Technology

Don’t Press F1 Key if You are Using Windows XP

You are still using Windows XP operating system? That is fine. Surf the internet with Internet Explorer browser that is available there? Sure no problem.

Although the operating system Windows 7 is already publish and ready to replace the legendary Microsoft’s OS , but many users are at home and not be moved. Similarly, the users of Internet Explorer which is still the most dominant browser on the internet.

However, recently it found a security hole in VBScript, which only affects users of Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. Through these gaps, malicious code can enter the user’s computer with the help of a button. Ie F1 key on the keyboard.

As quoted from Engadget, March 4, 2010, a number of hazardous sites urge users to press the F1 key on the keyboard. The goal, according to the site, so that the user opens the Microsoft Help feature to get help.

However, when users press the F1 key, a malicious code executed and entered into the user’s computer.

Microsoft itself promised to conduct a full investigation of this matter and will issue to overcome as quickly as possible. While waiting for the solution of the largest software manufacturer, you’ll want to avoid pressing the F1 key when a site asked.

Or, if you’re still using Windows 2000, XP, or Server 2003, please use a browser other than Internet Explorer.

Connecting to a Microsoft VPN with Linux

One of the Achilles heels of the Linux operating system is connecting to a VPN. Due to it’s natural ability to network, one would think connecting to a VPN would be a simple task. In some cases it is. In some cases it certainly is not. This is completely dependent upon the type of VPN you are connecting to. That, of course, is the rub. Say you need to connect to a Microsoft VPN. You would think that to be the biggest challenge. It’s not. In fact, connecting to a Microsoft PPTP connection is actually quite simple. Say, however, you want to connect to a Sonicwall VPN. Now you’re looking at a challenge.

In this article I am going to show you one way to connect to a VPN, via an easy to use GUI. In another article I will outline a second method that will use command line only. Will either method work for you? You can only try and find out.

The GUI

Figure 1

The GUI that I will be demonstrating a PPTP connection with is an extension of the Network Manager applet. This applet resides in your desktop panel (see Figure 1 – far left icon). I will be demonstrating within the GNOME environment. If you do not already have this applet installed (and you should if you are using a  modern GNOME installation) you will need to install it as well. If the Network Manager applet is there, you only need install a single package. More »

Intel Solid State Drive (SSD) Toolbox

If you purchase a Solid Stage Drive (SSD) of the current generation you usually have access to two features that reduce the wear leveling and write amplification of those drives. The first is called the TRIM feature which is currently only supported by Windows 7 and no other Windows operating system. Trim needs to be supported by the SSD as well which most Solid State Drives of this generation support either out of the box or after a firmware update. TRIM basically allows the operating system to send information about unused data blocks (for instance after deleting files) to the SSD controller which then has a record of blocks that are available for writing. This speeds up write processes of the SSD.

The second feature or process is usually referred to as Garbage Collection. This basically optimized the Solid State Drive again for write processes.

The Intel Solid State Drive Toolbox is a Windows software program that can be used to optimize and analyze Intel SSDs that are installed in the computer system. It supports running regular optimizations that make use of the above concepts to retain the drive’s performance over time. It can furthermore be used to view drive information, check the Solid State Drive’s SMART attributes and run a fast and full diagnostic scan on the selected drive. More »

Digital Camera Raw Editor, Converter And Corrector

Most digital cameras can save photos in different image formats including jpg and the raw format. Raw image files that are created have the name because they are not yet processed. This processing is usually done in a raw converter. It should also be noted that there is not a single raw format but dozens if not hundreds of raw image formats.

Able Raw is a software program for editing, converting and correcting raw images in the Windows operating system. The program can read many different raw image formats including rw, cr2, nef, raw, pef, raf, x3f, bay, orf, srf, mrw, dcr, dng and arw. It is therefor compatible with many digital camera models from Canon, Nikon, Minolta, Fuji, Kodak, Olympus, Casio and others.

The software program offers the following core functionality: More »

Graphical Diary And Journal RedNotebook

A simple text file is sometimes all one needs to put thoughts on virtual paper. But text documents, even advanced ones like Microsoft Word documents, do not cut it when it comes to maintaining a regularly updated diary or journal.

