How to avoid an infected USB/PEN Drive?

1. The most common way for a virus to infect a healthy PC is through USB/Flash drives. Common viruses such as 'Ravmon' , 'New Folder.exe', etc spread through USB/flash drives . Invariably, anti virus programs are unable to detect them and even if they do, in most cases they are unable to delete the file, only quarantine it. Following are a step by step easy to do instruction

(a) A window appears similar to the one shown below…

(b) Don't click on Ok , just choose 'Cancel'.

(c) Open the Command Prompt by typing 'cmd' in the run box.

(d) In the command prompt type the drive letter: and press enter . Now type dir /w/a and press enter.

(e) This will display a list of the files in the Flash drive or Hardisk. Check whether the following files are there or not

(i) Autorun.inf

(ii) Ravmon.exe

(iii) New Folder.exe

(iv) svchost.exe

(v) Heap41a

(vi) or any other .exe which may be suspicious.

(f) If any of the above files are there, then probably the USB drive is infected.

(g) In command prompt type attrib -r -a -s -h *.* and press enter. This will remove the Read Only, Archive, System and hidden file attribute from all the files.

(h) Now just delete the files using the command del filename. example del Ravmon.exe. Delete all the files that are suspicious. To be on a safer side, just scan the USB drive with a latest anti-virus program like McAfee or TrendMicro's PCCillin to check whether it is free of virus or not. Now remove the drive and plug it again. In most of the cases, the real culprit turns out to be the "Autorun.inf" file which mostly gets executed when someone clicks Ok in the dialog window which appears above. Thus the infections invariably spreads...but not if u take these precautions as mentioned above.

2. Thanks http://www.howtodothings.com

Steganography : Hide in a JPEG/BMP

1. Steganography is the art and science of writing hidden messages in such a way that no one,apart from the sender and intended recipient, suspects the existence of the message, a form of security through obscurity while Cryptography is the practice and study of hiding information.

2. The advantage of steganography, over cryptography alone, is that messages do not attract attention to themselves. Plainly visible encrypted messages no matter how unbreakable will arouse suspicion,therefore, whereas cryptography protects the contents of a message,steganography can be said to protect both messages and communicating parties.

3. Just for how it works..i tried one free Steganography software "Invisible Secrets" that allows one to encrypt and hide files in other files (carriers) which are not suspect of encryption (JPG, PNG, BMP).The link I downloaded from can be accessed by clicking here.

4. Now this is a small 1.8 MB software good enough to do the job.The file u see below of golden temple is just not a jpeg,it consists of a text file with a message...the password to access the text file is 12_34....for those of u who r interested to experiment

5. The scope of utility involves provisioning solutions to the following queries of any user across :

(a) Are you afraid that someone else can see your sensitive and secret data stored on your computer ?

(b) Are you afraid that hackers or other people can penetrate your system and find your valuable information ?

(c) Your wife, boss and kids can see what you used the internet for?

(d) You have many passwords in your mind or spread all over your computer and you can't organize them?

(e) You want to send a secure email to your friend or partner and you want nobody to read or to access it?

(f) You want to password protect certain applications to be used only by you? Do you want them not to be visible in the Start Menu, but still have quick access to them?

(g) You want to delete an email or a file but you think someone else can restore it and use it against you ?

(h) You want to combine file encryption with steganography (hide files and folders) to better protect your documents and emails?

(j) You want to hide files on your computer so that nobody finds them?

6. Thanks http://www.invisiblesecrets.com

WEB 2.0 SUICIDE MACHINE

1. An unheard term till now....WEB SUICIDE...what does it connote?

2. We all r slowly becoming addicted to internet for some use or the other...~85% of internet surfing being used for social networking..can u believe that!!!a number of identities on various social networking sites..orkut..facebook..twitter ,myspace,linkedin and the list is getting endless....and most of us are getting into habit of remaining online 24 hours...checking e-mails every 10-15 minutes or even less..frequently scraping to all friends....uploading pics on sites....and some one has realized that by doing so we all are missing on real people....parents,kids,wife and neighbours etc etc...thus has originated the concept of WEB SUICIDE......simply register with this site and u will kill,remove traces of each and every footprint u ever had on these sites....the name of the site is http://www.suicidemachine.org/

3. Extract from site

"Liberate your newbie friends with a Web2.0 suicide! This machine lets you delete all your energy sucking social-networking profiles, kill your fake virtual friends, and completely do away with your Web2.0 alterego. The machine is just a metaphor for the website which moddr_ is hosting; the belly of the beast where the web2.0 suicide scripts are maintained. Our service currently runs with Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and LinkedIn! Commit NOW!"

4. Well to some extent the intent is correct that we r slowly loosing on realizing the importance of physical world,but removing urselg from web.....hmmm!!!!!i m still a long way...how abt you?

