10. Chuck Norris

Open google.com, Type Find Chuck Norris in the search box and click on I’m feeling Lucky button. Google won’t search for Chuck Norris because it knows you don’t find Chuck Norris, he finds you.

How to Set Auto Reply Status on Google talk or Gtalk

Many Times it happens that you are busy with some work or is not sitting in front of your computer but your google talk or gtalk is open. Gtalk autoreply is a small tool which is quite useful in such scenario. It can be used to set auto reply on your gtalk or google talk. When you set auto reply using Gtalk Autoreply and anyone pings you the tool will send him the auto reply message. It does not voluntarily send this message to every friend but just replies to those who ping you.

You just need to download the software and install it. Then run the utility from the desktop icon and then enter your gtalk account username and password and fill the message you want to be send to your friends when they ping you. Now click save and enable autoreply and it will get enabled.

Now after activating it, if any of your friend ping you he will receive the auto reply message. In order to close the auto reply feature you simple need to close the application.

Techinline – Remote Support Software

2011-06-07T01:35:00.000-07:00

Techinline is remote support software that works within your web browser. The software is best suited for providing online technical support as well giving out presentations and demonstrations to your clients and colleagues.

In this age of fast moving world, technology has allowed us to perform even those tasks that were impossible to achieve earlier. The remote desktop recovery is the latest buzzword in the IT industry. Techinline gives you the freedom to connect with your clients anytime and anywhere in the world. All that is required is a computer with a moderate internet connection with Microsoft Windows installed on it. The software runs only on the windows platform and is fully compatible with Vista and Windows 7.

INSTALLATION:

The installation of techinline doesn’t require you to download any installer or any other executable file. The entire process is automated which starts with the installation of a simple plugin. The rest of the instructions on the screen are self-explanatory and helpful. You should not face any problem installing the software. If you need help then feel free to contact the customer care or visit the FAQ section on the website. For your convenience screenshots have been placed here

FEATURES OVERVIEW:

The software has all the features that are required in typical remote connection software. But still we found some features of this software better than the others. The 2 Way Desktop Exchange allows you to share your desktop with the remote computer on a 2 way connection where you can chat and interact using the chatting and messenger features with the person sitting on the other side. You can also request or send files using the FTP File transfer manager. Its interface is well designed and suited for a variety of uses and applications. This feature also allows the remote person to take control of all the important processes of the computer like rebooting, file management, etc. This can be helpful in those scenarios where you want the online support and help of the operators sitting on the other terminal.

Another striking feature is its ability to connect to the computers that are hidden behind proxies. You can connect to large corporate networks without any complex manipulations or settings of the connection or of the network. All the activities that you perform during your sessions will be recorded and stored on a log that will be available in a variety of formats like PDF, Excel, Word, etc. Talking about the interface design, the company has really worked upon it and must also do some more so that it can become more intuitive and ready to use.

Overall we found the product an interesting bet to make. Being priced at $30 per month it is worth giving a try to it. For more details on pricing visit Techinline. The software is best suited for the service oriented companies that will not only help them to connect to their clients faster and better but they also will cut down on the workforce that was earlier needed for the on site support.

2012 Escape Earth Ticket ???

2011-06-06T20:27:00.000-07:00

The world apocalypse is approaching, but it doesn’t have to be the end!

Book tickets now for yourself, family, and friends to ensure safe passage to the new world.

The world as we know it will end December 21, 2012! Luckily you can save yourself and loved ones from the Earth’s apocalypse by booking your tickets now aboard the USS Ark 2012 escape ship. What is the USS Ark 2012, you ask? It is the one and only Earth escape spaceship that will provide safe passage to a new habitable planet in the event of Armageddon in 2012.

Imagine it is December 21, 2012 and you’ve just gotten the news: The world is in fact going to end. What are you going to do now? You’ve only got a few hours, if not just minutes until it’s all over. People are running around like crazies trying to figure out what to do. But you aren’t worried because you booked your Escape Earth Tickets well in advance. You and all your loved ones are safely whisked away to a new Earth-like planet to start new.

FIRST CLASS PACKAGE

This package has everything you need to safely complete your journey to the New World.

One way ticket (for 1 individual) aboard the USS Ark 2012 Escape Ship to the new world

Includes one single sleep pod

Intergalactic Passport ID Card to seamlessly make it through any wormhole checkpoint or space customs

SUPERLUMINAL PACKAGE

Travel with style. This package has everything you need to safely complete your journey to the New World plus some extra bonuses.

One way ticket (for 1 individual) aboard the USS Ark 2012 Escape Ship to the new world

Includes one luxury suite sleep pod with flat screen TV, starlight window, & mini bar

Intergalactic Passport ID Card to seamlessly make it through any wormhole checkpoint or space customs

2012 Guide Book with important facts you will need to know

Superluminal Travel Card - Gain VIP access to exclusive areas of the USS Ark 2012 including the Officers Lounge, 360 degree Stargazing Deck, and Zero Gravity Room

Visit site : http://www.escapeearth2012.com

10 Great NotePad Tricks To Scare Your Friends

2011-06-06T18:16:00.000-07:00

Most of you must be aware about a tool called notepad. It is a simple text based editor. But today I am going to discuss some cool tricks which you can perform on your computer using notepad. You can also use these tricks to scare your friends.

Cycle a message in your friend’s computer.

Type :

@ECHO off
:Begin
msg * Hi
msg * Are you having fun?
msg * I am!
msg * Lets have fun together!
msg * Because you have been o-w-n-e-d
GOTO BEGIN

Save it as pc.bat and send it to your friends.

Make Keyboard Keys Type Continuously:

Type :

MsgBox “stop me..! if you can”
Set wshShell =wscript.CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)
do
wscript.sleep 100
wshshell.sendkeys “{bs}”
loop

Save it as pc.vbs and send it to your friends.

Convey your friend a message and shut down his/ her computer.

Type :

@echo off
msg * I don’t like you
shutdown -c “Hahahah You are Doomed” -s

Save it as pc.bat and send it to your friends.

Toggle your friend’s Caps Lock button simultaneously

Type :

Set wshShell =wscript.CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)
do
wscript.sleep 100
wshshell.sendkeys “{CAPSLOCK}”
loop

Save it as pc.vbs and send it to your friends.

Frustrate your friend by making their keyboard hit Enter simultaneously whenever they press a key :

Type :

Set wshShell = wscript.CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)
do
wscript.sleep 100
wshshell.sendkeys “~(enter)”
loop

Save it as pc.vbs and send it to your friends.

Hack your friend’s keyboard and make him type “You are a fool” simultaneously:

Type :

Set wshShell = wscript.CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)
do
wscript.sleep 100
wshshell.sendkeys “You are a fool.”
loop

Save it as pc.vbs and send it to your friends.

Open Notepad, slowly type anythingand freak your friends out:

Type :

WScript.Sleep 180000
WScript.Sleep 10000
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)
WshShell.Run “notepad”
WScript.Sleep 100
WshShell.AppActivate “Notepad”
WScript.Sleep 500
WshShell.SendKeys “Hel”
WScript.Sleep 500
WshShell.SendKeys “lo “
WScript.Sleep 500
WshShell.SendKeys “, ho”
WScript.Sleep 500
WshShell.SendKeys “w a”
WScript.Sleep 500
WshShell.SendKeys “re “
WScript.Sleep 500
WshShell.SendKeys “you”
WScript.Sleep 500
WshShell.SendKeys “? “
WScript.Sleep 500
WshShell.SendKeys “I a”
WScript.Sleep 500
WshShell.SendKeys “m g”
WScript.Sleep 500
WshShell.SendKeys “ood”
WScript.Sleep 500
WshShell.SendKeys ” th”
WScript.Sleep 500
WshShell.SendKeys “ank”
WScript.Sleep 500
WshShell.SendKeys “s! “

Save it as pc.vbs and send it to your friends.

Frustrate your friend by making their keyboard hit Backspace simultaneously whenever they press a key :

Type :

MsgBox “Let’s rock and roll”
Set wshShell =wscript.CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)
do
wscript.sleep 100
wshshell.sendkeys “{bs}”
loop

Save it as pc.vbs and send it to your friends.

Open Notepad continuously in your friend’s computer:

Type :

@ECHO off
:top
START %SystemRoot%\system32\notepad.exe
GOTO top

Save it as pc.bat and send it.

Continuously pop out your friend’s CD or DVD Drive.

Type :

Set oWMP = CreateObject(“WMPlayer.OCX.7″)
Set colCDROMs = oWMP.cdromCollection
do
if colCDROMs.Count >= 1 then
For i = 0 to colCDROMs.Count – 1
colCDROMs.Item(i).Eject
Next
For i = 0 to colCDROMs.Count – 1
colCDROMs.Item(i).Eject
Next
End If
wscript.sleep 5000
loop
Save it as pc.vbs and send it to your friends.

How To Run Multiple Instances Of Yahoo Messenger, Make Your Computer Speak Whatever You Type

2011-06-06T18:09:00.000-07:00

By default, all versions of Yahoo Messenger allow a single user to be signed in and running the client percomputer. A second user will not be able to log in parallel to the first, as long as the instant messaging client is in its default configuration. Here is a Registry hack to permit multiple users to log in and run the Yahoo Messenger 9.0 Beta client simultaneously on the same machine, or a single user to sign in undermultiple accounts.

As you can see from the screenshots integrated with this article, you will be able to run multiple versions of Yahoo Messenger 9.0 Beta Refresh after the hack is complete.

Follow the steps given below

Start Menu——Run —–REGEDIT
Navigating to HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software_yahoo_pager_Test
Users have to right click Test and create a New DWORD value labeled Plural
In order to finish the hack user’s had to modify DWORD value labeled Plural via right click and then modify the Value Data to 1 while keeping Hexadecimal selected.

The registry hack will allow for multiple instances of Yahoo Messenger 9.0 to run simultaneously on the same computer. In order to revert back to the original configuration of the instant messaging client, simply navigate to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER SoftwareyahoopagerTest and delete the Plural key under Test.

enjoy the hack

Make Your Computer Speak Whatever You Type

Now you can convert your computer in to a text to voice software. You can make your computer speak whatever you type. For this you don’t require any programming knowledge, You can achieve this by a simple trick. Just follow the steps given below to make your computer speak whatever you type :

Step 1 : Open a notepad and cope and paste the code given below.

Dim message, sapi
message=InputBox(“Type the text which you want me to speak”,”Text To Voice Software”)
Set sapi=CreateObject(“sapi.spvoice”)
sapi.Speak message

Step 2 : Save The notepad file as speak.vbs (you can save it with any name but extension should be .vbs).

Step 3 : Now double click on the file and type in the box whatever you want the computer to speak and click ok.

Hide folder in your nokia mobile without software, Internet on your phone using Bluetooth

2011-06-06T17:57:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wanted to hide folders in your phone? If yes,there here is very interesting solution for you to hide folders in your phone without the need of any software.This trick can be used for phone from Nokia,Samsung,Motorola,LG or any other company.The only requirement is that your phone should support java which almost all mobile phones support now .

So,If your phone support java then here is the Trick Hide Folders in Nokia / Java phones without software

Create any new folder or you can use any existing folder that is to be hidden.
Rename the folder to any name but with the extension of .jad like if I want to hide my images folder then I will name it as images.jad
Now create a new folder with the same name in the same directory but with the extension of .jar So, I would create the folder with the name images.jar
And thats it!! My orignal images folder which has been renamed with .jad gets hidden and only folder with.jar extension is visible which is empty.So,my data is protected/hidden from unwanted eyes.

Now ,we have to learn how to open these hidden folders.So here is the trick to open these hidden folders in Mobile phones

To unhide the orignal folder you have to remove the .jar extension from the new folder and your orignal folder with all the files and with .jad will become visible.

Internet on your phone using Bluetooth

Ok I found this other guide which is more easy to follow. Those of you on N-gage & 3650 please try it. This will work on most s60 phone and s40.

step 1:
Creating an access point on your phone!

tools\settings\connection\access points\options\new access point>default settings…

these are the settings u need there..

Connection Name : Anything (sugestion ADLS or PCGPRS something u remember well cuz u’ll need it later!)

Data Bearer: GPRS

Access Point Name: The name you gave to your bt connection when pairing up with the computer…

Username : None

Password : No

Authentication : Normal

Gateway IP Address : 0.0.0.0

and that’s all on this on this part..

then go to:

tools/settings/connection, and select GPRS

set the GPRS connection to “when available”, and the access point to “none”.

The settings on your fone are done! now… the next step;

Create a serial port connection from ur pc to ur phone (u’ve done this before if u ever used Pcsuite from nokia), this serial connection must be on everytime you want to use your pc internet connection as a gprs connection for ur phone!!

Install the software u need to surf the web (opera, nimbuzz, ebudy messenger for chat, etc..).

eBaum’s World floods YouTube with XXX-rated video on “porn day”

2011-06-05T21:44:00.000-07:00

Today was officially designated “porn day” by the followers of eBaum’s World, an organized group of users who uploaded explicit videos to the website — a practice which is forbidden under YouTube policy (no nudity).

While YouTube was quick to react to the onslaught, for the next couple of days users may come across thumbnails of videos, which are not active, and yet remain in the search cache.

YouTube began taking down the videos immediately after midnight on Wednesday, when the onslaught began. Early posters were using readily identifiable tags, which helped YouTube remove the videos early on. However, throughout the course of the day the eBaum’s World crew began changing tactics. Videos would appear with 20 to 30 seconds of an innocuous clip, such as news footage from a local TV station, only to then begin with the pornography section.

Google spokesman, Scot Rubin, told Ars Technica:

It may take some time for video search results and thumbnail images to disappear from the site. Typically, this should not take more than a couple of days, but the videos themselves are no longer viewable.

See Ars Technica

Rick’s Opinion
YouTube has developed technology which lets the system automatically scan through audio tracks to determine which videos contain copyrighted music. In addition, Google has incorporated logic into their Google Map Street View service, which is designed to blur out faces and license plates that happened to be captured during the street view filming.

I’m wondering why YouTube could not construct some algorithms which would analyze images when they are uploaded (and converted from the upload format) in real-time to determine if there is questionable content. If so, then it could be either flagged for inspection or denied upload at that time.

It seems like this may actually be a very practical use of video monitoring technology, something to enforce the site’s policy of no nudity.

