How to Optimize Internet Explorer 9 for Maximum Privacy

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Use Internet Explorer 9? It may be sending your entire browsing history to Microsoft. Or, it may be automatically blocking tracking websites. It’s all in how you tweak Internet Explorer’s privacy settings.

Internet Explorer’s tracking protection is a standout feature, but suggested sites, the SmartScreen filter and search suggestions can leak your private information. Tracking protection isn’t enabled by default, so you’ll have to enable it for maximum privacy protection.

Suggested Sites

Internet Explorer 9 automatically sends your entire browsing history to Microsoft is suggested sites is enabled. Microsoft saves your browsing history and compares it against against other similar sites. Internet Explorer displays these similar sites as suggestions when you open the Suggested Sites folder on your favorites bar.

Don’t want Internet Explorer 9 sending every website you visit to Microsoft? Just click the gear-shaped Tools menu icon and select Internet Options.

From there, click over to the Advanced tab, locate the Browsing section in the list and uncheck the Enable Suggested Sites check box. Click OK and Internet Explorer will keep your browsing history private.

Tracking Protection

Internet Explorer 9 allows you to install custom tracking protection lists, which contain a list of scripts and other files that track you. Internet Explorer won’t load these files if you visit a page that uses them, preventing everything on the list from tracking you. Internet Explorer 9 also sends a “do not track” request when you have a tracking protection list enabled. At the moment, most websites will ignore the do not track request.

Internet Explorer 9 doesn’t have any tracking protection lists installed by default, so you won’t get any protection until you install one. Just click the Tools menu, point to Safety and select Tracking Protection to see the tracking protection lists you have installed.

Click the “Get a Tracking Protection List Online” link to see a gallery of available lists on Microsoft’s website.

Install a tracking protection list by clicking its Add button. Here we’re installing the EasyPrivacy tracking protection list. It’s maintained by the same people that work on the EasyList ad-blocking subscription for Adblock Plus.

Internet Explorer 9 will download an updated version of your tracking protection list once a week.

SmartScreen Filter

Internet Explorer 9’s SmartScreen filter helps keep you safe online by detecting known unsafe websites, but it does this by sending website addresses you visit to Microsoft. When you visit a website, Internet Explorer 9 checks a downloaded list of popular, safe websites. If the website you’re visiting doesn’t appear on the list, IE sends it to Microsoft, where it’s checked against a list of unsafe websites.

Be aware that Internet Explorer 9 won’t warn you about malicious websites if you disable this feature. If you still want to disable it, click the Tools menu, point to Safety and select “Turn Off SmartScreen Filter.”

Select the Turn Off option in the window that appears and click OK. You can still manually check a website by clicking the “Check this website” option in the Safety menu.

Search Suggestions

Internet Explorer’s search suggestions feature sends everything you type into your address bar to your default search engine. The search engine sends back related searches, which IE displays in a drop-down box.

Internet Explorer 9 uses a combined address bar and search box, so your default search engine will see website addresses you type if you have suggestions enabled. Disabling search suggestions is as easy as typing something into your address bar and clicking the Turn Off Suggestions link.

Cookies

Advertising networks and other websites often use cookies to track you online. You can adjust Internet Explorer 9’s cookie settings by clicking the Privacy tab in the Internet Options window.

Drag the bar higher to block other types of cookies. At the top-most position, websites won’t be able to save cookies at all, which will prevent you from logging into websites. Other settings may also cause problems with some websites; lower the slider if you encounter problems.

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/102502/how-to-optimize-internet-explorer-9-for-maximum-privacy/

Chrome 15 Beats Out IE8 As World's Most Popular Browser

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Google Chrome 15 is the most popular web browser in the world overtaking Internet Explorer 8, according to web analytics firm StatCounter. Chrome 15 just barely beat out its Microsoft rival for the first time between November 21 and 27 with 23.63 percent of the global browser market share compared to IE8's 23.5 percent. Mozilla's Firefox 8 trailed behind at a distant third with 12.12 percent of worldwide usage during the same time period.

Chrome 15 Continues Global Surge

Chrome 15's worldwide popularity doesn't appear to be slowing since stepping ahead of IE8 in late November. Between the week of December 5 and 11 (StatCounter's most recent numbers), Chrome 15 not only beat out IE8 overall but was also more popular during the regular workday. "Chrome 14 and 15 have been overtaking IE8 at weekends since the beginning of October," StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen said in a statement announcing the Chrome 15 findings. "It looks as if people [favored] Chrome on weekends at home, but office commercial use has now caught up.”

StatCounter's latest weekly count (December 5-11) has Chrome 15 at 24.55 percent of global market share and IE8 at 22.16 percent.

In the U.S., IE8 is still more popular than Chrome 15, according to StatCounter. IE8 recently accounted for 27 percent of the American browser market between December 5 and 11, compared to Chrome 15's 18.1 percent.

IE Still Bests Chrome By Brand

While Chrome 15 may be gaining steam worldwide, Internet Explorer is still more popular overall when you count all browser version numbers in use such as IE 6, 7, 8, 9 and Chrome 14 and 15. During the period between November 21 and 27, IE owned 40.09 percent worldwide usage while Chrome accounted for 26.31 percent, followed by Firefox at 25.07 percent. Earlier in December, StatCounter reported that Chrome beat out Firefox to become the second most popular browser in the world.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/246287/chrome_15_beats_out_ie8_as_worlds_most_popular_browser.html#tk.hp_new

How to Adjust the Visual Settings in Windows 7 for Best Performance

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Many PC users are not aware of the host of visual settings that are available in Windows 7. There are many animation effects, transparency settings, menu fades, and so on. In slower machines, these can be a drag on system performance. Also, not everyone is enamored of a lot of busy visuals.

