get this!

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Test your FIREWALL now!

Do u happen to have a firewall that lets you block incoming traffic from unwanted sources or worse, hackers??
If so have you ever wondered if that firewall protects you from unwanted outbound traffic as well?

Well then its time to do so, because trojan horses and certain worms do just that(i.e use ur computer as a host to infect other systems)

So to check whether your firewall protects you both ways, use this simple Firewall tester.
its very simple to use.

Download it here --> http://www.grc.com/files/leaktest.exe

For more details about this software go here --> http://www.grc.com/lt/leaktest.htm

And just an additional info... Windows XP firewall didn't even try anything to protect me when i tested it with this... So better get a good firewall if u r using it...

Read more...

Thursday, December 13, 2007

And now test your Browser Security!!

Now that we have taken care of testing the level of security, provided by both your Anti-Virus and your Anti-Spyware , we will move on to your browser... And see how secure your browser is and determine if it is CRASH proof...

Now to do that, you will have to go to this test site.
Once there, make sure you follow their instructions carefully as the sole purpose of the site is to crash your browser! and thus determine if it is secure enough.

from the page:
"Careful! The test will try to crash your browser! Close all other browser windows before starting and bookmark this page. If your browser crashes during the test, restart it and return to this page. It will show which vulnerability crashed your browser and offer you to continue the test or view the results."

As it says don't forget to bookmark the site before starting the test, because you won't know what caused the problem then....

And once again i am glad to inform that my Firefox came out in flying colors in this test, BUT my IE6 didn't!!!!! according to the site, i had an older version of Adobe Flash Viewer so it exploited a flaw in it and caused it to crash..

So i guess taking this test would make it easier for you to understand the security level offered by your browser.

So Enjoy and be Safe!!

Read more...

Friday, November 30, 2007

Now test your Anti-Spyware too...

In the previous post, I was talking about, how to test your Anti-virus softwares effectiveness against detecting VIRUSES and removing them.

In this post, we are going to check how good your Anti-virus software is against SPYWARE and if it can detect and remove them.
This is also applicable to special Anti-Spyware software as well..

This is done by "SPYCAR".
These are based on ideas similar to "eicar" and are safe to try out..

So what is SPYCAR?
SPYCAR is a suite of tools designed to mimic spyware-like behavior, but in a benign form. Intelguardians created Spycar so anyone could test the behavior-based defenses of an anti-spyware tool. Spycar runs only on Windows, the same platform most targeted by spyware developers.


You can carry out the tests by visiting this link.

or if you want to know more about Spycar click here..

Once again, I am happy to inform that, my new Anti-virus software managed to pick up these files as malicious and was able to protect my system.

Read more...

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Test your Antivirus software's effectiveness


This post deals with VIRUS behaviour only, for SPYWARE testing go here...


Download the dummy virus file (.zip) given below and try to extract the ".exe" file in it.. your anti-virus software's "on-access scanner" or "guard" or "resident protection" or whatever it is, should pick it up. Then you can know that you have a good working AV software..


link to download the dummy virus --> https://secure.eicar.org/eicarcom2.zip

reference site --> http://www.eicar.org/anti_virus_test_file.htm

And I am glad to note that my new AV Software detected these files and prevented me from accessing them while allowing me to safely dispose them.

Also a comparison between three of the popular FREE AV Software can be found below
--> http://wiki.castlecops.com/AntiVirus_Comparison


This file is just a dummy one which imitates a virus and is not a real virus... and so should not cause any problems to your PC. Nevertheless please read the disclaimers that are found on the reference site...

Read more...

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Software Utilities

Download utilities.rar

Utilities.rar contains,

1) file_recover_utility - a recovery tool that is used to recover data that was deleted from your storage disks. even if u deleted by shift+delete, this can recover the files.. unless it was overwritten with some other data or the disk was formatted..

2) ppviewer - A powerpoint presentation viewing utility, useful if u don't have Powepoint installed, but just want to view the presentations created by it..if u have installed Powerpoint along with MS Office then ignore this..

