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

Download PDF version of this article from the link below:
http://www.box.net/shared/on40n3dj5i

Reference:
http://dictionary.reference.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/
http://www.google.com/
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100 Favorite Blogs of 2007

100 Favorite Blogs of 2007

Hello bloggers here this article is for you. 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 from tech to non-tech.

If you know more useful blog then add those to this article.

Here the list of those 100 blogs:
adfreak Apartment Therapy Ars Technica Aurgasm Autoblog Boing Boing Born Rich Brooklyn Vegan BuzzMachine CamcorderInfo CocktailNerd Coolest Gadgets Core77 Crave Crunk + Disorderly Cupcakes Take The Cake Cute Overload Daily Kos Deadspin Defamer DesignSponge Dethroner Dlisted Download Squad Drawn! Eater EcoGeek Elephant Larry's Group Blog Engadget Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories FirstShowing Futurismic Gawker GigaOM Gizmodo Go Fug Yourself Gothamist Gridskipper Improve Everywhere indexed Ironic Sans Joe Mathlete Explains Today's Marmaduke Kotaku kottke.org Letters From A Tapehead
Lifehacker MAKE Blog Mashable! Micro Persuasion Mobilewhack NBA.com Gilbert Arenas Neatorama Newsarama NewTeeVee Oh No They Didn't! OhGizmo! Overheard in the Office Paleo-Future Parent Hacks Phone Scoop Pink Tentacle Pogue's Posts PostSecret Product Shop NYC Rob Galbraith Digital Photography Insights Robots-Dreams.com Sabernomics Sci Fi Tech Science Blog SEO Black Hat Shacknews Shiny Shiny Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books Starbucks Gossip stereogum strange maps Suicide Food Techcrunch The Bargainist The Beat The Comics Curmudgeon The Consumerist The Cool Hunter The Drudge Report The Huffington Post The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs The Sneeze The Truth About Cars TransportTrends TreeHugger TV in Japan Ubergizmo Uncrate Valleywag we make money not art Web Worker Daily Wonkette WorldChanging You Ain't No Picasso Zeldman

Source:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2195377,00.asp

PC Magazine Staffers' Blogs:
A Duck a Day AppScout Boozy McGuzzles Dvorak Uncensored Forward Thinking by Michael J. Miller Gearlog Gears and Widgets GoodCleanTech
PC Magazine Security Watch The Daily Cross Hatch What's New Now

And any interesting blog you know??? So tell me.

Download PDF version of this article from the link below:

http://www.box.net/shared/xukfg53a07

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Article by: bcdalai

News-Windows Server 2008 Line-up and Pricing

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.

Two versions offered without Hyper-V are targeted at specific workloads: Windows Web Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems.

To complete the product offering, Windows Server 2008 Standard, Windows Server 2008 Enterprise and Windows Server 2008 Datacenter will also be available without the Hyper-V technology.

All server versions will be available in 32-bit or 64-bit versions, with the exception of Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems, which will only be available as a 64-bit version. Other changes include the availability of Windows Web Server 2008, a 64-bit edition of Web server. The Hyper-V feature will only be available with 64-bit editions of Windows Server 2008.

Pricing for all Windows Server 2008 products will be increasing by approximately 1 percent for all distribution channels. Estimated MSRP* are listed by each version below:
Windows Server 2008 Standard: $999 (with five Client Access Licenses, or CALs)
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise: $3,999 (with 25 CALs)
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter: $2,999 (per processor)
Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems: $2,999 (per processor)
Windows Web Server 2008: $469
Windows Server 2008 Standard without Hyper-V: $971 (with five CALs)
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise without Hyper-V: $3,971 (with 25 CALs)
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter without Hyper-V: $2,971 (per processor)

For more Info visit

System Requirements for Windows Server 2008:

System Requirements:
ProcessorMinimum: Minimum: 1GHz (x86 processor) or 1.4GHz (x64 processor) Recommended: Recommended: 2GHz or faster
Note: An Intel Itanium 2 processor is required for Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems.
Memory
Minimum: 512MB RAMRecommended: 2GB RAM or greaterOptimal: 2GB RAM (Full installation) or 1GB RAM (Server Core installation) or moreMaximum (32-bit systems): 4GB (Standard) or 64GB (Enterprise and Datacenter)Maximum (64-bit systems): 32GB (Standard) or 2TB (Enterprise, Datacenter and Itanium-based Systems)
Available Disk SpaceMinimum: 10GBRecommended: 40GB or greater
Note: Computers with more than 16GB of RAM will require more disk space for paging, hibernation, and dump files.
Drive
DVD-ROM drive
Display
Super VGA (800 × 600) or higher-resolution monitor.
Other
Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device.

