Some Ways to Stop Spam on PhpBB3

Spam is a big problem for everyone on the internet and forums are no different. It’s a constant battle between forum admins to prevent it and spammers to get past the protection attempts. In this short ‘forum tip’ we’ll give 3 quick and easy ways to help prevent spam on your phpBB3 forum.

Stop registrations from Baker Island Time

phpBB community user jalaln has written a very simple (1 edit) mod to prevent registrations from the UTC -12 timezone. You can view this mod on the phpBB forums here.

‘But why?’. Most spam bots will choose this time zone in the sign up process. Sure, this mod wont stop ALL bots but it is very quick and easy to install and will prevent some spam.

‘But won’t this stop real users?’ The answer is no. Baker Island is an uninhabited island between Hawaii and Australia, you can read more about Baker Island on Wikipedia.

Making use of profile fields

Using the same idea as above that bots will choose the first option on a drop down list this anti-spam technique makes use of a default phpBB3 feature: Custom profile fields. Our phpBB3 tutorial here explains how!

Moderating new member’s first posts

Almost all spam bots won’t introduce themselves and just start to spam as soon as they sign up. Moderating new member’s first posts prevents them from even starting. The disadvantage of this technique is that is prevents real users from posting as soon as sign up however if you as admin are on daily then most users won’t mind. This is a default setting in phpBB3, our tutorial here explains how to turn it on.

Hope that helps! (:

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Moderating New Member's First Post to Stop Spammers in Phpbb3

KILL THE SPAMMERS, BEFORE THEY KILL THE INTERNET!

Fight spam and trouble makers by moderating new member's first post. This provides a new method of user validation on top of email confirmation and admin activation.

Login to your admin panel and select the General tab
Then select Post settings from the Board configuration menu:
Scroll down to the second box headed Posting
Set Enable queued posts to Yes. This doesn't effect the post queue permissions on the forums and applies board wide. Set the Maximum post count for queued posts option to 1, or however many posts you want to moderate a new member for.

New members will not be able to post without approval until their post count reaches that of the maximum post count value you've just set. Unapproved and deleted posts do not count towards a users post count so even if a user makes 5 posts after registering all will go into the queue until the number approved is equal to the maximum post count you've set.

These settings can be used to validate new members and stop spam from being posted on your forum.

HappY SurfinG!!! (:

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Using Profile Fields in Phpbb3 to Stop Spam Bots

A walkthrough guide to using phpBB3's custom profile fields to help prevent spam bots registering on your forum.

Introduction

Custom profile fields are a feature of phpBB3. They allow you, as admin, to easily add fields that a user can fill out to their profile - such as location, age and so on. It is possible to use a custom profile field to help and prevent spam bots from registering on your forum.

Adding a new custom profile field

Firstly you need to login to your admin forum and click the Users and groups tab
From the left hand menu select the Custom profile fields from the Users menu
This will show all the custom profile fields currently added. Add a new one from the box in the bottom right of the page.
Use a name in the textbox such as 'stop_spam' or 'no_spam' (17 characters max, a-z and underscores only allowed). Select Dropdown box from the dropdown box and click Create field

The settings

You'll now be shown a more detailed form. The field type and identification fields should already be filled in. Make sure that the Display profile field option is set to Yes and the Display on registration screen and Required field options are checked.
Enter some text for the bottom 3 boxes. In this tutorial the Field title is Are you a spambot?, the description is Sorry we have to ask and the options are just Yes and No.

Once you've entered this text click Profile type specific options and you'll be taken to the next stage in adding the custom profile field.
The default settings here should be fine. Both drop down boxes need to be set to Yes. This means that "Yes" is the default option when on the registration page and that a value of "Yes" will cause an error. This means that whoever is registering will have to change this value to "No" - the idea being a spam bot would not know to do this so won't be able to sign up to your forum. Click the Language specific options button. This will allow you to translate the text you entered (Are you a spam bot, etc) in step 1 to any other languages installed on your forum. Once that has been completed click Save.

That's it! This won't stop all spam bots however it will help to prevent some spam and it is a very easy system to implement.

HappY SurfinG!!! (:

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Prioritize Important Emails in Gmail Using ReBoxed

Gmail’s pretty popular, but even Gmail users can fall prey to email overload. An important work-related message could end up lost in a sea of spam and bacn. Today, I’ll show you how to use ReBoxed to bring more important messages bubbling up to the surface of your inbox.
After creating your ReBoxed user account, you’ll be directed to your Google Account to allow ReBoxed access to your Gmail inbox and contact information. You don’t have to provide your password but this does permit ReBoxed to peek into your inbox automatically whenever you use their service.
After ReBoxed collects the list of your contacts, it will as you to vote for them according to importance, which is just a nice way of asking you to prioritize your contacts. You’ll be presented with two choices from which you must select whose messages are more important. You may also mark a contact as a VIP or mark that address as belonging to an automated service.


After you’re done voting, you’ll arrive at your inbox view. ReBoxed seems to only display unread messages from GMail. Messages from VIPs will be displayed at the very top, followed by messages from ranked senders and finally, bulk mailers.

