Kamuju's Blog

Archos 80 G9

2011-10-01T12:18:00.001+05:30

This is an 8 inch tablet from Archos.Presently being available with 1 Gz processor. At the price of 15,000 INR (approximately) for the flash version of 8 GB. The main view area for this tablet is the storage of 250 GB that is being provided for a price of 2000 INR extra. Pro's : Android v3.2 (Honey comb). 1-1.5 Gz Dualcore Processor. An option of 3g stick or USB dongles. Flash support for web browsing. An option for 250GB storage. Support for multiple video formats(using an additional plugin) Can connect to mobile via mini Usb for accessing mobile internet (like nokia pc suite for web browsing). Con's: No 3G sim slot. Not effictive touch screen as compared to galaxy tab or ipad. No rear camera. So if you want a tablet which is mainly for storage and watching movies,in travelling then its a good option. The price of this tablet in India for a 250 gb version would be around 17000 INR (approximately) but not more than 18k. Tech Specs:
Display characteristics	• 8”: 1024 x 768
Application Framework	• Android
Processor	• Standard version: ARM dual-core CORTEX A9 OMAP™ 4 @ 1GHz. • Turbo version: ARM dual-core CORTEX A9 OMAP™ 4 @ 1.2GHz to 1.5GHz (at start of 2012). • 3D OpenGL (ES 2.0)
Capacity	• Flash Memory: 8 or 16GB* + microSD Slot (SDHC compatible) • HDD memory: 250GB*
Video Playback¹	• MPEG-4 HD (up to 1080p) • MPEG-4² (ASP@L5 AVI, up to DVD resolution) • H.264 HD (HP@L4.2, up to 1080p@30 fps and 1080i/720p@60 fps) With optional plug-in: • Cinema: MPEG2 (up to DVD resolution MP/D1) With the above codecs, the device can play video files with the following extensions: AVI, MP4, MOV, 3GP, MPG, PS, TS, VOB, MKV, FLV, RM, RMVB, ASF
Audio Playback¹	• MP3 • WAV (PCM/ADPCM) • AAC³, AAC+ 5.13 • OGG Vorbis • FLAC With optional software plug-in: • AC3 5.1
Photo viewer⁴	• JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF
Subtitles	• .srt, .ssa, .smi, .sub formats supported
Webcam	• 720p front camera with 720p encoding
Interfaces	• USB slave: Mobile Transfer Protocol (MTP) • USB host: Mass Storage Class (MSC) (Micro USB/USB Host cable sold separately) • microSD (SDHC compatible) • HDMI output⁶ (Mini HDMI / HDMI cable sold separately)
Communication protocols	• WiFi (802.11 b/g/n) • Bluetooth 2.1+ EDR
Miscellaneous	• Built-in GPS • Built-in speakers • G-sensor • Compass • Built-in kick stand • Built-in Microphone
Power source	• Internal: Lithium Polymer battery • External: Power adapter/charger
Dimensions & weight	• Flash series: 226 mm x 155 mm x 11.7 mm (8.90 x 6.11 x 0.46 inch) - 465g (17 oz) • Hard Drive series: 226 mm x 155 mm x 14.7 mm (8.90 x 6.11 x 0.58 inch) - 599g (21.9 oz)
Battery life	• Music playback time⁷: up to 36 hrs • Video playback time⁷: up to 7 hrs • Internet navigation time ⁷: up to 10 hrs
Scalability⁷	• Device automatically downloads latest firmware updates when the WiFi connection is activated • Updates can also be downloaded at www.archos.com
Minimum system requirements	• Microsoft® Windows® 7, Vista, XP or higher • Mac OS. X with Android Transfer Files application (not included) • Linux with android MTP tool (not included) • USB 2.0 interface

Wophcrack – Ophcrack web interface

2011-05-05T10:38:00.001+05:30

I’m assuming everyone reading already knows about Ophcrack – the awesome time/memory trade-off password cracker.
Well here is a nifty web-based interface for it. Rainbow Tables are really useful when cracking password hashes, but one major disadvantage of these tables is their size which can be hundreds of gigs for complex tables. The author thought it would be extremely useful to have a personal web interface for your rainbow tables which you can access from anywhere on the web anywhere without having to carry the large tables with you everywhere you go. And well here we are, Wophcrack (Web)Ophcrack.

Rainbow tables are really useful when cracking password hashes, One disadvantage of these tables is their size which can get up to tens and even hundreds of gigs.
I really liked the Offensive security Crackpot online hash cracker and  i thought it would be really nice to have a web interface for my rainbow tables which i can access from web anywhere without having to carry them with me whenever i need them.

When cracking lm/ntlm hashes i really like using Ophcrack which provides a free GUI and CLI software along with some free and paid tables.

I wrote a quick and dirty PHP based web frontend for Ophcrack called Wophcrack, I must say i am not a programmer and i  am sure this could be done more efficiently and elegantly, anyway…its working fine , I thought maybe someone will find it useful so i decided to share it here.

Wophcrack was designed to work on Backtrack 4 R2, Although it can be install on any Linux distribution with some small adjustments, Wophcrack can also easily edited to support Rainbow crack.
Please read the requirements and installation notes before using Wophcrack.
Wophcrack will require some manual code adjustments to suite you environment.

Wophcrack Backtrack Installation

1. Download and Install ophcrack-cli
Backtrack doesn’t includes ophcrack-cli by default, you will need to download and install it manually
Get ophcrack-cli HERE

root@Blackbox:~/OphcrackWeb# dpkg -i ophcrack-cli_3.3.0-1_i386.deb

2. Configure cron
Give www-data user (apache) permissions to use cron

root@Blackbox:~# echo www-data > /etc/cron.allow

Auto start cron service on startup

root@Blackbox:~# update-rc.d cron defaults

Start the cron service

root@Blackbox:~# /etc/init.d/cron start

3. Create and import database
Create the database

root@Blackbox:~# mysql -u root -p

Enter password:

Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.

