How to keep Your PC safe from VIRUS entering through USB Drive

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The autoplay option in computer is extremely harmful in case of using infected pen drives. It lets the Virus enter before you can take action. Your Anti Virus may detect it, but not always. Here is one simple solution (For Windows7 but applicable to other older versions of Windows as well) to keep your computer safe from Virus entering through USB Drive:

>Go to Start

>Control panel

>Choose System and Security

>Double Click Administrative tools

>Look for Services

>Find  Shell Hardware Detection: It provides notifications for AutoPlay hardware events

>Right Click and select Properties

>From the drop down button of Startup type choose Disable

>Ok


I hope that keeps your PC safe. I’ll also talk about malware removal from computer and Pen Drive in my next post.

7 must have free softwares for Windows 7

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So you got rid of that hectic Windows Vista and got yourself this new stunning looking Windows7 (7 because its the 7th operating system from Microsoft Windows). You liked it don’ you? What next? You must have been searching for some good “free” software . I, from my personal experience, found out the 7 must have free software for windows 7. Here is the list:

1.Antivirus: The first thing you need in this dirty cyber world is a good anti-virus that can protect your computer from possible virus attack. If you are a simple user that uses internet for surfing and occasionally downloading (in short, you are a home user) then a free home edition of any good anti-virus will do the work. There are a number of anti-virus available that provide free home edition. But out of them AVG, Avast and Avira (BTW Avast is my personal favourite) stands out because of their frequent auto-update of virus database keeps you safe from the new born viruses. Following are the links:

Avast:

AVG: http://free.avg.com/it-en/homepage

Avira: http://www.free-av.com/

2.A new Web Browser: You definitely do not want the traditional and slow Internet Explorer that comes along with any Windows operating system. No matter how much Microsoft tries to improve their web browser, it still lags behind. So it’s time to change it to a faster and better browser like Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.

Mozilla Firefox: Mozilla firefox comes with additional security features that makes it perfect for online transactions. Its faster, its better. And it comes with thousands of add-ons(like ad blocker and you tube downloader) that gives you a personalize web experience based on your needs. Private browsing option is also there. Firefox is rated no. 1 by a number of reviwers. You can get it from here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/firefox.html

Google Chrome: Chrome is the web browser from internet giant Google. When the name Google is there, you obviously expect a high quality product. And Chrome doesn’t disappoint. In fact, its a good competitor to Firefox. Its faster and sleeker then Firefox. Top of the Chrome starts from tabs itself so it gives a bigger panel for viewing and doesn’t eat first 2 inches of your screen. Though it does not have many add-ons but seems Google is working on that. Private browsing is not an option in Chrome so you have to delete your browsing history if you are a frequent “Private Browser”. Here is the link:

3.Open Office: One of the most important thing which you need on your computer is Office. But Microsoft office is not free. It comes on a hefty price. You got two option for Office. First is, check your wallet and see if you can afford to buy MS Office at such a heavy price. Second is, well, get a pirated version available on net. But piracy is crime, isn’t it? If you cannot go for any of the above two options then I’ll suggest you the third option. Go for Open Office. Open Office is a good and most importantly a free alternative of Microsoft Office by Sun MicroSystem/ Oracle. It has all the features you get in MS Office. It provides you with customer support also. There are a number of add-ons available to enhance the software experience. And all this is free and legal. So what you thinking. Get it here: http://download.openoffice.org/index.html

4. File Compression Software: You will always need a software to uncompress the various downloads from internet. While most of the known Unzip softwares are not free(for eg: Win Zip and Win Rar) and you can only download the trial version. There is an equally efficient “free” alternative of it. . 7 Zip can unpack ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RAR, RPM, UDF, WIM, XAR and Z. For ZIP and GZIP formats while it can pack in 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR fromats. Here is the link form CNET downloads:

5. Windows Cleaner: Do you realize how much space unwarranted temporary files can eat? Well don’t clean your PC for a month and it can be around 1 GB. Memory space is not the only problem, it also slows down your computer. The best available software for this purpose is undoubtly CCleaner. Here is the link to download it: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

