Linking “real-world” purchases to online users is one of the holy grails of Internet marketing. Current advertising companies are already able to link online activity to advertisements. Linking offline purchases on the other hand would push behavioral targeting to another level.

Both credit card companies interestingly enough confirmed that they are exploring ways of using transactional data for targeted online advertisements. A Visa patent application in April for instance revealed plans to use personal details to create online profiles for ad targeting, with personal details taken from a variety of sources including “information from social network websites, information from credit bureaus, information from search engines, information about insurance claims, information from DNA databanks”.

A Master Card spokesman stated that the company “doesn’t collect card-holders’ names or contact information in transactions it processes”, and that it therefor “doesn’t connect an individual’s Web-surfing activity to their specific cardholder transaction data or provide outside companies with individuals’ transaction data”.

According to the Wall Street Journal article, both companies said that the plans are preliminary. Master Card and Visa are not the only two credit card processing companies that use the billions of credit card transactions for marketing. Most companies disclose in their privacy policies that they may share personal information with third party companies.

Master Card credit card holders can opt-opt of a variety of marketing and tracking related programs. This includes opting-out from the anonymization of personal information to perform data analyzes and from a unique web analytics cookie to avoid the aggregation and analysis of data collected.

The best way to protect yourself? Pay with cash whenever possible. What’s your take on this?

The alternative is an application like F-Secure’s Online Scanner which can be started from a web browser. This particular application is a Java app which means that the latest Java Runtime Environment (JRE) needs to be installed on the system.

Users can visit the official website to start a scan of their computer system right away. The online application uses up to date virus and threat definitions that F-Secure maintains for all of their products.

When you start the online app you are asked to select a scan mode. Available for selection are quick scan, which only scans the most important files and folders of the system, a full scan or a custom scan. Custom scan can be configured on an extra screen in the program interface.

Here it is then possible to scan all or only selected folders and file types. The program itself will scan for malware, spyware, rootkits using a database of known virus signatures and heuristics to identify unknown threats.

The program then downloads files from the Internet which may take some time depending on the Internet connection. The scan time depends largely on the selected mode and the speed of the system.

The application displays a summary after the scan highlighting potentially malicious files. These files can be deleted from the system and send to F-Secure as a sample (handy if heuristics identified an unknown threat that F-Secure has no information about).

The program is easy to use and comes with enough customizations for advanced uses. I would not recommend relying solely on online scanners for security though, but would recommend them for additional security scans on a regular basis. You can check out our overview of online virus scanners here.

I also try to use download portals if the developer site does not offer direct downloads, for instance by forcing users to register or fill out a web form before downloads become available.

Today I wanted to download Dr.Web CureIt and the first site that came up in Google Search was Cnet’s Download.com.

I never had problems with downloads on Cnet before, but this one got me puzzled at first. Instead of allowing me to download the setup file directly, a 400 Kilobyte web installer was downloaded.

I first thought that the developers of CureIt had provided the installer, turned out I was wrong. Cnet, at least for this download and probably for all downloads on the site, is not offering direct links to those setup files anymore. Instead, a web downloader, called CNET Download.com installer, is provided.

This in itself is problematic as it means that users need to run the download.com installer first to download the setup file of the software that they initially wanted to download. That’s additional work for the user.

The real problem here however is that the web installer is pushing the Babylon toolbar. Users who do not pay attention to the download process will install the Babylon Toolbar, make Babylon their default search engine and homepage of their browsers.

Cnet is without doubt generating lots of revenue from the web installer, considering that the toolbar installation options are enabled by default, and that most users click Next Next Next when it comes to installation processes.

The CNET Download.com Installer is clearly adware. It might make sense to use a different download portal in the future, especially if you do not want to download the 400 Kilobyte web installer every time you download a file from the download site. Good alternatives are Softpedia and Major Geeks.

Have you encountered the CNET Download.com Installer? What’s your opinion?

Rkill is a free utility offered by bleepingcomputers.com. Here are the links to give you the different versions:

• http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/grinler/rkill.com
• http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/grinler/rkill.exe
• http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/grinler/rkill.scr
• http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/grinler/eXplorer.exe
• http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/grinler/iExplore.exe

The different versions are offered as many malware processes will execute through various paths. You will need it at some point when operating a PC. This will not remove malware or repair damage caused by malware. This will simply stop the processes from running. Once you download, you can save the file and run a security scan. It is doubtful that you will find any security risks, but just stay on the safe side and check before running the utility. Once you start Rkill, this screen will open:

This process can take a long time to complete. You can temporarily disable antivirus and anti-spyware programs as they will often recognize Rkill as a threat and disable it. It may sound crazy to disable antivirus software and it is not a move without risk. It is better to go into your antivirus software and create an exception for the Rkill version that you use and leave the rest of the antivirus running as is. After Rkill is prepared, it will indicate that it is terminating malware processes.

