HAPPY NEW YEAR WISHES 2012

WISHING EVERY ONE READING ACROSS "MELIORATE" A VERY VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012......

HIDEMYASS saves its own!!!

1.  The month of September 2011 went so full of embarassment for HMA(Hidemyass) that it would probably like October  to  follow  August  ( September  may just  vanish in the smoke....) All  its  claims  of  telling  being anonymous  and safe, maintaining privacy,being completely hidden etc etc hit a serious setback....the story goes like this...

 2.   The case pertains to Lulz Security aka LulzSec,a computer hacker group that claims responsibility for several high profile attacks including SONY,CIA etc.So in the month of September this year an alleged Lulzsec member who had carried out attacks on various organizations including Sony and the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency, had used this ‘anonymous’ VPN service supplied by HideMyAss.But his plan failed in the biggest way imaginable. HideMyAss (HMA) keeps all yourlogs and as a UK company when given a court order to cough up information, they did so. After matching timestamps to IP addresses, in the blink of an eye Luzlsec member ‘Recursion’ became 23-year-old Cody Kretsinger from Phoenix. The FBI got their man.....so whats the use.....!!!!

3.   But I feel that anything to do with some serious crime should always be contained....like this way...but what about you and me....our surfing habits will always be known....our info will always be under cloud....:-(

4.   This is what HMA had to say :

“Our VPN service and VPN services in general are not designed to be used to commit illegal activity,” said Hide My Ass. “It is very naive to think that by paying a subscription fee to a VPN service you are free to break the law without any consequences.”

5.  Thanks vpn-reviews.net and  Torrentfreak

PROXY SERVER : ARE THEY LEGAL TO BE USED IN INDIA?

1.   Few days back I was surfing  few sites via proxy server at HIDEMYASS. Just like a that,a thought came to mind that if the Indian Government on one hand is trying all ways out to monitor nefarious activities on net...and in the name of this monitoring they are monitoring u and me as well....what would they be able to do for those actual ones who use proxy servers?.....

2.   Though it is understood that not all proxy server sites are as safe as they claim...most of them have actually a life of not more then 4-5 days...they actually are born to steal and vanish...we call that 9 2 11....But sites like those have been existing for more than 4-5 years like hidemyass,proxy.org etc are actually doing the work they are supposed to do ie PRIVACY!!!

3.   If any of the readers have some idea or can guide to some link w.r.t legality issues of using proxy servers in India...i would be grateful....and lastly if anyone has some disagreements on the comment earlier that INDIAN GOVERMENT IS MONITORING YOU...just check the ANONYMITY CHECKER at https://xerobank.com/.

CAN WE EVER BE SAFE ONLINE?

1.    It is indeed difficult to surf anonymously if u r a normal user....u put on a monkey cap "DISCONNECT" or wear a long coat or do anything u cant remain hidden....the spy ,if he is after you, will come to know who u r?where r u from?....what r u doing ?etc etc....

2.   Recently came across this https://xerobank.com/......and just clicked to know more of what it had to offer....it gave me a sneak preview of what others may know...my IP ADDRESS...MY LOCATION(ok that normal)...but then also told me that "DATA INTERCEPTION DETECTED"....BY THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT...now this was only a sneak peak....to know more visit the site at https://xerobank.com/

STORE UPTO 50 GB FOR FREE : @ ADrive

1.   Last week at Tech Conclave Delhi meet,one guest speaker was speaking about cloud storage ...how it will slowly become a definite requirement in coming days soon...which we may not think it will as on date...he gave one fine example....BANK...100 years back could any one have thought of lending money for storage to some company....it was securely felt to be safe in self custody...see the state today....times have changed and so has the scenario....today companies like Microsoft,ADrive ETC are offering amazing storage space in cloud for free...that too for free...off course it may just act as a initial bait....some good links of these free storage offers are as follows :

http://www.adrive.com/

http://www.justcloud.com/

https://www.sugarsync.com

https://www.cx.com

http://www.4shared.com/

http://www.amazon.com/

2.   Off all these ADrive offers the largest free storage for free...thats a huge 50 GB....good to start with....so start burning your modem's midnite oil....i have already started........ADrive offers the following features which are as on date unbeatable :

•  FREE 50GB Online Storage
•  Cloud Storage
•  Upload & Store Files
•  Access Files Anywhere
•  Share Files
•  Edit Documents Online
•  File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
•  ADrive Desktop

TOOLS & SITES OFFERING EFFECTIVE PASSWORD CRACKING

Below is a list of sites that offer tools and ways to crack passwords.The idea behind posting all these sites at one place is not to attract and promote users to try password cracking.The idea is to always remember ways and means to create and promote stronger passwords which can not be cracked.All these sites do have limitations to crack the stronger passwords and related info...

