Well, as it turns out, one of the best practices of securing your personal information is to create and manage multiple passwords for each account. Of course this doesn’t really protect you if, say, the entire network of the site you trust your information to gets hacked, but it’s great for protecting your accounts, if someone manages to hack only one. And believe it or not, the process of managing multiple passwords does not have to be as much of a headache as it would seem. All it takes is a smart yet subtle system.

Essential Security
If there is only one thing you must take away from this post here it is: Don’t share passwords between your email (or your bank) and last.fm. And by this I mean establish unique, higher-profile passwords for sites with your most important information. If you have a bunch of accounts that don’t contain very serious information, like your last.fm, accounts to forums, or anywhere else that likely wouldn’t have your credit card information, it’s excusable – though still not advisable – to share passwords between these.

Otherwise, if some noob hacks one of these accounts, they could then trace your email from that account, and the first thing they will do is see if the same password for the account they hacked works on your email. There is a surprising amount of people who share their email password with other more unimportant accounts; I used to be included in this group of people. It is about one of the dumbest things you can do with your information online.

The Smart System
While it is extremely important to keep in mind my advice in the point above about having separate passwords for high security information, I will now tell you of a great way to arrange one password into multiple passwords that can be used on different sites.

Start With a Keyword
This will be the main “emphasis” of your password, meaning this will essentially be how you will remember your password. Try to use a keyword that isn’t an actual word in your native language, or perhaps give it a unique spelling. Names can also be a good idea as well, but don’t be obvious as someone with your personal information could easily crack it. Remember that you can also use two keywords, particularly if they are both small in character length. For the purposes of this post, let’s say I come up with the keyword: buzzrd.

Modify the Keyword Head and Tail
Here’s the nifty part. Use elements of the account you are passwording to come up with these head and tail modifications. For example, in my last.fm account, I might make it: labuzzrdfm. However, for Meebo, I might make it mebuzzrdbo. What I did here, was take the first two characters and last two characters of the site I’m logging into, and made them the head and tail of my password.

Of course, I do not suggest using such a simple method of creating a head and tail to your password; I did that only to create a simple and clear example. A better idea would be taking the second and fourth characters of the website, or perhaps the second- and third-to-last characters of the username you are logging into. Essentially, you want to use arbitrary elements of the site and username to make each password you have unique and that much harder to crack.

I also think it’s a good idea to add numbers somewhere in your password, perhaps breaking up your keyword or maybe in between your keyword and the head and tail. I wouldn’t worry as much about using different numbers for each password as that will become exponentially harder to remember.

This was a guest post by Alvina Lopez is a freelance writer and blog junkie, who blogs about accredited online schools.  She welcomes your comments at her email Id: alvina.lopez @gmail.com.

To remove this type of files from your computer do the following steps:-

1. Click start and then run.
2. Type cmd to open up the command prompt.
3. Change your directory to any on off your directory by using syntax driveletter: For example d:
4. Then type the command attrib in the prompt it display the list of executable files in the current directory.
5. Check whether autorun.inf file is present or not.
6. If not then you are lucky.
7. If present then you have to follow all the following steps to remove that file.
8. First you have to remove the power it is having for ex read only conception etc…
9. The attribute depends on viruses.
10. One common step to remove all its properties is type the following command in the command prompt:- attrib -s -h -r autorun.inf
11. -s to remove its system attribute, -h to remove its hidden attribute and -r to remove the read only attribute.
12. You can use this steps to remove any of the files which has this properties.
13. Remember before doing the above steps you have to remove all the viruses form your computer. I recommend avast home edition which is free and 100% perfect. If you haven’t clean the viruses first clean it because after you delete this file it will automatically creates it without your knowledge.
14. Then type the following command:- del autorun.inf.
15. Now you have successfully deleted the file after you deleted the file restart your computer or remove your pendrive and plug it again.

This is how we can remove the viruses that you might have accidentally downloaded through internet or pen drives.

For getting to our point lets take a look at how a linux system works. Linux works in a multi-user environment, where users are given privileges of different magnitude for different purposes. A typical user would have normal privileges, simple enough to help him use the system but not change major system settings.

To spread a virus around you’ll have to gain access to the core of a linux system and for that you’ll need to have root access.

Linux is centered around security and gaining root access is nearly impossible. But, as they say, impossible is nothing. Viruses for linux are on the rise. One of the major reasons is due to the fact that linux is being spread and marketed at quite a fast rate.

To accommodate novice users, GUI’s are being integrated. And this is one of the causes of rise in viruses. How? The following is a quote from a foobar blog post:

Then you save an email attachment under Linux, the execute flag is normally NOT set and thus, the file can’t be executed just by clicking on it. So, no luck?