Close applications to make this faster. The “Please be patient” message is no joke. You might wait 30 minutes and you might also wait for hours. The wait is worth it. When Rkill has completed its task, it will show a screen like this:

Please note that Rkill’s main purpose is to prepare the system for the disinfection of malicious software. That’s why you see Chrome and rundll32.exe in the list above. It does not mean that those processes are malicious.

The next thing to do is open your antivirus software and run a scan. A prior scan did not pick those cookies up before running Rkill. The advantage is obvious. Select all and delete from quarantine. It is a good idea to use MalwareBytes, another free utility to run a basic malware scan. This can be run in conjunction with the antivirus scan on Windows 7 as long as your PC processor can handle the load. The general rule is to run MalwareBytes separately to avoid confusion. It has been found favorable to run a good antivirus scan first and then run MalwareBytes. Obtain the free download for MalwareBytes here:

Use the free download or purchase the full version. The free download is sufficient as long as your antivirus is up to date. After following the prompts, MalwareBytes will open and you should just run a quick scan. It will detect any remaining malware that your antivirus may have missed. By running the antivirus before MalwareBytes, everything was removed. When MalwareBytes completes a scan, it shows a screen with the results. Nothing was found here because my resident malware protection removed the malware already.

That is all there is to it. If in doubt about malware, try Rkill and see what is actually going on in the background.

Please note that Malwarebytes is just a suggestion. There are other free tools out there that you can use to scan your system, Dr. Web Cure It for instance.

Wallpaper Manager

One of my biggest complaints about most wallpaper managers is a lack of a functional full-screen mode. IrfanView can open a picture full-screen or you can make one full-screen from a window (double-click the image). You can see the next and last images with the space bar and backspace key. You can go through an entire folder in this manner, seeing what a wallpaper really will look like before selecting an image.

Once you have found the new wallpaper you want, there are several key combinations to set the image in place. To center an image, use crtl+shift+c. To tile an image, use ctrl+shift+t. To stretch (and possibly skew) an image, use ctrl+shift+s. To stretch (without skewing) an image, use ctrl+shift+x. The last shortcut as added in the most recent version of IrfanView, so be sure to update the program.

To create a shortcut to open an image full-screen, you will need a few things. You have to specify the path for IrfanView, your image, and the /fs switch. The “fs” stands for full-screen. It should look like this:

i_view32.exe D:\Wallpaper\Image.jpg /fs

Tip: Start with a shortcut of IrfanView. Right click the shortcut, select “Properties,” and add parameters after the program path. This ensures you have the correct path to the application.

Randomize Wallpaper

A shortcut can be created that can randomize your wallpaper from a file selected within a folder or list. Place it in your “Start Up” folder to have a new wallpaper every time you boot your computer. Place it in your “Scheduled Tasks” to have it change in any intervals you want. You can always put it in the Start Menu (or even on the desktop) for convenient access.

To create a shortcut to change your wallpaper, you need to specify the path to IrfanView, the folder with the images, and the image types. After that, use the parameters shown:

i_view32.exe D:\Wallpaper\*.jpg /random /wall=0 /killmesoftly

Screenshot Maker

IrfanView has a great screen capture tool. Just press “C” to use it. It will bring up a dialog box that lets you grab the whole screen, just one program, or an area/box you draw with your mouse. Other settings can be found here, such as the file name pattern and directory (such as one in a network share or Dropbox). You can then use a key combination to activate the capture or set an automatic, repeating timer.

You can create shortcuts to use the screen capture features directly. There are a lot of options in the help file. More than likely, one of these two is the one you would want to use.

Capture the foreground window:

i_view32.exe /capture=2

Capture a rectangle selection:

i_view32.exe /capture=4

Basic Image Editing

While IrfanView is mainly a viewing tool, it does have image editing features. It will not replace powerful tools like PhotoShop or GIMP, but it will complement them. Fast load times, precision selections, and bag of tricks make it more useful than you might expect. You can resize, crop, and convert image types with ease. Enhancing an image or making it black and white is done with one click of a menu item. Adjusting the brightness/contrast, and tweaking the hue are all can be performed through intuitive dialog boxes. You can even blur, sharpen, use other filters (e.g. oil painting). All of these things are right in the Image menu.

Summary

IrfanView is a versatile tool. If you are just using it to view images, then you are not using its full potential. As you can imagine, taking screenshots is something a writer here has to do often. Being able to do it quickly, and right the first time, makes the work easier. Have some other clever uses for IrfanVIew? Let us know in the comments.

You will notice right away that the Spybot application has turned into a heavyweight over the years. The 66 Megabyte download indicates this already, and it is later confirmed during installation. The sheer amount of tools and services that you can install, or will if you do not select the custom installation option, is confirming this impression. The average Spybot-Search & Destroy 2.0 installation will take up more than 120 Megabytes of space on the system.

