Sagar's Blog

Indian Government Websites Attacked By Anonymous

2012-05-18T16:30:00.002+05:30

Indian Government websites like the supreme court,Jammu n Kashmir police, AICC, copyright.in etc websites were attacked by anonymous. This series of attack started after the indian government banned the sites like piratebay, pastebin vimeo, dailymotion etc. In result to the ban anonymous opindia started targeting government websites.

A number of tweets are followed by above messages. There is a message for the indian government in youtube too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCEJAJcqiao&feature=youtu.be&a

Nepse (Nepalstock) website down

2012-05-18T16:11:00.000+05:30

A DDOS attack by the well known hacker group called Anonymous made the Nepal Stock Exchange Website down. According to Ekantipur.com the website worked only for 20 minutes. Later by 1pm the website started working via using the server in Singha Durbar. According the officials of NEPSE the website went down for maintenance but a post in Pastebin via Anonymous says different. The post says

Namaste Nepal,

We are Anonymous. We have attacked www.Nepalstock.com numerous times in last 5 days. We are collaborating with Nepalese hackers and hacktivists who claim they want to "DDoS the site because trading money for money is gambling, and is not productive to others except for the winners of the gamble; hence getting rid of such worthless culture of the business elites is very necessary, especially in the under developed country in Nepal. While they enjoy their money, power and 1st world life standards there are people who are dying because they don't have anything to eat in the same country."

We'd like to confirm that its us and not their "server problems" that they are claiming to be the reason behind the interruptions of their tradings and website.

We are Anonymous,
We are legion,
We do not forgive,
We do not forget,

You should've expected us!

Anonymous confirmed the attack via twitter too.

Google+ or Facebook with Video Chat

2011-07-07T12:06:00.000+05:30

After Google launched the Google+ project for testing purposes to derail the growing Facebook madness through out the world, Facebook launched back its attack with the video chat facility in it. After Microsoft bought the Skype Project many of you haven't thought that it one day will be integrated in Facebook. If you have thought this then you may not have thought it will happen so soon.

After Google launched Google+ to win the social net-workers, But Facebook on Wednesday Announced the video chat facility collaborating with Microsoft's Skype. After launching the Facebook mail system, the only thing seems to be missing from Facebook is voice and video chat. This can be a huge advantage for the Google+ project but it seems like Facebook again won the race. But as reports says that Google+ hangouts have a group video chat feature, which lacks in Facebook.

The new chat design includes a sidebar that lists the people message most. Now it's easier to find your friends and start conversation. Although the Facebook mail system is successful let see how the chat feature helps Facebook over the Google's ambitious Google+ project.

I don't know whether Facebook or Google+ win in the market. But it's already a gain for Skype. With its own old customers it will get more than 750 million customers and counting on in over 70 languages. Google+ is competing with the customers of Facebook, Skype and Facebook+Skype. Lets see how Google+ affects the market of Facebook although it haven't shipped yet.

Get Your Lost Internet Bandwidth In Windows XP

2011-07-07T11:17:00.000+05:30

Hey guys i think you all use internet. And i think you all use Windows except other os like linux and others. Then you may not now this fact, Windows uses 20% of your internet bandwidth for different purposes like update, contacting your machine etc.

After Knowing this you thining of getting back. Same here i also wanted it back, but know i use linux so i think linux doesnot use so much bandwith or doesnot use (as in my knowledge). Here i will give you a small idea to avoid windows using 20% of your internet bandwidth. You need to follow following steps for that in windows XP:

Click Start-- go to Run-- type gpedit.msc

If you dont now what the gpedit.msc. Its a command to open the group policy editor. The other steps are as follows.

Go to or Click to Local Computer Policy-- then to Computer Configuration-- Again Administrative Templates-- Again Network-- Again to QOS Packet Scheduler--And at last go to Limit Reservable Bandwidth

Double click on Limit Reservable bandwidth. Dont be annoyed seeing that it is not configured, the actual thing is in the Explain tab

which says

By default, the Packet Scheduler limits the system to 20 percent of the bandwidth of a connection, but you can use this setting to override the default.

Here is what to do, you need to enable the reservable bandwidth and then set it to zero. This will give order to your system not to reserve any % of bandwidth for update and other purposes. And you will get your lost 20% internet bandwidth.

Back in Blogging and cheers for my country

2011-07-05T13:02:00.008+05:30

Its been a long time since i haven't posted in my blog. Actually after the internet connection problem i totally forget about my own blog. Day before yesterday when i found a news of Nepal won against Timor in world cup qualifier from a blog. After that i came to know that i do have a blog. Since then i am continuously trying to update by blog but still the same problem slow internet connection in my home. Now m thinking what to write about in my blog. The outstanding win of Nepal over East Timor in the 2014 FIFA world cup qualifier or The Google+ project or many other topics. Actually my blog is a technical blog, so you may think why to post a football news. But i think i should write about that, what a great win 7-1 in aggregate, hats off to the team they played a good game, and also the coach or the manager Mr. Graham Roberts (a former Tottenham Hot spurs captain) i don't know about his playing nor coaching career but still i like him. In the first leg match, we just managed to win by 2-1, the rain totally decreased the scoreline and also the speed of the players, but the second match, it was the type of match which i wanted to see from Nepal. What a scoreline 5-0 wow, the biggest win in world cup qualifiers for Nepal till date. lets see what's Jordan gonna do against our team. Cheers for Nepal...........!!!!

INFECTED BY VIRUS?

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

If you leave your antivirus software down--or even if you didn't left it--it is very hard to tell that your computer is not infected by viruses. If you have left your software running and your computer is infected, then you must be shocked or you think of changing the software or any other thing.

If you have this problem? You must need to keep your software up to date if not then your pc wii get infected, you will loose yous data, and even your pc can get crashed. And in last you unknowingly curse your software but in fact that happened because of your carelessness.

I should not say that every system failure is due to virus or worms or trojans. If your system is slowing, hardisk filling rapidly, programs crashing. This can be due to your operating systems or badly written programs which have many security vulnerabilities rather than viruses.

Do not open any suspicious emails and other things while surfing the net which can make you virusfree.

If any tools like gpedit.msc, taskmanager, regedit won't run in your computer then your pc can be infected.

You can find many things which indicate that your pc is infected. If you are not using your internet and still there is a a lot of network activity it is a very good proof that you have been infected. You can have a good firewall which will ask you before letting anything leave your pc. Windows firewall lacks in this capacity.

You can also use windows task manager which shows various processes running in your computer. If you find any process suspicious just close it or use google to find what is it. You can also find it in services.msc which shows every services running in your computer.

You can change the programs which loads in startup. If you reduce the number of programs in start up your pc will load faster then with those and if those are viruses they will not load.

Once you are sure that your computer is infected don't bother. There are some steps which can minimize the damage depending the level of protection.

I will say “Shame on you” if you do not have antivirus program. If your using linux distribution i can't say that cause there are very less no of viruses as compared to windows. If you have antivirus software and if it had stopped working then update it while surfing net or have free online scan from different websites.

Have a good firewall and antivirus software. If you don't want to waste money on these then go for AVG free antivirus. And be sure that your antivirus software is up to date.

CHECK YOUR ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE

2010-09-03T02:14:00.003+05:30

After installing Antivirus software, you may not know whether it is working or not? If that's the problem then your answer is to test the antivirus software. You can test your antivirus software by just giving some time for it.

To test your installation, copy the following line into its own file, then save the file. More detailed instructions are found below.

X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*

The file size will be 68 or 70 bytes.

If VirusScan is running and configured correctly, when you try to save the file, VirusScan will detect the virus. If VirusScan is not running, start it and scan the directory that contains that file. When your software scans this file, it will report finding the test file.

Note that this file is NOT A VIRUS. Delete the file when you have finished testing just delete the file.

Cracking Zip Password Files

2010-05-04T09:48:00.001+05:30

Cracking Zip Password Files

What is FZC? FZC is a program that cracks zip files (zip is a method of compressing multiple files into one smaller file) that are password-protected (which means you're gonna need a password to open the zip file and extract files out of it). You can get it anywhere - just use a search engine such as altavista.com.

FZC uses multiple methods of cracking - bruteforce (guessing passwords systematically until the program gets it) or wordlist attacks (otherwise known as dictionary attacks. Instead of just guessing passwords systematically, the program takes passwords out of a "wordlist", which is a text file that contains possible passwords. You can get lots of wordlists at www.theargon.com.).

FZC can be used in order to achieve two different goals: you can either use it to recover a lost zip password which you used to remember but somehow forgot, or to crack zip passwords which you're not supposed to have. So like every tool, this one can be used for good and for evil.

The first thing I want to say is that reading this tutorial... is the easy way to learn how to use this program, but after reading this part of how to use the FZC you should go and check the texts that come with that program and read them all. You are also going to see the phrase "check name.txt" often in this text. These files should be in FZC's directory. They contain more information about FZC.

FZC is a good password recovery tool, because it's very fast and also support resuming so you don't have to keep the computer turned on until you get the password, like it used to be some years ago with older cracking programs. You would probably always get the password unless the password is longer than 32 chars (a char is a character, which can be anything - a number, a lowercase or undercase letter or a symbol such as ! or &) because 32 chars is the maximum value that FZC will accept, but it doesn't really matter, because in order to bruteforce a password with 32 chars you'll need to be at least immortal..heehhe.. to see the time that FZC takes with bruteforce just open the Bforce.txt file, which contains such information.

FZC supports brute-force attacks, as well as wordlist attacks. While brute-force attacks don't require you to have anything, wordlist attacks require you to have wordlists, which you can get from www.theargon.com. There are wordlists in various languages, various topics or just miscellaneous wordlists. The bigger the wordlist is, the more chances you have to crack the password.

Now that you have a good wordlist, just get FZC working on the locked zip file, grab a drink, lie down and wait... and wait... and wait...and have good thoughts like "In wordlist mode I'm gonna get the password in minutes" or something like this... you start doing all this and remember "Hey this guy started with all this bullshit and didn't say how I can start a wordlist attack!..." So please wait just a little more, read this tutorial 'till the end and you can do all this "bullshit".

We need to keep in mind that are some people might choose some really weird passwords (for example: 'e8t7@$^%*gfh), which are harder to crack and are certainly impossible to crack (unless you have some weird wordlist). If you have a bad luck and you got such a file, having a 200MB list won't help you anymore. Instead, you'll have to use a different type of attack. If you are a person that gives up at the first sign of failure, stop being like that or you won't get anywhere. What you need to do in such a situation is to put aside your sweet xxx MB's list and start using the Brute Force attack.

If you have some sort of a really fast and new computer and you're afraid that you won't be able to use your computer's power to the fullest because the zip cracker doesn't support this kind of technology, it's your lucky day! FZC has multiple settings for all sorts of hardware, and will automatically select the best method.

Now that we've gone through all the theoretical stuff, let's get to the actual commands.

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Bruteforce

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The command line you'll need to use for using brute force is:

fzc -mb -nzFile.zip -lChr Lenght -cType of chars

Now if you read the bforce.txt that comes with fzc you'll find the description of how works Chr Lenght and the Type of chars, but hey, I'm gonna explain this too. Why not, right?... (but remember look at the bforce.txt too)

For Chr Lenght you can use 4 kind of switches...

-> You can use range -> 4-6 :it would brute force from 4 Chr passwors to 6 chr passwords

-> You can use just one lenght -> 5 :it would just brute force using passwords with 5 chars

-> You can use also the all number -> 0 :it would start brute forcing from passwords with lenght 0 to lenght 32, even if you are crazy i don't think that you would do this.... if you are thinking in doing this get a live...

-> You can use the + sign with a number -> 3+ :in this case it would brute force from passwords with lenght 3 to passwords with 32 chars of lenght, almost like the last option...