Not so fast. Modern desktop environments, such as Gnome and KDE, conveniently offer a nice “workaround” called ‘launchers’. Those are small files that describe how something should be started. Just a few lines that specify the name, the icon that should be displayed and the actual command to execute. Conveniently, the syntax of those launcher files is the same for Gnome and KDE. And those launchers don’t have to have any execute permissions set on them! Desktop environments treat those files as a special case, so when you click on them Gnome or KDE will happily execute the command that was specified within the launcher description and without the need for the execute bit to be set on the launcher itself. Now we are getting somewhere!

But don’t jump the gun yet. Most of the linux distros are still way safer than Windows systems. The reason being that as they are open source and have full disclosure, developers are quick to release patches/fixes.

Will he go rouge? (from pillateunlinux.wordpress.com)

Also the reason why Linux viruses are rare, is because of the simple fact that the world has too much Windows Users. So if a hacker could write a code and hack (for eg.) 60% of the world’s computers (as they are Windows-based systems) instead of only a handful of Linux computers, what would he choose?

Your thoughts…

So how do you do it? Here’s a new service called PasswordCard, which allows you to print out a credit-card sized image of sequences of letters and symbols like the one below:

PasswordCard

So how do you get a password from this?

Your PasswordCard has a unique grid of random letters and digits on it. The rows have different colors, and the columns different symbols. All you do is remember a combination of a symbol and a color, and then read the letters and digits from there. It couldn’t be simpler!

You can optionally include an area that has only digits which you can use for PIN’s, and you can also choose to include symbols if you use sites which require your passwords to include them. Remember that you can still use the digits-only area for regular passwords, for any site which allows numbers in its passwords!

In case your PasswordCard gets lost you can generate a new, same card be supplying the 16-digit number that was generated along with your card the first time.

A few pointers from the site are:

• Don’t read along with your finger, or the smudge will tell a thief where your password is.
• Keep your PasswordCard on your person, don’t leave it lying around near your computer.
• Clear your browser cache and history after printing the page.

So go on and print your self a secure PasswordCard now. Click here to visit the site.

I clicked on the ‘Why was this page blocked?’ button in the ‘Reported Attack Page’ in Firefox, and came upto the Google safe browsing Diagnostic page. And now I quote from that page as to the reason why my blog was blocked:

Of the 181 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 134 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2010-05-25, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 2010-05-25.

Malicious software is hosted on 1 domain(s), including manilis.com/.

1 domain(s) appear to be functioning as intermediaries for distributing malware to visitors of this site, including bidvertiser.com/.

Oh boy, yeah, bidvertiser! I had put on two ad blocks of advertiser, less than a month ago.

Sure enough, I logged into my Google Webmaster Tools and checked the blog out. Yup there was that glum yet dangerous warning : ‘This site may be distributing malware. More Details ‘

In the details section of each and every page was the same text:

What the hell? Malware? Earlier users were clearly unhappy with their tracking, review and certain black hat SEO methods.And now malware? As a result of the site being ‘closed down’, I’m already losing thousands of visitors and not to mention the revenue.

In what I could make out is that advertisers using the bidvertiser are somehow ‘advertising’ malware, which could be the result of the bidvertiser guys not having a proper advertisement-review policy in place.

As you might have guessed, I’ve already removed their advertisements from my site and am just about to close down my bidvertiser account. Don’t want to take anymore chances. Nuh, their not getting a share of my money no more!

Below I am attaching the Google safe browsing Diagnostic page of both my blog as well as that of bidvertiser.com. Check it out and I think you might have a clearer idea.  Note that for personal reasons  I am not divulging the name of the blog which was blocked.

Google safe browsing Diagnostic page of my blog

Google safe browsing Diagnostic page of Bidvertiser.com

Your computer is a sophisticated system that keeps track of each and every happening on it (how much ever you curse it for not even doing the most trivial tasks easily!). So how do you do it?

Well, here it is:

• First go to the RUN box (Start => Run or Start+R)
• Now type the following in the text-box:
  

  eventvwr.msc

• Alternatively you could go to the Control Panel => Administrative Tools => Event Viewer.
• Once the Event Viewer window is open click on the System link in the left pane.

Now scroll through the times given in the right pane. Consider the following example to get a clearer idea:

Here I had switched off my computer around 6 PM which has entries with time upto 5:42:05 PM as well as 5:56:59 PM. However notice that there is also a event recorded at 7:05:58 PM and another at 9:24:40 PM.

Well those were the times that my computer were last switched on. Interesting, who could it be? (don’t worry it was my sis )

Got any other ways to find it out? Please do share.

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The download is currently live and will be live till midnight GMT Sunday 28 March. To download it you can head over here.

First of all let us see what drivers are- Drivers are pieces of software that you recieve whenever you buy any hardware or upgrade it. Drivers are pieces of software that translate the code language of the hardware to the language of the computer. It is just like an interpreter, that a VIP uses when he travels to a foreign country.

The working of the diagram can be summarized diagrammatically in the image below (by windowsdriverhelp.com):

The Working of a Computers Driver

So why should we update drivers?