For example, while a message from PayPal is important (and thus highlighted), it’s still a “robot” sending the message, and is not as important as messages from my colleagues and editors. Messages from my family would rank at the very top, having marked them as VIPs, above my colleagues. You have the option of voting a few more times in order to train the filters.

Clicking the messages will open that them in Gmail, where you can reply, delete etc. ReBoxed is an easy tool to help get your important matters read and out of the way at the beginning of your day.

HappY SurfinG!!! (:

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Svchost.exe Process Analyzer

Svchost.exe seems to be one of the most secretive processes on the Windows operating system. Users who take a look at the Windows task manager usually discover that the svchost process is running multiple times. The task manager however does not provide detailed access to what every instance of the process does on the computer system.

Svchost.exe is a generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries. One software program to analyze the svchost process in detail is Svchost Process Analyzer. The portable software program has been specifically designed to reveal detailed information about each svchost process that is running on the computer system.
While Svchost Process Analyzer does not provide the details that popular process managers like Process Explorer provide it does list the information in a comprehensible manner. The process analyzer will scan all svchost processes that are running on the Windows operating system upon startup. A click on details will open the main application window that lists every svchost process in the top window and details about the selected process in the window at the bottom.

Each entry in the lower window is displayed by name, service name and file. Svchost Process Analyzer is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 2000, Windows 2003 and Windows 2008.

HappY SurfinG!!! (:

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Microsoft and Panda Security Offers Three Months Free Service on Panda Internet Security 2009

Panda Internet Security 2009 is another internet security solution which provides wide-ranging protection against internet threats such as viruses, malware, hackers, spyware, rootkits, online fraud, identity thefts and so on. It offers IM protection, a personal firewall, various anti-phishing measures, a spam filter, data backups, heuristic-based pro-active protection, parental control, a multi-purpose antimalware engine and various identift theft protection tools. It gives users peace of mind while surfing the internet and minimize the possibilities of damage due to the security threats. In conjunction with Microsoft’s IT security campaign “Protect Your PC”, the Redmond company has collaborated with the security expert, Panda Security, to give a 3-month FREE service for users to enjoy security protection against these malicious threats. Even though it is only valid for three months, the free Panda Internet Security 2009 gives users an opportunity to try the security solution without additional costs and protect users from sophisticated viruses and malicious programs.

Users who want to grab this free internet security tool can download it via the link here. Once it is installed, users need to follow the instruction described in the program in order to activate all the services and features in the latest Panda Internet Security 2009.
below is a summary of Panda Internet Security 2009’s key features:

• Anti-Malware Engine
• Advanced Proactive Protection
• Personal Firewall
• Anti-Phishing Filter
• Anti-Banking Trojan Engine
• Anti-Rootkit Technology
• Anti-Spam Filter
• Parental Control
• Web Filter
• Personal Information Filter
• Backup & Restore

HappY SurfinG!!! (:

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SPAM PROTECTION WITH GMAIL ID

When you register to some websites,they ask you mail id for registration.These website services often promise not to sell your email id and maintain privacy.If you feel insecure of this then you have to use a + sign to your Gmail id while registering.

if you are going to register at some site called as Sample.com and feel insecure to provide your mail id then you can use Yourname+something@gmail.com When Gmail sees a “+” in an email address, it uses all the characters to the left of the plus sign ,ie. Yourname@gmail.com

Go to Settings, set up a filter. In the From box, add Sample site.In the To box, put in your newly-created Yourname+something@gmail.com address, and set the filter to put in a folder named as “Something”.Now all their spammy mails will go directly to the trash.

Safe SurfinG!!! (:

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How to Set Compatibility Level for SQL Server 2008 or 2005 Database

When selecting data or performing query on Microosft SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2005 database, the following error message or failure may be returned:

[Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server][Msg 4147, Level 15, State 1, Line 4] The query uses non-ANSI outer join operators (”*=” or “=*”). To run this query without modification, please set the compatibility level for current database to 80, using the SET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL option of ALTER DATABASE. It is strongly recommended to rewrite the query using ANSI outer join operators (LEFT OUTER JOIN, RIGHT OUTER JOIN). In the future versions
of SQL Server, non-ANSI join operators will not be supported even in backward-compatibility modes.

or,

Msg 4147, Level 15, State 1, Line 3
The query uses non-ANSI outer join operators (”*=” or “=*”). To run this query without modification, please set the compatibility level for current database to 80 or lower, using stored procedure sp_dbcmptlevel. It is strongly recommended to rewrite the query using ANSI outer join operators (LEFT OUTER JOIN, RIGHT OUTER JOIN). In the future versions of SQL Server, non-ANSI join operators will not be supported even in backward-compatibility modes.

The error happens because Microsoft has dropped support for and eliminated old-style *= and =* outer join operators.

In order to fix the SQL Server error above, DB administrator has to set the database compatibility level to 80, which equivalent with SQL Server 2000 as a temporary workaround. Of course, the best solution is to modify the SQL statements or queries code to remove the old-style join operators with current standard SQL join syntax.