3) DivXWebPlayer - Needed to watch embedded Divx videos online using your Browser..

4) CD Reader - A Utility to read corrupt files from your CD-ROM..

5) cc Cleaner - A Registry cleaning utility, useful to keep ur registry clean of unwanted entries..

6) Photo Restorer - recover Image files deleted from your System..

7) Qlock - A free World Clock for your Desktop.

8) WinErrors - just a small utility which lists out around a 11,000 error messages in windows along with their error codes...

9) SqrSoft Crossfader - A plug-in for Winamp, crossfades the songs, i.e eliminates the silence while changing from one song to the other, giving u a smooth continuity effect.

Special:
1) Games --> The classical Super mario game(emulators included..) and the simple Bow and Arrow game. Download these games.

2) Damn NFO Viewer --> A tool to view the NFO files that usually comes with some softwares and movie rips.(notepad NEVER renders NFO files properly...)


Download utilities.rar

Read more...

My shared Files

Here are some s/w and files that you can use for FREE.

for more utilities go here --> Software Utilities
see also my other Posts related to software

1) Subtitle Synchronizer --> if you downloaded a movie and its subtitle individually and if they are not in sync, use this simple and effective software to synchronize them.

2) Dictionaries --> "Microsoft Encarta Dictionary.lit" (Needs Microsoft Reader to work..) and WordWeb Dictionary(FREE standalone dictionary)

3) Switch Off --> Switch Off version 2.3 is a tiny, easy-to-use, tray-based system utility that can automatically perform various frequently used operations such as
*shutting down or restarting your computer,
*disconnecting your current dial-up connection,
*and locking your workstation.

4) Allok Soft Video Splitter --> Allok Video Splitter is a powerful tool to split, cut or trim a large AVI, DivX, Xvid, MPEG, WMV, ASF, RM, MOV, 3GP or MP4 files into smaller clips in various format.

The included video player and different splitting mode let you split or cut a movie file to smaller clips easily.You can even use it to convert a single file. Output format include AVI, MPEG I/II, VCD, SVCD, DVD, WMV.
All encoders/codec are built-in and any supported conversion can be done once you download the software.
The program does not require any technical experience and is very easy to use.

5) Microsoft Private Folder --> This is a utility which provides you with a "password protected folder" so that you can keep ur files private..

6) Folder Lock --> This is better than microsoft private folder.... once locked... u cant find that file in search or any other means... not even the file name.... very very private....[update: My Avira Antivir personal edition found these hidden files during a system scan, claiming they are potential security risk because they are hidden, but i wasn't able to access the info contained in the files though..] i prefer this for private folders. Important: u can even lock drives....

7) PowerISO --> PowerISO version 3.3 is a powerful CD image file processing and file compression tool, which allows you to create, extract, compress, edit and convert ISO/BIN image files, and mount these files with internal virtual drive.

8) Winrar 3.6 Crystal Edition --> Winrar Crystral edition bundled with Winrar 3.61. Crystal edition is the stylish version of the famous Winrar file compression tool.
Note : This file is suspected of infection with a threat level of "Low-Risk".
so u r advised to scan it for threats before installation..

9) Mechanical Clock 3D Screensaver --> Mechanical Clock 3D is a great analog Clock screensaver.. the details in the design of the clock are amazing & superb..

10) Movie Goodies --> contains:
*Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix Screen saver
*Fonts used in Harry Potter Movies
*Matrix movie based Screen Saver : shows falling, glowing green text like the movie.
*Matrix Text Effect - A photoshop tutorial explaining creation of green text like the movie

for more utilities go here --> Software Utilities
see also my other Posts related to software

Read more...

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Get a free game for every single day!!!

Click here to get a FREE software everyday...

