Halt…Who goes there? How to Create Strong & Secure Passwords - Part One

Protecting Your Privacy With Passwords!

Your cash, your personal history and your private identity information is stored in computers all across the Internet. And you control the access to all of these with a simple password.

So you think your password is unbreakable, huh? No one would ever guess what it is right? Let’s face it. Your password is probably not as good as you think. Strong passwords are seldom used even by people who should know better.

The story goes that in the 50’s then President Harry Truman boasted to a security specialist that no one could break his password. Rather quickly the specialist broke the code: it was based on the date of Truman’s inauguration: 1-20-1949

People create and use “weak” or easy to break passwords for two simple reasons:

1. They don’t know much about the password system in the first place.

2. They don’t understand how to make a strong password, i.e. one that would be tough to crack.

The Password System

A “password” is secret combination of characters that is actually half of a two part “key” that computers require for someone to login into a locked or “password-protected” account or network.

The first part of this “key” is your Username. A username can either be assigned by the organization that controls or administers the account or made up by you.

Since most usernames are created from readily discovered items like your email addresses, nicknames, etc. security experts tell us that the “password” half, has become the most the important part of the key.

A password is almost always created by the end-user…that means you! As such, you control just how “weak” or “strong” it will be. A weak or poorly thought out password can be cracked in less than one second with software any ten year old can download for free.

A “weak” password is an easily cracked password. And No Password; No Privacy!

Too Legit To Quit? How to Know if a Website is Safe, Part Two

Recently a friend emailed me a link to a software website. On the site they proclaimed to be selling OEM (Original equipment manufacturer) software at a very steep discount.
OEM software is typically the software that is bundled with or installed on a new PC. OEM software also has different “licenses” than regular “boxed” software sold through a retail outlet. Most the time the license is tagged to the hardware it was sold with.

The computer hardware is actually the “license owner” in a weird kind of way. That’s why on eBay, when I buy software, most of the time, I get a piece of hardware (part of the PC the OEM software came with.) along with the CD.

Now there is nothing wrong getting OEM software. Lots of times, vendors who buy off-lease equipment (computers, etc. whose rental leases have expired) and will split off the software that came with the computer and resell it elsewhere.

BUT….ah, you knew I would stop yakking and get to it!

How the heck do you tell if a website is on the up and up and selling legit products software?

Or is it just some scummy Internet con artist with a slick website crammed full of pirated crap-ola, poised to capture and fence off your precious credit card number?

To check out a website to see if its legit follow these 7 simple steps:

Step 1 - Just how slick is it?

Look at the web page design. You can buy some very professional cool and slick looking website templates very cheaply. Is if full of picture of people with “clear-skinned smiles”, or lots of bouncing, hopping, graphics?

Even if they use a professionally designed template or website, most small businesses do some type of customizing to their websites. They add pictures of themselves, their storefront, their offices, etc. They change and mismatch colors, add clip art, etc.

Professional fraudsters don’t. There is no need. They have their good buddy Ivan or Sam create a very nice vanilla site, where they throw up stock photos and get on with the business of robbing you of your identity and credit card info. No need to customize any for that. .

Now amateurs (baby crackers/hackers) tend to like LOTS of customization. Dark, broody backgrounds with neon fonts in hard to read styles and as many annoying banner ads or animated graphics/cartoons as possible. They like to offer “free” stuff, i.e. software, music, etc. so they can also download their little Trojans along with them.

Step 2 - Search for “Reviews” or “Comments” on the web

I always “google” the actual web address of a site to see what folks are saying about it. If something is hot or popular, someone has either written a review, a blog or posted a comment on it somewhere in a public forum. These could be from satisfied users or from paid affiliates.

You can also add the words: “sucks”, “ripped off”, etc. to the list. Granted you will only find the negative people posting these but they act as a balance for any over hyped items you find.