For example, SQL query below is not valid:

SELECT o.name FROM sys.objects o, sys.views v WHERE o.object_id *= v.object_id;

And should be replaced with the following code:

SELECT o.name FROM sys.objects o LEFT JOIN sys.views v ON o.object_id = v.object_id;

Or the following abbreviated inner join statement:

SELECT o.name FROM sys.objects o, sys.views v WHERE o.object_id = v.object_id;

For administrator who can’t change the code, the easiest workaround is to revert the compatibility level of the database in order to provide the backward compatibility to old-style joins. sp_dbcmptlevel stored procedures (deprecated) or Transact-SQL can be used to set certain (partially, not all) database behaviors to be compatible with the earlier version of SQL Server. This MSDN article provides overview on what behaviors are changed on each compatibility level.

Version of SQL Server that can be reverted to can be one of the following:

60 = SQL Server 6.0
65 = SQL Server 6.5
70 = SQL Server 7.0
80 = SQL Server 2000
90 = SQL Server 2005
100 = SQL Server 2008

Note: Compatibility level 60, 65, and 70 no longer available in SQL Server 2008. And future version of SQL Server will support only two (2) prior version of backward compatibility. A database containing an indexed view cannot be changed to a compatibility level lower than 80. Do also take note that when a database is set to backward-compatibility mode, some of the new functionalities may be lost, such as SQL CLR support and SSMS diagrams for the database. Beside, the compatibility mode affects behaviors only for the specified database, not for the entire server.

Steps to Change and Set Compatibility Level of A Database in SQL Server

The following SQL commands can be issued in SQL Server Management Studio Query window. Remember to execute Go after each command.
1. Optional: Set the database to single user access mode:

ALTER DATABASE database_name SET SINGLE_USER;

2. Set the database compatibility level to one of the earlier version stated above:

Transact-SQL Method

ALTER DATABASE database_name SET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = { 80 90 100 }

For example,

ALTER DATABASE my_db SET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = 80

sp_dbcmptlevel Stored Procedure Method

EXEC sp_dbcmptlevel database_name, compatibility_level value;

For example,

EXEC sp_dbcmptlevel my_db, 90;

3. Optional: Put back the database in multiuser access mode:

ALTER DATABASE database_name SET MULTI_USER;

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Safer Surfing - Use Web of Trust (WOT)

There are high risks involved in using the Internet because users are constantly exposed to scam sites, malware, spyware, viruses and identity thefts. The consequences of accessing these sites can be long lasting and complicated. In order to keep users safe from these pitfalls, a free Internet security addon for both IE and Firefox browser, WOT (Web of Trust) can perhaps minimize the risks.

WOT is a free application which acts as a warning indicator and can be added to the browser. Once it is added, WOT’s color-coded icons will show the safety ratings given to a website: red indicates danger, amber for caution and green means go. A total of 21 million websites are rated by WOT using sophisticated algorithms. Data is collected through multiple sources from spam blacklists to phishing to ensure more reliable results.

The WOT rankings are categorized into four: vendor reliability, trustworthiness, privacy, and child safety. Available in ten languages, WOT is especially useful for users who like to surf the Net and more often than not stumble upon unscrupulous web content. It blocks these websites before any serious damage is done. Concerned parents or guardians can also use WOT to block inappropriate websites for children.

Download WOT for IE or WOT for Firefox.

Safe Surfing!!! (:

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Junglemix.in Fraud site - Facebook

Jungle Mix site come to attack from facebook. A Facebook phishing attack by junglemix.in is underway. Junglemix.in redirects to fblight.com which then sends to you a fake facebook sign in or to a malware page. Fblight.com reports as a web forgery.Last week LALATE broke to you a Facebook Phishing attack by FB starter (FBstarter.com). That too followed up a Fbaction.net phishing scheme.

Last month Kromked.net come from facebook. This is also phishing site. If you like to solove this problem. GO your Facebook are again being sent the simple line junglemix.in. Do not accept nor follow the junglemix.in link. This site look just like a facebook login page even with the facebook favicon so well placed. Some have already got trapped in it from what I see on twitter! As usual the solution is to always check your url address bar of your browser before entering any data there!

No reported statement has been given by Facebook about the latest round which is being highly chatted up on other social networks like Twitter this morning 7A M PST warning facebook users of the problem.

This fraud site who.is information:

Owner Name: Sergey Marshinin
City: Moscow, Russia
Domain Server: 213.182.197.229

HappY and Safe SurFinG!!! (;

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Monitor Folders In Windows With Watch 4 Folder

A user can have several purposes to monitor folders in the Windows operating system. It can for example improve the security of the operating system by ensuring that the system administrator is informed about changes to files and folders in monitored directories. It can also be used to process files and folders automatically if changes occur. One possible scenario for that would for example be a folder where new files are uploaded to regularly. A program that monitors that folder might be able to start commands or additional tools to process these files automatically.

Watch 4 Folder is a lightweight software program to monitor folders in Windows. The program can be configured to monitor one main folder for the following six different types of changes:

• file name changes
• directory name changes
  
• attribute changes
  
• size changes
  
• last modification date changes
  
• security changes

Watch 4 Folder can execute a program or script when a monitoring event occurs and can write to a log file.

