Sunday, March 23, 2008

Remove the animated Dog from the search Companion !!

When you search for items in Windows, an animated
dog automatically appears in the Search Companion to
work as your search assistant. If you find the animated
dog annoying or distracting, you can remove it from
the Search Companion.

To remove the animated dog screen character from the Search Companion, you need to change your search preferences. The available search options will not be affected when you remove the animated screen
character. Keep in mind that removing the animated screen character from the search feature in Windows will also remove the character from
the search feature in Internet Explorer. Removing the animated character from the Search Companion will not affect the other user
accounts set up on your computer. Each person with a user account set up on your computer can choose to display or hide the animated
character to suit their preferences.




Love happen's once and the rest is just life!!!!

Automatically lanuch your favourite Program !!

If you use the same program every day, you can have the program start automatically each time you turn on your computer. Having a program start automatically is useful when you want to access the program
immediately after your computer is turned on.
To have a program start automatically, you need to place a shortcut for the program in the Startup folder. A shortcut is a link to the program. The Start menu contains shortcuts for the programs
on your computer. You can easily copy a program’s
shortcut from the Start menu to the Startup folder.
Each program in the Startup folder will start
automatically each time you turn on your
computer.


If the program you want to start automatically does not appear on the Start menu, you can find the program on your computer and then create
a shortcut for the program. Once you locate
the program on your computer, right-click the program’s icon and choose Create Shortcut from the menu that appears. Then drag the shortcut you created to the Startup folder.




Love happen's once and the rest is just life!!!!

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Registry hacking !!

Registry Hacking

Display legal notice on startup:

Wanna tell your friends about the do's and dont's in your computer when they login in your absence. Well you can do it pretty easily by displaying a legal notice at system start up.
REGEDIT
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system]
"legalnoticecaption"="enter your notice caption"
"legalnoticetext"="enter your legal notice text"

Automatic Administrator Login:

Well here's the trick which you can use to prove that Windows XP is not at all secure as multi-user operating system. Hacking the system registry from any account having access to system registry puts you in to the administrator account.
REGEDIT 4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"AutoAdminLogon"="1"

No Shutdown:

Wanna play with your friends by removing the shutdown option from start menu in their computer.
Just hack it down !!!
Regedit
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
"NoClose"="DWORD:1"



Love happen's once and the rest is just life!!!!

Change your CD Key !!

You don't need to re-install if you want to try the key out ... just do this:

1. Go to Activate Windows
2. Select the Telephone option
3. Click "Change Product Key"
4. Enter xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx ( your 25 character product key)
5. Click "Update"

Now log off and log back in again. It should now show 60 days left, minus the number of days it had already counted down.
Note: If your crack de-activated REGWIZC.DLL and LICDLL.DLL, you are going to have to re-register them.



Love happen's once and the rest is just life!!!!

Enable Hidden Program Uninstallation !!

Add/Remove optional features of Windows XP

To dramatically expand the list of applications you can remove from Windows XP after installation, navigate to C:\WINDOWS\inf (substituting the correct drive letter for your version of Windows) and open the sysoc.inf file. Under Windows XP Professional Edition RC1, this file will resemble the following by default:

[Version] Signature = "$Windows NT$"
DriverVer=06/26/2001,5.1.2505.0

[Components]
NtComponents=ntoc.dll,NtOcSetupProc,,4
WBEM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wbemoc.inf,hide,7
Display=desk. cpl,DisplayOcSetupProc,,7