Here is how to configure the settings to your own liking (some settings will be missing in systems that do not support Aero):

1. Open the Start menu
2. Right-click Computer
3. Choose “Properties” from the context menu
4. In the left panel, click “Advanced system settings”
5. In the Performance section, click the “Settings” button
6. The dialog box shown in the figure below will open
7. Make sure the “Visual Effects” tab is selected
8. Remove or add checks to items according to your preference
9. Click “OK” and “OK”

If you don't mind typing long words, you can get right to step 6 by entering "SystemPropertiesPerformance" (without quotes) in the Start search bar.

An alternative to making individual selections is to use one of the options listed near the top of the dialog box. You can let Windows choose what’s best for your system, adjust for best appearance, or adjust for best performance.

Here are some possible effects to disable for better performance:

• Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
• Animations in the taskbar and Start Menu
• Enable transparent glass
• Fade or slide menus into view
• Fade or slide ToolTips into view
• Fade out menu items after clicking
• Show shadows under windows
• Slide open combo boxes

Naturally, this and all the other possible settings are a matter of personal choice. Also, how performance is affected depends on the nature of your particular system.

Source: http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-adjust-visual-settings-windows-7-best-performance.htm

How to Access Advanced Settings and Information for Your Chrome or Firefox Browser

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Both Firefox and Chrome have pages with information and advanced settings that are available from the address bar by entering “about:X”, where X stands for a variety of possibilities.  A list of the possible entries can be obtained in either browser by entering “about:about” in the address bar (without quotes and with no spaces). Below are capsule lists of the available items for the “about” function. Take a look at some of these and you will be surprised at the kind of information that can be found.

Google Chrome 15

appcache-internals
blob-internals
bookmarks
cache
chrome-urls
crashes
credits
dns
downloads
extensionsflags
flags
flash
gpu-internals
histograms
history
ipc
media-internals
memory
net-internals
view-http-cache
newtab
plugins
print
quota-internals
sessions
settings
stats
sync-internals
tcmalloc
terms
tracing
version
workers
conflicts

Firefox 8

addons
buildconfig
cache
config
crashes 
credits 
home
license 
logo 
memory 
mozilla 
permissions 
plugins 
privatebrowsing 
rights
robots 
sessionrestore 
support 
sync-log 
sync-tabs

Source: http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-access-advanced-settings-and-information-your-chrome-or-firefox-browser.htm

DockShelf Customizes and Adds as Many Docks to OS X as You Can Handle

Friendly Computers found this article useful for Mac OS X users and would like to share it with you.

Mac OS X: If you've ever found yourself wishing you could add custom docks to OS X, DockShelf is a utility that gives you the ability to create and customize as many as you like.

DockShelf works by providing visual shortcuts to any app or folder of your choosing, just like the standard dock, but allows you to create multiple docks on different parts of the screen for quick access. It also has different workspace settings and support for multiple monitors, so you can customize it depending on the task you're doing. The free version gives you two docks, two workspaces, and a small ad, but the full, $4.99 version lets you stuff as many docks as your desktop will support. You can download both versions from the developer's site below.

DockShelf

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5865103/dockshelf-customizes-and-adds-as-many-docks-to-os-x-as-you-can-handle

Carrier IQ Tracking: Your Questions Answered

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Many cellphone users are wondering whether their Android and BlackBerry devices are spying on them after security researcher Trevor Eckhart recently claimed that a piece of diagnostic software on the phones was acting like malware. Eckhart said the software, created by company Carrier IQ and installed on devices by phone manufacturers and carriers, was secretly recording user data such as keystrokes and Web browsing history. Carrier IQ's software is on more than 140 million handsets worldwide.

Carrier IQ denies Eckhart's allegations and says its technology is only used for diagnostic purposes to improve handset performance and network quality.

So is Carrier IQ up to no good? Is the company's software collecting more information from your handset than it should? Or is this just a big misunderstanding about what Carrier IQ's software does?

Here's a breakdown of what we know.

What was discovered?

Eckhart published a report in mid-November about a piece of software created by Carrier IQ. This software is supposed to be a diagnostic tool that helps manufacturers and carriers improve the quality of their services. But Eckhart claimed Carrier IQ's software is actually a rootkit that secretly logs your phone's activity.

Carrier IQ diagnostic software comes installed on many phones including Android and BlackBerry devices, according to Eckhart. Carrier IQ software was later discovered on iOS devices but it appears to be benign.

What was the software doing?

Eckhart posted a video to YouTube showing what he said was Carrier IQ software running on an HTC handset. In the video, the Carrier IQ software appears to be logging key presses (including the phone's number pad), SMS messages, location data, and Web browsing history including encrypted data traveling over https (SSL). It's not clear whether this data was then sent to Carrier IQ.

Does it do the same thing on all phones?

Eckhart's demonstration shows only what Carrier IQ's software was doing on an HTC phone. Samsung devices appear to log some of the same information including screen taps and browser URLs, according to Eckhart's report.

Developer Grant Paul (no relation to the author) claims that on iOS devices, Carrier IQ software was accessing a more limited set of information including your phone number, carrier, country, when a phone call is active, and your location if Location Services is turned on.

The Verge is reporting that Carrier IQ software is not on Motorola's Xoom or Nexus-branded Android phones including the Nexus One, Nexus S, and Galaxy Nexus.