You can select the custom installation option to enable or disable some of the tools and services that are offered in addition to the core program files and functionality.

Among those are browser plugins, background services, for instance to perform program updates, or a tool to create a bootable CD to scan and repair the PC.

The program asks you to restart the PC after installation. Some functionality is however directly available without restart. You can for instance run the program without restart, or perform update checks and file scans.

The options in the interface are displayed on a scrolling page, which makes orientation a lot harder. An option to switch to a list view is missing. You should run an update check on first startup, to make sure that the program libraries and database are up to date.

The available selection on the main page depends partially on the type of installation. Some options may not be there if you have customized the installation.

A full scan of the system, or a scan of individually selected files or folders can be started under Basic Tools. Spybot-Search & Destroy scans the system for installed spyware. Especially the full system scan takes a while to complete. It took more than 25 minutes on a fast test system with fast cpu, lots of RAM and speedy Solid State Drives.

Scanning is only one thing that you can do with the Spybot program. You can use it to manage Windows autostart entries, scan for rootkits, shred files or scan mobile phones that are connected to the PC at that time.

Here are a few screenshots of some of the program’s tools:

Some users may think that this is overkill, while others will love the extended tools sections that they can use to manage other parts of their operating system.

Spybot feels bloated just like the burning software Nero does nowadays. Users who only want the spyware scanning should use a custom installation to remove all additional tools that are installed otherwise with the program.

Keep in mind that it is a beta release, which means that things may change and that bugs may exist. You can download Spybot-Search & Destroy 2.0 Beta from the official website. The program is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

The fall, which you can see in the graph below, shows a steady decline from almost a quarter of a trillion messages every day to just 50 billion now.  The largest drop was seen over the Christmas period when the total volume of spam halved in just a few short days.

Security experts are warning that the lull may not last though they are at a loss to explain why the global spam levels have dropped so far and so regularly in recent months.

While authorities, especially in the US which generates the most spam worldwide, have had great success in the last year closing illegal operations, these were a drop in the ocean overall.  According to a report by the BBC, Botnets are responsible for the majority of spam and the largest of these, Rustock, was at its peak responsible for up to 48% of all global spam.  By December however Rustock was responsible for only 0.5% of global spam.

Around the same time two other global spam botnets also went quiet.

While we have seen global drops in spam before, it is uncommon for a drop to last so long.  It will be interesting to see if the levels rise again or if they will continue to drop for the next few months.

Windows users have lots of choices when it comes to defragmentation software. We have covered a lot of tools in the past, to name a few: Defraggler, FragExt, Auslogics Disk Defrag, MyFrag or Ultra Defrag. Not to mention the first party Windows defragmentation program that ships withe very copy of Windows.

WinContig is another free file defragmentation tool. The portable software can be started directly without installation. Files and folders can be added to the defragmentation queue by clicking on the Add button at the top. Folders includes partitions on the system. A click on the Analyze button scans the selected folders and files, and displays a fragmentation report in the end.

All fragmented files and statistics are shown in the main window. Statistics include the total number of fragmented files and the number of files processed. There is also an error tab displaying errors in case any appear during the scan. The analysis was fast on the test system. The performance depends largely on the drive speed, size of the selected folder or drive and the number of files that are stored on it.

It is possible to select only specific items or all fragmented items for defragmentation. A click on Defragment opens a new prompt. Wincontig recommends to run a check disk and disk cleanup before running the defragmentation. The actual defragmentation process can take some time, depending on the fragmentation of the files on the disk.

Defragmentation profiles can be saved and loaded to avoid configuring the defragmentation every time the file defragmentation software is started. WinContig has options to exclude files from the process and to configure relevant tools like the disk checking and defragmentation mode.

WinContig is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit versions and editions of the Microsoft Windows operating system. Interested users can download the latest version directly from the developer website.

Kaspersky Pure information are available on the software’s main website at Kaspersky. Before we delve into the review it may be a good idea to compare the program to Kaspersky Antivirus and Kaspersky Internet Security.

The product comparison chart is available here. In short: Kaspersky Pure’s unique features are a password manager and disaster recovery backup. In addition, it offers feature enhanced versions of the home network security, PC security tuneup and digital identity protection modules:

• Digital Identity Protection: Ensures safe shopping and banking online; protects your personal data (e.g. credit card numbers, etc.) from online theft
• Password Manager: Stores and encrypts your personal usernames and passwords in one secure location; automatically logs you in to your favorite websites and auto-complete forms. Includes portable version that allows carrying your passwords with you on an USB stick.
• Disaster recovery (backup): Automatically backs up data, which can be restored in the event of a loss, and select backup media
• PC Security Tune-up: Scans your operating system and programs for vulnerabilities; tunes up system settings for better security; recovers and repairs a virus-damaged/infected system with the help of a Rescue Disc (CD)
• Home Network Security: Guards your home network with the help of a two-way firewall; blocks external security threats, such as malicious programs, files, scripts that can cause damage to your computer and data; increases security of your Wi-Fi connections

Kaspersky Pure Review

The main interface of Kaspersky Pure consists of three different areas. The top area links to the program settings and displays a security state assessment (e.g. your computer security is at risk) with a fix it now button. The main area that links to program modules and provides information about them and the footer with license information and help.