Fax=fxsocm. dll,FaxOcmSetupProc,fxsocm.inf,,7
NetOC=netoc.dll,NetOcSetupProc,netoc.inf,,7
iis=iis.dll,OcEntry,iis.inf,,7
com=comsetup.dll,OcEntry,comnt5.inf,hide,7
dtc=msdtcstp.dll,OcEntry,dtcnt5.inf,hide,7
IndexSrv_System = setupqry.dll,IndexSrv,setupqry.inf,,7
TerminalServer=TsOc.dll, HydraOc, TsOc.inf,hide,2
msmq=msmqocm.dll,MsmqOcm,msmqocm.inf,,6
ims=imsinsnt.dll,OcEntry,ims.inf,,7
fp_extensions=fp40ext. dll,FrontPage4Extensions,fp40ext.inf,,7
AutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,au.inf,hide,7
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
msnexplr=ocmsn.dll,OcEntry,msnmsn.inf,,7
smarttgs=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,msnsl.inf,,7
RootAutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,rootau.inf,,7
Games=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,games.inf,,7
AccessUtil=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,accessor.inf,,7
CommApps=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,communic.inf,HIDE,7
MultiM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,multimed.inf,HIDE,7
AccessOpt=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,optional.inf,HIDE,7
Pinball=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,pinball.inf,HIDE,7
MSWordPad=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wordpad.inf,HIDE,7
ZoneGames=zoneoc.dll,ZoneSetupProc,igames.inf,,7

[Global]
WindowTitle=%WindowTitle%

WindowTitle.StandAlone="*"

The entries that include the text hide or HIDE will not show up in Add/Remove Windows Components by default. To fix this, do a global search and replace for ,hide and change each instance of this to , (a comma). Then, save the file, relaunch Add/Remove Windows Components, and tweak the installed applications to your heart's content.



Love happen's once and the rest is just life!!!!

Unlocking WinXP's setupp.ini !!

WinXP's setupp.ini controls how the CD acts. IE is it an OEM version or retail? First, find your setupp.ini file in the i386 directory on your WinXP CD. Open it up, it'll look something like this:

ExtraData=707A667567736F696F697911AE7E05
Pid=55034000

The Pid value is what we're interested in. What's there now looks like a standard default. There are special numbers that determine if it's a retail, oem, or volume license edition. First, we break down that number into two parts. The first five digits determines how the CD will behave, ie is it a retail cd that lets you clean install or upgrade, or an oem cd that only lets you perform a clean install? The last three digits determines what CD key it will accept. You are able to mix and match these values. For example you could make a WinXP cd that acted like a retail cd, yet accepted OEM keys. Now, for the actual values. Remember the first and last values are interchangable, but usually you'd keep them as a pair:

Retail = 51882 335
Volume License = 51883 270
OEM = 82503 OEM
So if you wanted a retail CD that took retail keys, the last line of your setupp.ini file would read:
Pid=51882335
And if you wanted a retail CD that took OEM keys, you'd use:
Pid=51882OEM


Love happen's once and the rest is just life!!!!

Monday, March 3, 2008

Messages asking for personal information !!

Spam comes in a variety of forms, including fraudulent messages. This mass-messaging is called 'spoofing' or 'password phishing.'
Such fraudulent practices involve messages that appear to be from a legitimate source, or the creation of an official-looking webpage that asks you to provide your username and password or other personal information. Such messages or pages could ask for your Social Security number, bank account number, PIN number, credit card number, mother's maiden name, or birthday.

Spammers often ask for this information in an attempt to steal your Gmail account, your money, your credit, or your identity.

Google is currently testing a service designed to alert Gmail users to messages that appear to be phishing attacks. When the Gmail Team becomes aware of such an attack, the details of these messages are used to automatically identify future suspected phishing attacks.

The result: when a Gmail user opens a suspected phishing message, Gmail displays a warning.

Gmail's phishing alerts operate automatically, much like spam filtering. Gmail's spam filters automatically divert messages that are suspected of being unwanted messages into 'Spam'. Similarly, Gmail's phishing alerts automatically display warnings with messages that are suspected of being phishing attacks so that users know to take care before providing any personal information.

You should always be wary of any message that asks for your personal information, or messages that refer you to a webpage asking for personal information. If you receive this type of message, especially from a source claiming to be Google or Gmail, please do not provide the information requested.

Here's what you can do to protect yourself and stop fraudsters:

◘ Make sure the URL domain on the given page is correct, and click on any images and links to verify that you are directed to proper pages within the site. For example, the Gmail URL is http://mail.google.com/ or, for even more security, https://mail.google.com/. Although some links may appear to contain 'gmail.com,' you may be redirected to another site after entering such addresses into your browser.