Step 3 - Icons and links are dead

Bogus sites seldom take the time to keep links live to other sites. If they have icons that proclaim them members of a “Better Business” this or that, click on the icon or link shown. If it is dead or just goes somewhere else on the website, get your “suspicious” antenna up.

Legitimate sponsoring organizations usually require their members keep a “live” (clickable) link back to them. Or you can open another browser window and visit the sponsoring group’s membership list on your own. Are they listed or reviewed there as promised?

Step 4 - No way to keep in contact

Most folks install ways for you to keep in contact with them and their company. Newsletters, ezines, blogs, sales letters, phone numbers or just posted emails for “feedback”, “support”, “customer service”, etc.

Also, be leery of the “online comment” form. Many people use these “fill in the blank” forms. However, if this is the only way you find to reach them, this is not good. No contact information is a very bad sign

Step 5 - No Physical Location

Due to fears of, (I don’t know what) some people never list their business’s street address on their websites. Bad sign, folks. I always look for an address. No “addy”, no “moola”.

Now the street address could be as fake as “1313 Mockingbird Lane” (the Munsters home address) for all I know, but human nature being what it is, most are probably mailbox deliverable.

Instead of a street address, some people use a Post Office or private mailbox address. No problem but they had better have a working phone number to act as backup.

Have I ever called a number posted online just to see who picked up? You bet ya. Called this one guy once at o’dark in the morning and got a very groggy solopreneur (wrong number, don’t ya know). But hey he sold me a book, because after the call, I knew he was “real” person.

Called another and got a “this number has been temporary disconnected”. Hmmm….can we say “bugged out”?

Step 6 - Try WHOIS

Who’s on first…? Huh? What’s a WHOIS?

WHOIS is a domain name lookup tool. It can be found all over the web but I use www.whois.net or www.networksolutions.com

The idea is the surf to www.whois.net, plug in “Technoweasel” in the “WHOIS Lookup” you will find my website’s Registrant (that would be me) the address I used when I created my domain name, and the domain (website) host that I am using.

Now all of this could be bogus…but since you have to pay for a domain name with a working credit card, the address and name were legit at the time of registration.

Check out the age of the site. I created my domain in 2001. If a site has only been in “business” for a few months…do a real gut check before passing out any credit card info.

Step 7 - Are they are a Blacklist?

Check out www.spamhaus.org and squidguard to see if their domain names are listed. If their name is on a well-respected blacklist, then you are probably better off blacklisting them too.

Is the web host in China, Eastern Europe, South America or South East Asia? Fifty percent of all spammers are Americans but they like to host their “ugly American” email and websites overseas.

Step 8 - The last one…

Yeah, I know I only promised seven, but it’s an oldie but a goodie…”If it’s too good to be true…” Just remember that bogus sites, email scams and all internet fraud in general rely on your human nature to want pick the sweetest berries without the thorns.

Honor your feelings. Your best defense is often your own intuition. If something about a website or email gives you that itchy-scratchy on the back of the neck or that sinking in the belly then don’t buy from them. The only times I have regretted buying something on line has been from violating this last rule! Honor your feelings.

Take five minutes and check out a site using the above steps before you just jump in and plop down your hard earned cash.

Halt…Who goes there? How to Create Strong & Secure Passwords - Part Two

Fact: no password is unbreakable. In theory, any password can be cracked given the right software; enough computing time and the money to pay for them. If someone REALLY wants to break into your accounts, they can.

But most of the bad guys you will encounter (hackers, nosy employees, distrustful business partners and curious kids) are not that hard to keep out.

1. Mix’em Up! When creating a password use mixture of characters like upper-case, lower-case letters(A-Z or a-z), numbers and special symbols such as: !,@,#,$,%,^,&,*,= , etc.

2. Psst…can you keep it a secret? Your passwords must be kept a secret. So MEMORIZE them! Don’t write them down on the back of your bank card, credit card or on a note stuck on your computer monitor. Tips for properly storing your passwords are covered more thoroughly later on in this article.