For the Type of chars we have 5 switches they are:

-> a for using lowercase letters

-> A for using uppercase letters

-> ! for using simbols (check the Bforce.txt if you want to see what simbols)

-> s for using space

-> 1 for using numbers

Example:

If you want to find a password with lowercase and numbers by brute force you would just do something like:

fzc -mb -nzTest.zip -l4-7 -ca1

This would try all combinations from passwords with 4 chars of lenght till 7 chars, but just using numbers and lowercase.

*****

hint

*****

You should never start the first brute force attack to a file using all the chars switches, first just try lowercase, then uppercase, then uppercase with number then lowercase with numbers, just do like this because you can get lucky and find the password much faster, if this doesn't work just prepare your brain and start with a brute force that would take a lot of time. With a combination like lowercase, uppercase, special chars and numbers.

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Wordlis

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Like I said in the bottom and like you should be thinking now, the wordlist is the most powerfull mode in this program. Using this mode, you can choose between 3 modes, where each one do some changes to the text that is in the wordlist, I'm not going to say what each mode does to the words, for knowing that just check the file wlist.txt, the only thing I'm going to tell you is that the best mode to get passwords is mode 3, but it takes longer time too.

To start a wordlist attak you'll do something like.

fzc -mwMode number -nzFile.zip -nwWordlist

Where:

Mode number is 1, 2 or 3 just check wlist.txt to see the changes in each mode.

File.zip is the filename and Wordlist is the name of the wordlist that you want to use. Remember that if the file or the wordlist isn't in the same directory of FZC you'll need to give the all path.

You can add other switches to that line like -fLine where you define in which line will FZC start reading, and the -lChar Length where it will just be read the words in that char length, the switche works like in bruteforce mode.

So if you something like

fzc -mw1 -nztest.zip -nwMywordlist.txt -f50 -l9+

FZC would just start reading at line 50 and would just read with length >= to 9.

Example:

If you want to crack a file called myfile.zip using the "theargonlistserver1.txt" wordlist, selecting mode 3, and you wanted FZC to start reading at line 50 you would do:

fzc -mw3 -nzmyfile.zip -nwtheargonlistserver1.txt -f50

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Resuming

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Other good feature in FZC is that FZC supports resuming. If you need to shutdown your computer and FZC is running you just need to press the ESC key, and fzc will stop. Now if you are using a brute force attack the current status will be saved in a file called resume.fzc but if you are using a wordlist it will say to you in what line it ended (you can find the line in the file fzc.log too).

To resume the bruteforce attack you just need to do:

fzc -mr

And the bruteforce attack will start from the place where it stopped when you pressed the ESC key.

But if you want to resume a wordlist attack you'll need to start a new wordlist attack, saying where it's gonna start. So if you ended the attack to the file.zip in line 100 using wordlist.txt in mode 3 to resume you'll type

fzc -mw3 -nzfile.zip -nwwordlist.txt -f100

Doing this FZC would start in line 100, since the others 99 lines where already checked in an earlier FZC session.

Well, it looks like I covered most of what you need to know. I certainly hope it helped you... don't forget to read the files that come with the program

CHOOSING A GOOD DOMAIN NAME

2010-05-04T09:42:00.000+05:30

Choosing a domain name for your site is one of the most important steps towards creating the perfect internet presence. If you run an on-line business, picking a name that will be marketable and achieve success in search engine placement is paramount. Many factors must be considered when choosing a good domain name. This article summarizes all the different things to consider before making that final registration step!

Short and Sweet

Domain names can be really long or really short (1 - 67 characters). In general, it is far better to choose a domain name that is short in length. The shorter your domain name, the easier it will be for people remember. Remembering a domain name is very important from a marketability perspective. As visitors reach your site and enjoy using it, they will likely tell people about it. And those people may tell others, etc. As with any business, word of mouth is the most powerful marketing tool to drive traffic to your site (and it's free too!). If your site is long and difficult to pronounce, people will not remember the name of the site and unless they bookmark the link, they may never return.

Consider Alternatives

Unless a visitor reaches your site through a bookmark or a link from another site, they have typed in your domain name. Most people on the internet are terrible typists and misspell words constantly. If your domain name is easy to misspell, you should think about alternate domain names to purchase. For example, if your site will be called "MikesTools.com", you should also consider buying "MikeTools.com" and "MikeTool.com". You should also secure the different top level domain names besides the one you will use for marketing purposes ("MikesTools.net", "MikesTools.org", etc.) You should also check to see if there are existing sites based on the misspelled version of the domain name you are considering. "MikesTools.com" may be available, but "MikesTool.com" may be home to a graphic pornography site. You would hate for a visitor to walk away thinking you were hosting something they did not expect.

Also consider domain names that may not include the name of your company, but rather what your company provides. For example, if the name of your company is Mike's Tools, you may want to consider domain names that target what you sell. For example: "buyhammers.com" or "hammer-and-nail.com". Even though these example alternative domain names do not include the name of your company, it provides an avenue for visitors from your target markets. Remember that you can own multiple domain names, all of which can point to a single domain. For example, you could register "buyhammers.com", "hammer-and-nail.com", and "mikestools.com" and have "buyhammers.com" and "hammer-and-nail.com" point to "mikestools.com".

Hyphens: Your Friend and Enemy

Domain name availability has become more and more scant over the years. Many single word domain names have been scooped up which it makes it more and more difficult to find a domain name that you like and is available. When selecting a domain name, you have the option of including hyphens as part of the name. Hyphens help because it allows you to clearly separate multiple words in a domain name, making it less likely that a person will accidentally misspell the name. For example, people are more likely to misspell "domainnamecenter.com" than they are "domain-name-center.com". Having words crunched together makes it hard on the eyes, increasing the likelihood of a misspelling. On the other hand, hyphens make your domain name longer. The longer the domain name, the easier it is for people to forget it altogether. Also, if someone recommends a site to someone else, they may forget to mention that each word in the domain name is separated by a hyphen. If do you choose to leverage hyphens, limit the number of words between the hyphens to three. Another advantage to using hyphens is that search engines are able to pick up each unique word in the domain name as key words, thus helping to make your site more visible in search engine results.

Dot What?

There are many top level domain names available today including .com, .net, .org, and .biz. In most cases, the more unusual the top level domain, the more available domain names are available. However, the .com top level domain is far and away the most commonly used domain on the internet, driven by the fact that it was the first domain extension put to use commercially and has received incredible media attention. If you cannot lay your hands on a .com domain name, look for a .net domain name, which is the second most commercially popular domain name extension.

Long Arm of the Law

Be very careful not to register domain names that include trademarked names. Although internet domain name law disputes are tricky and have few cases in existence, the risk of a legal battle is not a risk worth taking. Even if you believe your domain name is untouchable by a business that has trademarked a name, do not take the chance: the cost of litigation is extremely high and unless you have deep pockets you will not likely have the resources to defend yourself in a court of law. Even stay away from domain names in which part of the name is trademarked: the risks are the same.

Search Engines and Directories

All search engines and directories are different. Each has a unique process for being part of the results or directory listing and each has a different way of sorting and listing domain names. Search engines and directories are the most important on-line marketing channel, so consider how your domain name choice affects site placement before you register the domain. Most directories simply list links to home pages in alphabetical order. If possible, choose a domain name with a letter of the alphabet near the beginning ("a" or "b"). For example, "aardvark-pest-control.com" will come way above "joes-pest-control.com". However, check the directories before you choose a domain name. You may find that the directories you would like be in are already cluttered with domain names beginning with the letter "a". Search engines scan websites and sort results based on key words. Key words are words that a person visiting a search engine actually search on. Having key words as part of your domain name can help you get better results.

Anonymity of Proxy

2010-05-04T09:28:00.000+05:30

The exchange of information in Internet is made by the "client - server" model. A client sends a request (what files he needs) and a server sends a reply (required files). For close cooperation (full understanding) between a client and a server the client sends additional information about itself: a version and a name of an operating system, configuration of a browser (including its name and version) etc. This information can be necessary for the server in order to know which web-page should be given (open) to the client. There are different variants of web-pages for different configurations of browsers. However, as long as web-pages do not usually depend on browsers, it makes sense to hide this information from the web-server.

What your browser transmits to a web-server:

a name and a version of an operating system

a name and a version of a browser

configuration of a browser (display resolution, color depth, java / javascript support, ...)

IP-address of a client

Other information

The most important part of such information (and absolutely needless for a web-server) is information about IP-address. Using your IP it is possible to know about you the following:

a country where you are from

a city

your provider?s name and e-mail

your physical address

Information, transmitted by a client to a server is available (accessible) for a server as environment variables. Every information unit is a value of some variable. If any information unit is not transmitted, then corresponding variable will be empty (its value will be undetermined).

These are some environment variables:

REMOTE_ADDR ? IP address of a client

HTTP_VIA ? if it is not empty, then a proxy is used. Value is an address (or several addresses) of a proxy server, this variable is added by a proxy server itself if you use one.

HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR ? if it is not empty, then a proxy is used. Value is a real IP address of a client (your IP), this variable is also added by a proxy server if you use one.

HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE ? what language is used in browser (what language a page should be displayed in)

HTTP_USER_AGENT ? so called "a user?s agent". For all browsers this is Mozilla. Furthermore, browser?s name and version (e.g. MSIE 5.5) and an operating system (e.g. Windows 98) is also mentioned here.

HTTP_HOST ? is a web server?s name

This is a small part of environment variables. In fact there are much more of them (DOCUMENT_ROOT, HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING, HTTP_CACHE_CONTROL, HTTP_CONNECTION, SERVER_ADDR, SERVER_SOFTWARE, SERVER_PROTOCOL, ...). Their quantity can depend on settings of both a server and a client.

These are examples of variable values:

REMOTE_ADDR = 194.85.1.1

HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE = ru

HTTP_USER_AGENT = Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0; Windows 98)

HTTP_HOST = www.webserver.ru

HTTP_VIA = 194.85.1.1 (Squid/2.4.STABLE7)

HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR = 194.115.5.5

Anonymity at work in Internet is determined by what environment variables "hide" from a web-server.

If a proxy server is not used, then environment variables look in the following way:

REMOTE_ADDR = your IP

HTTP_VIA = not determined

HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR = not determined

According to how environment variables "hided" by proxy servers, there are several types of proxies

Transparent Proxies

They do not hide information about your IP address:

REMOTE_ADDR = proxy IP

HTTP_VIA = proxy IP

HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR = your IP

The function of such proxy servers is not the improvement of your anonymity in Internet. Their purpose is information cashing, organization of joint access to Internet of several computers, etc.

Anonymous Proxies

All proxy servers, that hide a client?s IP address in any way are called anonymous proxies

Simple Anonymous Proxies

These proxy servers do not hide a fact that a proxy is used, however they replace your IP with its own:

REMOTE_ADDR = proxy IP

HTTP_VIA = proxy IP

HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR = proxy IP

These proxies are the most widespread among other anonymous proxy servers.

Distorting Proxies

As well as simple anonymous proxy servers these proxies do not hide the fact that a proxy server is used. However a client?s IP address (your IP address) is replaced with another (arbitrary, random) IP:

REMOTE_ADDR = proxy IP

HTTP_VIA = proxy IP

HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR = random IP address

High Anonymity Proxies

These proxy servers are also called "high anonymity proxy". In contrast to other types of anonymity proxy servers they hide a fact of using a proxy:

REMOTE_ADDR = proxy IP

HTTP_VIA = not determined

HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR = not determined

That means that values of variables are the same as if proxy is not used, with the exception of one very important thing ? proxy IP is used instead of your IP address.

Summary

Depending on purposes there are transparent and anonymity proxies. However, remember, using proxy servers you hide only your IP from a web-server, but other information (about browser configuration) is accessible!