PlayStation Welcome Back Program now available to all users , Xbox Live Diamond announcement expected at E3

2011-06-05T21:36:00.000-07:00

The PlayStation Network is back, the PlayStation Store is back, and PS3 owners are happily playing multiplayer games on their consoles again. Even so, Sony is making good on its promise of free games and incentives to every PSN subscriber, and has opened the doors on the Welcome Back Program to all comers. As a special thank you, Sony has an array of downloads for PS3 and PSP gamers, all of them available to download right now.

PS3 owners will be able to select two free games to download. The list of titles includes Dead Nation, inFAMOUS, LittleBigPlanet, Super Stardust HD, and Wipeout HD + Fury. You can select the games from the “Welcome Back” section in the PlayStation Store. PSP owners can visit the same section of the PlayStation Store on their device and pick two games from the PSP version of LittleBigPlanet, ModNation Racers, Pursuit Force, and Killzone Liberation.

Sony is also giving all PSN subscribers access to PlayStation Plus for free for 30 days, just to give all of their users a taste of the services available to paid subscribers. That means even free players will be able to access online game storage for game saves, auto-downloads and updates, and more. Don’t worry – you won’t have to give Sony your credit card number to get the free 30 days – it’ll auto expire at the end of the free period if you don’t sign up for a subscription.

Current PlayStation Plus memberships will get 60 days added to their subscription for free. Paying members of Sony’s Music Unlimited service will get 30 days added to their subscriptions. But wait, there’s more: Sony is also giving PSN users 100 virtual items in PlayStation Home to customize your space or character with, for those people who actually use PlayStation Home.

In order to be eligible for the free games and downloads, you have to have a PSN membership that’s older than April 20th, the day of the initial hack. The program begins today, and runs until July 3rd, and all of the content you get – including the free games and any music you download – are all yours to keep forever.

Xbox Live Diamond announcement expected at E3

Up until now Microsoft has offered two tiers of Xbox Live service. The first is Silver level which is completely free and gives you basic access to online features and the Xbox Live marketplace. Gold membership is the paid-for upper tier that adds multiplayer, access to services like Zune and Last.fm, as well as Video Kinect features.

We thought Xbox Live would stay at two tiers for the rest of this console lifecycle, but we were wrong. Microsoft is apparently going to unveil Xbox Live Diamond during E3 next week.

The new feature that Diamond level brings is the addition of Microsoft’s very own subscription TV service. With it, Microsoft will be in direct competition with other settop box service, but Microsoft has a major advantage for a new entrant due to the millions of Xbox 360 consoles already sitting under TVs in homes across the U.S.

The TV service is expected to fully integrate with the existing live sports offerings, music services, and Kinect control/avatars. It’s apparently something Microsoft has been working on for a while under the codenam Orapa. That suggests quite a healthy line-up of content from launch and on display next week.

via Pocket-lint and WinRumors

Matthew’s Opinion

If Microsoft has acquired the licenses required to offer a good range of content then this makes a lot of sense and could prove very popular. As well as good content, Microsoft will have to keep the price low. The early adopters are most likely going to be existing Gold members as the price hike above what they already pay is going to be significantly smaller than any Silver member considering it. Saying that, a TV service may draw out those Silver members not willing to pay for the multiplayer options Gold service brings.

Xbox Live Diamond will be announced at a very fitting time, too. It should take a bit of the attention away from the Wii 2, and is really kicking Sony when it is down, especially considering Sony Pictures just got hacked.

With Gold membership costing around $60 a year, how much do you think Microsoft will charge over and above that for Diamond level?

Hackers Target FBI Affiliate, Post Passwords Online, Hacking collective targets FBI affiliate after Nintendo and Sony attacks

2011-06-05T18:15:00.000-07:00

Nearly 180 passwords belonging to members of an Atlanta-based FBI affiliate have been stolen and leaked to the Internet, the group confirmed Sunday.

The logins belonged to members of the local chapter of InfraGard, a public-private partnership devoted to sharing information about threats to U.S. physical and Internet infrastructure, the chapter's president told The Associated Press.

"Someone did compromise the website," InfraGard Atlanta Members Alliance President Paul Farley said in a brief email exchange. "We do not at this time know how the attack occurred or the method used to reveal the passwords."

Copies of the passwords — which appear to include users from the U.S. Army, cybersecurity organizations and major communications companies — were posted to the Internet by online hacking collective Lulz Security, which has claimed credit for a string of attacks in the past week.

In a statement, Lulz Security also claimed to have used one of the passwords to steal nearly 1,000 work and personal emails from the chief executive of Wilmington, Del.-based Unveillance LLC.

Lulz Security claimed it was acting in response to a recent report that the Pentagon was considering whether to classify some cyberattacks as acts of war.

The FBI said Sunday that it was aware of the incident and that steps were being taken to mitigate the damage. Farley said InfraGard's website had been taken down and that members had been advised to change their passwords and beware of further attacks.

Farley added that his group — a volunteer organization — had had no previous involvement with Lulz Security, which describes itself as a collective of hackers who attack weakly-protected websites for fun. Lulz is a reference to Internetspeak for "laugh out loud."

The collective appears to have had a busy week.

Earlier Sunday, Nintendo said it had been targeted in a recent online data attack claimed by Lulz Security. Nintendo said no personal or company information was lost.

On Thursday, Lulz Security boasted of a major breach which saw as many as tens of thousands of Sony users' details posted to the Internet.

The group has also claimed credit for defacing the PBS website after the public television broadcaster aired a documentary seen as critical of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Emails and other messages seeking comment from the group over the past few days have gone unanswered, although it maintains an active presence on microblogging site Twitter, where it taunts its opponents and promises more hacks.

Hacking collective targets FBI affiliate after Nintendo and Sony attacks

Passwords stolen from 180 members of non-profit organisation InfraGard, including military users and cybersecurity companies

Hackers claim to have used an InfraGard password to steal nearly 1,000 work and personal emails from one chief executive. Photograph: Gregor Schuster/zefa/Corbis

A US private sector affiliate of the FBI has become the latest target of a hackers' collective, which recently penetrated the online security defences of Nintendo and Sony.

Nearly 180 passwords belonging to members of the Atlanta chapter of InfraGard were stolen, according to the non-profit organisation, which connects businesses with law enforcement authorities.

Copies of the passwords – which appeared to include users from the US military, cybersecurity organisations and major communications companies – were posted online by the anonymous hacking collective, Lulz Security.

"Someone did compromise the website," the Associated Press was told by InfraGard Atlanta president, Paul Farley. "We do not at this time know how the attack occurred or the method used to reveal the passwords."

InfraGard started out as an FBI programme and now works with the bureau in the exchange of information concerning terrorism, intelligence, criminal and security matters.

Lulz Security claimed, in a statement, to have used one of the passwords to steal nearly 1,000 work and personal emails from the chief executive of Unveillance LLC, a data leak intelligence company based in Delaware. The group claimed it was responding to a recent report that said the Pentagon was considering whether to classify some cyberattacks as acts of war.

The FBI said on Sunday it was aware of the incident and that steps were being taken to mitigate the damage.

Details of the attack on InfraGard came after Nintendo said it had been targeted by Lulz Security, which describes itself as a collective of hackers who attack weakly protected websites for fun. The group published a server configuration file purportedly from a Nintendo secure server on the internet after a separate security breach.

A Nintendo spokesman said on Sunday: "We are always working to make sure our systems are secure." Nintendo is preparing to launch a new online service this week at E3, the annual video games conference in Los Angeles.

On Thursday, Lulz Security boasted of a major breach in which tens of thousands of Sony users' details were posted to the internet. Sony has contacted the FBI.

The incidents are the latest in a series of high-profile hacking attacks. The military firm Lockheed Martin and the US public news service PBS have also come under attack recently.

Hackers thought to be based in China last week broke into Gmail accounts used by US government officials while Anonymous, the hackers' collective that launched a series of attacks against financial institutions, recently made public more than 10,000 emails it stole from Iran's ministry of foreign affairs.

Microsoft to launch Office 365 on June 28, Rumor has Microsoft Announcing TV Service at E3

2011-06-05T18:05:00.000-07:00

Microsoft is holding its official launch of its cloud-hosted application suite, known as Office 365, on June 28.

CEO Steve Ballmer will be on hand at the New York launch event, according to an invitation I received.

June 28 also may be the date when the Office 365 service becomes generally available. (I’ve asked Microsoft for confirmation on this. It looks like Office 365 general availability on June28th was confirmed by the head of the Microsoft partner organization, no less — thanks @tomwarren.) I’ve heard recently that Microsoft is planning to sign off on the final version of the service in early June — possibly even next week — and to make it generally available in late June.

Office 365 is Microsoft’s successor to its Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), Live@Edu and Office Live Small Business products. Microsoft has begun educating its partners and customers about its BPOS-to-office 365 migration strategy. Packaging and pricing of the suite already has been announced.

Office 365 consists of Microsoft-hosted Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Lync Online, and also includes for customers who want it, a version of Office Professional Plus that can be installed locally on PCs and paid for per month, on a subscription basis. Office 365 competes head-to-head with Google Apps, and a handful of similar services.

Microsoft has experienced some BPOS service problems in the past month. The Office 365 version of the service is currently still being tweaked and is in beta.

Rumor has Microsoft Announcing TV Service at E3

I love the weekends before E3. I've worked four. You get everything in the tips jar—yesterday we got one that said Half-Life 2: Episode 3 would be a Wii 2 launch title. It was too earnest to be a troll.

Anyway, this one is in heavy circulation and Microsoft has issued a no comment, so let's go ahead and discuss: Microsoft will reveal an Xbox Live subscription TV service at E3 on Monday, or so the rumor goes.

WinRumors got the ball rolling on this one yesterday afternoon, citing unidentified sources familiar with the plans. But Xbox Live "Diamond," an IPTV service, has been chewed over by insiders for a few months. GameSpot notes that Reuters reported, six months ago, that Microsoft had designs of becoming a "virtual cable operator," through the Xbox 360. Of course, this would all come as an additional monthly fee atop Xbox Live Gold's $59.99 annual subscription.

WinRumors said Microsoft is still in the process of nailing down agreements, so certain demonstrations and details may be held back from the Monday presser. I suppose that means the whole thing could be held back, too, who knows. Asked for comment, Microsoft told GameSpot the usual no-comment on rumors and speculation.

Facebook Contest: Win a Magellan Premium Car Kit and RoadMate GPS App!

2011-06-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

Facebook Contest: Win a Magellan Premium Car Kit and RoadMate GPS App

You don't need a fancy, standalone sat-nav device to help you get your car from Point A to Point B. The GPS and geo-location services built directly into your iPhone 4 can provide the same corner-by-corner directions. Interested? Well, get ready, because Magellan gave us one of its swanky Premium Car Kits and an App Store code for the Magellan RoadMate GPS app to award to one lucky Maximum Tech Facebook fan. The app and the car kit work with the second and third generation iPod touch, as well as the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 4.

To win this oh-so-enticing hardware/software combo, head over to this post -- we repeat, this post -- on our Facebook page and leave a recollection (100 words or less) of your best travel story on the linked Facebook post. We want to read tales of travel danger, travel victory, travel fail and more. These should be your best, most exciting travel stories -- because are the stories your friends will award a Facebook Like.

The story with the most Likes by 11:59PM PST Tuesday, June 7 will win.

Tip: Recruit your friends to Like your comment. (See, it could finally pay off to have hundreds upon hundreds of Facebook "friends.")

Remember, you have to leave your story in the comments section of the linked Facebook post. Random posts left on our Facebook page will NOT be entered into the contest.

The fine print: MaximumTech "Magellan: Travel Story” Contest rules: One entry per person. The winner will be chosen by the largest amount of Facebook Likes from qualified entries. All entries must be received no later than 11:59PM PST June 7, 2011. By entering this contest, you agree that Future US, Inc. may use your name, likeness, and website for promotional purposes without further payment. Employees of Sponsor, its respective parent, subsidiaries, affiliated companies, and agents, and foregoing employees¹ household or immediate family members (defined as parent, spouse, child, sibling, or grandparent) are NOT eligible to enter Contest. All prizes will be awarded, and no minimum number of entries is required. If two or more people receive the same amount of Likes by the end of the contest, the entry received first will be awarded the contest prize. Prizes won by minors will be awarded to their parents or legal guardians. Future US, Inc. is not responsible for damages or expenses the winners might incur as a result of this contest or the receipt of a prize, and winners are responsible for income taxes based on the value of the prize received. A list of winners may also be obtained by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Future US, Inc. c/o Mac|Life Contest, 4000 Shoreline Court, Suite 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080. This contest is limited to residents of the United States. No purchase necessary; void in Arizona, Maryland, Vermont, Puerto Rico, and where prohibited by law.

Can I Wirelessly Connect My PC to My HDTV? How to Watch TV on Your PC. Connect Your PC To Your HDTV

2011-06-03T18:05:00.000-07:00

Ernest Valdez, Jr. asked how he could wirelessly send a video signal from his computer to his HDTV.

There are number of ways to do this, although they may not provide what you want.

First of all, a great many televisions today have WiFi built in, which allows you to wirelessly connect them to your home network, and thus to your computer. So do many new Blu-ray players--and they're a great deal cheaper than HDTVs. But is WiFi really your best option?

Depending on your home's geography, WiFi may not be reliable enough for quality streaming video. If it isn't, consider using Ethernet. All of the TVs and Blu-ray players that support WiFi,

and many that don't, have Ethernet. If stringing an Ethernet cable from your router to your TV isn't practical, HomePlug devices--which use your home's electric grid to transmit data--can easily give you an Ethernet connection to any room in your home.

You probably already know that,--however they're connected--networked HDTVs and Blu-ray players can play Internet streaming video. Virtually all of them offer Netflix. Many have YouTube, Pandora, and at least one pay-per-view service. Newer ones are including Hulu Plus.

Most of them can also play videos and music, and display photos, off of any computer on the network. The computer has to be running DLNA server software, but that's not difficult. Windows Media Player--which comes bundled with Windows--is such a server.

But these features don't make the HDTV or Blu-ray player as versatile as a computer. They can't play all of the streaming video services that your browser can handle, nor do they support every media file format that you might find on your PC. That's why many people like to plug their computer into their HDTV.

Of course, that's not a wireless solution.