3. The more the merrier. Use multiple passwords. You should have one for each individual account. Yes, I know it’s a drag but you use the same over and over, you run the risk of a bad guy (a hacker or a jealous former lover) discovering it and running amok through all your accounts. Also take special care to use your strongest passwords on your more critical or valuable applications and accounts.

4. Size does matter… Bigger is better, for passwords anyway. For minimum security, the experts recommend a password be at least six characters long. For business use or financial accounts I would go up to seven or eight for more bangs for the buck. One or two extra keystrokes add a few million more combinations a cracking program has to work through.

5. Do it frequently. Change your passwords often. You should alter all critical passwords every six months or once a year at a minimum or non critical things. More every 90 days if it is critical.

So what is critical? Your money market accounts should be more critical to you then your membership to Critters Online! Some systems prompt you when change; others you have to remember and manually change it. Either way, do it frequently.

Additional Strong Password Tips

The science of creating strong passwords or any secret code for that matter has always been plagued with this problem: how to make it easy to remember (and decode) but difficult break.

A common way to design a strong password is to use a phrase cipher. For example, take the phrase, “Girls who wear glasses don’t get passes.” To create a password from this, use the first letter from each word. Then change one or more characters into an upper or lower case letter.

For added security you can add a numbers and/or special symbol. A few sample passwords could be: “gwwgdgp”, “gWWgdgp1″, “GwwGdGp!”

Another way is to use a substitution code and change a common word like “password” into “Pa55wo4d”. But bear in mind the more common substitutions are like “5″ for “S” are checked by most password cracking software. Use your imagination.

The best way to remember a password to use something memorable but don’t make it obvious. People love to use birthdays, anniversaries, street addresses, Social Security Numbers, their pets’ names, family member names, etc.

Your password should mean something to you but should not be so easily guessed or quickly discovered like your personal information. Use memorable things only you would know or would have meaning only to you.

Spyware Invasion: What to Do when You Have Been Hacked

Hey, it could happen to you. I know. I am professional PC technician and it happened to me. Yes, I write how-to articles and tell all my clients the same things: be careful of “freeware” programs, watch where you download stuff, change password frequently, etc. All the rest but despite my best efforts I got jacked!

It happened innocently enough. I was doing some work for a client and was trying to convert some music and video files into a more portable format. But all the good software was only had “paid” versions and I wanted to save myself some money. So I logged into some geek forums and started nosing around.

One guy recommended this little “freeware” program he had used to good success. So I clicked on his link and surfed over to a software directory I had never used before and downloaded it. The program was running fine, when I noticed that my hard drive was being hit really hard, with its activity light going nuts.

So I quickly stopped the program and uninstalled it. But within a few days I got emails from eBay complaining that I was sending out “spam” emails to other users all across the eBay system. When I logged in, I realized that “someone” had used my user name and password to fraudulently send messages selling some kind electronic gear from a seller in Poland!

Dang! I had been hacked!

What Not to Do…

Don’t panic. You have to remain calm so you access the damage and take the appreciate action. Running around downloading this and that “fix-it” software program can only make worst. Take a breath and get a grip…
…What To Do

I immediately took my PC off the Internet (I turned off my cable modem), then restarted and entered Safe Mode (hit F8 after the PC logo). I ran both of my anti-spyware and anti-virus programs for a deep scan of my PC. I found several Trojan Horse programs, which I removed.
Then I manually searched the “Program Files” folder to see if I could find any strange programs (don’t do this unless you know what to look out for). I then used the Windows “Add/Remove Programs” module and got rid of thing suspicious.

After I was sure had scrubbed down my computer and was clean, I logged back online and entered my eBay account. I changed by password and then changed the password for PayPal also. I tried to remember every online account I had visited over the last several days. Oops, my bank!

So I contacted my local bank and changed the password for their account too. Was this strictly necessary…hmmm, I wasn’t sure, but I could recovered from a shut-down eBay account a heck of alot faster than I could from empty checking account!