Your MySQL connection id is 34

Server version: 5.0.67-0ubuntu6 (Ubuntu)

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.

mysql> CREATE DATABASE cracker;

Query OK, 1 row affected (0.04 sec)

Import Wophcrack sql data

root@Blackbox:/var/www# mysql -u root -p cracker < cracker.sql

Auto start mysql service on startup

root@Blackbox:~# update-rc.d mysql defaults

Start the mysql service

root@Blackbox:~# /etc/init.d/mysql start

4. Configure Mail notifications
make sure your dns is configured properly in /etc/resolv.conf
edit ”/etc/hosts” and add at the top the following line with your ip address, hostname and domain name.
your-eth-ip hostname.domain.com hostname
Auto start sendmail service on startup

root@Blackbox:~# update-rc.d sendmail defaults

reStart the sendmail service

root@Blackbox:~# /etc/init.d/sendmail restart

You will also need to edit Wophcrack “rc.sh” file with you email address and domain line 8:

sendEmail -f cracker@domain.com -u 'Hash Result' -t $mail < /tmp/output.txt

5. Configure apache
Auto start apache service on startup

root@Blackbox:~# update-rc.d apache2 defaults

Start the apache service

root@Blackbox:~# /etc/init.d/apache start

6. Edit Wophcrack files
Wophcrack is designed to work from the “/var/www folder” in case you would like to move them into another dolder you will have to make some changes
Wophcrack will assume that your ophcrack rainbow tables home directory is located in “/pentest/RainbowTables” and each table files will be located in a sub folder with the following names:
tables_vista_free
tables_xp_free_fast
tables_xp_free_small
Vista_special
XP_special
In case you would like to place the tables in a different directory you will need to edit the following files:
index.php start from line 60:

tables_xp_free_small">XP Free Small
tables_xp_free_fast">XP Free Fast
XP_special">XP Special
tables_vista_free">Vista Free
Vista_special">Vista Special

You will also need to change path in the “rc.sh” file on line 3:

ophcrack-cli -g -d /pentest/passwords/RainbowTables/ -t /pentest/passwords/RainbowTables/$1 -f /tmp/temp.txt -o /tmp/output.txt

In case you plan to place Wophcrack in a directory which is not “/var/www” you will need to edit the following:
index.php line 41:

exec("echo \"* * * * * /var/www/rc.sh " . $info['hashset'] . "\" | crontab -");

rc.sh line 10:

php /var/www/check.php

check.php line 22:

exec("php /var/www/checkagain.php");

checkagain.php line 28:

exec("echo \"* * * * * /var/www/rc.sh " . $info['hashset'] . "\" | crontab -");

You can download Wophcrack Source Here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HAFUFHHK

or from here:

Wophcrack

: Title: Wophcrack Caption: Wophcrack File: wophcrack.zip Size: 17 kB

Installation:(For Backtrack user and Ubuntu Server)

1. Install mysql server

2. set user,password root or user for mysql server

3. create cracker database in mysql server
4. import cracker.sql into your mysql server

5. edit wophcrack/config.php with your environment.

6. edit my apache2 configuration(sites-available/default) file with (/pentest/password/wophcrack is my wophcrack path.)

        Alias /wophcrack "/pentest/password/wophcrack/"

                Options FollowSymLinks
                AllowOverride None
                Order allow,deny
                allow from all

7. I try to use rc.sh but it's not work 'cause ^M and ophcrack-cli in the script. And I try to fix it by myself like this.

#!/bin/bash
crontab -r
#the original line
#ophcrack-cli -g -d /pentest/passwords/RainbowTables/ -t /pentest/passwords/RainbowTables/$1 -f /tmp/temp.txt -o /tmp/output.txt
#my edit and rcrack/rainbow is my rainbow tables path.
ophcrack -g -d /pentest/passwords/rcrack/rainbow -t /pentest/passwords/rcrack/rainbow/$1 -f /tmp/temp.txt -o /tmp/output.txt

if [ $? -ne 0 ] ; then
        echo "Not Finished!";
else
        for mail in $(cat /tmp/mail.txt);do
                sendEmail -f materaj@gmail.com -u 'Hash Result' -t $mail < /tmp/output.txt
        done
        php /var/www/check.php
fi
########################################################

Source: http://exploit.co.il/hacking/wophcrack-ophcrack-web-interface/

Access Site Which are blocked at college,school or Company.

2011-05-05T09:19:00.000+05:30

The Tor software protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location, and it lets you access sites which are blocked.
The Tor Browser Bundle lets you use Tor on Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux without needing to install any software. It can run off a USB flash drive, comes with a pre-configured web browser, and is self-contained. The Tor IM Browser Bundle additionally allows instant messaging and chat over Tor. If you would prefer to use your existing web browser, install Tor permanently, or if you don't use Windows, see the other ways to download Tor.
Freedom House has produced a video on how to find and use the Tor Browser Bundle. If you don't see a video below, view it at Youtube . Know of a better video or one translated into your language? Let us know!

Download Tor Browser Bundle and Tor IM Browser Bundle

To start using the Tor Browser Bundle or Tor IM Browser Bundle, download the file for your preferred language. This file can be saved wherever is convenient, e.g. the Desktop or a USB flash drive.
If you have an unreliable Internet connection, it may be easier for you to download the bundle edition which is split up into smaller parts.

Linux instructions

Download the architecture-appropriate file above, save it somewhere, then run:
tar -xvzf tor-browser-gnu-linux-i686-1.1.8-dev-LANG.tar.gz or tor-browser-gnu-linux-x86_64-1.1.8-dev-LANG.tar.gz (where LANG is the language listed in the filename), and either double click on the directory or cd into it, then execute the start-tor-browser script. This will launch Vidalia and once that connects to Tor, it will launch Firefox. Do not unpack or run TBB as root.

Windows instructions

Extraction

Download the file above, and save it somewhere, then double click on it. Click on the button labelled "..." (1) and select where you want to save the bundle then click OK (2). At least 50 MB free space must be available in the location you select. If you want to leave the bundle on the computer, saving it to the Desktop is a good choice. If you want to move it to a different computer or limit the traces you leave behind, save it to a USB disk.
Click Extract (3) to begin extraction. This may take a few minutes to complete.

Usage

Once extraction is complete, open the folder Tor Browser from the location you saved the bundle.
Double click on the Start Tor Browser (4) application (it may be called Start Tor Browser.exe on some systems.)
The Vidalia window will shortly appear.

Once Tor is ready, Firefox will automatically be opened. Only web pages visited through the included Firefox browser will be sent via Tor. Other web browsers such as Internet Explorer are not affected. Make sure that it says "Tor Enabled" (5) in the bottom right corner before using it. To reduce the risk of confusion, don't run Firefox while using the Tor Browser Bundle, and close existing Firefox windows before starting.
If you installed the Tor IM Browser Bundle, the Pidgin instant messaging client will also be automatically opened.
Once you are finished browsing, close any open Firefox windows by clicking on the (6). For privacy reasons, the list of webpages you visited and any cookies will be deleted.