NVIDIA : Optimus technology

1. nVidia has come up with the OPTIMUS TECHNOLOGY for the mobile PCs ie Laptops, Notebooks etc. This technology selects and switches the graphics processor for an application, depending upon the type of application. It automatically swops between an integrated graphics and the discrete graphic card based upon whether the application running needs a brawny 3D chip, or not. This helps the device in offering improved performance in applications when required, while saving on battery by reducing power drain in applications that can do without 3D support.

2. Notebooks with nVidia technology as on date include Asus UL50Vf, N61Jv, N71Jv notebooks.

3. Thanks http://www.thinkdigit.com/

TRACE INDIA

1. I came across this relatively good Data Base site in which someone has attempted to ensure most of the important things are traced to an area if not the street address.For eg when u enter a mobile number in the search query,u will get to know the city and the state from which the number belongs to or like pincodes of India are traceable to exact area identification or even vehicle numbers are traceable to the city....nice attempt but still looking for more in depth query geneartion...i m sure they are working on it...meanwhile enjoy what they offer now.Few links are given below :

MOBILE NUMBER LOOK UP at http://www.indiatrace.com/trace-mobile-number-location/trace-mobile-number.php

VEHICLE NUMBER LOOK UP at http://www.indiatrace.com/trace-vehicle-location/trace-vehicle-number.php

PINCODE LOOK UP at http://www.indiatrace.com/trace-pin-code/trace-pin-code.php

STD/AREA CODE at http://www.indiatrace.com/trace-std-code/trace-std-area-code.php

IP ADDRESS LOCATION at http://www.indiatrace.com/trace-ip-address/trace-ip-number.php

REVERSE DNS LOOKUP at http://www.indiatrace.com/trace-reverse-dns/trace-reverse-dns.php

Even TRACES PEOPLE at http://www.indiatrace.com/trace-people/trace-people.php

2. Thanks http://www.indiatrace.com/index.php

Who's Who? : Terminology world of Portable Computers

1. The have been a pleothra of terms related to small portable computers in form of Laptop, Leaptop, Netbook, Notebook, Smartbook, Tablet,UMPC, Air Book etc all of which represent the segment that mass of the people call or refer to just as Lap Top's.But there exists a difference between all of these.....I have tried to extract out the thin line difference that exists between these all terms :

- Laptop :

Main Purpose : Device that serves either as a desktop replacement or a portable gaming rig.

Characteristics : Large screen,full QWERTY Keyboard.

- Net Book :

Main Purpose : Device which is small and light weight device meant basically for internet and the cloud for the people on the move.

Characteristics : Small Size,Light Weight,Long Battery Life.

- Notebook :

Main purpose : Used basically for documents and presentations.

Characteristics : Sleek and Lightweight,large screen

- Smart Book :

Main purpose : Hybrid between smart phone and notebook with range of connectivity options.

Characteristics : Long battery life,Light weight.

- Tablet :

Main Purpose : Is like a digital slate with a full touc hscreen surface and no keyboard.

Characteristics : Basically a large touchscreen

- UMPC :

Main purpose : Stands for Ultra Mobile PC,a tablet with a sliding keyboard.

Characteristic : Low processing power.

- Air Book :

Main purpose : Macintosh AirBook by Apple which is positioned as the ultraportable in Apple's MacBook Family and was introduced at the Macworld Conference & Expo on January 15, 2008.

Characteristic : 13.3-inch glossy LED backlight TFT LCD widescreen display, 1280 x 800 pixel resolution and integrated nVidia GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256 MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory

- Leap Top : Just a laptop branded by HCL India it has trademarks for the term leaptop.

2. I actually got confused in these thin boundary differences...but thats the way it is in the market of brands.

3. Thanks DIGIT and Wiki.

CYBER GENOME PROJECT : U CAN BE TRACED BACK!!!!

1. The earlier mention on IP Spoofing and the pleothra of options and techniques available for attack,hack,sniff,crashing a network etc are well known for not reaching out to the origin of the person or hacker with the malaecious intention. DARPA (...please google or bing if u wish to know more on DARPA)has finally come out with the ‘Cyber Genome Program’ which will allow any digital artifact either in form of a document, or a piece of malware - to be poked into its very origins.

2. In in principle, it appears that almost any data fished from a relevant network, a computer, a pen drive, someone's phone or whatever is to be studied much as like a human genetic material. The code or document's relationships with other "digital artifacts" will be revealed, perhaps its origins, and other info of interest to a Pentagon admin defending military networks or a military/spook investigator tracing online adversaries.In other words, any code you write, perhaps even any document you create, might one day be traceable back to you - just as your DNA could be if found at a crime scene, and just as it used to be possible to identify radio operators even on encrypted channels by the distinctive "fist" with which they operated their Morse keys. Or something like that, anyway.