Here is a great website which offers you, a different PC Game for every single day, totally free!!

now remember they offer you free games, which actually costs you money if you get it from anywhere else and also they offer it without any restrictions like in trial games.
And there is no need to download any crack or patch or key-gens which are potentially risky...
Plus they give games that are 100% Adware & Spyware & risk free. You won't get things like this anywhere else except for open source games...

Here is the link ---> http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/

note : If you want free games, you have to download the game of the day and install and activate it on the same day itself. Download & Activation are 100% free!!

Enjoy!!

Read more...

Get one free software for each day!!

Click here to get a FREE game everyday.

Here is a great website which offers you, a different software for every single day, totally free!!

now remember they offer you free software which actually costs you money if you get it from anywhere else and also they offer it without any restrictions like in trial software.
And there is no need to download any crack or patch or key-gens which are potentially risky...
Plus they give software that are 100% Virus & Adware & Spyware free. You won't get free software like this anywhere else except for open source ones...

Here is the link ---> http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/

note : If you want free software, you have to download the software of the day and install and activate it on the same day itself. Download & Activation are 100% free!!

Read more...

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Gain some free space from your hard disk

This is a very useful video that allows you to clear up around 10 to 20% of hard Disk space that Microsoft Windows XP reserves by default, but rarely uses it...

i tried this and it worked better than any optimization tools i have tried so far.. and also WITHOUT risking anything that might render my system unstable...

Try it... it's very useful!!



FREE DISK SPACE II (With Voice Narration) - More amazing videos are a click away

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Sunday, October 28, 2007

The All New Microsoft Coffeetable!!

Microsoft has recently publicized its new research project, Microsoft Surface otherwise known as Coffee table(?!?)....



what's so special about it? check out the video below....



MS Surface is a new Multi-Touch Surface Computer, means it has a touch sensitive screen that looks like a coffee-table and the device itself is laden with Infrared and other wireless options. Unlike other touch screen devices(spare the iPhone..), this one supports multiple touch, so not only can you use more than a finger, but also many users can work on it simultaneously(cool huh?)..

The best part of this device that i like is the wireless integration...
Traditional PCs require a USB cable or have to undergo a painful wireless transfer process to transfer contents from their mobile devices like cell phones, PDAs etc...

But in Surface all you have to do is put it on the table(screen) and once it registers the device, you literally swing around your photos and files to and fro.. Viola!! no mouse, no keyboard, nothing!!!

Here's a look at the inside of MS Surface...

(1) Screen: A diffuser turns the Surface's acrylic tabletop into a large horizontal "multitouch" screen, capable of processing multiple inputs from multiple users. The Surface can also recognize objects by their shapes or by reading coded "domino" tags.

(2) Infrared: Surface's "machine vision" operates in the near-infrared spectrum, using an 850-nanometer-wavelength LED light source aimed at the screen. When objects touch the tabletop, the light reflects back and is picked up by multiple infrared cameras with a net resolution of 1280 x 960.

(3) CPU: Surface uses many of the same components found in everyday desktop computers — a Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM and a 256MB graphics card. Wireless communication with devices on the surface is handled using WiFi and Bluetooth antennas (future versions may incorporate RFID or Near Field Communications). The underlying operating system is a modified version of Microsoft Vista.

(4) Projector: Microsoft's Surface uses the same DLP light engine found in many rear-projection HDTVs. The footprint of the visible light screen, at 1024 x 768 pixels, is actually smaller than the invisible overlapping infrared projection to allow for better recognition at the edges of the screen.


But there is still one thing to be worried about.. and it's the fact that this is a Microsoft Product.. Yup. You guessed it, it would surely have its own set of trademark Microsoft flaws. And all that you see in the video is not as is.. For example the Wi-Fi integration i was talking about earlier?? it requires you to tag ur mobile device with some bar-code thingy.. and certain other technicalities.. So we can only hope that, for once Microsoft takes care of all such things and gives us a product that we can enjoy with, instead of cursing at them..

this device is priced at around $5000 to $10,000 and as of now would be available only to commercial establishments such as Hotels and other public places... and would be available for households in around 3 to 4 years...