With the Tor Browser Bundle, Vidalia and Tor will automatically close. With the Tor IM Browser Bundle you need to also close Pidgin by right-clicking on the Pidgin icon (7), and choosing Quit (8).

To use the Tor Browser Bundle or Tor IM Browser Bundle again, repeat the steps in "Usage".
Remember that Tor anonymizes the origin of your traffic, and it encrypts everything inside the Tor network, but it can't encrypt your traffic between the Tor network and its final destination. If you are communicating sensitive information, you should use as much care as you would on the normal scary Internet — use HTTPS or other end-to-end encryption and authentication.

After a Long Gap....

2011-05-03T18:52:00.000+05:30

Guys its been a long time since i blogged on this site sorry for the very long gap...
would be posting many intresting posts from now on...
:) :)

Havij – Advanced Automated SQL Injection Tool

2010-09-21T17:43:00.000+05:30

Havij is an automated SQL Injection tool that helps penetration testers to find and exploit SQL Injection vulnerabilities on a web page.
It can take advantage of a vulnerable web application. By using this software user can perform back-end database fingerprint, retrieve DBMS users and password hashes, dump tables and columns, fetching data from the database, running SQL statements and even accessing the underlying file system and executing commands on the operating system.
The power of Havij that makes it different from similar tools is its injection methods. The success rate is more than 95% at injection vulnerable targets using Havij.
The user friendly GUI (Graphical User Interface) of Havij and automated settings and detections makes it easy to use for everyone even amateur users.

There is a free version available and also a more fully-featured commercial edition available here.
You can download Havij v1.12 Free Edition here:
Havij1.12Free.rar

Internet Explorer 9 Beta Available for Download

2010-09-21T17:22:00.000+05:30

For all the fans of the Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, the good news is that Microsoft has made available the Beta version of the new IE browser version 9.

Among the many other browsers IE still holds its place and it is due to the improved features that the users of IE still like using it.

Download here:
http://www.beautyoftheweb.com/

Run Android on Your Netbook or Desktop

2010-09-17T02:09:00.000+05:30

Would you like to try out Google’s Android OS on your netbook or desktop? Here’s how you can run Android from a flash drive and see how fast Android can run on real hardware!
Install Android On Your Flash Drive or Memory Card
First, make sure you have a flash drive or memory card inserted into your computer with around 256MB or more storage space. Remove any files you may need off of the drive, so you can use it to run Android on your computer.
Now you’re ready to download and setup Android on your drive. Head over to the Android x86 download page (link below), scroll down to the StableRelease section, and click View under android-x86-1.6-r2.iso. This will start the iso file downloading to your computer.

In the mean time, head over to the UNetbootin site (link below), and download it as well.

Once your downloads are complete, run UNetbootin. Click the bullet beside Diskimage, then click the “… “ button and select the Android ISO file you just downloaded. Finally, select the correct flash drive or memory card in the menu on the bottom, and click Ok.

UNetbootin will now copy the files to your flash drive. This may take a few moments, depending on your flash drive’s speed.

Once it’s finished, it will ask if you wish to reboot. If you want to go ahead and run Android, you can click Reboot; otherwise, just exit and run Android from your flash drive when you want.

If you want to try Android on a computer that has a CD/DVD drive, you could just burn the ISO to a disk and boot from it. Netbooks don’t have CD drives, and even on a desktop, it can be nice to not waste a CD just for this. If you want to burn it to a disk, you can do it easily from Windows7 or with a free program such as freeburn.

Using Android-x86 On Your Computer
Now you’re ready to run Android on your netbook, laptop, or even a full desktop computer. Simply reboot your computer with the USB drive, and select to boot from it. Not all computers will automatically boot from a USB device, so you may have to press F2, F10, or another key, depending on your computer, and change the Boot options in the bios.

Now, when you boot from the USB drive, select Live CD – Run Android-x86 without installation.

You’ll see a text prompt for a few moments as Android begins to load.

Then you’ll see the Android boot screen, though we only saw it for a moment, as our computer booted really fast into Android.

After a couple seconds, you’ll see the Android desktop … on your netbook or computer! You can quickly access one of the apps on the home screen, or open the menu to see more options.

Click and hold to open a context menu, such as to change the background or add a desktop widget.

Or, press your mouse’s right button to open a menu, such as to open a new tab in the browser.

It works very good as a quick way to get online; the Android browser is actually quite capable for normal browsing, and worked very well in our tests. With a 10 second or less boot time, you may enjoy using this as an alternate to Puppy Linux or other light distros for a quick way to get online securely.

You can even install new applications with the included AndAppStore, though these will only be installed while this Android session is running. If you reboot your computer, you’ll only see the default applications and settings again.

Android x86 supports all of the hardware, including cameras and Wi-Fi, on several Netbooks and laptops; check the link below to see if yours is supported. In our test, our camera wasn’t supported, and we additionally had to connect to the internet via Ethernet since it didn’t detect our Wi-Fi card.

For the most part, Android was very responsive, but anything that would fade out the desktop such as opening a dialog box or a menu would run very slowly and even make the mouse feel jerky. Additionally, we couldn’t get it to boot on our desktop with an AMD processor. You could install Android to your hard drive, but we wouldn’t recommend it considering the limitations and issues it has. But, it is very fun to play with from a flash drive or memory card, and you may even feel adventurous enough to try installing it. Be warned, though; this isn’t for the weak of heart!
Conclusion
If you’re curious about how Android works and would like to try it out on a real machine, this is a great way to see how fast a mobile OS can be on a netbook or desktop. We wish it was more stable and could actually store programs and settings on the flash drive, but it did work as a nice substitute for Puppy Linux or other light, Live CD distros. It runs much faster on a real computer than in the emulator. Since you’re running it from a flash drive, you don’t have to worry about messing anything up, so go ahead and try it for research or fun.

Links
Download Android x86
Download UNetbootin
See if Your Netbook or Laptop is Fully Supported

How Do I Hide from Specific People on Facebook Chat?

2010-09-17T01:54:00.000+05:30

Everybody’s got that one family member on Facebook that you just don’t want to talk to, but they bug you every time you sign into Facebook chat anyway—here’s how to sign on without them seeing you.
The simple solution to this problem is to create a new List for the friends you want to hide from, and then set that list to offline in Facebook chat. You can start off by clicking on Friends on the left-hand menu.

Then click on the Create a List button, of course…

First, you’ll want to give the list a name—I chose “Hidden Chat” since it seemed logical. Next, add your annoying family members and co-workers to the list, as well as anybody that doesn’t eat delicious Reuben sandwiches.