A click on Fix it now is probably the first thing that most users will do. This opens a new window listing all computer protection problems.

One interesting option here is to hide messages. This is for instance useful if a module is disabled that is not needed. The computer shows up as protected if all issues have been resolved or problems have been hidden.

A click on an entry in the main area leads directly to that modules page in Kaspersky Pure. The three main modules at the top offer Quick Tasks which display links to specific tasks directly in the main interface. The Computer Protection Quick Tasks for instance link to pausing the protection, running a full scan or running an update.

Backup and Restore is one of the options that is only available in Kaspersky Pure. The user can create backup tasks that backup selected data on the system. One interesting feature here is that it is possible to select folders and all files in that folder, or specific file categories like images, financial documents, documents or audio / video files with options to create custom categories so that specific file types or groups of files are backed up when that category is selected.

Kaspersky Pure supports backups on removable drives, local and network drives and ftp servers. Backups can be password protected for additional security. It is furthermore possible to save an unlimited number of file versions or restrict the number of file versions or storage period for file versions. Backups can be run according to a schedule or only on manual user request.

Kaspersky Pure offers other interesting features like encrypted storage containers to store data safely, a password manager that can be used with Pure or as a portable version. The authorization method can be a password, USB or Bluetooth device or no authorization at all (which is obviously not recommended).

Previously I have criticized security software companies who added extensions and plugins to web browsers during installation without asking the user to do so. Kaspersky has changed that behavior. The password manager for instance offers extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Thunderbird. These only get installed if the user activates and configures the password manager in the program.

The password manager recommends to disable the internal password manager of the application and offers extensive importing options from web browsers, Roboform or KeePass.

Many modules are only activated when the user initiates it. That’s excellent as it reduces the clutter in the application and impact on other programs on the computer.

Kaspersky Pure Verdict

The security program introduces several excellent changes to previous versions. Especially the ability to activate programs on demand only and the installation of extensions on request are features that need to be mentioned again.

Kaspersky Pure adds well thought out modules to the application, a powerful backup, password manager and data encryption. The program used roughly 70 Megabytes of ram while running on the computer, an acceptable figure, especially since it does not use lots of cpu cycles when it is running.

Kaspersky Pure is the right software for users who want an all in one security solution that includes data backup and disaster recovery. The only minor gripe that I have with it is the inability to remove modules from the main screen. Parental controls are for instance displayed prominently, even if they are not used at all.

Kaspersky Pure Installation

The installation of Kaspersky Pure offers options to customize the software program. Users who want to do that need to check the Custom Installation option on the welcome screen. Computer users who prefer the full package without customizing the security software can simply click next without checking the box.

The second decision that users have to make during installation of Pure is whether they want to join the Kaspersky Security Network. If they do Kaspersky Pure will automatically submit information and files / part of files to Kaspersky for further analysis.

Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) is an online service infrastructure that helps to protect the users, speeds up the product’s response to new malware, and minimizes false positives. Quality of these services depends on quantity of participants of KSN.

Users who have selected custom installation in the first screen can now remove modules from the installation. They may for instance want to remove parental controls from the software if they live without children or minors.

The installation does not take long and an activation screen is displayed in the end. Users with a Kaspersky Pure license can enter the license to fully activate the software, everyone else can opt for a trial of the software that offers all features of the product and expires after 30 days.

One interesting option is the ability to password protect Kaspersky Pure with a admin password. This can be helpful to prevent unauthorized attempts to disable or modify settings.

The installation wizard displays additional options to the user afterwards. Users need to select a protection mode. The options are to let Kaspersky Pure make most of the decisions (which means less prompts for user input), or make the decisions individually which means more control and prompts obviously.

Kaspersky Pure displays a prompt right after installation that reminds the user to update the program databases to install the latest virus definition files and modules.

A free trial version of Kaspersky Pure is available at the Kaspersky website.

Giveaway

Kaspersky donated ten licenses of Kaspersky Pure for the giveaway. The software retails at $99.95 and is good for installation on up to three PCs. For a chance to win a license you need to do the following:

Post your current security setup in the comments here at Ghacks.

We would like to know what you are currently using to protect your computer system. Winners will be randomly selected amongst all commenters who post their setup in the comments. This year we are going to announce the winners in the Ghacks forum, so make sure you check the forum, more specifically in this thread. You may also find information on next day’s software there. Good luck to all participants.

