Metadata Consulting

InPrivate/Incognito Browsing leaves traces in index.dat/Google Browser history online!

2012-02-02T13:07:00.000-05:00

Microsoft describes "InPrivate Browsing" mode as;

"When checking e-mail at an Internet café or shopping for a gift on a family PC, you don't want to leave any trace of specific web browsing activity. InPrivate Browsing in Internet Explorer 8 helps prevent your browsing history, temporary Internet files, form data, cookies, and usernames and passwords from being retained by the browser, leaving no evidence of your browsing or search history

This however, isn't strictly true. Sure, you can delete the history, cookies and even Temporary Internet Files, but what Microsoft has NOT told you is that just like regular mode, EVERY website you visit, whether in "InPrivate" browsing mode or not - is recorded in the index.dat files.

Windows 7 index.dat locations
C:\Users\\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies\index.dat
C:\Users\\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies\Low\index.dat
C:\Users\\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History\History.IE5\index.dat
C:\Users\\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History\History.IE5\Low\index.dat
C:\Users\\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History\History.IE5\index.dat\MSHistXXXXXXXXXXX\index.dat
C:\Users\\Local\Microsoft\Windows\History\History.IE5\Low\index.dat\MSHistXXXXXXXXXXX\index.dat
C:\Users\\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\index.dat
C:\Users\\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Low\Content.IE5index.dat
C:\Users\\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\UserData\index.dat
C:\Users\\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\UserData\Low\index.dat

Google Chrome stores history, bookmarks, saved password, thumbnails,etc at "[Username]\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data". So you can wipe out all browsing traces by deleting this folder.

A new window will open with the icon in the corner. You can continue browsing as normal in the other window.

You can also use the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+Shift+N (Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS) and ⌘-Shift-N (Mac) to open an incognito window.

Browsing in incognito mode only keeps Google Chrome from storing information about the websites you've visited. The websites you visit may still have records of your visit. Any files saved to your computer will still remain on your computer.For example, if you sign into your Google Account on http://www.google.com while in incognito mode, your subsequent web searches are recorded in your Google Web History. In this case, to prevent your searches from being stored in your Google Account, you'll need to pause your Google Web History tracking.

Adding Artwork For Streaming URLs in ITunes?

2012-01-27T10:07:00.000-05:00

I stumbled upon your query while trying to figure out just how to place artwork for the radio stations. I didn't wanna join the forum but since you seemed to get little response, I thought I'd share my method and maybe you can post it if you want.

I kinda trick the system. First I give my radio station an "Artist" and "Album Artist" and "Album" name and change the track number to "1". Now as you know you can't add artwork to it. So I then download any small mp3 like a lion roar or whatever and upload it to iTunes. Then I give the small mp3 the same "Artist", "Album Artist" and "Album" name as the radio station and change the track number to "2" and then I add my artwork to this file. iTunes then automatically takes the artwork for the radio station as well!

Voila my method. Hope it helps.http://hintsforums.macworld.com/archive/index.php/t-80621.html

WordPress Benchmark: 3.0 vs 3.1 vs 3.2 vs 3.3

2012-01-14T13:26:00.001-05:00

Source
http://www.dev4press.com/2011/blog/benchmark/wordpress-benchmark-3-0-vs-3-1-vs-3-2-vs-3-3/

Some Windows Phone 7 insights from a pro - chunkify your app

2011-12-15T13:52:00.001-05:00

Google Algorithm 10 Changes

2011-12-05T13:46:00.001-05:00

http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2011/11/ten-recent-algorithm-changes.html

Google Algorithm Tweaking; the canonical tag

2011-12-05T12:29:00.001-05:00

Search quality highlights: new monthly series on algorithm changes
http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2011/12/search-quality-highlights-new-monthly.html briefly;

Multiple URLs, one page
Duplicate content comes in different forms, but a major scenario is multiple URLs that point to the same page. This can come up for lots of reasons. An ecommerce site might allow various sort orders for a page (by lowest price, highest rated…), the marketing department might wanttracking codes added to URLs for analytics. You could end up with 100 pages, but 10 URLs for each page. Suddenly search engines have to sort through 1,000 URLs.

This can be a problem for a couple of reasons.

Less of the site may get crawled. Search engine crawlers use a limited amount of bandwidth on each site (based on numerous factors). If the crawler only is able to crawl 100 pages of your site in a single visit, you want it to be 100 unique pages, not 10 pages 10 times each.
Each page may not get full link credit. If a page has 10 URLs that point to it, then other sites can link to it 10 different ways. One link to each URL dilutes the value the page could have if all 10 links pointed to a single URL.