Read more...

Saturday, October 27, 2007

How much is my blog worth?

All that i've done so far in my blog are these..
Putting up a few widgets.. Posting around 4 articles... and linking it up to some popular bookmarking sites..

and then while browsing i came across this site, which shows me my blog's worth.. i thought ok maybe i will give it a try and did so... guess what it shows.... my blog is worth around a $6,000,000!!!!!!!!!(pictured below..)


My blog is worth $6,000,000.
How much is your blog worth?




Now, wait a minute.. how can a relatively new blog be worth so much??
well... if u do some tweaking, u can fix ur own blog value ;-)
this is what happened..

This tool(whoever designed it..) used some Links to Dollars ratio to calculate a blog's worth(rite now i don't know the exact way this is done..)

The big mistake they did was, while giving the user a button to display their blog's worth in their site, they gave it away as a static one instead of a dynamic one(means it won't get updated as you improve your blog..) and they actually embedded the $$ value in the HTML code for the button itself....

As a result i was able to change it easily to my own wish... and that's how my blog's value became $6,000,000.

So, if you wanna show off with a button like the one above, u can get ur own from here...

Read more...

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Famous Personalities(Computer Industry)

Hi Friends! I got these in a forwarded mail, thought i would share them with you..



1) Tim Berners Lee - Founder of the "World Wide Web"


2) Picture taken when Microsoft was started.
Bill Gates is the boy marked with a box.



3) Steve Woznaik(sitting) and Steve Jobs of Apple Computers.

He was three months late in filing a name for the business because he didn't get
any better name for his new company.

So oneday he told to the staff: "If I'll not get better name by 5 o'clock today, our
company's name will be anything he likes..."

so at 5 o'clock nobody came up with better name, and he was eating APPLE at that time....

so he kept the name of the company as "Apple Computers"



4) Bill Hewlett(L) and Dave Packard(R) of HP.

Behind them in the picture is the famous HP Garage.

Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the company
they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett.

And the winner was NOT Bill... the winner was Dave.


5) Ken Thompson (L)and Dennis Ritchie(R) ,creators of UNIX.

Dennis Ritchie improved on the B programming language and called it 'New B'.

B was created by Ken Thompson as a revision of the Bon programming language
(named after his wife Bonnie).

He later called it C.




6) Larry Page(L) and Sergey Brin(R), founders of Google.

Google was originally named 'Googol'.

After founders (Stanford graduates) Sergey Brin and Larry Page presented
their project to an angel investor...

they received a cheque made out to "Google" !...

So they kept name as GOOGLE.




7) Gordon Moore(L) and Bob Noyce(R) ,founders of Intel.

Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore wanted to name their new company 'Moore Noyce'.

But that was already trademarked by a hotel chain...

So they had to settle for an acronym of INTegrated ELectronics... "INTEL".




8) Andreas Bechtolsheim , Bill Joy, Scott Mc Nealy and Vinod Khosla
of SUN (StanfordUniversity Network) MicroSystems.

Founded by four Stanford University buddies.

Andreas Bechtolsheim built a microcomputer;

Vinod Khosla recruited him;

Scott McNealy to manufacture computers based on it;

and Bill Joy to develop a UNIX-based OS for the computer...

SUN is the acronym for Stanford University Network .



9) Linus Torvalds of Linux Operating System Linus Torvalds originally used the Minix OS
on his system which he replaced by his OS.

Hence the working name was Linux (Linus' Minix).
He thought the name to be too egotistical and planned to name it Freax (free + freak + x).

His friend Ari Lemmk encouraged Linus to upload it to a network so it could be easily downloaded.

Ari gave Linus a directory called linux on his FTP server, as he did not like the name Freax.

Linus like that directory name and he kept the name of his new OS to LINUX...


10) Picture taken when INFOSYS was started.
This picture was found in the album of the clerk who took this picture...