Watch 4 Folder is based on two components: The Monitoring service that runs in the background and the user configuration tool.

Click here to download Watch 4 Folder Now.

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Proxy Server Usage To Extend Jailtime In The US

A proxy server can be used for a number of things. People can use it to overcome censorship in their country, to access contents they could otherwise not access or to remain anonymous while performing research on the Internet. Proxy servers to provide a level of anonymity and privacy that makes them a good choice in many situations. A new federal law in the United States is up for voting at the united States Sentencing Commission that can increase the jail time by up to 25% if a proxy server has been used.

Privacy advocates have already expressed great concern as proxy servers are not only in use by individuals who want to protect their privacy but also by companies and even Internet Service Providers, sometimes without the knowledge of the end user. VPN (Virtual Private Network) would for example be classified as proxy servers under the new legislation. As is the popular Tor client that has been created specifically to counter censorship in the world. Several web browsers like Opera Mini or Opera 10 are also making use of proxy servers to compress data to decrease the time it takes to load websites.

The United States Sentencing Commission will vote on the new legislation on April 15. It is set to take effect on November 1 if is is passing the voting process. You can read up on the EFFs stance here.

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Gmail Account Hacking Tool

A tool that automatically steals IDs of non-encrypted sessions and breaks into Google Mail accounts has been presented at the Defcon hackers’ conference in Las Vegas.

Last week Google introduced a new feature in Gmail that allows users to permanently switch on SSL and use it for every action involving Gmail, and not only, authentication. Users who did not turn it on now have a serious reason to do so as Mike Perry, the reverse engineer from San Francisco who developed the tool is planning to release it in two weeks.

When you log in to Gmail the website sends a cookie (a text file) containing your session ID to the browser. This file makes it possible for the website to know that you are authenticated and keep you logged in for two weeks, unless you manually hit the sign out button. When you hit sign out this cookie is cleared.

Even though when you log in, Gmail forces the authentication over SSL (Secure Socket Layer), you are not secure because it reverts back to a regular unencrypted connection after the authentication is done. According to Google this behavior was chosen because of low-bandwidth users, as SLL connections are slower.

The problem lies with the fact that every time you access anything on Gmail, even an image, your browser also sends your cookie to the website. This makes it possible for an attacker sniffing traffic on the network to insert an image served from http://mail.google.com and force your browser to send the cookie file, thus getting your session ID. Once this happens the attacker can log in to the account without the need of a password. People checking their e-mail from public wireless hotspots are obviously more likely to get attacked than the ones using secure wired networks. Todd Mumford, from the SEO company called SEO Visions Inc, states “This can be a serious problem for Internet Marketers who travel often and use their wireless laptops and Gmal services often and do not always have access to a secure connection”

Perry mentioned that he notified Google about this situation over a year ago and even though eventually it made this option available, he is not happy with the lack of information. “Google did not explain why using this new feature was so important” he said. He continued and explained the implications of not informing the users, “This gives people who routinely log in to Gmail beginning with an https:// session a false sense of security, because they think they’re secure but they’re really not.”

If you are logging in to your Gmail account from different locations and you would like to benefit from this option only when you are using unsecured networks, you can force it by manually typing https://mail.google.com before you log in. This will access the SSL version of Gmail and it will be persistent over your entire session and not only during authentication.

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Firefox Just Got Better

by: Burk Pendergrass


The safest most secure app for browsing the internet currently available just got better and has more improvements on the way. Are you ready for the latest Mozilla release? Firefox 3 Beta 4 is available for download, but before you go running off like some half cocked Microsoft groupie notice the "beta" tag.

Hello!! The internet is a dangerous place. The Remote Helpdesk 1 Team continues to be amused (we can no longer say amazed) at people who would not dare to venture into certain parts of a city but who seemingly rush into the internet's dark corners and dimly lighted streets ill prepared.

Before you sail into a storm baton down the hatches, and before you cruise into hacker, virus, trojan, and criminally infested areas of the world wide web at least darken the windows and arm yourself. Not to take appropriate precautions will assure your computer a visit to the infectious disease controls center if not the hard drive morgue.

Firefox developers have thus far proven themselves to the best at incorporating necessary safety features into their browser while preserving user options and cruise speeds. Online PC Repair folks feel they owe a lot of their success to getting their loyal users involved in the development and testing process. These folks, like The Tennessee Mountain Man, have helped keep the programs on track and the applications minimal. For instance, if a client wants twenty-five cents - give him a quarter like Mozilla tends to do rather that twenty-five pennies as Microsoft is famous for.

It takes a lot less resources to process one coin than it does to count twenty-five. Mozilla recognizing this has given the new "beta" release a lot of new features and improved compatibility while freeing up resources. The end result being a more nimble and faster overall browsing experience. At the same time they have enhanced Firefox's security.

Released to the public via the Mozilla website Monday, 10 March 2008, Firefox 3 Beta 4 is in the beta stage of any software's life cycle. Firefox 3 Beta 4 loudly proclaims that it is "for testing purposes only" therefore it is not for everyone. It you are a newbie or maybe even an intermediate internet user, the suggestion of the Computer Man would be that you use Firefox 2.0.0.12, the latest most stable full release until Firefox 3 is out of beta.