◘ Always look for the closed lock icon in the status bar at the bottom of your browser window whenever you enter any private information, including your password.
Check the message headers. The 'From:' field is easily manipulated to show a false sender name.

◘ If you're still uncertain, contact the organization from which the message appears to be sent. Don't use the reply address in the message, since it can be forged. Instead, visit the official website of the company in question, and find a different contact address.

◘ If you enter your account or personal information as the result of a spoof or phishing message, take action quickly. Send a copy of the message header and the entire text of the message to the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov. If you entered credit card or bank account numbers, contact your financial institution. If you think you may be the victim of identity theft, contact your local police.

◘ Gmail\Yahoo\reiffmail doesn't send unsolicited mass messages asking for passwords or personal information.



Love happen's once and the rest is just life!!!!

Basic E-mail Tips !!

There is a lot of information out there about securing your email. Much of it is advanced, and doesn’t apply to the typical end user. Configuring spam filters like SpamAssassin, setting up encrypted authentication on mail servers, and email gateway virus scanner management are not basic end-user tasks.

When one can find end user email security tips, they’re usually specific to a single mail client or mail user agent such as Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, or Mutt. This sort of information is of critical importance to many users of these applications, but there are few sources of more general security information for email users that are not specific to a given client application.

The following is a short list of some important security tips that apply to all email users — not just users of a specific application. They are listed in the order one should employ them, from the first priority to the last. This priority is affected not only by how important a given tip is, but also by how easy it is to employ, because the easier something is to do the more likely one is to actually do it and move on to the next tip.

Tιρ 1.
Never allow an email client to fully render HTML or XHTML emails without careful thought. At the absolute most, if you have a mail client like Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird that can render HTML emails, you should configure it to render only simplified HTML rather than rich HTML — or “Original HTML” as some clients label the option. Even better is to configure it to render only plain text. When rendering HTML, you run the risk of identifying yourself as a valid recipient of spam or getting successfully phished by some malicious security cracker or identity thief. My personal preference is, in fact, to use a mail user agent that is normally incapable of rendering HTML email at all, showing everything as plain text instead.


Tιρ 2.
If the privacy of your data is important to you, use a local POP3 or IMAP client to retrieve email. This means avoiding the use of Web based email services such as GMail, Hotmail, and Yahoo! Mail for email you wish to keep private for any reason. Even if your Webmail service provider’s policies seem sufficiently privacy-oriented to you, that doesn’t mean that employees won’t occasionally break the rules. Some providers are accused of selling email addresses to spamming “partners”. Even supposedly security oriented Webmail services like Hushmail can often be less than diligent in providing security to their users’ email.


Tιρ 3.
It is always a good idea to ensure that your email authentication process is encrypted, even if the email itself is not. The reason for this is simple: you do not want some malicious security cracker “listening in” on your authentication session with the mail server. If someone does this, that person can then send emails as you, receive your email, and generally cause all kinds of problems for you (including spammers). Check with your ISP’s policies to determine whether authentication is encrypted, and even how it is encrypted (so you might be able to determine how trivial it is to crack the encryption scheme used).


Tιρ 4.
Digitally sign your emails. As long as you observe good security practices with email in general, it is highly unlikely that anyone else will ever have the opportunity to usurp your identity for purposes of email, but it is still a possibility. If you use an encryption tool like PGP or GnuPG to digitally sign your emails, though, recipients who have your public key will be able to determine that nobody could have sent the email in question without having access to your private key — and you should definitely have a private key that is well protected.


Tιρ 5.
If, for some reason, you absolutely positively must access an email account that does not authorize over an encrypted connection, never access that account from a public or otherwise unsecured network. Ever. Under any circumstances.
Be aware of both your virtual and physical surroundings when communicating via email. Be careful. Trust no one that you do not absolutely have to trust, and recognize the dangers and potential consequences of that trust.

Your email security does not just affect you; it affects others, as well, if your email account is compromised. Even if the email account itself is not compromised, your computer may be if you do not take reasonable care with how you deal with emails — and that, in turn, can lead to affecting both you and others adversely as well.

Don’t be a victim.

Love happen's once and the rest is just life!!!!
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