Or is it? I tested two wireless PC-to-TV devices for this article. Atlona's AT-AiR3 and Cables Unlimited's Wireless USB to HDMI & VGA Adapter with Audio appeared to be the same product in different packaging, although only the Atlona's supported 1080p. In both cases, you plug one USB device into your PC, and plug another one into your HDTV via not-included HDMI or VGA cables.

Both had the same problem: a software installation that makes major changes to Windows' Registry and adds an autoloader. Also, their ranges were limited; you basically had to be in the same room as the TV. But each allowed me to watch PC content on the television while my laptop was at my fingertips. Their image quality was equivalent to using the PC's HDMI port.

How to Watch TV on Your PC

The easiest way to watch TV on a personal computer--and the one that's most popular now--is to view programming over the Web. The major networks, a number of cable channels, and general sites such as Hulu allow you to view shows in your Web browser. If you want a more direct connection to your TV, you'll need extra hardware, namely a TV tuner.

Tuners essentially turn a computer into a TV set. Usually they include software that allows you to record programming on your computer, too, so you can watch shows on your schedule and not a TV network's. If you have a media center PC, a tuner may already be built into the machine. If you don't have a tuner, you can add one either by installing a tuner card into your PC or by connecting an external tuner.

External tuners have several advantages. Connecting one is easier than opening up your computer and installing a tuner card. The tuner doesn't take up a slot in your PC. You can easily disconnect it when you're not using it. And some models have the same design as a USB thumb drive--they're not only very portable, but also easy to use with more than one computer.

Two major makers of external tuners are Hauppauge and AVerMedia. Although the instructions for installing an external tuner may vary slightly from maker to maker, the general steps are the same regardless of model.

Step by Step: How to Set Up an External TV Tuner

Step 1 With your computer running Windows, plug the tuner hardware into a USB port. If the spacing is tight between the ports on your machine, you may want to use an extension cable with the USB tuner. In most cases it is not advisable to connect the tuner to a USB hub.

Step 2 Plug an antenna or cable TV cable into the antenna-cable-TV connector on the tuner. The connector is threaded and looks like the coaxial connector at the back of a TV or cable box. Some tuners include an antenna for receiving over-the-air TV broadcasts. If you want to view over-the-air TV but your unit doesn't have an antenna, you'll have to buy one. Rooftop antennas provide better reception than rabbit-ear antennas. Cable provides better reception than either type of antenna.

Step 3 If your tuner supports video recording, you'll want to plug in the A/V cable included with the device. The cable will have composite video and audio RCA plugs--red, white, yellow--and maybe an S-Video connector at the end of it that plugs into your TV or other device you'll be recording from. Depending on the design of the tuner, the end of the cable that fits into the tuner may be a single plug or another set of composite plugs.

Step 4 When you connect the tuner to your computer, Windows should pop up a 'device found' alert. If it doesn't, you might have to reboot your machine to wake up Windows to the new hardware you've installed. Either way, the alert is your tip-off to install the software packaged with your tuner. Typically that will be a two-step process: The first step installs the drivers for the device, and the second installs the applications for it.

Step 5 Once installed, the software will take you through the steps to start viewing TV on your computer.

Connect Your PC To Your HDTV

Your TV has come a long way from the days of rabbit-ear antennas and VHS players. No longer must you suffer the indignity of having to rewind a tape before returning it to Blockbuster, or of bribing a small child to hold the antenna in just the right position so you can enjoy fuzz-free viewing of Hawaii Five-O (the Jack Lord version, not the remake).

Don't get complacent, though: You're still probably not on the cutting-edge yet. Have a pile of remote controls littering your coffee table? Archaic. Don't have a single Internet source for HD streaming video? Unacceptable. Still use composite cables for your gorgeous new LED HDTV? Downright unforgivable. But that's okay. We're here to help. Just check out the package of how-to guides on the right-hand side of this story.

Maybe you're looking to cut your monthly costs by ditching your cable TV in favor of a collection of free-or-cheap Internet streaming services. If so, our "From Your PC to Your TV" and "BitTorrent to TV" how-to articles could come in handy. Or maybe you already have a media-streaming set-top box--such as a Roku or an Apple TV--but you want to add more channels. Well, here's how to hack it.

On the other hand, perhaps you're looking for a way to keep up with your favorite TV shows even while you're away from your living room--in which case the answer is to stream live TV to your PC. And to deal with that colony of remote controls cluttering up your coffee table, you don't have to buy a snazzy new universal remote. Instead, you can ditch them all and use your smartphone as your remote. So get to it. All that TV isn't going to watch itself.

Would you recommend this story?

FaceNiff app for Android puts Facebook hacking in the palm of your hand (and we tell you how to avoid it)

2011-06-02T18:38:00.001-07:00

FaceNiff is a new Android app that can be used to hijack sessions on public or private Wi-Fi networks without needing to lug around a laptop

We brought news of Eric Butler's Firefox extension for HTTP session hijacking called Firesheep back in October last year, but if you haven't already taken steps to ensure your privacy and security online, we hope this does the trick - FaceNiff is a new Android app that can be used to hijack sessions on public or private Wi-Fi networks without needing to lug around a laptop.

FaceNiff currently "supports" Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Amazon and Nasza-Klasa (a Polish social network), though more services are promised. Thankfully, the app only works on a select few handsets and requires jailbreaking, so it's not a complete free-for-all just yet.

Regardless of exactly how many people are using these tools, you should be protecting yourself - waiting until you get hacked could be incredibly embarrassing or even costly. Facebook and Twitter both allow you to enable secure HTTP sessions as default, which renders tools like these useless.

On Facebook, go to the Account menu, select Account Settings, press "change" next to Account Security and tick the Secure Browsing (https) box.

On Twitter, go to your Account Settings and tick the HTTPS Only box.

One surefire way to use all your favorite websites on public Wi-Fi without concern is to invest in a virtual private network (VPN) service like StrongVPN. This allows you to tunnel all your network activity over an encrypted connection, safe from tools like Firesheep and FaceNiff, and has the added bonus of bypassing censorship if you're in one of those countries.

ASUS announces glasses-free Eee Pad MeMO 3D tablet, Asus Padfone - 4.3-inch smartphone docks inside 10.1-inch tablet

2011-06-02T18:23:00.000-07:00

The ASUS Eee Pad MeMO 3D with included MeMIC Bluetooth handset

Alongside the Padfone, ASUS announced yet another tablet at Computex 2011 to join its previously announced Eee Pad Transformer, Eee Pad Slider and Eee Slate. The company first unveiled its Eee Pad MeMO 7-inch tablet at CES in January and the company has now unveiled a glasses-free 3D model dubbed the Eee Pad MeMO 3D. While the device sports a 1280 x 800 IPS LCD panel for wider viewing angles, this presumably won't apply to viewing 3D as - like the Nintendo 3DS - the MeMO 3D uses a parallax-barrier 3D overlay to create the 3D effect.

Aside from the addition of 3D, the MeMO 3D is pretty much identical to its non-3D counterpart. It runs Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) and is powered by a Qualcomm 1.2 GHz dual core processor with 1GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage. Connectivity-wise the device includes micro-USB for charging, 3.5mm audio out, a MicroSD card slot, SIM card slot and a mini-HDMI port for outputting Full HD 1080p video. Up front there is 1.2MP camera while a 5MP camera with LED flash can be found on the rear.

The MeMO 3D also comes with a capacitive stylus that slides from a silo below the display as well as a MeMIC Bluetooth handset featuring a transparent LCD display that can be used as a media remote or for taking phone calls using the tablet.

The inclusion of a capacitive stylus that slides from a silo below the display signals ASUS's aim of the device being used as a digital notepad in portrait form. However, again due to the parallax barrier technology employed, 3D viewing is limited to landscape mode.

ASUS hasn't announced pricing or a specific release date for the Eee Pad MeMO 3D, only signaling a Q4 2011 release. However, back in January it said the non-3D Eee Pad MeMO would be priced around US$499-$699 at its June 2011 release. When the 3D model is released, it will be interesting to see exactly how much extra the addition of 3D brings to such a device.

Asus Padfone - 4.3-inch smartphone docks inside 10.1-inch tablet

Asus always opens its home computer show Computex with a bang and this year it was the Padfone - a 4.3-inch smartphone that docks inside a 10.1-inch tablet dock with dynamic display switching, two batteries, a shared SIM card, a single hard drive, Qualcomm processor, Android's next generation operating system (Ice Cream Sandwich) and a Q4, 2011 launch date with a price in the US$800-1,000 area.

While specifics are thin on the ground at the moment, the ASUS smartphone will run on the latest version of Android available at launch and have all the functionality we've come to expect from such a device - browsing the internet, checking emails, watching online videos and playing addictive games like Angry Birds. If you find yourself wanting to watch movies or enjoy games on a bigger screen, the smartphone can be docked within the body of the tablet. There's no need to switch off one to use the other, whatever you were up to at docking time will be continued on the bigger screen and if you receive a call while using the tablet, you could either whip out the phone or connect using a Bluetooth headset.

ASUS says that there will be some sort of shared storage pool in the smartphone part of the device so that users won't have to concern themselves with synchronizing data between the two. This also suggests that the smartphone will likely provide the processing for the tablet too. The tablet, though, will not be a mere dumb terminal - it will also provide extra connectivity ports and some juice for the smartphone's battery.

It's another design masterpiece from ASUS, which consistently demonstrates the ability to think outside the square and the Padfone will enable users to switch between pad and phone for a best-fit user experience - too often I find myself using a smartphone and wanting more screen real estate or a tablet but finding it restrictive in the environment - the Padfone will definitely cure that problem.

It will also be interesting to see if this two-in-one approach encourages Android developers not to charge for separate phone/tablet ("HD") versions as is very common (and very annoying) on iOS devices.

How to Trace an Email Address Using Header, Finding IP address of sender in Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail

2011-06-01T22:40:00.000-07:00

Question:
“How can I track from where an email came from?” or “How to find IP address of email sender?”
Answer:
Yeah, you can easily track an email with help of Email header and using Email Tacer Tool.Email Tracer is a tool to track email sender’s identity. It analyzes the email header and gives the complete details of the sender like IP address, which is key point to find the culprit and the route followed by the mail, the Mail Server, details of Service Provider etc. :)

What is an Email Header?

Email header is small piece of information that go with every email and have informations about sender, receiver, date, subject, type of email, route etc.Its used to trace email path and location of sender.

How to Extract Email Header?

Gmail users checkout this post, How Can I See The “Full Headers” Of Gmail ?
Yahoo and Hotmail users checkout this site, Cyberforensics

Trace Email Using E-Mail Tracer

1. Goto this page.
2. Click E-Mail Tracer under navigation menu in left side.
3. Just copy and paste email header and click Start Tracing.

4. It will display the path traced by the mail.

That’s it If you any other methods please share it

Finding IP address of sender in Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail

Finding IP Address Of the Sender In Hotmail!!

Log into your Hotmail account with your username and password.

Click on the Mail tab on the top.

Open the mail.

If you do not see the headers above the mail message, your headers are not displayed . To display the headers,

Click on Options on the top-right corner
In the Mail Options page, click on Mail Display Settings
In Message Headers, make sure Advanced option is checked.
Click on Ok button
Go back to the mails and open that mail.

If you find a header with X-Originating-IP: followed by an IP address, that is the sender’s IP address

Hotmail headers : Daniel ,In this case the IP address of the sender is [68.34.60.59]. This is be the IP address of the sender.

If you find a header with Received: from followed by a Gmail proxy like this

Hotmail headers : Daniel
Look for Received: from followed by IP address within square brackets[]. In this case, the IP address of the sender is [69.140.7.58].

Or else if you have headers like this

Hotmail headers : Daniel
Look for Received: from followed by IP address within square brackets[].
In this case, the IP address of the sender is [61.83.145.129] .

If you have multiple Received: from headers, eliminate the ones that have proxy.anyknownserver.com.

Finding IP Address of the sender in Yahoo Mail!!

Log into your Yahoo! mail with your username and password.

Click on Inbox or whichever folder you have stored your mail.

Open the mail.

If you do not see the headers above the mail message, your headers are not displayed . To display the headers,

Click on Options on the top-right corner
In the Mail Options page, click on General Preferences
Scroll down to Messages where you have the Headers option
Make sure that Show all headers on incoming messages is selected
Click on the Save button
Go back to the mails and open that mail.

You should see similar headers like this:

Yahoo! headers : Daniel.

Look for Received: from followed by the IP address between square brackets [ ]. Here, it is 202.65.138.109.

That is be the IP address of the sender!

Finding IP Address of the sender in Gmail !!

When you receive an email, you receive more than just the message. The email comes with headers that carry important information that can tell where the email was sent from and possibly who sent it. For that, you would need to find the IP address of the sender. The tutorial below can help you find the IP address of the sender.

Log into your Gmail account with your username and password.
Open the mail.
To display the headers,
- Click on More options corresponding to that thread. You should get a bunch of links. Click on Show original
You should get headers like this:
- Gmail headers : Daniel

Look for Received: from followed by a few hostnames and an IP address between square brackets. In this case, it is 69.138.30.1
That is be the IP address of the sender!!

NOTE:This will not work if the sender uses anonymous proxy servers

How to use built in webcam on Macbook Pro?

2011-06-01T22:30:00.000-07:00

If you wish to use built in Webcam on Macbook Pro you need to use Photo Booth application.Photo Booth comes pre installed with Macbook

1. Click on Go –> Applications –> Select Photo Booth.

2. Photo Booth application will launch.
3. Photo Booth provides many cool effects while taking snaps.Sepia, Black and white,Glow, Comic book,color pencil, Thermal Camera, X-ray, Pop art.No need to use any Photoshop separately to add effects.

Other Effects Present in Photo Booth

Like Clouds, Color Dots, Earthrise, Eiffel Tower, Fish, Rollercoaster, Sunset, Yosemite.
Bulge, Dent, Twirl, Squeeze, Mirror, Light Tunnel,Fish Eye, Stretch.

I like Sunset & Eiffel Tower background animation

Android App Spotlight: Tape-a-Talk Pro Voice Recorder, Android App Spotlight: Plume Twitter Client for Honeycomb Tablets

2011-05-31T21:17:00.000-07:00

If you're anything like us, and we pray you are, then you're positively brimming with brilliant ideas that beg to be recorded before your megamind moves on to the next revelation. Or maybe you just think it's cute to record your cat's meow. Whatever your recording needs, chances are your Android device did not come stocked with a voice recorder. As we prowled the app-i-verse for a suitable remedy, we desired something with a little more panache than a the basic speak-and-save audio recorder. With features such as Dropbox archiving, basic editing and playback controls, Tape-a-Talk Pro Voice Recorder gave it to us.