Artificial Intelligence Systems

2010-05-02T11:35:00.001+05:30

An alternative approach for using software and hardware to solve problems is through the use of artificial intelligence systems. These systems attempt to mimic the workings of the human mind. Two types of artificial intelligence systems are covered in this section:

Expert systems
Neural networks

Expert Systems

An expert system exhibits reasoning similar to that of a human expert to solve a problem. It accomplishes this reasoning by building a knowledge base of the domain to be addressed in the form of rules and an inferencing mechanism to determine whether the rules have been satisfied by the system input.

Computer programs are usually defined as:

algorithm + data structures = program

In an expert system, the relationship is:

inference engine + knowledge base = expert system

The knowledge base contains facts and the rules concerning the domain of the problem in the form of if-then statements. The inference engine compares information it has acquired in memory to the if portion of the rules in the knowledge base to see whether there is a match. If there is a match, the rule is ready to “fire” and is placed in a list for execution. Certain rules may have a higher priority or salience, and the system will fire these rules before others that have a lower salience.

The expert system operates in either a forward-chaining or backward-chaining mode. In a forward-chaining mode, the expert system acquires information and comes to a conclusion based on that information. Forward chaining is the reasoning approach that can be used when there are a small number of solutions relative to the number of inputs. In a backward-chaining mode, the expert system backtracks to determine whether a given hypothesis is valid. Backward chaining is generally used when there are a large number of possible solutions relative to the number of inputs.

Another type of expert system is the blackboard. A blackboard is an expert system–reasoning methodology in which a solution is generated by the use of a virtual “blackboard,” on which information or potential solutions are placed by a plurality of individuals or expert knowledge sources. As more information is placed on the blackboard in an iterative process, a solution is generated.

As with human reasoning, there is a degree of uncertainty in the conclusions of the expert system. This uncertainty can be handled through a number of approaches, such as Bayesian networks, certainty factors, or fuzzy logic.

Bayesian networks are based on Bayes’ theorem:

P{H|E} = P{E|H}*P(H)/ P(E)

that gives the probability of an event H given that an event E has occurred.

Certainty factors are easy to develop and use. These factors are the probability that a belief is true. For example, a probability of 85 percent can be assigned to Object A occurring under certain conditions.

Fuzzy logic is used to address situations where there are degrees of uncertainty concerning whether something is true or false. This situation is often the case in real-world situations. A fuzzy expert system incorporates fuzzy functions to develop conclusions. The inference engine steps in fuzzy logic are as follows:

Fuzzification. The membership functions defined on the input variables are applied to their actual values to determine the degree of truth for each rule premise.
Inference. The truth-value for the premise of each rule is computed and applied to the conclusion part of each rule. This results in one fuzzy subset to be assigned to each output variable for each rule.
Composition. All the fuzzy subsets assigned to each output variable are combined together to form a single fuzzy subset for each output variable.
Defuzzification. Used when it is useful to convert the fuzzy output set to a quantitative number. One approach to defuzzification is the centroidmethod. With this method, a value of the output variable is computed by finding the variable value of the center of gravity of the membership function for the fuzzy output value.

The Spiral model can be used to build an expert system. The following are the common steps when building a Spiral model:

Analysis
Specification
Development
Deployment

A key element in this process is the acquisition of knowledge. This activity involves interviewing experts in the domain field and obtaining data from other expert sources. Knowledge acquisition begins in the specification phase and runs into the development phase.

Verification and validation of an expert system are concerned with inconsistencies inherent in conflicting rules, redundant rules, circular chains of rules, and unreferenced values along with incompleteness resulting from unreferenced or unallowable data values.

Neural Networks

WEB SECURITY

2010-04-24T19:22:00.001+05:30

With the transformation of the Internet from a network used primarily by universities and research laboratories to a worldwide communications medium, attacks on the World Wide Web and Internet can have serious consequences. These attacks can involve nuisance attacks, phishing, criminal exploits, and, in information warfare, incapacitation of a nation’s critical infrastructure. Thus, there is a need for protecting nodes on the Internet and for providing for the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information utilizing these networks.

Phishing

Phishing is a term that refers to a large groups of exploits using the Internet to commit identity theft. Simply, phishing is the automated stealing of personal information for financial gain. Phishers use a variety of means to accomplish this, including:

Social engineering through e-mail and brand spoofing

Infected Web sites and cookies

Trojan horses and spyware

Browser hijacking and redirection

Keyloggers and spybots

Spyware and Trojans, in addition to viruses, are commonly distributed via phishing exploits also, although some of these aren’t specifically designed to perpetrate identity theft or financial loss.

Browser Hijacking

Browser hijackers change Web browser settings to switch home pages or hijack search functions. A browser hijacker is a type of malware program that alters your computer’s browser settings so that you are redirected to Web sites that you had no intention of visiting.

REDIRECTION

Redirection is a technique for moving visitors to a different site when its address has been changed and visitors are familiar with the old address. Redirection is used legitimately when users visit the Web site of a company whose name has changed or that has been acquired by another company. In either case, the website probably includes a new domain name and has a new Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

Redirection is often combined with browser hijackers to surreptitiously change the user’s browser settings and direct users to an inappropriate site.

For example, browser hijackers can set browser home pages and search settings to point to pornographic sites or generate pornographic pop-up windows faster than the user can shut them. Some browser hijackers have a financial incentive, altering default home pages and search pages to those of their customers, who pay for that service per referral or click-through. More virulent versions may redirect users to sites that install spyware.

Browser hijackers can create incidental problems because of the nature of the material they download, such as leaving pornography or other inappropriate material on the hard drive. Poorly coded browser hijackers may severely impact infected computer’s performance. Software may freeze and cause the computer to crash or reboot.

SSL/TLS

The Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Protocol was developed by Netscape in 1994 to protect the confidentiality of information transmitted between two applications, to verify the integrity of the communications, and to provide an authentication means in both directions. SSL implements these functions using public- and private-key encryption and a message authentication code (MAC).

Microsoft has developed a newer version of SSL, Transport Layer Security (TLS). As with SSL, TLS implements confidentiality, integrity, and authentication above the Transport Layer and is application independent. Because SSL and TLS ride on the Transport Layer protocol, they are independent of the application. Thus, SSL and TLS can be used with applications such as Telnet, FTP, HTTP, and e-mail protocols.

Both SSL and TLS use certificates for public-key verification that are based on the X.509 standard.

SSL 3.0

The design goals of SSL 3.0 were to provide:

Cryptographic security - protection of the confidentiality of transmitted messages

Interoperability - applications should be able to be developed using SSL 3.0 by groups of individuals without knowledge of each other’s code

Extensibility - the ability to incorporate different encryption algorithms into SSL 3.0 without major changes to SSL 3.0

Relative efficiency - efficient utilization of computing and network resources

Session keys generated during SSL private-key cryptography transactions are either 40 bits or 128 bits in length. Newer browsers support 128-bit encryption.

The SSL Protocol comprises two layers: the SSL Record Protocol and the SSL Handshake Protocol. The SSL Record Protocol is layered above a transport protocol, such as TCP. This Record Protocol is used for encapsulation of higher-level protocols, such as the SSL Handshake Protocol. The latter protocol is used for client/server mutual authentication, negotiation of a cryptographic algorithm, and exchange of cryptographic keys.

Thus, through these mechanisms, SSL provides:

Mutual authentication using public-key cryptography based on algorithms such as the Digital Signature Standard (DSS) and RSA

Encryption of messages using private-key cryptography based on algorithms such as IDEA, 3DES, and RC4

Integrity verification of the message using a keyed message authentication code (MAC) based on hash functions such as MD5 and SHA.

TLS 1.0

Similar to SSL, the TLS Protocol comprises the TLS Record and Handshake Protocols. The TLS Record Protocol is layered on top of a transport protocol such as TCP and provides privacy and reliability to the communications. The privacy is implemented by encryption using symmetric-key cryptography such as DES or RC4. The secret key is generated anew for each connection; however, the Record Protocol can be used without encryption. Integrity is provided through the use of a keyed Message Authentication Code (MAC) using hash algorithms such as SHA or MD5.

The TLS Record Protocol is also used to encapsulate a higher-level protocol such as the TLS Handshake Protocol. The server and client use this Handshake Protocol to authenticate each other. The authentication can be accomplished using asymmetric-key cryptography such as RSA or DSS. The Handshake Protocol also sets up the encryption algorithm and cryptographic keys to enable the application protocol to transmit and receive information.

HTTP/S

URLs of Web pages using the SSL Protocol start with HTTPs, denoting the Hypertext Transfer Protocol with SSL.

Since TLS is based on SSL, they have similar functionality and goals; however, SSL and TLS have enough differences that they cannot interoperate. In order to address this situation, TLS has a built-in mechanism that can be used to make TLS compatible with SSL 3.0.

S-HTTP

Secure HTTP (S-HTTP) is a communications protocol designed to provide secure messaging over HTTP. S-HTTP provides equal and symmetric capabilities to both client and server, but one entity that is S-HTTP-enabled can communicate with another entity that is not S-HTTP capable. In that instance, the security features would not be operable. S-HTTP implements secure, end-to-end transactions.

S-HTTP supports a symmetric-key encryption-only mode and, therefore, does not require public-key encryption for key exchanges. It is flexible, however, and permits the clients and servers to use different forms of transactions related to the signing of messages, encryption of messages, algorithms used, and types of certificates.

In summary, S-HTTP is a protocol that supports:

Option negotiations for defining the type of transactions desired

A variety of key management approaches

Different trust models

Multiple cryptographic algorithms

Multiple operation modes

Different encapsulation formats

F8 - NEXT VERSION OF FACEBOOK PLATFORM

2010-04-23T23:21:00.001+05:30

Facebook announced the next version of facebook platform that puts user at the center of the web. As part of that you have more personalized experience on other websites using the new tool called facebook plugin. You all have known about facebook like button. You can like your friend’s photo, status and links by clicking. Every user of facebook clicks this button 9 times a month. Now you can see this button in many popular websites. You can like the contents of these websites. Some of the websites are NYTimes.com, IMDb, CNN.com, TIME.com, LIFE.com, Fandango, NHL.com, USA Networks, Levis.com, Univision and ABC.com. Facebook is already working with more than 75 websites to make the web faster and simpler.

INSTANT MESSAGING SECURITY

2010-04-23T23:14:00.000+05:30

Instant messaging supports the real-time exchange of messages between two parties using the Internet. In order to use this service, the user has to have instant messaging client software on his or her computer. The client software then communicates with an instant messaging server. The user provides the server with a contact or “buddy” list of people with which he or she desires to set up instant messaging.

To use instant messaging, the user logs on to the instant messaging server with the user’s ID and password. The server authenticates the user. Then the client sends to the server the user’s IP address and the port number on the user’s computer that is being used by the instant messaging client. The server stores this information as well as identical information from any other individuals on the user’s contact list that are logged in at that time. An important point to note is that once an individual, A, is logged on to the server, the server sends the IP addresses and port numbers of all the others logged on to the server at that time to A’s client software. Thus, all people on the contact list who are logged on to the instant messaging server at that time are notified of the online presence and contact information of the others who are also logged on.

A user can send a message to another individual on the contact list who is logged on, and that message will instantly appear on the screen of the receiving individual. Because a user’s client knows the IP address and port number of the receiving individual, the user’s message is sent directly to the intended recipient and does not have to go through the instant messaging server.

With instant messaging, communication takes place between only two individuals. If the situation requires instant conferencing among more than two individuals, a chat room can be set up. A chat room is similar to instant messaging, but everyone logged on to the “room” can see a message that is sent by any individual.

When an individual, A, wants to terminate the instant messaging session, A closes his or her message window and exits the instant messaging client. The client then sends a message to the instant messaging server indicating that A has logged off. The server, in turn, sends a message to all the active participants of the contact list that A has exited the session. The members of the contact list still logged on will see the status of A on their windows change from “online” to “offline.”

Instant messaging software packages also offer other services, including chat room setup, image and sound transmission, voice communication, and streaming content.