So after changing passwords for any websites I was working on and any other accounts, I could settle down and figure out what I had done wrong. I routinely use anti-virus and spyware killer software. I have a good firewall installed and I seldom download “freeware” from unknown sites, but I got in a hurry and I overrode my own rules. Being cheap was alot more than the few bucks the software would have cost once I tallied the “price” downtime and lost productivity.

But it could have been worse. I didn’t lose any money or my identity!

5 Spyware Mistakes Most Everyone Makes: Could this be you?

You have already heard enough about spyware to last you for a lifetime. So why is your machine acting so strange lately? The crashes, the sluggish behavior and the pop-ups are driving you mad.

You have got all the right stuff: all the software programs, the anti-virus, the firewall, etc. But your PC has been acting up and now there is some weird program installed on your desktop. If you want to get your computer back on track then you should see if you are making these five mistakes.

1) Did you forget to update your operating system?
Updating your computer can be a pain, I know. But of the things you could do to lock down and secure your PC, this one beats out all the others hands down. The boys from Redmond, WA (Microsoft headquarters), develop and send out operating system updates at least once a month, usually on a Tuesday.

Your best method is to turn on your Windows “Automatic Updates” module and let it handle the download and installation process for you “auto-magically”. But you prefer you can just remember to use the “Windows Update” browser (click on “START” > “Windows Update”) to manually download the latest patches.

2) Did you forget to use your anti-spyware program?
If you haven’t already done it, you should download a good spyware remover like Ad-Aware SE, Spybot S&D or SpySweeper. Once you have the program of your choice installed, you should take the time to run a complete scan of your hard drive. Now this could take several minutes up to an hour if your PC is heavily infected. So you should do this while no one is scheduled to use the PC since multitasking slows down the scanning process.

Quarantine and remove as much of the spyware as you can. If you run into any really stubborn to remove stuff, just restart your computer and press “F8″ after the PC logo, to enter the Windows Safe Mode area. Once in Safe Mode, just run the program.

3) Did you remember to install a good firewall?
You should use a personal firewall like ZoneAlarm or Avast! If you are using Windows Vista, then you should make sure the native firewall is turned on. A firewall is basically an application that acts as a “shield” that protects your PC from attacks from outside. It also can act as a barrier that makes it difficult for certain malicious programs access the Internet though your connection.

Bad programs often are designed to act as Trojan Horses (there is special class of software named exactly for this) that “open” the doorways (ports) of your PC for more dangerous programs to enter.

4) Did you visit one of the “3 G’s” lately?
Gaming, Gambling and Girlie websites are often hotbeds of spyware and viruses. Be very cautious when visiting websites like these unless they are run by a trusted (brand-name) publisher. A website named “Get-your-woo-woo-here” is more likely to use malicious programs then a website published by a million dollar company like Playboy Enterprises. Gaming “cheat” sites can also have digital tag-alongs for “advertising” purposes. Also exercise extreme caution in using off-shore gambling sites run by shady operators.

5) Did you download something from a P2P network?
Copyright issues aside, some users and some shady operators of peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks deliberately upload infected files and programs to gain illegal access to sensitive stuff on other people’s computers. Don’t reuse any password you have used on a P2P, since most don’t secure usernames or passwords. And make sure your web browser is set to ask your permission before downloading any file. Know what you are downloading!

Spyware Hackers or You: Who is the most dangerous?

Are you sabotaging yourself with spyware?

“The Amish Virus
You have just received the Amish virus. As the Amish don’t have any technology or programming experience, this virus works on the honor system.
Please delete all the files from your hard drive and manually forward this virus to everyone on your mailing list. Thank you for your cooperation.”

As a computer technician, the first time I read this joke, I laughed out loud. Yep, I thought to myself, ain’t that the truth. I know from both personal and professional experience that spyware programmers can cause a lot of damage not only to a computer but also to your personal life if they have access to your sensitive files.

But all jokes aside, the most dangerous person who can access your machine is not some remote foreign hacker but you and your family. Often when I visit a client who is having spyware issues, I often find that the bulk of their problems are self inflicted.