Although it hits you with plenty of features, Tape-a-Talk doesn't sacrifice a simple and intuitive interface to implement them. Try out the free version, which lets you upload recorded audio to a variety of third-party apps, such as Dropbox, Evernote, AndFTP, Gmail and others. You can set the bit and sample rates for recording WAV or compressed 3GP files, pause and resume recording, record in the background (even with the display off), and set the audio clips as ringtones.

Once you step up to the ad-free Pro version for 3.99 euros ($5.77 today), you're granted dictation machine features like fast forward/rewind during recording, a home screen widget, default email settings for recipient and text, big buttons mode, and basic editing, where you can cut a file based on start and end points.

Our Samsung Galaxy Tab ran Tape-a-Talk Pro like a dream; we didn't experience any crashes or glitches. The audio quality was nice, and we really appreciated the editing and various export options. We do, however, wish for MP3 recording, instead of or in addition to 3GP. What do you think of Tape-a-Talk Voice Recorder?

Android App Spotlight: Plume Twitter Client for Honeycomb Tablets

For our money--not "make it rain" money, mind you, but we do all right--TweetDeck sets the gold standard for desktop Twitter software, but its Android app has not been tablet-optimized. So how to make the most of your generously-sized Honeycomb display when your ego is feeling generously sized enough to tweet? You've got a couple of great free-of-charge candidates, TweetComb (shown in our 100 Android Apps You Can't Live Without) and Plume.

With easy multiple-account management, a lot of dashboard configuation options, and interapp integration, Plume addresses the Twitter power user in a full-featured app designed for tablets in landscape, but not portrait view.

URLs even open inside of Plume in the CuiCui browser, which includes a button to open the link in the Honeycomb browser if you prefer. As part of the expansive selection of settings, you can turn off the internal browser.

Plume's settings also let you choose how and for what you receive notifications, the look and feel of your Dashboard, and much more, such as preferences for URL shortening and image hosting.

With Honeycomb sharing, you could be on a web page that you want to tweet, choose Plume from the Share Page menu, and Plume's tweet box pops up with the URL, where you can shorten the URL, edit the tweet, and send it without leaving the Browser app.

The main Dashboard of Plume contains columns for your Twitter feed (with support for Lists), Mentions of you, and your Favorite tweets. The top menu bar lets you start a new tweet, refresh your dashboard, search tweets or Twitter users, and see trending topics. You can also jump to new screens to send a direct message, edit Lists, open Settings, or view and edit your own profile.

You can add more Twitter accounts in Plume's settings, and then choose which account you see on the active Dashboard. You cannot set up multiple columns in your Dashboard for all your different accounts, the way you can with the desktop TweetDeck, but Plume's mult-account support is still excellent for a mobile app. One other feature we love in TweetDeck that's missing in Plume is timed tweets.

Tweet a link from Plume straight within the Honeycomb Browser.

You get two options for widgets with Plume, and if you're on Android Honeycomb 3.1, you can re-size the widgets.

The free version of Plume gives you all the features with ads, while Plume Premium costs two euros (about $2.84) and removes the ads.

Game Theory: The Death of Online Poker

2011-05-31T18:11:00.000-07:00

On April 15, thousands of professional Internet gamers were put out of work by the U.S. Justice Department.

You didn’t realize there were so many people who derived some or all of their income from online gaming? Well, if poker isn’t a game, then I’m not sure what it is. And thousands of people—many of them college students and the unemployed—played poker online to support themselves, right up until the Justice Department decided to pull the plug.

Technically, Internet gambling isn’t illegal, or at least not clearly illegal. When the Bush administration rammed through the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (the UIGEA) as a last-minute addition to a port security bill, they didn’t bother to really define “unlawful Internet gambling.” Instead, they opted to deny the financial tools commonly used for e-commerce (extension of credit, electronic fund transfers, etc.) to any enterprise transmitting a wager to any location where that wager is illegal.

But these laws, which are different for each state, simply can’t be applied to something like Internet poker. Plus, all of the major poker sites were based offshore, bringing international law into the picture.

President Obama, in his mysterious efforts to cement his reputation as The Second Coming of George W. Bush, decided to pick up the UIGEA ball and run with it. Thus, on April 15, the Justice Department seized the domains for Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars.net, and Absolute Poker; froze billions in assets; and arrested 11 of their executives. These three weren’t chosen at random: They are the three largest online poker sites.

If you were a casual online player, you may miss the thrill of playing for real money. But if you relied on that income, you woke up on poker’s Black Friday to find your world gone. Rather than taking on the complex task of defining and perhaps even regulating Internet gambling, the government simply destroyed it.

Android App Store Showdown: Which of 5 Contenders Is Best?

2011-05-31T18:01:00.000-07:00

You can get your Android apps from multiple sources—but which is best? We compare the official Android Market to four upstart storefronts

Thanks to the open nature of the Android platform, there’s a bevy of alternative app stores in which to hunt for Android software. But can any of them trump Google’s own Android Market? We selected four competing app repositories, pitting them against Google’s official store. Our first goal was to test for comprehensiveness, so we created a control group of 31 apps—some well-known, some obscure, all useful—to see if each store keeps a well-stocked inventory. Our second goal was to test for user experience. Do these alternative stores offer features and levels of convenience that the Android Market does not? Winners are chosen, losers are crushed!

AppBrain

How do we love thee, AppBrain? Let us count the ways. First, AppBrain’s inventory maps directly against everything available in Android Market, so comprehensiveness isn’t an issue. Second, its browsing scheme is fun and easy, slicing and dicing the Android universe according to “Sort” (e.g., Hot today, All-time popular, Highest rated), “Category” (e.g., Business, Comics, Medical), and “Filter” (e.g., Free, Paid, New, Updated, Price reduced).

Want to check out only the most popular free apps in Business? Easy. Just tap your way to that criteria. Only interested in paid apps in the Tools category that have pulled down a ton of downloads within the past week? Done. Want to check out the most-used Health & Fitness apps in France, further limited to only those that work with App2SD? AppBrain can do that too.

You can install apps via QR codes, using the AppBrain app (which is every bit as feature-laden as the site), or with AppBrain’s Fast Web Installer app. Install that onto your phone and you’ll be able to push apps from the website to your device in a manner similar to that of the official Android Market.

Our slight gripe with AppBrain is that its comprehensive listings don’t feature subcategories. It would be nice to dig deeper into a specific category without having to search for a term and hope for the best.

Rating: A

Android Market

Google’s easy-to-use, one-stop shop for Android apps comes preinstalled with your phone or tablet, but is it the best? Turning to the Web version first, there is no other app store that gives you nearly as much information about your phone and the apps installed on it. The Android Market shows you everything you’ve downloaded, all available updates, and lets you configure (and check the details of) Android devices you’ve registered with Google.

That said, we don’t like the organization of the Android Market website. You can only sort by top paid or top free apps for each category. So aside from the Featured tabs on the homepage, it’s hard to find new material that hasn’t yet rocketed to popularity.

Clicking an app, however, brings up a comprehensive page that delivers screenshots, user reviews, and plenty of statistics (including Android version compatibility and file size). User comments are plentiful, and sidebars list a developer’s other apps, as well as related apps to check out. A What’s New tab even shows you the latest changes made to an app’s most recent update.

Installing an app pushes it to your device directly—there’s no package to manually install. Easy, simple, efficient. We just wish there was a better way to find hot new apps.

Rating: B+

Amazon Appstore for Android

Amazon may be late to the app market party, but it’s not stingy with the party favors. We’re talking about the daily paid app that Amazon slaps on its homepage as a free download. And these aren’t lame-Os, either. Featured free apps have included Angry Birds: Rio, Doodle Jump, and World Series of Poker: Hold’em Legend (a $5 discount!).

It’s not just the daily savings that make Amazon’s Appstore so interesting. This app bazaar is tied into Amazon’s market engine, which means you can easily search through categories and subcategories, filtering them by mechanisms that will be familiar to all Amazon shoppers. It’s just as easy to scan for all action, racing, and music games priced between $2 to $6 as it is to find all apps released within the previous 30 or 90 days.

The Amazon Appstore lives on both Amazon.com and in an Android app. One stinker of the Amazon linkage is that novice users might search for, say, “Opera” within Amazon’s website search engine, and receive links to hoity-toity music CDs instead of a mobile Web browser. We must also note that only the app version of the store—well-designed though it may be—lets you seamlessly download and install purchases to your device. Buying apps off the website entails Amazon sending you a download text link or email. Quite inelegant.

It’s also unfortunate that you have to enable the installation of apps from “Unknown Sources” before accessing the Amazon Appstore. That’s no fault of Amazon’s. It’s just something to keep in mind. We otherwise like Amazon’s layout and organization. The store—even in its infancy—contained eight apps on our control list of 31, and we expect that number to explode with time.

Rating: B

PocketGear

Just like GetJar, the independent PocketGear services more than just Android devices. But unlike GetJar, we actually like PocketGear’s overall construction. Like most app repositories, you can browse PocketGear via categories, but here they smartly include subcategories—for example, “Action” is nested under “Games,” and “FTP Clients” is nested under “Internet.” Sorting options for categories and subcategories include recently updated apps, most downloaded apps, price, and rating. It’s easy to browse around to different categories, and even limit the apps shown to those of a specific language.

Besides posting editorial reviews of various apps, the site also handles all the purchase transactions for paid apps. To download an app, PocketGear shoots you an email or a text message with a link to the .apk file. From there, you can suck the file into your device, and install it via Android’s notification window or a third-party file manager. You can also use built-in QR codes to grab apps if scanning is more your style.

Of the 6,864 Android apps we counted across the categories, there were only 9 of the 31 apps in our control list. Still, for an independent app store, PocketGear wins big for its diversity.

Rating: B-

GetJar

GetJar bills itself as “The world’s second largest app store with over 1 billion downloads to date.” This may be true, given that GetJar supplies BlackBerry, iPhone, Android, and other types of apps within its independent database (although iPhone “downloads” are merely links to the iTunes App Store). Regardless, we couldn’t find any paid Android apps within the database. Demos, yes. Free apps, check. But paid applications? Zilcho. Worse, it’s really difficult to find anything on GetJar as is.

Let us clarify. Getjar’s website is organized into app categories. Once you’ve selected a category… um, that’s just about it. You can only sort further by New Apps, Top Apps, or Supported (as in “supported on your specific Android phone”), and it’s hardly a useful interface for the aspiring downloader looking for new things to try. Sorting by Top Apps, for example, appears to do anything but. The results aren’t listed by user-generated star ratings, nor are they sorted by their download counts. They’re just there, organized in some hodgepodge fashion.

Of our 31 control group apps, we only found seven.

Rating: C-

Also Rans

A couple more Android app stores didn't make the review cut, mostly because they just did not have enough apps in stock yet to make it seem worthwhile. Still for the exceedingly curious or Android-addicted, these may be worth bookmarking to check in on them later.

AndAppOnline

You'll find a few hundred apps and games available here, but this store seem some work on its organization.

ESDN

This store only had 418 apps the day this published, and few if any of them were well known. However, this new store also exists as a Facebook app, so it may gain some traction there. Also, small developers have been know to like it for its low 9 to 11 percent commission fees.

How to fix: “Your name change request has been rejected by our automated approval system

2011-05-30T23:31:00.000-07:00

Facebook will reject (or ban) your name change request if one of the following conditions is detected by Facebook:

if you have made too many name changes
if you have a name that sounds like it could be fake
if you share your name with a celebrity
and of course it can be other reason.

So, what can you do about it?

If you insist to change your name, go to Help Center and use the form to request for name change. In this form, you’re required to upload one of the following files for verification purpose (ensure that your full name, date of birth, and photo [if applicable] are clear): a government-issued ID, marriage certificate, or legal name change document. Facebook team will review the request manually. It will take a few days for your request to be approved, or denied.

How to Add Chinese Characters or Symbols to Facebook Name

Recently, Facebook has restricted the ability to use characters more than one alphabet (usually symbols or Chinese characters) in their name. So, if you have second language or symbols in your name other than English, you should have noticed that Facebook requires you to change your name accordingly using only English alphabets. If you intent to add second language or symbols into your first, middle or last name, you will receive the following error message:

Your profile name may not contain characters from more than one alphabet. If you’d like to list your name in a second language, please use the Alternate Name field.

So, how do I add second language such as Chinese characters into my name?

Just as what the message told you, add your second language name into the Alternate Name field and it will appear in bracket right after your full name. Just like this:

However, some users reported that Facebook has approved their names which contains only Chinese characters in the first, middle and last name. So, if your Chinese name is much important than your English name, you can have your Chinese name as your Full Name (first, middle and last name) and English name as your Alternate Name.

Be warned that Facebook will ban your ability to change your name if you’ve made too many changes.

Why is my Facebook Account Temporarily Unavailable? – Solution

Victims will receive such error message: “Your account is currently unavailable due to a site issue. We expect this to be resolved shortly. Please try again in a few minutes.”

Just as what it says, Facebook might be facing unexpected issue and they need time to resolve the problem. Site maintenance can take a while. So, sit back and have a cup of tea and chill out. Try again in a few minutes.

If it’s still unaccessible even after 1 hour, ask your friends around to see if they are able to access to their account. If they are too not able to access to Facebook, Facebook might be doing something big behind that takes quite a lot of time. At this time, you must be calm. Don’t try to be smart and mess with things in the computer you don’t understand. All you can do now is wait patiently.

If your friends can access to their Facebook accounts while you can’t, do the following steps to ensure you are not browsing the old cached page:

Internet Explorer users: Go to Tools -> Internet Options -> Delete… -> select only Cookies -> Delete
Mozilla Firefox users: Go to Tools -> Options -> Privacy tab -> Show cookies -> Scroll down and look for mediafire cookies folder and delete it
Google Chrome users: Click on the Customize button -> Option -> Under the hood -> Clear browsing history -> Make sure Delete Cookies and other site data is checked -> Click Clear browsing data

Top 10 Google Chrome Plugins

2011-05-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

In an extensive multimedia network like the web, Google Chrome plugins aid in connecting all diverse features and bring a better browsing environment for the computer user. These add-ons support different Internet applications in an entire operational system. These extensions known as plugins that create network shortcuts are more than three thousand for this browser.