Some of the more popular instant messaging utilities are the freeware ICQ (for “I seek you” at www.icq.com), AIM (America Online’s Instant Messenger), Microsoft’s instant messaging utility in MSN Explorer, and Yahoo Instant Messenger.

One problem with instant messaging is the lack of interoperability. An individual with an instant messaging utility from one source or vendor may not be able to communicate with a person using a different instant messaging package. In order to address this situation, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has developed a standard protocol for instant messaging - the Instant Messaging Presence Protocol (RFC2779).

IM Vulnerabilities

IM brings with it a variety of security risks by providing a fertile ground for developing smarter worms, sophisticated enough to deliver Trojan horses or even chat with you in your native language. IDC Research estimates that the nearly 12 billion IMs sent every day offer a potent malware transmission vector, with IM Trojans and worms increasing from 21 in 2004 to over 300 in 2005.

Messages sent by means of instant messaging are not inherently secure and safe from prying eyes. The instant messaging server is particularly vulnerable because it contains both the messages and the connection information of the participants.

Corporate users have often installed IM clients without the IT departments’ authority on their companies’ computers, thereby opening their corporate infrastructure to a myriad of security threats, such as:

Privacy issues - IP address exposure, loss of confidentiality, and eavesdropping
Authentication issues - identity impersonation
Malware - worms, viruses, Trojan horses
Client bugs - buffer overflows enabling denial-of-service and other types of attacks

Since consumer IM clients bypass corporate security defenses, they don’t provide encryption or message auditing, logging, and archiving, functions an organization requires to maintain its security posture. IM worms can hijack buddy lists, spread much more rapidly than e-mail-borne viruses or worms, and are similar to phishing because they appear to be coming from a trusted source (social engineering). Some examples of recent IM worms are:

Kelvir-A - A worm that spreads through Windows Messenger and instructs recipients to visit a Web site to download a file called patch.exe
Opanki.A - A worm that spreads using AOL Instant Messaging and infects PCs with the worm
Sdbot-AAH - A worm that spreads via MSN Messenger, IRC, and Windows Messenger and installs poker3.exe, a file that permits hackers to steal passwords and upload files to an infected PC

Some of the older IM worms that are still circulating are:

W32.Goner. A@mm
W95.SoFunny.Worm@m
W32.Led@mm
W32.Seesix.Worm
W32.Choke

IM Solutions

All of this can add up to enormous potential for organizational liability. When determining the impact IM use may have on an organization, it’s important to consider:

Level of access - What level of employees can have IM access
Access authorization - How IM access should be authorized by the appropriate level of management
Type of access - Whether employees are allowed to use IM services for personal use or company business only
Means of access - Whether IM will be installed on networked workstations, laptops, or wireless appliances
Record keeping - What the IM session logging and records retention policies should be

If it’s determined that the organization absolutely needs IM, Information Systems Security Officers (ISSO) or other corporate security personnel should take definite steps:

Creating security policies specifiying IM usage restrictions
Implementing integrated antivirus products on all workstations
Hardening company firewalls to block IM traffic
Upgrading existing IM software to more secure versions

Also, if the organization decides that the IM risk is not very high, third-party instant messaging software utilities may provide adequate additional security features, including:

Encryption, integrity, and authentication services using SSL
Authentication against propriety databases, domains, or LDAP
Secure file transfer guarantee
Web-based tools for administration of the instant messaging network on the instant messaging server, including tools for user account administration, logging of critical data, and analysis of log information

MAKE FIREFOX FAST

2010-04-19T18:01:00.001+05:30

Firefox is already pretty fast but did you know that you can tweak it and improve the speed even more?

That's the beauty of this program being open source.

Here's what you do:

In the URL bar, type “about:config” and press enter. This will bring up the configuration “menu” where you can change the parameters of Firefox.

Note that these are what I’ve found to REALLY speed up my Firefox significantly - and these settings seem to be common among everybody else as well. But these settings are optimized for broadband connections - I mean with as much concurrent requests we’re going to open up with pipelining… lol… you’d better have a big connection.

Double Click on the following settins and put in the numbers below - for the true / false booleans - they’ll change when you double click.

Code:

browser.tabs.showSingleWindowModePrefs – true

network.http.max-connections – 48

network.http.max-connections-per-server – 16

network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy – 8

network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server – 4

network.http.pipelining – true

network.http.pipelining.maxrequests – 100

network.http.proxy.pipelining – true

network.http.request.timeout – 300

One more thing… Right-click somewhere on that screen and add a NEW -> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0”. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives. Since you’re broadband - it shouldn’t have to wait.

Now you should notice you’re loading pages MUCH faster now!

How To Remove and Add Right-Click Menu Items from Files and Folders

2010-04-17T01:24:00.000+05:30

Removing Items

A lot of programs you install will add themselves to the right-click menu of your files and/or folders. And most times, you have no choice in the matter and, as a result, your right-click menu can get very long with added items you don't even use. The last person I was helping with this had a right context menu so long that the Rename option was no longer visible!

Fortunately, you can easily remove those unwanted menu items, if you know the registry values to edit. And it's not at all difficult once you know the keys responsible for the additions.

For Files, the secret lies in the "context menu handlers" under the shellex subkey for "All Files" which, in the registry, is nothing but an asterisk - like a dos wildcard, which means the values entered apply to all files. It is at the very top of the Root key, right here:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

Click the the + sign next to the ContextMenuHandlers key, to expand it.
Now you will see some of the programs that have added items to your right-click menu. Simply delete the program keys you don't want.
Yup! It's that simple. If deleting makes you uneasy, just export the key before deleting it. Or, instead of deleting the values, disable them. Simply double click the default value for the program on the right hand pane and rename the clsid value by placing a period or dash in front of it.

ie; - {b5eedee0-c06e-11cf-8c56-444553540000}

Then exit the registry, refresh, and right click a file to see if the item was removed from the menu.
Some programs - like WinZip or WinRar - will add several items to your right click menu but all of them will be removed by deleting or disabling their one context menu handler.

Note that the above key only applies to the right click menu of files.
To remove entries from the right click context menu of folders, you need to navigate to the Folder and Drive keys:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers

All you have to do is follow the same procedure as for Files - either disable or delete items you wish to remove.

Adding Items

Adding Items to the right click menu of Files and Folders is also fairly simple using the Registry. It just involves the creation of a few new keys for each item you wish to add. You edit the same keys used for removing items. Let's use Notepad as an example of an item you'd like to add to the right click menu of all your files or folders.

For folders, go to this key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder

Click the + sign next to Folder and expand it so that the Shell key is visible. Right click the Shell key and choose New>Key and name the key Notepad or whatever else you'd prefer (whatever the key is named is what will appear in the right-click menu). Now right click the new key you made and create another key named Command. Then, in the right hand pane, double click "Default" and enter Notepad.exe as the value.
Exit the registry, refresh, and right click any folder. Notepad should now be on the context menu.

For files, go here again:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*

Expand the * key and see if a Shell key exists. If it does exist, follow the same procedure as for folders. If it does not exist, you'll have to create a new Shell first. Just right click the * key and choose New>Key and name it Shell. Then right click the Shell key and continue on the same way you did for adding items to the right click menu of folders.

Once done, Notepad should appear as an option in the right click menu of all your files.

REPETITIVE STRAIN INJURY TO THE HANDS DUE TO YOUR COMPUTER

2010-04-15T20:36:00.002+05:30

As more and more work, education and recreation involves computers, one needs to be aware of the hazard of Repetitive Strain Injury to the hands and arms resulting from the use of computer keyboards and mice. This can be a serious and very painful condition that is far easier to prevent than to cure once contracted, and can occur even in young physically fit individuals. It is not uncommon for people to have to leave computer-dependent careers as a result, or even to be permanently disabled and unable to perform tasks such as driving or dressing themselves.

Repetitive Strain Injuries occur from repeated physical movements doing damage to tendons, nerves, muscles, and other soft body tissues. The rise of computer use and flat, light-touch keyboards that permit high speed typing have resulted in an epidemic of injuries of the hands, arms, and shoulders. Use of pointing devices like mice and trackballs are as much a cause, if not more so. The thousands of repeated keystrokes and long periods of clutching and dragging with mice slowly accumulates damage to the body: This can happen even more quickly as a result of typing technique and body positions that place unnecessary stress on the tendons and nerves in the hand, wrist, arms, and even the shoulders and neck. Lack of adequate rest and breaks and using excessive force almost guarantee trouble.

Correct typing technique and posture, the right equipment setup, and good work habits are much more important for prevention than ergonomic gadgets like split keyboards or palm rests. No amount of ergonomic changes, fancy keyboards, or exercises are going to help if you are simply typing more than your body can handle. Don't try to be the fastest, most powerful hacker around - the cost is too high. Also, the recreational computer one can reduce? And lose the computer/video games . . . which often involve long, unbroken sessions of very tense keyboard or controller use. Don't sacrifice your hands to a game! Dealing with this early is critical to limiting the damage, and to spare you a world of hurt, trouble, and frustration!!!

BLOCK UNWANTED WEBSITES IN YOUR COMPUTER

2010-04-13T23:44:00.003+05:30

There are many reason why you need to know how to block a website. Some of the most common reasons are you have been targeted by spammers who use adware and popups to attack your PC. Other reasons may be to prevent your children from having access to certain site content such as porn and gambling.

This action will require you to edit your Host file. Your host file is a computer file used to store information on where to find a node on a computer network.

1. Click Start->All Programs->Accessories->Command Prompt.
2. Click Command Prompt This will open a DOS command window.
3. Type: notepad C:/Windows/System32/drivers/etc/hosts
4. Locate the line 127.0.0.1 localhost
5. To block the website google.com for example, just add this text under 127.0.0.1 localhost:

127.0.0.1 google.com
127.0.0.1 www.google.com

You can add as many sites any site, However you will need to prefix it with "127.0.0.1".

6. Save the file
Google will now be blocked in all web browser. This is an advanced but easy method on how to blow a website.

COMPUTER ILLITERATE

2010-04-10T23:32:00.003+05:30

If you've ever thought YOU'RE computer-illiterate. Don't think so here are some who r more illiterate than you.....

1. Compaq is considering changing the command "Press Any Key" to "Press Return Key" because of the flood of calls asking where the "Any" key is.

2. Another Dell customer called to say he couldn't get his computer to fax anything. After 40 minutes of trouble-shooting, the technician discovered the man was trying to fax a piece of paper by holding it in front of the monitor screen and hitting the "send" key.

3. Another Dell customer needed help setting up a new program, so a Dell tech suggested he go to the local Egghead. "Yeah, I got me a couple of friends," the customer replied. When told Egghead was a software store, the man said, "Oh, I thought you meant for me to find a couple of geeks."

4. Yet another Dell customer called to complain that his keyboard no longer worked. He had cleaned it by filling up his tub with soap and water and soaking the keyboard for a day, then removing all the keys and washing them individually.

5. A Acer technician received a call from a customer who was enraged because his computer had told him he was "bad and an invalid". The tech explained that the computer's "bad command" and "invalid" responses shouldn't be taken personally.

6. An exasperated caller to Dell Computer Tech Support couldn't get her new Dell Computer to turn on. After ensuring the computer was plugged in, the technician asked her what happened when she pushed the power button. Her response, "I pushed and pushed on this foot pedal and nothing happens." The "foot pedal" turned out to be the computer's mouse.

7. Another customer called Compaq tech support to say her brand-new computer wouldn't work. She said she unpacked the unit, plugged it in, and sat there for 20 minutes waiting for something to happen. When asked what happened when she pressed the power switch, she asked "What power switch?"

FIREWALL - KEEP YOUR PC SECURE

2010-04-09T20:04:00.003+05:30

What is a Firewall?
A firewall is a tool that monitors communication to and from your computer. It sits between your computer and the rest of the network, and according to some criteria, it decides which communication to allow, and which communication to block. It may also use some other criteria to decide about which communication or communication request to report to you (either by adding the information to a log file that you may browse whenever you wish, or in an alert message on the screen), and what not to report.

