List of topics in 2007

Bookmarks of the Year 2007

Here is the Complete bookmark of this years articles published on this site (http://bcdalai.blogspot.com/). Please go through to find out all the popular article here.

 

Complete Review of 7-Zip-Best Compression Tool

7-Zip is a file archiver with the high compression ratio. The program supports 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, LZH, CHM, GZIP, BZIP2, Z, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB formats. Compression ratio in the new 7z format is 30-50% better than ratio in ZIP format.

Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 1 delivers stability and performance improvements

The 2007 Microsoft Office suite Service Pack 1 delivers important customer-requested stability and performance improvements, while incorporating further enhancements to user security. This service pack also includes all of the office updates.

Unable to Install Internet Explorer 7 on Windows error message

If you are trying to install the IE7 on Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3 RC or in other versions of Windows. In the installation process you will see that it passes the WGA check, but the installation fails at the end and the error message

The "Microsoft" name is being auctioned for no less than $1 million on eBay

The other is a Portuguese company that registered its name back in 1981. Of course, it is a coincidence, rather than a case of stolen identity.

Complete Review of Ashampoo Photo Commander. All-in-one application for managing your photo collections.

Ashampoo Photo Commander 5 is an all-in-one application for organizing, editing, sharing and presenting photo collections. It also features additional creativity tools and audio and video management capabilities, making it a complete media management pack

Inside Windows Vista SP1. Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC.

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC includes all previously released updates for the operating system. This update also includes a small number of new functionalities, and many updates, which change significantly change customers’ experience with the operat

Complete review of this Windows XP SP3. Download Windows XP SP3 RC1.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all previously released updates for the operating system. This update also includes a small number of new functionalities, and many updates, which change significantly change customers’ experience with the operat

Known/Unknown Facts on Windows

Here are some common facts about Windows and Microsoft software product and technology.

Windows Server 2008 Line-up and Pricing

Like Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 will be available in a multitude of product versions; eight to be precise, three of which include Hyper-V: Windows Server 2008 Standard, Windows Server 2008 Enterprise and Windows Server 2008 Datacenter.

100 Favorite Blogs of 2007

This article contains the names of all those blogs that are the favorite in the year 2007. These are the 100 favorite blogs of the year 2007, which was first discovered and fully reviewed by PC Magazine. This list contains various types of favorite blogs

Security Glossary

Security Risks: Adware Backdoor Botnet Crimeware Dialers Downloader Hack tools (keygens/cracks/patches) Joke programs Keylogger / Keystroke Recorder Macrovirus Malbot Mass Mailer Pop-ups Pornware Remote Access Riskware Rootkit Spyware T

Restore your PC settings after cleaning viruses, spywares

Security is the most important concept in computing. So everyone needs to be secure to make the data and application to avoid loss. The object of this article is to give some awareness to the computer users to protect the data, time and money. If you have

TuneUp Utilities 2008 is released !!!

The new version of TuneUp Utilities i.e. version 2008 is now ready to arise and the countdown has started. After a few more days “TuneUp Utilities 2008” will be released!

Ashampoo Burning Studio 7

Ashampoo Burning Studio 7 keeps the power and simplicity that made version 6 such a runaway success and adds several major new functions, including DVD video burning, modified copies and bootable discs. These are all functions that users of previous versi

World’s 4th fastest supercomputer from India

India has ranked into the Top Ten in list of the fastest supercomputers in the world, becoming a global IT power.A cluster platform at Pune's Computational Research Laboratories (CRL), a Tata subsidiary, has been ranked fourth in the widely anticipated To

The new release of RealPlayer 11 Build 6.0.14.738

The new version of RealPlayer is the all-in-one digital media player that lets you find anything and play everything. The new RealPlayer gives you the ability to download them all to your personal video playlist. Grab videos from thousands of Web sites with realplayer

All 35 official Windows Vista Ultimate MUI Packs (x86 & x64)

Here are all ever published official 35 Multi-Language Packs for Microsoft Vista Ultimate users. Direct download links fresh from the Microsoft Windows Update-server!

Control users’ temporary Internet files and browser history using Windows Server 2003 Group Policy

Control users’ temporary Internet files and browser history using Windows Server 2003 Group Policy

Software Problems Solutions Comments-bcdalai

Ask Your Questions Here. Question on software problems.

All About Windows XP Service Pack 3

New features in Windows XP Service Pack 3. all informations about Windows XP Service Pack 3.

Administrative Power Tricks

Commands and tips for administrator windows user for troubleshooting everyday computing issues.

Integrate service packs into Windows and Office

Integrating service packs into the windows or office installations make it easier for administrator to deploy and manage. It saves both time and costs for the enterprise to apply the service pack updates.

1000+ Run Commands in "Windows Command Guide 2007"

More than 450+ Run commands and over 1000+ of command tips for everyday use and for administrator. This guide will help you speed up your administrative capability by using commands.

140+ Microsoft Secret Codenames Released

Describes the codenames of different Microsoft software and technology. This document describes the codenames, name of the product and descriptions.

Complete Vista folder and file informations

Vista Folder-File Info. describes each and every system folders and some important file names. It describes the uses of the folder and describes why it in the Windows Vista OS.

New software downloads-bcdalai

New Software Downloads Oct 2007. Direct download links to new release softwares. Most favorite softwares and best softwares.

Babylon 7.0 the powerful dictionary - A Review

Babylon is a powerful dictionary, translation and Currency conversion software

Complete Hardware Glossary for IT Pro

Hardware Glossary for IT Professional

Technology News-01

Microsoft Windows News

1000+ Tech. Acronyms

1000+ TECH. ACRONYMS

Recommended Daily Used Softwares

Common used program and links for everyone

Microsoft Windows Operating System Release Dates

Microsoft Windows OS Release Dates

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Posted by: bcdalai

15-Complete Review of 7-Zip

Complete Review of 7-Zip

7-Zip is a file archiver with the high compression ratio. The program supports 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, LZH, CHM, GZIP, BZIP2, Z, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB formats. Compression ratio in the new 7z format is 30-50% better than ratio in ZIP format. The program also compresses files into smaller archives, some 40 or 50% smaller comparing to WinZip.7-Zip is open source software. Most of the source code is under the GNU LGPL license. You can use 7-Zip on any computer, including a computer in a commercial organization. You don't need to register or pay for 7-Zip. But if you wish, you can make a donation to support further development of 7-Zip.

The main features of 7-Zip
>>High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression
>>Supported formats: Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
Unpacking only: RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ, LZH, CHM, MSI, WIM, Z, CPIO, RPM, DEB and NSIS
>>For ZIP and GZIP formats, 7-Zip provides a compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than the ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
>>Self-extracting capability for 7z format
>>Integration with Windows Shell
>>Powerful File Manager
>>Powerful command line version
>>Plugin for FAR Manager
>>Localizations for 69 languages

Major Functionality Changes over development:
>>7-Zip now can unpack WIM archives
>>7-Zip now supports WinZip-compatible AES-256 encryption for .ZIP archives.
>>New fast compression mode for Deflate method in Zip and GZip.
>>Now 7-Zip deletes files to the Recycle Bin by default. Shift+Delete delete files permanently.
>>Now it's possible to specify the size of solid block and the number of CPU threads in "Add to archive" dialog box.
>>Support 69 local languages. Will support more local language in future release.