AdBlock
The first group of the top 10 Google Chrome plugins helps with the browsing experience. One needs to first download the Google Chrome before activating its various options. One of these is the feature that allows e-commerce marketers to upload advertisements directly to a computer user.

Tab Extension
By selecting this extension, the browser is able to make do with double sites within a single tab. This means that they can be able to have a window full of opened sites other than the limited ones that can be opened with other software.

Social Media Plugin
This is a custom tool that enables one to share content across the networking media such that they can have their inbox pages displayed on their desktops instead of going to the homepage.

Bookmark Add-on
Fourthly, the browsing capability afforded by Google Chrome plugins can be seen in the ability to bookmark different media content that one comes across on the Internet. These can be sent across the platform in their live form to others on the web.

Blog Extension
There is also the extension that is worthwhile for owners of small sites who can be able to generate content easily through automated assistance. It comes with options for generating keyword suggestions.

Chrome Plugins

Install A Dictionary
Chrome plugins on the other hand apply more to the desktop applications of the web by creating shortcuts for easier browsing in local mode. This means that one can be able to perform certain tasks such as reading dictionaries without going to a website offering this vocabulary device.

YouTube Add-on
The second of the top capabilities afforded through this operational system help is that of installing multimedia on the desktop in compatibility with the OS. This means that one can download video content directly to their players that they have set up for the purpose without relying on the live online site.

Translator
This important tool among the Chrome plugins for the operational system helps to decode content that is availed from different platforms.

It comes with the left clicking choice for translating content while the right hand tab allows the user to widen their translation selections while also affording them the deactivation feature.

ChromePass
There is also the ChromePass that helps to remember the account details of the users including those of initializing their computers and for accessing their emails. The latter is offered by the mailing icon that affords one to send and receive messages without necessarily having to go to their mail providers.

Thus, the above Google Chrome plugins help to make sure that all the network features either for browsing or for performing communication tasks are within the grasp of the computer user. They act as essential shortcuts to various web applications that can be installed on the desktop.

Set Internet Explorer 9 to Open in InPrivate Mode Automatically

2011-05-30T18:25:00.000-07:00

InPrivate Browsing (or filtering) allows you to browse the web without leaving any traces in Internet Explorer. This helps to protect your online privacy from other people who might be using your computer. It does not affect how you appear on the internet. To run IE 9 in InPrivate Browsing mode, press ALT key on your keyboard, go to Tools from the menu bar, and then select InPrivate Browsing. This will open a new browser window. The protection that InPrivate Browsing provides is only in effect during the time that you use that window. You can open as many tabs as you want in that window, and they will all be protected by InPrivate Browsing. However, if you open another browser window, that window will not be protected by InPrivate Browsing.

If you rely heavily on InPrivate Browsing, you can create a shortcut to open IE 9 in InPrivate Mode Automatically. Follow the steps below to do so:

Right-click anywhere on your desktop -> Select New -> and then Shortcut.
Type the following in the item’s location field:
“C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe” -private

(The path should be the location of where Internet Explorer was installed in your PC.)
Click Next. Type a name for the shortcut. Now you can run IE 9 in InPrivate Browsing mode automatically by running the shortcut you just created.

8 Important Tips and Tricks for Internet Explorer 9 (IE9)

To open a new tab, just Double-Click an area to the right of the tabs boxes, without having to click the little blank Tab Box.
Right-Click a blank area and click Favorites bar to enable the Favorites bar.
Right-Click a blank area and click Command bar to enable the Command Bar.
Right-Click a blank area and click Status Bar to enable the original style Status Bar at the bottom of IE9.
To give more space to your Tabs and make the Address Bar smaller, position your cursor between the Search Box and a Tab, when the Cursor switches to the Right/Left arrow, you can click and drag the Address Bar to the Right or Left to either enlarge or make it smaller. Read more: What if you feel IE 9 address bar is too short
Click the ALT key, and then click View on the Menu Bar, click Style and select No Style to View the Webpage without Webpage formatting. Click Default Style to change the Webpage back to default.
Hover over the Tools icon at Right and under Safety, click InPrivate Browsing to Start the InPrivate Browser Mode. Read also: How to Set Internet Explorer 9 to Open in InPrivate Mode Automatically
If you are having problems viewing webpages, click the ALT key on your keyboard and under Tools, click Compatibility View.

How to Make a Strong Password

Here in this post, we will show you how to make a strong yet easy to remember password. Before we begin building a strong password, you need to understand what characteristic should a strong password possess.

An ideal password:

has all kinds of characters: letters, punctuation, symbols, and numbers.
is long enough. At least 14 characters or more.
has both capital and non-capital letters.

How to make a strong yet easy to remember password

It isn’t hard to build a strong password. A strong password will reduce the chances your account being hacked. Without a good password, you probably wouldn’t notice until it was too late.

Put a symbol as the first character of the password.
Immediately after first symbol, you may insert any word you like such as your pet’s name.
Allow the first two characters to be capital letters.
After that, you may insert any number you like. It can be your last few digits of your ID number, your mate’s birthday number, etc. It should be at least 4 digits.
Lastly, put another different symbol as the last character of the password.

Examples:

%YUnata5678123$
^MRanthony5523664@
!JAsmine998877*

This password format is just our suggestion based on what we’ve tested which works best. You can check the strength of your newly made password in this page to see if it meets your need.

Lockheed Martin Acknowledges 'Significant' Cyberattack

2011-05-29T18:21:00.000-07:00

Lockheed Martin Saturday night acknowledged that it its information systems network had been the target of a "significant and tenacious attack," but said that its security team detected the intrusion "almost immediately and took aggressive actions to protect all systems and data."

BitTorrent for Beginners

2011-05-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

BitTorrent is finding its way into your wireless routers, NAS drives, media streamers, and more. We explain how it works and why you might want it.

Comcast wants to kill it, your next wireless router will probably have it built-in, and you can use it to download the entire GeoCities archive. BitTorrent has come a long way since its public release on July 2, 2001, but unless you're a regular media pirate, you probably haven't used it much. Read on to find out how it works and to clear up a few common misconceptions about it.

Is BitTorrent Legal?

No court has found the BitTorrent protocol inherently unlawful. But using BitTorrent to trade copyright-protected files will likely put you on the wrong side of the law. A Princeton study published earlier this year estimated that only 1 percent of the files in a sample pool of 1021 files shared on BitTorrent were legal, so it's no wonder that many people assume that BitTorrent itself is illegal. To ensure that your downloads stay on the right side of the law, stick to trackers that are dedicated to sharing free content, such as ClearBits and LegitTorrents.info.

Though using BitTorrent is legal, several Internet service providers try to monitor users' traffic and clamp down on their BitTorrent usage. This is called "traffic shaping," and it can be highly inconvenient for torrent downloaders. Read "Elude Your ISP's BitTorrent Blockade" for more information.

How Does BitTorrent Work?

Normally, if you want to download a file from a Web site, you just click a few links in your Web browser and your system will start saving the file to your default Downloads folder. The server hosting the file sends you the file, bit by bit, until you have the whole thing.

Bandwidth isn't free, however, so transferring the file costs someone money . The more popular a file is, the more servers and bandwidth the hosts will need to continue distributing it. That's why so many downloads sites are saturated by obnoxious ads--the sites need to pay their bandwidth bills. As the world swaps larger and larger files, such as high-definition videos, high-resolution photos, and higher-quality music, the bandwidth bill grows and grows.

BitTorrent eases the monetary strain on individual file hosts by motivating downloaders to upload, too. If you're downloading a movie via BitTorrent, you'll start out downloading chunks of the movie. Once you've collected a few pieces of the movie, you'll continue to download the rest of the file, but you'll also start uploading the pieces you have to other people trying to download the same movie.

LinuxTracker lists the files, sizes, and number of seeders and leechers for each torrent.For example, suppose that a movie file is split into four chunks named A, B, C, and D. One computer (the "seeder") has all four chunks, another computer has ABC, another has BC, and the last one has D.

As soon as you receive A, you can start sharing it with the other computers that don't have chunk A. The seeder computer can then use its bandwidth for sharing segment D, which is more scarce.

Also, the BitTorrent protocol rewards people who upload more files and upload files more quickly. If your uploading speeds are high, the client directs more people to send you missing chunks of your files.

Generally, BitTorrent makes it easier for users to share files at higher download speeds, but you may find that your Internet connection slows down while your BitTorrent client is open. That's because your bandwidth is being used not just for ongoing downloads, but also for simultaneous uploads. When your system has downloaded all of the chunks of a file, you don't need to worry about assembling the parts yourself.

The first step in downloading something with BitTorrent is to find a torrent tracker site, which is a searchable index of .torrent files. Each .torrent file contains the "metadata" for the file you're looking for; basically, the .torrent file tells your BitTorrent client how to identify the different chunks of each file and how they fit together.

The .torrent file isn't the actual movie, song, or other file you were looking to download. It's more like a decoder ring that sniffs out the different chunks of your file, then assembles them correctly once they're all downloaded.

If you're looking to download a Linux distribution, for example, you can just stop by LinuxTracker, find the torrent listing that matches what you're looking for, and download the corresponding .torrent file. Once the .torrent file is downloaded, you open it in a BitTorrent client such as Vuze or µTorrent (aka uTorrent), and you'll start connecting to everyone else who's uploading and downloading that file.

Just remember that if there are no "seeders" for that particular file, you won't be able to complete the download, because no one will have a full copy of the file. This doesn't happen often with popular files, but if there's only one person seeding your file, you might find your download has stopped because the seeder's PC shut down for the night.

What's the Best BitTorrent Client?

The official BitTorrent client is called "BitTorrent," the term "BitTorrent" usually refers more generally to the protocol used to transfer files, not necessarily the particular client app you're using to download the those files.

Dozens of BitTorrent clients exist. You can download torrents straight from your browser if you use Opera, you can run BitTorrent from a Java app with BitLet, and a short-lived iPhone app called IS Drive even let you use BitTorrent from your phone. For use with a PC, however, a few apps stand out from the pack.

µTorrent is a lightweight, speedy BitTorrent client. µTorrent--widely identified as "uTorrent," though the character µ is a lowercase Greek mu (equivalent to an m in English), and not a lowercase Greek upsilon [?] (equivalent to a u in English)--is a lightweight-yet-full-featured client app offered by BitTorrent, Inc. itself. It's easy enough to use, very good for managing a library of torrents, and includes plenty of networking tweaks for advanced users. µTorrent doesn't manage your media library or include a built-in player, so it's great if you want to download media files but then use separate apps to organize and play them.

Vuze can be your one-stop shop for HD video.On the other hand, if you want to use the same app to download, organize, play back, and even share your media over the network, check out Vuze, an ad-supported BitTorrent client which handles all of the above functions in one app. The fee-based Vuze Plus service includes DVD burning and antivirus features for an $25/year.

Use Miro to manage your media from multiple sources. Miro is an all-in-one client similar to Vuze, but it includes more-robust features for pulling audio and video from other sources besides torrents--podcasts, RSS feeds, YouTube subscriptions, and more.

For micromanaging your downloads while you're on the go, both µTorrent and Vuze have remote-access options that, when activated, let you log in to your home PC and manage your downloads with a Web app.

Why Does My NAS Drive/Wireless Router/Media Streaming Box Have BitTorrent?

Over the past two years, we've been seeing apps with BitTorrent embedded in them finding their way into a handful of devices, including NAS drives, media streamers, and wireless routers. It's a fairly natural fit: Many people use BitTorrent to download movies, music, and TV shows, so these devices can download, store, and stream to your PC or TV without your having to leave the PC on all the time.

The actual client software included differs from device to device, but most of them use a Web app nested within the device's management page. Buffalo, for example, has licensed the official BitTorrent app, so the Web app is essentially a modified version of the µTorrent Web client. Keep in mind that you still have to find the actual .torrent files yourself.

Is BitTorrent Safe?

Well, that depends.

In our article "The 17 Most Dangerous Places on the Web," we wrote that illegal file-sharing sites can leave you open to malware infection. Because so many people use BitTorrent for swapping copyrighted material, it also qualifies as a security risk.There's no guarantee that anyone has screened the files shared via BitTorrent, and some pirates might try to make money by hiding malware in your downloads and then selling access to your computer, or by adding your PC to a botnet of infected PCs.

Still, nothing about the file-sharing protocol itself makes BitTorrent more dangerous than any other method of transferring files. If your system gets infected with malware from a file downloaded via BitTorrent, the culprit is the tainted file, not the fact that you downloaded it via BitTorrent. Had you opened the same file as an e-mail attachment, it would have introduced the same infection.

Whether you use BitTorrent to download OpenOffice or each episode of The Office, there are a few things you can do to help yourself stay safe while using it:

When you search a tracker site for a .torrent file, read the comments about a file before downloading it. If a popular file is infected with something, someone else has probably already downloaded it, found the malware, and posted a message warning others.
Vet your torrent trackers thoroughly. Lots of Web sites contain fake torrent search listings. If it seems as though real people aren't posting on the site, don't use it.
Don't use BitTorrent without some form of antivirus. Even a free antivirus app like Microsoft Security Essentials, if properly updated, can help keep you somewhat safe.

How to Install Windows on Your Mac using Boot Camp

2011-05-29T08:39:00.000-07:00

Want to know how to install Windows Xp, Windows Vista or Windows 7 on your Mac OS X? Then you are in right place.In this article, I will teach you installing windows in Mac using Boot camp assistant with screenshots.You can also use Parallels Desktop to run Windows operating system on Mac virtually.

Step-by-step Tutorial to Install Windows Using Boot Camp

1. Goto Applications –> Utilities and open Boot Camp Assistant.
2. Click Continue on the initial Introduction screen.

3. Set windows partition size by dragging the divider.And click Partition button.

4. Once completed you’ll notice a new BOOTCAMP drive on your desktop.
5. Now insert your Windows Xp or Vista or 7 DVD and click the Start Installation button.

Note:
In this tutorial I have used Windows Xp.
6. Your Mac will restart, and Windows Xp will boot. You’ll be prompted with a window asking you which partition you want to install Windows on. Select the one with BOOTCAMP in the Name column. Selecting anything else may wipe out OS X or cause serious problems. Just format BOOTCAMP partition with NTFS.
7. As usual the normal windows xp insallation process will go.
8. Once the installation has completed and your Mac has restarted again, you’ll be able to use Windows Os.
9. Now insert your Mac OS X Tiger (or Snow Leopard) DVD. When prompted, select Run setup.exe.