Now pop up your Facebook Chat screen, and click the little green toggle switch.

At this point you’ll be signed out for those people. Yay!

You can also easily add or remove people from the Hidden Chat list by just clicking the little edit link that launches the List edit screen.

Use Email to Send Text Messages (SMS) to Mobile Phones for Free

2010-09-17T01:48:00.000+05:30

Sometimes being able to send out a quick text message to someone you know would definitely be helpful. But what if you are at your computer and can not use your mobile phone? Just fire up your favorite email account and get that message out using the SMS Gateway addresses that we have collected together for you.

Photo by Steve Webel.
Note: Sending an email is always free, but the person that receives the message will probably be charged for a text message. Keep that in mind when using this.

Sending Text Messages

To get started simply enter the SMS Gateway address in the same way that you would with an email address, compose your message, and then send it on its’ way.

In just a short while your family, friends, or coworkers will have the new SMS show up on their mobile.

SMS Gateway Listing

To use the SMS Gateway addresses shown here enter the 10 digit mobile phone number for the person you are sending a message to in front of the appropriate address (i.e. 1234567890@carrier.com).
Note: SMS Gateways shown here are for U.S. carriers only (links for additional U.S. & International carriers at end of article).

Alltel Wireless	mobile-number@message.Alltel.com (SMS & MMS) mobile-number@text.wireless.alltel.com (SMS) mobile-number@mms.alltel.net (MMS)
AT&T Wireless	mobile-number@txt.att.net (SMS) mobile-number@mms.att.net (MMS)
AT&T Mobility (formerly Cingular)	mobile-number@cingularme.com mobile-number@mobile.mycingular.com
Boost Mobile	mobile-number@myboostmobile.com
Cricket	mobile-number@sms.mycricket.com (SMS) mobile-number@mms.mycricket.com (MMS)
Metro PCS	mobile-number@mymetropcs.com
Sprint (PCS)	mobile-number@messaging.sprintpcs.com SMS) mobile-number@pm.sprint.com (MMS)
Sprint (Nextel)	mobile-number@page.nextel.com (SMS) mobile-number@messaging.nextel.com (Rich Messaging)
Straight Talk	mobile-number@VTEXT.COM (SMS) mobile-number@mypixmessages.com (MMS)
T-Mobile	mobile-number@tmomail.net (MMS)
U.S. Cellular	mobile-number@email.uscc.net (SMS) mobile-number@mms.uscc.net (MMS)
Verizon	mobile-number@vtext.com (SMS) mobile-number@vzwpix.com (MMS)
Virgin Mobile	mobile-number@vmobl.com (SMS) mobile-number@vmpix.com (MMS)

Finding Additional SMS Gateway Addresses

Photo by keepthebyte.
If your mobile phone carrier is not listed here you can find additional SMS Gateway addresses for the U.S. and International companies using these websites.
List of SMS gateways (Wikipedia)
Email to SMS Gateways, Complete List
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) email delivery

Undo Send Email Time Increased by Gmail

2010-09-17T01:41:00.000+05:30

Gmail has a brilliant feature of recalling a sent email or undo send email within certain specified time. This happens many times that we send the email to some other recipient or forget to attach the attachment with the message; this feature comes very useful in this case.

You must have noticed this feature besides the email sent notification as shown in the image above. If you have not come across this feature then you need to enable this feature by visiting the settings option. To activate this feature, you need to visit Settings -> Labs -> ‘Enable undo send‘ option.
Gmail has also increased the undo send time from earlier 20 seconds to now 30 seconds. To update the new undo send time you need to change the “Send cancellation period” again in the Settings option.
This is one feature that everyone should use as it reduces the unwanted message from being sent to the intended or unintended recipient.

Steps to Remove Win32:Rootkit-gen[Rtk] Virus

2010-09-17T01:37:00.000+05:30

Win32:Rootkit-gen[Rtk], another Virus, another addition in the list and another solution to remove it. Faced by some of our readers, this was an irritating problem that their PC was infected by this virus.

Symptoms of the problem:
•    Win32:Rootkit-gen[Rtk] virus infection notice.
•    Resides in ur0.com file which happens to be a virus itself.
•    Also resides in System Volume Information folder.
•    May also prevent double click opening of a drive.
Solution:
Steps to remove ur0.com virus
•    Run Task Manager, delete the ur0.com process, if any.
•    Run msconfig in the Run box and remove the virus file from startup list, if any.
•    Reboot into safe mode, search the ur0.com file, and remember to include hidden files option as well.
•    Permanently delete the files found.
Steps to remove Win32:Rootkit-gen[Rtk] Virus
•    The only reason why this virus infects the PC again is that, it has been saved in the System Restore files.
•    So turn off the System Restore now (Right click on My Computer-> Properties-> System Restore tab-> click on Turn off System Restore on all drives).
•    Reboot the PC to let the restore files to get deleted.
•    Now just turn on the system restore.
The virus has been removed!!

Steps to Remove csrcs.exe or csrsc.exe Virus

2010-09-17T01:35:00.000+05:30

This was the error message faced by one of our readers that when he boots the PC up, the CSRCS.exe error message comes up on the screen.
csrsc.exe is a process which is registered as W32.Spybot.CF Virus. DO NOT confuse it with csrss.exe which is an important file used by Windows. The attackers of this virus can access our computer and gain access to some important data remotely.
Steps to remove this virus:
1.    Scan the system with a good and updated Anti Virus.
2.    Open Task Manager, locate this exe (csrcs.exe or csrsc.exe but not csrss.exe), and kill the process.
3.    Now type msconfig in the Run box, and then go to startup tab.
4.    Locate this exe file, if any, and then remove it from there as well.
5.    Now search the file in the C: drive.
6.    Permanently delete the file (csrcs.exe or csrsc.exe only) from the computer.
7.    Reboot the PC for changes to take place.
UPDATE
After doing the above steps, you need to clean the registry as well.

Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\
On the right side, there is a key named “Shell”, it may be having a value “explorer.exe csrcs.exe”. Just modify it to delete the csrcs.exe from it (not explorer.exe). Restart the computer

The virus should have gone.

Solution to ‘You may be a victim of software counterfeiting’ Problem

2010-09-17T01:34:00.000+05:30

Microsoft has started bugging the users of non genuine copies of Windows. If you are also running a non genuine or pirated copy of Windows then there is a full chance of you getting this notification one day or the other.

The problem was reported by one of our viewers that when she updated her copy of Windows with Windows Update then her system started showing this notification that reads “You may be a victim of software counterfeiting” and “This copy of windows does not pass genuine Windows validation”.