About 7z Format:
7z is a new archive format, providing a high compression ratio.
The main features of the 7z format:
-Open architecture
-High compression ratio
-Strong AES-256 encryption
-Ability to use any compression, conversion or encryption method
-Supports files with sizes up to 16000000000 GB
-Unicode file names
-Solid compression
-Archive headers compression
7z has an open architecture, so it can support any new compression methods.

The following methods currently are integrated into 7z:
Method--Description
LZMA----Improved and optimized version of LZ77 algorithm
PPMD----Dmitry Shkarin's PPMdH with small changes
BCJ----Converter for 32-bit x86 executables
BCJ2----Converter for 32-bit x86 executables
BZip2----Standard BWT algorithm
Deflate----Standard LZ77-based algorithm

Summary:
Publisher: Igor Pavlov (Russia)
File Size: Less than 1 MB or maximum 2MB for other versions.
Version: 4.57 (History)
Last updated: December 07, 2007
License: Freeware
OS support: Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 2008 and Linux.
Platform: Both 32-bit and 64-bit Operating Systems

7-zip won the 2007 Community Choice Awards. See the details here.

The Command Line version of 7-zip is called p7zip. Download p7zip here.

Ranking with other compression tools:
First Rank: 7-Zip
Second Rank: WinRAR
Third Rank: WinZip
Fourth Rank: WinAce Archiver
Fifth Rank: ZipGenius
Sixth Rank: PowerArchiver
Note: Ranked by bcdalai

Download page:
http://7-zip.org/download.html
Download Now:

Reference:
http://7-zip.org/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/sevenzip/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7z

Recommended by: bcdalai

Article by: bcdalai

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Microsoft Office 2007 SP1

Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 1

The 2007 Microsoft Office suite Service Pack 1 delivers important customer-requested stability and performance improvements, while incorporating further enhancements to user security. This service pack also includes all of the updates released for the 2007 Office suite prior to December of 2007. You can get a more complete description of SP1, including a list of issues that were fixed, in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 936982: Description of the 2007 Microsoft Office suite Service Pack 1.

Complete Details:
Release Date: 8th December 2007
Total Updates: 481
Download size: 281.3MB
To see the list of fixes in Service Pack 1 and other related info for Office 2007. Download the file from here.

Download:

Link: More Info & Other Languages...

If you want to download the Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 1 Language Pack (SP1) then click here. (36.5MB).
Link: More Info & Other Languages...
KB Article: KB936982

Article by: bcdalai
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Cannot Install IE7 Error Message

Unable to Install Internet Explorer 7 on Windows

This is the error message shown by Internet Explorer 7 at the time of installation.

Problem:
If you are trying to install the IE7 on Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3 RC or in other versions of Windows. In the installation process you will see that it passes the WGA check, but the installation fails at the end and the error message like below image will appear. This problem may occur in other version of windows, because the reason is specific.

Error Message

The following error message will appear:

Internet Explorer 7 could not be installed. You must restart your system to confirm that any changes to your system are undone.
After you restart, you will see the "Internet Explorer Troubleshooting" shortcut on your desktop.

If you will open it then it will link to the Knowledge Base(KB) artice 917925. In that article, the following two causes are mentioned:
• Permissions for one or more registry subkeys or for files on the computer are restricted in a way that prevents the update of those registry subkeys or computer files. A failure to update a registry key or a computer file may cause the Setup program to fail.
• Something has caused the computer not to trust the Internet Explorer 7 installation package.

But the reasons and troubleshooting methods mentioned here correct but not sufficient to this type of problems. Read following paragraph to find out the actual cause.

Actual Cause:
1- If you are using a pirated version of Windows that does not pass Windows Genuine Advantage test.
2- If you product ID is invalid for installing fo internet Explorer 7 installation.
3- Sometimes it may pass WGA test but will fail to install
4- If you have Windows XP with Service Pack 3 RC is installed.
5- This is because the version of IE7 you are using is released before 4th October 2007.

Actual Successful install message

Solution:
Don't worry download and install the latest version of Internet Explorer 7 from microsoft.com or use the version of Internet Explorer 7 released after 4th October 2007. The size of that downloaded file is 14.7 MB as compared to 14.8 MB that released before 4th October 2007. And there will be no problem at the time of install.


Applies To: All versions of Microsoft Windows where you can install the Internet Explorer 7.

Download IE7 for Windows XP SP2 or SP3 NOW. Or go to IE7 download page.

Troubleshoot Article By: bcdalai

------------------------------------
References:
http://bcdalai.blogspot.com/2008/03/internet-explorer-8.html
http://bcdalai.blogspot.com/2010/01/windows-command-guide-2010.html

The "Microsoft" Name Auctioned for $1 Million

The "Microsoft" Name Auctioned for $1 Million - on ebay

The "Microsoft" name is being auctioned for no less than $1 million on eBay. But, the Redmond company will not be left without a name. As improbable as this might sound, there are actually two Microsoft companies in the world. One was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen all the way back in 1975. The other is a Portuguese company that registered its name back in 1981. Of course, it is a coincidence, rather than a case of stolen identity. Since 1975, Microsoft has had a flawless trajectory becoming the largest software company worldwide and just half a year away from putting a Windows operating system on over 1 billion computers worldwide.

The Portuguese company also named Microsoft failed to amount to much and, as of December, both the brand and the business are up for grabs via eBay. The auctioning has debuted with the asking prize of $1 million, but there's no telling how high it could go, especially if Microsoft gets in on the deal. Ricardo Carvalho, the Chief Executive of the Portuguese Microsoft, confirmed that the company, including the name, were being auctioned and that $1 million was just the starting price.

Believe it or not, but the brand value of Microsoft is actually a lot more than $1 million. Of course, we are talking about Gates' Microsoft, and not a quasi-obscure Portuguese firm. According to a study put together by Interbrand in August 2007, Microsoft owns the second most valuable global brand, topped only by Coca Cola. Interbrand estimated Microsoft's brand value at no less than $59 million, with Coca Cola over $65 Million.

In this context, the Portuguese Microsoft is rather cheap at $1 million. Carvalho revealed that he did negotiate with Microsoft directly, but that the Redmond company did not manage to come with an answer or an offer in the time it had been available. The funny thing is that, in Portugal, Microsoft is not registered as Microsoft, but as MSFT.

Source: Softpedia.com

For more Microsoft and Windows news See: Keznews.com

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14-Review-Ashampoo Photo Commander

Ashampoo Photo Commander

Ashampoo Photo Commander:
Ashampoo Photo Commander 5 is an all-in-one application for organizing, editing, sharing and presenting photo collections. It also features additional creativity tools and audio and video management capabilities, making it a complete media management package.

Major new features and enhancements
Faster: The entire program has been optimized throughout for more speed. For example, thumbnail generation and display are now much faster than ever before.
Better tools: All editing tools have been improved for easier and even better editing quality.
Frame Style Center: This new creativity tool enables you to add artistic picture frames and vignettes to photos. In addition to this you can also create high-quality greeting cards. Includes a wide selection of vignette styles and greeting card templates. Greeting cards can be mailed from within the program.
Collage Tool: Select photos and generate artistic collages complete with background images with a couple of clicks.
Calendar Tool: Create and print 12-month photo calendars in three different styles as novel gifts.
Full-screen editing: A new mouse tool bar makes it possible to edit your photos in full screen mode for maximum detail.
New mouse tools: Callout tool for creating text bubbles, clone tool for retouching photos, eraser tool.
Canon RAW files: Improved support for Canon RAW files, including faster loading.
CD/DVD burning: Completely new burning technology for saving photos and slide shows to CD and DVD.
Batch processing: Now includes an option for adding drop shadows to multiple images at the same time.
Skins: Improved skinning system, now also supports user-created buttons, also with graphic images. Menu colors are skinnable.