What Is It Good For?
Identifying and blocking remote access Trojans. Perhaps the most common way to break into a home computer and gain control, is by using a remote access Trojan (RAT). (sometimes it is called "backdoor Trojan" or "backdoor program". Many people simply call it a "Trojan horse" although the term "Trojan horse" is much more generic). A Trojan horse, is a program that claims to do something really innocent, but in fact does something much less innocent. This goes to the days where the Greek soldiers succeeded to enter through the gates of Troy by building a big wooden horse, and giving it as a present to the king of Troy. The soldiers allowed the sculpture to enter through their gates, and then at night, when the soldiers were busy guarding against an outside attack, many Greek soldiers who were hiding inside the horse went out and attacked Troy from the inside. This story, which may or may not be true, is an example of something which looks like something innocent and is used for some less innocent purpose. The same thing happens in computers. You may sometimes get some program, via ICQ, or via Usenet, or via IRC, and believe this program to be something good, while in fact running it will do something less nice to your computer. Such programs are called Trojan horses. It is accepted to say that the difference between a Trojan horse and a virus, is that a virus has the ability to self-replicate and to distribute itself, while a Trojan horse lacks this ability. A special type of Trojan horses, is RATs (Remote Access Trojans, some say "remote admin Trojans"). These Trojans once executed in the victim's computer, start to listen to incoming communication from a remote matching program that the attacker uses. When they get instructions from the remote program, they act accordingly, and thus let the user of the remote program to execute commands on the victim's computer. To name a few famous RATs, the most common are Netbus, Back-Orifice, and SubSeven (which is also known as Backdoor-G). In order for the attacker to use this method, your computer must first be infected by a RAT.
Prevention of infections by RATs is no different than prevention of infection by viruses. Antivirus programs can identify and remove most of the more common RATs. Personal firewalls can identify and block remote communication efforts to the more common RATs and by thus blocking the attacker, and identifying the RAT.

Blocking/Identifying Other Types of Trojans and WQorms?
There are many other types of Trojan horses which may try to communicate with the outside from your computer. Whether they are e-mail worms trying to distribute themselves using their own SMTP engine, or they might be password stealers, or anything else. Many of them can be identified and blocked by a personal firewall.

Identifying/Blocking Spyware's/Adbots?
The term "spyware" is a slang which is not well defined. It is commonly used mainly for various adware (and adware is a program that is supported by presenting advertisements to the user), and that during their installation process, they install an independent program which we shall call "adbot". The adbot runs independently even if the hosting adware is not running, and it maintains the advertisements, downloads them from the remote server, and provides information to the remote server. The adbot is usually hidden. There are many companies that offer adbots, and advertisements services to adware. The information that the adbots deliver to their servers from the computer where the adbot is installed, is "how much time each advertisement is shown, which was the hosting adware, and whether the user clicked on the advertisement. This is important so that the advertisements server will be able to know how much money to get from each of the advertised companies, and how much from it to deliver to each of the adware maintainers. Some of the adbots also collect other information in order to better choose the advertisements to the users. The term "spyware" is more generic, but most of the spyware fall into this category. Many types of adbots can be identified and blocked by personal firewalls.

Blocking Advertisements?
Some of the better personal firewalls can be set to block communication with specific sites. This can be used in order to prevent downloading of advertisements in web pages, and thus to accelerate the download process of the web sites. This is not a very common use of a personal firewall, though.

Preventing Communication to Tracking Sites?
Some web pages contain references to tracking sites. e.g. instruct the web browser to download a small picture (sometimes invisible) from tracking sites. Sometimes, the pictures are visible and provide some statistics about the site. Those tracking sites will try to save a small text either as a small file in a special directory, or as a line in a special file (depending on what is your browser), and your browser will usually allow the saving site to read the text that it saved on your computer. This is called "web cookies" or sometimes simply "cookies". Cookies allow a web site to keep information that it saved some time when you entered it, to be read whenever you enter the site again. This allow the web site to customize itself for you, and to keep track on everything that you did on that site. It does not have to keep that information on your computer. All it has to save on your computer is a unique identifying number, and then it can keep in the server's side information regarding what has been done by the browser that used that cookie. Yet, by this method, a web site can get only information regarding your visits in it. Some sites such as "doubleclick" or "hitbox" can collect information from various affiliated sites, by putting a small reference in the affiliated pages to some picture on their servers. When you enter one of the affiliated web pages, your browser will communicate with the tracking site, and this will allow the tracking site to put or to read a cookie that identifies your computer uniquely, and it can also know what was the web page that referred to it, and any other information that the affiliated web site wanted to deliver to the tracking site. This way tracking sites can correlate information from many affiliated sites, to build information that for example will allow them to better customize the advertisements that are put on those sites when you browse them.
Some personal firewalls can be set to block communication to tracking sites. It is not a common use of a personal firewall, though, and a personal firewall is not the best tool for that, but if you already have one, this is yet another possible use of it.

Blocking or Limiting the NetBIOS Communication? (as well as other default services)
The two common methods of intruders to break into home computers, are through a RAT (which was discussed in II.3a) and through the NetBIOS communication. The NetBIOS is a standard for naming computers in small networks, developed long ago by IBM and Microsoft. There are a few communication standards which are used in relation to the NetBIOS. The ones that are relevant for Microsoft Windows operating systems, are: NBT (NetBIOS over TCP/IP), IPX/SPX, and NetBEUI. The communication standard which is used over the Internet, is NBT. If it is enabled, and there is no firewall or something else in the middle, it means that your computer is listening for communications over the Internet via this standard, and will react according to the different NBT commands that it gets from the remote programs. It is thus that the NBT (which sometimes loosely called "NetBIOS") is acting as a server. So the next question should be "what remote NBT commands the NBT server will do on the local computer". The answer to this question depends on the specific setting on your computer. You may set your computer to allow file and print sharing. If also NBT is enabled, it means that you allow remote users to share your files or printers. This is a big problem. It is true that in principle the remote user has to know your password for that computer, but many users do not set a password for their user on Windows, or set a trivial password. Older versions of Win95 had file and print sharing over NetBIOS enabled by default. On Win98, and WinMe it was disabled by default, but many technicians, when they set a home network, they enable the file and print sharing, without being aware that it influences also the authorizations of a remote Internet user. There are even worms and viruses who use the File sharing option to spread in the Internet. Anyway, no matter whether you need it for some reason or just are not aware of it, a personal firewall can identify and block any external effort to communicate with the NetBIOS server on your computer. The more flexible personal firewalls can be set to restrict the authorization to communicate with the NetBIOS. Some Windows operating systems, especially those which are not meant for home uses, offer other public services by default, such as RPC. A firewall can identify communication efforts to them, and block them. Since such services listen to remote communications, there is a potential risk when there are efforts to exploit security holes in the programs that offer the services, if there are such security holes. A firewall may block or limit the communication to those services.

Hiding Your Computer on the Internet?
Without a firewall, on a typical computer, even if well maintained, a remote person will still be able to know that the communication effort has reached some computer, and perhaps some information about the operating system on that computer. If that computer is handled well, the remote user will not be able to get much more information from your computer, but might still be able to identify also who your ISP is, and might decide to invest further time in cracking into your computer.
With a firewall, you can set the firewall so that any communication effort from remote users (in the better firewalls you may define an exception list) will not be responded at all. This way the remote user will not be able to even know that it reached a live computer. This might discourage the remote attacker from investing further time in effort to crack into your computer.

The Non-Firewall Defenses

We've discussed a few situations where a personal firewall can provide defense. Yet, in many cases a computer maintainer can deal with those situations even without a firewall. Those "alternative" defenses, in many cases are recommended regardless of whether you use a firewall or not.

Remote Access Trojans?
The best way to defend against remote access Trojans (RATs) is to prevent them from being installed in the first place on your computer. A RAT should first infect your computer in order to start to listen to remote communication efforts. The infection techniques are very similar to the infection techniques that viruses use, and hence the defense against Trojan horses is similar to the defense against viruses. Trojan horses do not distribute themselves (although they might be companions of another Internet worm or virus that distributes them. Yet, because in most cases they do not distribute themselves, it is likely that you will get them from anonymous sources, such as instant messengers, Kazaa, IRC, or a newsgroup. adopting a suspicious policy regarding downloads from such places, will save you not only from viruses but also from getting infected with Trojan horses, including RATs. Because Trojan horses are similar in some ways to viruses, almost all antivirus programs can identify, block from being installed, and remove most of the Trojan horses, including all the common ones. There are also some programs (sometimes called antiTrojan programs) which specialize in the identification and removal of Trojan horses. For a list of those programs, and for comparison on how well different antivirus, and antiTrojan programs identify different Trojan horses, see Hackfix (http://www.hackfix.org), under "Software test results". Hackfix also has information on the more common RATS (such as the Netbus and the Subseven) and on how to remove them manually. There are some tools and web sites, such port scanners, and some ways with a use of more generic tools such as telnet, msconfig, and netstat, which may help you to identify a RAT.

Other types of Trojans and worms?
Also here your main interest should be to prevent them from infecting your computer in the first place, rather than blocking their communication. A good antivirus and a good policy regarding the prevention of virus infections, should be the first and most important defense.

Spyware and Adbots?
The term spyware is sometimes misleading. In my view, it is the responsibility of the adware developer to present the fact that the adware installation will install or use an independent adbots, and to provide the information on how this adbot communicates, and which information it delivers, in a fair place and manner before the adware is installed. It is also a responsibility to provide this information in their web sites, so that people will be aware of that before they even download the software. Yet, in general, those adbots do not pose any security threat, and in many cases also their privacy threat is negligible for many people (e.g. the computer with adbot number 1127533 has been exposed to advertisements a, b, c, such and such times, while using adware x, while on computer with adbot number 1127534 has been exposed to advertisements a,d, and e, such amount of time, with the use of adware y, and clicked on ads number d). It should be fully legitimate for software developers to offer an advertisement supported programs, and it is up to the user to decide whether the use of the program worth the ads and the adbot, or not. Preventing adbot from communicating is generally not a moral thing. If you decide to use an adware, you should pay the price of letting the adbot work. If you don't want it, please remove the adware, and only if for some reason the adbot continue to work even if no hosting adware that uses it is installed, you may remove the adbot. Anyway, there are some very useful tools to identify whether a program is a "spyware", or whether a "spyware" is installed on your computer, and you are certainly entitled to this information. Two useful programs are "AdAware" which identifies "spyware" components on your computer and allows you to remove them, and Ad-Search which allows you to provide a name of a program, and it tells you whether this program is a "spyware" and which adbot it uses. It is useful to assist you in choosing whether to install a program or not. You may find those programs in http://www.lavasoft.nu (or, if it doesn't work, you may try http://www.lavasoftusa.com). Those programs are useful, mainly because many adware developers are not fair enough to present this information in a fair manner. AdAware allows you to also remove those adbot components from your computer. This might, however, terminate your license to use the hosting adware programs, and might even cause them to stop functioning. A website which offers to check whether a specific program that you wish to install is "spyware" or not, is http://www.spychecker.com .

Blocking Advertisements?
Leaving aside the moral aspect of blocking advertisements, a personal firewall is not the best tool for that anyway. This is not the main purpose of a firewall, and neither its main strength. Some of them can block some of the advertisements from being downloaded, if you know how to configure them for that. Yet, there are better tools for that, such as Proxomitron (http://www.proxomitron.org), CookieCop 2 (search for the word cookiecop on http://www.pcmag.com), or Naviscope (http://www.naviscope.com), and there are many other programs as well. You may check for other alternatives, e.g. in Tucows (http://www.tucows.com/adkiller95.html).