FreeApp is on the other hand an easy to use service. All it takes is to pick the apps to install from a list of available ones on the start page of the service and to click the Get Installer button afterwards to download the application installer to the local computer system.

The service promises that all applications have been tested for viruses and spyware. They even inform the user about toolbars that are included in the installer.

Programs are offered in categories like anti-spyware, communications, anti-virus and firewall, office software or imaging. Most categories list four or more applications that can be added to the installer. Computer users find lots of familiar programs in the listing from browsers like Firefox over media players like Winamp or itunes to compression programs like 7-zip.

The installer is a small program that will download and install the selected programs. It begins by selecting an installation directory for the applications.

The selected applications are then displayed in the interface. Each program is downloaded from the Internet and installed in the selected program.

Program updates are displayed in the installer’s interface as well which can be handy if the installer is opened regularly.

FreeApp is a helpful service for users who plan to install multiple popular (and free) programs on a Windows computer system. It can be helpful for system administrators who have to install a pack of applications on all computer systems.

Scientists at University of California, Berkley have actually accomplished this task. They have successfully attached tiny electrodes and other electronic parts on to living insects. Through these implants, the bug can now be maneuvered through a laptop.

The engineering principle behind is not very difficult to understand. Since we human beings can’t exactly one-up nature on engineering, this is a sort of hack in to the system. It’s like installing a malware that takes control of your computer and then the malware creator manipulates your system through the implant.

The bugs are implanted with the electronic parts at the pupal stage or around the time when they retreat inside the pupa. This way, they actually grow up with parts implanted in them. Then when they are fully grown and take flight, the electrodes transmit electrical pulses in to their nervous system and muscles. So in case the controller wants the bug to veer left during flight, the electrodes charge the left  muscles to make them work harder and the body turns left. Is it is just me or does this sound eerily similar to the way human beings were controlled in The Matrix?

The bug that is being shown off at this point is a Beetle. The developers of the system, Hirotaka Sato and Michel Maharbiz, talked to the Neuroscience Magazine and told them that they had successfully demonstrated remote control in free flight through an implantable radio-equipped neural transmitter.

Attempts to do things similar to this have been going on for several years now and it has already been tried on insects like cockroaches. But this the first time ever that man has been able to extend this kind of control on an insect. This is not necessarily a good thing though. However, as with every scientific achievement, what comes off it will depend on how we use it. And the identity of the people who are funding it already gives us a large enough hint as to what the purpose of this project might be.

The project is being funded by the Pentagon. More precisely, it is being funded by the US Defense Research Project Agency (DARPA) and they themselves have been trying to build a Nano Air Vehicle or NAV.

thankfully this is still in the realm of Sci Fi

These NAVs would be small enough (less that 7.6cm and 10g) to go to places undetected and carry out reconnaissance missions in urban areas mainly. Even though we have advanced enough in the field of nano-technology to make the insect-implants, we are still unable to build something like that completely on our own.

So the military hopes that the beetles would act like micro air vehicles and give them unprecedented advantages during war.

Thankfully, nothing like that is possible immediately because the control  implant is all that the insects can carry during flight. Any more weight and they will not be able to lift it with their wings. So things like a camera and a GPS transmitter are still quite far away from being implanted on to these insects, which would be the only way they could be of any use in war. They can still carry chemical and biological weapons but that would violate existing war laws.

It’s funny that they are expected to abide by the law during a war. The developers are saying that this is only the initial stage and practical cyborg insects are anything between two to 10 years away. [BBC news]

But what can you expect and how should it run? In this preview of Ubuntu 9.10 I will fill you in on the upcoming features and give you a few screen shots as well as my opinion on how the release will fare.

Features

Of course, the first thing you want to know is the feature list. You will be surprised to see the number of features that have been added to 9.10. There are a few cases where some of the features are major changes to the distribution as a whole. Let’s take a look and see.

Upstart: Upstart replaces the /sbin/init daemon which handles the starting of services during the boot process.

Figure 1

Boot process: A brand new boot process has been worked in to make the boot of Ubuntu even faster than it was in 9.04. It is. The boot process for Linux is getting scary fast. Figure 1 shows the new Ubuntu boot screen. The goal of the 10 second start up is growing ever within reach.

Software Center: This is very new and replaces the old Add/Remove Software utility. The ultimate purpose of the Software Center is to replace Synaptic and Gdebi and will, eventually, also offer commercial software.  You can see how different the Software Center is to the

Figure 2

old tool in Figure 2. It is my belief the Software Center is Ubuntu’s attempt to catch on in the Enterprise space. And why shouldn’t they?

After taking a peek around the Software Center, I have to say I am really impressed.

GNOME: GNOME reaches the 2.28 release in the Ubuntu release cycle. The only major change is that GDM has been completely rewritten.

Kubuntu: With this release comes the very first Kubuntu Netbook release.