Can Carrier IQ software be removed?

It doesn't appear to be possible to remove this software on an Android phone unless you have a rooted device.

Paul says you can stop Carrier IQ on iOS 5 devices by turning off "Diagnostics and Usage" in the Settings application.

 

What is Carrier IQ?

Carrier IQ is a California-based company that offers "accurate, real-time data" to carriers and device makers to help them improve their services. Carrier IQ's data is pulled from diagnostic software embedded on handsets that the carrier and/or device maker sells to customers. Carrier IQ says its diagnostic software provides "actionable intelligence" to improve network quality, understand device issues and ultimately improve the user experience.

Carrier IQ software is embedded on more than 140 million handsets worldwide.

Carrier IQ's response

Carrier IQ says its software does not record keystrokes, and does not inspect or report the content of your SMS messages or e-mail. Carrier IQ also said it does not provide tracking tools and does not sell the data it collects to third parties.

Instead, the company claims its software identifies handset performance issues such as dropped calls and poor network service.

Carrier IQ also denied providing "real-time data reporting to any customer." Which is confusing since the company's website states, "Carrier IQ’s Mobile Service Intelligence solution eliminates guesswork by automatically providing accurate, real-time data direct from the source -- your customers' handsets."

Did Carrier IQ do anything else?

On Nov. 16, Carrier IQ issued a cease-and-desist letter to Eckhart. The letter demanded that Eckhart remove his research from the Web and replace it with a statement prepared by the company that rebutted Eckhart's earlier claims.

The company also wanted Eckhart to remove Carrier IQ copyrighted materials that he posted on his website including company training materials that were previously available on the company's site. Carrier IQ also wanted a list of all the people (including their contact information) that Eckhart had shared Carrier IQ's copyrighted information with.

Eckhart received legal support from the Electronic Frontier Foundation on Nov. 21. Carrier IQ retracted its demands two days later and issued an apology to Eckhart.

What's next?

It's unclear what, if anything, will happen as a result of Eckhart's report. Carrier IQ says it plans on discussing its software with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which may produce some answers as there are definitely some big questions that need to be answered. Not least of which is, "If Carrier IQ software is not logging keystrokes then why does it appear to be identifying them in the first place?"

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/245265-2/carrier_iq_tracking_your_questions_answered.html

How to Control the Amount of Disk Space Used by System Protection (System Restore) in Windows Vista/7

Friendly Computers would like to help you to control the amount of disk space used by system protection in Windows 7.

The shadow copies for Windows Vista/7 can consume quite a bit of disk space. However, it is easy to change the space settings for these System Restore backups. These settings are found under System Protection. There are various ways to access them but here is one that is convenient:

1. Open the Start menu and right-click Computer.
2. Select “Properties”.
3. On the left side of the window that opens, click “System Protection”.
4. The dialog shown in figure 1 below will open.
5. Highlight the disk or volume you want to configure.
6. Click the button “Configure”.
7. The dialog shown in figure 2 will open. In this case, disk C: has been selected.
8. Use the slider (shown highlighted) to adjust the space allocated on the selected volume.
9. Click “OK” and “OK” again.

For a more fine-grained way of changing the settings, the command-line with the command “vssadmin” can be used. The methods given there show how to allocate a numerically specified amount of space or to delete shadow copies.

Be aware that Vista Home Premium does not provide for access to shadow copies nor does Windows XP.

Figure 1. Settings for Windows System Protection

Figure 2. Allocating space for Shadow Copies

Source: http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-control-amount-disk-space-used-system-protection-system-restore-windows-vista7.htm

How to See What Web Sites Your Computer is Secretly Connecting To

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Has your internet connection become slower than it should be? There may be a chance that you have some malware, spyware, or adware that is using your internet connection in the background without your knowledge. Here’s how to see what’s going on under the hood.

So, how do you find out what the problem is? There is an easy method using the netstat command from a command prompt window. This works with Windows 7, Vista, and XP. If you’re still using XP, make sure you are running at least Service Pack 2.

We will use the netstat command to generate a list of everything that has made an internet connection in a specified amount of time. To use the netstat command, you must run the command prompt window as administrator. Open the Start menu and enter “cmd.exe” in the Search box. When the results display, right-click on cmd.exe and select Run as administrator from the popup menu.

If the User Account Control dialog box displays, click Yes to continue. Note: You may not see this dialog box, depending on your User Account Control settings.

At the command prompt, type the following command and press Enter.

netstat -abf 5 > activity.txt

The –a option shows all connections and listening ports, the –b option shows you what application is making the connection, and the –f option displays the full DNS name for each connection option for easier understanding of where the connections are being made to. You can also use the –n option if you wish to only display the IP address. The 5 option will poll every 5 seconds for connections to make it more easy to track what is going on, and the results are then piped into the activity.txt file.

Wait about two minutes and then press Ctrl + C to stop the recording of data.

Once you’ve finished recording data, you can simply open the activity.txt file in your favorite editor to see the results, or you can type activity.txt at the command line to open it in Notepad.

The resulting file will list all processes on your computer (browsers, IM clients, email programs, etc.) that have made an internet connection in the last two minutes, or however long you waited before pressing Ctrl + C. It also lists which processes connected to which websites.

If you see process names or website addresses with which you are not familiar, you can search for “what is (name of unknown process)” in Google and see what it is. It may be a system function you don’t know about or a function of one of your running programs. However, if it seems like a bad site, you can use Google again to find out how to get rid of it.