These notifications start coming back again after some time and do not feel good. Though I never encourage piracy but here is how you can remove this problem:
1.    Before doing anything serious try restoring your system. If the problem is occurring after the Windows Update then System Restore will surely help.
2.    But if it does not then do try this, launch Windows Task Manager.
3.    Locate the process “wgatray.exe” and end it.
4.    Log in into the Safe Mode and delete the file WgaTray.exe from c:\Windows\System32
5.    Also delete the WgaTray.exe from c:\Windows\System32\dllcache
6.    Type regedit in Run to open Registry Editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify key.
7.    Delete the folder WgaLogon and all of its contents.
8.    Restart the PC normally.
Update:
Download this WGA remover tool called RemoveWGA.exe, just download it and run.

Solution to remove Write Protection from USB Pen Drive

2010-09-17T01:29:00.001+05:30

This seems to be the problem of most of us these days and some of our readers who wanted to know the methods how they can remove the Write Protected error from their USB drives like Pen Drives and memory cards.

What is Write Protected error and why it happens?
In the Write Protected error, we can’t write or copy any data in our flash drives and even can’t format the drive.
There are many reasons that cause this problem, let’s see solutions of them.
Solutions:
•    First of all try to locate a small switch (if any, that you may have not noticed) at some place on the drive or memory card reader. This is the prime reason for this error. If there is one, switch it to the other side to turn the protection off.
•    Yes I know this problem is also occurring these days without this switch but not to worry. Just download this helpful software from here and run it to execute a “low-level format” on the drive. This software is quite handy and may take few attempts to actually remove the error.
•    The problem can also be caused by some virus activity so just get it scanned by some updated good anti virus which may solve your problem.
•    BUT if none of the methods listed above solves your problem then your pen drive might have gone corrupted, so just get it replaced.
Hope any of the methods listed above solves your problem.
Update 1:
After the low level format, you may need to “Partition the drive“. Dont worry, partitioning a pen drive means allocating it its File System and Cluster Size that was lost after the Low Level Format.
For that:

Run diskmgmt.msc in Run.
In the disk management window, select the pen drive, right click on it and click on Format.
Now choose the File System and Allocation Unit Size and do not check the boxes below.

Click OK and the drive will be reusable after this.
Update 2 (Better Solution):
Follow the steps in this post and just put the value 0 (zero) in step 5.
This will surely solve your problem now.
Update 3 (Solution Working):
Thanks to one of our readers Jim, who let us know about the tool called Neo 9, using which we can easily this write protection problem.
For transcend drive users, try the tool at this link, it has been found to work.
http://www.transcendusa.com/support/dlcenter/ORT_Software.asp?Link=OnLineRecovery.exe

Steps to Remove regsvr.exe Virus

2010-09-17T01:26:00.000+05:30

There are so many types of computer viruses in this world that removing them and finding a specific solution for each of them is a big ask. One such virus that screwed me is regsvr.exe classified as a W32.Imaut worm.
It has become a daily routine that when I plug my pen drive in my college systems (full of all kinds of viruses), it gets infected by the viruses instantly. Though the Anti Virus I use (Symantec) successfully detects and remove them but I feel that I should discuss the steps to remove regsvr.exe virus.
What the regsvr.exe virus does?
•    This worm creates folders and a registry entry to enable its automatic execution at every system startup.
•    This worm also creates a scheduled task to enable its automatic execution at a specified date and/or time.
•    It also creates Autorun.inf file for its auto execution.
Solution to fix the problem:
1.    If the task manager and registry editor is disabled then we need to enable them first. Read this post.
2.    Delete the Autorun.inf file created by the virus. Read this post to know how to do that.
3.    Now type msconfig in the Run dialog and click on startup tab.
4.    Look for regsvr and uncheck any options, click OK.
5.    Now traverse to control panel -> scheduled tasks, and delete the At1 task that might be listed there.
6.    Type regedit in the Run dialog to open the registry editor.
7.    Click on Edit -> Find and search for regsvr.exe
8.    Just delete all the occurrences of regsvr.exe virus (do not confuse it with regsvr32.exe which is not a virus).
9.    Navigate to entry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon and modify the entry Shell = “Explorer.exe regsvr.exe” to delete the regsvr.exe from it.

10. Now to actually delete the virus from the system go to system32 folder and delete the regsvr.exe virus file from there (you will need to uncheck the option of “Hide Protected System Files and Folders” in Folder Options to view the virus file).
Reboot the system for changes to take place.

What is rundll32.exe And Why Is It Running?

2010-09-17T00:30:00.001+05:30

You are no doubt reading this article because you’ve looked in task manager and wondered what on earth all those rundll32.exe processes are, and why they are running… So what are they?
Explanation
If you’ve been around Windows for any amount of time, you’ve seen the zillions of *.dll (Dynamic Link Library) files in every application folder, which are used to store common pieces of application logic that can be accessed from multiple applications.
Since there’s no way to directly launch a DLL file, the rundll32.exe application is simply used to launch functionality stored in shared .dll files. This executable is a valid part of Windows, and normally shouldn’t be a threat.
Note: the valid process is normally located at \Windows\System32\rundll32.exe, but sometimes spyware uses the same filename and runs from a different directory in order to disguise itself. If you think you have a problem, you should always run a scan to be sure, but we can verify exactly what is going on… so keep reading.
Using Windows Vista’s Task Manager
One of the great features in Windows Vista’s Task Manager is the ability to see the full command line for any running application. For instance, you’ll see that I have two rundll32.exe processes in my list here:

If you go to View \ Select Columns, you’ll see the option for “Command Line” in the list, which you’ll want to check.

Now you can see the full path for the file in the list, which you’ll notice is the valid path for rundll32.exe in the System32 directory, and the argument is another DLL that is actually what is being run.

If you browse down to locate that file, which in this example is nvmctray.dll, you’ll usually see what it actually is when you hover your mouse over the filename:

Otherwise, you can open up the Properties and take a look at the Details to see the file description, which usually will tell you the purpose for that file.

Once we know what it is, we can figure out if we want to disable it or not, which we’ll cover below. If there isn’t any information at all, you should either Google it, or ask somebody on a helpful forum.
Using Process Explorer on Vista or XP
Instead of using Task Manager, we can use the freeware Process Explorer utility from Microsoft to figure out what is going on, which has the benefit of also working in Windows XP.
Simply launch Process Explorer, and if you are using Vista you’ll want to choose File \ Show Details for All Processes.