Enterprise Cloud Images: With the release of 9.10 you will images for use with Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud that is deployed with Amazon EC2.

Ubuntu One: This is Ubuntu’s version of Dropbox. With Ubuntu One you can keep all of files on your Ubuntu machines in sync with one another. You will have to sign up for an account in order to take advantage of this. You also have to subscribe to Ubuntu One. There are two types of accounts:

• Free: 2 Gigs of storage.
• Paid: 50 Gigs of storage for $10.00 USD per month.

Once you have subscribed you can then install the client software.

Hal deprecation: Our old buddy HAL is being stripped of many of its duties. Gone from HAL will be much of the suspend and hibernate subsystem as well as the handling of storage devices. In its place will be “DeviceKit-power”, “DeviceKit-disks” and “udev”.

New Intel video drivers: The Intel video drivers are moving away from EXA to UXA which will solve major performance issues seen in 9.04 for Intel graphics.

ext4: The ext4 filesystem will now be the default. I have used it on many installations and have found it to be reliable and fast.

Non-eXecutable Emulation: If you have a system that lacks NX hardware, this new system will provide an approximation of the NX hardware.

There have also been a number of security improvements such as:

• Blocking Module Loading: Blocks modules from loading after boot.
• Position Independent Executables: Helps to prevent from unknown threats.
• AppArmor Improvements: Associate more profiles to executable applications.

The results

After using 9.10 for a day I have to say I am impressed. I have been using 9.04 on nearly all of my machines and was wondering how Ubuntu could be improved upon. Well, it seems the developement team has, in fact, improved upon 9.04. It’s not a giant leap forward, but the speed improvements and the new software promises to make the Ubuntu experience one that anyone can enjoy. If you are interested in downloading the pre-release of Ubuntu, you can find it on the Karmic Koala download page.

Free Fixer will also scan various critical components of a Windows operating system including running processes, autostart entries, Browser Helper Objects or TCP/IP settings. The difference becomes obvious after the report is being displayed on the screen. Free Fixer will for example whitelist critical system files which means that they will not show up in the default report. This is done to decrease the number of entries that are displayed making it easier for the user to concentrate and analyze the remaining items. There is however no way of displaying whitelisted items in the application, something that the developer’s might want to consider integrating in their security software program.

Another important difference is the “more info” link that is displayed next to each item that was found during the scan. A click on the link will open a page (in Internet Explorer) on the developer’s website that is listing information about the specific entry. Files from trusted companies like Apple or Mozilla are highlighted in green giving the user another indication of potentially safe applications and processes.

The program displays delete or repair checkboxes next to each entry that has not been whitelisted or indicated as being trustworthy. Additional information like the system path are displayed for each item which, combined with the link to display more information on a website, can be a great asset of identifying potentially dangerous items quickly.

Free Fixer is compatible with most versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system (including Windows Xp, Windows Vista and Windows 7). A download is provided at the developer’s website.

The second type are ping and trackback spammers. This is either done by auto-posting articles that others have written without their consent on so called autoblogs. Each post generates at least one pingback to the original site. This can lead to hundreds of pingbacks over time which many webmasters and blog owners publish.

The third and most spammy type are the automated spammers that use specifically designed tools to spam thousands of blogs, forums and every other type of site where content can be posted in hours. Now that we know the different types of spammers we have to discuss how to handle them. This post will mostly deal with automated spammers who post dozens if not hundreds of comments and pingbacks.

Webmasters should use at least one anti-spam tool to block the majority of spam reaching the frontend of the website. WordPress users can for example use Akismet or one of the several other anti-spam plugins that are available. Still, some spam will come through. Today for example a webmaster decided to copy and post more than 300 articles from Ghacks on a website. Each post generated at least one pingback, many multiple pingbacks as the tags and links were kept by that webmaster.

Akismet did not object to these ping and Ghacks ended up with more than 300 accepted and published pings from that blog. Many webmasters would now delete them one by one which takes quite a while. A far better solution is to filter for a common denominator which in this case was the url of the website. All comments, pings and trackbacks that include the domain name of that website were listed giving me the option to mark them all and send them to the spam folder.

There might be situations where this is not possible. Maybe the website or script does not offer the option to bulk moderate comments. There is however another option if the website is making use of a database. This does however require some knowledge about the database as a query has to be run in the administration. Most users will probably use MySql where a basic delete query looks like this:

delete from [table] where [column name] = 'value'

To delete all comments from a specific url in WordPress one would do the following:

delete from wp-comments where comment_author_url ='www.example.com'

It is possible to use other table columns like the commenters IP or email for example. How do you handle mass spam to your website or blog?

This article will concentrate on two lesser known free spyware removal tools. The first program is called Roguefix. It has been designed to counter so called rogue applications. The tool has been specifically designed to remove rogue scanners, desktop and homepage hijackers, trojans, codecs and miscellaneous malware.