Note:

If you’re using Snow Leopard and a message pops up saying “Remote Install Mac OS X”, close that window and eject the CD. Put the CD in again and this time select “Open folder to view files”, navigate to the Bootcamp folder, and run setup.exe.
10. The Boot Camp installer will launch. Click Next to begin.

11. Select I accept the terms in the license agreement and then click Next.
12. Choose Apple Software Update for Windows, and click Install.

13. The Boot Camp installer will install all the required drivers.

14. Once completed click Finish.
15. Again you’ll be prompted to reboot. Remove your OS X DVD from the drive, and click Yes to restart.
16. That’s it, you’re done!
17. When your Mac boots, hold down the Option key to select which Operating System you want to boot into.

Secure Yourself from Hackers and Hijackers

2011-05-29T08:20:00.000-07:00

Hackers and Browser Hijacking is one area of the Net that affects everyone at some stage.

In addition to having third party utilities such as SpyBot, Anti Virus scanners and firewalls installed there are some changes that can be made to Windows 2000/XP. Below are some details to make your system safer from hackers and hijackers.

Some of these tips require editing of the Registry so it is wise to either backup the registry and/or create a Restore Point.

1. Clearing the Page File at Shutdown
Windows 2000/XP paging file (Sometimes called the Swap File) can contain sensitive information such as plaintext passwords. Someone capable of accessing your system could scan that file and find its information. You can force windows to clear out this file.

In the registry navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerMemory Management and add or edit the DWORD ClearPageFileAtShutdown. Set it to 1.

Note that when you do this, the system will take much longer to shut down: a system with a really big Page File (! Gig or more) may take a minute or two longer.

2. Disable the POSIX and OS/2 Subsystem.

Windows 2000 and XP come with little-documented subsystems it at allow compatibility with UNIX and OS/2 systems These rues systems are enabled by default but so rarely used that they are best off bring disabled completely to prevent possible service hijackings.

To disable these subsystems, open the registry and navigate to HKEY LOCAL MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerSubSystems. Delete the subkeys Os2 and Posix. then reboot.

3. Never leave default passwords blank.
On installation, Windows 2000 sets up an Administrator account with total system access and prompts for a password. Guess what: by default, it allows that password to be blank. If a user doesn't want to type a password, he can simply click Next and the system will be an open door for anyone who wants to log on. Always opt for a password of some kind when setting up the default account on a machine.

4. Disable the Guest account
Windows XP comes with a Guest account that's used for limited access, but it's still possible to do some damage with it. Disable it completely if you are not using it. Under Control Panel, select User Accounts, click on Guest Account and then select Turn Off the Guest Account.

5. Install Windows In a different directory.
Windows usually installs itself in the WINDOWS directory. Windows NT 4 0 and 2000 Will opt for WINNT. Many worms and other rogue programs assume this to be the case and attempt to exploit those folders files. To defeat this install Windows to another directory when you're setting it up - you can specify the name of the directory during setup. WINDIR is okay; so some people use WNDWS - A few (not that many) programs may not install properly if you install Windows to another folder but t hey are very few and they are far between

6. Fake out hackers with a dummy Administrator account
Since the default account in Windows 2000 is always named Administrator, an enterprising hacker can try to break into your system by attempting to guess the password on that account. It you never bothered to put a password on that account, say your prayers.

Rather than be a sucker to a hacker, put a password on the Administrator account it you haven't done so already. Then change the name of the Administrator account. You'll still be able to use the account under its new name, since Windows identifies user accounts by a back-end ID number rather than the name. Finally, create a new account named Administrator and disable it. This should frustrate any would -be break-ins.

You can add new accounts and change the names of existing accounts in Windows 2000 through the Local Users and Groups snap in. Right-click on My Computer, select Manager, open the Local Users and Groups subtree, look in the Users folder and right-click on any name to rename it. To add a new user, right-click on the containing folder and select New User. Finally, to disable an account, double-click it, check the Account is disabled box and click OK.

Don't ever delete the original Administrator account. Some programs refuse to install without it and you might have to log in under that account at some point to setup such software. The original Administrator account is configured with a security ID that must continue to be present in the system.

7. Set the Hosts file to read-only to prevent name hijacking.

This one's from (and to a degree, for) the experts. The HOSTS file is a text file that all flavors of Windows use to hold certain network addresses that never change. When a network name and address is placed in HOSTS, the computer uses the address listed there for that network name rather than performing a lookup (which can take time). Experts edit this file to place their most commonly-visited sites into it, speeding things up considerably.

Unfortunately hijackers and hackers also love to put their own information into it - redirecting people from their favorite sites to places they don't want to go. One of the most common entries in HOSTS is local host which is set 1770.0.1. This refers to the local machine and if this entry is damaged the computer can behave very unpredictably.

To prevent HOSTS from being hijacked, set it to read-only. Go to the folder %Systemroot%system32driversetc, right-click on HOSTS, select Properties check the Read-Only box and click OK. If you want to add your own entries to HOSTS, you can unprotect it before doing so, but always remember to set it to read-only after you're done.

8. Turn off unneeded Services
Windows 2000 and XP both come with many background services that don't need to he running most of the time: Alerter, Messenger, Server (If you're running a standalone machine with no file or printer shares), NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing, Remote Desktop Help Session Manager (the last two if you're not using Remote Desktop or NetMeeting), Remote Registry, Routing and Remote Access (if you're not using Remote Access), SSDP Discovery Service, Telnet, and Universal Plug and Play Device Host.

9. Disallow changes to IE settings through IE
This is another anti hijacker tip. IE can be set so that any changes to its settings must be performed through the Internet icon in the Control Panel, rather than through IE's own interface. Some particularly unscrupulous programs or sites try to tamper with setting by accessing the Tools, Options menu in IE. You can disable this and still make changes to IE's settings through the Control Panel.

Open the Registry and browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER SoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftInternet ExplorerRestrictions. Create or edit a new DWORD value named NoBrowserUptions and set it to 1 (this is a per-user setting). Some third-party programs such as Spybot Search And Destroy allow you to toggle this setting.

You can also keep IE from having other programs rename its default startup page, another particularly annoying form of hijacking. Browse to HKEY.CURRENT USERSoftwarePolicies MicrosoftInternet ExploreControl Panel and add or edit a DWORD, Homepage and set it to 1.

10. Disable simple File Shares.
In Windows XP Professional, the Simple File Sharing mode is easily exploited, since it抯 a little too easy to share out a file across your LAN (or the NET at large). To turn it off, go m My Computer, click Tools, Folder Option and the View tab, and uncheck Use Simple file sharing (Recommended). Click OK. When you do this you can access the Security tab in the Properties window for all folders; set permissions for folders; and take ownership of objects (but not in XP Home)

PayPal Sues Google for Stealing Mobile Payment Secrets

2011-05-27T21:25:00.000-07:00

PayPal has sued Google and two of its top execs, both former PayPal employees, for stealing trade secrets that helped the search company break into the multi-billion dollar mobile payments industry.

Hours after Stephanie Tilenius, Google's VP of Commerce, and Osama Bedier, VP of Payments, announced Google Wallet, a groundbreaking initiative to make mobile payments commercial, PayPal filed a 28-page lawsuit in California accusing Google and the two employees for misappropriating information and actively poaching other PayPal employees.

Tilenius joined Google in October 2009 as VP of Commerce after serving in various leadership roles at PayPal and eBay since 2001. Bedier jumped from PayPal's VP of Platform, Mobile, and New Ventures to become Google's VP of Payments in January 2010.

According to the complaint, Telenius repeatedly asked Bedier to join Google, even though she was under contract not to solicit PayPal execs for at least a year. However Tilenius allegedly sent Bedier this Facebook note in July 2009:

"How are you? Hope the wife and kids are well... hard to believe you have 4 kids, they all just be so big now. I heard from a little birdie that you might be open to bigger and better challenges, I have a HUGE opportunity for you, would love to chat if you are interested."

Bedier, meanwhile, has been accused of actively poaching PayPal execs and leaking PayPal secrets to Google. "As an executive at PayPal, Bedier acquired knowledge and custody of several PayPal trade secrets. Bedier knew or had reason to know that his knowledge of PayPal's trade secrets was acquired under a circumstance giving rise to a duty to maintain the secrecy of those trade secrets or limit their use," the complaint reads. "Plaintiffs are informed and believe and on that basis allege that Bedier has misappropriated PayPal trade secrets by using or disclosing them in his new capacity at Google."

Unsurprisingly, Google plans to put up a fight. "Silicon Valley was built on the ability of individuals to use their knowledge and expertise to seek better employment opportunities, an idea recognized by both California law and public policy. We respect trade secrets, and will defend ourselves against these claims," a spokesman said.

Awkwardly, in the months before Bedier left he was negotiating for PayPal to be integrated into Google Checkout at the Android Market. He was also recruiting PayPal colleagues to join him when he left, the complaint alleges.

PayPal has been trying to break into the mobile payment industry, from digital wallets to working to provide major retailers with point-of-sale terminals that enable mobile payments. It's similar, but not quite what Google Wallet does. However, it does have a lot in common with Jack Dorsey's Square.

By the way, if you too were alarmed that Tilenius' Facebook message made it into the complaint, fear not. As a general rule, Facebook doesn't release user content sought in private litigation without the consent of the user, a spokesperson said.

Microsoft to Show Windows 8 Tablets; Asian OEMs Most Likely Partners

2011-05-27T21:21:00.000-07:00

Microsoft reportedly will demonstrate its Windows 8 tablet operating system next week, according to a report.

Bloomberg reported Thursday that the software company will address both the AllThingsD conference next week as well as the Computex show in Taipei.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said Monday that Windows 8 would be coming out in 2012. Microsoft later retracted the statements, leading to the possibility that perhaps Microsoft intended to launch Windows 8 next year, but may in fact issue a point release or a dedicated tablet version of the OS.

Speaking at a Microsoft Developer Forum in Tokyo on Monday, Ballmer said Microsoft is "obviously hard at work on the next version of Windows."

View Slideshow See all (5) slides

"As we look forward to the next generation of Windows systems, which will come out next year, there's a whole lot more coming," he continued. "As we progress through the year, you ought to expect to hear a lot about Windows 8. Windows 8 slates, tablets, PCs, a variety of different form factors."

Which companies could Microsoft partner with? If PCMag.com's list of Windows 7 tablet manufacturers is any indication, Asus, Lenovo, and Samsung would be the likely candidates; Microsoft usually picks existing partners to help launch new initiatives, and Asus especially has developed a fully-formed tablet.

For example, Asus launched the Eee Slate EP121, a slate tablet that runs on a full blown Windows 7 operating system and an Intel Core i5 processor. The EP121 is among the biggest slates, boasting a 12-inch screen and weighing 2.5-pounds. Samsung's Sliding PC also bridges the gap between a slate and a netbook, but at the hefty price tag of $699. And then there's the Lenovo IdeaPad Slate, which also boasts a 10-inch screen.

Ballmer reiterated this week that Microsoft has "some work to do" when it comes to tablets, but stressed that "there will be a day in the future where it will be hard to distinguish a phone from a slate, from a PC."

While AllThingsD remains a conference for the punditocracy, Taiwan's Computex has traditionally been a show for the Taiwan ODMs, which actually build the desktop and notebook PCs that later acquire badges from HP and other traditional PC OEMs. Google's Android is expected to make a strong showing at Computex, where tablets and netbooks alike are expected to provide alternatives to notebook PCs.

"We are in a race," Ballmer said in a speech Thursday in New Delhi, India, according to Bloomberg. "We are not doing that badly, frankly. We are doing pretty well in that race. But the race is on to continue to push Windows to a variety of new form factors."

Term Life Insurance Rates

2011-05-27T21:05:00.000-07:00

Financial One's online life insurance shopping system instantly compares life insurance rates from over 140 companies. It's fast and easy - fill out the following form to get your own rate comparison now!

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Buying term life insurance online can seem like a complicated process, but here at FinancialOne.Com we make the process simple and easy. When comparison shopping for life insurance, the consumer should be aware of three things. First, does the site provide real time accurate rates and quotes. Second, does the site provide a help analyzer so you can accurately judge what health rating class you would fall in to. Lastly, does the site provide more than one company from which you can choose.

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Six rising threats from cybercriminals

2011-05-27T19:44:00.002-07:00

Criminal hackers never sleep, it seems. Just when you think you've battened down the hatches and fully protected yourself or your business from electronic security risks, along comes a new exploit to keep you up at night. It might be an SMS text message with a malevolent payload or a stalker who dogs your every step online. Or maybe it's an emerging technology like in-car Wi-Fi that suddenly creates a whole new attack vector.

Whether you're an IT manager protecting employees and corporate systems or you're simply trying to keep your own personal data safe, these threats -- some rapidly growing, others still emerging -- pose a potential risk. Fortunately, there are some security procedures and tools available to help you win the fight against the bad guys.

1. Text-message malware

While smartphone viruses are still fairly rare, text-messaging attacks are becoming more common, according to Rodney Joffe, senior vice president and senior technologist at mobile messaging company Neustar and director of the Conficker Working Group coalition of security researchers. PCs are now fairly well protected, he says, so some black-hat hackers have moved on to mobile devices. Their incentive is mostly financial; text messaging provides a way for them to break in and make money.

Khoi Nguyen, group product manager for mobile security at Symantec, confirmed that text-message attacks aimed at smartphone operating systems are becoming more common as people rely more on mobile devices. It's not just consumers who are at risk from these attacks, he adds. Any employee who falls for a text-message ruse using a company smartphone can jeopardize the business's network and data, and perhaps cause a compliance violation.

"This is a similar type of attack as [is used on] a computer -- an SMS or MMS message that includes an attachment, disguised as a funny or sexy picture, which asks the user to open it," Nguyen explains. "Once they download the picture, it will install malware on the device. Once loaded, it would acquire access privileges, and it spreads through contacts on the phone, [who] would then get a message from that user."

In this way, says Joffe, hackers create botnets for sending text-message spam with links to a product the hacker is selling, usually charging you per message. In some cases, he adds, the malware even starts buying ring tones that are charged on your wireless bill, lining the pocketbook of the hacker selling the ring tones.