Highlights:
· Optimized throughout for more speed
· Much faster thumbnail generation and display
· Add picture frames and vignettes
· Create greeting cards, collages and photo calendars
· All editing tools improved for easier use and higher quality
· New effects: Drop shadow, radial blur and sepia
· New mouse tools: Callouts (text bubbles), clone and eraser
· Image editing in full-screen mode
· Unlimited Undo/Redo
· Entire user interface overhauled for easier use

New version: Ashampoo Photo Commander 6.0

Organize! Manage even the largest collections of digital photos, audio and video files with ease. Lightning-fast thumbnails and previews, powerful organization tools. Enhance!Correct colors and contrast, straighten horizons, remove red eye and crop with just a couple of clicks. Powerful editing tools and stunning one-click effects. Create!Add picture frames, make slide shows on the web and CD/DVD, and turn your pictures into greeting cards and much more.

New features at a glance:
Quick-Fix Tools: All common operations with a couple of clicks
Unlimited Undo/Redo: For all changes
Browser EXIF mode: Shows the entire photo’s EXIF/IPTC information directly under the picture
Quick 5-star ratings: Just click to rate photos with 1-5 stars, supports sorting by rating
Email to PDF: Mail multiple images in a single PDF file
Slide shows with audio: Add more than one audio track to your slide shows

Ratings: 4 1/2 Star- Average User's Rating by CNet.com Review.
Recommended by: bcdalai.blogspot.com
Software Publishers: Ashampoo GmbH & Co. KG
Current version 5.40. Downloaded more than 2.7 lakh times.

Go to Download Page

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Inside Windows Vista SP1

Inside Windows Vista SP1

Vista Service Pack 1 RTM (Final) Released on 18th March 2008
In the earlier post some of the features of the 1st service pack for Windows Vista if mentioned. Here you will find more detailed review of this SP.

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC includes all previously released updates for the operating system. This update also includes a small number of new functionalities, and many updates, which change significantly change customers’ experience with the operating system. This service pack includes many performance fixes; those are complained by Vista users.

Changes on Vista SP1

>>Service Pack build number is 17051
>>Includes more than 479 updates/fixes
>>General availability 1st Quarter of 2008.

Hardware Ecosystem Support and Enhancements
· Adds support for new UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) industry standard PC firmware for 64-bit systems with functional parity with legacy BIOS firmware, which allows Windows Vista SP1 to install to GPT format disks, boot and resume from hibernate using UEFI firmware.
· Adds support for x64 EFI network boot.
· Adds support for the 64-bit version of MSDASQL, which acts as a “bridge” from OLEDB to a variety of ODBC drivers thus simplifying application migration from 32-bit platforms to 64-bit Windows Vista.
· Adds support for Direct3D® 10.1, an update to Direct3D 10 that extends the API to support new hardware features, enabling 3D application and game developers to make more complete and efficient use of the upcoming generations of graphics hardware.
· Adds support for exFAT, a new file system supporting larger overall capacity and larger files, which will be used in Flash memory storage and consumer devices.
· Adds support for SD Advanced DMA (ADMA) on compliant SD standard host controllers. This new transfer mechanism, which is expected to be supported in SD controllers soon, will improve transfer performance and decrease CPU utilization.
· Adds support for creating a single DVD media that boots on PCs with either BIOS or EFI.
· Enhances support for high density drives by adding new icons and labels that will identify HD-DVD and Blu-ray Drives as high density drives.
· Adds support to enable new types of Windows Media Center Extenders, such as digital televisions and networked DVD players, to connect to Windows Media Center PCs.
· Enhances the MPEG-2 decoder to support content protection across a user accessible bus on Media Center systems configured with Digital Cable Tuner hardware. This also effectively enables higher levels of hardware decoder acceleration for commercial DVD playback on some hardware.
· Enhances Netproj.exe to temporarily resize the desktop to accommodate custom projector resolutions when connecting to Windows Network Projectors.

Reliability Improvements
Reliability improvements vary from PC to PC based on hardware, environment, and usage. Customers will experience varying levels of benefit.
· SP1 addresses issues many of the most common causes of crashes and hangs in Windows Vista, as reported by Windows Error Reporting. These include issues relating to Windows Calendar, Windows Media Player, and a number of drivers included with Windows Vista.
· Improves reliability by preventing data-loss while ejecting NTFS-formatted removable-media.
· Improves reliability of IPSec connections over IPv6 by ensuring by ensuring that all Neighbor Discovery RFC traffic is IPsec exempted.
· Improves certain problem scenarios where a driver goes to sleep with incomplete packet transmissions by ensuring the driver is given enough time to transmit or discard any outstanding packets before going to sleep.
· Improves wireless ad-hoc connection (computer-to-computer wireless connections) success rate
· Improves the success of peer-to-peer connections, such as Windows Meeting Space or Remote Assistance applications, when both PCs are behind symmetric firewalls.
· Improves Windows Vista’s built-in file backup solution to include EFS encrypted files in the backup.
· An improved SRT (Startup Repair Tool), which is part of the Windows Recovery environment (WinRE), can now fix PCs unbootable due to certain missing OS files.
· Users who did not opt-in to the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) will be prompted again to join after installing SP1. The experience will remain the same and the default will continue to be opt-out.

Performance and Power Consumption Improvements
Performance improvements vary from PC to PC based on hardware, environment, scenarios, and usage, so different customers will experience varying levels of benefits. About 20-25% of these improvements will be released separately via Windows update, prior to Windows Vista SP1.
· Improves the performance of browsing network file shares by consuming less bandwidth.
· Improves power consumption when the display is not changing by allowing the processor to remain in its sleep state which consumes less energy.
· Addresses the problem of the Video chipset (VSync interrupt) not allowing the system to stay asleep.
· Improves power consumption and battery life by addressing an issue that causes a hard disk to continue spinning when it should spin down, in certain circumstances.
· Improves the speed of adding and extracting files to and from a compressed (zipped) folder.
· Significantly improves the speed of moving a directory with many files underneath.
· Improves performance while copying files using BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service).
· Improves performance over Windows Vista’s current performance across the following scenarios1:
· 25% faster when copying files locally on the same disk on the same machine
· 45% faster when copying files from a remote non-Windows Vista system to a SP1 system
· 50% faster when copying files from a remote SP1 system to a local SP1 system
· Improves responsiveness when doing many kinds of file or media manipulations. For example, with Windows Vista today, copying files after deleting a different set of files can make the copy operation take longer than needed. In SP1, the file copy time is the same as if no files were initially deleted.
· Improves the copy progress estimation when copying files within Windows Explorer to about two seconds.
· Improves the time to read large images by approximately 50%.
· Improves IE performance on certain Jscript intensive websites, bringing performance in line with previous IE releases.
· Addresses a problem that caused a delay of up to 5 minutes after boot with specific ReadyDrive capable hard drives.
· Improves the effectiveness of a Windows ReadyBoost™ device in reducing the time to resume from standby and hibernate by increasing the amount of data stored in the ReadyBoost device that can be used during a resume cycle.
· Includes improvements to Windows Superfetch™ that help to further improve resume times, in many environments.
· In specific scenarios, SP1 reduces the shutdown time by a few seconds by improving the Windows Vista utility designed to sync a mobile device.
· Improves the time to resume from standby for a certain class of USB Hubs by approximately 18%.
· Improves network connection scenarios by updating the logic that auto selects which network interface to use (e.g., should a laptop use wireless or wired networking when both are available).
· Improves the performance of the user login experience on corporate PCs outside of corporate environments (e.g., a corporate laptop taken home for the evening), making it comparable with PCs within the corporate environment.
· Reduces the time it takes to return to the user’s session when using the Photo screensaver, making it comparable to other screensavers.
· Removes the delay that sometimes occurs when a user unlocks their PC.
· Improves overall media performance by reducing many glitches.
· In SP1, PC administrators are able to modify the network throttling index value for the MMCSS (Multimedia Class Scheduling Service), allowing them to determine the appropriate balance between network performance and audio/video playback quality.
· Windows Vista SP1 includes a new compression algorithm for the RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) that helps reduce network bandwidth required to send bitmaps or images via RDP. The compression, which can be selected by administrators via Group Policy settings, is transparent to all RDP traffic, and typically reduces the size of the RDP stream by as much as 25-60%, based on preliminary test results.
· The Windows Vista SP1 install process clears the user-specific data that is used by Windows to optimize performance, which may make the system feel less responsive immediately after install. As the customer uses their SP1 PC, the system will be retrained over the course of a few hours or days and will return to the previous level of responsiveness.
· SP1 addresses a number of customer performance concerns with new print driver technologies, including XPS-based printing.