Using the new canonical tag

Specify the canonical version using a tag in the head section of the page as follows:

http://www.example.com/product.php?item=swedish-fish"/>

That’s it!

You can only use the tag on pages within a single site (subdomains and subfolders are fine).
You can use relative or absolute links, but the search engines recommend absolute links.

This tag will operate in a similar way to a 301 redirect for all URLs that display the page with this tag.

Links to all URLs will be consolidated to the one specified as canonical.
Search engines will consider this URL a “strong hint” as to the one to crawl and index.

Canonical URL best practices

The search engines use this as a hint, not as a directive, (Google calls it a “suggestion that we honor strongly”) but are more likely to use it if the URLs use best practices, such as:

The content rendered for each URL is very similar or exact
The canonical URL is the shortest version
The URL uses easy to understand parameter patterns (such as using ? and %)

2011-11-28T12:50:00.001-05:00

https://developer.mastercard.com/portal/display/api/Payments

Visa opens API to developers

2011-11-28T12:17:00.001-05:00

https://www.v.me/

GMail New Display Density Not Found - Trouble Finding it ?

2011-11-09T22:22:00.001-05:00

GMail has a news look and is quite refined, great job. They have a new feature they are touting called Display Density, trouble is - I could not find it.

The help says the Gear Option Icon should be to the top right of email list when you are on the Inbox link? Well where is it? Its not there. It makes sense when your look at a list of emails you should be able to format the list at this point ?

Turns out, it's only when you COMPOSE a new message that you see the Gear Option Icon and then can change the Display Density. Just a helpful hint and design quark. See image below.

Hope this helps.

UPDATE NOV 14, 2011 - this has been corrected @

http://requestreduce.com/

2011-11-07T09:36:00.002-05:00

RequestReduce allows any IIS based website to automaticaly sprite background images into a single optimized PNG as well as combine and minify javascript and CSS with absolutely no coding beyond a few config tweaks

Vulnerability in ASP.NET Could Allow Information Disclosure (2418042)

2011-11-03T18:10:00.000-04:00

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/bulletin/MS10-070
updated to include applicability for .NET Framework 4 on Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems

Unsolicited appreciation of my Wordpress site design of embracefoods.com

2011-10-13T18:23:00.002-04:00

Thanks you made my day!

All things Sharepoint

2011-10-04T16:29:00.002-04:00

http://www.the14folder.com/

Expanding Virtual PC VHDs using VHD Resizer and running Windows Server 2008 R2

2011-09-21T19:46:00.001-04:00

This is for folks without access to Hyper-V, but want to learn it in a free Virtual PC 2007 emulator, which can run Windows 2008 R2 and Windows Sever 8, with a few tricks.

http://kb.dutchalps.com/microsoftvirtualpc.htm

Tips: VHD Resizer took an really long long time to start ~15mins, and then finally it progressed quickly.

Windows Explorer Most Recent List or Pinned Jump List Items do not appear in Windows 7

2011-09-09T15:13:00.002-04:00

Windows Explorer Most Recent List or Pinned Jump List Items do not appear in Windows 7

Fixing Stuck Explorer Items

Windows Explorer always seems to use the same exact filename to store the pinned/recent items: 1B4DD67F29CB1962.AUTOMATICDESTINATIONS-MS

So you can try this command, which will wipe out all the pinned and recent items for Windows Explorer only:

del %appdata%\microsoft\windows\recent\automaticdestinations\1B4DD67F29CB1962.AUTOMATICDESTINATIONS-MS

BONUS : Enabling last active windows with ALT-TAB order.
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/window-on-windows/quick-tip-change-stacked-window-behavior-in-the-windows-7-taskbar/3959?tag=content;siu-container

Evolutionary equations, apply the biological feedback loop (learning) to derive new mathematical formulas!

2011-09-08T21:43:00.001-04:00

Hod Lipson on The Robotic Scientist: Mining Experimental Data

Big Ideas presents Hod Lipson of Cornell University exploring his work in such areas as evolutionary robotics and programmable self-assembly, Lipson delivers a lecture entitled The Robotic Scientist: Mining Experimental Data for Scientific Laws, from Cognitive Robots to Computational Biology. http://www.tvo.org/TVO/WebObjects/TVO.woa?videoid?827410060001 - video
(zoom to bacteria section, where they have loads of observed data no equations, this finds them)

http://creativemachines.cornell.edu/eureqa - program for you to use.