6. Video Player: By this you might have realized that Windows Media Player cannot play all video formats. WMP is good enough for music playing but when it comes to video, it lacks the required codecs to play the particular format. A superb video player that can play almost all the available video formats is VLC. Originally developed for video streaming, VLC has an additional benefit in terms of Audio enhancement. It can enhance the volume upto 4 times (This may harm your speakers though) so in case if you have a video with very low sound and you are not able to hear it properly even after using headsets, VLC is your saviour. Apart from this, there is very friendly option for explicitly adding subtitles, in case the subtitles are not loaded automatically. Get it here: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

7. Virtual CD Drive: To have a virtual cd drive help you in playing games and running big softwares. Daemon Tools Lite (Lite version is free) provide you to mount an image file in to the system and install or run the software/game form the image.  Here you go: http://www.daemon-tools.cc/eng/products/dtLite

Intel AppUp(SM) Center: An App Store for Windows from Intel

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App-Store:

Seems like App stores are the next big market. These app-stores are a good place for a user to look for exciting new application, games and accessories for his/her device. An app-store actually constitute significantly to the success of device/os, with Apple being the best example. Users can select from a wide range of variety of application which also includes free and demo versions apart from the paid ones. App-stores provides new and budding start-ups and individuals opportunity to make money by selling their applications.

First it was Apple who came up with its app store followed by Android. Nokia entered late into the market with Ovi Store. Ubuntu also has its own app-store: Ubuntu Software Center.

Intel AppUP:

Intel has launched a Windows based app-store named: Intel AppUp(SM) Center. You need to install the application on your PC and need an internet connection to use the app-store. Here you can find lots of applications for Windows based Operating System. There are several categories of application like Games, Educational, Finance, Health, Business etc. The interface looks quite elegant:

Features:

  • Applications purchased through your account can be used on up to five (5) PC devices. Simply install the Intel AppUp(SM) center client on your favorite device, sign in, and go to My Apps and download apps onto your PC device.
  • Applications are screened and filtered, showing you only those apps that will work on your device or the operating system installed on that device.
  • All paid applications are free to try for 24 hours. If you do not like an app, you can cancel the purchase within the first 24 hours. All application purchases can be cancelled only one (1) time.
  • All apps you purchase or download are easily accessible from the My Apps section.
  • If you provided your credit card information during the registration process, you can purchase new apps with as little as one click.
  • To edit your user preferences–including languages–click on your name located near the top of the client home page.

User Experience:

As I said before the interface is very elegant with no visible borders. This is why it does not blend into Windows environment. The interface and the looks resembles Mac applications. The biggest flaw (as of now) is that you have to use the minimize button to minimize the app window, it does not minimize the window itself when you click again when you click on it in the task-bar.

How to use it:

  • Go here to Download the Intel AppUp application: http://www.appup.com/applications/index
  • Install it
  • Register on the website
  • Use it

Free Britannica Kids Back To School Bundle Offer:

If you register now for the Intel AppUp, you can download Britannica Kids Encyclopedia Dinosaur and Solar System worth $4.99 free.

Hope you enjoyed this post. I would like to know the feedback on this post, quality, content, usefulness etc. Please do provide me with a feedback. Enjoy :)

Related articles

How to access Linux files from Windows

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Its really easy to access Windows files from inside Linux but its not the other way round. Windows does not provide support for native Linux file systems like ext2 or ext4. A very useful utility to access Linux files or partition from Windows is Ext2explore. Though it does not actually mount the partition inside Windows like Linux does but it does provide a way to access the Linux files, in separate explorer.

  • All you have to do is download Ext2explore from here.
  • Unzip the file.
  • Run the executable as Administrator.
  • Here you can see your Linux partition :)

Here are few screen shots:

Linux Windows            Linux Windows            Linux Windows

Related articles

How to solve: Windows was unable to complete the format

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Mostly there are no problems while formatting the USB drive but sometimes they just refuse to be formatted especially when they are in bootable format. I used my USB key as booting device to install Ubuntu. After that when I tried formatting the USB drive in Windows, I got this error “Windows was unable to complete the format”.

There are several ways to solve this problem. One of them might work for you. Try them one by one.

Try formatting with different file systems: Right click on the drive and click format. First approach should be to format the drive using different file systems. Try formatting with all the available file systems (exFAT in particular if it was a bootable drive).