RedNotebook has been designed to provide a better and more comfortable experience for regular note taking tasks. The program is available for multiple language and the operating systems Windows and Linux.

The main interface is divided into three columns. The left sidebar displays the calendar, the word cloud and search, the right sidebar tags and categories and the main column the current journal entry. More »

Paragon System Backup 2010

Data Backup should be a key element in a computer system’s disaster recovery plan as it provides access to the data even if the original data on the computer system is not recoverable. Providing of course that the data is not backed up on that PC but a different device either in the cloud or locally. This even helps if the computer gets stolen or completely destroyed.

Paragon System Backup 2010 is a Windows backup software. The user has to configure a location for the backups on first startup. We ran into a little trouble in this stage as the software suggested our not yet mounted True Crypt volume for the backup storage which we could not mount because it was locked by the software. Only closing the backup software, mounting the volume and restarting the software helped overcome the issue.

The next problem we ran into after mounting the True Crypt volume was that System Backup 2010 would not allow us to select that partition for backup storage telling us that we needed about 900 Gigabytes of free storage space for our data and that we only had 987 Gigabyte at our disposal. More »

Microsoft Windows 8 to be ‘future of PCs

Will it be Microsoft Windows 8 or Microsoft Windows .next?

Microsoft has pulled the plug on a blogger who seeded new details of the upcoming Windows 8 OS.

The new OS is set to be “completely different from what folks usually expect of Windows” and will “change the way people think about PCs and the way they use them”, the blogger is quoted as saying.

He/she continued: “So how am I referring to the next version of Windows without saying that many words – well simple – Windows.next. It is the future of PCs…” Apparently, Redmond has decided to listen to customer feedback after the comparative success of Windows 7 over Vista.

The report follows rumours that the next version of Windows is due to land July 2011.

Recover Operating System After Virus Attack

One of the problems that many computer users experience after a computer virus attack are changes to the system cause by the malicious software. This can for instance mean that system tools like the control panel or task manager do not open, that security permissions have changed, services or startup items have been added or modified or that processes run in the background that have been loaded by the virus.

It is sometimes impossible to fix the damage done to the system which means that in those cases only backups or new installations are an option. But most changes are not as severe. They can be fixed either by the antivirus software cleaning the malicious program or by a third party tool like Virus Effect Remover.

We have reviewed Virus Effect Remover in the past but it has evolved since then which is reason enough to take a new look at it. More »

Very Simple Network Scanner

A network scanner is a program that can scan a specific network IP range for devices. This can be interesting for maintenance or inventory related tasks as well as network monitoring and retrieving information about a specific device in the network.

Very Simply Network Scanner is a free software program for the Windows operating system that can scan a network range. The main purpose of the program is to scan a specific network range, display a list of devices discovered in that range and provide the means to export the findings in a csv file.

The network scanner is relatively easy to use. The network IP range can be selected in the network field. The first three digits of the IP are left untouched but the last digit defines the starting point of the scan. The end point of the scan is the last possible digit in that range (e.g. from 0 to 255).

A click on scan network will initiate the network scan which does not take longer than a few seconds usually unless the network utilizes many devices on different IPs.

Each device will be listed with its IP, DNS, time and TTL, Mac address and device type among other parameters.

Selected information can be copied to the clipboard. The user of the program can select the device type by right-clicking on a line in the results which makes identification of devices easier.

A port scanner is included that can be used to retrieve the ports that are open by the selected network IP.

Very Simple Network Scanner is a work in progress. The portable software program is currently offered as an alpha version that can be downloaded from various software portals like Betanews.

Fixing Windows Update Error 0×80072ee2

A friend’s computer running Windows 7 had been recently infected with the rootkit TDSS which resulted in redirects in all web browsers to affiliate sites.The problem is commonly known as Google redirects and the issue had been fixed back then.

My friend contacted me again after the cleanup asking for help because Windows Update was not working anymore. Whenever Windows Update was used it would run for a long time and display the error 0×80072ee2 in the end.

A quick research on the Internet revealed that this error message was related to connection problems to the Windows Update servers. More »