security 2nd

watch some important point on the internet security. 1st.... scan your computer from good antivirus programs.on the provious post i will show you lot of good anitvirus programs.pick any one all working .... 2nd....install good antikeylogger software...this will safe you from netspy. bad guys keep all the info related to you will be seen on the other computer.search in the google their are many product in the market .that will save u. 3rd......use 2 or 3 account with strong password . the lenght will be about minimum.8 words.and maximum word will be include digits words car.spacebar .sift crtl.this will include in the password. from this computer will save from hacking password.

ZoneAlarm

ZoneAlarm ZoneAlarm offers firewall protection against Internet hackers. Zonealarm is available as a free download to personal users and gives you invaluable protection against hackers. download this

HijackThis

HijackThis HijackThis scans your computer and generates a log file which helps you to identify if something has been tampered with by hackers. download this

MozBackup

MozBackup MozBackup is a freeware tool that allows you to save setup data in Fireforx, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey and Netscape. MozBackup keeps a save backup of your emails, bookmarks, address book, history, sidebar, saved passwords and program settings. download this :

Recuva

Recuva Rescue deleted files from your PC, MP3 player or digital camera cards with the Recuva freeware. It allows you to recover deleted files from your hard drive, recycle bin or memory cards. Irrespective of whether they were lost due to error, system crash, bugs or viruses. TIPS :ITS working in all memory card . and also pendrive cool soft for recover lost data. so download this fast its cool download :

Microsoft Security Essentials

Microsoft Security Essentials Microsoft Security Essentials is a free anti-virus solution for Windows Vista and 7. download: download :

WinSCP

WinSCP WinSCP is a handy tools which allows safe copying of files between a local and a remote computer. download :

Panda Cloud Antivirus

Panda Cloud Antivirus Panda Cloud Antivirus protects you while you browse, play or work and you won’t even notice it. Panda Cloud Antivirus provides you with the fastest protection against the newest viruses thanks to its cloud-scanning from PandaLabs’ servers. The Panda servers have a database of millions of viruses allowing it to detect the multitude of threats that appear every day. Download:

Top 10Security Tools

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware This software datects and removes malware from your computer. You can scan all drives, or just a suspicious file. Infected files can be copied to a quarantine folder or just deleted. Advanced features will help you, to remove malware manually. download this

Top 10Security Tools

TrueCrypt TrueCrypt is a free software for applying on-the-fly-encryption to your hard discs. It enables you to encrypt or decrypt your hard drives automatically as you access them. You can put secret data into password-protected 'containers'. download this http://download.chip.asia/in/TrueCrypt-6.1a_118797.html

Total wipeout

Total wipeout

CHIP shows you ways to erase temporary digital garbage and other useless files. There are automatic tools and those that let you do it all manually—you can choose what suits you best.

Unwanted files have become harder to track down over the years, and techniques to hide them have become stronger too. Today, there is need for special software to securely delete data that you want to get rid off for good. In this story we talk about how data on a computer is stored in various ways and places, and about some tools and procedures for getting rid of it for good.

Every computer has data which is created and stored by a user during the course of his work, such as documents, photos and videos. This data is plainly visible, and used relatively often. Another type of data is that which is stored by programs, applications, the Internet and of course the operating system itself, without the user necessarily knowing how, when or where it has been generated. Such files keep piling up in various folders on the hard drive without the users knowing the true extent of it all.

For instance, when installing a program, you may notice its folder residing in the ‘Program Files’ folder, and its icon on your desktop. But tons of other files get stored on the hard drive along with it: DLL files being a good example of that. Even surfing the Internet, typing a simple letter, copying and pasting information and other simple tasks constantly bombard the hard drive. Most of this information is used to boost speed and efficiency or is sent via the Internet in order to track user activity. For instance, temporary internet files and cookies are stored in places that aren’t usually explored by a general user. Cookies generally reveal your online identity and activity.

Here are five utilities that help you delete such superfluous data. Some of them can also permanently delete files that you don't want others to stumble upon. The features across these utilities are more or less the same, with some more powerful than others. We suggest that you take a look at each one briefly and then use whichever suits you best.

CCleaner

This powerful and comprehensive piece of software does some good sweeping. To begin with, it wipes out junk which is stored by Windows applications. Cached data from Internet Explorer such as temporary files, cookies, history, etc, is deleted. Even your list of recent documents, temporary files folder, clipboard, auto-complete entries and much more is erased. That’s just the Windows part. Even garbage dumped onto the hard drive by third party applications is expelled.