Using CurrPorts to Check What Your PC is Connecting To

You can also use a free tool, called CurrPorts, to display a list of all currently opened TCP/IP and UDP ports on your local computer. It is a portable program and doesn’t need to be installed. To use it, extract the .zip file you downloaded (see the link at the end of this article) and run cports.exe.

For each port that CurrPorts lists, information about the process that opened the port is displayed. You can select connections and close them, copy a port’s information to the clipboard or save it to an HTML file, an XML file, or a tab-delimited text file. You can reorder the columns displayed on the CurrPorts main window and in the files you save. To sort the list by a specific column, simply click on the header of that column.

CurrPorts runs under Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. There is a separate download of CurrPorts for 64-bit versions of Windows. You can find more information about CurrPorts and how to use it on the website listed below.

Download CurrPorts from http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/cports.html.

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/98601/easily-monitor-your-computers-internet-connection-activity/

25 Worst Passwords of 2011 [STUDY]

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Pro tip: choosing “password” as your online password is not a good idea. In fact, unless you’re hoping to be an easy target for hackers, it’s the worst password you can possibly choose.

“Password” ranks first on password management application provider SplashData’s annual list of worst internet passwords, which are ordered by how common they are. (“Passw0rd,” with a numeral zero, isn’t much smarter, ranking 18th on the list.)

The list is somewhat predictable: Sequences of adjacent numbers or letters on the keyboard, such as “qwerty” and “123456,” and popular names, such as “ashley” and “michael,” all are common choices. Other common choices, such as “monkey” and “shadow,” are harder to explain.

As some websites have begun to require passwords to include both numbers and letters, it makes sense varied choices, such as “abc123″ and “trustno1,” are popular choices.

SplashData created the rankings based on millions of stolen passwords posted online by hackers. Here is the complete list:

• 1. password
• 2. 123456
• 3.12345678
• 4. qwerty
• 5. abc123
• 6. monkey
• 7. 1234567
• 8. letmein
• 9. trustno1
• 10. dragon
• 11. baseball
• 12. 111111
• 13. iloveyou
• 14. master
• 15. sunshine
• 16. ashley
• 17. bailey
• 18. passw0rd
• 19. shadow
• 20. 123123
• 21. 654321
• 22. superman
• 23. qazwsx
• 24. michael
• 25. football

SplashData CEO Morgan Slain urges businesses and consumers using any password on the list to change them immediately.

“Hackers can easily break into many accounts just by repeatedly trying common passwords,” Slain says. “Even though people are encouraged to select secure, strong passwords, many people continue to choose weak, easy-to-guess ones, placing themselves at risk from fraud and identity theft.”

The company provided some tips for choosing secure passwords in a statement:

• 1. Vary different types of characters in your passwords; include numbers, letters and special characters when possible.
• 2. Choose passwords of eight characters or more. Separate short words with spaces or underscores.
• 3. Don’t use the same password and username combination for multiple websites. Use an online password manager to keep track of your different accounts.

Source: http://mashable.com/2011/11/17/worst-internet-passwords/

How to Mount a Hard Drive as a Folder on Your Windows PC

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Getting a new drive is always exiting, but having 6 or 7 drives show up in My Computer isnt always ideal. Using this trick you can make your drives appear as folders on a another drive. Logically it will look like its one drive but any files in that folder will physically be on another drive.

Note: This will only work with NTFS formatted drives.

Press the Windows Key and R to bring up a run box, type diskmgmt.msc and press enter.

Note: Depending on if the drive has been initialized or not you may or may not have a volume created, so we are going to assume you do have a volume. If you have any data on that drive NOW would be a good time to back it up.

When the disk management console loads we are first going to have to delete all the volumes on the disk, so right click on the volumes and select delete volume from the context menu. This should be done for all the volumes on the drive.

You will now be prompted if you are sure if you want to go through with your actions select yes to continue.

Now right click on the drive and select new simple volume from the context menu.

This will kick off the wizard we all know and love, to create a new volume. Click next to continue.

Keep the default size to use the whole drive.

This is where we will choose to make the drive a folder by choosing the unselected radio button that reads Mount in the following NTFS folder. Now hit the browse button and select a empty folder on an NTFS drive where you can use as a mount point for the drive.

You can just accept the default on this screen and click next.

Now you can go ahead and click on the finish on the last screen.

Now your drive will appear as a normal folder on the drive you selected except the files will be on a separate physical disk.

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/98195/how-to-mount-a-hard-drive-as-a-folder-on-your-windows-pc/

How to Set Up Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Contacts (Properly) on iOS

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The iPhone is a fantastic phone, but if you're a heavy user of Google services, it can be a little confusing to set up your Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Contacts to sync with iOS. The default method's no good. Here's the better way to do it.

You can get all your Google services syncing (complete with push sync—that is, messages push to your phone as soon as you receive them) with iOS by setting up just one account. The trick is to choose Microsoft Exchange at the prompt instead of Gmail. This will give you access not only to your Gmail, but your calendars and contacts, and they will all sync directly to your phone—when you add a contact in Gmail or edit an event on Google Calendar, you'll see it show up on your phone without having to sync anything. To set it up:

1. Open up the Settings app on your iOS device and go to the "Mail, Contacts, Calendars" section. Hit "Add Account".
2. From there, choose Microsoft Exchange as the type of account (again, don't choose Gmail).
3. Type in your Gmail address under Email. Leave the Domain field blank and enter your full Gmail address under Username (including the @gmail.com, @googlemail.com, or other suffix). Type in your password and give it any description you like. Mine's just called "Gmail".
4. Press the Next button at the top of the screen. It should pop up a message saying Unable to Verify Certificate—if it does, just hit cancel. Then, type m.google.com in the new "Server" box that shows up at the top of the screen. Then tap Next.