3. The concept is a cyber-equivalent of human finger-prints or DNA. The project will thus seek to develop a digital genotype as well as any inferred or observed phenotype in order to determine the identity of such digital artifacts and thus the users who left them behind.

4. DARPA is now looking for technologists to develop and use the cyber-equivalent of DNA to target the people behind cyber attacks. They are looking for geniuses in the fields of Cyber Genetics, Cyber Anthropology and Sociology and Cyber Physiology who can jointly work out the practical solutions to this project.The research involves creating lineage tree for digital artifacts, gaining better understanding of software evolution, and automatic analysis of social relationships between users and malware. Each of these researches will jointly develop the cyber equivalent of fingerprints or DNA.DARPA believes that this can identify the best-of-the-best hackers.

5. Thanks http://www.theregister.co.uk

IP Spoofing : Legal Acceptance in India?

1. I have been reading about this term for many years,have known about what it is through various sites,read about types of IP spoofing incl Blind Spoofing,Non blind spoofing etc.One question that started me trying reach out details of this term was "WHY IS IT AVAILABLE?"What is the aim intended in spoofing an IP?Is it solely MALICIOUS?

2. Indian IT Act 2000 followed by amendments ie IIA 2006,IIA 2008 have not mentioned any thing on this surprisingly!!Is it legal to use this for any reason?Recently I tried one third party software for this to check out effectivity of this.As per the option available in this software I configured this to changing IP address every 8 minutes.Then after it started I checked out my IP address from 4 sites including whatismyip.com,whatismyipadress.com etc.And yes!!! one minute I was shown in USA and the other minute I was in Netherland followed by Russia,China etc.If a script kid like me can do this what can a professional person intended with malicious intention can do.

3. Remember the Mumbai Blast episode wherein the email sent to the police were tracked only with the help of IP address.God forbid,he knew of such tricks what would have we tracked out?

4. I will request any reader to just add his views or enlighten me on this!!

ROOT WEB DIRECTORY VERIFICATION

http://anupriti.blogspot.com/anupriti.blogspot.comd31050ebd4c35e4bfef7968f2083013109fa7941.htm

Google vs Bing : On Data retention policy change

1. Ever wondered about privacy policy of search engines specifically about Google and Bing...i came to know of this recently while i read at http://www.bing.com/community/blogs/search/archive/2010/01/19/updates-to-bing-privacy.aspx on the subject.

2. In case of Bing,the amount of time IP addresses are stored from searchers is 18 months which the claim now to reduce to 6 months. Generally, when Bing receives search data ,the following things undergo action

First, steps to separate the account information (such as email or phone number) from other information (what the query was, for example).

Secondly , after 18 months another additional step of deleting the IP address and any other cross session IDs associated with the query.

3. Under the new policy, all the steps will continue as were applied previously except that now IP address will be completely removed at 6 months, instead of 18 months. Rival Google had cut retention time to 9 months from 18 in August 2008.Notwithstanding, Microsoft executives arrogates their initiative go much further than Google , because Microsoft intends deleting all parts of the IP (Internet Protocol) address after six months, while Google still retains part of the address after its self-imposed nine-month cut-off point.

4. Thanks http://microsoftontheissues.com

ZUNE 120 GB

1. For those of you who are hearing this name for the first time,lemme tell you what it is in brief? ZUNE is a Microsoft entertainment platform and portable media player on the lines of Ipod by Apple on a larger scale in terms of screen, capacity, features. etc. Of the various models of Zune, ZUNE120 measures 4.3 inches high by 2.4 inches wide. I will give some brief on this since i got this one recently.

Features

2. Main menu has the following scroll down as shown in screen shot from my ZUNE.

- Music

- Videos

- Pictures

- Social

- Radio

- Market Place

- Games

- Settings

3. Further brief on few of these of interest are enumerated below

Market Place allows browsing, previewing & downloading music directly from Microsoft's Zune Marketplace online store. Marketplace submenu further allows choosing between browsing Songs, Albums, and New Releases, or search for specific music by keying in a few letters. Songs can be previewed for 30 seconds with the option to add them to your virtual cart or purchase and download immediately. By signing up for Microsoft's Zune Pass music-subscription service (a free 14-day trial is available).....still to be availed by me.....

ZUNE is WiFi enabled and allows keying in the passwords if required vide Zunepad.