CCleaner also scans and fixes registry issues. Unused file extensions, fonts, application paths, obsolete software and many other types of detritus can be cleaned with the ‘Registry Integrity’ utility. Finally with this program, you can also uninstall third party software and get rid of auto-startup items.

Regseeker

Its name may suggest that Regseeker only finds items and entries in the Registry and gets rid of unwanted garbage. Of course it offers the option, but there’s more to it than just that. RegSeeker allows you to erase unwanted registry entries such as startup items, Internet Explorer URL entries and so on. For further cleaning, there are two options: the first one is automatic cleaning and the second one lets you add specific entries to the exclusion list before cleaning. Overall, it’s a useful tool for registry management.

HDCleaner

While boasting a pleasant and intuitive user interface—similar to CCleaner—the HD cleaner too has much to offer in terms of features and performance. And it is free of charge. Its features include almost everything that’s needed to clean and stabilize a computer, such as cleaning temporary files and offline content. This software offers something called ‘Wipe Free Space’. This tool basically deletes data in a way that it becomes completely unrecoverable (also see: ‘Manual Extermination’). To further prevent recovery, it allows shredding of files too.

Other options include a cleaning center which gets rid of cookies, unwanted registry items and software. There’s a drive information panel which does exactly what its name suggests. HDCleaner also allows automatic or scheduled scanning and cleaning of a computer.

TuneUp Utilities 2009

We tested the demo version of TuneUp Utilities 2009, and must say the interface is quite eye-catching. First, the 1-click Maintenance utility is quite interesting. On execution, it automatically scans and analyzes the system for registry problems and invalid shortcuts. It also frees up disk space by deleting unwanted data and temporary files. Finally, it defragments the drive, but this step can be skipped at will by the user since it takes a lot of time.

The main console looks impressive. Interestingly, each utility in the line up is named after the brand ‘TuneUp’, such as TuneUp Drive Defrag and TuneUp Memory Optimizer. There are other tools such as Registry defrag, Speed optimizer, Startup manager, Registry cleaner, Uninstall manager and more. There’s also a Windows customization tool called TuneUp Styler. This one lets you give Windows a compete facelift with new boot and login screens, icon packages, the overall visual style of windows and other such cosmetic changes. All in all, we say this one has beauty and brains!

Vista Cleanman 2.5

Vista Cleanman is capable of cleaning temporary files and other files with extensions such as .old, .bak and picture thumbnail files. Although its feature set is rather scanty, it apes the more popular options, for instance there are options for cleaning the IE temporary files, Windows error reports and such. Even the caches created by third party applications are cleared off. There are a few more options, but overall, this demo package doesn’t impress us very much.

Simple file shredder 3.2

Simple File Shredder is another good utility which is easy to use. It has a number of options and features which assist in deleting data permanently.

The program options include settings for automatic shredding of files, enabling password protection to avoid misuse, and updating the program. The ‘Color Guide’ option helps identify whether a certain file is in use, or whether it is a system file, a read-only file or a hidden file. If you’re looking for a specific file or folder, the search option allows various combinations for narrowing down your search for files intended for shredding. And if you’ve accidentally chosen a file for permanent deletion, choose the ‘Remove selected’ option in the file’s context menu or simply push the [Delete] key.

If you’re looking only to flush the cache, then the ‘Basic Configuration’

mode should suffice. It gets rid of items such as IE's cookies, history and so on. It also deletes Windows’ list of recent documents, the Recycle Bin, and temp files folder. Although the program features 'Advanced Configuration' in the 'System Shredder' panel, the demo version won't have it. One of the options also allows scrubbing the free space on your hard drive so that previously deleted data cannot be recovered from there. It is quite contrarily named ‘Restoration’. However, to use this utility, the program needs to download the ‘Restoration’ setup file from the Internet.

Some troubling signs

Here are some of the symptoms that signal when you need to clean your PC immediately:

The computer becomes ridiculously slow and unresponsive. The ‘Performance’ tab in the Task Manager shows very high or almost 100 percent CPU usage. The RAM usage has also climbed to dizzying levels.

More than 50 percent of processes listed as running in the Task Manager are completely incomprehensible and untraceable too. The reason for the sluggishness may be all these processes running in the background, consuming your computer's resources. If you got your ‘fully loaded’ computer as a gift, it probably came with a lot of unnecessary software preinstalled. Remember, the more the programs you have, the more CPU power and RAM are needed. Uninstall all programs that you use less than once a month. The solution? Uninstall and clean up the traces of all software you don't really require.