Malicious programmers can only hide their products inside of innocent looking pop-ups, webpages or “freeware” programs hoping to lure some unwary computer user into downloading them. Like a fisherman on the river bank, they can only cast out appetizing bait hoping to hook you.

But it’s you, the computer user who can do whatever you like with your machine:

Like download files or programs from unknown sources…

Or turn off your firewall, because you find it annoying…

Forget to download and update security patches for operating system…

“Borrow” programs from your good buddy and install on your PC…

Visit high-risk websites catering to game “cheats”, offshore gambling or the “babe-of-the-day”…

Use weak passwords or don’t change them frequently enough…

Change the security and privacy settings on your web browser, so you don’t have to keep approving downloads…

Never look at the URL or address of website to make sure you haven’t been redirected to a spoof site…

Never read the EULA (end user license agreements), opt-in terms, privacy statements, and any notices with any software you download.

I feel, that to a certain extent, lack of proper knowledge on how to prevent spyware is a problem but still a good many clients just don’t care enough to stop their bad browsing habits. They like doing what they want on the Net and they just figure that spyware is the “cost” of doing business as usual.

But this “it can’t happen here” mindset is exactly what the bad guys are looking for. They have created the best “lures” they possibly can but you still have to “take the nibble” to get caught.

Spyware like the “Amish Virus” relies on people to make their own selves victims.

Computer Problem Tips - 10 Spyware Warning Signs - Are You Infected?

It's been estimated that over 60% of all computers have some kind of spyware installed and most of their owners are unaware! If you are tired of your PC running slow and filling your screen with those nasty pop-up then you will want to read the 10 warning signs listed below. Afterwards check out my "action plan" and what you can do to rid yourself of your spyware infestation.

1. Browser Hijacks - When I used to get a call from a customer saying that their homepage had suddenly changed, without them doing anything, I knew to bring my anti-spyware fighting software. Malicious programmers love to change your browser settings to transfer your homepage to their "client's" websites.

2. PC is Crashing - Without warning, your PC starts crashing, freezing or locking up, but you haven't added any new software or updated anything recently.

3. Pop-Ups - You open your browser to visit your favorite blog site then "WHAM!" You are suddenly drowning in pop-ups! Your screen is full of brightly colored lures to porn, gambling or gaming websites. You click on the "Close" or the "X" to shut it down...uh, oh something is downloading to your machine!

4. Strange Favorites - You notice that there is a strange looking icon in your favorites. You click on it out of curiosity. You are caught in a webring of girly webpages...drat it, you're at work!

5. Strange Icon on Desktop or in Systray - You know notice a "winking" red light on the bottom-right in your Systray display. It says you have been infected. You hurriedly click on it to see what is wrong. Then a pop-up appears that says it is downloading an "anti-virus killer"...uh, oh.

6. Strange New Files Appear - You are poking about in your files and you notice that some odd, spyware-killer software has a folder on your hard drive. Where did that one come from?

7. Strange Emails - While searching for a note you dropped to the boss, you notice that you have lots of strange emails in your "Send" folder. You didn't send them, especially the ones in a foreign language.

8. Strange Toolbars - You open up your browser and now you have 3 toolbars instead of just one. What gives? When you try to remove, or change the settings, they keep coming back no matter what you do.

9. PC runs sluggish or slow - Granted your computer may not be the newest kid on the block but lately it has been moving slower than the Street Dept fixing a pothole. It takes several minutes for it logon and go out on the web. And it takes forever for you do to the simplest things anymore.

10. Hard Drive is running all the time - You have noticed that your hard drive is running all the time now. Even when nobody is on the machine! You can see the activity light blinking away and you can also hear the drive being accessed. Huh?

Action Plan - What to do next...

Download from the Net or buy a good anti-spyware software package. For free try Ad-Aware or SpyBot's S&D. Or use SpySweeper if you need an industrial strength cleaner.