Windows Server 2008 Release Candidate 1

This time-limited release of Windows Server® 2008 Release Candidate 1 will expire on June 30, 2008. After this time, you will need to uninstall the software or upgrade to a later release or a fully-licensed version of Windows Server® 2008. More Info...

Download Page:

Windows Server 2008 Standard RC1 (x86 and x64)
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise RC1 (x86 and x64)
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter RC1 (x86 and x64) (Page Error: Page not found)
Windows Web Server 2008 RC1 (x86 and x64)
Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems RC1

Direct Download Links:

Windows Server 2008 Standard RC1 (x86 and x64)
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise RC1 (x86 and x64)
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter RC1 (x86 and x64) **
Windows Web Server 2008 RC1 (x86 and x64)
Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems RC1 Link

This product requires a valid product key for activation within 30 days of installation. If you have received a product key via email confirmation, you may use the key with the software you download from this site or with a DVD containing Windows Server® 2008 Release Candidate.

Register to get the product key that extends your evaluation through June 30, 2008:
http://technet.microsoft.com/bb687945.aspx

** This version of Windows Server can’t be downloaded from Microsoft, because the problem in the download page. Microsoft web suite says the page doesn’t exist. If you want to use “Windows Server 2008 Datacenter” edition the download the RC0 version from below.

Windows Server 2008 Datacenter RC0 (x86 and x64).

Windows Server 2008 Product Description:Microsoft Windows Server 2008 helps IT professionals to increase the flexibility of their server infrastructure while offering developers a more robust Web and applications platform for building connected applications and services. Powerful new management tools and security enhancements offer more control over your servers and network and provide advanced protection for your applications and data.
Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition: This edition of Windows Server 2008 provides key server functionality across most server roles and features. It includes both full and Server Core installation options.
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition: This edition builds on Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition to provide greater scalability and availability, and adds enterprise technologies such as failover clustering and Active Directory Federation Services.
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Edition: This edition offers the same functionality as Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition with support for additional memory and processors, and unlimited virtual image use rights.
Windows Web Server 2008: This edition is designed specifically for use as a Web and applications server. Other server roles are not available in this edition.
Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems: This edition is designed for use with Intel Itanium 64-bit processors to provide Web and applications server functionality on that platform. Other server roles and features may not be available.

*MSRP= Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price

The final release of Windows Server 2008 (RTM) is scheduled to launch in February 27 2008.

Article by: bcdalai

012- Review-Ashampoo Burning Studio 7

Ashampoo Burning Studio 7

New functions and improvements in version 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 versions have asked for and they make a great program even better.

Have you ever wished you could pack more video onto a single DVD? Ashampoo Burning Studio 7 allows you to create DVDs with much more than the standard 120 minutes of video – just add all the files you need, the program automatically adjusts the compression and encoding quality to make it fit.

Modified Copies and Bootable Discs
Now you can include additional files in a copied disc without re-building the entire disc. The unique new Modified Copy function allows you to select additional files and folders that will be inserted into the copy on the fly when you burn the disc.
You can also make modified copies of bootable discs. This makes it much easier to create updated versions of bootable installation discs because you don’t have to go through all the steps of building the disc – everything you need, including the boot image, is already there. The Modified Copy function supports CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs.

