Nettools is a small freeware utility that plays a sound whenever a website that you specified changes its contents. All observered websites are also cached on your local hard drive. The tool has two other features: A web search option and a dictionary lookup. Great tool, really tiny (180k). Grab it while it´s hot.
SQL injection is a security vulnerability that occurs in the database layer of an application. Its source is the incorrect escaping of dynamically-generated string literals embedded in SQL statements. It is in fact an instance of a more general class of vulnerabilities that can occur whenever one programming or scripting language is embedded inside another.
You might remember that I wrote an article in late november called Beginners Guide to securing your pc. You might even remember that I suggested that there was no need for a desktop firewall at all. And you might even remember that I got some pretty bad comments about my suggestion in the comments section.
EasyCleaner is a small program which searches Windows' registry for entries that are pointing nowhere. EasyCleaner also lets you delete all kinds of unnecessary files like temps, backups etc. You can search for duplicate files and you can view some intresting info about your disk space usage! You are also able to manage startup programs, invalid shortcuts and add/remove software list.
Mini Explorer is a tiny little freeware application that can be started from everywhere. Its small size of only 92K makes it a blazing fast alternative for the built in Microsoft Windows Explorer. Let us take a look at some of the programs features:
Quicklauncher is a freeware application for Windows that gives you fast access to selected programs either by clicking on them or defining keyboard shortcuts for them. The tool itself is entirely in German, I´am not sure if there is an english version available as well. Right click on the upper drop down menu to add categories to quicklauncher. You can use the same way to add additional categories to quicklauncher.
Let me introduce the smallest desktop search program available. Snowbird Xp is small, only 26K in size and fast at the same time. Just download and run it from whatever location you like. Snowbird does not index search results which has the advantage that you will always recieve up to date information. Some features have been updated in the new release, amongst them is the capability to search in word documents and excel spreadsheets.
If you´re ever in the need of a high security password the Ultra High Security Password Generator Website might be exactly what you´ve been looking for. Everytime you visit or refresh the website it will display three randomly generated passwords, one 64 random hexadecimal charakters password, one 63 random printable ASCII chars and finally a 63 random alpha-numeric characters password.
LogMeIn is another service that gives you remote control over a computer. It uses a java applet that has to be executed be the computer that should be controlled and a website that gives you control over the computer (or more than one) with the applet. That means you don´t have to install software or use a usb stick to run programs on the other computer, you simply open a website and control the computer at home.
A new public beta of Zfone has been released a few days ago for windows xp, linux and mac os x. Zfone uses a new protocol called ZRTP, which is better than the other approaches to secure VoIP. "(ZRTP) achieves security without reliance on a PKI (Public Key Infrastructure), key certification, trust models, certificate authorities, or key management complexity that bedevils the email encryption world," Zimmermann explains.
The portable apps suite contains a collection of portable freeware applications including a web browser, email client, web editor, office suite, word processor, calendar/scheduler, instant messaging client and FTP client. The suite itself comes in two flavours, standard (117 MB) and light edition (44 MB). The difference between the standard and light suite is that the standard suite includes open office while the light suite does not.
Many people have problems accessing they favorite sites from work or school because access to the internet is filtered and restricted. The freeware application UltraVNC might help you in your tries to access those sites although you are working on a restricted computer. The software basically connects to and displays a image of your home computer on your restricted computer. You can now use the ressources of your home computer to surf to the websites that are forbidden.
In case you are using the windows media player you probably would like to take a look at the upcoming media player 11 by downloading a beta version of it. The download is available right from the microsoft homepage. I found a list of the new features, not sure if it is correct though:
The article wireless security attacks and defenses begins with a example how people who are new to the wireless world run their wireless devices carelessly and thus invite others (with more knowledge) to exploit this weakness. Those people run for example wireless routers at factory defaults because they don´t know better, they think the device is safe the way it´s preconfigured.
Versionbackup is a little free for personal use (single pc) application that lets you backup files according to a schedule that you define in the program. It would be possible to load the program at windows start and let it backup the file right after windows started for instance.
You might already know what sql injection means, in case you did not i post the definition of wikipedia:
SQL injection is a security vulnerability that occurs in the database layer of an application. Its source is the incorrect escaping of dynamically-generated string literals embedded in SQL statements. It is in fact an instance of a more general class of vulnerabilities that can occur whenever one programming or scripting language is embedded inside another.
Powerfolder is a great freeware application that synchronizes folders over the internet or local networks. This is for example pretty useful if you are working with a desktop pc and a notebook at the same time and want to synchronize data between them. It can be used to exchange every type of data for example music, photos, own documents or videos. PowerFolder automatically detects changes. Some key features are
Rootkits have been in the press lately and it´s a good idea to be on the safe side and check your system from time to time to make sure it is not infected. I´am going to introduce two freeware utilities that scan your system and reveal rootkits if they are installed and running on your system.
Many people consider themselves to be very secure when they are surfing the internet and that very well may be true. However, there are some things that are often forgotten about. The one thing is the cookie. This is not speaking about the edible version with chocolate chips, but instead the file that a good many web sites across the internet that put onto your system that tell the site that you have visited before and what you have done.
Sometimes it´s a small utility that helps you the most. Did you ever forget a password from an email account, a forum account or another piece of software ? What did you do to find it out again ? Maybe the software / script had a function to mail you your password, but what if it had no option like that ?
Launchy might come in handy for some of you. The freeware tool indexes your start menu and lets you start every program, document or other files with a few keystrokes. The tool hides in the background and you can bring it forth by holding alt and hitting space. Enter the first letters of the file you want to launch and it should be found really quickly. When launchy found it you simply hit enter and the file loads.