If you just can't wait for a better browsing experience Mozilla reports "the new release includes more than 900 enhancements from beta 3, including drastic improvements to performance and memory usage, as well as fixes for stability, platform enhancements and user interface".

But that is not the half of it... not by a long shot. "Firefox 3 is based on the Gecko 1.9 Web rendering platform, which has been under development for the past 31 months. Building on the previous release, Gecko 1.9 has more than 12,000 updates including some major re-architecting to provide improved performance, stability, rendering correctness, and code simplification and sustainability. Firefox 3 has been built on top of this new platform resulting in a more secure, easier to use, more personal product with a lot more under the hood to offer website and Firefox add-on developers improvements.", according to Mozilla.

Enhancements like these reported on the Mozilla website:

"More Secure

* One-click site info: Click the site favicon in the location bar to see who owns the site and to check if your connection is protected from eavesdropping. Identity verification is prominently displayed and easier to understand. When a site uses Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificates, the site favicon button will turn green and show the name of the company you're connected to. (Try it here!)
* Malware Protection: malware protection warns users when they arrive at sites which are known to install viruses, spyware, trojans or other malware. (Try it here!)
* New Web Forgery Protection page: the content of pages suspected as web forgeries is no longer shown. (Try it here!)
* New SSL error pages: clearer and stricter error pages are used when Firefox encounters an invalid SSL certificate. (Try it here!)
* Add-ons and Plugin version check: Firefox now automatically checks add-on and plugin versions and will disable older, insecure versions.
* Secure add-on updates: to improve add-on update security, add-ons that provide updates in an insecure manner will be disabled.
* Anti-virus integration: Firefox will inform anti-virus software when downloading executables.
* Vista Parental Controls: Firefox now respects the Vista system-wide parental control setting for disabling file downloads.
* Effective top-level domain (eTLD) service better restricts cookies and other restricted content to a single domain.
* Better protection against cross-site JSON data leaks.

Easier to Use

* Easier password management: an information bar replaces the old password dialog so you can now save passwords after a successful login.
* Simplified add-on installation: the add-ons whitelist has been removed making it possible to install extensions from third-party sites in fewer clicks.
* [Improved in Beta 4!] New Download Manager: the revised download manager makes it much easier to locate downloaded files, and you can see and search on the name of the website where a file came from. Your active downloads and time remaining are always shown in the status bar as your files download.
* Resumable downloading: users can now resume downloads after restarting the browser or resetting your network connection.
* [Improved in Beta 4!] Full page zoom: from the View menu and via keyboard shortcuts, the new zooming feature lets you zoom in and out of entire pages, scaling the layout, text and images, or optionally only the text size. Your settings will be remembered whenever you return to the site.
* Podcasts and Videocasts can be associated with your media playback tools.
* Tab scrolling and quickmenu: tabs are easier to locate with the new tab scrolling and tab quickmenu.
* Save what you were doing: Firefox will prompt users to save tabs on exit.
* Optimized Open in Tabs behavior: opening a folder of bookmarks in tabs now appends the new tabs rather than overwriting.
* Location and Search bar size can now be customized with a simple resizer item.
* Text selection improvements: multiple text selections can be made with Ctrl/Cmd; double-click drag selects in "word-by-word" mode; triple-clicking selects a paragraph.
* Find toolbar: the Find toolbar now opens with the current selection.
* Plugin management: users can disable individual plugins in the Add-on Manager.
* [Improved in Beta 4!] Integration with Vista: Firefox now has Vista-specific icons, and uses native user interface widgets in the browser and in web forms.
* [Improved in Beta 4!] Integration with the Mac: the new Firefox theme makes toolbars, icons, and other user interface elements look like a native OS X application. Firefox also uses OS X widgets and spell-checker in web forms and supports Growl for notifications of completed downloads and available updates. A combined back and forward control make it even easier to move between web pages.
* [Improved in Beta 4!] Integration with Linux: Firefox's default icons, buttons, and menu styles now use the native GTK theme.

More Personal

* Star button: quickly add bookmarks from the location bar with a single click; a second click lets you file and tag them.
* Tags: associate keywords with your bookmarks to sort them by topic.
* [Improved in Beta 4!] Location bar & auto-complete: type in all or part of the title, tag or address of a page to see a list of matches from your history and bookmarks; a new display makes it easier to scan through the matching results and find that page you're looking for. Results are returned according to their frecency (a combination of frequency and recency of visits to that page) ensuring that you're seeing the most relevant matches. An adaptive learning algorithm further tunes the results to your patterns!
* Smart Bookmarks Folder: quickly access your recently bookmarked and tagged pages, as well as your more frequently visited pages with the new smart bookmarks folder on your bookmark toolbar.
* Places Organizer: view, organize and search through all of your bookmarks, tags, and browsing history with multiple views and smart folders to store your frequent searches.
* Web-based protocol handlers: web applications, such as your favorite webmail provider, can now be used instead of desktop applications for handling mailto: links from other sites. Similar support is available for other protocols (Web applications will have to first enable this by registering as handlers with Firefox).
* Download & Install Add-ons: the Add-ons Manager (Tools > Add-ons) can now be used to download and install a Firefox customization from the thousands of Add-ons available from our community add-ons website. When you first open the Add-ons Manager, a list of recommended Add-ons is shown.
* Easy to use Download Actions: a new Applications preferences pane provides a better UI for configuring handlers for various file types and protocol schemes.