Blocking Tracking Sites?
Also here, a personal firewall is not the best tool for that, and there are other tools and ways which are more effective. These are cookie utilities. Since a tracking site uses a cookie to identify and relate the information gathered to the same person (or computer), by preventing the cookie from being installed. The tracking site will lose its ability to track things. There are plenty of cookie management utilities. Some of them are freeware, and some are not. CookieCop which was mentioned in the former section is one of them. WebWasher (http://www.webwasher.com) is another recommended one, and there are plenty of other alternatives such as cookie-crusher, cookie-pal, pop-up killer, etc. You may search for other alternatives, in Tucows (http://www.tucows.com/cookie95.html).

NetBIOS and Other Services?
The NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NBT) which is sometimes loosely called "NetBIOS", is a service which has some security problems with it. It is enabled by default in Windows default installations, and it is very common to see that a firewall does the job of preventing the efforts to get access to your computer via NBT. Yet, in almost all cases, this service is not needed, and thus can be disabled. To disable NBT in Win95/98/ME is not as simple as it is in Win2K/XP, but can still be done reliably. We explain how to do this in another article (#to be written soon). It is needless to say, that if NBT is disabled, there is no need for a firewall to block communication to it. Also, in the case of other services, such as RPC services, and others, in many cases you simply don't need those services and better disable them from within Windows rather than use the firewall to block them. There are various ways to know which services are running on your computer, and which of them are listening for communications from the outside. If there are ones that you don't need, they should be disabled.

Hiding the Computer?
In web sites of many personal firewall companies, they are putting a lot of weight on the ability of their firewall to hide the computer on the Internet. Yet, exposing your home computer on the Internet is by itself, neither a security nor a privacy threat. If you provide some services to the Internet on your computer, for example, you put a web server on your computer to allow other people to view web pages, then you might get rid of some of the crackers, by setting your firewall to unhide only this type of communications. Some attackers will not make a full scan of your computer, but only a partial scan, and if they did not scan for the specific service that you provided, they will not see your computer. Yet, if the service is a common one, there is a good chance for many of them to scan it and thus find the existence of your computer. If they "see" the existence of your computer, they might decide to scan it further, and find out the services you are providing, and scan it for security holes to use. Yet, there is no much meaning to it when we speak about simple home computers.

What a Firewall Cannot Do!

Another misconception about personal firewalls is that they are incorrectly thought as if they claim to give an overall protection against "hackers" (i.e. intrusions). They are not.

Defense Against Exploitation of Security Holes
A firewall can allow or deny access to your computer or from your computer according to the type of communication, its source and destination, and according to the question which program on your computer is handling the communication. Yet, its ability to understand the details of the communication is very limited. For example, you may set the firewall to allow or to deny your e-mail program from getting and/or sending messages. It may allow or deny your web browser from browsing the Internet. But if you allowed your e-mail program to communicate with the e-mail servers for sending and receiving messages, (and you are likely to allow it if you want to use your e-mail program), or if you set the firewall to allow your web browser to communicate with web sites, the firewall will not be able to understand the content of the communication much further, and if your web browser has a security hole, and some remote site will try to exploit it, your firewall will not be able to make a distinction between the communication that exploits the security hole, and legitimate communication. The same principle goes with e-mail program. A personal firewall may block you from receiving or sending e-mail messages, but if you allowed it to receive messages, the personal firewall will not make a distinction between a legitimate message and a non-legitimate one (such as a one that carries a virus or a Trojan horse). Security holes in legitimate programs can be exploited and a personal firewall can do practically nothing about it.
I should comment, however, that some personal firewalls come combined with some Trojan horse detection, or intrusion detection. This is not part of the classical definition of a firewall, but it might be useful. Such tasks are usually taken by other tools such as antivirus programs or antiTrojan programs.

Tricks to Bypass or Disable Personal Firewalls
There are also various ways to disable, or bypass personal firewalls. During the time a few tricks to bypass or disable were demonstrated by various programs. Especially, tricks for an internal program to communicate with the outside bypassing or tricking the firewall. For some of them such as the one demonstrated by the Leaktest, and in which a non-legitimate program disguises itself as Internet Explorer, practically today, all personal firewalls are immuned. For other tricks, such as a one demonstrated by Outbound, which uses some non-standard type of communication directly to the network adapters bypassing the components of the operating system which are suppose to deal with Internet communication, and by that bypassing the firewall, are only now being patched against by the various firewalls, and yet other methods, such as the one demonstrated by Tooleaky, which uses Internet Explorer as a messenger to communicate with the outside, and is thus identified as a mere legitimate browsing, are still waiting for most of the personal firewall to find a fix.

Firewalls CANNOT Decide for You What is a Legitimate Communication and What is Not

One of the main problems with personal firewalls, is that you cannot simply install them and forget them, counting on them to do their job. They can deny or permit various types of communications according to some criteria, but what is this criteria, and who decides what is the criteria for whether they should permit or deny some communication?

The answer, is that it is the computer user's job to define the exact criteria when the firewall should allow a communication and when it should block it. The firewall may make it easier for you, but it should not take the decisions. There are too many programs, too many versions, and it is not possible for the firewall to decide accurately when a communication is legitimate and when it is not. One person might think that it is legitimate for some program to deliver some information to the outside in order to get some service, while another will think that it is not. One version of a program might communicate with its home server in order to check whether there is an upgrade, and another version might also install the upgrade even if you do not wish. Some firewalls will try to identify communication efforts which are largely considered as legitimate, and will let you the information so that it will be easier for you to decide whether such should be allowed. Others will suffice with more basic information, making no suggestions (and thus - no incorrect recommendations). One way or another, once you installed a firewall, you will have better means to understand what types of communications are running on your computer, but you will also have to understand them in order to be able to configure your firewall so that it will correctly know which communications to allow and which to block.

Common Problems and Deficiencies Regarding Personal Firewalls

A personal firewall might be a good contribution to security. Yet, if you do not understand much about the topic, then you are likely to be confused and misled by its alerts and queries, and thus find yourself spending hours in chasing after imaginary crackers, fear from imaginary threats, and misconfigure it due to misunderstanding. You may find yourself blocking legitimate and important communication believing it to be cracking efforts, and thus surprised to see why things work slowly or why you are disconnected from the Internet, or you might be misled to allow a non-legitimate communication by some software that tricked you to believe that it is a legitimate one. On the other side, if you are quite knowledgeable on computers and security, then you are likely to effectively defend your computer even without a firewall (by means discussed in section II.4) and it is thus that the role of personal firewall in securing your computer, is extremely small and not much important. We discuss here in brief some of the problems that personal firewalls may generate.

A False Sense of Security

As we've already learned here, a firewall is limited in its ability to secure your computer. Yet, many people believe that if they will install a personal firewall they will be secured against the various security threats. I was even surprised to find out that there are people who believe that give much higher priority in installing a personal firewall than in installing an antivirus program. An always updated antivirus program plays a much more important role in the security of a personal home computer than installing and maintaining a personal firewall. A personal firewall should not come on account of any other security measure that you use.

A False Sense of Insecurity

When you install a firewall and you look at all the communication efforts through it, you might be surprised at the amount of communication efforts from the Internet to your computer. Most of them are blocked by a typically configured firewall. There are all the times efforts to try to communicate with various backdoor Trojans on your computers. If you are not infected, there will be nothing to listen and to respond to those communication efforts, and they are thus practically harmless. There are efforts to communicate with your NBT driver, to see if your computer by mistake allows file sharing. There are other types of probes to see if your computer exists, or various efforts of servers to probe your computer in order to find the best path for legitimate communication to it. There are sometimes remnants of communications that were supposed to go to other computers, but made their way to yours (for advanced readers: because the IP number that your computer uses, were used by some other computer earlier). Those communication efforts are blocked even without a firewall. If your computer is not infected with a RAT, and if your computer don't have NetBIOS over TCP/IP enabled or even it does not have file and print sharing enabled (and on most computers this is disabled by default), then none of these pose any security threat. If your computer is not infected with a SubSeven Trojan, then no matter how often there will be efforts to communicate with it, they are all doomed to be failed.
Yet, some personal firewall (such as Norton Personal Firewall or ZoneAlarm) by default proudly announce that they have just blocked an effort to crack into your computer. Norton may even define those efforts that were blocked as "high security threats" while they were not a threat at all even if your computer didn't have a personal firewall at all. Such firewalls give you the false impression that they save your computer again and again from extremely dangerous threats on the Internet, so that you wonder how did you survive so much time without noticing any intrusion before you installed the firewall. I usually say, that those personal firewalls are set their "report level" to "promotional mode". Namely, the personal firewall is set to give you the false impression that it is much more important than it really is.

Chasing After Ghosts

This is a side effect of the types of misunderstandings that were discussed in the previous subsection.
When a person who starts to learn about the jargon related to personal firewalls, is reported that some "dangerous" communication efforts persist from the same source, the person is decisive to locate and identify the "hacker", and perhaps report about it to the police or to its Internet service provider. However, since many people do not really understand thoroughly how things work, they may sometimes spend many hours in trying to locate a cracker that does not exist, or when the knowledge they need to have, in order to track the cracker, is much higher than what they have, and they might even suspect the wrong person due to lack of knowledge (e.g. the connection person on the Internet service provider that was used by the cracker). More knowledgeable people, usually do not bother to track those "hackers" (which are usually teenagers), but instead are concentrating on the security of their computer.

Blocking Legitimate Communications

No personal firewall is smart enough to decide for the user what is a legitimate communication and what is not. A personal firewall cannot make a distinction between a legitimate program trying to contact its server to check and notify the user when there is a newer version, and a non-legitimate program trying to communicate with its server in order deliver sensitive information such as passwords, unless the user tells it. It is thus up to the user to decide what should be considered as legitimate and what should not. Yet, can we count on the user to be knowledgeable enough to decide what is legitimate and what is not? In many cases the user is not knowledgeable enough, and may thus allow non-legitimate communication or disallow a legitimate and important communication. There are many types of communications handled just to manage other communications. Among this are various types of communications between your computer and the various servers of your Internet service provider. A not knowledgeable user may interpret those types of communications as cracking efforts, and will thus decide to block them. As a result, a connection might become slower, a connection to the Internet service provider might be disconnected quiet often and other types of communication problems.

Being Tricked by Trojans bbb

Just as less knowledgeable users may instruct the firewall to block legitimate communications, they can be tricked by various Trojans to allow them to communicate. Some Trojans are using names resembling or identical to names of legitimate programs, so that the user would think that it is a legitimate programs. Users should be aware of that.

Heavy Software, Buggy Software

Until now we discussed only problems related to lack of appropriate knowledge by the user. Yet, there are other problems regarding personal firewalls. For example, some of them are known to be quite heavy on computer resources, or slow down the communication speed. Different personal firewalls quite vary with regard to that. If you have a new computer with a slow Internet communication (such as regular dial-up networking) then it might not slow down your computer noticeably. Yet, if you use an older computer, and a fast communication, you might find that some personal firewalls will slow down your communication quite drastically. Personal firewalls also vary on how much they are stable.

Advantages of External Firewalls over Personal Firewalls

1. They do not take resources from the computer. This should be clear. This is especially useful when the firewall blocks flooding attacks.
2. It is harder (although in principle still possible) for a Trojan horse to disable it, because it does not reside in the same computer that the Trojan has infected. It is not possible to use the specific communication while totally bypassing the firewall.
3. They can be used without any dependence on the operating system on the computer(s) they defend.
4. No instability problems.