How to Clear Windows 7 Temporary Files in the Temp Folder

2011-08-30T13:09:00.004-04:00

How to Clear Windows 7 Temporary Files in the Temp Folder - where .docx and .pdf are shadowed

Information

The Temp folder is where Windows 7 and programs sometimes store temporary files. Sometimes these files are not deleted after Vista or the program is finished with them. This can cause the temp folder to fill up with junk temp files which may cause Vista to take longer to access the Temp folder and create a slight delay.

This will show you how to clear the Windows 7 temporary files through Disk Cleanup or manually in the Temp folder.

Note

The Windows 7 Temp folder is located at:

C:\Users\(User-Name)\AppData\Local\Temp

Warning

While it is safe to delete these files, it is best not to do this while installing or uninstalling anything.

Tip

CCleaner is a free program that is great at keeping the temporary files cleaned up and more.

EXAMPLE: Windows 7 User Account Temp Folder

METHOD ONE

Through Disk Cleanup

Note

Disk Cleanup will only delete Temporary files that have not been modified in 7 days. To clear everything, see METHOD TWO below, or How to Set Disk Cleanup to Delete Vista Temporary Files Less than a Week Old .

1. Open Disk Cleanup.

2. Check Temporary files. (See screenshot below)

3. Click on OK.

4. Click on Delete Files to confirm the action.

METHOD TWO

To Manually Clear the Temp Folder

Note

The Temp folder is located at the hidden system folder:

C:\Users\(Your Username)\AppData\Local\Temp

1. Open the Start Menu.

2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type %temp% and press Enter.
NOTE: This opens the Temp folder.

3. Delete anything you want in this folder. (See screenshots below step 4)
Warning
If you delete the Low folder, it can prevent you from printing from Internet Explorer. To fix this, close all Internet Explorer windows and reopen Internet Explorer to recreate the Low folder. You can also manually fix this by recreating the Low folder in the Temp folder below, open aelevated command prompt, then Copy and Paste the command below in the command prompt and press enter.
Code:
icacls %UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Temp\Low /setintegritylevel (OI)(CI)low
Note
If you receive a File In Use error message while the files are being deleted, then this just means that one of the temp files is in use by a program right now. Click Skip to continue deleting the other files, then close all open programs, and repeat the steps above. If you still receive the message, then restart the computer or logoff and logon, and repeat the process again. (See screenshot below)
4. Close the Temp folder when done.

PGP for Outlook

2011-08-01T16:52:00.000-04:00

http://www.cumps.be/nl/blog/read/gpg-in-outlook-2007-outlookgnupg

https://github.com/twalrant/OutlookGnuPG

To get this to work in Vista/7 you have to run the installer as administrator. Find your command shell in the run menu, right click and select run as administrator. Then do msiexec -i "path\and\filename.msi". That should get you past the impersonation difficulties.

Remote Access Trojans (RAT) removal

2011-06-04T18:41:00.001-04:00

Remote Access Trojan Defined
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd632947.aspx

Beware of the following registry key entry......

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Approved\{F4046E19-9A33-3DA4-5EBC-CD6114454DBA}

This key F4046E19-9A33-3DA4-5EBC-CD6114454DBA is not deletable using Registry Editor and is a class of null keys. You cannot search for it and delete it, Regedit will complain that it is not found!

Use GMER tool (is an application that detects and removes rootkits and works with Win7) available at http://www.gmer.net/ to find suspect rootkits and bad registry keys.

To remove a null registry key, you can use the toolkit provided by Mark Russinovich's master tools available from Microsoft named Sysinternals.

RegDelNull v1.1 This command-line utility searches for and allows you to delete Registry keys that contain embedded-null characters and that are otherwise undeleteable using standard Registry-editing tools. Note: deleting Registry keys may cause the applications they are associated with to fail.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897448.aspx

Outlook Email Deduper VBA Code

2011-05-17T12:04:00.000-04:00

Get Outlook Email Deduper VBA Code free here.....
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ol-lookfordups/files/OL%20LookForDuplicates/1.4.2/ol-lookfordups1.4.2.zip/download

Former Professor - Dr. David Skillicorn comments on current cyber-attacks in Canada

2011-03-02T08:53:00.000-05:00

CBC - Cyber-security in Canada - video
National Post - Struggling with cyber security - article

CBC - Program that determines the amount of deception in the speeches - article

Installing KlamAV on Ubuntu 10.10

2011-01-28T14:22:00.000-05:00

To resolve error : uid 1000 or gid 1000 errors
believed to occur when Clamav and klamav are installed on the same system when using kubuntu 10.10.

open terminal
cd /var/lib
sudo rmdir clamav folder
mkdir /home/username/.klamav/database
open klamav the new folder should be recognized as
/home/username/.klamav/database

New virus signatures will be downloaded.