Improved Platform for Developers

* New graphics and font handling: new graphics and text rendering architectures in Gecko 1.9 provides rendering improvements in CSS, SVG as well as improved display of fonts with ligatures and complex scripts.
* Color management: (set gfx.color_management.enabled on in about:config and restart the browser to enable.) Firefox can now adjust images with embedded color profiles.
* Offline support: enables web applications to provide offline functionality (website authors must add support for offline
browsing to their site for this feature to be available to users).
* A more complete overview of Firefox 3 for developers is available for website and add-on developers.

Improved Performance

* [Improved in Beta 4!] Speed: improvements to our JavaScript engine as well as profile guided optimizations have resulted in significant improvements in performance. Compared to Firefox 2, web applications like Google Mail and Zoho Office run twice as fast in Firefox 3 Beta 4, and the popular SunSpider test from Apple shows improvements over previous releases.
* [Improved in Beta 4!] Memory usage: Several new technologies work together to reduce the amount of memory used by Firefox 3 Beta 4 over a web browsing session. Memory cycles are broken and collected by an automated cycle collector, a new memory allocator reduces fragmentation, hundreds of leaks have been fixed, and caching strategies have been tuned.
* Reliability: A user's bookmarks, history, cookies, and preferences are now stored in a transactionally secure database format which will prevent data loss even if their system crashes."

Mozilla provides Firefox 3 Beta 4 for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X in forty different languages, and reports it can be removed without losing your bookmarks, web browsing history, extensions and other add-ons. Best of all - it is FREE ! Just download, install, and enjoy a whole new faster browsing experience if your computer meets one of the following system requirements.

Windows
Operating Systems

* Windows 2000
* Windows XP
* Windows Server 2003
* Windows Vista

Minimum Hardware

* Pentium 233 MHz (Recommended: Pentium 500MHz or greater)
* 64 MB RAM (Recommended: 128 MB RAM or greater)
* 52 MB hard drive space

Mac
Operating Systems

* Mac OS X 10.4 and later

Minimum Hardware

* Macintosh computer with an Intel x86 or PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor
* 128 MB RAM (Recommended: 256 MB RAM or greater)
* 200 MB hard drive space

Linux
Software Requirements
Please note that Linux distributors may provide packages for your distribution which have different requirements.

* Linux kernel - 2.2.14 or higher with the following libraries or packages:
o glibc 2.3.2 or higher
o XFree86-3.3.6 or higher
o gtk+2.0 or higher
o fontconfig (also known as xft)
o libstdc++5

Minimum Hardware

* Intel Pentium II or AMD K6-III+ 233 MHz CPU (Recommended: 500MHz or greater)
* 64 MB RAM (Recommended: 128 MB RAM or greater)
* 52 MB hard drive space

And, if you still have not tried Mozilla Thunderbird,

get ready to kick Outlook Express to the curb!

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Set Permissions for Shared Files and Folders

Sharing of files and folders can be managed in two ways. If you chose simplified file sharing, your folders can be shared with everyone on your network or workgroup, or you can make your folders private. (This is how folders are shared in Windows 2000.) However, in Windows XP Professional, you can also set folder permissions for specific users or groups. To do this, you must first change the default setting, which is simple file sharing. To change this setting, follow these steps:
•Open Control Panel, click Tools, and then click Folder Options.
•Click the View tab, and scroll to the bottom of the Advanced Settings list.
•Clear the Use simple file sharing (Recommended) check box.
•To manage folder permissions, browse to the folder in Windows Explorer, right–click the folder, and then click Properties. Click the Security tab, and assign permissions, such as Full Control, Modify, Read, and/or Write, to specific users.
You can set file and folder permissions only on drives formatted to use NTFS, and you must be the owner or have been granted permission to do so by the owner.

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Download Internet Explorer 8 Beta

The latest version of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 Beta (IE8) is now available for download. Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 is a developer preview for web designers and developers to help prepare their websites for the launch of the final release Internet Explorer 8.

Internet Explorer 8 introduces a new way to seamlessly experience the best of the web whether you are a web developer writing to standards or a user discovering a new online service. Be one of the first developers to take advantage of improvements in Internet Explorer 8 for your websites and applications. Check the release notes.

New Features in IE8

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Safety Filter - building on the success of the Phishing Filter, continues to block known Phishing sites and now blocks sites known to contain malicious software that could harm users’ computer or steal their information.
Favorites bar (Links bar makeover) to enable users to associate this bar as a place to put and easily access all their favorite web content such as links, feeds, WebSlices and even Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.
WebSlices is a new feature for websites to connect to their users by subscribing to content directly within a webpage. WebSlices behave just like feeds where clients can subscribe to get updates and notify the user of changes.
Activities are contextual services to quickly access a service from any webpage. Users typically copy and paste from one webpage to another.