MAKE ANIMATED LOGO

2010-04-08T22:57:00.001+05:30

How To Make An Animted Logo, the easy way

Things you will need:

QUOTE

1. Photoshop or Paintshop (any versions)

2. Xara3D 5.xx

3. Jasc animation shop 3.xx

4. DUH!! A pic you want as a logo LOL

Things you MIGHT need:

1. a computer

2. Internet connection

3. consciousness

4. corn on the cob

Here they are for your convinience:

Adobe Photoshop CS v8.0 thanx to TheCollector

http://www.shareordie.com/index.php?showto...85&hl=Photoshop

Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9.0 Retail thanx to arclite

http://www.shareordie.com/index.php?showto...&hl=Jasc&st=100

Xara3D 5.02 thanx to Zabref

http://www.shareordie.com/index.php?showtopic=6512&hl=XARA

Jasc Animation Shop 3.11 thanx to sev7en

http://www.shareordie.com/index.php?showtopic=34928&hl=

Steps:

1. Using your photo editor fix/touch up you pic/logo to your liking….too easy(example bellow)

user posted image

2. Save it some where easy to find, for example “C:\pictures” or “C:\Windows\thecenterofhell\system\system32\system64\system128\???” although I don’t recommend the second one.

3.Open Xara3D 5.xx, press “Alt+T” or click on the “T” button on the LEFT PANEL erase all of the text in the window that pops up then press ok.

user posted image

4. Press “Alt+U” or click on the yellow “U” surrounded in gray on the LEFT PANEL, check the “button” box and select a desire button type and leave this option window open you will need it again.

user posted image

5. Press the “At+X” or click the black “X” on the LEFT PANEL, click “load texture” in the pop up window, find the picture you made/adjusted and highlight it then click open or just double-click it. Use the “size, x, y, angle” sliders to adjust the picture or “texture” and in the “button options” windows use the “stretch, corners”(corners, only if using this option you can adjust) to adjust the button size.

user posted image

6. Press “Alt+A” or click the black “A” on the LEFT PANEL with what looks like to me is a half-halo with an arrow tip!? Anyway, here is a quick rundown on what the options here do: (BY THE WAY TO ACTIVATE OR “PREVIEW ANIMATION” PRESS “Ctrl+spacebar”).

user posted image

A. Frames per cycle: This is the number of frames for each complete cycle through the animation sequence. The greater the number of frames the smoother the animation. The drawback is that the file is bigger - this is a big disadvantage for web graphics. You may need to try different values to get the best results.

B. Frames per second: The animation speed. Slow speeds can give jerky movement. High speeds can also give jerky movement as the program displaying the animation may not be able to keep up. Again you may need to try different values.

C. Pause: This pauses the first frame before continuing the rest of the animation. Type in a value in centiseconds (1/100ths of a second) - a 2 second pause is 200 cs. Note that this applies only to the first frame; use Frames per cycle and Frames per second to control the overall speed of the animation.

D. Loop Value: Unchecked is Infinite, Any other value see for yourself. Lmao

E. Loop: This lets you specify how many times the animation should repeat itself. Note that some browsers take any value other than 1 to mean 'loop forever'. Therefore, your animation either plays once or forever.

F. Style: This controls the type of animation:

Rotate 1 rotates all the text as one; Rotate 2 rotates each character. (Buttons have a single Rotate option.) Rotate text/Rotate lights - select whether you want the text to rotate or the lights or both. You cannot rotate the shadow as this would create very large files. Direction - selects the direction of rotation.

Swing options: Swing 1 swings all the text as one; Swing 2 swings each character. (Buttons have a single Swing option.) Angle - how much you want the heading to swing.

Pulsate options: Pulsate 1 pulsates all the text as one; Pulsate 2 pulsates each character. (Buttons have a single Pulsate option.) Minimum text size - how far back to pulsate the text. Shrink+Grow & Grow+Shrink - only have an effect if you Pause the animation. These options select the starting point for the animation (maximum or minimum.)

Fade options: Fade in - the heading emerges from the background color. Fade out - the heading merges into the background color. SO AFTER PICKING ONE………………..

7. On the top left go to FILE>>>EXPORT ANIMATION or press “Ctrl+Shift+X” and save in desired location.

user posted image

8. When the next window pops up (Export as animated gif save location then options): Experiment with each one to get it right, but remember the SoD rules about Siggys and Avatars.

user posted image

Because Animated GIFs can be quite large, you may find that a 16 or 32 color, optimized palette per frame, produces the best results for the smallest file size. However you might need to experiment.

Dithering always makes GIFs look better, but also makes them larger. When outputting at 256 colors you may find that there is no need to turn dithering on.

Current Window Size lets you export just the area surrounding the text (Crop on) or the entire window area (Crop off.)

User Defined lets you specify the dimensions of the bitmap.

How to set up a server with Apache , PHP , MySQL , Perl , phpMyAdmin

2010-04-06T20:42:00.000+05:30

Let's start by installing apache (http server) . you can download the

apache installer on www.apache.org . download the verion you like ,

even thought , in win systems i recomand verion 2 (this tutorials is

for apache 2) . here is a link for it :

Code:

http://apache.mirror.nedlinux.nl/dist/httpd/binaries/win32/apache_2.0.52-win32-x86-no_ssl.msi

for a faster mirror , visit http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi .

After downloading the file (.msi installer) , run it . The installation wizard

is a next , next , finish 'work' ... The installer will ask you some details like

your server name , your server adress and the admin's mail adress . if

you have a domain name or a hostname , enter the info's like this :

Code:

Server Name : your_domain.org

Server Adress : www.your-domain.org

Admin Email : admin@yourdomain.org

if you don't have one , you should get on e free at :

Code:

http://www.no-ip.org/

Check the 'Run as a service for all users on port 8080' option and click

next , finish to fiinish the instllation . Advice : Install it in c: (he creates

a folder for it , don't worry) to make sure you configure it easyer .

If you are finished , open up a browser and write in the adress bar :

Code:

http://localhost/

If you will see a 'Test Page for Apache Installation' , everything works .

=====

Let's install PHP . download the archives from www.php.net . Here is a

direct link for verion 4.3.9 :

Code:

http://nl.php.net/get/php-4.3.9-Win32.zip/from/this/mirror

Make sure you download the archive and not the installer . Ok! after

downloading it , extract the archive in c:/php (this is to simplify paths) .

Now , open up c:/apache/conf/httpd.conf and search for this line :

Code:

#LoadModule ssl_module modules/mod_ssl.so

under that line , add this :

Code:

LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so

LoadModule php4_module "c:/php/sapi/php4apache2.dll"

AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

AddType application/x-httpd-php .php3

AddType application/x-httpd-php .php4

Now search for this line :

Code:

Change :

Code:

Options Indexes FollowSymLinks

# AllowOverride controls what directives may be placed in .htaccess files.

# It can be "All", "None", or any combination of the keywords:

# Options FileInfo AuthConfig Limit

AllowOverride None

into :

Code:

Options Indexes Includes FollowSymLinks MultiViews ExecCGI

# AllowOverride controls what directives may be placed in .htaccess files.

# It can be "All", "None", or any combination of the keywords:

# Options FileInfo AuthConfig Limit

AllowOverride All

This will allow .htaccess support on your server and make sure you can

see the content of a folder without getting a 403 forbidden error .

Now search for :

Code:

DirectoryIndex index.html index.var.html

and change it into :

Code:

DirectoryIndex index.html index.php

Save the file and restart apache . (you can restart it by pressing the

Restart apache server shortcut in the start menu or by writing :

Code:

net apache restart

in a command prompt window . Ok!

you have php working for your server icon_wink.gif . Now let's configure php and

make sure it really works ! Open up c:/php/php.ini (php.ini-dist renamed)

and search for this paragraph :

Code:

max_execution_time = 60 ; Maximum execution time of each script, in seconds

max_input_time = 60 ; Maximum amount of time each script may spend parsing request data

memory_limit = 5M ; Maximum amount of memory a script may consume (8MB)

you should change this to whatever you want . here is an option i use :

Code:

max_execution_time = 300 ; Maximum execution time of each script, in seconds

max_input_time = 300 ; Maximum amount of time each script may spend parsing request data

memory_limit = 5M ; Maximum amount of memory a script may consume (8MB)

Now search for :

Code:

register_globals = Off

and change it into :

Code:

register_globals = On

Search for :

Code:

extension_dir = ".\"

and change it into :

Code:

extension_dir = "c:/php/extensions"

assuming you have installed php in c: ...

Search for :

Code:

;Windows Extensions

;Note that MySQL and ODBC support is now built in, so no dll is needed for it.

and uncomment (delete the ; in the front) the following modules :

Code:

extension=php_bz2.dll

extension=php_db.dll

extension=php_gd2.dll

extension=php_java.dll

extension=php_msql.dll

extension=php_pdf.dll

extension=php_pgsql.dll

extension=php_sockets.dll

Ok! now let's change the smtp settings (this is good icon_smile.gif for you mail()

function . you need this !!!) Search for :

Code:

[mail function]

; For Win32 only.

SMTP =

smtp_port = 25

; For Win32 only.

;sendmail_from =

and change to :

Code:

[mail function]

; For Win32 only.

SMTP = mail.isp.org

smtp_port = 25

; For Win32 only.

sendmail_from = mail@your_domain.org

if you don't have a mail server or :

Code:

[mail function]

; For Win32 only.

SMTP = localhost

smtp_port = 25

; For Win32 only.

sendmail_from = mail@your_domain.org

if you have a mail server ...

Save the files . Now let's finalize the php installation . copy all the dll's

from c:/php/dlls into c:/windows/system32 . copy c:/php/php4ts.dll into

c:/windows/system32/ and copy php.ini from your folder php into

windows and system32 folder . restart apache . open up notepad and

add this into the file :

Code:

phpinfo();

save this file in your htdocs folder (c:/apache/htdocs) as info.php and

open up a browser . in the adress bar write :

Code:

http://localhost/info.php

you should see php's configuration in a table . a looong file icon_smile.gif

you can optionaly install zend optimizer . i am using it ... it doesn't

needs a tutorial . to install the PEAR modules for php , just run the

go-pear batch from the php folder and 2click the reg file to finish the

instllation .

=====

let's install mysql . download mysql from http://www.mysql.com/ .

this tutorial applyes to verion 4.0.* ... i don't recomand using mysql

4.1 . here is a direct link :

Code:

http://dev.mysql.com/get/Downloads/MySQL-4.0/mysql-4.0.22-win.zip/from/http://mysql.proserve.nl/

after downloading , extract the arhive somewhere and run the setup.exe .

install mysql in c:/mysql and complete the installation . open up command

prompt and write this :

Code:

cd mysql

cd bin

mysqld-max-nt --install

this will install mysql as a service . recomended . now you would probably

consider downloading mysql control center . a gui tool to administrate the

server in a graphical mode . here is a link :

Code:

http://dev.mysql.com/get/Downloads/MySQLCC/mysqlcc-0.9.4-win32.zip/from/http://mysql.proserve.nl/

install it like any other program and run the shortcut in the desktop . a

window will pop-up . it will ask you to add a new connection . here are the

info's you need to fill in :

Code:

name : localhost or main or whatever :)

host : localhost

user : root

pass :

click add , expand the databases menu and delete databse text . now

expand the users menu and delete all users except root@localhost . right

click it and select edit user . change it's password to whatever you want icon_smile.gif

now right click the server and select edit . change the password to the

pass you chosed for user root . as easy as that . mysql is installed !

=====

phpMyADmin . you can download it from http://www.phpmyadmin.net/ .

i recommend using verion 2.5.1 pl1 . the last verion is still bugy icon_smile.gif

download , unzip the contecnt into a folder in htdocs (phpMyAdmin) and

open up config.inc.php with a text editor .

search for :

Code:

$cfg['PmaAbsoluteUri'] = '';

change it to your phpmyadmin url . eg. :

Code:

$cfg['PmaAbsoluteUri'] = http://www.your_domain.org/phpMyAdmin/';

now search for :

Code:

$cfg['blowfish_secret'] = '';

and change it to your mysql root password like this :

Code:

$cfg['blowfish_secret'] = 'password';

now search for :

Code:

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'config';

and change it to :

Code:

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'cookie';

save and exit . that's it ! phpMyAdmin works icon_wink.gif

=====

Perl . Optioanl for your server , very usefull . i recomend you to install

it . you can download it from http://www.activestate.com/ . here is a

direct link :

Code:

http://downloads.activestate.com/ActivePerl/Windows/5.8/ActivePerl-5.8.4.810-MSWin32-x86.msi

download , install and you are ready . put your perl scripts in the /cgi-bin/

folder (c:/apache/cgi-bin) .