Now when you hover over the rundll32.exe in the list, you’ll see a tooltip with the details of what it actually is:

Or you can right-click, choose Properties, and then take a look at the Image tab to see the full pathname that is being launched, and you can even see the Parent process, which in this case is the Windows shell (explorer.exe), indicating that it was likely launched from a shortcut or startup item.

You can browse down and view the details of the file just like we did in the task manager section above. In my instance, it’s a part of the NVIDIA control panel, and so I’m not going to do anything about it.
Disabling the Process
Depending on what the process is, you won’t want to necessarily disable it, but if you would like to, you can type msconfig.exe into the start menu search or run box and you should be able to find it by the Command column, which should be the same as the “Command line” field we saw in Process Explorer. Simply uncheck the box to prevent it from starting automatically.

Sometimes the process doesn’t actually have a startup item, in which case you’ll likely have to do some research to figure out where it was started from. For instance, if you open up Display Properties on XP you’ll see another rundll32.exe in the list, because Windows internally uses rundll32 to run that dialog.
When all else fails, you should post the full command path over on a helpful forum and get advice from somebody else that might know more about it.

What are wmpnscfg.exe and wmpnetwk.exe and Why Are They Running?

2010-09-17T00:28:00.004+05:30

So you’ve been going through Task Manager trying to figure out why so many services are running when you notice there’s two items for Windows Media Player in the list… but you don’t even use Media Player. What’s up with that?
It’s not like the processes take a lot of memory… I just get irritated when there’s a process that restarts for no good reason. You disable it, and then somehow it’s back. Annoying!

What Is This Service Anyway?
Windows Media Player 11 can share media between different computers on the same network, and can even share media with the XBox 360 as well. For this to work, there’s a network sharing service that shares the library even if Media Player isn’t open. It’s really a great system if you use it.
Both of these processes are part of the Windows Media Player Sharing system, so if you use those features you should not disable it.
Disabling Media Sharing in Media Player
The best way to remove these services is to just use the configuration panel… that way they don’t come back the next time Media Player gets opened, accidentally or otherwise.
Open up Windows Media Player, and then click on the little arrow under “Library” and choose the “Media Sharing” option from the menu.

If you are using a custom theme, or otherwise can’t get to that menu, you can also open the Options panel, choose the Library tab, and then click on “Configure Sharing”

Either one of the above will bring you to the Media Sharing dialog. Uncheck both of the boxes that you see here.
Note: If they are unchecked, you should check them, click apply, and then uncheck them and click OK… basically to reset the settings.

Once you hit the OK button, you’ll be prompted with an extremely important dialog… do you want to turn sharing off for everybody? Yes!

This will actually turn off the service, and remove the startup entry for wmpnscfg.exe. (Note that you’ll have to kill that process manually the first time, or log off and back on)
At this point you should be able to use your computer without either of those two processes running. If you continue to have problems getting rid of them, you can read down further for more troubleshooting steps.
Disabling Media Player Network Sharing Service in Services
You shouldn’t actually need to do this part, as using the configuration instructions above should work… but if you are having problems getting rid of it, here’s where you need to go.
Open up Services from Control Panel, or type services.msc into the start menu search/run box. Find the service in the list:

Open it up by double-clicking on it, and then change the service to Disabled.

One note here… If you try to re-enable Media Sharing in Media Player, it will ignore the fact that it’s disabled. This is why you need to make the configuration change there as well.
Alternative Methods using Regedit
If you are still having issues, you can do some further checking to make sure that the two services won’t be re-enabled again. Open up regedit.exe through the start menu search or run box, and then browse down to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Preferences\HME

There should be a DWORD value on the right-hand side named DisableDiscovery which you can set to a value of 2 (setting it to 1 also worked for me). Just make sure that it’s not set to 0.
To make sure that the wmpnscfg.exe is turned off, you can browse down to the following key in the registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

This is where Windows turns that application on… if there’s an item for it in this list, then delete it.

What is ctfmon.exe And Why Is It Running?

2010-09-17T00:27:00.001+05:30

You are no doubt reading this article because you are frustrated with the ctfmon.exe process that just won’t stop opening no matter what you do. You remove it from the startup items and it just magically reappears. So what is it?
Ctfmon is the Microsoft process that controls Alternative User Input and the Office Language bar. It’s how you can control the computer via speech or a pen tablet, or using the onscreen keyboard inputs for asian languages.
If you are using any of the above, you should leave it enabled. For everybody else, we’ll get to the job of disabling this annoying service.

Depending on your system configuration, there are a number of different steps to disable it. I’ve tried to list all the methods below.
Step 1: Disabling in Microsoft Office 2003
We can remove the alternative text input from Microsoft Office 2003 by just removing that feature in the setup.
Note: I haven’t figured out where the equivalent setting is for Office 2007 (if there is one), but we can also disable it a different way below.
Go to Add/Remove programs, choose to Change your installation of Microsoft Office and make sure you check the box for “Choose advanced customization of applications” before you hit next.

Find “Alternative User Input” in the list and change the dropdown to “Not available” so it looks like this:

Step 2a: Disabling in Windows XP
There’s an additional step we can take to make sure it gets turned off in Windows XP, which really seems to be the best answer for XP users.
Open up Control Panel and choose Regional and Language Options.

Choose the Languages tab and then click on Details in the top section.

Now on the Advanced tab you can choose to “Turn off advanced text services”, which should immediately close ctfmon.

You’ll also want to take a look at the first Settings tab, and make sure that your “Installed Services” box looks similar to this one:

If you have more than one Installed service then ctfmon might come back… For instance on my system there was an input for my drawing tablet so I could use it as a text input… which I don’t care about, so I clicked Remove on it.
Step 2b: Disabling in Windows Vista
The setting above for completely disabling text services doesn’t seem to exist in Windows Vista as far as I can tell, but we can remove the additional input services using a similar method.
Open Control Panel, choose Regional and Language Options and then find “Change keyboards or other input methods”.

On the Keyboards and Languages tab, you can select Change keyboards.

Now you’ll finally be at the same screen as in Windows XP. You’ll again want to remove the extra installed services in the list other than your default keyboard language.

Step 3: Remove From Startup
You won’t want to perform this step before doing the others, because it will just be overwritten again. Open up msconfig.exe through the start menu run or search box, and then find the Startup tab.