Fringe benefits

Along with websites that merely want to give you a better experience, those with malicious intent could be automatically downloading harmful files to your PC. Keep an eye out for suspicious files and use the cleanup utilities regularly.

know more

The cache, also known as the Temporary Internet Files folder for Internet Explorer, make surfing speedy. But it also preserves cookies, which by nature are good at compromising online privacy. Cookies are basically footprints, and websites offload them onto your machine. When you revisit a website, it pulls up its cookie to see your previous activity. This helps it to offer you customized information. Unfortunately, a lot of personal information can leak out via these files. Although browsers allow blocking cookies, this makes surfing irritating at times. Therefore a periodic clean-up of offline content is a must. For a good combination of comprehensiveness and efficacy, opt for CCleaner or HDcleaner.

Manual Extermination

Offline content

So much for automatic secure deletion, now, how about applying some basic manual techniques? The best part is manual techniques do not require special software. CHIP introduces our in-house batch file which performs a basic yet useful clean-up. This file is intended for those using Windows Vista with Internet Explorer. On execution, it automatically runs sequential commands. First, it cleans up the browser cache, temporary Internet files folder and such. Then it runs the Windows Disk Cleanup utility and finally, it clears the ‘Recent’ folder. And if you’re comfortable with experimenting, you can even add other commands and programs into the batch file to run them automatically and in sequence. Type the following in a text file and save it with the extension .BAT. You can name it ‘CLEANUP.BAT’. (On the third line, replace ‘Username’ with the actual user name such as ‘CHIP’ on a CHIP computer).

@echo off

Rundll32.exe InetCpl.cpl, ClearMyTracks By Process 255

C:Windowssystem32cleanmgr /sagerun:1

Del /f/s/q c:UsersUsernameAppDataRoamingMicrosoftWindowsRecent

Tip: In Windows XP, the path for recent documents is C:Documents and Settings UsernameMy Recent Documents

User-saved data

At times, it doesn’t matter how powerful the software for permanent deletion is because data is still recoverable from the hard drive til the emptied sectors are filled with new data. Check out the ‘Wipe Free Space’ tool in HDCleaner.

To wipe the drive manually, fill the emptied space with random data. Dump data which is large enough to fill that space. Defrag the drive while the newly planted data exists. Run a low level format. Repeat the process in various combinations. If you were creative enough and did all the right things then a successful recovery is unlikely. But remember, these methods don’t ensure that data will never be recovered. With special tools and methods, there may still be chances of a recovery. The only foolproof way would be to physically damage the hard drive, which obviously defeats the purpose.

VERDICT

Shredding means overwriting the drive’s sectors with new data so that the deleted data becomes unrecoverable. Basic deletion of files and folders only erases the pointers to the data which still resides on the hard drive or other media after deletion. This data is therefore recoverable. On the other hand, shredding dumps junk data in random patterns onto each sector of a hard drive. Shredding can be done in multiple passes, meaning data is re-written a number of times in various patters.

Be it automatic or manual, keeping your computer clean from unnecessary digital detritus is a must. And if you want good performance from of your computer, you may have to pay special attention in maintaining a regular cleaning schedule.

A computer that hasn’t been cleaned in over a month and also has loads of programs installed will not only make be slower than it should be, but also wastes valuable space. In worse cases, it stresses the CPU and RAM so much that they overheat unnecessarily. Yes, this can happen due to constant and unneeded work. Therefore, keep your PC clean from the dust outside and digital garbage inside. Happy cleaning!

Anonymous on the Internet

Anonymous on the Internet

We give you the lowdown on how to cover your tracks when on the Internet.

By DOMINIK HOFERER

In all probability, you are neither a secret service agent nor do you have to deal with jihadis on the Internet. You probably don’t even have information of an explosive nature on your computer, which would require you to encode your data with the most sophisticated cryptography methods. Nevertheless, your PC has documents which are no one else’s concern. These could be account statements from online banking or your tax returns. Also, your excursions on the Internet and the queries you make on Google should not be retraceable. This is why we will show you how to surf the web without leaving behind traces and how to store files on your computer with very little effort so that no stranger will be able to access it. You will find all the tools required for this purpose on this issue's CD/DVD.