Use Windows Disk Management:

  • Right click on Computer.
  • Choose Manage
  • Choose Disk Management under Storage on the left panel
  • Choose your disk and right click for formatting
  • Click yes for the pop-ups

Use Specialized softwares:  You can use Easeus Partition Master for a forced format. Here is the download link:

Hope it helps you. Questions and suggestions are welcomed. Enjoy :)

Troubleshoot: NAP capable clients are evaluated as Non NAP capable

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I had real hard time in troubleshooting the problem where NAP capable clients were evaluated as Non NAP capable by the NPS server. 802.1x authentication was perfectly successful but there were no information about the client’s health. It seemed NPS server was working as a plain RADIUS server.

There are few points which must be checked for a successful implementation of Microsoft NAP. Check all of these:

  1. NAP agent must be running: To check use “netsh nap client show state” in command prompt. If not running, go to services and start the service and put it to automatic.
  2. Enforcement client 79623 is enabled and initialized on the client: This can also be checked with the previous command.
  3. Quarantine checks are enabled in PEAP properties on the client: See the authentication tab in network properties.
  4. 802.1X with PEAP is configured (rather than 802.1X with EAP) on the client: See the authentication tab in network properties.
  5. NAP agent is running before 802.1x authentication. Put the dependency on NAP agent with wired auto config.
  6. Override network policy authentication settings is enabled in connection request policy on the server.

Hope it will help you in troubleshooting your NAP setup. Questions and suggestions are welcomed. Enjoy :)

Sources: Microsoft, Greg Lindsay

How to run ex_ file by converting ex_ to exe file

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Recently I came across a new type of file format which is “ex_” instead of “exe“. First I tried executing it by simply renaming it from “filename.ex_” to “filename.exe” but it did not work that way. “ex_” is actually compressed form of “exe” files and they need to be expanded. The most suitable way is to use command line. Follow the given steps:

  • Open the command prompt by going to “Start->All Programs->Accessories->Run” and then type “cmd” in Run window. Run can also be opened by pressing “Windows button + r“
  • In the command prompt go to the folder where your file “filename.ex_” is stored. For ease I would suggest you to manually copy the file into C drive. Make a new folder named say “new“
  • If you are in different directory than C then type “cd ..” and press enter. Do it a couple of time until you are :C directory.
  • Now use the command: expand filename.ex_ c:newfilename.exe
  • This command may result in following error: EXPAND.EXE Error Msg: Can’t Open Output File
  • The reason is very simple. You might not have write permission for the “filename.ex_” or for the folder “new” or for both
  • Right click on the file/folder and select properties. If the “Read Only” box is checked, de-select it.
  • Now run the previous command again. Use the expanded file in .exe format wherever you want.

Questions and Suggestions are welcomed. Enjoy :)

Sources: Microsoft

How to quickly change the Month/Year in Windows 7 calendar?

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You often use the Windows calendar for viewing the dates, don’t you? But sometimes you may also have come across the need of changing the month/year very quickly. For eg. If today is 4 Apr 2011 and you need to go to December 2004, it will take a hell of a time to reach there. Remember Windows calendar changes chronically day by day (or does it really?). Well, you might not have noticed that it can be changed in another function as well for say month by month, year by year or decade by decade.

How, you ask. Trick is very simple my friend. Open the calendar (by clicking on the time display at the bottom right corner of your desktop/taskbar). Click on the present day (see the red rectangle in the pic).

Now you can see the months in the year and can quickly change the months in that year. If you want to change the year click on the present year like this:

Here you can see the years. Similarly you can move on into decades.

The decade view.

Was it not very simple? Sometimes small things matter big times. Keep enjoying.

How to find saved passwords in Firefox or Google Chrome?

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For the ease of using internet on a personal computer we often save our passwords in the web browser (Remember the pop up with “save the password”, “not now”, “never for this site”). It saves you from the pain of entering the passwords in the websites. Do you know these saved passwords can be easily viewed by any person using the computer. Your passwords are not safe in the case if people have access to your computer.

You can also use the same for hacking some friend’s passwords if you have physical access to his system.

Its not rocket science. Its very simple. You might also knew it before hand. In case you don’t follow the steps:

1. Mozilla Firfox:

  • Open the Firefox.
  • Click on “Tools” on the top of the browser
  • Choose “Options”
  • Choose “Security” tab
  • Click on “Saved passwords”

  • Here you can see various websites and the username stored on it
  • Select any of them and click “Show password”
  • There it is, right in front of you. 

2. Google Chrome:

In Google Chrome, go to settings (the wrench symbol on the top right corner). Choose options. Go to “Personal Stuff” tab and select “show saved passwords”.