Download IE8

IE8 aims to deliver full CSS 2.1 support, better scripting performance, and HTML5 support in the final IE8 product. If you decide to go testing, get the Microsoft Report a Webpage Problem Internet Explorer Add-on that allows the user to submit a report to Microsoft for webpages they believe are having rendering problems, scripting errors, or various other types of problems.

Internet Explorer 8 can be installed on Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), Windows Vista, Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2). Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 will not install on prerelease versions of Windows Vista SP1 or on checked versions of Windows. Download here.

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The Future of Computer Technology(Part Two)

Mechanical nanocomputers
A mechanical nanocomputer uses tiny mobile components called nanogears to encode information. Some scientists predict that such mechanical nanocomputers will be used to control nanorobots.
Quantum nanocomputers
A quantum nanocomputer store data in the form of atomic quantum states or spin. Single-electron memory (SEM) and quantum dots are examples of this type of technology.
Humanizing Nanocomputers
Apart from this, scientists aim to use nanotechnology to create nanorobots that will serve as antibodies that can be programmed. This will help to protect humans against pathogenic bacteria and viruses that keep mutating rendering many remedies ineffective against new strains. Nanorobots would overcome this problem by reprogramming selectively to destroy the new pathogens. Nanorobots are predicted to be part of the future of human medicine.
• SPRAY-ON NANO COMPUTERS
Consider that research is being done at the Ediburgh University to create "spray-on computers the size of a grain of sand” that will transform information technology. The research team aims to achieve this goal within four years. When these nanocomputers are sprayed on to the chests of coronary patients, the tiny cells record a patient’s health and transmit information back to a hospital computer. This would enable doctors to monitor heart patients who are living at home.
QUANTUM COMPUTERS
mechanical phenomena, such as entanglement and superposition to process data. Quantum computation aims to use the quantum properties of particles to represent and structure data. Quantum mechanics is used to understand how to perform operations with this data. The quantum mechanical properties of atoms or nuclei allow these particles to work together as quantum bits, or qubits. These qubits work together to form the computer's processor and memory. Qubits can interact with each other while being isolated from the external environment and this enables them to perform certain calculations much faster than conventional computers.
By computing many different numbers simultaneously and then interfering the results to get a single answer, a quantum computer can perform a large number of operations in parallel and ends up being much more powerful than a digital computer of the same size. "In the tiny spaces inside atoms, the ordinary rules of reality ... no longer hold. Defying all common sense, a single particle can be in two places at the same time. And so, while a switch in a conventional computer can be either on or off, representing 1 or 0, a quantum switch can paradoxically be in both states at the same time, saying 1 and 0.... Therein lies the source of the power." Whereas three ordinary switches could store any one of eight patterns, three quantum switches can hold all eight at once, taking "a shortcut through time." [Scientific America.com]
Quantum computers could prove to be useful for running simulations of quantum mechanics. This would benefit the fields of physics, chemistry, materials science, nanotechnology, biology and medicine because currently, advancement in these fields is limited by the slow speed of quantum mechanical simulations.
Quantum computing is ideal for tasks such as cryptography, modeling and indexing very large databases. Many government and military funding agencies are supporting quantum computing research to develop quantum computers for civilian and national security purposes, such as cryptanalysis.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The term “Artificial Intelligence” was coined in 1956 by John McCarthy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is a branch of computer science that aims to make computers behave like humans. [Artificial Intelligence] Artificial Intelligence includes programming computers to make decisions in real life situations (e.g. some of these “expert systems” help physicians in the diagnosis of diseases based on symptoms), programming computers to understand human languages (natural language), programming computers to play games such as chess and checkers (games playing), programming computers to hear, see and react to other sensory stimuli(robotics) and designing systems that mimic human intelligence by attempting to reproduce the types of physical connections between neurones in the human brain (neural networks).
Natural-language processing would allow ordinary people who don’t have any knowledge of programming languages to interact with computers.
So what does the future of computer technology look like after these developments?
Through nanotechnology, computing devices are becoming progressively smaller and more powerful. Everyday devices with embedded technology and connectivity are becoming a reality. Nanotechnology has led to the creation of increasingly smaller and faster computers that can be embedded into small devices.
This has led to the idea of pervasive computing which aims to integrate software and hardware into all man made and some natural products. It is predicted that almost any items such as clothing, tools, appliances, cars, homes, coffee mugs and the human body will be imbedded with chips that will connect the device to an infinite network of other devices. [Pervasive Computing]Hence, in the future network technologies will be combined with wireless computing, voice recognition, Internet capability and artificial intelligence with an aim to create an environment where the connectivity of devices is embedded in such a way that the connectivity is not inconvenient or outwardly visible and is always available. In this way, computer technology will saturate almost every facet of our life. What seems like virtual reality at the moment will become the human reality in the future of computer technology.

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How To Keep Kids Safe On The Web

The World Wide Web provides a wonderful resource for entertaining and educating children. However, dangers do exist and it is important for kids and parents to be aware of these dangers and to know how to stay safe online.

This article features practical advice for both kids and parents.