Roguefix comes as a simple batch file that has to be executed in Windows safe mode.

The tool will then scan the operating system for spyware and remove detected spyware automatically from the computer system. The free spyware cleaner is only compatible to the Windows XP operating system according to the software developer.

SmitfraudFix on the other hand can scan a Windows XP or Windows 2000 operating system directly. The user needs to boot into safe mode for the removal process though. The program will generate a report after the scan which will list all the malicious files found after the spyware scan.

Both tools have been designed to detect and remove rogue applications only which does limit their usefulness in day to day spyware scans. It is however a good idea to have them at hand in case the computer system gets infected by rogue spyware.

Update: Roguefix has been discontinued, the developer site is no longer available.

Windows Defender comes with the usual options to automatically update the program and schedule regular system scans to protect the computer system. Default actions for low, medium and high alerts can be defined that will be executed by the anti-spyware program automatically.

Microsoft’s anti-spyware solution comes with the interesting advanced tool Software Explorer which can display extensive information about startup programs, currently running programs, network connected programs and Winsock service providers.

Each program and provider is sorted by company which makes it easier to find non-Microsoft programs that are running or connected to the computer system.

Microsoft has improved Windows Defender over the years. The company did receive lots of criticism in the beginning which can be attributed to a low spyware detection rate. Several anti-spyware products have performed better in tests, outlined here or here. Please note that the tests linked in this article have been performed about 10 months ago and that the situation may have changed in the mean time.

Which leads to the question: Are you running anti-spyware software? If so which?

It is therefor always a good precaution to backup the Master Boot Record to be able to restore it. This could be handy before installing another operating system or in case the Master Boot Record gets corrupted another way.

HD Hacker is a portable software compatible with Windows NT, 2000, XP and Vista that can be used to backup and restore the Master Boot Record or any other sector the user specifies. It offers the option to select the drive by drive letter or physical drive.

The software supports two read and write operations. A sector can be read from disk or file and can be saved to disk or file as well. To backup the Master Boot Record one would Read the boot sector from disk and save it to file afterwards. This ensures that the Master Book Record can be recovered anytime in case something should alter or corrupt it.

It definitely was an exciting week and I had to update lots of the installed applications on my Windows XP system.

The update of this week award goes to my favorite desktop search application Locate32. I just like it that much and think that it is definitely one of the most efficient ways to search for files and contents in Windows.

µTorrent 1.8 Build 11549 RC5 – new version of the lightweight and excellent Bittorrent client.

7-Zip 4.59 Alpha 5 – one of the most popular unpackers and archivers for Windows that supports all the popular archiving formats.

AIMP 2.5 Build 264 RC2 – a mp3 player that stands it ground against Winamp and XMPlay.

Autoruns 9.31 – probably the most professional software when it comes to analysing the startup settings in Windows.

BitComet 1.03 – another popular Bittorrent client.

CDBurnerXP Pro 4.1.2.745 – another application for burning CDs and DVDs in Windows.

CodecInstaller 2.10.1 – displays the installed codecs on the system and can analyse multimedia files telling the user which codecs they need to be played correctly.

doPDF 6.1.269 – creates a virtual printer that can create pdf documents out of other text formats.

FileZilla 3.1.0 RC2 – Open Source ftp client that is also available for Linux and Mac OSX.

Flock 2.0 Beta 2 – a new version of this social browser based on Mozilla Firefox.

Fresh UI 8.11 – a solid tweaker for Windows.

ImgBurn 2.4.2.0 – simple fast and elegant burning software that is compatible with most things that you throw at it.

IrfanView 4.20 – IrfanView is probably the most popular image viewer out there right now.

JavaRa 1.10 – provides a download of the latest Java Runtime Environment and an option to clean the system from older versions.

Joost 1.1.8 Beta – have not heard much about Joost lately. Still needs better content to compete against other Internet TV solutions.

Locate 3.1.8.7200 RC1 – probably the fastest most efficient way to search in Windows.

MediaCoder 0.6.1.4140 – MediaCoder is a free universal audio/video batch transcoder, putting together lots of excellent audio/video codecs and tools from the open source community into an all-in-one solution

nLite 1.4.8 – create a installation disk for Windows XP by removing unneeded components and adding needed ones.

Notepad++ 5.0.2 – a notepad replacement with advanced functionality.

Opera 9.52 Build 10092 Beta – The Opera developers are releasing so many Beta versions, incredible.

Orbit Downloader 2.7.2 – one of the best – in my opinion – download manager for Windows that provides the user with lots of options.

Pixelformer 0.8.2.1 Beta – an advanced icon designer.

SpeedFan 4.35 Beta 21 – check system temperatures and control system fans to reduce noise.

Spyware Terminator 2.3.0.481 – efficient tool to remove spyware and adware from the system.