Unscrupulous: Surf with Firefox

Firefox protects you against attacks from the web better than Internet Explorer although it too leaves behind traces like its Microsoft competitor. Website operators can keep track of your source, the sites surfed, as well as the products you checked out over a webshop. With these tricks you can prevent the fox from divulging a lot of information about you.

SETTINGS: For starters, make a few small changes in the browser. Under “Tools | Settings | Data protection | Private data” change the “settings” so that Firefox automatically deletes history, search data and cache as soon as you close the program. Furthermore, you must delve deeper into the configuration so that it does not reveal the sites you have surfed and camouflages your source instead.

about:config

For this purpose enter the above in the browser line and search for “send using filter”.

A few entries will appear, but only the “network.http.send RefererHeader” line is of interest. With a double-click, set the value of the variable to “0”. After this, website operators will not be able to trace the link through which you came across an online shopping site that offers wine at a reasonable rate nor the search key you entered in Google. This certainly is not information that you need to hide, but nevertheless, it is advisable to cover your tracks, to protect your privacy.

EXTENSION: The Customize Google add-on for Firefox goes yet another step further. It prevents the search engine from creating an exact profile of you. After installing the add-on, configure it under “Tools | Customize Google settings. For example, turn off click tracking by Google or delete annoying advertisements which could also track your clicks for the “Web” option.

You will find an important function for data protection under “Privacy". Here, you can make the UID, that is, the unique identifier of the Google cookie anonymous. With this you can prevent the search engine from creating your user profile.

APPLICATIONS: The Tor tool is more powerful. It is a proxy, which masks your identity. If you use it when surfing, website operators will never be able to trace your real IP address since you will get a new one from Tor. The simplest way to mask yourself is to cover yourself in an invisibility cloak by installing the complete Tor-&-Privoxy-&-Vidalia package. The most important tools have already been integrated in this. This is how it works:

Start the set-up and launch all the components on your computer. Furthermore, the package also adds the Tor button to your Firefox. With this button you can easily turn the proxy on or off directly from the status bar of the browser. The next time you start Firefox, you will see Tor's activation status at the bottom right-hand side. You can change the status with a right-click on this display, rendering yourself anonymous when surfing. www.whatismyip.com tells you your current identity, i.e. the IP address and your apparent country of origin. Since the proxy alters this information at irregular intervals, it is almost impossible to retrace your activities over the network. The flip side - your web surfing speed is reduced considerably.

The CyberGhost tool offers yet another alternative to this. Even though Tor conceals your traces in a better way, the CyberGhost application has an advantage over it - you can surf considerably faster. After starting the software, create a gratis account and log in with this software. It offers you ten GB traffic free of charge every month. Those who want more can get a premium account for approximately ten euros per month.

Note: If want to read your mail with Outlook or Thunderbird, you must add your provider with “Exceptions | E-Mails. Otherwise the software blocks e-mail traffic.

Tap-proof: e-mail with Thunderbird

No one likes strangers snooping around their personal mail? In case of mails one must mostly rely on the fact that freemail account providers do not check personal mails thoroughly. It is even worse if a stranger taps the messages with a sniffer.

Now with Mozilla Thunderbird and a few extensions, you can stop worrying about that. Use the GnuPG tool, which works smoothly with Thunderbird, to encode your mails so that only the receiver can read the messages. The coding is asynchronous and it functions as follows - With the help of GnuPG, you create a set of two keys; one personal and the other public. Give the public key to all those who would send you encoded mails. On the other hand, you must take good care of the personal key and should never reveal it under any circumstances. This is because you can decode the encoded mails of the sender only with this key. This is how it works.

Install GnuPG on your computer and add the Enigmail add-on to your Thunderbird. The “OpenPGP” entry appears on the menu of the mail client. Here, you will find the “Key management” menu item. Go to “Generate| New key pair” and select the user ID; this is the e-mail account, which you will manage with Thunderbird. Now enter a passphrase i.e. a complete sentence, which ideally should consist of numbers as well as alphabets to increase safety. Memorize this phrase well since you will require it to decode your mails. Professionals can also define the key strength under “Advanced” or select a specific algorithm as well.