Security Improvements
· Windows Vista SP1 includes all previously released Security Bulletin fixes which affect Windows Vista.
· SP1 includes Secure Development Lifecycle process updates, where Microsoft identifies the root cause of each security bulletin and improves our internal tools to eliminate code patterns that could lead to future vulnerabilities.
· Service Pack 1 includes supported APIs by which third-party security and malicious software detection applications can work alongside Kernel Patch Protection on 64-bit versions of Windows Vista. These APIs have been designed to help security and non-security ISVs develop software that extends the functionality of the Windows kernel on 64-bit systems, in a documented and supported manner, and without disabling or weakening the protection offered by Kernel Patch Protection.
· Improves the security of running RemoteApp™ programs and desktops by allowing RDP files to be signed. Administrators now have the control to differentiate the user experience based on the publisher's identity.
· Data Execution Protection (DEP) is a memory-protection feature available beginning with Windows XP and Server 2003. SP1 improves security with a new set of Win32 APIs to allow programmatic control over a process’s DEP policy. This will provide application developers with finer control on a process’s DEP settings for security, testability, compatibility, and reliability.
· Improves the trustworthiness of data presented in Windows Security Center (WSC) by ensuring that only authenticated security applications can communicate with WSC.
· Improves security on wired networks by enabling single sign on (SSO) for authenticated wired networks. The single sign on experience presents the user with a single point of credential entry rather than being double prompted for local and network logon.
· For customers upgrading from Windows XP to Windows Vista SP1, the MSRT (Malicious Software Removal Tool) will not run as part of the upgrade. Rather the up-to-date MSRT offered monthly by Windows Update will help protect PCs. · The cryptographic random number generation is improved to gather seed entropy from more sources, including a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) when available, and replaces the general purpose pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) with an AES-256 counter mode PRNG for both user and kernel mode.
· Improves security in smart card scenarios: o Introduction of a new PIN channel to securely collect smart card PINs via a PC. This new capability mitigates a number of attacks that today would require using an external PIN reader to prevent. o Enables smart cards that use biometric authentication instead of a PIN.
· Improves security over Teredo interface by blocking unsolicited traffic by default. This has already been addressed in a Security Update for Windows Vista (KB935807).
· Improves BitLocker Drive Encryption by offering an additional multi-factor authentication method that combines a key protected by the TPM (Trusted Platform Module) with a Startup Key stored on a USB storage device and a user-generated Personal Identification Number (PIN).
· Enhanced the BitLocker encryption support to volumes other than bootable volumes in Windows Vista (for Enterprise and Ultimate SKUs).
· Improves the OCSP (Online Certificate Status Protocol) implementation such that it can be configured to work with OCSP responses that are signed by trusted OCSP signers, separate from the issuer of the certificate being validated.
· Enables a standard user to invoke the CompletePC Backup application, provided that user can supply administrator credentials. Previously, only administrators could launch the application.
· The Remote Desktop client in Windows Vista SP1 provides user interface improvements for user and server authentication. The RDP client streamlines the multiple steps end users must follow to providing their credentials to Windows Server 2003 (or earlier) Terminal Servers, and simplifies the management of previously saved credentials.

Support for New Technologies and Standards
· Adds support for new strong cryptographic algorithms used in IPsec. SHA-256, AES-GCM, and AES-GMAC for ESP and AH, ECDSA, SHA-256, and SHA-384 for IKE and AuthIP.
· Adds the NIST SP 800-90 Elliptical Curve Cryptography (ECC) pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) to the list of available PRNG in Windows Vista.
· Adds support for SSTP (Secure Sockets Tunnel Protocol), a remote access VPN tunneling protocol that will be part of Microsoft’s RRAS (Routing and Remote Access Service) platform. SSTP helps provide full-network VPN remote access connections over SSL, removing some of the VPN connectivity challenges that other VPN tunnels face traversing NAT, web proxies, and firewalls.
· Adds full support for the latest IEEE draft of 802.11n wireless networking.
· Adds support for obtaining identity and invoke identity UI from an inner method via a new EAPHost runtime API as well as a configuration UI for tunnel methods. These APIs are useful for developers working on tunneling/multi-phased EAP authentication methods as well as those who implement networking supplicants which consume EAP authentications.
· Adds support for Windows Smartcard Framework to enable compliance with the EU
· Digital Signature Directive and National ID / eID.
· Adds support for the Parental Controls Games Restrictions for ratings from the Korean Game Rating Board (GRB).
· Enhances TCP Chimney network card support so that a TCP Chimney network card can also support Compound TCP.
· Adds support in the Wireless Client for a new FIPS (Federal Information Processing) compliant mode. This mode is FIPS 140-2 compliant because it moves the cryptographic processing from the wireless network card to an existing FIPS-approved cryptographic library.
· Enhances Windows Firewall and IPsec to use the new cryptographic algorithms that are Suite B compliant.
· Updated drivers are delivered primarily via Windows Update and directly from hardware vendors, not as part of a service pack. However, a small number of critical drivers are included as part of Windows Vista (e.g., display drivers, audio drivers) and some of these have been updated.

Download Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RTM below:

Windows Vista SP1 RTM x86: [Click "Download Now" button to download]

Or
Direct Link

Windows Vista SP1 RTM x64: [Click "Download Now" button to download]

Or
Direct Link

Note:
Download Page x86

Download Page x64

Review by: bcdalai
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Inside Windows XP SP3

Inside Windows XP SP3

Last Updated on: 30th April 2008.

Windows XP SP3 Final RTM Released

As in the earlier post all the features of the last service pack is described. Here you will find more detailed review of this SP3.

Windows® XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all previously released updates for the operating system. This update also includes a small number of new features and many updates, which change significantly change customers’ experience with the operating system.

Download Now:

Windows XP Service Pack 3 Final RTM build 5512 (English):
File Size: 316.4 mb.

Other Languages:

French

German

Greek

Italian

Japanese

Korean

Russian

Spanish

For downloading Windows XP SP3 in other languages visit: Download Page.