Another ruse, says Nguyen, is a text-message link to download an app that supposedly allows free Internet access but is actually a Trojan that sends hundreds of thousands of SMS messages (usually at "premium SMS" rates of $2 each) from the phone.

Wireless carriers say they do try to stave off the attacks. For instance, Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Raney says the company scans for known malware attacks and isolates them on the cellular network, and even engages with federal crime units to block attacks.

Still, as Joffe notes jokingly, there is "no defense against being stupid" or against employee errors. For example, he recounts that he and other security professionals training corporate employees one-on-one about cell phone dangers would send them messages with a fake worm. And right after the training session, he says, many employees would still click the link.

To keep such malware off users' phones, Joffe recommends that businesses institute strict corporate policies limiting whom employees can text using company networks and phones, and what kind of work can be done via text. Another option is a policy that disallows text messaging entirely, at least until the industry figures out how to deal with the threats.

For consumers, common sense is the best defense. Avoid clicking on text-message links or attachments from anyone you don't know, and use extreme caution even with messages from known contacts, who might unwittingly be part of a botnet.

2. Hacking into smart grids

A common misconception is that only an open network -- say, your corporate wireless LAN for visitor access -- is hackable. Not true, says Justin Morehouse, a principal consultant at Stratum Security who spoke about network security at last year's DefCon security conference. Morehouse says it's actually not that difficult to find an access point into a so-called closed system.

There is an urgent need for penetration testing in smart grids, says Stratum Security's Justin Morehouse.

For example, the Stuxnet worm last year infected tens of thousands of Windows PCs running Siemens SCADA systems in manufacturing and utility companies, most notably in Iran, and it was largely spread via infected USB flash drives. Even some nuclear plants and power grids have wireless networks for employees to use.

"Stuxnet proved that it is relatively simple to cause potentially catastrophic damage" to an industrial control network, says Neustar's Joffe.

According to Morehouse, another new attack point will be smart grids, which use electronic metering to streamline power management. Utility companies around the world have begun testing and rolling out smart meters to customers' homes and businesses. The technology, which can send data to and receive it from a central system, can also be very helpful for IT: You can open a console to see the power usage for one section of a building, for example.

But smart grids might be vulnerable to attacks that would allow nefarious hackers to cut off electricity to homes and businesses and create other kinds of havoc. One possible attack vector is a smart grid's communications infrastructure. For example, Morehouse says, a German utility company called Yello Strom uses a consumer smart grid system that works like a home automation kit -- the sensors report energy usage back to the central server via the user's home Wi-Fi network.

Because of this, Morehouse says, it is possible for end users to tap into their own networks and gain access to the substation used for delivering power. "Often it's the case that these types of networks are not properly segmented or protected," he says. "Once in, the attacker may be treated as a trusted user and have access to other areas. Is there the potential that they could disrupt the substation or city? Absolutely. They may plant a back door that could allow the grid to be powered down at a particular time."

Utilities in the U.S. tend to use their own proprietary wired or wireless connections to sensors, but Morehouse is concerned that some may follow Yello Strom's example and use home networks instead.

Smart meters like this one connect to a smart grid to streamline power management; experts say it may be possible to hack into them.

Another concern is vulnerabilities in the smart meters themselves -- a problem that affects corporate smart grids as well. Researchers from Seattle-based security services vendor IOActive, for instance, discovered several bugs in smart grid devices that criminal hackers could exploit to access the smart grid network and cut power to customers.

"Hackers use press releases to find out the technologies [used in corporate smart grids] and go back to the infrastructure and find vulnerabilities. So, for example, if Wal-Mart announces a smart grid using Siemens technology, a hacker suddenly has many of the answers they need to find that controller and break in," Morehouse says.

The most effective preventive measure, says Morehouse, is rigid isolation -- a smart grid should not touch any other network, ever. He says there is an urgent need for penetration testing and making sure the firewall in a closed network is secure because of the possible dangers of gaining access to the power grid. He advises using tools such as Core Impact and Metasploit.

The "rigid isolation" rule applies to home users as well. "Consumers should never bridge smart grid networks with their home networks," says Morehouse. He also advises home users to become familiar with their smart meters so they can recognize whether they have been tampered with, and to ask their utility providers what security measures are in place to protect the meters and network.

3. Social network account spoofing

Many of us use Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks to connect with friends, family and colleagues -- which leaves us vulnerable to a new technique called social network account spoofing. The idea is that a scammer poses as either someone you know or a friend of a friend to get close to you and fool you into revealing personal information. He then uses that information to gain access to your other accounts and eventually steal your identity.

In a typical exploit, says Joffe, someone contacts you on a service like Facebook or LinkedIn, posing as a friend of a friend or a co-worker of someone you trust. Then, the new "friend" contacts you directly, usually through text message or email. It might seem surprising to have this "friend" contact you outside the social network, but he seems legitimate because you believe he has a connection with someone you trust.

In another scenario, a scammer might impersonate someone you already know -- claiming to be an old friend from high school, for instance. Spoofers can find out your connections by following your public feeds or looking up the names of co-workers on sites like LinkedIn where you have posted your work info.

Once the scammer has established a connection with you, he uses devious means to steal personal data, such as chatting to find out the names of family members, favorite bands, hobbies and other seemingly innocuous information -- then trying those as passwords or answers to security questions at banking sites, webmail accounts or other sites.

As Joffe points out, the idea behind social network account spoofing is "thousands of years old." Conning you out of your personal information is an age-old trick. Today's social networks just provide a new avenue for con artists and criminals to get close to you. The trick works because there is often no way to know whether someone you've come to trust online is actually who he says he is.

"The problem with communication by Facebook or LinkedIn is that you are stuck in a Web interface -- you can't check the IP address or header information. Everything is in a nice friendly world," Joffe says.

Stratum Security's Morehouse says criminals are becoming increasingly crafty on social networks: They first identify a target, then do the research -- what is this person like, whom do they follow, what do they like to do?

What's more, social network attacks are sometimes combined with email and website spoofing, Morehouse says. You might develop a friendship on LinkedIn and then get an email from that person that looks like it was sent via LinkedIn but is actually a fake. When you click the link to reply to the message, you're taken to a fake LinkedIn site; logging in there reveals your LinkedIn username and password to the spoofer.

The email message above looks like it came from one of your LinkedIn friends, but look closely at the domain name and you'll see it's a fake.

Another type of attack Morehouse describes targets companies as well as individuals. The spoofer might set up a Facebook page pretending to be the official company page for, say, a retailer like office supply giant Staples. To make it seem credible, the spoofer might claim that the page is a formal method to contact the company or register complaints.

The page might offer free (but fake) coupons to entice people to join, and it soon goes viral as people share it with their network of friends. Once hundreds or thousands of users have joined the page, says Morehouse, the owner tricks them into giving out personal information, perhaps by signing up to receive additional coupons or special offers.

This is a double attack: Consumers are damaged because their personal data is compromised, and the company is damaged because its customers associate the fake Facebook page with the real company -- and decide not to buy from that company anymore.

As with text-message attacks, individuals' best defense against spoofing attacks is to use common sense, Joffe says -- criminals usually do not do a good job of impersonating a person or company, and they tend to send links and phishing scams to con you. They might try to mimic a friend but rarely manage to accurately convey their personality. In some cases, the attacks are traceable through e-mail headers or IP addresses, and most attacks are too general and untargeted to be believable to anyone who's careful.

Other precautions might seem obvious but are often overlooked. If someone says he's a friend of a friend or co-worker, make sure you confirm his identity with your common connection. And it's a good idea to lock down your privacy settings at social networking sites so that your contact info, posts, photos and more aren't visible to everyone. In Facebook, for example, select Account --> Privacy Settings --> Custom and click the "Customize settings" link at the bottom to gain control over exactly what you want to share with everyone, friends of friends, friends only or no one.

For companies, it's a little trickier. Joffe says there is no way to prevent a criminal from setting up a fake Facebook page initially, but companies can use monitoring tools such as Social Mention to see how the company name is being used online. If an unauthorized page turns up, companies can ask the social network to remove the fake listing.

4. Cyberstalking

Social networks like Twitter and Facebook have changed the way we communicate in our personal and work lives, many would say for the better. Yet these useful portals also provide conduits that others can use to make our lives miserable.

Workplace-related cyberstalking might involve another employee or someone trying to steal company information, says personal safety consultant Kathleen Baty.

A relatively new concept variously called cyberstalking, cyberharassment or cyberbullying involves an individual or a group making repeated personal attacks online, such as posting negative comments on every tweet you make or posting crude altered photos of you on a social network. The perpetrators may hide behind online aliases to hide their identities. By law, cyberbullying becomes a federal crime if a stalker makes any life-threatening comments.

Most of us have heard of a handful of well-publicized cases of cyberbullying among teens, but it's also on the rise for adults who connect to social networks from their place of employment, according to Kathleen Baty, a personal safety consultant and CEO of SafetyChick Enterprises. These workplace-related attacks might involve another employee, or someone trying to steal company information.

"Cyberstalking in the workplace has become more and more common and is tough to define because there are so many different forms to threaten or harass in this digital world and so many different motives behind the behavior. It can be anything from a personal/romantic relationship gone bad, to a co-worker/business conflict, to a competitor trying to wreak havoc on a company," says Baty.

To keep cyberstalkers off company networks, businesses should implement all the usual corporate security tools, such as firewalls and encryption, Baty says. Additionally, companies should institute a social media policy that outlines clear guidelines for what kinds of information employees should and should not post or discuss on public sites.

If you do become a victim of cyberstalking or cyberbullying, Baty advises you to report it immediately to local law-enforcement authorities; if it happens at work, report it to your HR department as well. Don't delete harmful posts or other electronic communications, she says, but instead retain all documentation of incidents, mainly as evidence but also because the headers for e-mail and forum postings can be used to track down the offender.

That said, the best defense is to protect your personal information as carefully as you can. For instance, never reveal online such details as where you live, and don't announce your movements, such as that you are on vacation or home sick and have left your workplace computer open to attack -- which rules out public "check-in" social networks such as Foursquare.

5. Hackers controlling your car

The age of the connected car is dawning. Vehicles like the Ford Edge now provide 3G network access, a Wi-Fi router in the car, and the ability to tap into your home Wi-Fi network (only while parked). In the next few years, more automakers will provide wireless access for Web browsing and streaming high-def movies. And by 2013, a new FCC-mandated wireless signal called DSRC (dedicated short-range communications) will run at 5.9GHz and provide a vehicle-to-vehicle communication network.

For anyone who follows network computing or computing in general, adding these new features to a moving vehicle should raise a red flag as yet another way criminal hackers can cause problems. Since these systems often tap into the car diagnostics and safety features, a hacker could potentially interfere with such systems and, for example, cause a car's engine to surge at just the wrong time, says Stephan Tarnutzer, chief operating officer at automotive control console manufacturer DGE.

While no real-world exploits are known to have happened, security researchers from the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Washington have hacked into the computers of several late-model cars and remotely disabled the brakes, altered the speedometer reading, turned off the engine, locked passengers into the car and more.

The research team's initial tests relied on plugging a laptop into the car's diagnostic system, but later tests identified other entry points for an attack, including the cars' Bluetooth and cellular connections. More wireless communications in future cars will create even more attack vectors.

The good news, Tarnutzer says, is that most of the forthcoming wireless technology for cars is for short-range communications -- say, from one lane to another or just as you pass through an intersection. That makes it difficult for hackers because they need to be in close proximity to the car.

Nevertheless, wireless connections in cars will undoubtedly make a tempting target for hackers. The answer, says Tarnutzer, is for the auto industry to use strong, hardware-based encryption technology.

For example, the OnStar communications and security service offers a theft-recovery feature that makes use of wireless signals. If your car is stolen, you can report the theft to the police, who then contact OnStar, which can transmit a signal over a 3G network to stop the accelerator from working in the stolen car. OnStar's transmissions are encrypted to thwart unauthorized attempts to tap into signals and interfere with vehicle operations.

Modules like this one that connect to car diagnostics systems are protected by strong encryption technologies. In the future, carmakers and the DOT will need to certify devices that connect to a wireless network.

Car companies are, of course, aware of the potential for hackers to disrupt in-car wireless services. Representatives from Ford and GM, for instance, said they are developing strong encryption standards for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-back-end-infrastructure communications.

The technology for the connected car is for the most part still in a testing phase, says Tarnutzer. The DSRC network in particular will undergo thorough testing by both the car companies and the U.S. Department of Transportation to make sure it is hacker-resistant and uses strong encryption, he adds. "This is why it takes two to three years for an OEM to qualify a new vehicle, compared to six months for a new smartphone," he says.

6. GPS jamming and spoofing: Threat or nuisance?

Another emerging criminal tactic -- interfering with GPS signals -- has security experts divided on just how harmful it could become.

Jamming a GPS signal at the source is next to impossible, says Phil Lieberman, founder of enterprise security vendor Lieberman Software. Blocking the radio signals broadcast from orbiting GPS satellites would require a massive counter-transmission. And because the satellites are operated by the U.S. military, jamming them would be considered an act of war and a federal crime, says Lieberman.

However, it is easy to jam GPS receivers with a low-cost jamming device like one sold by Brando. The devices jam the GPS reception by overloading it with a similar signal -- the receiver becomes confused because it can't find a steady satellite transmission.

Lieberman says this kind of jamming is usually more of an annoyance than a major security threat. A nefarious hacker could, for instance, set up a jammer in an intersection and temporarily disable the GPS in passing vehicles. These attacks are relatively rare, says Lieberman: "It is usually just sociopaths doing this kind of thing."

Lieberman doesn't give much credence to fears about jammers disrupting airplanes or air traffic control systems, because those networks use a completely different GPS signal from the one we use in cars and handheld devices. Jamming could, however, be a potentially dangerous issue when it comes to financial records, he says, because GPS devices are used in the banking industry to add a timestamp to financial transactions. Although completely blocking transactions would be difficult, Lieberman said, an industrious hacker could theoretically disrupt transactions and cause headaches for banks.

Security expert Roger Johnston, a systems engineer at the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, says spoofing GPS signals is the greater danger, explaining that GPS receivers are low-power devices that latch on to any strong signal. In tests, he has set up a GPS spoofing signal, operated out of a passenger car, that sends erroneous GPS information to nearby receivers. "You don't have to know anything about electronics or GPS to set these up; they are very user-friendly," says Johnston.