http://defaultpassword.com/

http://md5.rednoize.com/

http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/

Ophcrack is a free Windows password cracker based on rainbow tables. It is a very efficient implementation of rainbow tables done by the inventors of the method. It comes with a Graphical User Interface and runs on multiple platforms.

http://www.routerpasswords.com/

http://www.openwall.com/john/

http://thc.org/thc-hydra/

http://www.aircrack-ng.org/

http://www.l0phtcrack.com/

http://www.aircrack-ng.org/doku.php

http://www.solarwinds.com/products/solarwinds_free_tools/

https://www.foofus.net/error/foo.html

http://project-rainbowcrack.com/

http://www.hoobie.net/brutus/

Brutus is one of the fastest, most flexible remote password crackers you can get your hands on - it's also free. It is available for Windows 9x, NT and 2000, there is no UN*X version available although it is a possibility at some point in the future. Brutus was first made publicly available in October 1998 and since that time there have been at least 70,000 downloads and over 175,000 visitors to this page. Development continues so new releases will be available in the near future. Brutus was written originally to help me check routers etc. for default and common passwords

http://www.whatsmypass.com/

http://www.password-crackers.com/

The source of independent information about cryptosystem weakness and password recovery.

http://www.oxid.it/cain.html

Debunking Myths about Computers

Friends here is one guest post by Sean, a Senior Op Ed Columnist for the readers

Computers are amazing machines. I think even those of us who are embittered against our PCs for freezing up a few days ago can agree on that. Something that is equally striking is the human capacity for gullibility. There are a lot of supposed "facts" that people accept about PCs and computers in general that are actually nothing more than hearsay or complete poppycock. If you don't believe us, check for yourself. You can get a deal with an HP Coupon, pick up a fresh new computer, and run some tests for your own satisfaction. Honest! We're not making this stuff up.  

Remember way back when you owned your first computer — maybe it was an IBM — and you were afraid to have it anywhere near anything magnetic? You went so far as to put it on the opposite side of the house from the refrigerator because you were afraid that the I <3 New York magnet would suck the life out of your PC? Yeah. You didn't need to do that. While it is true that old floppy discs were quite susceptible to magnetic damage, computers and modern storage devices like USB drives or SD cards are safe around magnets. 

There is also the ever-present debate about the health risks of high computer usage. Sure sitting in front of a screen all day munching Doritos is probably not a great way to train for the Olympics, but any health risks from that have little to do with computers and a lot to do with your personal diet. There is no evidence that computer screens emit enough harmful radiation to even be detected in a test, much less adversely affect human beings. Next time you read an online report about some inconclusive study, you can laugh to yourself and reach for another chip comfortably. 

CHROME OS

Recently downloaded CHROME OS and ran it on a Virtual Box.....few screen shots....for those who wish to see how it looks!!!!Double click on the image to view it bigger and clear

Copy To the Clipboard From the Command Prompt

1.    Ever  tried copying text and commands you type at command prompt ie c:\

2.    I tried it once via the right click and then doing cut/paste thing.It did not happen.

3.    The way to do it is very simple though….u have to do this once…explained screen shot wise

GO TO THE COMMAND PROMPT

 RIGHT CLICK AT THE LEFT TOP MENU & CLICK ON PROPERTIES

ENABLE THE QUICK EDIT MODE

4.       You have to enable the Quick edit Mode and then on its simply left-clicking anywhere in the window and drag a box around the text that you would like to select.Once the text is selected, you can either right-click anywhere in the window or use the Enter key to copy the selected text to the clipboard.To paste into the command prompt, simply use the right mouse button anywhere inside the window while not in “Select” mode.

5.   Thanks http://www.howtogeek.com

How to Enable Built-in Administrator Account?

1.   Ever wondered where is the Administrator account that used to be seen in Xp days has gone now...unseen in VISTA and WIN7  ?

2.  There is a way out through editing GPEDIT.MSC also...but found this veri simple...a single line command at c:\ prompt....it goes like this :

Firstly, open a command prompt in administrator mode by right-clicking and choosing “Run as administrator”.

Secondly,type the following command:

net user administrator /active:yes

thats it...ur screen should say " The command completed Successfully"

3.  You should see a message that the command completed successfully. Log out, and you’ll now see the Administrator account as a choice.this works both for VISTA and Win 7.

CONVERT UR BLOOK IN A PDF E-BOOK

1. I recently came across a wonderful wonderful free for use site at http://blogbooker.com/.This site would convert your entire blog into an E-Book....that 2 entirely free....amazing.