Advice for Kids:

The Internet is full of interesting web sites and is a great way to meet new friends across the world who share your interests. Unfortunately, not everyone you meet on the World Wide Web is friendly and some people even pretend to be someone they're not.

To make sure you have a safe time while you're surfing the Web, remember these tips:

- Avoid giving out your e-mail address to people you don't know
- Never give out your full name, telephone number, home address or the name of your school
- Don't open e-mails or attachments from people you don't know
- If you visit a web site or receive an e-mail that makes you feel uncomfortable, tell your parent or whoever looks after you
- Don't tell other people your Internet passwords
- Never agree to meet up with someone you have met on the Internet
- Try to avoid staring at the screen for too long without a break

Some interesting web sites for you to try:

www.kidscom.com - fun and games
www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies - games and fun things to do
http://kids.yahoo.com - Yahoo! kids search engine
www.bbc.co.uk/schools - BBC Schools
www.channel4.com/learning - homework help

Advice for Parents:

There are many useful sites with advice about safety for children online including:

www.kidsmart.org.uk
www.nspcc.org.uk
www.nch.org.uk
www.safekids.com
www.protectkids.org

Restricting Internet use to a PC in a family room is one way you can keep an eye on your child's browsing activities. You will be able to take an occasional glance to make sure they are safe, without them feeling like you are watching their every move.

Letting them know your concerns and educating them about the dangers of the Internet will help them understand you are not trying to stop them enjoying the Web, just making sure that they have a safe experience.

There are also various software packages available that can help you monitor your child's browsing when you are not in the room.

These programs can record browser web addresses, e-mails, and chat software, and can also filter and block certain web sites and even record what has been typed on the keyboard:

www.softwarexpress.com - The Internet Babysitter
www.cyberpatrol.com - CyberPatrol
www.riasc.net/plg.aspx - Parental Lock Guard
www.netnanny.com - Net Nanny
www.naomifilter.org - Naomi
www.surfsafe.co.uk - SurfSafe

If your kids use Google to search for things, in the Preferences next to the search box there are options under SafeSearch Filtering to block explicit images or text.

There is a plug-in available for the Firefox web browser called Gubble, which allows you to set permissions on which web sites kids can visit.

In Windows it is possible to create a separate user account that can be restricted so that the user cannot install harmful software, remove crucial files or change Windows settings.

Create a new user account for your child by clicking on the Start menu then Control Panel and clicking on User Accounts. Click Create a new account, choose a name and choose a Limited account then click Create Account.

You may also wish to put a password on your own Administrator account so that your child cannot use it to install or remove programs.

If your child regularly uses chatrooms, instant messaging or social networking sites, there is an electronic identity card service they can use to verify who they are talking to: Net-ID-me

Nice Surfing, Good Day!

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Gmail And Yahoo! Mail Hacked - How To Protect Yourself

In front of a live audience at the Black Hat security convention, Robert Graham (CEO Errata Security) showed how it was possible to hack into popular email programs like Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail without using any passwords. All he needed was an IP Address and username.

At the convention, Graham was able to hijack someone’s Gmail account during his unscripted demonstration.

The attack is actually quite simple. First Graham needs to be able to sniff data packets and in our case the open Wi-Fi network at the convention fulfilled that requirement. He then ran Ferret to copy all the cookies flying through the air. Finally, Graham cloned those cookies into his browser – in easy point-and-click fashion - with a home-grown tool called Hamster. -Source TG Daily

The attack is able to hijack sessions in just about any web application that uses cookies. He was able to successfully break into the big three: Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail.

As Graham stated, “I see ten people’s cookies on my screen, I just need to click on the guy’s IP address and I’m in. Once you get someone’s Google account, you’d be surprised at the stuff you’d find."

How You Can Protect Yourself

What can you do to safeguard your email, especially in public Wi-Fi hotspots? Be sure to use a secure login (HTTPS instead of HTTP) every single time. This will send your credentials over an encrypted Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), which will encrypt your login session and prevent your cookies from being cloned.

For Gmail: Use https://mail.google.com/mail/
For Yahoo!: Click the "Secure" link below the "Sign In" button.
For Hotmail: Click the "Sign in using enhanced security" link on the sign in form.

If you have any login pages (for any type of online account) bookmarked, be sure to check and see if they have secure login pages available. Then, update your bookmarks to those pages.

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How to avoid fake Security Warnings or pop-up!

When you are browsing the internet and suddenly a window pop up with different messages for example" free update for your computer ","scan your computer with free antivirus". May be some pop-ups messages helpful for you but you should read first in detail before clicking it. Pop-ups basically an advertiser message or unwanted program and website that might be disturb your computer performance.

If you are working with Internet Explorer and want to block the pop-ups windows and unwanted messages. Open the Internet Explorer and click on Tools menu and go to Pop-up Blocker option, here you can Turn Off Pop-up Blocker to block pop-up from all websites. But you have option to allow some websites for pop-up. For this purpose open the Pop-up Blocker Setting. Here you can add some specific websites name to allow for pop-up and click Add. If you feel any problem to block any pop-up message due to some problem, simply click on the X at the right top of the pop-up windows.

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