The picture was with that clerk only because it was his birthday and he just told everyone to stand together at one place to take a picture.

He borrowed a camera from his friend and as he cannot tell any of his boss to take pic, he took pic by himself... even though it was his birthday!! 

Tags: photos 10 famous eminent world personalities IT industry Computer Field trivia info

Read more...

Friday, October 19, 2007

Search Engine Safety

An Interesting Report from McAfee SiteAdvisor.....

Overview

In this study, we compare the safety of leading search engines, using McAfee SiteAdvisor’s automated Web site ratings. We find that AOL returns the safest search results, while Yahoo! returns the greatest percentage of risky results. Since May 2006, search engine results have become safer, primarily due to improved safety of sponsored results on Google, AOL, and Ask. Despite this improvement, dangerous sites are found in search results of all of the top five search engines, and sponsored results continue to be significantly less safe than search engines’ organic results.

Interesting Findings


  • Overall, 4.0% of search results link to risky Web sites, which marks an improvement from 5.0% in May 2006. Dangerous sites are found in search results of all 5 of the top US search engines (representing 93% of all search engine use).

  • The improvement in search engine safety is primarily due to safer sponsored results. The percentage of risky sites dropped from 8.5% in May 2006 to 6.9% in May 2007. However, sponsored results still contain 2.4 times as many risky sites as organic results.

  • AOL returns the safest results: 2.9 % of results rated red1 or yellow2 by McAfee SiteAdvisor. At 5.4%, Yahoo! returns the most results rated red or yellow.

  • Google, AOL, and Ask have become safer since May 2006, with Ask exhibiting the greatest improvement. The safety of search results on Yahoo! and MSN has declined.
1. “Red” rated sites failed McAfee SiteAdvisor’s safety tests. Examples are sites that distribute adware, send a high volume of spam, or make unauthorized changes to a user’s computer.
2. “Yellow” rated sites engage in practices that warrant important advisory information based on McAfee SiteAdvisor’s safety tests. Examples are sites which send a high volume of “non-spammy” e-mail, display many pop-up ads, or prompt a user to change browser settings.

Category Analysis
Keywords related to music and technology continue to be among the most dangerous search terms. Comparing the safety of Google Zeitgeist categories of search terms, the category “Digital Music” (which includes search terms “free music downloads”, “bittorrent”, and “itunes”) returns the highest percentage of risky sites at 19.1%. The category “To Do Online” (which includes online activity keywords such as “chat” and “wallpaper”) returns results which are 17.5% risky.

Top Ten Most Dangerous Google Zeitgeist Categories:









Google Zeitgeist Category
% Red/Yellow Results






1. Digital Music
19.1%






2. Tech Toys
18.1%






3. To Do Online
17.5%






4. Technology Queries
13.5%






5. Christmas Craze
11.8%






6. Singers
11.6%






7. Popular Male Singers
11.5%






8. Top Music Queries
10.6%






9. Popular Software
10.1%






10. Popular Brunettes
9.7%




At the individual keyword level, file sharing programs, including “bearshare” (45.9% risky search results), “limewire” (37.1%), “kazaa” (34.9%), and “winmx” (32.0%) are among the most dangerous search terms. File sharing downloads are often bundled with adware and unwanted toolbars. Desktop downloads such as “screensavers” (42.0%) and “wallpapers” (31.1%) also topped the list of most dangerous keywords.

Top Ten Most Dangerous Keywords*:



Keyword
% Red/Yellow Results
1. bearshare
45.9%
2. screensavers
42.0%
3. limewire
37.1%
4. kazaa
34.9%
5. lime wire
33.3%
6. winmx
32.0%
7. wallpapers
31.1%
8. hentai
29.7%
9. halloween wallpaper
28.6%
10. ringtones
28.4%



*This table excludes searches for sites’ domain names.