Find ctfmon in the list and disable it by unchecking the box. Just remember that if you haven’t disabled ctfmon through one of the other settings this won’t help you a lot.
Step 4: If all else fails
You can just completely unregister the dlls that run the alternative input services by running these two commands from the run box (one at a time)

Regsvr32.exe /u msimtf.dll
Regsvr32.exe /u msctf.dll

If you perform this step, you should also use Step 3 to get rid of the startup entries.
Step 5: Reboot
Reboot your computer and then open a Microsoft Office application if you do have that installed. Verify that ctfmon.exe is not running.
For more information you can read the Microsoft article on the subject.

What is dwm.exe And Why Is It Running?

2010-09-17T00:24:00.001+05:30

You are no doubt reading this article because you are wondering why this dwm.exe process is taking more memory than you think it should, and you are curious what it does. Thankfully for you, we have the answer.
So What Is It Anyway?
Desktop Window Manager (dwm.exe) is the compositing window manager that gives you all those pretty effects in Windows Vista: Transparent windows, live taskbar thumbnails (that you can resize now), and even the Flip3D switcher that you can disable and replace with Switcher.

What happens in Vista is that applications write the picture of their window to a specific place in memory, and then Windows creates one “composite” view of all the windows on the screen before sending it to your monitor. Because Vista is keeping track of the contents of each window, it can add effects when layering the windows such as the transparency we’re all used to, as well as the live preview thumbnails.
The benefit to using this approach is that Windows Vista can utilize the hardware acceleration features in your video card to create very smooth animations for minimizing and restoring, and even for the transparent effects.
What about Memory Usage?
If you open up Task Manager, you can see the dwm.exe process in the list, typically taking somewhere between 30-50MB of memory in my testing:

The size of the DWM process is controlled by the number of windows that you have open, since each window requires a buffer in memory to store the contents of the window. If you have a large number of very large windows open, DWM will use more memory.
The benefits of using a compositing window manager are worth that relatively small amount of memory under most circumstances.
Does Switching to the Vista Basic Theme Turn it Off?
The short answer is no, just switching to the Vista Basic theme will not turn off DWM, but it will reduce the memory usage a great deal.

How do you switch to Vista Basic? Just right-click on the desktop, choose Personalize, and then Window Color and Appearance:

Click on classic appearance properties at the bottom:

Then choose Windows Vista Basic and click the Apply button:

Note that I’m not recommending switching to the Basic theme, just explaining how to do it.
So How Do I Turn dwm.exe Off Then?
Note that I don’t recommend turning this off unless you are playing games in fullscreen mode, and even then it likely won’t help increase speed.
The only way to get rid of the dwm.exe process is to stop the service from running. Open up Services from Control Panel or the start menu, and then find the “Desktop Window Manager Session Manager” service in the list, and click the stop button. Note that you will be switched to the Vista Basic theme when you click the button.

To permanently disable it, double click on the item and select Disabled from the “Startup type” drop-down:

If you want to use the command line instead, you can open an administrator mode command prompt and use one of these commands:

Stop Service	net stop uxsms
Start Service	net start uxsms
Disable Service	sc config uxsms start= disabled
Enable Service	sc config uxsms start= auto

By now you should understand what the process does… do you really still want to get rid of it?

What is jusched.exe And Why Is It Running?

2010-09-17T00:21:00.003+05:30

If you’ve looked in Task Manager and wondered what on earth the jusched.exe process is and if you can turn it off, then you are in luck. This process is the Java Update scheduler, which is a process that wastes memory all the time just to check once a month whether there are new updates to Java.
There’s a scheduled tasks feature built into Windows for this type of thing… the java update scheduler is obviously not being used for critical updates since it’s only scheduled to check once each month. Since I simply can’t understand why the process needs to waste my memory, it has to go.

What you’ll need to do is open up Control Panel, and then if you are in XP you can click on the Java icon, or in Vista you can click on Additional Options, and then click on Java.
Once you have the Java Control Panel open, select the Update tab, and then uncheck the box for “Check for Updates Automatically”

You’ll receive a warning message stating that if somebody finds a security hole in Java that it will take up to a month before you are protected from it:

Does anybody else think that the sentence should read “the fastest and most secure Java” instead of the way it’s worded?
After you click the Never Check button above, you’ll probably receive this error message if you are in Windows Vista, stating that it also hasn’t been properly certified to work with Vista in the first place. Just click that it works correctly.

That does make me wonder… I guess we’ll miss the update that fixes the problem with the control panel… or will we? What you can do instead is schedule a task to run monthly using the built-in Task scheduler. If you don’t care about updates to Java, then disregard the next part.

Schedule Java Update Check (Optional)
Just type in Task Scheduler into the start menu search box to open the task scheduler, and then click on Create Basic Task.

Follow the wizard along to pick a month and date, and then when you get to the “Start a Program” screen, use this as the path, adjusting if you are running a different version of Java. The key thing is that you run the jucheck.exe in your Java directory.

“C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_01\bin\jucheck.exe”

Now when the scheduled task runs once a month, or whenever you schedule it, you’ll get this dialog if there is a new version, or another dialog stating there are no updates to Java.

It’s actually somewhat ironic that there’s an update to Java on the day that I write this article…

What is svchost.exe And Why Is It Running?

2010-09-17T00:20:00.001+05:30

You are no doubt reading this article because you are wondering why on earth there are nearly a dozen processes running with the name svchost.exe. You can’t kill them, and you don’t remember starting them… so what are they?
So What Is It?
According to Microsoft: “svchost.exe is a generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries”. Could we have that in english please?
Some time ago, Microsoft started moving all of the functionality from internal Windows services into .dll files instead of .exe files. From a programming perspective this makes more sense for reusability… but the problem is that you can’t launch a .dll file directly from Windows, it has to be loaded up from a running executable (.exe). Thus the svchost.exe process was born.
Why Are There So Many svchost.exes Running?
If you’ve ever taken a look at the Services section in control panel you might notice that there are a Lot of services required by Windows. If every single service ran under a single svchost.exe instance, a failure in one might bring down all of Windows… so they are separated out.
Those services are organized into logical groups, and then a single svchost.exe instance is created for each group. For instance, one svchost.exe instance runs the 3 services related to the firewall. Another svchost.exe instance might run all the services related to the user interface, and so on.
So What Can I Do About It?
You can trim down unneeded services by disabling or stopping the services that don’t absolutely need to be running. Additionally, if you are noticing very heavy CPU usage on a single svchost.exe instance you can restart the services running under that instance.
The biggest problem is identifying what services are being run on a particular svchost.exe instance… we’ll cover that below.
If you are curious what we’re talking about, just open up Task Manager and check the “Show processes from all users” box:

Checking From the Command Line (Vista or XP Pro)
If you want to see what services are being hosted by a particular svchost.exe instance, you can use the tasklist command from the command prompt in order to see the list of services.

tasklist /SVC

The problem with using the command line method is that you don’t necessarily know what these cryptic names refer to.
Checking in Task Manager in Vista
You can right-click on a particular svchost.exe process, and then choose the “Go to Service” option.