You can now “Generate key pair”. This requires a few minutes. Your mail client is now ready to send concealed messages. GnuPG offers you two versions. The first is where you can sign the messages digitally. This way the receiver can determine whether the mail is truly sent by you. This is because with just a few tricks, hackers can send a mail under your name. Spammers love to disguise themselves. It's the easiest and most effective way to get someone to open a mail. You can avoid this risk by signing your e-mails and selecting “OpenPGP | Sign message”. If the receiver possesses your public key, Thunderbird confirms the correct sender and indicates this with a green bar on top of the mail. However, the content is still not encoded in this procedure. The second variant, which is safer and rather easy to manage, is encoded mail dispatch. Try it out and start a test run by sending an encoded mail to yourself through “Compose. Select “OpenPGP | Encode message” and send the mail. The message should get posted in your inbox after some time. Thunderbird indicates with a green bar that the mail was sent safely. GnuPG not only helps in encoding your mails but also encrypts local files. In the “Secret” section you will see how it works.

Secret: Encrypting with OpenSource

Be it just a telephone bill or a bank statement downloaded from a bank portal - paper is gradually disappearing from our daily lives. Nowadays, important documents are increasingly being sent in the PDF format. These often lie unprotected and open to prying eyes and anyone who has access to your computer, can get a fairly good idea of your financial status and other personal information. However, this can now be avoided.

SAFEGUARDING DOCUMENTS: Protect your individual files easily with passwords with the help of the GnuPG software, which we have already described earlier in the “Tap-proof” section. You can do this easily through the Windows context menu with the Gpg-4win application. After installation, if you right-click on a file, you can configure the encoder under “GPGee | Configure”. However, you must make sure to specify the “Path of the program” and search for the “gpg.exe” file here - it is mostly present in “C:ProgrammeGNU”. The software is now ready for use. With just a simple right-click on the PDF of the bank statement or whatever that you may wish to safeguard, you can encrypt individual files or a complete directory. The easiest method is Go to “GPGee | Encrypt (symmetrical)”. As soon as you enter a passphrase, the tool protects your data with a password. You can encrypt the files by opening the context menu with a right-click on the file, selecting “GPGee | Check/Encrypt” and entering the password.

ENCRYPTING DIRECTORIES: A more comprehensive tool is True-Crypt from Open-Source that is available in a portable version on the www.stadtbremerhaven.de blog. TrueCrypt can even protect portable storage media. We now explain how you can encrypt a USB stick with this tool. You can also use the program locally on the computer. This is how it works:

Unpack the file on your PC and copy the complete folder onto a USB stick. Start the TrueCrypt program and click on “Create volume”. Select the topmost option and create a virtual, encoded drive. In the window that follows, select the option to create a standard TrueCrypt volume. Click “Next” and then click “File. Now select your USB stick, specify the name of the container in which you wish to store the confidential information in an encoded form and confirm with “Save". After this is done, define the container size and specify a passphrase.

You can now alter the encoding strength by dragging the mouse over the window and generating random values for the key. The more numbers you create, the safer is the key. Eventually confirm everything with “Format". Your encrypted container is now ready for use. If you do not wish to create more safes, click “End". Your USB stick now contains a file with the name and size specified by you. No one can access the data in it without TrueCrypt and your passphrase.

To be able to open the safe and store a file, search for this file under “File” on the TrueCrypt interface and enter your password with “Integrate”. A virtual drive will then appear in “My Computer". You can directly open the safe from TrueCrypt by double clicking it. Once you have stored all the files in the safe, close it by selecting the virtual drive in the TrueCrypt overview and “disconnect” it. You can be rest assured that your data is now protected in case you happen to lose the USB stick.

PERMANENT DELETION: If a stick happens to fall in the hands of inquisitive strangers, they can restore the files you had deleted. You can now prevent this with the full version of Steganos Shredder and delete your data permanently from the respective data media.

Surf without Leaving traces

Cookies make surfing easier but they have a disadvantage as well: they reveal your activities on the Internet to website operators. These then show selected advertisements or content, which has been moulded to your interests. Currently United Internet, which owns Web.de and GMX, is testing such a function.

STOP THE CLICK TRACKER:

With a small tool called Prism, you can access websites anonymously, as if they were applications. They open in a separate window and are completely self-sufficient, even without having to open Firefox. For instance, every time you access Google with Prism, it uses a private Firefox profile. Thus, cookies, which one instance of the site receives are applicable only to that window. You can open any number of web apps with Prism. Our tip: Use this tool for accessing your bank portal; it protects you against phishing.

contain from www.chip.in

Secure your PC in 10 minutes

Secure your PC

in 10 minutes

CHIP shows you how to completely secure your PC from scratch

When it comes to security, you'll notice that household assets are usually locked in to prevent theft, banks have their high-security surveillance systems in place and classified documents are usually stored in ultra-secure lockers. Similarly our computers and networks need several levels and layers of security in order to prevent data theft. Also it’s crucial to prevent infiltration by potentially harmful programs and bots that steal private information. When you enter data in your computer such as credit card information, bank account details, passwords and digital signatures, it is all vulnerable unless sufficient precautionary measures are taken. Prying eyes on the Internet take advantage of these susceptibilities to extract as much information as possible to either sell it for monetary gain, use it for malicious purposes , or both. One may think that hacking into somebody’s computer is easy, well it isn’t if you’re taking all the right steps towards high level security.

In this story, CHIP walks you through the entire process of adding levels of security to a PC and also shows you the tools that can be used for the task. Once you’ve applied all the levels of security mentioned in this story, no one will have access to your data. If someone does manage to steal your data, he will not be able to use it in any form. Yes! There is a way to do this!

Updates: 1 minute

When an operating system is first released, there are numerous security loopholes and bugs in it. These make a system susceptible to a plethora of viruses, Trojans and other types of malware. Furthermore, such vulnerabilities are playgrounds for hackers. So how does one fix them? Patches and updates are frequently released by the manufacturer, for instance, Microsoft releases service packs and other minor updates for all current versions of Windows.

It’s a good idea to regularly install updates for your system. Be it Windows XP, Vista or any other platform, all operating systems require updates. In Windows, it is recommended to keep the ‘Automatic Updates’ option on. This way, they are periodically and automatically installed even without the user's intervention. In XP, go to Control Panel | Security Center | Automatic Updates and click the ‘On’ button.

In Vista, go to Start | All Programs | Windows Updates. Here, Windows verifies the installation for security threats with ‘Search For Updates’ and thereafter installs suitable updates for the system. Though the update process takes a while to complete—around 20 to 40 minutes—it runs in the background so your work isn’t hindered. Above all, updates ensure security as well as compatibility of a system with the latest hardware and peripherals.

Virus Scanner: 1 minute

Before we move any further, here’s a rule of thumb: never install more than one antivirus program on your computer. This is because two or more programs clash with each other during a scan, due to which a system may hang, become sluggish or shut down altogether.

The world over, antivirus companies detect thousands of threats every day. Let’s say your computer has no antivirus software installed and you’re online for 24 hours at a stretch. You would thus send/receive emails with attachments, exchange and download files, click on ads and banners, and basically do everything that’s a big mistake without having an antivirus program or a security suite installed. By now, if your system hasn’t died from exposure to malware, it has definitely leaked out information without your consent. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Prowling hackers are already spying on you.

That was only a hypothetical situation, but if you don’t secure your system, it can really happen. There are many security suites and standalone antivirus programs such as the ones provided by Symantec, Kaspersky, F-Secure and so on. In addition to antivirus programs, they also provide security from adware, spyware, Trojans and other online threats. Some programs are paid for and others are free. A fine example of the latter is AVG Free. It’s a free antivirus program that provides basic yet effective protection from the latest viruses that crop up each day. But remember that all antivirus programs need to be updated regularly so that they have all the latest virus definitions.

When an application is executed, these programs warn you whether there are any suspected virus elements in it. You can then choose to heal, delete or quarantine an infected file. The program also updates its manufacturer about the specific virus threat, if you allow it to. This reported virus treat is then added to the database of viruses at the manufacturer’s end.

Anti-spam: 3 minutes

Spam emails are nothing but junk, sent out randomly either to mass-advertise, collect information, or spread viruses as attachments. To stop this, there are spam filters such as Spamihilator 0.9 (included on this month's CHIP DVD). These filters effectively eradicate advertisements and other threats that are potentially harmful to a computer. In order to achieve their goals, spammers adopt various disguises such as changing/spoofing the sender's address, using secure digital signatures, and sending in unknown mail formats. Spamihilator in turn recognizes these strategies and keeps you safe from harmful attachments.

However, it works only with email clients such as Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express 6, Opera, Eudora, Pegasus Mail, Mozilla’s Thunderbird and so on. While it isn’t a plugin for the client, it resides in system memory and you can access it through the icon nestled near the clock in your Windows notification area.

After installation, Spamihilator automatically detects the default email client in the system and auto-configures itself. Therefore there are no additional settings to be configured. During installation it also puts the most important filters such as DCC (Distributed Checksum Clearinghouse) in place. Filters need to be trained to recognize spam. The program scans all incoming mail and moves those with suspicious content into its own recycle bin, thereby preventing junk mails from piling up in your inbox. If a genuine message is identified as spam, you can mark it as genuine, which will allow all future messages from that specific ID to land up in the email client’s inbox without needing verification. In addition to filters, there’s a blacklist for blocked senders and a whitelist for friends.

Although Spamihilator is quite effective, having added layers of security doesn’t hurt, especially if making the required settings to your PC is a no-brainer. So, let’s prep your email client for potential spam.

Microsoft Outlook: Go to Tools | Options | Junk E-mail. Here, the ‘Options’ tab is highlighted by default, if not, click on it. From here, select the third option, ‘high’. However, with this option selected, it’s recommended that you regularly check your spam folder for genuine mail that might get mistaken for spam. You can also opt to directly delete spam as opposed to letting it clog your spam folder. The whitelist and blacklist in this case can be set from the ‘Safe Senders’ and ‘Blocked Senders’ tabs respectively.

Mozilla Thunderbird: Here, all you need to do is classify messages as spam or as genuine. When spam is detected, the user is prompted for action. You can then decide what to do with that message. This feature can be activated from Tools | Settings | Data protection. Now, whenever you receive spam, simply mark it and click on ‘Junk’. The more you do this, the better the results of the filter will become.

Logging in with a USB flash drive: 2 minutes

Let’s say that you’re a frequent flyer or you travel a lot with your laptop. You have no trouble using it on the go, but what if you leave it unattended for some reason? Maybe you’d lock it using a password, but what if someday you forget to do so? It happens!

Rohos Logon Key 2.6 provides a hard locking system for PCs and laptops. Here’s an analogy: a car cannot start without its key, and removing the key from a running car stops its engine. Similarly, this program turns a standard USB flash drive into a key for your PC. To unlock your PC, simply insert the flash drive into the USB port. The moment you remove the drive, the PC is locked again.

Here’s the ‘how to’ of it. Install the tool and connect the USB flash drive to the PC. Then launch the program and click on ‘Set up USB flash drive’. The next window will ask you for the current user’s password, so punch it in and click on ‘Set up USB key’. Now click on ‘Configure USB Stick’. Here, various options can be chosen from the drop down menu labeled ‘This action will occur when you withdraw your USB key from computer’.

Select the ‘Lock computer’ option if you want your computer to lock automatically when you remove your flash drive. For the settings to take effect, restart your PC.

Note: Alternatively, you can enter the account password to log in, but if you do so and insert the flash drive later, removing it will not lock the PC. This means that in order to lock your PC with the flash drive you have to log in with it in the first place.

Also, Rohos Logon Key 2.6 is not free, and the trial expires 15 days after installation. A free alternative is USB PC Lock Pro 1.6. You can find both programs on this month's CHIP DVD

Safe passwords: 1 minute

Cracking passwords is not easy, but that largely depends on how strong (or weak) a password is. A very strong one should ideally contain 20 or more characters. Also, creating a good mix of special characters, numbers, and alphabets in lower and upper cases can be really difficult and time-consuming to crack. It’s a good idea to have a different password for each account. However, remembering multiple passwords can drive anyone crazy! Why not maintain a secure database of passwords which will let you store passwords for various accounts? All you need to do is remember the one master password to this database.

KeePass is a program which does just that. It is free (on the CHIP DVD), secured by encryption (AES) and it’s a no-brainer. You need to first set up a database before you store passwords. To create the same, go to 'File | New', you’ll be asked to enter a master password. Create a strong password and save the database in the desired location. The master password will allow you to unlock the database. In order to start populating it, go to 'Edit | Add Entry' and start entering all the usernames and passwords you need to use on a day-to-day basis. For further information, visit the program's website, http://keepass.info/hep/base/firststeps.html. The online tutorial is quite useful for beginners.

Encryption: 2 minutes

Many of the USB flash drives available in the market today come with a pre-installed application called U3. This allows you to password-protect your flash drive. But what about those that do not have any pre-installed security system? How safe are they for storing confidential data? It isn’t difficult to lose such a tiny, portable gadget, especially one that goes in and out of your bag or pocket all day. With unprotected data on a flash drive, much more can be lost than just the gadget. The solution is encryption. By encrypting the data inside a pen drive, you can ensure your safety even if someone finds it and gets the data. The encrypted mess will make no sense to him and he cannot use it in any way. Encryption tools such as TrueCrypt (also on the CHIP DVD) are a great option to give yourself such a level of confidence. As you launch the software, a wizard helps you with various options. The easiest is to create an ‘Encryption File Container’ which gets mounted on a virtual Volume. This volume needs to be assigned a drive letter and then can be used as an actual drive. Whatever data you drag and drop onto it will be encrypted automatically and on the fly. Encryption is not just for external and portable drives; even hard drives can be encrypted so that no information or data is leaked.

Cyberstalking dangers abound

Cyberstalking dangers abound

It isn't just celebrities who are at anymore. Ordinary people are being driven crazy by stalkers with easy access to all your data.

Intimate details, personal preferences, friend circles: cyber stalkers know all about the lives of their victims. Some of them say that love is the reason behind the stalking, while for some others, it is hate. But one factor is common to all cases: they find their victims via the Internet.

In one case for instance, a young American kept a check on the webcam of his female victim. He used LogMeIn and an illegal webcam spying application to get an access to the victim’s laptop, and took over 20,000 photos using its integrated webcam—including some of the lady naked in her apartment. The photos were uploaded directly to a European server. The police could not determine whether the photos had been distributed or sold.

Stalkers can find information about potential victims easily on the web because many people reveal intimate details and personal interests on social network platforms such as Orkut and Facebook, which predators can exploit at will. This is called Social Phishing. Social networking profiles make a lot of information accessible to everyone. These, for instance, include private details of someone’s life, personal interests and photos, contacts, addresses, telephone numbers, and so on. “Youngsters often treat their data thoughtlessly and carelessly”, is the criticism by Berlin-based lawyer Ulrich Schulte am Hülse.

Things can get ugly

Real harassment begins once the culprits collect sufficient information. They might start by filling their victims’ inboxes with hundreds of emails—some victims have also reported so-called “spam bombs”. Another way to drive a target mad, as described by psychologists, is to edit the victim’s photos or morph them completely, often presenting the victim in extremely embarrassing situations. The stalkers then publish these photos online to disparaging the victims and put psychlogical pressure on them. Cyber stalking also includes lies about the victims. Details about their sex lives, financial situations, and careers are all exploited by predators to exert power and control over their victims. In many such cases, the culprits act in an extremely skilful manner and use only foreign IP addresses which are difficult or even impossible to trace. Over 11,400 cases of stalking were reported in 2007 all over Germany.

In some cases, the stalkers even use stolen information to act on behalf of the victim! Some stalkers, for instance, participate in eBay auctions under their victims’ names, or purchase and dispatch goods through Amazon. In the worst cases, victims are also threatened with physical and sexual advances, building up trauma that many victims can never get rid of. They become distant and withdrawn, leading to complete isolation. Victims often experience traumatic mental disturbances. One case of online harassment in South Korea had a dramatic end: the famous actress Choi Jin-sil committed suicide after a smear campaign against her ran on the Internet. In other countries as well, cyber stalkers have made their victims commit suicide. The terrifying case in South Korea has prompted people to say that policemen should keep things in order on the Internet and censor offensive and threatening entries on any website.

Limited options

Stalking victims can take action against false allegations on the Internet. “It becomes a major problem, if this happens on websites outside the victim’s country”, explains Schulte am Hülse. “It is very difficult to get the operators of websites like Rotten Neighbor (www.rottenneighbor.com) to delete their content. However, if you know the person who has uploaded photos or negative comments, you should take action against him or her immediately”. A legal notice often works in such cases. Many people use peer rating websites like Rotten Neighbor to brand people with a negative reputation, whether it is genuine or done only to harass them. A landmark posted on Google Maps can also be used to embarrass people, and they might not find out about it for months or years. In the past few years, new anti-stalking laws have come into effect in several countries around the world. Culprits can be imprisoned but a huge number of cases are dismissed as it is difficult to prove that stalking has really occured. “A legal definition of cyber stalking is not yet available”, says Ulrich Schulte am Hülse.

You have to defend yourself outside of the courts as well. For instance, if photos posted online violate your right to privacy, you can take action. Portals like ReputationDefender (www.reputationdefender.com) can also help if you want to get rid of undesirable entries about you on the Internet; these websites attempt to trace those responsible for negative entries on other social sites and persuade them to delete the entries. Such platforms stop short of offering legal services though.

contain from www.chip.in