Features at a glance:-
What’s new:

• Video: Burn Video DVDs directly from almost any video files
• Modified and Bootable Copies: Add additional files while copying discs, make modified copies of bootable discs
• MP3 Ripping: Rip audio CDs directly to MP3 as well as WMA or WAV
• Backup and Restore: Choose archive size, restore individual files
• Expert Functions: Create bootable discs from boot images, choose file system settings

Other functions:

• Burn files and folders to CD/DVD/Blu-ray and add files and folders to existing discs
• Multi-disc file backup and restore on CD/DVD/Blu-ray with compression and password protection
• Create VideoCDs and Super VideoCDs
• Rip music from audio CDs to MP3, WMA and WAV files
• Create audio CDs from WAV, MP3, FLAC, WMA and Ogg Vorbis files
• Create MP3 or WMA CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs or just copy music to CD, DVD or Blu-ray
• Copy CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs
• Create and burn disc images for CD, DVD and Blu-ray
• Quickly erase any rewritable media
• Store disc images larger than 2GB on FAT32 file systems
• Interactive troubleshooting assistant for solving hardware and media problems
• Save project files so that you can burn the same discs again later
• Integrated support for over 1,700 CD, DVD and Blu-ray burners

Ratings: 5 Star- CNet.com Review and 4 Star- Average User's Rating.

Recommended by: bcdalai.blogspot.com

Software Publishers: Ashampoo GmbH & Co. KG

Go to Download Page

Or

Download the new version of Burning Studio 8 from here:

Article Published by: bcdalai

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Worlds-4th-Fastest-Supercomputer-from-India

World’s 4th fastest supercomputer from India

This article is collected from: Times Of 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 Top 500 list released at an international conference on high performance computing in Reno, Nevada.

It is the first time that India has figured in the Top 100 let alone Top Ten of the supercomputing list. The list, which is usually dominated by the United States, is also notable this time because it has five new entrants in the Top Ten, with supercomputers in Germany and Sweden up there with the one in India.

The fourth-ranking Tata supercomputer, named EKA after the Sanskrit term for one, is a Hewlett-Packard Cluster Platform 3000 BL460c system. CRL has integrated this system with its own innovative routing technology and to achieve a 117.9 Teraflop or trillions of calculations per second.

The No. 1 position was again claimed by the BlueGene/L System, a joint development of IBM and the US Department of Energy's (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and installed at DOE's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

Although BlueGene/L has occupied the No. 1 position since November 2004, the current system is much faster at 478.2 TFop/s compared to 280.6 TFlop/s six months ago before its upgrade.

At No 2 is a BlueGene/P system installed in Germany at the Forschungszentrum Juelich (FZJ) and it achieved performance of 167.3 TFlop/s. The No. 3 system at the New Mexico Computing
Applications Center (NMCAC) in Rio Rancho, N.M posted a speed of 126.9 TFlop/s.

Ashwin Nanda, who heads the CRL, told the conference that its supercomputer had been built with HP servers using Intel chips with a total of 14,240 processor cores. The system went operational last month and achieved a performance of 117.9 teraflops.

The system is slated for use in government scientific research and product development for Tata, as well as to provide services to US customers, Nanda said.

In a statement in India, the Tata Group said "EKA marks a milestone in the Tata group's effort to build an indigenous high performance computing solution."

CRL, it disclosed, built the supercomputer facility using dense data centre layout and novel network routing and parallel processing library technologies developed by its scientists.

While the US is clearly the leading consumer of high power computing systems with 284 of the 500 systems, Europe follows with 149 systems and Asia has 58 systems. In Asia, Japan leads with 20 systems, Taiwan has 11, China 10 and India 9.

The second ranked supercomputer in India, rated 58th in the Top500 list is at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. Others are ranked 152, 158, 179, 336, 339,340 and 371.

Horst Simon, associate laboratory director, computing sciences, at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, and one of the Top500 list authors, told Computerworld that it was exciting to see India's entrance into the Top 10 and because the country has "huge potential" as a supercomputing nation.

"India is very well known for having great software engineers and great mathematicians, and having a (HPC) center there is a catalyst for doing more in the high performance computing field," Simon told the industry publication, adding that it brings "a whole new set of players into the supercomputing world."

India has made steady progress in the field of supercomputing from the time it first bought two from the US pioneer Cray Research in 1988, at a time of a tough technology control regime. US strictures on the scope of its use and demand for intrusive monitoring and compliance led India to devise its own supercomputers using clusters of multiprocessors.