Scan your hard drive and follow any instructions on removing items.

Install a good personal firewall program to slow down pop-ups and other nastiness.

Computer Problems Tips - The 3 Levels of Spyware - Do You Still Control Your Computer?

"The only difference between the fool, and the criminal who attacks a system is that the fool attacks unpredictably and on a broader front." (Tom Gilb)

It doesn't matter if your computer is compromised by professional villains or just by the geeky kid across the street, once your sensitive files have been broken into your life may never be the same. Spyware is one of the most unrated forms of "espionage" occurring in the world today.

Most computer users think of this kind of program as a being just as an annoying or embarrassing kind of prank. But criminal-minded programmers know better.

In the past, spyware and its close cousin adware were simply wicked bits of "paid advertisements" for shady website publishers to attract customers. But soon, more malicious coders determined to use these programs to really "spy" on innocent people and dig out as many of their victim's secrets to use or sell on the black market as possible.

These new programs are being crafted by "professional" development teams just like a "real" software company. The programs are sophisticated and slick.

At its most innocent level, these spy packages just track your browsing habits (where you go and what you do on the web). Your email addresses are also raided. This information is then sold to websites for advertising.

At an intermediate level, a "keystroke" logger (a program that observes and records what you type on your keyboard) can be used in combination with web-tracking software to dig out the keywords, passwords and usernames you use when visiting sites such as eBay, PayPal and your bank.

The final level is in which spyware has completely overwhelmed your computer and all your sensitive information is laid-bare to any prying eyes that want to view it. Your ID/SSN numbers, your home address, personal photographs, your banking or other financial information is dug out and sold to the highest bidder.

This is then used to create everything from fake driver's licenses for teenagers, terrorists, and illegals to making dupe credit cards used to run up charges under your name. Your "identity" has been stolen and compromised for years to come.

Your computer can be turned into a "zombie" and thousands and thousands of fake emails could be sent through your connection to the Internet. This will result in your ISP (Internet Service Provider) taking action and limiting or shutting down your account. And with unpaid charges bouncing about your credit card report will soon be in a shambles as well.

What you should do now to lock down your PC...

Download from the Net or buy a good anti-spyware software package. For free try Ad-Aware or SpyBot's S&D. Or use SpySweeper if you need an industrial strength cleaner.

Scan your hard drive and follow any instructions on removing items.

Install a good personal firewall program to slow down pop-ups and other nastiness.

Password protect any personal folders where sensitive documents, photos, etc are stored.

Download and install a password storage program like "Password Safe" to securely store your usernames and passcodes.

Use strong passwords.

Change passwords every 6 months for your bank, eBay, PayPal and other financial institutions.

10 Tips And Shortcuts To Make Using Windows Easier

There are a number of tricks and shortcuts that are fairly well known among people that have been using Windows a lot over the last 14 years of it's existence. However, we tend to take it for granted that everyone knows these things, when in fact they don't.

Some of these functions are documented in the Windows help files, but I've noticed (with our secretary and my colleagues, for example) that most people never read the help files. I suppose they are kinda boring...

So with out further ado, here are some turbo tips for Windows:

(If a key name is in bold, it means you HOLD IT DOWN while pressing the other keys)

1. Windows key (the one with the flying window on it) and E will open Windows explorer, instead of right clicking the My Computer Icon on the desktop and then clicking Explore. Very useful if your desktop is full of open windows and you wnat to get another explorer window open.

2. Ctrl B for making marked text bold

3. Ctrl C to copy marked text to the clipboard

4. Ctrl V to paste that text into a new document.

5. Ctrl A selects All; either all text in a document, or all files in Explorer.

6. Alt Prt Sc to copy the presently open window to the clipboard. You can then use Ctrl V to paste it, as a jpeg image, into a document, or a photo editing program.

7. Crtl Shift Esc will open Task manager, where you can see what processes are running, and stop them if they are misbehaving and won't close. Task manager also gives you a graph which shows how hard your CPU and memory are working.