From there, you should be all set. You can turn on Mail, Contact, and Calendar syncing from the account settings page that shows up. Note that pressing the trash can icon in the Mail app will archive a message, not delete it completely. If you want to delete it, you can hit the folder icon and choose Trash from the menu to move it to the trash.

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5859854/how-to-set-up-gmail-google-calendar-and-google-contacts-on-ios

How To Lock Down Your Wireless Network

Friendly Computers would like to help you to secure your wireless network.

If you operate a wireless network for your home or business, it’s important to ward it against opportunistic hackers seeking to steal your data or hijack your Wi-Fi for their own nefarious purposes. We spoke to Steven Andrés, CTO of security consulting firm Special Ops Security, to learn about the best ways to lock down your Wi-Fi. To get started, you’ll need to log in to your router's administrative console by typing the router’s IP address into your Web browser's address bar. Most routers use a common address like 192.168.1.1, though alternatives like 192.168.0.1 and 192.168.2.1 are also common. Check the manual that came with your router to determine the correct IP address; if you’ve lost your manual, you can usually find the appropriate IP address on the manufacturer’s website.

Change Your Passwords

The first step in securing your network is simple: change your passwords! Default router passwords like “admin” are seductively simple to remember, but that means they’re equally simple for a hacker to guess; there’s even a public database containing default login credentials for more than 450 networking equipment vendors. While no password is foolproof, you can build a better password by combining numbers and letters into a complex and unique string. Remember to change both your Wi-Fi password (the string guests type in to access your network) as well as your router administrator password (the one you enter to log into the administration console--these two may sometimes be the same). Andrés suggests that you change your passwords to something completely unique--no pet names--then write them down on a piece of paper and tape it to your router for safekeeping.

RouterPasswords stores default login credentials for most consumer routers. Great if you've forgotten your password, terrible if you don't change it afterward.

Change Your SSID

Every wireless network has a name, known as a Service Set ID (or SSID). The simple act of changing that name discourages serial hackers from targeting you, because wireless networks with default names like “linksys” are more likely to lack custom passwords or encryption, making them a tempting target for opportunistic hackers. Don’t bother disabling SSID broadcasting; you might be able to ward off casual Wi-Fi leechers that way, but any hacker with a wireless spectrum scanner can still find your SSID by listening in as your devices communicate with your router.

Enable WPA2 Encryption

If possible, you should always encrypt your network traffic using WPA2 encryption, which offers better security than the older WEP and WPA technologies. If you have to choose between multiple versions of WPA2-- like WPA2 Personal or WPA2 Enterprise--always pick the setting most appropriate for your network. Unless you’re setting up a large-scale business network with a RADIUS server, you’ll want to stick with WPA2 Personal encryption.

Enable MAC Filtering

Running ipconfig will display your current network configuration.

Every device that accesses the Internet has a Media Access Control (MAC) address, which is a unique identifier composed of six pairs of alphanumeric characters. You can limit your network to only accept specific devices by turning on MAC filtering, which is also a great tip for optimizing your wireless network. To determine the MAC address of any Windows PC, open a command prompt by selecting Run from the Start Menu, typing cmd and hitting Enter (Windows 7 users can just type cmd in the Start Menu search box). Next, type ipconfig /all at the command prompt and press Enter to bring up your IP settings. If you’re using Mac OS X, open System Preferences and Click Network. From there, Select "Wi-Fi" from the list in the left-hand column ("Airport" in Snow Leopard or earlier), then click "Advanced..." in the lower left, then look for the "Airport ID" or "Wi-Fi ID”. If you need to find the MAC address of a more limited device like a printer or smartphone, check the manual to determine where that data is listed. Thankfully, most modern routers will display a list of devices connected to your network along with their MAC address in the administrator console to make it easier to identify your devices. If in doubt, refer to your router's documentation for specific instructions.

Limit DHCP Leases To Your Devices

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (or DHCP) makes it easy for your network to manage how many devices can connect to your Wi-Fi network at any given time by limiting the number of IP addresses your router can assign to devices on your network. Tally how many WiFi-capable devices you have in your home, then find the DHCP settings page in your router administrator console and update the number of “client leases” available to the number of devices you own, plus one for guests. Reset your router and you're good to go.

Block WAN Requests

Finally, make sure to enable the “Block WAN Requests” option to conceal your network from other Internet users. With this feature enabled your router will not respond to IP requests by remote users, preventing them from gleaning potentially useful information about your network. As Andres puts it, “the ‘WAN’ is basically the Internet at large, and you want to block random people out there from initiating a conversation with your router.” Once you’ve taken these steps to secure your wireless network, lock it down for good by disabling remote administration privileges through the administrator console. That forces anyone looking to modify your network settings to plug a PC directly into the wireless router, making it nearly impossible for hackers to mess with your settings and hijack your network. Update your passwords every six months or so, use intrusion software like NetStumbler to periodically test your networks for fresh vulnerabilities and enjoy your new-found peace of mind.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/243290/how_to_lock_down_your_wireless_network.html

Windows XP Has 10-Times The Infection Rate Of Windows 7

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The Security Intelligence Report is a biannual report by Microsoft that analyzes past and present security trends. It focuses on “software vulnerabilities, software vulnerability exploits, malicious and potentially unwanted software, and security breaches”. The latest report published yesterday focuses on the first and second quarter of 2011 and compares the findings with data from previous years.

