Beißen Gedanken: File -- Essential Software.htm

Following is the list of software that you must absolutely have on your computer to ensure that your experience both on the Internet and offline while you work on the computer is safe and enjoyable

The first in line in no particular order of importance is

1) iISystem Wiper allows you to clear the history of your activities from your computer. Many programs store information about your activities on your personal computer. Some of this information is easy to clear, such as the History, but other information can be hard to locate and clear, for example the cookie index file. iISystem Wiper allows you to clear this information with a click of a button.

In addition to the lack of privacy this stored information causes, the files can also take up large amounts of space on you hard drive. Internet Explorer's temporary files can take up hundreds of megabytes of space.

Here are the links http://www.iisoftware.net /index.php?clean.html

This one has some more software in some data security categories

http://www.freedownloadscenter .com/Best/iisystem-wiper.html

In continuing with the same vein, this time its about a software that is useful for recovering deleted files ... accidentally deleted files mostly, but you can still use it to recover files if not much time has elapsed.

2) The software is called REST 2514. Its by Brian Kato ..

(Its another must have software like the iIsystem wiper)

You just enter the file name or its extension and it shows you the list of files it has recovered .. Its very effective if not much time has elapsed since you deleted the file, although I have recovered files even a week, sometimes even a month after it was deleted ..

It also depends upon How exhaustively you use the computer or the particular drive from where the file was deleted .. If the drive has been subjected to a lot of deleting and writing files or saving files on it, then it may not recover the file that well ..

That's why I said it in the beginning ...

Its great for recovering files that have been accicentally deleted ..

But Hey, it does what it does and it does it very well ...

So who's complaining ..

Yuo know what? You could test it by creating a dummy file .. deleting it and then trying to recover/undelete it ..

Go ahead .. try it ..

Here's the link to the website from where you can download it ..

http://www.snapfiles.com/get /restoration.html

Or here's the direct link to directly download the software ...

http://www.downloadtaxi.com/d /104/REST2514.EXE

Another thing about this software is its not required to be installed ..

Just extract or unzip the file into a folder and you are ready to run it ... No installation means no cluttering up the registry and if you don't want it, just delete the folder and its gone ..

plus, its size ... just 200 KB .. Huh!!!!!

AND, its freeware!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hooray ...

I love freeware stuff ..

No demos, no 15 days working and then having to buy ..

Just use it and if you feel inclined, many of these developers also give you their emails or addresses to send them money ..

Well, Hope this one works for you just as well

3)The third is software which is ... Its a dictionary ... called Wordweb

Relax .. its not just that .. Its downloadable so you can save it on your computer and refer to it whenever you want ...

Here's the link

http://wordweb.info/

So what's so great about that you ask?

Well, WordWeb is a quick and powerful international English thesaurus and dictionary for Windows. It can be used to look up words from almost any program, showing definitions, synonyms and related words. It includes pronunciations and usage examples, and has helpful spelling and sounds-like links

See .. that is how good this is .. You don't get that in a regular dictionary ..

Well, not the way you do in wordweb certainly ..

I have stopped using my heavy dictionary ..

I now use wordweb almost whenever I am on the comp. and need to look up a word and its related usages .. or synonyms ..

Its about 6 MB in size (the setup file that is) but well worth it ..

Try it and you'll know what I mean ...

Number 4) is Zonealarm

Privacy being under attack these days from all and sundry places and people (what with surreptitiously placed webcams, keylogging software, computer hacking, its almost as if ones whole life is now on show for whoever is ready to pay the big bucks for perverted voyeuristic pursuits and pleasures...

But many times, it is we ourselves who do not take even the most basic precautions ... sometimes out of ignorance .. at other times due to laziness ..

I can do nothing about the latter, but so far as ignorance is concerned, we can all chip in with whatever awareness can make our lives better and more in tune with the will of God.

In the light of the above, I am offering the following ..

A way to protect your passwords in cyber cafes and other public computers and an anti-hacking software to secure your PC from unwanted attacks ..

Here goes with the first part ..

Protect your password in cyber cafe and on public computers

Some time or the other, you must have used cyber dafe or public computers to access internet or mail. Public computers are most prone to password hacking. Anyone can simply install a keylogger software to hack your password.

Keylogging is one of the most insidious threats to a user's personal information. Passwords, credit card numbers etc.

It is now very easy for the keylogger to harvest passwords. Each and every keystroke (whatever you type on the keyboard) gets recorded in the keylogger software and the person installing it can easily view what you have typd in.

For example, if you go to hotmail.com and check your mails. Say your ID is sarahj7@hotmail. com and password is "snoopy2", the keylogger software records your usename and password in its log file as

Microsoft Internet Explorer :
www.hotmail. comsarahj7@ hotmail.comsnoop y2

Or in the case of Firefox:
www.hotmail. comsarahj7@ hotmail.comsnoop y2

Risky isnt it???!!!