8. In Windows Explorer and in Outlook Express (and other programs) if you click on the column headings, it will sort the whole thing according to the alphabetic/numeric order of that column. Clicking it again will reverse sort it.

9. Clicking a word of text twice will highlight (ie mark) that word. Clicking the word three times in quick succession will select the whole sentence, line or paragraph. (Depending on your text editor)

10. In Windows Explorer, if you hold your Ctrl key down, you can click on numerous, random files and select them, even if they are not contiguous (For foreign readers, this means: one after the other)

I hope this helps you. I will post another 10 tips in my next article.

Firefox 3.0 Warning - Do Not Install Now It's Way Too Slow

Be afraid, be very afraid of Firefox 3.0, that is if you value Internet Speed. I've used Firefox exclusively for the past 4 years or so and I've always been impressed by Firefox and the people behind it. For me, Firefox always ran faster then Internet Explorer and I loved its basic features. The thing is though, sometimes people with good intentions do stupid things and sometimes people with non-altruistic intentions do very good reliable things. I always said, if the Mafia ran the United States, we'd be better off!

My beef with Firefox 3.0 is a huge one and I don't understand why they didn't think this was a major problem before unleashing this new version to an unsuspecting public. Specifically, It's way too slow because as of June 17, 2008, Google Web Accelerator and Fasterfox are not compatible with Firefox 3.0. I'm guessing they eventually will be but there is no excuse for putting this out in the market like this, albeit its free. Before I go on I should mention that my computer is an excellent Toshiba Tecra A8 Core 2 Duo, 4MB RAM, XP, 80 GB laptop with Broadband Cable Connection. My internet speed with Firefox 3.0, was between 800 and 1750 downloading as opposed to my usual speeds of 3,500- 12,000 downloading with Firefox 2 when I'm actually on Fasterfox with Google Web Accelerator. After about an hour of frustration, I just thought, oh well, I'll use System Restore and go back to the way it was before in 15 minutes or less. Wrong!

It took me about 3 hours to fix the damage and even now I'm not sure its totally fixed. To begin with, when I used System Restore, Firefox 2 would no longer work. I then restored my original settings where Firefox 3.0 was. I had to use Internet Explorer and I had trouble even finding a download for the old Firefox as I think the Download Site had too many people on it and I kept having problems. So to make a long story short, I manually uninstalled Firefox off my computer, then using Internet Explorer I finally managed to download Firefox 2, I had to reinstall the Google Toolbar and for whatever reason had to also reinstall the Google Web Accelerator and Fasterfox. I then had to use various registry software to get my computer back to snuff. The result is, with Firefox 2 via Fasterfox and Google Web Accelerator, my speed is now about 4500 on the download but maybe its that low because its around lunchtime. In any case. that's a lot better then 800-1750 with Firefox 3.

So my recommendation to you is, despite the really great features on Firefox 3.0, if internet speed is important to you and you rely on Google Web Accelerator and Fasterfox to make things faster, don't install Firefox 3.0 until its compatible with Web Accelerator and Fasterfox. I'll delete or revise this article when that happens.

Top 5 Ways to Speed Up Vista Home Loading and Stability

There are two types of Vista Home versions- Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premium. The Home Basic is for those with a more conservative budget who will not really use much of their computers except for checking e-mails or news browsing through the web. The Home Premium edition targets a more broad audience as it allows various ways to create, view and edit multimedia. The latter also has that Aero desktop experience that looks very hip!

But whether you are using a Vista Home Basic or a Vista Home Premium, you may want to speed its performance up a tad bit more due to the fact that it is noticeable slower to use this operating system compared to the others you have used before. So how do you speed up Vista Home? Here are 5 ways to do so:

1. Use the MSCONFIG option

This allows you to disable unwanted and unnecessary programs that load whenever you boot up your Vista Home. The fastest way to do this is by following the instructions below:

Press the Windows button on your keyboard, + "R." A pop-up will show, just type "msconfig" which will lead you to "System Configurations." Select the Startup tab Uncheck the applications you do not want launching with your Vista. The more you check, the faster the start up will be.