=====

Hope this helped , you're welcome . No , you don't need to pay

BIOS Update Procedure

2010-04-04T21:31:00.000+05:30

Many Motherboards , 486/ Pentium / Pentium Pro etc.,ensure that upgrades are easily obtained by incorporating the system BIOS in a FLASH Memory component. With FLASH BIOS, there is no need to replace an EPROM component. Once downloaded, the upgrade utility fits on a floppy disc allowing the user to save, verify and update the system BIOS. A hard drive or a network drive can also be used to run the newer upgrade utilities. However, memory managers cannot be installed while upgrading.

Most pre-Pentium motherboards do not have a Flash BIOS. The following instructions therefore do not apply to these boards. If your motherboard does not have a Flash BIOS (EEPROM) you will need to use an EPROM programmer to re-program the BIOS chip. See your dealer for more information about this.

Please read the following instructions in full before starting a Flash BIOS upgrade:

A. Create a Bootable Floppy (in DOS)

•With a non-formatted disk, type the following:

format a:/s

•If using a formatted disk, type:

sys a:

This procedure will ensure a clean boot when you are flashing the new BIOS.

B. Download the BIOS file

•Download the correct BIOS file by clicking on the file name of the BIOS file you wish to download.

•Save the BIOS file and the Flash Utility file in the boot disk you have created. Unzip the BIOS file and the flash utility file. If you don't have an "unzip" utility, download the WinZip for Windows 95 shareware/ evaluation copy for that one time use from _www.winzip.com or _www.pkware.com. Most CD ROMs found in computer magazines, have a shareware version of WinZip on them.

•You should have extracted two files:

Flash BIOS utility eg: flash7265.exe (for example)

BIOS eg: 6152J900.bin (example)

Use the latest flash utility available unless otherwise specified (either on the BIOS update page or in the archive file). This information is usually provided.

C. Upgrade the System BIOS

During boot up, write down the old BIOS version because you will need to use it for the BIOS backup file name.

Place the bootable floppy disk containing the BIOS file and the Flash Utility in drive a, and reboot the system in MS-DOS, preferably Version 6.22

•At the A:> prompt, type the corresponding Flash BIOS utility and the BIOS file with its extension.

For example:

flash625 615j900.bin

•From the Flash Memory Writer menu, select "Y" to "Do you want to save BIOS?" if you want to save (back up) your current BIOS (strongly recommended), then type the name of your current BIOS and its extension after FILE NAME TO SAVE: eg: a:\613J900.bin

Alternatively select "N" if you don't want to save your current BIOS. Beware, though, that you won't be able to recover from a possible failure.

•Select "Y" to "Are you sure to program?"

•Wait until it displays "Message: Power Off or Reset the system"

Once the BIOS has been successfully loaded, remove the floppy disk and reboot the system. If you write to BIOS but cannot complete the procedure, do not switch off, because the computer will not be able to boo, and you will not be given another chance to flash. In this case leave your system on until you resolve the problem (flashing BIOS with old file is a possible solution, provided you've made a backup before)

Make sure the new BIOS version has been loaded properly by taking note of the BIOS identifier as the system is rebooting.

For AMI BIOS

Once the BIOS has been successfully loaded, remove the floppy disk and reboot the system holding the "END" key prior to power on until you enter CMOS setup. If you do not do this the first time booting up after upgrading the BIOS, the system will hang.

BIOS Update Tips

note:

1.Make sure never to turn off or reset your computer during the flash process. This will corrupt the BIOS data. We also recommend that you make a copy of your current BIOS on the bootable floppy so you can reflash it if you need to. (This option is not available when flashing an AMI BIOS).

2. If you have problems installing your new BIOS please check the following:

Have you done a clean boot?

In other words, did you follow the above procedure for making a bootable floppy? This ensures that when booting from "A" there are no device drivers on the diskette. Failing to do a clean boot is the most common cause for getting a "Memory Insufficient" error message when attempting to flash a BIOS.

If you have not used a bootable floppy, insure a clean boot either by

a) pressing F5 during bootup

b) by removing all device drivers on the CONFIG.SYS including the HIMEM.SYS. Do this by using the EDIT command.

Have you booted up under DOS?

Booting in Windows is another common cause for getting a "Memory Insufficient" error message when attempting to flash a BIOS. Make sure to boot up to DOS with a minimum set of drivers. Important: Booting in DOS does not mean selecting "Restart computer in MS-DOS Mode" from Windows98/95 shutdown menu or going to Prompt mode in WindowsNT, but rather following the above procedure (format a: /s and rebooting from a:\).

Have you entered the full file name of the flash utility and the BIOS plus its extension?

Do not forget that often you will need to add a drive letter (a:\) before flashing the BIOS. Example: when asked for file name of new BIOS file which is on your floppy disk, in case you're working from c:\ your will need to type a:\615j900.bin, rather than 615j900.bin only.

Converting hard drive to NTFS

2010-04-03T01:23:00.000+05:30

Your hard drive must be formatted with a file system such as FAT, FAT32 or NTFS so that Windows can be installed on to it. This system determines how files are named, organised and stored on the drive. If you’re not using it already, NTFS (New Technology File System) is recommended for Windows XP because of the additional functionality it offers. If your PC came with Windows XP pre-installed then there’s a chance that you’re already using NTFS. If you’ve upgraded from Windows 98 or Windows Me you may still be using FAT or FAT 32. The option to change over to NTFS would have been available during the upgrade process. Don’t worry if you skipped this as it’s possible to convert at any time from within Windows XP without losing any data.

The recommended option

There are a number of features in Windows XP that will only work if the NTFS file system is present, which is why it’s suggested you make use of it. File and folder permissions, encryption and privacy options are just some of those you’ll be able to access. In particular, those of you who have set up user accounts will find NTFS invaluable. For instance, if you continue to use FAT or FAT32 anyone with physical access to the drive will be able to access the files and folders that are stored there. However, with NTFS you’ll be able to use a level of encryption (Professional Edition only) that will enable you to protect your data.

You’ll also find NTFS more reliable in that it’s more able to recover from disk errors than its FAT or FAT32 counterparts. A log of all disk activity is kept so should a crash occur, Windows XP can use this information to repair the file system when your PC boots up again. To find out what file system you’re using, open My Computer, right-click your main hard drive and choose Properties. Take a look at the General tab to see confirmation of the file system that’s in use.

Convert now

You can use the convert tool in Windows XP to change the file system on your hard disk from FAT or FAT32 to NTFS. The whole process is safe and your existing data won’t be destroyed. To begin, click Start -> Run, type cmd and press [Return]. At the command prompt type convert c: /fs:ntfs and press [Return] (where ‘c’ is the letter of the drive you’re converting). When you try and run the convert utility, it’s likely that Windows XP will be using your paging file so the process won’t be completed immediately. Therefore, you’ll see a brief message on screen informing you that the conversion will take place instead the next time Windows starts up. Having restarted, the Check Disk utility will run, the conversion will be performed automatically and you may find that your PC will reboot twice more.

The benefits

With your drive now running NTFS, it’s time to take advantage of the new options that are available. Having created a number of different user accounts you can now control the level of access that’s granted to individual users. For example, there are going to be certain files and folders that you’ll want some users to be able to access but not others. If you have Windows XP Professional Edition you can do this immediately.

Right-click any file or folder, choose Properties and select the Security tab. A dialog will be displayed showing the names of all your users. Alongside will be two columns which enable you to select levels of access for each of them, the permissions include Full Control, Modify, Read and Write. You can then check the appropriate box to determine whether or not to Allow or Deny a particular permission. For Windows XP Home Edition users, the Security tab won’t be immediately available. To access this option you’ll need to restart your PC, pressing [F8] until a menu appears. Next select Safe Mode and wait for Windows XP to start up. You can then set your options in the same way.

Another feature is NTFS compression. It’s quick and seamless as your file or folder is decompressed automatically when you access it. (Don’t confuse this with a Zip compression utility where the files need to be extracted before they can be accessed.) Although you may have used NTFS compression on a file or folder, there’s no way of telling just by looking at it. To remedy this, open My Computer, click Tools -> Folder Options and select the View tab. Under Advanced settings, scroll down and check the option ‘Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color’, then click Apply and OK. Take a look at your compressed items in My Computer and you’ll see the text label has changed from black to blue. Something else that’s exclusive to Professional Edition users is the Encrypting File System (EFS). You can use this to protect your important data so that no one else can read it. Your encrypted files and folders will only be accessible when you have logged into your user account successfully.

Netbios Hacking

2010-04-02T14:42:00.001+05:30

THIS NETBIOS HACKING GUIDE WILL TELL YOU ABOUT HACKING REMOTE COMPUTER AND GAINING ACCESS TO IT’S HARD-DISK OR PRINTER.NETBIOS HACK IS THE EASIEST WAY TO BREAK INTO A REMOTE COMPUTER.

STEP-BY-STEP NETBIOS HACKING PROCEDURE

1.Open command prompt

2. In the command prompt use the “net view” command

( OR YOU CAN ALSO USE “NB Scanner” OPTION IN “IP-TOOLS” SOFTWARE BY ENTERING RANGE OF IP ADDRESSS.BY THIS METHOD YOU CAN SCAN NUMBER OF COMPUTERS AT A TIME).

Example: C:\>net view \\219.64.55.112

The above is an example for operation using command prompt.”net view” is one of the netbios command to view the shared resources of the remote computer.Here “219.64.55.112″ is an IP address of remote computer that is to be hacked through Netbios.You have to substitute a vlaid IP address in it’s place.If succeeded a list of HARD-DISK DRIVES & PRINTERS are shown.If not an error message is displayed. So repeat the procedure 2 with a different IP address.

3. After succeeding, use the “net use” command in the command prompt.The “net use” is another netbios command which makes it possible to hack remote drives or printers.

Example-1:

C:\>net use D: \\219.64.55.112\F

Example-2:

C:\>net use G: \\219.64.55.112\SharedDocs

Example-3:

C:\>net use I: \\219.64.55.112\Myprint

NOTE: In Examples 1,2 & 3, D:,G: & I: are the Network Drive Names that are to be created on your computer to access remote computer’s hard-disk.

NOTE: GIVE DRIVE NAMES THAT ARE NOT USED BY ANY OTHER DRIVES INCLUDING HARD-DISK DRIVES,FLOPPY DRIVES AND ROM-DRIVES ON YOUR COMPUTER.THAT IS IF YOU HAVE C: & D: AS HARD DIRVES, A: AS FLOPPY DIVE AND E: AS CD-DRIVE, GIVE F: AS YOUR SHARED DRIVE IN THE COMMAND PROMPT

F:,”SharedDocs” are the names of remote computer’s hard-disk’s drives that you want to hack. “Myprint” is the name of remote computer’s printer.These are displayed after giving “net use” command. “219.64.55.112″ is the IP address of remote computer that you want to hack.

4. After succeeding your computer will give a message that “The command completed successfully“. Once you get the above message you are only one step away from hacking the computer.

Now open “My Computer” you will see a new “Hard-Disk drive”(Shared) with the specified name.You can open it and access remote computer’s Hard-Drive.You can copy files,music,folders etc. from victim’s hard-drive.You can delete/modify data on victim’s hard-drive only if WRITE-ACCESS is enabled on victim’s system.You can access files\folders quickly through “Command Prompt”.

NOTE: If Remote Computer’s Firewall Is Enabled Your Computer Will Not Succeed In Gaining Access To Remote Computer Through Netbios.That is Netbios Hacking Is Not Possible In This Situation.(An Error Message Is Displayed).So Repeat The Procedure 2,3 With Different IP Address.