Resize Root Partition on Ubuntu 10.10

2011-01-28T01:35:00.000-05:00

This worked for Ubuntu 10.10 and is great set of instructions
http://www.virtualdojo.net/resize-rootpartition-on-ubuntu-v9-10-workstation/

Installing Pear PHP packages on Windows

2011-01-20T16:49:00.000-05:00

Great article
http://www.geeksengine.com/article/install-pear-on-windows.html

with one exception this link downloads - PEAR-1.9.1.gz NOT .tgz

2 options :

1) Rename to .tgz
OR
2) When unpacking (.gz) yeilds a file PEAR-1.9.1 with no extension. Rename this to PEAR-1.9.1.tar and now you can untar using 7-zip.

and add < ? php (no spaces) into test-pear.php

Save a digital email message with an attached certificate (smime.p7s) from a signed message using Outlook.

2011-01-03T16:09:00.000-05:00

Save a digital email message with an attached certificate (smime.p7s) from a signed message using Outlook.

When you receive a signed or encrypted message, you can save the digital certificate of that person in your Contacts List. You first need to use your right mouse button and select the senders details:

This will give you the following screen, Select "Add to Outlook Contacts":

To check the certificate has been added to your contacts details, Click the "Certificates" tab. The certificate should be listed here: Click "Save and Close" to save it in your contacts.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Importing a downloaded digital certificate.

You can search for a digital certificate in an online database such as GlobalSign's, download the certificate and add it to your Contact details of your contact so that you can send an encrypted message to that person.
To import a downloaded digital certificate in your Contacts List:

In Outlook 2007, create a new address or open an existing one in your Contacts List
Choose "Certificates"
Choose "Import"
Select the downloaded file with the digital certificate and choose ‘open’

-------------------------------------------------------------------
republished from http://www.globalsign.com/support/personal-certificate/per_outlook07.html

Metadata Consulting

InPrivate/Incognito Browsing leaves traces in index.dat/Google Browser history online!

Adding Artwork For Streaming URLs in ITunes?

WordPress Benchmark: 3.0 vs 3.1 vs 3.2 vs 3.3

Some Windows Phone 7 insights from a pro - chunkify your app

Google Algorithm 10 Changes

Google Algorithm Tweaking; the canonical tag

https://developer.mastercard.com/portal/display/api/Payments

Visa opens API to developers

GMail New Display Density Not Found - Trouble Finding it ?

http://requestreduce.com/

Vulnerability in ASP.NET Could Allow Information Disclosure (2418042)

Unsolicited appreciation of my Wordpress site design of embracefoods.com

All things Sharepoint

Expanding Virtual PC VHDs using VHD Resizer and running Windows Server 2008 R2

http://kb.dutchalps.com/microsoftvirtualpc.htm

Windows Explorer Most Recent List or Pinned Jump List Items do not appear in Windows 7

Windows Explorer Most Recent List or Pinned Jump List Items do not appear in Windows 7

Evolutionary equations, apply the biological feedback loop (learning) to derive new mathematical formulas!

How to Clear Windows 7 Temporary Files in the Temp Folder

PGP for Outlook

Remote Access Trojans (RAT) removal

RegDelNull v1.1 This command-line utility searches for and allows you to delete Registry keys that contain embedded-null characters and that are otherwise undeleteable using standard Registry-editing tools. Note: deleting Registry keys may cause the applications they are associated with to fail.

Outlook Email Deduper VBA Code

Former Professor - Dr. David Skillicorn comments on current cyber-attacks in Canada

CBC - Cyber-security in Canada - videoNational Post - Struggling with cyber security - article

CBC - Cyber-security in Canada - video

National Post - Struggling with cyber security - article

Installing KlamAV on Ubuntu 10.10

Resize Root Partition on Ubuntu 10.10

Installing Pear PHP packages on Windows

Save a digital email message with an attached certificate (smime.p7s) from a signed message using Outlook.

CBC - Cyber-security in Canada - video
National Post - Struggling with cyber security - article