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XP Service Pack 3 - ISO-9660 CD Image File (CD version)

Download English version now (544.9mb)

Download

For downloading XP Service Pack 3 - ISO-9660 CD Image File in other languages visit: Download Page.

Note: If you are facing problems in downloading this big file then use a Download Manager to download this Service Pack. Use a Download Manager such as: Internet Download Manager (IDM). Get it from here.
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Posted by: bcdalai

Known-Unknown Facts on Windows

Known/Unknown Facts on Windows

Last updated on: 8th July 2008

Here are some common facts about Windows and Microsoft software product and technology. If you have more facts then tell me or add those in this blog.

1. Dynamic disks are not supported on portable computers or on Windows XP Home Edition-based computers.

2. In windows XP Home Edition you can’t find gpedit.msc or ntbackup.exe commands because Group Policy and Windows Backup utility are not available.

3. In Windows XP Home Edition “Remote Desktop” Feature is not available.

4. Automated System Recovery is not a supported feature in Windows XP Home Edition using Backup, but Backup is provided on the CD-ROM as additional value to help back up critical system data. To Manually Install the Backup Utility: Double-click the Ntbackup.msi file from the Windows XP Home Edition CD-ROM to start a wizard that installs Backup: CD-ROM Drive:\VALUEADD\MSFT\NTBACKUP. Follow the wizard. When the wizard is complete, click Finish.

5. You cannot format/create a partition more than 32GB as fat 32 file system.

6. You cannot see or access NTFS partitions in Windows 95/98/ME because these operating systems don’t support NTFS file system.

7. You cannot run two Operating System simultaneously from one drive/partition; if you will do this the last operating system you installed on that drive will only run.

8. If you install and run MSN Explorer version 6, your MSN POP3 e-mail account will be migrated to an MSN Hotmail account. If you have Outlook and Outlook Express configured for POP3, you will no longer receive your new MSN e-mail messages.

9. Deleting or reformatting any dynamic disk volume using the Recovery console's DISKPART or FORMAT command or during Windows 2000 text-mode Setup, could result in permanent data loss.

10. You cannot install Windows Vista on FAT/FAT32 file system. Installation of Windows Vista in FAT/FAT32 file system is not supported except NTFS file system.

11. There is no Boot.ini file in Windows Vista. The Boot.ini file is used for legacy Windows versions when dual-booting only.

12. You can’t run two or more instances of Windows Installer in Windows XP/2003 Server or lower version of windows. Because running of two or more instances of Windows Installer in Windows Installer v3.1 or lower is not supported. This feature is supported in Windows Installer v4.0 i.e. in Windows Vista or later versions.

13. NetMeeting 3.02 (in Vista) does not support remote desktop sharing. Therefore, the Remote Desktop Sharing option is not available on the Tools menu in NetMeeting 3.02.

14. The default workgroup name in windows XP Home Edition is “MSHome” and in XP Pro, Windows Server 2003 and in Windows Vista it is “WORKGROUP”.

15. The former name of “Microsoft Dynamics products” is “Microsoft Business Solutions”.

16. Windows Server 2008 is the last 32-bit OS from Microsoft. All future operating systems for server hardware from Microsoft beyond Windows Server 2008 will be 64-bit

17. The Fast Saves feature in Word 2003 no longer functions after you install Office 2003 Service Pack 3. The Allow fast saves check box still exists in the Save options in Word 2003. However, the functionality of the option has been disabled. The Fast Saves feature speeds up the saving of a document by saving only the changes that are made to the document. Additionally, documents that are saved when the Fast Saves feature is enabled may contain content that you may not want to share with other people when you distribute the document electronically. This information is known as metadata. Metadata is used for a variety of purposes to improve the editing, the viewing, the filing, and the retrieval of Office files. Because of the design of the Fast Saves feature, text or comments that you delete from a document may remain in the document even after you save the document. Therefore, Microsoft has disabled the functionality of the Fast Saves feature in Office 2003 SP3 to increase the security of Word 2003 documents.

18. Office files that are saved in (e.g. html, mht, rtf, xml) no longer contain the version number of Office after you install Office 2003 Service Pack 3. This is because this behavior was changed in Office 2003 SP3 to improve the security of Office 2003 documents.

19. Upgrading from the following language versions of Windows XP to the matching language of Windows Vista is not supported:
a. Windows XP with the following Language Interface Packs installed: Bulgarian, Croatian, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Romanian, Serbian-Latin, Slovak, Slovenian, Thai, or Ukrainian.
b. Windows XP Media Center Edition: Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong), Traditional Chinese (Taiwan), Czech, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian (Bokmål), Polish, Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, or Turkish.
c. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition: Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.
If you have one of these operating systems, you will need to perform a clean installation of Windows Vista.

20. The following features are not available in Windows Vista:
a. Active Desktop
b. HyperTerminal
c. Luna visual theme
d. MSN Explorer
e. NetMeeting (replaced with “Windows Meeting Space”)
f. Telnet.exe is no longer installed by default, but is installable feature through “Programs and Features”
g. The network Messenger Service (Winchat.exe)
h. Windows Messenger
i. WinHlp32.exe, used to display 32-bit .hlp files (help pages)

Download PDF version of this article from the link below:

http://www.box.net/shared/i4uuvmar5a

Author: bcdalai
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013-Review-TuneUp Utilities 2008

TuneUp Utilities 2008 is released !!!

The new version of TuneUp Utilities i.e. version 2008 is now released. The most popular system tuning program is now bundled with some powerful features this time. Read below to know more.

TuneUp Utilities Advantages:
-- Automatic cleaning and optimization of your PC
-- Powerful drive defragmentation
-- Efficient clean-up of unneeded data
-- Reliable help for organizing and cleaning up your drives
-- Thorough cleaning of your registry
-- Optimum start-up, Internet and Windows acceleration
-- Simple Windows customization
-- Secure data rescue and deletion
-- Powerful assistance with common Windows problems
-- Individual Windows styling

The new and improved features of “TuneUp Utilities 2008”:
>> New! Increases system performance by defragmenting hard drives
>> New! Finds unused programs and allows you to remove them
>> New! Recognizes rarely used files that take up large amounts of drive space
>> Improved! Finds and eliminates unnecessary files in only seconds
>> Improved! Corrects registry errors and deletes temporary files
>> Improved! Offers you more than 400 ways to customize Windows and programs
>> If activated, TuneUp Utilities 2008 runs in the background and keeps your system in perfect condition
>> Completely revised navigation makes it even easier to optimize Windows PCs

TuneUp Utilities 2008 interface

10 fundamental reasons for using TuneUp Utilities 2008

• Powerful hard drive defragmentation
• Optimum start-up, Internet, and Windows acceleration
• Quick and extensive clean-up for hard drives
• Effective elimination of junk data
• Fully-automatic clean-up and improvement of your PC
• Extensive clean-up of the registry
• Effective help in solving standard Windows problems
• Secure data recovery and data elimination
• Simple custom Windows configuration
• Individual Windows styling

TuneUp 1-Click Maintenance

Release date: 21 December 2007
Software Publisher: TuneUp Distribution GmbH
For more info go to http://tune-up.com/

Price: $49.95

Download Now:

Alternative Link.

Reviewed and Recommended By: bcdalai.blogspot.com

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Restore your PC Settings

Restore your PC settings after cleaning viruses, spywares

Updated on: 28th August 2008

Warning: This article is for informational purposes and contains no warranty whether express or implied.

Note: This document may change and updated from time to time depending upon the latest and new information available.