2. Disable Sidebar

Vista Home has a quaint feature called Side Bar that gives you easy access to installed gadgets. However, if this seemingly cool feature is disabled, overall functioning of Vista Home will increase. This frees up processing power.

3. Remove Bloatware

If your computer is new, chances are, it has some programs installed to it that came with the PC or laptop. Best to check what your computer currently has installed. Once you have seen applications that you will not use, don't hesitate to uninstall them as this frees up memory.

4. Use Good Ol' Disk Cleanup

Using disk cleanup allows you to delete the temporary files, temporary internet files and compress old files, freeing space on your (C:) Drive. This is a feature that has not changed much since the dawn of Windows and it is as reliable as before as it is now.

5. Use the ReadyBoost option

This is one mighty nice feature of Windows Vista Home. It can use an storage space as a memory cache on a portable storage device to speed up your Vista Home performance. It basically gives your computer a fast memory in retrieving information. You use this by:

Plugging in the thumb drive. Follow these links: Start, Computer, right click on the removable storage device icon, select Properties. Click the ReadyBoost Tab which will show so long as you're device is eligible for this feature, Choose Use this Device and specify the amount of space you want to allocate for this. Click OK.

Do note that although it may have some bad reviews, Vista Home is a really good operating system, you just have to learn where to tweak it a bit to get the results you want.

Kris Mainieri is an accomplished Computer Tech focusing on innovative and unique ways to help people take their computing performance to a whole new level free.

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By pass download limit restrictions and access any blocked site with ultrasurf

After a long time a good proxy software has forced me to write about proxy related stuff, this one is called UltraSurf which is best tunnelling software I have used till now.

Previously I had written about JAP which is again a good tunnelling software to access blocked sites but has some connectivity issues some times when connecting to proxy servers and little bit slow at the same time.

Ultrasurf is a easy to use proxy software, as there is no need to install it, just double click the program exe to start it and it auto configures the Internet Explorer and start it also with a home page as google search in Japanese language.

What you can do with Ultrasurf

1. You can access any website form your office ,college or from anywhere you want irrespective of the security policy and blocking method.

2. You can also download any thing from any where irrespective of the download limitations set over your network.

As you can see in the image below, you can select in between three proxy servers to connect for opening blocked sites with ultrasurf.

You can check the checkboxes under preferred as shown in the image above for different proxy servers.

Other good to use features of ultrasurf includes the following.

• Close IE automatically with ultrasurf exit.
• Set IE proxy automatically.
• Delete history automatically when program exit.

Download UltraSurf

If you have any problem in using ultrasurf please let us know through your comments I would love to help yo

Disable Last Access Timestamp

Whenever XP reads a file, it stamps the file with the date and time that you accessed it. This feature has its place but is not required for normal use unless you rely on the date of last access for backup purposes, which is a rare requirement for most backups. Putting a timestamp on a file that has just been read means that a write access has to be made to disk, so every time a read is executed, a corresponding write is also executed. To disable the last access timestamp behaviour, start a command prompt, enter the following command then reboot; FSUTIL behavior set disablelastaccess 1 Those of us who read and write Her Majesty's English need to take note of the American spelling of the BEHAVIOR parameter. To turn timestamps back on, repeat the command but replace 1 with 0; FSUTIL behavior set disablelastaccess 0

ClearType

Tweak #1: Enable ClearType

	Performance isn't just about the speed of your system, it includes being able to clearly see the text on your screen. ClearType provides support for vastly improved font display on colour LCD monitors, high-quality TFT and standard CRT screens, and whilst ClearType is enabled by default in Internet Explorer 7, it isn't enabled in XP. Compare the difference:
	To enable ClearType and make any adjustments to suit your eyes, go to the Microsoft Typography pages and follow the simple instructions. You can adjust ClearType in the Control Panel after installing the software at the link.