Radio : An interesting part of my first few days of interaction with ZUNE was non running of FM stations till the time I got link to this thread ie http://vasudevg.blogspot.com/2007/12/zune-fm-radio-tip.html that involved simply changing country from preset US to Europe

Video format : The only problem that I faced was that the horde of movies that I possess do not run directly on this.One needs to convert them to zune/ipod format with easy to use Windows Media Encoder....time consuming but worth it when we play it here on the ZUNE......I converted Sivaji Rajinikanth(...my fav) with a third party software Cucusoft...but was labelled with trial version watermark throughou(screen shot down)....rest was quiet ok....then converted with windows media encoder...and worked perfectly fine....gr8 output in video and sound....

Ports : Only two including one to ear phone and the other to USB for interface with PC for sync and charging battery.

Capacity : 120 GB...thats awesome for storage!!!!!

4. Any one across with any difficulty or query on Zune player can just leave his/her problem....will get back asap.......thats a promise for while.....

SHARING DESKTOPS REMOTELY

1. Of the many tools that exists today for desktop sharing including standard Windows Remote Desktop Connection...i recently found one which is relatively very easy...the name is TEAMVIEWER.A very light software about 2.56 Mb only,easy to install,no complex configurations,no IP setup problems,easy interface.....just login like you log in a regular e-mail id account with a password.

2. I recently used it for trial with my friend across the another part of the continent.The result was quick and very smooth.

3. The same is available for download at http://www.teamviewer.com/index.aspx .There is a paid version too with more features....but for general viewing and sharing,the unpaid will work fully to your requirements.

Microsoft choose to stay in China: Why not?

1. Just a day after I mentioned that Bing will be seen smiling on Google's exit from the dragon land, Microsoft have released a official statement on this. Brief Extract from http://infotech.indiatimes.com/News-Internet-We_will_stay_in_China_Microsoft/articleshow/5448256.cms reproduced below :

Microsoft Corp has no plans to pull out of China, its chief executive has said, playing down concerns about recent cyber attacks and censorship raised by rival Google Inc.

The company's stance indicates the world's largest software maker is not likely to support its fierce rival in its battle with China and rebuffs broad US political backing for Google.

"There are attacks every day. I don't think there was anything unusual, so I don't understand," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told Reuters after a meeting on modernizing government services at the White House.

"We're attacked every day from all parts of the world and I think everybody else is too. We didn't see anything out of the ordinary."

CHINA & GOOGLE

1. The long tug of war between these two respective giants is finally coming to an end...and the end means the end of GOOGLING in china.The fact that any person can choose to access anything at any time, and usually at no cost is too uncomfortable an idea for the Chinese thinking tank and they have been busy implementing moves and measures to constrain people's access to the internet for about last two years that i have read across in various articles and snips.

2. I can see the smile on the Bing's face now....no Googling means more chance of a Binging and likely revival of few earlier search engines...remember AltaVista generation about 10 years back.

3. Now China's logic behind this!!!!!we all know when we google what happens...i had given on post at http://anupriti.blogspot.com/2009/12/google-binged-my-100th-post.html .This reason is valid though.Extract produced from Google's blog at http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html is reproduced below :

Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google. However, it soon became clear that what at first appeared to be solely a security incident--albeit a significant one--was something quite different.

First, this attack was not just on Google. As part of our investigation we have discovered that at least twenty other large companies from a wide range of businesses--including the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors--have been similarly targeted. We are currently in the process of notifying those companies, and we are also working with the relevant U.S. authorities.

Second, we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Based on our investigation to date we believe their attack did not achieve that objective. Only two Gmail accounts appear to have been accessed, and that activity was limited to account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line, rather than the content of emails themselves.

Third, as part of this investigation but independent of the attack on Google, we have discovered that the accounts of dozens of U.S.-, China- and Europe-based Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China appear to have been routinely accessed by third parties. These accounts have not been accessed through any security breach at Google, but most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on the users' computers.

4. Who's is correct then? It is just a matter of perspective and convenience of the mind.

The ALT key Combos

Nothing new for those who are conversant with the special characters used in combination with the ALT key.Following is a small summary i could manage from technochest...for those of you who do not understand the use of such characters......they are of crucial signia in the world of PASSWORDS......got that!!!!!!

Alt +0162 = ¢ , Alt +0163 = £ , Alt +0165 = ¥ , Alt + 0128 = €

Alt +0169 = © , Alt +0174= ® , Alt + 0153 = ™ , Alt + 0161 = ¡

Alt +0177 = ± , Alt +0191 = ¿ , Alt +0215 = × , Alt + 0247 = ÷

Alt +0190 = ¾ , Alt +145 = æ , Alt + 155 = ¢ , Alt + 156 = £

Alt + 157 = ¥ , Alt +159 = ƒ , Alt + 171 = ½ , Alt + 172 = ¼

Alt + 225 = ß , Alt + 230 = µ , Alt + 241 = ± , Alt + 0134 = †