Introduction:
Security is the most important concept in computing. So everyone needs to be secure to make the data and application to avoid loss. The object of this article is to give some awareness to the computer users to protect the data, time and money. If you have any more information relating to this topic, please send to me or add those in a comment.

These are the security setting generally affected by some Viruses/malicious scripts/spywares. Following settings/components are affected:

>> Autorun Settings
>> Command Prompt (cmd)
>> Folder Options (control folders)
>> Registry Editor (regedit)
>> Startup Settings
>> Task manager (taskmgr)
>> Website blocking (e.g. Orkut, Gmail and may be other sites.)
>> Windows Automatic Update
>> Windows Installer

Step-1 (Recommended)
Methods to secure your system

First of all you have to clean the Viruses/malicious programs from your system by using a good AntiVirus/Antispyware/Rootkit cleaner.

Security Risks:
Adware
Backdoor
Botnet
Crimeware
Dialers
Downloader
Hack tools (keygens/cracks/patches)
Joke programs
Keylogger / Keystroke Recorder
Macrovirus
Malbot
Mass Mailer
Pop-ups
Pornware
Remote Access
Riskware
Rootkit
Spyware
Trackware
Trojan horse
Virus
Worm
Note: See the detailed glossary here.

Recommended programs to secure your Computer (recommended by bcdalai).
AntiVirus programs:
Norton Antivirus 2008 or Norton Internet Security 2008
F-Secure Client Security 2008

Note: If you are using any other program then check that the program is up-to-date means, Product license/subscription is valid, the definition and program is up-to-date, it is running with the Windows startup programs and if that program has Firewall then is it ON/OFF, always turns it ON. If that program has no firewall then turns ON the windows firewall from “Control Panel”. It is recommended to use the firewall that comes with that Antivirus software. You must update that program through internet.

Anti-spyware/anti-malware/anti-adware/anti-Rootkit programs:
Spybot Search & Destroy
Spyware Doctor
Webroot Spy Sweeper 5.5
Lavasoft Ad-Aware 2007
Sophos Anti-Rootkit
Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool
Windows Defender

Now major antivirus software are comes with some additional protection feature, such as spyware/adware protection, Rootkit detector, Anti-spam etc. There are some products providing all-round protection like Norton 360.
When you are buying any of the security products, check all these feature to sure that these are present in that software.

Step-1
Restore your settings to default system settings

After cleaning the viruses, spywares and other security problem you should check the system settings whether they are affected or not. If the system settings are not restored by the antivirus or the software used to clean the security risks, then you have to do those manually.

1- Autorun Settings: This setting is affected and the symptoms are, when you click a drive (whether fixed/removable) it will not open. It will run a script from a file running “Microsoft Windows Based Script Host” (wscript.exe/wwscript.exe) and Microsoft Console Based Script Host (cscript.exe) and you can’t end these processes from “Task Manager”. If you will right-click that device/drive, then you will see “Autoplay” as the default action instead of “open”.

Step-1: First show hidden and system files and folders from “Folder Options” from control panel. Go to each drive and manual delete the “Autorun.inf” hidden file. Now log off and log on. If the problem is not solved then update the antivirus and scan the system (run complete scan).

Step-2: After scanning the system if the problem is not solved then use group policy to disable the auto run settings.
Go to Start > Run type "gpedit.msc" press Enter.
Expand "Computer Configuration" and navigate to "Administrative Templates\System"
Then open “Turns off Autoplay" option and click the enabled option to disable autoplay on all drives.

2- Command Prompt: Some times Command Prompt is disabled and you cannot open from Start > All Programs > Accessories or by typing cmd from Run box.
You may see this message when trying to open command prompt.

Step-1: Now re-enable the command prompt.
Go to Start > Run type "gpedit.msc" press Enter.
Expand "User Configuration" and navigate to "Administrative Templates\System"
Then open “Prevents access to command prompt" option and click the disabled option to enable access to command prompts.

3- Folder Options: Many viruses and spywares disable folder options and even if the option is not disabled then also you cannot see the hidden files and system files. If the folder option is disabled then you will not see the folder option from the tools menu and from the control panel.

Step-1: Enable “Folder Option- using Group Policy Editor.
1. Go to Start > Run type "gpedit.msc" press Enter.
2. Expand "User Configuration" and navigate to "Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Explorer"Then open “Removes the Folder Options menu item from the Tools menu” option and click the disabled option to enable folder options.

Step-2: To view hidden files and folders: Often you can not see the hidden files even the two options “Show hidden files and folders” turned ON and “Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)” turn OFF. To see all the files even if these options are OK then use the following scripts: Download the files “SecuritySettings.rar”, extract and run the file ”ShowHiddenFiles.bat” & “showhiddenfiles.vbs”. Download the RAR file here.

4- Registry Editor: Registry editor is also disabled by many viruses and spywares. You will saw the message like “Registry editing has been disabled by your administrator”.

Step-1: Enable registry editor using Group Policy Editor.
1. Go to Start > Run type "gpedit.msc" press Enter.
2. Expand "User Configuration" and navigate to "Administrative Templates\System"
3. Then open “Prevent access to registry editing tools” option and click the disabled option to enable this option.

5- Startup Setting: After cleaning viruses and spywares, you have to clean the startup entries. If you don’t know how to delete the startup program then use the tool Ccleaner or use “System Configuration Editor (msconfig)” to delete the unnecessary program at startup. You have to know which program to delete and which not to delete.

6- Task Manager: If the task manager is disabled by any virus and spyware the follow the following steps to enable it.

Step-1: Enable registry editor using Group Policy Editor.
1. Go to Start > Run type "gpedit.msc" press Enter.
2. Expand "User Configuration" and navigate to "Administrative Templates\System\ Ctrl+Alt+Del Options"
3. Then open “Remove Task Manager” option and click the disabled option to enable this option.

7- Website blocking: When a web site is blocked then you have to scan with a good antispyware/antispyware and then reset your internet options to default. To do this go to “Control Panel” then open “Internet Option” go to “Advanced” tab, in the “Reset Internet Explorer Settings” click “Reset” button to reset all settings to default.

8- Windows Automatic Update: If “Windows Automatic Update” setting is disabled then follow these steps.

Step-1: Enable “Windows Automatic Update” using Group Policy Editor.
1. Go to Start > Run type "gpedit.msc" press Enter.
2. Expand "User Configuration" and navigate to "Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update"
3. Then open “remove access to use all Windows Update features” option and click the disabled option to enable this option.

9- Windows Installer: If you find that Windows explorer is not starting or problems while running installer based programs then do these to restore the default settings for windows installer.

Step-1: Enable “Windows Installer” using Group Policy Editor.
1. Go to Start > Run type "gpedit.msc" press Enter.
2. Expand "Computer Configuration" and navigate to "Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Installer"
3. Then open “Disable Windows Installer” option and click the disabled option to enable this option.
If the “windows installer” service is not running then start the windows installer service. Go to “Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services” then open “Windows Installer” in the service status area click “Start” button.

When every thing is restore you can use your system safely.

Appendix:
Meaning of Group Policy Editor options:
"Not Configured" means the option is OFF by default.
"Enabled" means the option is ON.
"Disabled" means the option is Off manually.

Download PDF version of this article from the link below:

http://www.box.net/shared/lrz474e58f

Additional References:
http://bcdalai.blogspot.com/2007/11/security-glossary.html
http://bcdalai.blogspot.com/2007/10/005-windows-command-guide-2007.html
http://bcdalai.blogspot.com/2007/10/007-administrative-power-tricks.html
http://bcdalai.blogspot.com/2007/11/010-controlling-ie7-temp-files-and.html

Article By: bcdalai

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Security Glossary

Security Glossary

Last Updated on: 8th July 2008.