Supercomputers are typically used for highly calculation problem solving in quantum mechanical physics, molecular modeling, weather forecasting and climate research, and physical simulation including that of nuclear tests.

The term supercomputer is quite relative. It was first used in 1929 to refer to large custom-built tabulators IBM made for Columbia University. The supercomputers of the 1970s are today's desktops.

Courtesy:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2538928.cms

Article By: Chidanand Rajghatta

Collected by: bcdalai
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011-New- Real Player 11 Build6.0.14.738

RealPlayer 11 Build 6.0.14.738

Last updated on 29th March 2008.

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 just one click. Watch them whenever you want and wherever you want. You can even burn your greatest hits to DVD. Find the Web video you want - and Real it in. Most major formats are supported, including Real, Windows Media, Flash, and QuickTime.

Features:
1- Innovative, single-click process to quickly download and save videos for later enjoyment.
2- Download multiple videos simultaneously with RealPlayer, allowing people to save time and easily multitask. Users can also start downloading in the middle of watching a video, and the entire video will be captured.
3- The new RealPlayer supports videos created in the most popular formats, including Flash, Windows Media, QuickTime, and Real.
4- Easily burn videos to CD (or to DVD, using RealPlayer Plus). The Video CD format used by RealPlayer can be played in most DVD players.
5- Send links of their favorite videos to your friends with a convenient "Share with a Friend" feature. The link that arrives in your friends' email will direct them to the online source of the video content their friend downloaded.
6- RealPlayer supports both downloading and recording for popular streaming format (Windows Media, Real, and QuickTime)
7- RealPlayer will only download/record video that is not protected by DRM (Digital Rights Management) systems.
8- RealPlayer features an improved look and feel, a streamlined installation process and faster video playback.
9- RealPlayer will first be released for Windows, and will work with both Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Real plans a version for the Mac to be released later in the year.

Download RealPlayer 11 now:

Or http://software-dl.real.com/free/windows/installer/R41R02F/RealPlayer11GOLD.exe

Recommended By: bcdalai.blogspot.com

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Windows Vista Ultimate MUI Packs

All 35 official 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!

This article collected from: http://keznews.com/

All 35 Windows Vista Ultimate x86 Language Packs:
Danish language pack German language pack English language pack Spanish language pack Finnish language pack French language pack Italian language pack Japanese language pack Korean language pack Norwegian language pack Dutch language pack Portuguese (Brazil) language pack Russian language pack Swedish language pack Chinese (simplified) language pack Chinese (Hong Kong S.A.R.) language pack Arabic language pack Bulgarian language pack Czech language pack Greek language pack Estonian language pack Hebrew language pack Croatian language pack Hungarian language pack Lithuanian language pack Latvian language pack Polish language pack Portuguese (Portugal) language pack Romanian language pack Slovak language pack Slovenian language pack Serbian (Latin) language pack Thai language pack Turkish language pack Ukrainian language pack

All 35 Windows Vista Ultimate x64 Language Packs:
Danish language pack German language pack English language pack Spanish language pack Finnish language pack French language pack Italian language pack Japanese language pack Korean language pack Norwegian language pack Dutch language pack Portuguese (Brazil) language pack Russian language pack Swedish language pack Chinese (simplified) language pack Chinese (Hong Kong S.A.R.) language pack Arabic language pack Bulgarian language pack Czech language pack Greek language pack Estonian language pack Hebrew language pack Croatian language pack Hungarian language pack Lithuanian language pack Latvian language pack Polish language pack Portuguese (Portugal) language pack Romanian language pack Slovak language pack Slovenian language pack Serbian (Latin) language pack Thai language pack Turkish language pack Ukrainian language pack

Note: These are the direct download links and you can not find this from searching from microsoft website. Click the appropriate link for you to download the pack.

Courtesy:

We are very thankful to Keznews.com for providing this best article for the users benefits.

You can visit this site for latest News about Windows Vista, Longhorn, XP and Microsoft.

Source Link: http://keznews.com/3634_All_35_official_Vista_Ultimate_MUI_Packs_x32___x64

To See More information about "Multi-Language Packs for Microsoft Vista Ultimate" visit.

Collected By: bcdalai

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