1. The compatibility view

   Updating drivers lets your hardware remain compatible to the ever changing development of your OS and the internet. Suppose you have a graphic card, and you want to play a multiplayer online game, that is based on browser. If your card does not have the required driver, you will not be able to play it, because your card is not recognized by your system and in turn not compatible with the game.

2. The security angle

   Although not in great measure, the security of your computer from undesirable viruses is increased when you update the driver. Any security exploit that would have been present in the previous driver or by some error in the hardware will be patched up.

3. The social angle

   And as always it is good to boast (if you are a geek that is) that you have all the latest drivers installed.Ha!

So always keep your drivers updated. There are softwares that check your computer for the version of your driver currently installed and look online and alert for an update, if there are any. You may use RadarSync or DriverMax (recommended). Both are free.

Follow the instructions to make you own Locker ( Without any software !! ) :

• Open notepad.
• Copy the following code in notepad file :

cls
@ECHO OFF
title Folder Locker
if EXIST “Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}” goto UNLOCK
if NOT EXIST Locker goto MDLOCKER
:CONFIRM
echo Are you sure u want to Lock the folder(Y/N)
set/p “cho=>”
if %cho%==Y goto LOCK
if %cho%==y goto LOCK
if %cho%==n goto END
if %cho%==N goto END
echo Invalid choice.
goto CONFIRM
:LOCK
ren Locker “Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}”
attrib +h +s “Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}”
echo Folder locked
goto End
:UNLOCK
echo Enter password to Unlock folder
set/p “pass=>”
if NOT %pass%==YOUR PASSWORD HERE goto FAIL
attrib -h -s “Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}”
ren “Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}” Locker
echo Folder Unlocked successfully
goto End
:FAIL
echo Invalid password
goto end
:MDLOCKER
md Locker
echo Locker created successfully
goto End
:End

• Change the “YOUR PASSWORD HERE” with your password ( Marked as RED above ).
• Save it as batch file ( with extension .bat ) For eg. Locker.bat
• Now you will see a batch file. Double click it to create a folder locker ( A new folder named Locker would be formed at the same location )
• Thats it you have now created your own locker and that too without using any software !

Brings all the files you want to hide in the locker folder. Double click the batch ( As created above ) file to lock the folder namely Locker.

If you want to unlock your files, simple double click the batch file again and you would be prompted for password ( In DOS window ). Enter the password and enjoy access to the folder.

So it’s very important that you disable auto-run in your PC’s quickly. Use the appropriate method according to your OS, and perform it:

1. The easiest and most effective means to truly disable autorun can be done via this simple autorun registry hack:REGEDIT4
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\Autorun.inf]
   @=”@SYS:DoesNotExist”
2. To use this method, Open Notepad and copy/paste the following into a text file:REGEDIT4
   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\Autorun.inf]
   @=”@SYS:DoesNotExist”Save the file as something.reg. (You have to be sure to change the “Save File as Type” to “All Files” before saving, or Windows will try to save it as a .txt even if you typed in .reg.
3. Locate the file you just saved and double-click the file to run it. You will receive a prompt asking if you want to add the data to the registry. Click yes to allow the modification.
4. The above method nulls any request for autorun.inf and works on XP Home or Pro, as well as Windows Vista. Credit for this tip goes to Nick Brown.If you opt to disable autorun using any other method, you will first need to install an autorun patch from Microsoft that allegedly resolves issues that cause autorun to run even after it’s been disabled (using methods other than the above recommended method).
5. XP Pro users who have installed the appropriate Microsoft patch for your system and wish to disable autorun using a method other than described above, follow steps 3 through 8 only. XP Home users begin at step 9. Vista users, see How to Disable Autorun in Windows Vista.
6. XP Pro users: Click Start and then click Run. Type gpedit.msc and click OK. The Group Policy window will open. In the left pane, double-click Administrative Templates
7. the right pane, double-click System, scroll down the list and double-click Turn Off Autoplay
8. the Turn Off Autoplay Properties window, select Enabled. From the dropdown next to Turn Off Autoplay on, select All drives and then click OK. Exit Group Policy by selecting File, then choosing Exit from the menu.
9. Home users will need to make the changes by editing the registry directly. To begin, click Start and then click Run
10. regedit and click OK. The Registry Editor window will open.
11. the left pane, navigate to:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER
    Software
    Microsoft
    Windows
    CurrentVersion
    Policies
    Explorer.
    (Note: For help navigating the registry, see the Windows Basics System Registry tutorial).
12. Explorer highlighted, in the right-pane right click the value NoDriveTypeAutoRun and select Modify from the drop down menu. The base value will be set to Hexadecimal. If not, select Hexadecimal.
13. 95 and click OK.
    Note that this will stop Autorun on removable/USB drives, but still allow it on CD ROM drives. If you want to disable autorun on both, substitute b5 for the 95. (Thanks to Ian L. of Manitoba for the tip).
14. Registry Editor by selecting File, then choosing Exit from the menu.
15. will now need to reboot your computer for the changes to take effect.