This will flip over to the Services tab, where the services running under that svchost.exe process will be selected:

The great thing about doing it this way is that you can see the real name under the Description column, so you can choose to disable the service if you don’t want it running.
Using Process Explorer in Vista or XP
You can use the excellent Process Explorer utility from Microsoft/Sysinternals to see what services are running as a part of a svchost.exe process.
Hovering your mouse over one of the processes will show you a popup list of all the services:

Or you can double-click on a svchost.exe instance and select the Services tab, where you can choose to stop one of the services if you choose.

Disabling Services
Open up Services from the administrative tools section of Control Panel, or type services.msc into the start menu search or run box.
Find the service in the list that you’d like to disable, and either double-click on it or right-click and choose Properties.

Change the Startup Type to Disabled, and then click the Stop button to immediately stop it.

You could also use the command prompt to disable the service if you choose. In this command “trkwks” is the Service name from the above dialog, but if you go back to the tasklist command at the beginning of this article you’ll notice you can find it there as well.

Windows errors related to sched.exe?

2010-09-17T00:17:00.000+05:30

sched.exe is a process belonging to Avira Internet Security Suite which protects your computer against Internet-bound threats such as spyware and trojans which can be distributed through e-mail or attack directly to the computer allowing unauthorized access to your computer. This program is important for the stable and secure running of your computer and should not be terminated.

Other instances of SCHED.EXE:

1) sched.exe is the AntiVir Scheduler Service. This runs scheduled virus scans, set from within the AntiVir software. It could also be also responsible for the automatic download and installation of virus definitions and updates to the software.

Warning: Multiple instances of SCHED may be running on your pc at one time. Some of these may or may not be the legitimate versions.

What is SearchIndexer.exe and Why Is It Running?

2010-09-17T00:10:00.001+05:30

You’re no doubt reading this article because you’re wondering what that SearchIndexer.exe process is all about, and why it’s chewing up a lot of RAM or CPU. Here’s the explanation you’re looking for, and how to deal with it.

So What Is This Process?

SearchIndexer.exe is the Windows service that handles indexing of your files for Windows Search, which fuels the file search engine built into Windows that powers everything from the Start Menu search box to Windows Explorer, and even the Libraries feature.
You can see this for yourself by simply right-clicking on the process name in the Task Manager list, and then choosing Go to Service(s) from the menu.

This will take you to the Services tab, where you can clearly see the Windows Search item selected in the list.

If you take a look at the file properties, you can clearly see that this particular executable is the Indexer component for Windows Search—though the name probably gave that away already.

How Do You Stop This Process?

If you want to stop the service from running, you can open up Services through Control Panel, or type in services.msc into the Start Menu search box. Once you’re there, you can find Windows Search in the list and click the Stop button.

We wouldn’t recommend disabling the service—you can simply uninstall it if you don’t want it.

How Do You Uninstall This Service?

We’re not recommending that you uninstall the Windows Search service, since it powers so much of the behind the scenes stuff in Windows 7, but if you want to remove it you can type windows features into the Control Panel search to pull up the Turn Windows features on or off screen. In here you can simply uncheck Windows Search and click the OK button. You’ll probably have to reboot your PC once that’s done.

How Can I Make SearchIndexer Use Less RAM or CPU?

Your best option is to cut down on the amount of data that you’re indexing—there’s usually no reason to index every single file on your drive. You’ll need to open up the Indexing Options through the Control Panel or Start Menu search box to make the changes.
The first thing you should notice is the Pause button on this window, which can pause indexing for up to 15 minutes—useful if you’re trying to do something and Windows Search happens to be in overdrive mode, though it really shouldn’t since it only runs while your PC is idle.

You’ll want to click the Modify button and then trim down the list of locations to just the ones you really need indexed—this can seriously improve the performance of your Start Menu search box as well.

Advanced Tip: Make Windows Search Index Only Filenames

If you click the Advanced button on the Indexing Options dialog, you’ll be able to access another set of settings—what we’re looking for here is the File Types tab on this dialog. Once you’re there, scroll down to some common formats like doc, docx, and other files, and you’ll see that they are configured to search the file contents by default.

If you don’t actually search within the files and only care about the file names, you can trim down the index by changing this setting to Index Properties Only.

Conclusion: This Process Shouldn’t Be Removed

You really shouldn’t remove this process, but hopefully the lessons in this article will help you trim it down to size, and remember that you can always temporarily stop the service if you feel like it.

Using the Best Facebook Proxy Sites

2010-09-17T00:04:00.002+05:30

Numerous Facebook proxy sites offer privacy and anonymous user features. Locating the proxy sites that are user friendly, easy to navigate and work on most all operating systems should be the desired functions of an ideal proxy site. Here are some top Facebook proxy sites that offer users the features they seek:

Facebook Oxy

This proxy site issues you a new IP address and allows you to view Facebook without leaving any traces of your computer information. Minimal advertising on the site is limited to pertinent software and Facebook ads. The ability to connect with friends or other interests is done privately and securely using this site.

Faceoxy

The Faceoxy site is clean and easy to navigate. They issue you a new IP address to surf Facebook safely and anonymously. Other chat users will only be able to view the IP address of Faceoxy and not yours, which gives the site a high recommendation among Facebook proxy searchers. The site also features pop-up blockers and anti-spamware that will keep any malicious data from being downloaded to your computer.

Find Duplicate Files in your Computer with SearchMyFiles

2010-09-16T23:54:00.001+05:30

I come across a useful tool called SearchMyFiles that is in fact the alternative to the default Windows’ Search for files and folders option. SearchMyFiles also allows you to easily search files in your system by wildcard, by last modified/created/last accessed time, by file attributes, by file content (text or binary search), and by the file size.
Not only this, SearchMyFiles allows you to make a very accurate search that cannot be done with Windows search. For Example: You can search all files created in the last 10 minutes with size between 500 and 700 bytes. After you made a search, you can select one or more files, and save the list into text/html/csv/xml file, or copy the list to the clipboard.
The tool is free and portable that is it requires no installation and can be run directly from the USB drive as well thereby not leaving any traces in the registry. The tool is supported on all versions of windows starting from Windows 2000 and up to Windows 7.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/searchmyfiles.zip