How does malware propagate? According to Microsoft’s report (gathered from Microsoft’s Security Removal Tool) almost 45% requires user interaction, e.g. executing a file. Another 43% uses AutoRun capabilities via USB or a network to infect a system. The remaining 12% list file infections, exploits where updates are available and password brute force attacks.

It is interesting to note that disabling autorun would eliminate nearly 50% of all malware threats. Exploits, which get lots of coverage on the Internet attribute to only 6% of detections.

A look at the different types of exploits reveal that exploits targeting Java were responsible for up to one-half of all exploits in a given quarter. Operating system exploits have passed HTML and Script exploits in the second quarter which can be solely attributed to a vulnerability i Windows Shell which was for instance exploited by the Stuxnet family.

When it comes to document exploits it is Adobe Reader and Acrobat who have accounted for most of the exploits in the first half of 2011.

Operating system infection rates paint an interesting picture. Nearly ten times as many Windows XP SP3 systems get infected as Windows 7 SP1 64-bit systems. Windows 7 Service Pack 1 32-bit systems have a ratio of 1:6 compared to Windows XP’s infection rate.

Even Windows Vista with its latest service pack installed reports only half of the infection rate that Windows XP reports.

A look at the different threat families and categories sees Adware at the top followed by misc potentially unwated software, misc trojans and a second smaller group lead by Worms, Trojan downloaders, virus, password stealers and backdoors.

Email spam decreased dramatically in the past twelve months according to the Microsoft report. From 89 billion messages in July 2010 to 25 billion in June 2010. Microsoft attributes this to the takedown of two major botnets in August 2010 and March 2011.

Global Infection Rates by country

• United States:
• Brazil: Most trojan downloaders and droppers, most exploits, most password stealers and monitoring tools.
• France: Most Adware
• United Kingdom
• China: Most backdoors and spyware
• Germany
• Russia: Most misc potentially unwanted software
• Italy
• Canada
• Turkey: Most misc trojans, Worms and Viruses

Interested users can download the latest report and previous reports from Microsoft’s Security Intelligence Report website.

Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2011/11/11/windows-xp-has-10-times-the-infection-rate-as-windows-7/

6 Tips to Boost Your iPhone's Battery Life

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The iPhone has always been pretty good about battery life, particularly in terms of standby time, but something changed recently—and in a big way. Reports are all over the Web about how iPhone 4S owners in particular have noticed vastly reduced standby time compared to older iPhones, on the order of 10 to 15 percent reductions per hour, although other people are saying they don't see a problem at all.

It turns out there is something to this story, though: Apple has confirmed that a bug in iOS 5, not the iPhone 4S itself, is responsible for the poor battery life many people are seeing, and said that a fix is in the works. It turns out that the iOS 5 bug means you'll also see the problem with an older iPhone, or possibly even an iPad or iPod touch, if you install the new OS on it.

Already have iOS 5? Here are six things you can do right now to boost your iPhone's battery life.

1. Set time zones manually. This time around, by default, iOS 5 tries to auto-adjust your time zone based on repetitive calls to the GPS radio, which is a huge battery drain. For now, turn this off: head to Settings -> Location Services -> System Services (which is located all the way at the bottom) -> Setting Time Zone. Note that this setting isn't in the Date & Time section, which makes it tough for people to find.

2. Disable location services when not needed. You can also disable all Location Services, which is a good rule in general for conserving battery life, but you'll need to re-enable it for GPS navigation and other tasks as necessary.

3. Disable as many notifications as possible. Notifications were a battery drain with earlier versions of the OS; I usually kept them turned off on test handsets, and saw several days of standby time on a charge even with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS enabled. The new iOS 5 has a completely different notification system, with an Android-style pull-down bar at the top that collects multiple notifications and organizes them. In the process of adding this, Apple removed the global notification toggle in the Settings menu, so you can't just disable them all in one shot anymore. You can, however, disable app notifications, while leaving important ones (such as text and voicemail) intact. In other words, you can turn it back into an approximation of the original system, which separated call notifications from app notifications automatically.

To do this, head to Settings -> Notifications, tap a given category (Phone, Messages, Reminders) or app (Walgreens, Zillow, and so on), and toggle Notification Center at the top to Off. The fewer notifications you enable, the more standby time you should see. While you're in there, note that you can change the way they appear; you can return a given notification to an alert window in the center of the screen, the way it used to be, instead of with the new bar on top.

4. Check for e-mail manually. E-mail is another perennial battery drain; normally I set all accounts to receive updates manually (i.e. when I load the app), instead of at a set frequency or via "push." The same goes for Facebook and Twitter updates; if the app is constantly refreshing them in the background, it's hitting the radios and consuming power, and you're not even reading them.

5. Check for software updates. Right now, iOS 5.0 is still current, but be aware that there's a different procedure now: You can check for OS updates right from the phone, instead of using a USB cable and syncing with iTunes. Head to Settings -> General -> Software Update. Apple recently sent iOS 5.0.1 to developers, according to BGR; updates include bug fixes for battery life, among other things. Keep an eye on PCMag for the latest news on iOS updates as well.

6. Some minor things can still help. Finally, you can still do all the usual, old-school things to improve battery life, such as reducing screen brightness, disabling Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and so on. The only one that really helps here, in my experience, is screen brightness, but you need it cranked to see the Retina Display in bright sunlight. This was never a big issue with the iPhone, though; the above tips, plus an eventual bug fix from Apple, should resolve the vast majority of battery life issues with iOS 5.

Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2395808,00.asp#fbid=m2QxVRloeqb

How to Reset Your Forgotten Windows Password the Easy Way

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Forgetting your password is never any fun, but luckily there’s a really easy way to reset the password. All you need is a copy of the Windows installation disk and one simple command line trick.

Resetting Your Forgotten Windows Password

Boot off the Windows disk and select the “Repair your computer” option from the lower left-hand corner.

Follow through until you get to the option to open the Command Prompt, which you’ll want to select.

First you’ll want to type in the following command to backup the original sticky keys file:

copy c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe c:\

Then you’ll copy the command prompt executable (cmd.exe) over top of the sticky keys executable:

copy c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe

Now you can reboot the PC.

Resetting the Password

Once you get to the login screen, hit the Shift key 5 times, and you’ll see an administrator mode command prompt.

Now to reset the password—just type the following command, replacing the username and password with the combination you want:

net user geek MyNewPassword

That’s all there is to it. Now you can login.

Of course, you’ll probably want to put the original sethc.exe file back, which you can do by rebooting into the installation CD, opening the command prompt, and copying the c:\sethc.exe file back to c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe.

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/96630/how-to-reset-your-forgotten-windows-password-the-easy-way/

The Fast Way to Launch Programs in Windows 7

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People who migrate to Windows 7 from Windows XP often overlook one of the former's best features: the keyboard-friendly Start menu. Specifically, you can run any installed program with just a few keystrokes, no third-party launcher required. (Sorry, Launchy--you were one of my favorites, but you're no longer needed.)

There are, of course, several ways to run a program. You can minimize all open windows, find the program's icon on your desktop, and double-click it. Or you can click Start and navigate the All Programs menu until you find what you're after.

Both approaches are a bit time-consuming, and both require you to reach for the mouse. As a keyboard-shortcut junkie, I prefer the speed and ease of keeping my fingers on my keys.

All I have to do is press the Windows key, type the first 3-4 letters of the program I want to run, then press Enter when it appears. For example, I can type itu for iTunes, chr for Google Chrome, exc for Excel, or out for Outlook.

Very rarely will I have to go beyond three letters. And the only time I might need to reach for the mouse is for something like exp, which makes both Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer appear in the menu. (Actually, typing int solves that problem.)

This may only save you a few seconds here and there, but I think once you get in the habit of running programs this way, you won't go back to reaching for the mouse. It's arguably the fastest and easiest method to load an app--and I find it to be the least disruptive of my workflow.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/242440/the_fast_way_to_launch_programs_in_windows_7.html#tk.hp_new

Ways you can Speed Up Your Computer!

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Working on a slow, disorganized computer can be maddening, and it is a common problem for many of us. In an attempt to resolve this annoyance consider using two of Windows 7’s utilities – Disk Cleanup and Defragmenter. Both tools can restore your computer to good health!

Let’s take a quick look at Disk Cleanup. This utility found in System Tools, first searches and analyzes the hard drive for files that are no longer of any use, and then offers you the choice of removing them.

These are the different file categories that Disk Cleanup targets when performing its initial disk analysis:

• Compression of old files
• Temporary Internet files
• Temporary Windows files
• Downloaded Program files
• Recycle Bin
• Removal of unused applications or optional Windows components
• Setup Log files
• Offline files

Now let’s see what Disk Defragmenter does! This utility, also available from System Tools, is designed to increase access speed by rearranging files stored on a disk to occupy contiguous storage locations. I always have trouble getting my head around the word “contiguous”. A better choice of word would perhaps be “adjacent” or even “adjoining”.

The process is called defragmentation. Defragmenting a disk minimizes head travel, which reduces the time it takes to read files from and write files to the disk.

Clean Up Your Programs

How many of us collect applications, often downloaded from the Internet that we may or may not use. If you haven’t used that application in a long time, ditch it!

Take a quick look at the applications listed in All Programs. I bet you’ll see one or maybe more you haven’t used in ages. If this is the case don’t beat about the bush, uninstall them.

Often when you uninstall an application, remnants of it remain behind in the Registry. To remove them, consider using the freeware program, CCleaner, which has a complete set of cleanup tools — Cleaner (a similar utility to Disk Cleanup) and Registry (an alternative to Disk Defragmenter).

Spring Clean Your Files Regularly

After you have produced a viable file system, inspect and clean it regularly. Routine maintenance tasks include deleting old or duplicate files and folders and seeing that important files are within their correct folders. This can save you time and reduce frustration.

Cleanup your Email, Address Book and Favorites

These are three other areas where a little pruning is required. Consider these questions!

• How often do your delete old emails?
• Is your Address Book full of old redundant addresses?
• Do you need all those websites listed under Favorites?

Do a bit of spring cleaning here too!

Look at Your File Storage

Once you have performed these maintenance tasks the problem may be where you store them. The longer you use your computer the more document files, MP3 clips, and digital photos you accumulate. Just saving these items within the Libraries – Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos Libraries is not enough!

Are you accumulating too many files? Perhaps you should consider buying an external hard drive and shift some of this material there. Too many photos, songs and videos can slow your PC down.

Organize Your File Storage

A little planning goes a long way, think it through and take the time to plan the best way to organize your files. Here are a few questions you could ask yourself:

• What sort of files do you create?
• Where do you want to store them?

After you work out the kinds of files you produce and need to save, the folders can be tailor-made to indicate the kind of data contained in each file.