2. I was able to convert my present blog here into a complete PDF with amazing features that include :

- comments included
- year wise sorting
- page numbers and indexing included.
- easy to create
- easy to share.
- no irritating water marks.

3.  Sample this :.....gr888888888888

Blogger to E-Book

Thanks  http://blogbooker.com

"LIKE" Button in Facebook : Tracks u!!!

1.   Internet users tap Facebook Inc.'s "Like" and Twitter Inc.'s "Tweet" buttons to share content with friends. But these tools also let their makers collect data about the websites people are visiting.

2.   These so-called social widgets, which appear atop stories on news sites or alongside products on retail sites, notify Facebook and Twitter that a person visited those sites even when users don't click on the buttons, according to a study done for The Wall Street Journal.Few things about these widgets :

- Prolific widgets

- Already added to millions of web pages in the past year. 

- The widgets, which were created to make it easy to share content with friends and to help websites attract visitors, are a potentially powerful way to track Internet users. 

- They could link users browsing habits to their social-networking profile.

- For example, Facebook or Twitter know when one of their members reads an article about filing for bankruptcy on MSNBC.com or goes to a blog about depression called Fighting the Darkness, even if the user doesn't click the "Like" or "Tweet" buttons on those sites.

- A person only needs to log into Facebook or Twitter once in the past month. The sites will continue to collect browsing data, even if the person closes their browser or turns off their computers, until that person explicitly logs out of their Facebook or Twitter accounts.

- Facebook places a cookie on the computer of anyone who visits the Facebook.com home page, even if the user isn't a member. 

3.   Thanks http://online.wsj.com

Windows 8 Developer Pre BETA : How to get full screen on a VM?

In continuation with my earlier post here about windows 8 Pre Beta edition,one thing that bugged me for a while was not getting the display across full screen in spite of choosing "view full screen" from drop down.The answer to this goes like this

..SIMPLY CHOOSE A HIGHER RESOLUTION AND U WILL GET IT....

Simple to get till u know!!!!!!!!!!!

Snake oil Cryptography

1.     While reading a post about unhackable codes here , I came across a interesting term know as SNAKE OIL CRYPTOGRAPHY......as Alex Gostev, chief security expert at Kaspersky Labs, dismissed ENIGMA-DS "snake-oil cryptography,"....so found out in brief from wiki...where else!!!

In cryptography, snake oil is a term used to describe commercial cryptographic methods and products which are considered bogus or fraudulent. The name derives from snake oil, one type of quack medicine widely available in 19th century United States.Distinguishing secure cryptography from insecure cryptography can be difficult from the viewpoint of a user. 

2.  Thanks WIKI

LogMeIn HAMACHI

1.   The law of market keep seeing fights to be at par with each other ie DEMAND & SUPPLY.Today when security in IT is a burning issue,we have so many utilities floating that there is no way one can be trusted blind foldly.Here come another security utility that actually stands out to work in a direction not taken up by so many prominent software security utillities in market.This is HAMACHI

2.   Hamachi is a nice ,free 2 try,tool that connects two computers via the internet by creating a virtual private network (VPN) and protecting it with proven industry-standard encryption algorithms.This will ensure that all communications between the two PCs at a time are safe from the spying eyes.It easily sets up in 10 minutes, and enables secure remote access to network, anywhere there's an Internet connection.The basic advantage that immidiately stand out are :

-   LAN over the Internet - Arrange multiple computers into their own secure network, just as if they were connected by a physical cable.

-   Files and Network Drives - Access critical files and network drives.

-   Zero-configuration - Works without having to adjust a firewall or router.

-   Security - Industry leading encryption and authentication.

-   Cost Effective - Free for non-commercial use.

3.   It features a simple interface that enables to create personal safe networks in just a couple of steps. Also the connection is conveniently protected by an AES-256 algorithm.The problem lies that it supports only chat....and not yet what we desire most ie "FILE SHARING".A new,nice attempt to take on security but still a long way to go....

4.   Thanks https://secure.logmein.com

Windows 8 Developer Preview : Pre Beta Version for Developers

I recently downloaded the Windows 8 Preview Developer edition from http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/br229516 and then tried running it as a virtual machine.Found the following issues :

- does not run on VMWARE 7

- runs on VMWARE 8

- Donno y...but runs at a pathetic speed on VMWARE 8 inspite of a good resourceful machine with upto 1.5 GB of RAM.

- Even on installation on VMWARE 8...doesnt show the NIC card so it has no access to Internet.So no updates.

- Runs at a horse's pace in VIRTUAL BOX.

- No NIC issues in virtual box.