There's solution to this problem and you can easily fool the hacker.
The keylogger software sees and records everything,but it doesn't understand what it sees. It does not know what to do with keys that are typed anywhere other than the password or user name fields.

So, in between successive keys of the password if you enter random keys, the keylogger software won't ever come to know where you typed in what..

In the process of recording the keys, the string that the keylogger receives will contain the password, but embedded in so much random junk that discovering it is infeasible.

So... e.g.

1.Go to hotmail.com or yahoo.com or any of the site where you need to insert a password or PIN.

2.Type in your user ID.

3. Type in the first character of the password.

4. Click on the address bar in the internet explorer or Firefox. Type in some 3/4 random characters.

5. Again go to password field and type in the second character of the password. And probably third too.

6. Again go to the addressbar and type in a few mroe random character.

7. Back to the password field and the next characters of the password.

Keep on repeatin the process till you type in the full password in the password field.

Instead of the password
snoopy2 the keylogger now gets:
hotmail.comspqmlainsdgsosdg fsodgfdpuouuyhdg 2
Here a total of 26 random characters have been inserted among the 7 characters of the actual password!!!

No doubt it takes a little bit of more time than the usual process, but you're safe and secure that way!!!

Never hurts to be a little more secure eh?

Continuing in the same vein ...

A CYBER WARNING - This one's genuine ...

I just received this even as I was preparing one of my newsletter issue

Please do not use "Ctrl+c" to copy sensitive data when you are connected
to net. We do copy various data by Ctrl+c for pasting elsewhere. This
copied data is stored in clipboard and is accessible from the net by a
combination of Javascripts and ASP. Do not keep sensitive data (like
credit card numbers, bank login/passwords, PIN, date of births, etc.) in
the clipboard while surfing the web. Instead make a practice of typing
them always. It is extremely easy to extract the text stored in the
clipboard to steal your sensitive information.

(remember that our cyber laws are not stringent enough!!).
Just try this to believe yourself,

1) Copy any text by Ctrl+c
2) Now, click the Link:http://www.friendlycanadian.com/applications/clipboard.htm
3) You will see the SAME text you copied is accessed by this webpage.

How to Prevent
============ -==
Got this tip from one of my friends and it works.....
But still we should be careful in using Ctrl+c to copy sensitive data
when connected to net.

Solution:
To prevent this from happening in Internet Explorer,

a. Tools Internet Options Security
b. For Internet, Custom Level Scripting, Disable

"Allow paste operations via script"

And also disable Auto Complete option:

1. Open IE browser
2. Go to Internet Options in Tools Menu.
3. Click on the Content Tab
4. Click on Auto complete
5. Uncheck all the Check Boxes and click "Clear Forms and Clear Passwords".

Ignorance maybe bliss But,

Deliberate Ignorance is a sin .....

Be informed, Be safe ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and here's the anti-hacking software I was talking about ..

For those who don't know what is hacking ....

Here's a short explanation ..

Your computer communicates with the net and cyberworld and other computers in a LAN network through portals (or doorways) known as ports .. There are around 65000 ports .. through which your computer can communicate ..

Relax, most of them are system .. and not for you to mess with .. unless you are a pro .

Like port 80 is used to access the internet websites ..

Port 25 for SMTP email (outgoing) etc.. etc..

Now a hacker typically enters your computer through a port ... an open port that allows him access .. windows does have a password option .. but there is no limit on the number of tries .. so a hacker can theoretically try all possible combinations until he gains an entry into your system and once He/she does (Yes, hackers can be females too .. .. don't underestimate them) then they pretty much own your computer and can do whatsoever they wish ...

create files,

delete files,'

modify files ..

What an anti-hacking software does is prevent exactly that .. and different ones use different ways of doing that ...

The one I am telling you about is Zonealarm ..

(URL - www.zonelabs.com)

Just go to the website and download their free version .. for Home use .. To know more about hacking ... also visit the site www.grisoft.com

As an aside, I would also like to add that even with the above software, we still have the age old dilemma of "Who will guard the Guardians?"

IN the above context, the anti-hacking software will protect you from hackers ...

But

How well can you trust that the company owning the anti-hacking software won't misuse it to gain access to your computer and use it for their own benefit ... good or bad .. eh?

See .. security ..?

It works ... rather cuts both ways ..

By the way, the said software (zonealarm) has been acquired by an Israeli company last I heard ..

Just giving you both sides of the picture ... you decide what you wanna work with or around ...

You can also search on google for more freeware versions ...

But the above problem would remain with any software that you install on your computer ...

And to conclude, here's the icing on the cake -

According to Indian prices,many commercial applications are expensive

for a home user. So I thought that everynow and then, as I come across them,

I would list a few FREEWARE applications to replace them.

These are spyware/adware free and link directly to the download page
Antivirus