Sysinternals Suite Build 07/16/08 – this famous software package contains all the programs from Sysinternals.

System Explorer 1.5 Beta 4 – provides access to some detailed system information like processes, services and connections similar to Process Explorer.

TAME 1.0 Build 321 Beta 2 – a backup solution that kicks in whenever a monitored application closes down.

TestDisk 6.11 Beta – a bootable data recovery CD.

UpdateStar 2.2.614 Beta – scans the system for software updates and provides links to those updates.

VirtualDub 1.8.3 Build 29896 – excellent software to work with video files. A video capture / processing utility.

Vista Codec Package 4.7.2 – Adds support for several multimedia formats that are not supported by default by Windows Vista.

Weather Watcher 5.6.32 – a software that can be used to get the weather forecast for a specific region in the world.

Xfire 1.95 – the gamer’s Instant Messenger. See what your buddies are playing, chat with them and join their games.

XnView 1.94 – a fast image viewer and basic editor for Windows.

xpy 0.10.7.1 – turn off some features and default threats of Windows XP.

That’s how file recovery programs like Recuva operate. They scan the hard drive for those deleted files and have a good chance of recovering them. The chance is better for newly deleted files because the chance is lower that their sectors on the hard drive have been overwritten by other files.

You will hopefully agree with us that it is highly impracticable to wait until the file has been overwritten by other files to make sure that it cannot be recovered by normal means.

One solution is to use so called File Wipers and DP Secure Wiper by Dirk Paehl is one of them. It provides three different methods of deleting a file permanently so that it cannot be recovered anymore.

Single Overwrite: This is the fastest way of deleting a file. File Recovery Programs that are freely available on the Internet will not be able to recover the file anymore.
lDoD Wipe: Department of Defense compliant wiping. The file will be overwritten seven times.
Gutmann’s Method: It will overwrite the file with 35 different patterns.

DP Secure Wiper works by dragging and dropping files or folders into the program window. The one thing that is missing in our opinion is a context menu entry that sends files directly to the application.

A short explanation for those that never followed one of my software updates articles before. I collect information about software updates and compile a list of all applications that have been updated in the last seven days every Wednesday. Only software that has been mentioned before here at Ghacks will be included in the list to make sure that it consists exclusively of high quality free applications.

The application of the week is Opera 9.5 beta 2 simply because I think it’s time to push Opera to become the third browser with a bigger market share. The browser deserves that spot and should have a marketing share of at least 25% and not the 5% or so that it has now.

µTorrent 1.8 Build 9704 Beta – lightweight Bittorrent client.

Comodo Firewall Pro 3.0.22.349 – a great firewall for Windows. I don’t use one but if you do give this one a try.

Damn Small Linux 4.3 – a reliable small Linux distribution.

DC++ 0.706 Beta – new Direct Connect beta, a file sharing application.

doPDF 6.0.259 – create pdf documents by sending text documents to a virtual printer.

FeedDemon 2.6.1.4 RC2 – RSS reader for the desktop.

FileZilla 3.0.9.2 – Open Source ftp client.

FlashGot 0.9.7 -provides download manager integration into Firefox.

foobar2000 0.9.5.2 – highly configurable music player.

fsLock 2.0 Build 872 Beta 5 – protect files and processes on your system by “locking” them.

IObit SmartDefrag 5.01 Beta – defragmentation tool that works in the background whenever the computer is idle.

Joomla! 1.5.3 – is an Open-Source content management system.

MediaCoder 0.6.1.4098 – audio and video transcoder.

MediaMonkey 3.0.3.1162 RC3 – music manager and player.

Miro 1.2.3 – excellent media player with RSS and video portal integration.

Mp3tag 2.41 – new version of this great mp3 tagger.

openSUSE 11.0 Beta 1 – another highly popular Linux distribution.

Opera 9.50 Build 9945 Beta 2 – finally Beta 2 of Opera 9.5

phpMyAdmin 2.11.6-rc1 – great frontend to administrate mysql databases.

Process Monitor 1.32 – advanced process monitoring tool.

Real Alternative Regular 1.7.9 Beta – play Real Media files without having to install Real Player.

Recuva 1.13.304 – excellent software to recover accidentally deleted files.

Soundbase 2008.4.18 – music manager and player.

Spamihilator 0.9.9.41 – excellent spam catcher that observes the mail accounts and fights spam before it reaches your inbox.

SpeedFan 4.34 – check temperatures and regulate fans. I use it to lower the fan speed to soften the noise of my computer.

TagScanner 5.0 Build 520 – one of the best mp3 taggers.

Ubuntu 8.04 – the most popular Linux distribution these days.

Vista Codec Package 4.6.4 – add all needed codecs to play the popular audio and video formats in Windows Vista.

WinMerge 2.9.9.1 Experimental – compare and merge text documents.

XnView 1.93.6 Beta 3 – popular fast image viewer.