Searching for Adult Search Terms
Adult search terms are more than twice as dangerous as non-adult search terms, and searching for adult terms has become a riskier activity since our analysis in December 2006. The percentage of risky search sites found in adult keyword search results increased from 8.0% in December 2006 to 9.4% now. Higher percentages of risky search results for adult terms are found on Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and Ask, while AOL now returns a lower percentage of risky results for adult terms. The increased danger of adult search terms is primarily due to an increased percentage of risky sites within sponsored results for adult terms, which rose from 13.3% in December 2006 to 22.9% now.
In our tests, which maintain the default content filtering settings on each search engine, the riskiness of sponsored search results for adult terms varies greatly depending on the search engine. Searching for adult search terms, users are eight times more likely to encounter a risky sponsored site searching for adult terms on Yahoo! than on Ask. On Yahoo! sponsored results for adult terms are 29.3% risky compared to 3.7% on Ask.


So there you have it... next time when you search for something, keep these stats in mind..

for full report ---> click here




Read more...

Friday, October 12, 2007

Top Stuff

To get more free softwares, see these other posts and don't forget to check out my Archives and Labels in the sidebar....
--> My Shared Files
--> Utilities
--> Free software of the day

And here are the top stuff, that i use to get the MAXIMUM out of the browsing experience!!

1) Firefox:
Undoubtedly, the number one tool for any one who wishes to enjoy the web!. Highly secure, reliable, fancy, powerful with use of add-ons and what not??. Far more better than Microsoft's IE 7.0!! If u r still using IE, then i strongly recommend that you switch to Firefox.... NOW!!
you can get Firefox from here.

2) McAfee SiteAdvisor :
Even though u may be using Firefox, which actually stops most of the browser exploits, there are sites which affect your PC directly by downloaded files, rather than through your browser. So you need to be aware of such sites and prevent downloading from those sites... but its not possible to sort out good and bad sites isn't it?? Well, think again! coz, SiteAdvisor does just that. How wonderful it would be if someone helps you decide whether the site u r visiting is trustworthy or not(especially in the era of adware, spyware etc..)?
This simple add-on glows Green if a site is perfectly safe. Yellow if it is a bit untrustworthy or Red if the site is harmful to ur PC.
get it here... http://www.siteadvisor.com/download/ff.html

and as for those loyal Internet Explorer fans who don't want to be safe and sound by switching to firefox, they offer an IE version too..
get it here.. http://www.siteadvisor.com/download/ie.html

3) StumbleUpon Toolbar :
Have you ever felt tired/bored of searching for great websites to browse through only to end up with boring or crap sites? then this toolbar is just for you!! Of all the toolbars that i use, this is The Best!!
Use the "Stumble" button in the toolbar, to surf great websites, based on your interests! Surf through photos, videos, blogs, games and lots more!!
A Quality way to spend some quality free time in browsing!!
get it here.. http://www.stumbleupon.com/

4) Free Download manager :
This is just what the name implies.. A free Download Manager!!
There are many download managers and accelerators available in the web, but best of them are costly or just trial versions(means they don't offer the powerful features of the full version or give u all features for limited number of days..).
This "Free Download Manager" on the other hand is not only 100% free but is also Open Source!! It has features that can compete with the top class non-free softwares of its kind and has features much more than them!!
You can even download videos from YouTube and other Similar video hosting websites..
All in all a must have tool for those who download a lot of stuff from the web.

get it from..

SourceForge.net
Download.Com

There are so many features available that i can't describe them here, so take a look at those features here.. http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/features.htm

Important : SiteAdvisor reports that there are a lot of harmful downloads in their official website, so don't download anything from there. To download the software, follow the links I've given above as they are from reputed sources.
To view a detailed report of their sites content ---> Click Here

Read more...

My First post

Hi friends!!
This is my first experience of working with Blogger....
I basically created this blog to discuss technical & internet related information,

so to discuss more about myself & share my life experiences, i've created this other blog "Enter the World Of AKMA", check it out and tell me your views on it.


Bye for now!!

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