Adware:
Adware is ad-supported computer software, software that may be installed for free but includes advertisements promoting various good and services.
It is the stand-alone or appended program that can secretly gather personal information through the Internet and relay it back to another computer. Adware may track browsing habits for advertising purposes. Adware can also deliver advertising content.

Address munging:
Address munging is the practice of disguising, or munging, an e-mail address to prevent it being automatically collected and used as a target for people and organizations that send unsolicited bulk e-mail. Address munging is intended to disguise an e-mail address in a way that prevents computer software seeing the real address, or even any address at all, but still allows a human reader to reconstruct the original and contact the author: an email address such as, "no-one@example.com", becomes "no-one at example dot com", for instance. Any e-mail address posted in public is likely to be automatically collected by computer software used by bulk e-mailers — a process known as e-mail address harvesting — and addresses posted on webpages, Usenet or chat rooms are particularly vulnerable to this. Private e-mail sent between individuals is highly unlikely to be collected, but e-mail sent to a mailing list that is archived and made available via the web or passed onto a Usenet news server and made public, may eventually be scanned and collected.

Antivirus:
Designed to protect against infection with and/or damage caused by computer viruses.

Blended threat:
A blended threat combines the characteristics of viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and malicious code with server and Internet vulnerabilities to initiate, transmit, and spread an attack. Blended threats use multiple methods and techniques to propagate and attack, and cause widespread damage throughout a network.

Backdoor:
A backdoor in a computer system (or cryptosystem or algorithm) is a method of bypassing normal authentication, securing remote access to a computer, obtaining access to plaintext, and so on, while attempting to remain undetected. The backdoor may take the form of an installed program or could be a modification to an existing program or hardware device.

Botnet:
Botnet is a jargon term for a collection of software robots, or bots, which run autonomously and automatically. They run on groups of "zombie" computers controlled remotely by crackers. This can also refer to the network of computers using distributed computing software.

Caller ID spoofing:
Caller ID spoofing is the practice of causing the telephone network to display a number on the recipient's caller ID display which is not that of the actual originating station; the term is commonly used to describe situations in which the motivation is considered nefarious by the speaker. Just as e-mail spoofing can make it appear that a message came from any e-mail address the sender chooses, caller ID spoofing can make a call appear to have come from any phone number the caller wishes. Because people are prone to assume a call is coming from the number (and hence, the associated person, or persons), this can call the service's value into question.

Click Fraud:
Click fraud is a type of internet crime that occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script, or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating a charge per click without having actual interest in the target of the ad's link. Click fraud is the subject of some controversy and increasing litigation due to the advertising networks being a key beneficiary of the fraud.

Crimeware:
Crimeware is a class of computer program designed specifically to automate financial crime. The term was coined by Peter Cassidy, Secretary General of the Anti-Phishing Working Group to distinguish it from other kinds of malevolent programs.
Crimeware (as distinct from spyware, adware, and malware) is designed (through social engineering or technical stealth) to perpetrate identity theft in order to access a computer user's online accounts at financial services companies and online retailers for the purpose of taking funds from those accounts or completing unauthorized transactions that enrich the thief controlling the crimeware. Crimeware also often has the intent to export confidential or sensitive information from a network for financial exploitation. Crimeware represents a growing problem in network security as many malicious code threats seek to pilfer confidential information.

Dialers:
Dialer is a computer program which creates a connection to the Internet or another computer network over the analog telephone or Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) network. Many operating systems already contain such a program for connections through the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP).
Many internet service providers offer installation-CDs to simplify the process of setting up a proper Internet connection. They either create an entry in the OS's dialer or install a separate dialer (as the AOL software does).
Nowadays, the term "dialer" often refers specifically to dialers which connect without the user's full knowledge as to cost, with the creator of the dialer intending to commit fraud.

Directory Traversal:
A directory traversal is to exploit insufficient security validation / sanitization of user-supplied input file names, so that characters representing “traverse to parent directory” are passed through to the file APIs.
The goal of this attack is to order an application to access a computer file that is not intended to be accessible. This attack exploits a lack of security (the software is acting exactly as it is supposed to) as opposed to exploiting a bug in the code.
Directory traversal is also known as the ../ (dot dot slash) attack, directory climbing, and backtracking. Some forms of this attack are also canonicalization attacks.

Dosnet:
Dosnet (Denial of Service Network) is a type of botnet/malware and mostly used as a term for malicious botnets while benevolent botnets often simply are referred to as botnets. Dosnets are used for Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks which can be very devastating.

Downloader:
It is small program that downloads some malicious codes/programs automatically without the users’ knowledge. This program downloads some risky contents from the remote computer (hackers’ site) and install in the local computer containing security risks.

Hack tools:
Programs that are used by a hacker to gain unauthorized access to your computer. For example, one hack tool is a keystroke logger, which tracks and records individual keystrokes and can send this information back to the hacker. The hacker can then perform port scans or vulnerability scans. Hack tools may also be used to create tools for virus creation.

Identity theft:
Identity theft is a catch-all term for crimes involving illegal usage of another individual's identity. The most common form of identity theft is credit card fraud. While the term is relatively new, the practice of stealing money or getting other benefits by pretending to be a different person is thousands of years old.

Joke programs:
Programs that can alter or interrupt the operation of a computer in a way that is intended to be humorous or frightening. For example, a program can be downloaded from Web sites (typically in shareware or freeware), email messages, or instant messenger software. It can then move the trash can away from the mouse when you attempt to delete or cause the mouse to click in reverse.

Macro:
Macros are the special action/function scripts or documents used to enhance the functionality of office documents i.e. word, excel etc. Macro is itself not a virus but it is often prone to virus and other security risks.

Macro-virus:
Macro viruses do not infect program files; they infect documents. Common targets for many macro viruses are word processors such as Microsoft Word and Lotus AmiPro and spreadsheets like Microsoft Excel. A macro virus, in computing, is a computer virus that exploits programs' associated documents (such as MS Word Documents) to contain harmful embedded code.

Malbot:
A malbot is a robot or Internet bot designed or used for malicious intentions such as gaining unauthorised access to a computer system, or participation in a Botnet. It is a blend of the terms "malicious" and “bot”. The term is currently generally used in relation to malware in the form of Internet bots.

Make Money Fast:
"Make Money Fast" is a title of an electronically forwarded chain letter which became so infamous that the term is now used to describe all sorts of chain letters forwarded over the Internet, by e-mail spam or Usenet newsgroups. In anti-spammer slang, the name is often abbreviated "MMF".

Malware:
Malware is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's informed consent. It is a portmanteau of the words "malicious" and "software". The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code.
Many normal computer users are however still unfamiliar with the term, and most never use it. Instead, "computer virus" is used in common parlance and often in the general media to describe all kinds of malware, though not all malware is a virus.

Mass mailer:
The term mass mailer can refer to those computer worms that spread themselves via e-mail.

Pop-up:
A pop-up is a small web browser window that appears on top of the website you're viewing. Pop-up windows often open as soon as you visit a website and are usually created by advertisers. It is a medium of spreading viruses/spyware/adware etc.