Adware is another issue that seems to be plaguing the entire world these days and that means that people need to be aware that this is nothing anymore safe then the standard spyware is. There are many that will tell you that adware is nothing more than an advertising venue for online companies but that is false. Through adware these companies are actually collecting data about you so they can target your computer with advertising that will come up in parts as pop up windows or the computer can actually be hijacked and then all of your search options are then transported through the adware so the results that they want to bring to you can be filtered.
Why the hell do I need to restart my computer after installing this software, it works without problems without rebooting. If you asked yourself this question the little why reboot application might be the answer. Why reboot is freeware and only 60k in size. What it does is that it will give you a listing of operations that windows will perform after rebooting. (those are the operations that the newly installed software wants to perform).
Open Ports displays all open TCP and UPD ports using a cli (command line interface). We all know the netstat command that lists all tcp and udp connections (netstat -an). The problem with this is that it does not show the application that uses the ports listed there. Open Ports lists the applications that use the ports which makes it easier to identify applications that should not be connected to the internet at all.
Ghacks is running on a linux rootserver. It should be fairly secure but there is always a chance that someone might get access to it and comprimise the system. One of the biggest threats is the installation of a root kit which will be used to access the system at a later time and clean tracks of logins that might have occured.
One of the great features of Azureus is its plugin capability which is widely used by developers. Today more than 50 plugins are available for Azureus, zeropaid took a look at the most useful ones, let us take a look at the plugins they mention. The plugins mentioned can be categorised to belong either to cosmetic changes, statistics, security, communication and time management.
We all know that CDs and DVDs don´t last forever, some expert estimate that self recorded CDs and DVDs last only for the short period of 2-5 years before they become unusuable. Many factors play a role here, some of them are the type of disk, the recording speed and handling and storage. So, what could you do if you have a medium that you can´t read / copy anymore ?
Is this my USB story week, lot´s of articles about USB drives already and more come out faster than I can type. So, I´ve found this article at watchyourend about "hacking" applications that can be run independently on usb drives. I prefer to name them security applications, all of those applications can be used for good or bad, means security IMHO fits better than hacking.
This little open source application might come in handy for some of you. The input is a simple image which is then cut into pieces which are then saved as pdf files and can be printed out and assembled as posters. This is a great way to produce posters, the application is able to read lots of formats from digital cameras and the usual ones of course like jpg and psd.
Microsoft Windows users who are living in the U.S., U.K., Malaysia, Australia or New Zealand have to deal with Microsofts next step in their fight against piracy. A user who opted for automatic security updates will recieve the new anti-piracy tool which will install and ask for a reboot. After that reboot the license of your windows operating system is checked. You might see the following message:
Users have many passwords that they have to remember, not only for website logins but also for credit cards, bank cards and the like. Many of them force you to use a different password because they have certain restrictions how the password has to look like. (for example 6 digits, a minimum of 8 chars aso.) That means, the trick to have only one password for everything is not working that well, besides being really insecure.
It´s wise to check your system components when you first start your new computer. It does not matter if you build it yourself or purchased a prebuild computer. It´s always a good idea to check if everything is working as intended. MemTest 3.4 tests your systems memory to make sure it is not damaged. It´s also a great way to test it when you overclock your computer / ram. This way you can ensure that it´s still reliable and does not produce errors.
You probably read my article about the bank heist in London where the robbers used a hardware keylogger to recieve sensitive information that allowed them to perform wireless transfers. The bank made the decision to super glue every cable to the back of the personal computer making it impossible to add the keylooger between the keyboard and the computer
The study "password security: what users know and what they actually do" was conducted by the department of psychology from the Wichita State University. The study investigated the common password generation practices of online users. All participiants took part in a survey querying (1) the types and number of different password protected accounts maintained; (2) actual practices used in generating, storing and using passwords; (3) practices believed they should use in generating and storing passwords; and (4) general demographic information.
This little device has apparently been used to pull of one of the greatest bank heist in history. You attach this device to the keyboard cable at the back of the pc and it´s able to record 130000 keystrokes. The bank robbers installed this device inside the bank and got access to Sumitomo Bank's wire transfer capability. With all the information at their hand they proceeded to transfer more than 400 million $ to various foreign accounts.
I don´t know a single large bank that does not offer its customers a way to use a website to do their transactions. There is unfortunatly no single standard set for bank websites and many companies tend to misjudge the importance of a secure website. The Secure Web Bank website did take a look at websites from US, Canadian and European institutes and check wether those provided a SSL Login page and Two Factor Auth for their customers.
I´am using Bitcomet and love it but Azureus and uTorrent are two great bittorrent clients as well and I know that a lot of people are using them. The AureusWiki site has an entry that tries to help you to download your torrents faster. They post some interesting links in that article that deal with common problems and settings that slow down downloads. They provide a chart for example that take different upload speeds and define other settings that are optimal for good download speeds.
Protowalls sole purpose is to run as a system friendly background task (aka using little ressources) that blocks IP addresses. You might be saying that a firewall could do this as well and you are right, of course. But, many firewalls tend to have problems and use lots of system ressources if you add many IP addresses to them.
You might know that I´am using True Crypt for some months now to encrypt and decrypt my entire removable hard disk that has 300 Gb capacity. All happens in realtime and I can´t see and witness any slowdowns so far. I´am able to download content to the drive with 14.2 Mbps and its working like every other hard disk. Yesterday a new True Crypt version was released and it has some amazing new features, let us take a look at some of them:
Ok this seems to be serious. If you open a webpage that contains a certain html code your windows will crash. The html is looking like this:
