8 Keys to Internet Security

In a recent post, I recommended Panda’s Cloud Antivirus as a decent free antivirus program. Others have recommended different programs, and that’s fine – in the end, I don’t think there’s much meaningful difference between the various antivirus programs, at least in terms of security.

Much more important than which antivirus program you use (or anti-spyware, or firewall, or any security software), or even if you use one at all, are the practices that make up your online behavior. People who do risky stuff on the Internet will get a virus, sooner or later, regardless of how good their security software is. On the other hand, many security experts don’t use any antivirus software and still manage to avoid viruses.

I don’t recommend that you follow in the footsteps of the security experts – the nature of their calling demands a kind of paranoia that few of us can maintain. I recommend a solid package of security software (I run Cloud Antivirus and Windows Defender) but only as a safety net – something to pick up the slack when we make mistakes, not a first line of defense.

The thing with security, online or anywhere else, is that it’s always a trade-off between protection and convenience. I can tell you how to absolutely avoid any risk of computer virus, spyware, or trojan: stay offline and never install anything or use any removable storage media. That’s 100% perfect protection, but it would severely hinder your computer usage. It’s like securing a house: You could build a door-less, window-less titanium-sheathed reinforced-concrete bunker around your house and be absolutely sure burglars couldn’t get in, but you probably wouldn’t want to live there.

The tips below are sufficient to account for all but the most determined attacks against your computer. No amount of software or behavioral change can protect you from every possible attack (if the NSA wants to get on your PC, they are probably going to do so) but you can protect yourself from virtually all of the attacks you’re likely to face online.

I owe thanks for most of these tips to Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson, hosts of the TWiT netcast Security Now. If you’re interested in computer security at a very deep level, this weekly show is your ticket, and I heartily recommend it!

1. Use a router.
The very nature of the way routers works acts as an effective hardware firewall, preventing access to computers on your home network from outside the network. Put simply, when you request something from the Internet – say, you click a link, check your email, or enter a URL – the router notes which computer on its network the request came from so it can send the reply to the proper recipient. If a would be intruder attempts to enter your network, the router checks its list of outgoing requests and, if none is found correlating to the attackers’ IP address, it ignores it. It basically doesn’t know which computer to send it to, so it throws it out.

If you simply cannot use a hardware router, make sure your operating system’s firewall is turned on. This is almost, but not entirely, as good.

2. Do not open email attachments.
I know, who doesn’t want to see pictures of Anna Kournikova naked, right? Email attachments are a major vector for infecting computers, because it’s so easy to fake the sender so the email looks like it came from someone you know, and everybody loves opening attachments from people they know. It could be a funny picture of penguins, after all. But bottom line, don’t open attachments. If your email client automatically opens or previews them, turn that feature off. Even if it’s from your mom, and even if your mom says she opened it and it’s fine, still don’t open it. (By the way, next time you’re at mom’s, reinstall Windows. She’s got tons of viruses now.)

Now, I know that sometimes you have to open attachments, so here’s a simple test to know when it is most likely safe to open an attachment:

You know that the email is from the person it says it’s from. That usually means that either they said they were sending it, or they’ve written a note that only they could have written.
You are expecting an attachment from that person.
You know the person who created the file.
There is a compelling reason to open the attachment. I’m sorry, ma, but a good laugh isn’t enough to get me to risk my computer’s security.
If you can’t be absolutely, 100% sure on all these counts, trash it.

3. Do not download bittorrent files.
That sucks, I know, but since you’re never absolutely sure where the file comes from, where it’s been, or who might have altered it, bittorrent is risky. Downloading a Linux distribution from Ubuntu is probably ok; downloading it from Pirate’s Bay is a bit dodgy. Downloading Oscar screeners of movies that haven’t been released yet is super-duper dodgy. It’s a real shame to have to forego sticking it to The Man because of practical concerns, but you’re taking a big risk downloading an unknown file from an unknown person about whom the only thing you know is that they don’t feel any compunctions about breaking the law.

4. Do not download warez, porn, or other dubious files.
First they came for my bittorrents, then they came for my porn! It just gets worse and worse, doesn’t it. But really, think about it – people who distribute illegal copies of illegally hacked software a) are demonstrated lawbreakers, b) are familiar with programming code, and c) had access to the code you’re expecting to install on your computer. As for porn, while I’m sure there are plenty of Good Samaritans out there who distribute free pornography simply out of a desire for greater happiness in the world, some small number of them do it for financial gain. If they’re giving you free porn, they must be making money off you another way, and one of the easiest is to install a bunch of malware on your computer, run whatever code they want on it, and then sell the use of your computer to spammers, phishers, and other unsavory sorts. You want to know how bad these guys are? They don’t even care if they give pornography a bad name!

5. Do not download *anything* from sites you’re unfamiliar with.
Again, if you’re intending to install something you’ve downloaded onto your computer, you have to know that only people you trust have had access to it. Adobe, Microsoft, and other software manufacturers are generally trustworthy, as are sites like C|net’s Download.com. “Bob’s Free Software I Like a Whole Bunch” might not be quite as safe a bet.

6. Turn off Flash, Javascript, and other browser plugins.
Flash ads have been used to install viruses. So has Javascript code. You don’t have to do anything to get infected this way; you just visit a site with the malicious code on it and *bam*, you’re infected. Because of that, hardcore security folks turn off Javascript and either block or never install Flash. Personally, I think it limits the usefulness of the Internet too much; I’ve decided to risk running Javascript, and use the FlashBlock plugin in Firefox so I can select which Flash objects on a page I want to run (allowing me, for instance, to watch YouTube videos while preventing Flash ads on the same page from loading).

7. Do not click links in email.
It’s very easy to hide the real destination of links sent in email by using HTML where the text reads “www.perfectlysafesiteyouknowandtrust.com” but the actual URL is “www.reallybadsiterunbymeanpeoplewithnofriends.net”. This is how phishing scams work – you think you’re going to PayPal or your bank, but really you’re going to a page designed to look just like your bank’s login page but hosted on the mean people’s server. Also, bad guys often put unique tracking IDs into links, so that they know exactly who clicked on a link – which means that they know which email addresses out of the millions they sent spam to are valid, which makes them worth more money to other spammers. Um, yay?

7a. Do not click shortened URLs.
I don’t like this one, because I like Twitter and you lose a lot of functionality if you don’t use a service like bit.ly or is.gd to shorten URLs, but these links are scary. When you hover your mouse over a link, the URL appears in the email or browser’s status bar, meaning you can verify that the link heads to where it says it does. When you do the same with a shortened URL, it just says the shortened URL. There are Firefox extensions like UnTiny that will reveal the true destination of shortened URLs, and some Twitter clients do as well, but until a universal solution is standardized, these URLs remain a bit scary, security-wise.

8.Install all security updates.
Unless you’re a multi-national mega-corporation running oodles of mission-critical custom-designed software, you need to install security updates as quickly as possible upon release. If remembering to do this isn’t something you think you’d be likely to do, set your computer to automatically download and install updates. Increasingly, we’re seeing “0-day” exploits – viruses and trojans written to make use of security flaws before those flaws are corrected by – or, in some cases, even known to – manufacturers. Keeping up-to-date is essential to keep even marginally safe.

I know that, the world being what it is, someone will be thinking right about now, “Hey, why don’t you just switch to Mac OS X or Linux?” It’s true, those operating systems get far fewer viruses and other problems than Windows PCs, but most experts seem to agree that this is at least in part because there are so many Windows PCs and so few Mac and Linux PCs. (There are plenty of Linux servers, but those are under professional supervision, which goes a long way towards making up for any security weaknesses Linux has.) Bad guys program for the system that allows the greatest spread of their malware, and right now, that’s Windows.

But if you’re still not convinced, I’ve got an even better idea for you. Both Mac OS X and Linux have demonstrated security vulnerabilities, and as they become more common are likely to become targets for hackers. So they’re not really safe bets. Instead, try BeOS! It may be riddled with security holes and only run on Pentium 4 and earlier PCs, but I can guarantee you, nobody is writing viruses for it!

For everyone else, whether you use Windows, Mac, or Linux, make sure to follow the rules above and, chances are, you’ll be just fine.

Why Partition a Hard drive?

Free space on the hard disk must be partitioned before it can be used by the operating system. Partitioning the drive reserves a physical portion of the hard drive space for use as a logical drive, or volume, which can be addressed by the operating system. The operating system sees the hard disk space as volume. Volumes are represented in Windows by letters, such as C:, E:, D: and so on.

A separate file system is created in each of the volumes. A file system will organize and retrieve information stored in the volumes of the hard disk. It is better to go for partitioning if the capacity of the hard disk is increasing. The separate and different file systems created in each of the partitions will enable the system to handle log files, system files and data files, separately and effectively.

The primary benefit of partitioning helps in either reinstalling or restoring the operating system in its corresponding drive, without interfering with the other drives or volumes. Partitioning separates operating systems and program files from user files. This will allow frequently used programs and data to exist in one place.

Keeping the cache and log files separated from the data files will allow the dynamic allocation of memory to a file, and expand it to the maximum extent while not disturbing the remaining data. If any file gets corrupted in a file system, it is still safe to go for formatting that drive, without disturbing other file systems.

Smaller file systems will also perform efficiently by disk partitioning, and the overall performance of the system will be raised. Multiple partitioning done in the case of Linux, Unix and Macintosh operating systems will have more advantages. The directories like /tmp, /usr, /var, or home directory will be allocated with their own file systems. If there is any problem with any one of them then it can be solved individually, without creating disturbances in other files.

Partitioning will reduce the complexity of the hard disk, and enhance the performance of the operating system used in the computer.

Why Upgrade to Windows 7

Windows 7 is believed to provide security, stability and convenience. There are many reasons for selecting Windows 7 as a OS for a PC.
It is observed that a PC which has run Vista will also most likely be compatible with Windows 7. This will load programs, boot up and shut down faster. Even low system requirements like 1GB RAM and a 1GHz PC are also was found to support Windows 7. So, this makes it possible to be installed on computer notebooks up to high end desktops.
There are three ‘Aero’ features in it. Aero peek will allow the user to make all the windows transparent, and see the desktop. Aero shake allows the user to select an active window, and simply shake the mouse to minimize all other panes. Aero snap makes the window selected by the user move away from the display to get resized to half.

The taskbar is really wonderfully made in such a way that when you traverse on the icons, you can have thumbnail previews of open files with just a click. For each software to be opened, when we right click on that, you can also view the recently opened files in the jump list, so that time is saved in searching for them.
Most hardware in a PC is compatible with Windows 7, and new drivers are not necessary to install. System security prompts are controlled by using an intuitive slider bar. If there is a compatible touch screen desktop or laptop, multi touch can be used to navigate through the operating system, and open and move documents with a single flip of the finger. Catalogues of photos, videos and files of a single type, are made at one place, irrespective of where they are placed in the hard drive. The network setup is optimized to share devices, documents, and printers among PCs that are in a password protected network. Last but not least, Windows 7 will suite third party upgrades.

Why PC is better than MAC

There are many reasons why the personal computer (PC) is better than Macintosh (Mac) system. PCs can support variety of specifications, options, operating systems and compatible with the products of various vendors. But Mac systems can be released by only one vendor at a time and has only limited options.

Mac is very expensive. It is very easy and simple to build a personal computer by selecting the desired parts of your choice that suits your necessity. There are many combinations and choices to make a PC and it is done by many people if not you according to your need. Companies also offer many options to customize a PC. Macintosh systems are very limited and they do not have compatibility with latest software unless it is upgraded. Any extra devices, if necessary to be attached, like RAM and other devices, it is cheaper to do in PC than in Mac. So Mac has less customization options compared to PC.

Mac users always have to check whether the hardware and software they are buying are compatible with Mac. Any game will run properly on PC if the computer is new. But, a very new Mac will have outdated hardware. Every piece of software compatible with Mac will also be compatible with PC except that made by Apple. For every small upgradation in it, Mac manufacturer, Apple charges its customers. While Microsoft gives these minor updates for free and only charges for a complete operating system. There are many people to look for your problems with PC while the Apple community is very limited. So you get less support for problems with Mac. It is easy to resize a windows explorer, do copy, paste and cut to move files in explorer. It is even easier to exit a program in windows than in Mac. On the whole PC with windows is more user-friendly than Mac system.

Why is Google called Google?

Have you ever wondered where the famous search engine got its name? Why is Google called Google? It is a big mystery, as the word is not a word at all. Well, not when it was stuck as a household name, and people already consider it as a verb.
According to the founders of Google.com, they were thinking about a good name, something that would relate to arranging and organizing large amounts of data. It was mentioned that one of them said it would be like ‘googolplex’. Googol was a term which referred to 1 followed by 100 zeros, a very large number. They had it shortened to ‘Googol’ instead.
They tried to search it over the domain name registry database and found that it was available for use. However, one of the founders was not that good at spelling, and typed ‘Google’ instead. Since then, they had Google.com registered under Larry Page and Sergey Brin – the domain name registration records show that the domain name was registered on September 15, 1997.

Today, Google has become a part of our everyday lives, as it helps us to search for all our needed information, no matter how important, trivial or weird it may be. It has become such a widely spoken term that even the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary added the term Google in 2006. According to the definition, Google meant to use the Google search engine to obtain information through the internet.
True enough, Google.com has become one of the most valuable brands in the universe, and it still has the most widely used search engines to date. Google.com’s mission is to find a way to organize all the immense information in the web so that it is easily accessible to all the users of the search engine. So, do not be surprised to hear people, especially the computer and internet savvy ones, use the term Google as a verb in everyday language. You might even find yourself using the search engine for all your searching needs, and speaking the term when you talk to other people.

8 Reasons Why Google Chrome is better than Internet Explorer and Firefox

Fellow Snagsta co-founder and developer extraordinaire Paul Stancer has been staying with me this week. I don’t get to see him much as I live in central London whereas Paul lives in a remote cave in one of Hong Kong’s outlying islands.

Here are a list of eight things I like about it and why it could be better than the latest versions of both Internet Explorer and Firefox:

1. More stability

Google implies that Chrome is more stable than existing browsers. A major selling point for me. As their little Google’s comic book puts it, “When you’re writing an important email or editing a document a browser crash is a big deal”.

2. More speed

Google claim that sites will download quicker on Chrome; this appears to have something to do with Chrome’s JavaScript Virtual Machine named V8. Google state that Chrome looks at the JavaScript source code and “generates machine code that can run directly on the CPU that’s running the browser”, this apparently helps speed things up.

Brendan Eich (the founder of Mozilla CTO and JavaScript creator) claims a new Firefox’s new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine outperforms V8 so this particular claim is hard to verify.

3. More secure

I like how they have built Chrome using a sandboxing technique that prevents unwanted software installing itself on your machine and stops what happens on one tab affecting what happens on another.

4. More open

Google have decided to open source the entire browser. This could be of huge benefit to the web community. Yes, I know Google has more money than God so they can afford to do this but they deserve a pat on the back for doing this.

5. More style

Google definitely lacks Apple’s style but what they’ve build here looks really slick. I’m a big fan of the smooth and uncluttered look and feel.

6. A dynamic start page

Chrome have done away with the traditional start page approach used by other browsers to display your 9 most visited pages when you boot it up.

7. More Privacy

Google have included an “Incognito window” in this build. None of your history is saved in the browser when you use this window and when you close it the cookies from that session are wiped out.

8. Better approach to blocking pop ups

Pop ups are confined to stay in the tab they came from unless you want to drag them out in to a new tab. I just tested this out on one of my favourite music sites and it works like a treat.

Mozilla Prism

It looks promising. Offline web apps are becoming more and more popular and Firefox is making a right move towards it. I'll be writing a complete review soon, but for now,

Introducing Prism

Personal computing is currently in a state of transition. While traditionally users have interacted mostly with desktop applications, more and more of them are using web applications. But the latter often fit awkwardly into the document-centric interface of web browsers. And they are surrounded with controls–like back and forward buttons and a location bar–that have nothing to do with interacting with the application itself.

Mozilla Labs is launching a series of experiments to bridge the divide in the user experience between web applications and desktop apps and to explore new usability models as the line between traditional desktop and new web applications continues to blur.

Unlike Adobe AIR and Microsoft Silverlight, we’re not building a proprietary platform to replace the web. We think the web is a powerful and open platform for this sort of innovation, so our goal is to identify and facilitate the development of enhancements that bring the advantages of desktop apps to the web platform.

The first of these experiments is based on Webrunner, which we’ve moved into the Mozilla Labs code repository and renamed to Prism.

Prism


Prism is an application that lets users split web applications out of their browser and run them directly on their desktop.

Prism lets users add their favorite web apps to their desktop environment:


When invoked, these applications run in their own window:

They are accessible with Control-Tab, Command-Tab, and Exposé, just like desktop apps. And users can still access these same applications from any web browser when they are away from their own computers.

The Best of Both Worlds

Prism isn’t a new platform, it’s simply the web platform integrated into the desktop experience. Web developers don’t have to target it separately, because any application that can run in a modern standards-compliant web browser can run in Prism. Prism is built on Firefox, so it supports rich internet technologies like HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and and runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

And while Prism focuses on how web apps can integrate into the desktop experience, we’re also working to increase the capabilities of those apps by adding functionality to the Web itself, such as providing support for offline data storage and access to 3D graphics hardware.


The User Experience

We’re also thinking about how to better integrate Prism with Firefox, enabling one-click “make this a desktop app” functionality that preserves a user’s preferences, saved passwords, cookies, add-ons, and customizations. Ideally you shouldn’t even have to download Prism, it should just be built into your browser.

We’re working on an extension for Firefox that provides some of this functionality. For more information about the user experience we hope to achieve in Prism, see Alex Faaborg’s blog post. For some of the technical details and new features found in Prism, see Mark Finkle’s blog post.

Getting Started with Prism

We have an early prototype for this working today on Windows, with work continuing on Mac and Linux (for which we should have builds available soon).

To try out the prototype, download and install it: Download Prism for Windows.

Then start Prism. It will display an Install Web Application dialog.


How to Get Involved

Prism is just the first of many experiments we hope to conduct around improving the usability of web applications. It’s open source, like everything we do, and we’re interested in hearing from and working with anyone interested in further developing this concept.

Top 5 reasons why Safari on Windows is a failure

Disclaimer: Even on my MacBook I use Firefox rather than Safari because of the wonderful plugins that I need.

I'm using Safari on Windows since the day its announced (and switched back to Firefox today). There are some nice things about Safari (like Find) but I don't like the product as a whole. Here are top 5 reasons why Safari is not going to succeed:

5) Safari installs unwanted apps: The installer of Safari tries to install other unwanted software. (No. I definitely don't want Bonjour)

4) Safari doesn't import your settings from IE/Firefox: When I install Firefox, I remember Firefox giving me options to import my settings from IE. So that I don't have to loose any bookmarks. Safari doesn't do that. So I've to recreate althe bookmarks.

3) Safari is NOT a fast browser: I don't know about the benchmark results. But the applications I use like Gmail, Google Reader takes more time to load than Firefox/IE. Googling around I found the real reason. More over, its neither a sleek browser. Even for the modest number of websites, the memory usage shoots up.

2) Safari is not a native Windows application: At least it doesn't looks/behaves like one. For example, its Edit > Preferences not Tools > Options, you can resize only from bottom right corner, ...

1) Safari's font rendering is pathetic: Perhaps besides the other reasons like Security/websites compatibility, if there is a single big reason a user is going to dump Safari on Windows, it could the font rendering. There are reasons why Apple selected this rendering. Honestly I don't give a shit about that. To me it should be easily readable in my screen and its not so.

I was wondering why the hell did Apple enters a game which it can't win? The reason is simple. Steve decided to close iPhone to third party applications and the only way to write apps is Web 2.0 and Safari is the only browser in iPhone. No Firefox/IE/Opera. So why should a developer write web apps for a browser that has a single digit market share? The only way to increase the market share is to let Safari go out of Mac and explore the windows arena. Is it going to work? Who knows? It might!!! Look at what people said when iPod was released.

Related Links:
Safari for Windows announced
Gmail extension for Firefox
Top 10 Firefox extensions I use

Posted in Labels: Apple, Firefox, Mac, Safari, Windows |

Browser Wars !

Meanwhile, Microsoft has said that an internal build of IE 8 now passes the Acid Test. Wow! Thats an achievement. I think its the second browser after Opera to pass the test. While IE 8 is expected to be released in an year or so, Firefox 3 is close to release. Its already in Beta 2 and it rocks!

Its based on Gecko 1.9, pages now loads really fast, UI is cool, Proto theme blends well with Mac and so on. If you ask for my favourite feature, it is the auto complete feature in the location bar. No longer you have to type from the beginning. Type any character in the URL/page name you want, Firefox shows all the results. See the screen shot:


In another related news, Mozilla Prism isn't exciting as I thought earlier. Its just creates a short cut and nothing else. I thought some nice integration such as Application Menus are on the way, but nothing of that sort. If all I want is a short cut on the desktop, I don't need an application, all I need is the upcoming version of Google Gears!

Web Hosting

What is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is a service which allocates space for customers to showcase their websites on computer servers that are connected to the Internet 24/7.

Servers are powerful computers that have extremely large hard drives, or an array of hard drives. Space is then rented to those who want a "website presence" on the Internet.

Every server on the Internet has a unique numerical IP (Internet Protocol) address. You can think of servers as apartment buildings with unique addresses. Each apartment unit within each building is equivocal to space rented out for individual websites. And like real apartment buildings, each unit also has an address based on "the building" in which it is located.

When you rent a space on a server then, you're setting up house on the Internet. You can be reached by a unique address (the website address), which is based on the server's address.

There are many different types of web hosting. Most packages come with certain capabilities for users. Examples are scripts that allow interactive functions, forms, bulletin boards, guest books, etc. For professional purposes there are also Web hosting services that offer commercial packages that bundle business tools, like point of sales packages and credit card processing.

Prices for Web hosting vary from free to hundreds of dollars a year, depending on your needs. Web hosting for personal websites that don't require any special tools and have low traffic (not a high number of viewings) can be found easily for free.

Free Web hosting is convenient but has its drawbacks. Usually it will be required that you allow the server to run advertisements on your website. The advertisements are normally banner ads -- a banner at the top of the page for example -- and sometimes pop-up ads as well. Most free hosting services offer an alternative pay-plan to have the advertisements removed.

Another consideration is that free services normally allocate your website address as an extension of the server's address. For example: www.thewebhost.com/yourwebsite. If you want an address like: www.yourwebsite.com, you will have to pay to register your own domain name.

There are other considerations when looking for a Web host aside from price. Some hosting services have policies that restrict certain content, scripting languages, functions or uses. You should also read the privacy policy of any hosting service that you are considering, to see how they will use the personal information you provide to them in setting up your account.

Once your site is ready to be put online, you’ll need to choose one of the many web hosting companies that will store your website files and serve your pages to your visitors. Some hosting companies will offer webspace, domain names, visitor statistics and more — but there’s a lot to choose from. In this section we compare hundreds of hosting options so that you can choose the best one for you.

Know what you need

There are many, many companies offering web hosting, and it can be difficult to compare them all without doing a lot of comparison shopping. The first step to making a good decision on this is to know exactly what your site is going to need.

Your hosting needs will depend on what type of site you’re building. If you’re hosting a personal site you can probably get away with cheap or even free hosting. If you expect a lot of traffic to your site, you should look at hosts that offer plenty of bandwidth.

Compare Hosting Plans

The History of HTML

HTML is an evolving language. It doesn’t stay the same for long before a revised set of standards and specifications are brought in to allow easier creation of prettier and more efficient sites. Let’s start at the beginning...

HTML 1.0

HTML 1.0 was the first release of HTML to the world. Not many people were involved in website creation at the time, and the language was very limiting. There really wasn’t much you could do with it bar getting some simple text onto the web. But then, just that got the beardos a-foamin’ back in the day.

HTML 2.0

HTML 2.0 included everything from the original 1.0 specifications but added a few new features to the mix. » HTML 2.0 was the standard for website design until January 1997 and defined many core HTML features for the first time.

HTML 3.0

More and more people were getting into the HTML game around now, and while the previous standards offered some decent abilities to webmasters (as they became known), they thirsted for more abilities and tags. They wanted to enhance the look of their sites.

This is where trouble started. A company called Netscape was the clear leader in the browser market at the time, with a browser called Netscape Navigator. To appease the cries of the HTML authors, they introduced new proprietary tags and attributes into their Netscape Navigator browser. These new abilities were called Netscape extension tags. This caused big problems as other browsers tried to replicate the effects of these tags so as not to be left behind but could not get their browsers to display things the same way. This meant that if you designed a page with Netscape ETs, the page would look bad in other browsers. This caused confusion and irritation for the markup pioneers.


At this time, a HTML working group, led by a man named » Dave Raggett introduced a new HTML draft, HTML 3.0. It included many new and improved abilities for HTML, and promised far more powerful opportunities for webmasters to design their pages. Sadly, the browsers were awfully slow in implementing any of the new improvements, only adding in a few and leaving out the rest. Partly, this failure can be attributed to the size of the overhaul; and so the HTML 3.0 spec was abandoned.

Thankfully, the people in charge noted this and so future improvements were always designed to be modular. This meant they could be added in stages, which makes it easier on the browser companies.

HTML 3.2

The browser-specific tags kept coming, and it became increasingly apparent that a standard needed to be found. To this end, the » World Wide Web Consortium (abbreviated to the W3C) was founded in 1994 to standardise the language and keep it evolving in the right direction. Their first work was code-named WILBUR, and later became known as » HTML 3.2. This was a toned-down change to the existing standards, leaving many of the big steps forward for later versions. Most of the extensions tags that had been introduced by Netscape (and to a lesser-extent, Microsoft) did not make it into these new standards. It soon caught on and became the official standard in January ’97, and today practically all browsers support it fully.

HTML 4.01

HTML 4.0 was a large evolution of the HTML standards, and the last iteration of classic HTML. Early in development it had the code-name COUGAR. Most of the new functionality brought in this time is from the ill-fated HTML 3.0 spec, as well as a host of trimmings on old tags, a focus on internationalisation, and support for HTML’s new supporting presentational language, cascading stylesheets.

HTML 4.0 was recommended by the W3C in December ’97 and became the official standard in April 1998. Browser support was undertaken surprisingly earnestly by Microsoft in their Internet Explorer browser, and the market-leading IE5 (and current successor IE6) have excellent support for almost all of the new tags and attributes. In comparison, Netscape’s terribly flawed Navigator 4.7 was inept when it came to HTML 4.0 and even basic CSS. Modern browsers however, are a vast improvement.

Once HTML 4.0 had been out for a little while, the documentation was revised and corrected in a few minor ways and was entitled HTML 4.01; the final version of the specification.

Head on over to the W3C site for the » official documentation; and to read more about the new tags, attributes and redundancies brought about by this new standard, read our article, HTML 4 Explained.

XHTML 1.0

Close to the beginning of the 21st century the W3C issued their » specifications of XHTML 1.0 as a recommendation. Since January 26, 2000 it stands as the joint-standard with HTML 4.01. XHTML marks a departure from the way new specs have worked — it is an entirely new branch of HTML, incorporating the rigours of » XML, so that code must be properly written if it is to work once it reaches the reader’s browser. There weren’t many new or deprecated tags and attributes in XHTML, but some things changed with a view of increased accessibility and functionality. It’s mainly just a new set of coding rules. Read all about it properly in XHTML Explained.

HTML5

After HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0, the guys who were in control of HTML’s direction got sidetracked working on a new proposal for XHTML 2. At the same time, clever web developers were innovating constantly, hacking new functionality into websites and browsers. The path that XHTML 2 was taking started to look both boring and unrealistic, and it became pretty clear that a new approach was needed.

It was around this time that a bunch of pragmatic web technology fans, browser programmers and specification writers started building something of their own, outside of the usual W3C procedures. They called themselves the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG), and developed a new spec. After some soul-searching, the W3C decided that HTML was still the future of the web. XHTML 2 was discontinued and HTML5 became the new specification that everyone’s effort should be poured into.

HTML5 is designed for the web, both now and in the future. This is the specification that we will be working with for the next decade at least, so the process of its development is relatively slow and considered. Many parts will be familiar, but there’s also plenty of new elements, attributes and abilities to get excited about. You can check the latest version of the spec if you want all the detail. A full tutorial on HTML Source about the changes in HTML5 is forthcoming.

Throughout HTML Source I will be teaching using the HTML 4.01 standard. The percentage of people using recently released browsers is high enough now for it to be safe to design sites using new HTML 4.01 elements and stylesheets. I’ll make sure that those who won’t see the optimum version of your site will still be able to use it, and wherever a relatively new piece of code is taught in a tutorial I will always make reference to that in a browser compatibility box.

What is HTML?

HTML is a language for describing web pages.

HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language
HTML is not a programming language, it is a markup language
A markup language is a set of markup tags
HTML uses markup tags to describe web pages

HTML is a computer language devised to allow website creation. These websites can then be viewed by anyone else connected to the Internet. It is relatively easy to learn, with the basics being accessible to most people in one sitting; and quite powerful in what it allows you to create.

The definition of HTML is HyperText Markup Language.

HyperText is the method by which you move around on the web — by clicking on special text called hyperlinks which bring you to the next page. The fact that it is hyper just means it is not linear — i.e. you can go to any place on the Internet whenever you want by clicking on links — there is no set order to do things in.
Markup is what HTML tags do to the text inside them. They mark it as a certain type of text (italicised text, for example).
HTML is a Language, as it has code-words and syntax like any other language.

How does it work?

HTML consists of a series of short codes typed into a text-file by the site author — these are the tags. The text is then saved as a html file, and viewed through a browser, like Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. This browser reads the file and translates the text into a visible form, hopefully rendering the page as the author had intended. Writing your own HTML entails using tags correctly to create your vision. You can use anything from a rudimentary text-editor to a powerful graphical editor to create HTML pages.

What are the tags up to?

The tags are what separate normal text from HTML code. You might know them as the words between the . They allow all the cool stuff like images and tables and stuff, just by telling your browser what to render on the page. Different tags will perform different functions. The tags themselves don’t appear when you view your page through a browser, but their effects do. The simplest tags do nothing more than apply formatting to some text, like this:

These words will be bold, and these will not.

Is this going to take long?

Well, it depends on what you want from it. Knowing HTML will take only a few days of reading and learning the codes for what you want. You can have the basics down in an hour. Once you know the tags you can create HTML pages.

However, using HTML and designing good websites is a different story, which is why I try to do more than just teach you code here at HTML Source — I like to add in as much advice as possible too. Good website design is half skill and half talent, I reckon. Learning techniques and correct use of your tag knowledge will improve your work immensely, and a good understanding of general design and the audience you’re trying to reach will improve your website’s chances of success. Luckily, these things can be researched and understood, as long as you’re willing to work at it so you can output better websites.

The range of skills you will learn as a result of running your own website is impressive. You’ll learn about aspects of graphic design, typography and computer programming. Your efficiency with computers in general increases.You’ll also learn about promotion and your writing will probably improve too, as you adapt to write for certain audiences.

Do I have to be online all the time?

Not at all. You can code your entire website offline, storing it all on your own computer, and then just transfer all the files onto the web. Then whenever you have new content, you just add that to the existing online version of your site. It’s really quite simple.

Is there anything HTML can’t do?

Of course, but since making websites became more popular and needs increased many other supporting languages have been created to allow new stuff to happen, plus HTML is modified every few years to make way for improvements.

Cascading Stylesheets are used to control how your pages are presented, and make pages more accessible. Basic special effects and interaction is provided by JavaScript, which adds a lot of power to basic HTML. Most of this advanced stuff is for later down the road, but when using all of these technologies together, you have a lot of power at your disposal.

Security :Passwording Guest Account

This method is somewhat simpler in that you do not have to mess around with CMD.exe.

1. Make sure you are logged on as an Administrator.
2. Go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management.
3. Select the "Users" folder under "Local Users and Groups".
4. Right click on the "Guest" account and click "Set Password". When a dialog comes up warning you of the possible consequences click "Proceed". You will then be given a dialog that lets you set a new password.

I have always considered security a top priority and considering the ease of doing this I would highly recommend that everyone sets a Guest account password. Even though the Guest account is disabled by default, why not do this just for the extra bit of security?

Local Users and Groups is not available in XP Home. A way to set a password for the guest account in Home and Pro: click start - run - type: cmd - in the command window type: net user guest * - hit Enter - you will be prompted for the password to use.

Security : Administrator Account Password in XP Home

In XP Home Edition the admin account is only accessible from SafeMode. This accounts password is by default BLANK....yeah thats correct there is no password. Gee...PATHETIC.

To ensure a more secure system.

1. Turn off your computer.
2.Power on and hit F8 just after the BIOS check is complete. Select Safe Mode from the List. Its around the top of the list.
3.On the next page press ENTER.
4.Work you way to the Desktop. Goto Control panel...by:
*Clicking on Start\settings\ControlPanel
5.Double Click on Users Accounts
6.Select the Administrators Account from the list.
7.Apply a password.

Then restart the system.

Security : Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete to Log In

I have not tested this with any version of Windows XP besides XP Pro. It might work in Home Edition or other versions.

If you do this, then you will get the "Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete to begin" box when you turn on your computer, before it asks for your username and password. It also asks for you to press Ctrl-Alt-Del before you can unlock your computer if you lock it. This is done by default in Windows 2000 Server or Windows Server 2003.

To enable the Ctrl-Alt-Delete boxes, open Regedit and go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

Create a new DWORD value and name it "DisableCAD"

The value should be set to "0"

That's it! Now you can log off to see the change.

(You need to disable the Welcome screen to get this)

Windows XP Installing or Upgrading

Preparing

The first thing you need to do is to check your systems specifications to see if they meet the minimum requirements to run Windows XP. According to Microsoft, these are the minimum specifications:

PC with 233MHz processor clock speed required; Intel Pentium/Celeron family, AMD K6/Athlon/Duron family, or compatible processor recommended
64MB RAM minimum supported (may limit performance and some features)
1.5GB of available hard disk space
Super VGA (800 × 600) resolution video adapter and monitor
CD-ROM or DVD drive
Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

Now you should be safe if you have at least a 300MHz Pentium II processor (or compatible), and your RAM should really be 128MB minimum. And a 4 GB Hard Disk, As Windows XP Takes around 1 GB of Space after installation

Backup your files
If you're upgrading, you should back up your current files. You can back up files to a disk, a tape drive, or another computer on your network.
Don't forget to back up your e-mail messages and address book.
It might also be advisable to record your Network settings

Upgrade vs. Clean Install
During the setup process, you must choose between upgrading or installing a new copy of Windows ("clean install").

During an upgrade, the Windows XP Setup Wizard replaces existing Windows files but preserves your existing settings and applications. Some applications might not be compatible with Windows XP Professional and therefore might not function properly after an upgrade. You can upgrade to Windows XP Home Edition or Windows XP Professional from the following operating systems:

Windows 98
Windows 98 Second Edition
Windows Millennium Edition

You can upgrade to Windows XP Professional only, from the following operating systems:

Windows NT 4.0 Workstation (Service Pack 6 and later)
Windows 2000 Professional (including service packs)
Windows XP Home Edition

If your computer is currently running an unsupported operating system, you can't do an upgrade. The wizard installs Windows XP in a new folder. After the installation is complete, you will have to reinstall applications and reset your preferences.

If you have the time & spirit, I recommend you choose to do a "clean install". The advantage is that this will get rid of a lot of duplicate files, and left over files from software which didn't get deleted when you uninstalled the software.

If you choose to do this, you need to make sure that you have all the disks and installation codes, or the downloaded files for your software, as you will have to reinstall all your applications.

FDISK & Format

You don't have to worry about running FDISK (to partition your hard drive) or format, both can be done during the installation process.

Uninstall

This is important to know. Windows XP includes an uninstall capability, but only when upgraded from Windows 98 and Windows Me. But you have to remember that you cannot change the file format (convert to NTFS), or you will lose the ability to uninstall.

If sufficient disk space is available, Windows XP will automatically save your previous OS files. Should you wish to go back to your previous OS, it is advisable to do it sooner rather than later. The more time that passes, the greater the chances that you may encounter certain "issues" (in other words: you could run into problems!).

Dual Boot

If you want to set up a dual boot with your existing OS, you will need a separate volume (a separate partition on the same physical hard drive), or a separate hard drive.

The only thing to remember is that the oldest OS should be installed first, but this would usually be the case. When you install Windows XP, it will detect the existing OS, and because in this case you will not select to upgrade your existing OS, Windows XP will make a boot menu, where you will be able to choose which OS you want to boot to.

Now installing Windows 9x and Me after installing Windows XP should be safe, as long as you install it to a separate volume. Windows 9x / Me do not use the same system files on the boot drive. In fact, you will notice that they will be added automatically to the Windows XP boot menu. I discovered this when I installed Windows 98 in the boot partition of Windows XP. XP itself was installed on drive E, but the boot files were on drive C. The OS you installed last will be the default choice when booting. The easiest way to change this is to boot into Windows XP, select System in the Control Panel, select the Advanced tab and press the Settings button under Startup and Recovery. Now you can change the Default operating system.

I haven't tried, but I would imagine you might have additional problems when you install Windows 2000 or a version of Windows NT after installing XP. This is because these OS'ses use some of the same boot files.

To be able to use dual boot with Windows 9x and Windows Me, you will need to have your boot volume (usually C:\) file system as FAT or FAT32. So do not convert your boot volume to NTFS during or after the Windows XP install!

Windows 2000 (and Windows NT 4.0 with service pack 4 or higher) can use NTFS, so it doesn't matter if the boot volume is in NTFS file format or not.

Home Edition vs. Professional

There should also be a Professional Step-Up version available, it was announced by Microsoft after Windows XP was released to manufacturing. This step-up upgrade is the same as the Professional (upgrade) version, the only difference is that it can only be used to upgrade Windows XP Home Edition. It should sell for roughly $125, that's a $75 saving over the regular Professional upgrade price.


Windows Update Advisor

Next I would suggest that you run the Windows Update Advisor. This advisor is available for Download from Microsoft, but you have to realize that it's a large download at nearly 32MB, so it might not be advisable to download if you don't have broadband (DSL, Cable) Internet access.

If you have access to a Windows XP CD-ROM, running setup.exe will give you a menu, one of the choices being offered is Check system compatibility. Choosing this option will give you another two options, the first is Check my system automatically, the second options is to Visit the compatibility Web site. Choosing Check my system automatically will do just that, and give you a report when the process is done. For more information on the Windows Update Advisor, see this post in the Windows XP forum of our Support BBS.

The report generated will tell you if your system (hardware & software) is suitable for Windows XP. You'll get a list of any programs which may cause problems. Just follow the advice from the Upgrade Advisor.

Hardware Compatibility List

This is the place to check and see if a piece of hardware has been (positively) tested with Windows XP. The Hardware Compatibility List is available on line [1.7MB]. If your hardware is not listed there, it doesn't mean that it won't run, but there is a chance that you could run into some problems. In that case, check with the manufacturer of the hardware for a Windows XP driver. If a Windows XP driver isn't available, you can use a Windows 2000 driver. Windows XP will throw some warnings at you that you are about to install a driver which is not verified for Windows XP (well, we already knew that!); just select Install anyway.


Upgrade your BIOS

You should also check with the manufacturer of your system's motherboard for the latest BIOS version, and if a newer version exists, update your BIOS. For more information on updating your BIOS check the manual of your computer/motherboard.

Get the latest drivers

Make sure you have the latest drivers for your hardware by visiting the manufacturers' Web sites. This applies specifically to Network Adapters, Modems, and Hard Drive Controllers.

File System

If you choose to dual boot, you may be limited to the choice of file system (either FAT or FAT32). Only when dual booting with Windows 2000 will you be able to choose NTFS.

If at all possible, choose NTFS as your file system. It will offer you increased security & reliability. If you want to read more on the advantages of NTFS, read my article on the Windows 2000 site: Windows 2000 File System: NTFS. Windows XPs NTFS is a slight improvement over Windows 2000, but the basics are the same (and they are compatible).

You can convert from FAT to NTFS after you have installed Windows XP. Type convert /? in a command prompt for details. But I would strongly advise you not to do this. The reason is that by converting you will end up with a cluster size of 512 bytes, which will increases the likelihood of fragmentation, and on large volumes, will cause the Disk Defragmenter to take a significant amount of time to defragment. So, all in all, you are better off in formatting a drive using NTFS in the first place.

Clean Install Using Upgrade CD?

One of the most frequently asked questions is whether it is possible to do a clean install using an upgrade version. The answer is yes. At some point during setup, Windows XP will ask you to insert your qualifying media, to ensure that you are eligible for the upgrade. The media must be a retail Windows 98, 98 Second Edition, Millennium Edition, NT 4.0, or 2000 CD-ROM, be it an Upgrade or Full version. You cannot, however, use a rescue CD that you got from a PC maker.

Running Setup

There are a few ways to invoke setup. The easiest way is to load the Windows XP CD-ROM in your CD-ROM drive, and reboot your computer. Your BIOS needs to support booting from the CD-ROM, but most computers have had this support for the past 2-4 years. It might be necessary to enable this in your BIOS. Consult your computer/motherboard manual about this.

If your computer doesn't support booting from the CD-ROM drive, you will either have to boot from your previous OS, or from a bootable floppy drive.

If you boot from your previous OS, the Windows XP setup will start as soon as you pop the CD in your drive. If you boot from a floppy (remember, you need to have support for your CD-ROM and the Windows 98 start disk includes this), you will have to change to the CD-ROM drive, and then you will have to run winnt.exe from the I386 directory.

Dynamic Update

Windows XP setup includes a new Dynamic Update. This enables the setup program to connect to the Microsoft Web site, to check for the latest updates before setup starts. This should guarantee that you have the most up-to-date files when you start the upgrade process.

This does not include all available Windows Update downloads, just setup fixes.

Dynamic Update can only run when you have an Internet connection available during setup (upgrade only).

Administrator Password

Near the end of the setup routine, you will be asked to input an administrator password. This is important. Make sure you remember it, or make a note of it (but keep it in a safe place). The Administrator account on Windows XP is the most powerful account which lets you control the total system.

When doing an upgrade from Windows 9x, you will be asked to supply usernames for people using the computer

This is a completely new concept for Windows 9x users to come to terms with. To learn more about it, use the Learn About link on the User Accounts applet in Control Panel, or search for User Accounts in Help.

Windows Welcome

The first time Windows XP boots, you will be presented with a Welcome Screen. This is also known as "Out of Box Experience" (OOBE). It is important to note that you will not see the OOBE screen if your display resolution is less than 800x600. You also won't see this if you join a domain.

You will be guided through some simple tasks, such as connecting to the Internet, registering your OS with Microsoft (optional), Activate Windows XP, create user accounts, and so on. At this stage, Windows XP is ready for use.

Post Installation Tasks

There are a few things you should do first when you have XP up-and-running. The first is to see if your installed software (in an upgrade situation) works. If you are having problems with a piece of software, first attempt to uninstall it, and then reinstall using the original setup disks. You should also check the Web site of the software vendor to see if there is any support information posted about known issues with Windows XP, and check for any updates to the software. If you still have problems, access Windows XP Help and Support, and select the Fixing a problem link under Pick a Help Topic. There you will find help in solving application and software problems.

Next up is checking your hardware. For this, you need to open Device Manager (Select Start, right-click on My Computer and choose Properties from the menu. Select the Hardware tab, and click the Device Manager button. Check that all of your hardware was detected and is working. If there are any problems, you'll see a next to the device name. First, right-click the device, and choose Update Driver, this will launch the Hardware Update Wizard.

Ensure that the Windows XP CD-ROM is in the CD-ROM drive, and click Install the software automatically (Recommended). If this doesn't work, visit the Web site for the hardware and see if there is an updated Windows XP-compatible driver. If there isn't, you could also try installing a Windows 2000 driver. You will get a warning that the driver you are about to install has not passed Windows Logo testing to verify its Windows XP compatibility, select Continue Anyway. I had to do this for my old ATI Rage Pro Turbo drivers, as the Windows XP driver wouldn't let me use my dual displays. It works fine with the Windows 2000 driver though!

Next visit the Windows Update Web site. You'll find a link to Windows Update on the All Programs menu, which you can access from All Programs at the bottom of the new Start Menu. Once the Windows Update site has loaded, you need to press the Scan for updates link near the center of the page. It is expected that a number of updates will be listed on the Windows Update Web site shortly after the October 25th launch of Windows XP.

Defrag your system drive. All this installing of software has probably fragmented your drive substantially. Disk Defragmenter can be accessed via Start > All Programs > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools

On the last page of this installation guide we list some Microsoft Knowledge Base articles dealing with setup issues in Windows XP. You should have XP up-and-running by this time, so it's time to check out some customizing options

Printer maintenance tips and guide

Keep the print heads clean

It is important you keep the printer heads clean. This stops ink clogging the nozzles of the printer, and reduces ink smudge on the paper. This is important for HP and Lexmark printers, as they don’t always do the best automatic clean in my experience.

To clean the print heads, remove the cartridge, and gently clean the print heads with a soft cotton cloth dipped in a little water. I wouldn’t recommend using tissue or alcohol. I have personally damaged a few printers doing this. Be warned!

Make sure the print heads are dry and then replace the cartridge. By doing this you will expand your printer life and the quality of the printouts.

Prevent the printer from drying up ink by using it

I remember taking support calls around a year ago. People would say I haven’t used the printer for over a year, and the quality isn’t what I expected.

If you use your printer regular this will prevent ink drying up and keep the printer and ink in good condition. Use both Colour and black and white prints weekly to stop the nozzles on your printer getting clogged up, or the ink to simply dry up.

Be careful with printer jams

Don’t ram the paper out if you have a paper jam. This can damage the printer, which I have seen done many times. Look at guides on the manufactures site, if you don’t have time to do that, remember that you want to get the paper out smoothly. Most HP Printers have a hatch attached at the back that can be removed. You will then have access to the paper wheels, and you should be able to see the paper that is jammed in there. Remove the paper this way, and it is unlikely that you will damage the printer.

Power down correctly

Turn your printer off when not in use. This can prevent drying of ink and also help keep the printer functioning at high quality. Remember to use the printers power button, and them remove at the plug if need be. Don’t power off if you are in the middle of something. These will just cause problems for you.

Clean your printer but don’t over do it

IF you perform print ink clean by software or your printer’s hardware, do it once and not over and over. Doing this over and over can cause more damage than good. Clean your printer’s encoder strip monthly to stop quality issues at a later date. Remember if you have low ink to replace immediately. This prevents ink being left in the printer heads and nozzles, and will generally give your printer more life.

Windows XP Media Center

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 is an operating system that enables you to enjoy the best in home entertainment, personal productivity, and creativity on your home PC in an easy, complete, and connected way. With Media Center Edition 2005, you can store, share, and enjoy all of your photos, all of your music, all of your home video, and even recorded TV in one sleek and easy to use place.

Computers powered by Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 are called Media Center PCs. They are complete Windows XP-based PCs enhanced for home entertainment. These computers represent the evolution of home PCs into digital media hubs that bring together your entertainment choices and allow you to access them with one remote control.

Media Center PCs are complete entertainment PCs because they include:

• Mid- to high-end processors

• Adequate memory for most computing and entertainment needs

• High-capacity hard disks

• CD-ROM/DVD drives1

• Advanced graphics and audio capabilities

• Networking connectivity


Each new Media Center PC may include the following components to enhance your entertainment experience:

• A Media Center compatible remote control that keeps all of the entertainment on your computer within easy reach and complements the keyboard and mouse.

• A remote infrared (IR) sensor that enables the remote control to communicate with the computer and also controls your cable or satellite set-top box.

• An advanced graphics card for displaying the best TV experience on your computer monitor.

• A TV tuner1 that captures your television signal from a cable, satellite, or antenna source.

• A hardware encoder that enables you to record TV shows from cable, satellite, or antenna to your computer's hard disk.

• A TV output that allows you to display Media Center content on a television connected to your computer.

• A digital audio output that allows you to integrate digital audio from your computer into an existing home entertainment system.

Windows XP Media Center: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/default.mspx

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Demo: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/evaluation/tours/default.mspx

Top Computer Threats

1. Number of password-stealing Web sites will increase using fake sign-in pages for popular online services

More attacks that attempt to capture a user's ID and password by displaying a fake sign-in page, and increased targetting of popular online services will become more evident in 2007. As evidenced by the phishing attacks that followed natural calamities last year, McAfee Avert Labs also expects more attacks that take advantage of people's willingness to help others in need.

In contrast, the number of attacks on ISPs are expected to decline, while those aimed at the financial sector will remain steady.

2. Volume of spam, particularly bandwidth-eating image spam, will rise

In November 2006, image spam accounted for up to 40 per cent of the total spam received, compared to less than 10 per cent a year ago. Image spam has been significantly increasing for the last few months and various kinds of spam, typically pump-and-dump stocks, pharmacy and degree spam, are now sent as images rather than text.

Image spam is typically three times the size of text-based spam, so this represents a significant increase in the bandwidth used by spam messages.

3. Popularity of video sharing on the Web makes it inevitable that hackers will target MPEG files

The increasing use of video formats on social networking sites such as MySpace, YouTube and VideoCodeZone will attract malware writers seeking to damage a network. Unlike situations involving email attachments, most users will open media files without hesitation. Furthermore, as video is an easy-to-use format, functionality such as padding, pop-up ads and URL redirects become ideal tools of destruction for malware writers.

The W32/Realor worm, discovered in early November 2006 by McAfee, is a recent incident of media malware. The worm could launch malicious Web sites without user prompting, potentially exposing users to bots or password-stealers loaded onto these sites. Other media malware such as Exploit-WinAmpPLS could silently install spyware with very little user interaction.

4. Mobile phone attacks will become more prevalent as mobile devices become smarter

Mobile threats will continue to grow as platform convergence continues. The use of smartphone technology has played a pivotal role in the threat's transition from multifunction, semi-stationary PCs to palm-sized 'wearable' devices. With increased connectivity through BlueTooth, SMS, instant messaging, email, WiFi, USB, audio, video and Web, there are more possibilities for cross device contamination.

2006 saw efforts by mobile malware authors to achieve PC-to-phone and phone-to-PC infection vectors. SMiShing, which involves taking the techniques of phishing by email and porting them to SMS (SMiShing instead of phishing), is also expected to increase in prevalence.

In addition, for-profit mobile malware is expected to increase in 2007. Late 2006 saw a flurry of spy-ware offerings in the mobile world. Most are designed to monitor phone-numbers and SMS call-logs, or to steal SMS messages by forwarding copies to another phone.

One spyware in particular, SymbOS/Flexispy.B, is able to remotely activate the microphone of the victim's device, allowing someone to eavesdrop upon that person. Other spyware can activate the camera. McAfee expects that the offerings of commercial spyware targeting mobile devices to grow in 2007.

5. Adware will go mainstream

In 2006, McAfee saw an increase in commercial Potentially Unwanted Programmes (PUPs), and an even larger increase in related types of malicious Trojans, particularly keyloggers, password-stealers, bots and backdoors. In addition, misuse of commercial software by malware with remotely controlled deployment of adware, keyloggers and remote control software is on the rise.

However, despite the social, legal and technical challenges, there is so much commercial interest in advertising revenue models that McAfee expects to see more legitimate companies using or attempting to use advertising software in ways (hopefully) less objectionable to consumers than most current adware.

6. Identity theft and data loss will continue to be a public issue

According to the US Federal Trade Commission, about 10 million Americans are victims of identity fraud each year. At the root of these crimes is often computer theft, loss of backups or compromised information systems. While McAfee expects the number of victims to remain relatively stable, company disclosures of lost or stolen data, increasing incidents of cyberthefts and hacking into retailer, processor and ATM systems and reports of stolen laptops that contain confidential data will continue to keep this topic of public concern.

McAfee also predicts the unauthorised transmission of information will become more of a risk for enterprises in the area of data loss and noncompliance. This includes loss of customer data, employee personal information and intellectual property from possible data leakage channels -- applications, networks, and even physical channels, like USB devices, printers, fax and removable storage.

7. The use of bots will increase as a tool favoured by hackers

Bots -- computer programmes that perform automated tasks -- are on the rise, but will move away from Internet Relay Chat (IRC)-based communication mechanisms and towards less obtrusive ones. In the last few years, there has been increasing interest within the virus-writing community in IRC threats. This was due to the power afforded by the IRC scripting language and the ease of coordinating infected machines from a chat-room type of structure.

'Mules' will also continue to be an important aspect in bot-related money making schemes. These are work-at-home type jobs which are offered through very professional-looking Web sites, through classified ads, and even through instant messaging (IM). These are a crucial part of the reason so many bots are able to be run from places around the globe. In order to get merchandise (often to resell) or cash with stolen credit card credentials, the thieves have to go through more strict regulations if the goods are going to another country. To get around these regulations, they use mules within those originating countries.

8. Parasitic malware, or viruses that modify existing files on a disk, will make a comeback

Even through parasitic malware accounts for less than 10 per cent of all malware (90 per cent of malware is static), it seems to be making a come back.

Parasitic infectors are viruses that modify existing files on a disk, injecting code into the file where it resides. When the user runs the infected file, the virus runs too. W32/Bacalid, W32/Polip and W32Detnat are three popular polymorphic parasitic file infectors identified in 2006 that have stealth capabilities and attempt to download Trojans from compromised Web sites.

Also important to note is that 80 per cent of all malware is packed, encrypted, or obfuscated, in some attempt to disguise its malicious purpose. Examples of parasitic infectors that are obfuscated include w32/Bacalid and w32/Polip.

9. The number of rootkits on 32-bit platforms will increase

Rootkits will increase on 32-bit platforms -- but protection and remediation capabilities will increase as well. On 64-bit platforms, particularly Vista, malware trends are difficult to predict pending uptake rates for the 64-bit platform, but in general McAfee expects:

A reduction in kernel-mode rootkits, at least in the short-term, while malware authors invent new techniques designed to subvert PatchGuard.

An increase in user-mode rootkits, and user-mode malware in general, or at least higher impact of 64-bit malware, as more advanced heuristic and behavioral techniques provided by most advanced security software is itself hindered by PatchGuard. This state will persist at least until Vista service pack 1, when new APIs are introduced by Microsoft, and likely longer, depending on the amount of re-engineering required by security vendors and the uptake rate of SP1.

10. Vulnerabilities will continue to cause concern fueled by the underground market for vulnerabilities

The number of disclosed vulnerabilities is expected to rise in 2007. Thus far in 2006, Microsoft has announced 140 vulnerabilities through its monthly patch programme. McAfee expects this number to grow due to the increased use of fuzzers, which allow for large scale testing of applications, and due to the bounty programme that rewards researchers for finding vulnerabilities. This year, Microsoft has already patched more critical vulnerabilities than in 2004 and 2005 combined. By September 2006, the combined 2004 and 2005 total of 62 critical vulnerabilities had already been surpassed.

How to Reinstall Windows Movie Maker

NOTE: You must be logged on as Administrator or as a member of the Administrators group in order to perform this procedure.

Click Start , click Run , and then type the following command:
%systemroot%\inf

NOTE : There are no spaces at all in the preceding command line.

Click OK to open the INF folder.
Locate the file moviemk.inf
Right-click the file, and then click Install . This will reinstall the files that Search needs to proceed normally.

You will be asked to place your windows XP cd rom in the drive.

Get the Classic Media Player Back

XP still has the version of media player installed but they hid it. To get it back follow the directions below :

1. Click on the Start button and select Run.
2. Type "mplayer2" and click OK. Now you have the original Media Player loaded.

If you want to make this the default media player follow the directions below:

1. When the classic Windows Media Player is running, click on the view menubar and select options.
2. Then click on the format tab and choose which formats you would like it to open by checking the box.
3. Click OK, now all of the formats you selected will open with the classic Windows Media Player.

Keep Dial Up Connection after Logging off

Simply add this string to your registry, and your computer will keep your connection after you log off, and switch user until you disconnect it

Standard Warning: You really should back up your system before making any changes to your registry

1. Open Registry Editor


2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon.

3. Click Add String Value within the Edit menu.

4. Type KeepRasConnections in the dialog box, and select REG_SZ as the
Data Type.

5. Click OK.

6. In the next dialog box, type 1 and click OK.

7. Close the Registry Editor.

Cant connect to computers in your network

1. Click start button

2. Click "My Network Places"

3. Right-click and click on "Properties"

4. Right-click on "Local Area Connection" and click on "Properties"

5. click on the "Authentication" tab

6. Uncheck "Enable network access control using IEEE 802.1X"

7. Click "OK"

Hopefully that should fix the problem. If it didn't then you have a different problem. Enjoy!

Difference between Core 2 Extreme and Core 2 Duo

The clock speed (GHz) and an unlocked multiplier are the only difference between both the processors. The Core 2 Duo is downward unlocked.

Core 2 Extreme:
4 MB of shared L2 Cache
1066 MHz front-side bus

Core 2 Extreme Quad:
8 MB of L2 Cache
1333 MHz front-side bus

Core 2 Extreme is made for enthusiasts and people who love to overclock.

The difference between 64 and 32 bit processors

In the future, the battle between 64 bit vs 32 bit processors will inevitably yield the 64 bit processor as the victor, but this transition is going to take some time.

First, I’ll talk about the pure mathematics and structure of the processors that are involved here. I’ll keep this part short and sweet.


A bit is short for “binary digit.” It is basically how a computer stores and makes references to data, memory, etc. A bit can have a value of 1 or 0, that’s it. So binary code is streams of 1’s and 0’s, such as this random sequence 100100100111. These bits are also how your processor does calculations. By using 32 bits your processor can represent numbers from 0 to 4,294,967,295 while a 64-bit machine can represent numbers from 0 to 18,446,744,073,709,551,615. Obviously this means your computer can do math with larger numbers, and be more efficient with smaller numbers.

Now see, that description wasn’t too bad, but the question is how does this affect you, the average PC owner? The largest benefit will go to academic institutions and private companies, where large calculations are being performed, huge databases are being accessed, and complex problems are being solved.

Everyone that doesn’t fall into that category will see some benefit of using 64 bit processors over 32 bit processors, but not much in today’s marketplace. The AMD Athlon 64-bit processor is completely backward compatible, meaning you can currently use it with 32-bit operating systems and software programs. You will see some benefits by using this setup, but because the programs weren’t written to take advantage of the extra power, they won’t use much of it.

The true benefits of this set up don’t come from the amount of bits, but by the improved structure of the 64 bit vs 32 bit processor's older structure. A 64-bit processor is made with more advanced silicon processes, have more transistors, and faster speeds. This is currently where the true benefit of switching to a 64-bit processor lays.

As for 64-bit operating systems and software, many are in the works, but nothing is in final version. Microsoft has released a beta version of Windows XP that takes advantage of the 64 bit technology, but there are still issues. The problem is when you run 32-bit software programs in the environment of a 64-bit operating system. Many programs won’t work properly, such as Adobe Acrobat and Windows Media Player, for example. Another issue is RAM. You really need about 4 GB of RAM to take full advantage of the capabilities offered by a 64-bit processor, while most PC owners have less than 1 GB under their computer’s hood.

So, the question now is should you buy a 64 bit processor now, or wait?

Disadvantages:

You’re currently not able to take full advantage of the technology because the software vendors haven’t made the switch from 32-bit to 64-bit processors.


Most AMD Athlon 64 bit processors are expensive, with prices sure to go down in the future.

Advantages:

Better performance out of a 32-bit operating system.


Probably the last processor you’ll have to buy for many years to come.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Use shortcut keys as an alternative to the mouse when working in Windows. You can open, close, and navigate the Start menu, desktop, menus, dialog boxes, and Web pages using keyboard shortcuts. Keyboard shortcuts may also make it easier for you to interact with your computer.
General keyboard shortcuts

CTRL+C Copy.
CTRL+X Cut.
CTRL+V Paste.
CTRL+Z Undo.
DELETE Delete.
SHIFT+DELETE Delete selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin.
CTRL while dragging an item Copy selected item.
CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item Create shortcut to selected item.
F2 Rename selected item.
CTRL+RIGHT ARROW Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word.
CTRL+LEFT ARROW Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word.
CTRL+DOWN ARROW Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph.
CTRL+UP ARROW Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph.
CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys Highlight a block of text.
SHIFT with any of the arrow keys Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text within a document.
CTRL+A Select all.
F3 Search for a file or folder.
ALT+ENTER View properties for the selected item.
ALT+F4 Close the active item, or quit the active program.
ALT+Enter Displays the properties of the selected object.
ALT+SPACEBAR Opens the shortcut menu for the active window.
CTRL+F4 Close the active document in programs that allow you to have multiple documents open simultaneously.
ALT+TAB Switch between open items.
ALT+ESC Cycle through items in the order they were opened.
F6 Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop.
F4 Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer.
SHIFT+F10 Display the shortcut menu for the selected item.
ALT+SPACEBAR Display the System menu for the active window.
CTRL+ESC Display the Start menu.
ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name Display the corresponding menu.
Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu Carry out the corresponding command.
F10 Activate the menu bar in the active program.
RIGHT ARROW Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu.
LEFT ARROW Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu.
F5 Refresh the active window.
BACKSPACE View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer.
ESC Cancel the current task.
SHIFT when you insert a CD into the CD-ROM drive Prevent the CD from automatically playing.

Dialog box keyboard shortcuts

CTRL+TAB Move forward through tabs.
CTRL+SHIFT+TAB Move backward through tabs.
TAB Move forward through options.
SHIFT+TAB Move backward through options.
ALT+Underlined letter Carry out the corresponding command or select the corresponding option.
ENTER Carry out the command for the active option or button.
SPACEBAR Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box.
Arrow keys Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons.
F1 Display Help.
F4 Display the items in the active list.
BACKSPACE Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box.

Natural keyboard shortcuts

[Windows Key] Display or hide the Start menu.
[Windows Key] +BREAK Display the System Properties dialog box.
[Windows Key] +D Show the desktop.
[Windows Key] +M Minimize all windows.
[Windows Key] +Shift+M Restores minimized windows.
[Windows Key] +E Open My Computer.
[Windows Key] +F Search for a file or folder.
CTRL+ [Windows Key] +F Search for computers.
[Windows Key] +F1 Display Windows Help.
[Windows Key] + L Lock your computer if you are connected to a network domain, or switch users if you are not connected to a network domain.
[Windows Key] +R Open the Run dialog box.
[Windows Key] +U Open Utility Manager.

Accessibility keyboard shortcuts

Right SHIFT for eight seconds Switch FilterKeys on and off.
Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN Switch High Contrast on and off.
Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK Switch MouseKeys on and off.
SHIFT five times Switch StickyKeys on and off.
NUM LOCK for five seconds Switch ToggleKeys on and off.
[Windows Key] +U Open Utility Manager.

Windows Explorer keyboard shortcuts

END Display the bottom of the active window.
HOME Display the top of the active window.
NUM LOCK+ASTERISK on numeric keypad (*) Display all subfolders under the selected folder.
NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN on numeric keypad (+) Display the contents of the selected folder.
NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN on numeric keypad (-) Collapse the selected folder.
LEFT ARROW Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder.
RIGHT ARROW Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder.

10 tips for securing your computer

1. Update / patch ALL your software every now and then!

2. Check / adjust ALL your settings so they are safe, since they ARENT by default!

3. Use firewall, like ZoneAlarm!

4. Use good passwords: at least 13marks long, containing both letters and numbers. Remember to chance your password every few months atleast!

5. Get a good antivirus program: F-Secure or Norton Antivirus and keep it updated!

6. Don’t open or execute files that you are not 100% sure are absolutely safe nomatter where or how you get them.

7. Wipe your historyfiles (like cookies, internet history and temporary files, etc.), logs and personal files, with specific wiping program (like Eraser) instead of just deleting them.

8. Use encryption to enhance your privacy! Use encrypted email (like Hushmail or Ziplip) and encrypt sensitive files on your computer (PGP).

9. Don’t use public computers for anything you need to type in your logins, they usually have Trojan horses that capture your passwords.

10. Don’t assume anything. If you don’t know, find out! If you cant or don’t understand, ask someone who knows! There’s nothing more dangerous than doing something you don’t really know anything about. That’s the best way to cripple your system or get a Trojan horse on your computer!