Pharming:
Pharming (pronounced farming) is a cracker's attack aiming to redirect a website's traffic to another, bogus website. Pharming can be conducted either by changing the hosts file on a victim’s computer or by exploitation of a vulnerability in DNS server software. DNS servers are computers responsible for resolving Internet names into their real addresses — they are the "signposts" of the Internet. Compromised DNS servers are sometimes referred to as "poisoned". The term pharming is a word play on farming and phishing. The term phishing refers to social engineering attacks to obtain access credentials such as user names and passwords. In recent years both pharming and phishing have been used to steal identity information. Pharming has become of major concern to businesses hosting ecommerce and online banking websites. Sophisticated measures known as anti-pharming are required to protect against this serious threat. Antivirus software and spyware removal software cannot protect against pharming.

Phishing:
In computing, phishing is an attempt to criminally and fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Phishing is typically carried out by email or instant messaging, and often directs users to enter details at a website, although phone contact has also been used. Phishing is an example of social engineering techniques used to fool users. Attempts to deal with the growing number of reported phishing incidents include legislation, user training, public awareness, and technical measures.

Pornware:
Programs that enters into the computer when visiting pornographic/illegal websites. This program create link and connect to pornographic websites and spread malicious codes into your computer.

Remote access:
Programs that allow access over the Internet from another computer to gain information or to attack or alter your computer. For example, you may install a program, or it may be installed as part of some other process without your knowledge. The program can be used for malicious purposes with or without modification of the original remote access program.

Riskware:
Riskware is computer software, which actually was not programmed and intended as malware, but has security critical functions. These functions can be used to start or stop computer processes or computer services. Riskware can also be defined as potentially dangerous softwares. Riskware can be executed and misused by malware and will be noticed in certain cases by antivirus software.

Rootkit:
A Rootkit is a set of software tools intended to conceal running processes, files or system data from the operating system. Rootkits have their origin in relatively benign applications, but in recent years have been used increasingly by malware, helping an intruder to maintain access to a system whilst avoiding detection. Rootkits are known to exist for a variety of operating systems such as Linux, Solaris and versions of Microsoft Windows. Rootkits often modify parts of the operating system or install themselves as drivers or kernel modules.

Social engineering:
Social engineering is a collection of techniques used to manipulate people into performing actions or divulging confidential information. While similar to a confidence trick or simple fraud, the term typically applies to trickery for information gathering or computer system access and in most cases the attacker never comes face-to-face with the victim.

Spam:
Spam, unsolicited or undesired bulk electronic messages. There are many types of electronic spam, including
E-mail spam: unsolicited e-mail.
Mobile phone spam: unsolicited text messages.
Forum spam: posting advertisements or useless posts on a forum.
Spamdexing: manipulating a search engine to create the illusion of popularity for webpages.
Spam in blogs: posting random comments or promoting commercial services to blogs, wikis and guestbooks.
Newsgroup spam: advertisement and forgery on newsgroups.
Messaging spam: use of instant messenger services for advertisement or even extortion.

Spambot:
A spambot is a program designed to collect e-mail addresses from the Internet in order to build mailing lists for sending unsolicited e-mail, also known as spam. A spambot is a type of web crawler that can gather e-mail addresses from Web sites, newsgroups, special-interest group (SIG) postings, and chat-room conversations. Because e-mail addresses have a distinctive format, spambots are easy to write.

Sping:
Sping is short for "spam ping", and is related to fraudulent pings from blogs using trackbacks, called trackback spam. Pings are messages sent from blog and publishing tools to a centralized network service (a ping server) providing notification of newly published posts or content. Spings, or ping spam, are pings that are sent from spam blogs, or are sometimes multiple pings in a short interval from a legitimate source, often tens or hundreds per minute, due to misconfigured software, or a wish to make the content coming from the source appear fresh. Spings, like spam blogs, are increasingly problematic for the blogging community.

Spyware:
Spyware is a computer technology that is designed to secretly gather information about a user (e.g. for an Internet advertising company).
It is a stand-alone program that can secretly monitor system activity and detect information like passwords and other confidential information and relay the information back to another computer.
Spyware can be unknowingly downloaded from Web sites (typically in shareware or freeware), email messages, and instant messenger software. You may unknowingly download spyware by accepting an End User License Agreement from a software program.

SQL Injection:
SQL injection is a technique that exploits a security vulnerability occurring in the database layer of an application. The vulnerability is present when user input is either incorrectly filtered for string literal escape characters embedded in SQL statements or user input is not strongly typed and thereby unexpectedly executed. It is in fact an instance of a more general class of vulnerabilities that can occur whenever one programming or scripting language is embedded inside another.

Trackware:
Stand-alone or appended applications that trace a user's path on the Internet and send information to a target system. For example, the application can be downloaded from Web sites, email messages, or instant messenger software. It can then obtain confidential information regarding user behavior.

Trojan horse:
Computer program which looks useful but contains harmful codes that affect your computer program and data.

Virus:
Computer program which is intended to be spread surreptitiously between computers and usually causes damage. A virus is a computer program that attaches a copy of itself to another computer program or document when it runs. Whenever the infected program runs or a user opens a document containing a macro virus, the attached virus program activates and attaches itself to other programs and documents. Viruses generally deliver a payload, such as displaying a message on a particular date. Some viruses specifically damage data by corrupting programs, deleting files, or reformatting disks.

Vishing:
Vishing is the criminal practice of using social engineering and Voice over IP (VoIP) to gain access to private personal and financial information from the public for the purpose of financial reward. The term is a combination of "voice" and phishing. Vishing exploits the public's trust in landline telephone services, which have traditionally terminated in physical locations which are known to the telephone company, and associated with a bill-payer. The victim is often unaware that VoIP allows for caller ID spoofing, inexpensive, complex automated systems and anonymity for the bill-payer. Vishing is typically used to steal credit card numbers or other information used in identity theft schemes from individuals.
Vishing is very hard for legal authorities to monitor or trace. To protect themselves, consumers are advised to be highly suspicious when receiving messages directing them to call and provide credit card or bank numbers. Rather than provide any information, the consumer is advised to contact their bank or credit card company directly to verify the validity of the message.

VOIP Spam:
VoIP spam is an as-yet non-existent problem which has nonetheless received a great deal of attention from marketers and the trade press. Sometimes referred as SPIT (Spam over Internet Telephony).

Website spoofing:
Website spoofing is the act of creating a website, as a hoax, with the intention of misleading readers that the website has been created by a different person or organisation. Normally, the website will adopt the design of the target website and sometimes has a similar URL.
Another technique is to use a 'cloaked' URL. By using domain forwarding, or inserting control characters, the URL can appear to be genuine while concealing the address of the actual website.
The objective may be fraudulent, often associated with phishing or e-mail spoofing, or to criticize or make fun of the person or body whose website the spoofed site purports to represent.

Worm:
Computer virus which usually copies itself through a network and wastes resources or causes damage.
A worm is a special type of virus that replicates itself from one computer to another and can use memory. Worms generally exist inside other files, such as Microsoft Word or Excel documents. A worm may release a document that already has the worm macro inside of it.

Zombie computer:
A zombie computer (often abbreviated zombie) is a computer attached to the Internet that has been compromised by a hacker, a computer virus, or a trojan horse. Generally, a compromised machine is only one of many in a "botnet", and will be used to perform malicious tasks of one sort or another under remote direction. Most owners of zombie computers are unaware that their system is being used in this way. Because the vector tends to be unconscious, these computers are metaphorically compared to a zombie.

Article By: bcdalai

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Reference:
http://dictionary.reference.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/
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