Create Folders and Sub-folders within each Library

When creating a new folder, be logical, and use an easy-to-understand name. For example, when working in My Documents create additional folders on specific subjects for example Garden Projects, Budget, Letters, and Trips etc. Then as your files expand create sub-folders. Within the Garden Projects folder you could create sub-folders for different projects – Watering Plan, Deciduous Shrubs, and Fruit Trees etc.

• To create a new sub-folder with Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP, right-click anywhere in the folder, click New, and then click Folder. Type the name for the new folder, and press the Enter button.
• To create a new folder in Windows 7, in Widows Explorer, click New Folder at the top of any folder or library. Type the name for the new folder, and press the Enter button.

Source: http://www.windows7news.com/2011/09/25/ways-speed-computer/

Google on the Verge of Opening Music Store

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Google could be opening a music store to compete with Amazon and Apple any day now.

"I think we're close," Android head Andy Rubin said at the AsiaD conference in Hong Kong, adding that Google's offering wouldn’t be a carbon copy of Apple's iTunes service or Amazon's store and cloud locker model. Rubin said Google’s approach "will have a little twist… it will have a little Google in it."

There’s no definitive word on what that "twist" might be, but the basic idea seems to be that the company is working out deals with music labels to sell songs through an online store that could also be connected to its cloud service, Music Beta, which launched in the spring.

Google attempted to work out deals with labels in the advance of the launch of Music Beta, but no agreement was reached and Music Beta debuted as essentially little more than a cloud storage option. The service has since earned a reputation for eating up bandwidth while often taking days or even weeks to upload users' music collections.

Google may now be feeling pressure to compete with Apple's iTunes Match -- essentially a pay service that syncs a user's music across all Apple devices, even songs that weren't purchased through iTunes -- that's expected to be up and running in the next few weeks.

"Apple kind of caught Google off-guard when it secured the licensing rights for iCloud," said Aapo Markkanen, an analyst at ABI Research. "Google is the challenger in this space, and if it wants to break in to music distribution, it can't really afford having its first shot being that much weaker than iCloud."

A handful of analysts contacted by PCWorld all seemed to agree that Google's central advantage in breaking into the music business is its wealth of smart people and piles of cash to throw at the project. In fact, smaller companies have had a very difficult time competing with Amazon and Apple, who come with similar resources at their disposal.

"It will be interesting to see if [Google's] familiarity with consumers can translate into music sales," said Simon Dyson, an analyst at Informa Telecoms and Media. "My guess is that it will quickly become second but first place will stay with Apple for a little while longer."

Markkanen believes that Google has put some of the pieces in place to act as a foundation for building a successful music store, but it remains to be seen how well the company will execute it.

"Android is its greatest asset: that's loads of devices and consumers to whom it could sell music,” he said. “A skillful integration with Google Plus -- along the lines of what Facebook has done lately with Spotify -- would be a bonus as well, but I've my doubts. Given how silent it's lately been on the API front of Plus, it appears that Google doesn't take seriously enough the platform potential of social networking."

Analyst Charles King agrees that a music store for Google isn't just about catching up with Apple and Amazon, it's also a way to catch up with Facebook.

"The bigger issue is how a service like music sales and storage can help Google build a broader, deeper, long lasting online community… I think this qualifies as an effort to attract a broader audience," King said.

Perhaps that's the twist Rubin mentioned -- some sort of deep integration of music with Google+ and Android. Or perhaps, Google will use one of its other simpler advantages in the market.

"They operate with heavy advertising subsidies and will support new products with other revenue streams so they could underprice both” Amazon and Apple, says Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group.

Whatever the pricing and strategy of Google's music store turns out to be, the reports from the music industry are that deals with the search giant are as close as they've ever been, meaning we could see something as soon as in the next few months.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/242151/google_on_the_verge_of_opening_music_store.html#tk.hp_new

How to Remove Browser Toolbars in Internet Explorer

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Spend a few minutes browsing on the Internet, and you will likely be inundated with requests to sign up for services or to install software and toolbars in your browser to "enhance" your surfing. Unfortunately, a lot of these services and toolbars have no real purpose other than to deliver advertisements for their associated sites. In fact, many toolbars can be malicious, degrading your online browsing and compromising your computer.

If you find yourself with unwanted or malicious toolbars in Internet Explorer, hope is not lost. It’s now easier than ever to get rid of these common exploits and take back control of your computer. Here’s how to do it.

1. Click Tools, Manage add-ons. Windows Vista/7 users may need to tap the Alt key in order for the menu to appear.

2. In the Manage Add-ons window that appears, highlight Toolbars and Extensions under 'Add-on Types'.

3. Under the 'Show:' drop-down menu, make sure All add-ons is selected.

4. Highlight the toolbar you wish to remove, and select Disable.

5. A window may pop up to warn you that related services and add-ons will also be disabled. If such a window does appear, leave those items checked and click OK.

6. Click Close to dismiss the add-ons window.

The unwanted toolbar should immediately disappear from Internet Explorer, no longer able to wreak havoc on your machine. Additionally, you can completely eliminate some toolbars from your computer as you would any other program:

1. Click Start, Control Panel to bring up the Windows Control Panel.

2. Click Programs and Features.

3. In the uninstall window, look for the toolbar you want to remove; if it’s available, highlight the toolbar and click Uninstall.

4. Follow the on-screen instructions to completely remove the toolbar from your computer.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/241720/how_to_remove_browser_toolbars_in_internet_explorer.html