The Argonne National Lab set up a spoofing system that fed inaccurate data to GPS receivers -- such as those found in ambulances or delivery trucks -- from the trunk of a car.

Johnston says spoofing could be used for serious crimes -- transmitting information to a delivery truck that routes it into a dark alley where criminals are waiting, changing the timestamps on financial transactions, delaying emergency vehicles from finding their routes. There have been no reported cases of GPS spoofing to commit a criminal act, but Johnston warns that government and business should work to deter the attacks.

Typically, he says, the security industry is reactionary: "We wait until there is a catastrophic exploit until we do anything about it." With about $15 worth of parts, today's GPS devices could be retrofitted to detect GPS spoofing and notify the user that an attack is underway, Johnston says, "but because almost nobody is interested in GPS spoofing, this is not a project we have pursued."

In the end, as Lieberman explains, there isn't a lot individuals can do to prevent GPS jamming or spoofing. If someone transmits competing signals as you drive in a car or use a handheld, the receiver will fail or be fooled -- but keep in mind that your GPS device will begin working properly again as soon as you move out of range of the jamming or spoofing device. However, it is worth noting that GPS jamming is illegal in the U.S. and violates FCC regulations. If you suspect jamming or see someone using a GPS jammer, report it to the police.

For all the other threats we've covered in this story, taking some extra precautions -- using strong encryption technology, engaging only with trusted friends on social networks, and using penetration testing software on corporate networks -- can help alleviate some fears, even if the bad guys keep coming up with new ways to make us nervous.

New malware scanner finds 5% of Windows PCs infected

2011-05-27T19:44:00.001-07:00

One in every 20 Windows PCs whose users turned to Microsoft for cleanup help were infected with malware, Microsoft said this week.

Microsoft cited that statistic and others from data generated by its new Safety Scanner, a free malware scanning and scrubbing tool that re-launched May 12.

The 420,000 copies of the tool that were downloaded in the first week of its availability cleaned malware or signs of exploitation from more than 20,000 Windows PCs, Microsoft's Malware Protection Center (MMPC) reported Wednesday. That represented an infection rate of 4.8%.

On average, each of the infected PCs hosted 3.5 threats, which Microsoft defined as either actual malware or clues that a successful attack had been launched against the machine.

Of the top 10 threats found by Safety Scanner, seven were Java exploits, said Scott Wu and Joe Faulhaber of the MMPC, in a blog post. Wu is a program manager with the MMPC, while Faulhaber is a software engineer.

That finding backs up a recent Microsoft security intelligence report that noted a huge spike in Java-based exploits in the second half of 2010, when the number tracked by Microsoft jumped to nearly 13 million from around 1 million in the first six months of that year.

Microsoft blamed exploits of just two vulnerabilities in Oracle's Java for generating 85% of all Java attacks in the second half of 2010. Not surprising, those same two vulnerabilities ranked No. 1 and No. 6 in the Safety Scanner top 10.

One of the heavily-exploited Java bugs was patched in December 2008 by Sun -- which has since been swallowed by Oracle -- while the other was fixed in November 2009.

Microsoft has sounded the warning about the explosion in Java exploits before. In October 2010, Holly Stewart, another MMPC manager, said the attack volume was "scary" and "unprecedented."

Hacker reliance on Java made sense to Marc Fossi, the director of Symantec's security response team, in an interview last year. "Since Java is both cross-browser and cross-platform, it can be appealing to attackers," he said, referring to Java's use by every major browser, and on Windows, Mac OS and Linux.

Safety Scanner found 2,272 Windows PCs with evidence of an exploit of the most wide-used Java bug, dubbed "CVE-2008-5353" in the Common Vulnerabilities & Exploits database. Of those machines, 7.3% of them also contained the notorious Alureon rootkit, while 5.7% of them had been infected with one of the fake security programs of the "Winwebsec" family.

"By the time a user downloads and runs [Microsoft Safety Scanner] to detect malware, the machine may have already been infected, if it was vulnerable to the exploit at the time," acknowledged Wu and Faulhaber.

Alureon made news in February 2010 when Windows XP systems infected with the rootkit were crippled after a Microsoft security update. And Winwebsec, as Microsoft called the line of phony antivirus software that dupes victims into paying for the worthless program, has been linked to MacDefender, the scareware that's been plaguing Mac users all month.

Safety Scanner, which replaced an older online-only tool, uses the same technology and detection signatures as Microsoft's free consumer-grade Security Essentials antivirus program and its Forefront Endpoint Protection product for enterprises.

Facebook's New Messaging Service: Please Don't Call It E-Mail!

2011-05-27T17:58:00.000-07:00

For months, there have been rumors that Facebook was working on turning the inboxes of its 500 million-plus users into a full-blown e-mail service. Today, Facebook founder/CEO Mark Zuckerberg formally unveiled the subject of the rumors--code-named "Titan" and officially named simply "Facebook Messages"--at an event in San Francisco. And he spent much of his time stressing that whatever this new thing is, it's not e-mail. (More on Time.com: Why Facebook Deals is Bad News for Foursquare)

Instead, it's a massive update to Facebook's current messaging system, chat feature, text-messaging integration, and smartphone applications that mashes up all sorts of communications (including e-mail) into one unified stream. Zuckerberg and Facebook engineering honcho Andrew Bosworth mostly talked about the service rather than demoing it, but they said that it'll include features such as these:

Every Facebook user will get an e-mail address: If your Facebook profile is located at facebook.com/yournamehere, your e-mail address will be yournamehere@facebook.com.
If you're logged into Facebook, incoming e-mail will show up in the service's chat service; reply to a message, and it'll be sent as an e-mail.
Similarly, the Facebook iPhone app will notify you of e-mail and let you receive and send messages. (An Android version will come along later.)
In a feature that sounds a little like Google's Priority Inbox, you can organize the people you receive messages from into important folks (friends and family), others who aren't so vital (your credit card company, say), and Junk. The goal is let you see stuff you really want to see immediately, allow you to check in on less urgent messages once a day, and ignore spam.
You can also choose to have messages from people not on your Facebook friends list bounced, period.
Like e-mail, Facebook messages will be able to include file attachments; a deal with Microsoft will let you edit documents using the Office Web Apps online suite.
The service will go beyond threaded-message interfaces such as Gmail's Conversations by letting you scroll back through all the communications you've had with a particular person via Facebook, all in one place. (You'll be able to opt out of this--or skip all the new features, period--but that presumably won't be enough to satisfy every privacy watchdog out there. In fact, I can hear them growling from here.)

Zuck and Bosworth explained that all this is in part a reaction to the needs of folks younger than themselves--Facebook-and-text-message-loving high schoolers who find e-mail too slow and too isolated from the rest of their communications. They seemed awfully confident that they've come up with something better than e-mail, in a way that left me flashing back to last year's launch of Google's spectacularly unsuccessful Wave. But while Wave suffered from having far too many features, Zuck says part of the goal with this new messaging service is to have fewer features than e-mail. And from what we saw this morning, it does indeed seem to have a minimalist, IM-like feel. (More on Time.com: AOL's Project Phoenix: E-mail Is Innovative Again)

Three hundred and fifty million of Facebook's half-a-billion-plus members are active users of its messaging tools in their current form, and the service delivers four billion private messages a day. The company isn't going to spring all these new features on everybody all at once: Instead, it'll roll them out gradually over the next few months. Only a few folks will get them starting today.

In the end, all this sounds like...well, like another attempt to improve e-mail. And even though e-mail is rife with weaknesses, it keeps on keeping on even while supposedly better alternatives crash and burn.

The good news is every aspect of Facebook is subject to continuous revision; if you don't like this service in its initial form, just wait. Unlike Wave, which was an all-new effort, this is an upgrade to Facebook's existing messaging features, so it'll surely be around for the long haul.

Microsoft Promises 500 New Features In Windows Phone 7.5 Update

2011-05-27T17:52:00.000-07:00

Microsoft says the next Windows Phone 7 OS update will bring more than 500 new features to the handset

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said the next Windows Phone OS update codenamed Mango will bring more than 500 new features. Speaking at a developers' forum in Japan on Monday, Ballmer didn't give away too many details about the update but promised to unveil more on Tuesday at a scheduled event in New York. Until then, we have a clue or two about what's coming.

Ahead of a scheduled preview of Windows Phone 7 Mango in New York, Ballmer also teased about an announcement regarding several new devices. The WMPowerUser blog says it has received a tip saying that we can expect up to nine new WP7 devices from HTC, Acer, Dell and Samsung-but they won't be on sale until the holiday season.

What's coming up in Mango (Windows Phone 7.5)

Microsoft pre-announced several much-needed improvements to Windows Phone 7 to keep people's minds off some troubles with software updates earlier this year. Third-party app multitasking is probably one of the biggest drawbacks in WP7, and Mango should fix that.

Also coming up in Mango is a new version of Internet Explorer 9 Mobile, support for Office 365 and SkyDrive in the Office Hub, Twitter integration in the People Hub, a revamped Games Hub and custom ringtones support. Mango will also allow users to configure services running in the background and bring pinnable email folders and conversation view.

There are also a bunch of features Microsoft didn't announce but were leaked in a developers' podcast last week. These include Windows Live Messenger, Facebook Chat and AIM integration in the Messaging Hub, as well as group messaging. Turn-by-turn navigation is also on the table, along with SMS dictation and iPhone-like visual voicemail.

The Windows Phone 7 Mango update is expected to arrive later this year.

Windows Home Server 2011: What It Is and How to Use It

2011-05-27T00:48:00.000-07:00

Windows Home Server 2011 is here. Find out if it's right for you--and how to set it up.

Microsoft's original Windows Home Server was both crude and groundbreaking. When it debuted, it had limited hardware support, no 64-bit version, and weak built-in capabilities beyond file and app storage. On the other hand, it offered robust backup, reasonable security, and drive extender--a feature that simplified the tasks of adding and pooling hard drives.

Because the original WHS was built on an older server platform, an update was inevitable. Windows Home Server 2011 has now arrived, and with it a bevy of new features--and one key feature of the older version removed. Let's start by looking at why WHS 2011 is a good fit for your home-server needs.

64-bit functionality: Windows Home Server 2011 is 64-bit only, but it's a welcome upgrade from 32-bit. Using 64-bit addressing lets you add more than 4GB of RAM.

With the original WHS, having a lot of RAM wasn't particularly useful. In fact, some retail WHS boxes shipped with as little as 512MB of RAM, and 1GB was the norm. That first Home Server wasn't very suitable for running apps remotely. Eventually, interesting plugins became available--like Servio, which enabled WHS to be a better media server.

Better media server: Windows Home Server 2011 has robust media transcoding and streaming capabilities, and it supports a wide range of codecs--AAC, AVCHD, DivX, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV, and more. It's now a DLNA 1.5-compliant server, meaning that DLNA-capable client devices can connect to a WHS system set up as a media server. As more HDTVs, A/V receivers, and other similar home electronic devices ship with built-in DLNA client capability, combining a robust media server and a robust PC server in one box becomes increasingly useful.

The original WHS didn't have this capability built-in, so various media server plug-ins were among the most popular WHS plug-ins available. But those aren't needed any longer (though some may have additional features beyond those in WHS 2011.)

Windows 7 HomeGroups: You can add a WHS 2011 box to your HomeGroup, which makes sharing files and printers much easier. The only drawback is that there's setting up shares in this way results in a little granularity. You can have read access, full access, or no access.

Easier login management: Logging in to the first release of WHS was something of a chore. You could make things easier by using the same characters for your system login and for your account login on the server, and then enabling auto-logon on your PC. But setting up that arrangement on multiple PCs was tedious and created a security risk.

WHS 2011 uses an external application, the Dashboard, to separate PC logins from Windows Home Server logins. This allows you to have no login on your desktop PC while maintaining secure access to the server.

Easier server management: Managing the first WHS wasn't especially difficult, but you always had to work through a single, modal screen. With 2011, you get full support for windows on your desktop connected remotely. I ran Windows Update on the server from my desktop PC, and it looked just as it would have if I were running Windows Update on my local PC.

Why Not Use WHS 2011?

If you're comfortably using the current version of Windows Home Server, is upgrading to the new version worth the inevitable pain of adjustment? The answer depends on several things:

The importance you attach to the new features
The level of upgrade pain you're willing to live with
The usefulness to you of Drive Extender

Our assumption here is that you've either built your own WHS box or are a current user of a retail WHS system.

Drive Extender: The one huge feature that Microsoft dropped from WHS 2011 is Drive Extender. That decision has generated reams of complaints from heavy WHS version 1 users.

Drive Extender pooled multiple hard drives into a single large volume. It wasn't RAID--there was no hardware redundancy, and no improvement in performance. Essentially it was just a way to minimize the hassle of adding hard drives, which didn't have to be the same size, and of managing multiple disk volumes. But it made building huge volumes easy; and if you recorded a lot of media, that could be a big deal.

Though Drive Extender didn't create hardware redundancy as such (nor RAID 1, for example), you could specify duplication for shared folders, and the software would replicate folders on separate drives. That capability simplified the job of adding external drives and configuring them as part of the system.

So if you're wedded to Drive Extender, you might not want to migrate to WHS 2011.

The good news is that third parties are stepping into the fray. The site wegotserved.com reports that at least three third-party drive extender drivers will be available for WHS 2011.

Upgrade pain: If you've been using WHS 1, and you've fully configured it with plugins for serving up media, home-power management, and other features, you may be in no hurry to migrate. That's because upgrades to WHS 2011 from the original aren't simple.

There is no clean upgrade path from WHS 1 to WHS 2011 because the first version of WHS is a 32-bit OS while WHS 2011 is 64-bit. Upgrading entails performing a clean install of the OS onto the system.

This procedure is a little tricky with existing hardware. A number of retail WHS systems were built around Intel Atom CPUs, and many of them didn't support 64-bit addressing, which means that they can never be upgraded to WHS 2011. The program requires 64-bit support in the CPU.

If you have a 64-bit-capable CPU, you'll have to back up all your data, then install WHS 2011, and then restore the backed-up data. It's time consuming and tedious if you have a lot invested in your current installation.

Now that we understand some of the pros and cons, let's walk through a WHS 2011 installation. This is not an upgrade, but a new install. I've got an existing WHS version 1 box, that I'll eventually phase out, but this makes upgrading to the new system somewhat easier, since I can skip the backup step.