iPreFher

If you’ve let your guard down–or even if you haven’t–it can be hard to tell if your PC is infected. Here’s what to do if you suspect the worst.

Heard this one before? You must run antivirus software and keep it up to date or else your PC will get infected, you’ll lose all your data, and you’ll incur the wrath of every e-mail buddy you unknowingly infect because of your carelessness.

You know they’re right. Yet for one reason or another, you’re not running antivirus software, or you are but it’s not up to date. Maybe you turned off your virus scanner because it conflicted with another program. Maybe you got tired of upgrading after you bought Norton Antivirus 2001, 2002, and 2003. Or maybe your annual subscription of virus definitions recently expired, and you’ve put off renewing.

It happens. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. But chances are, either you’re infected right now, as we speak, or you will be very soon.

For a few days in late January, the Netsky.p worm was infecting about 2,500 PCs a day. Meanwhile the MySQL bot infected approximately 100 systems a minute (albeit not necessarily desktop PCs). As David Perry, global director of education for security software provider Trend Micro, puts it, “an unprotected [Windows] computer will become owned by a bot within 14 minutes.”

Today’s viruses, worms, and so-called bots–which turn your PC into a zombie that does the hacker’s bidding (such as mass-mailing spam)–aren’t going to announce their presence. Real viruses aren’t like the ones in Hollywood movies that melt down whole networks in seconds and destroy alien spacecraft. They operate in the background, quietly altering data, stealing private operations, or using your PC for their own illegal ends. This makes them hard to spot if you’re not well protected.

Is Your PC “Owned?”

I should start by saying that not every system oddity is due to a virus, worm, or bot. Is your system slowing down? Is your hard drive filling up rapidly? Are programs crashing without warning? These symptoms are more likely caused by Windows, or badly written legitimate programs, rather than malware. After all, people who write malware want to hide their program’s presence. People who write commercial software put icons all over your desktop. Who’s going to work harder to go unnoticed?

Other indicators that may, in fact, indicate that there’s nothing that you need to worry about, include:

* An automated e-mail telling you that you’re sending out infected mail. E-mail viruses and worms typically come from faked addresses.
* A frantic note from a friend saying they’ve been infected, and therefore so have you. This is likely a hoax. It’s especially suspicious if the note tells you the virus can’t be detected but you can get rid of it by deleting one simple file. Don’t be fooled–and don’t delete that file.

I’m not saying that you should ignore such warnings. Copy the subject line or a snippet from the body of the e-mail and plug it into your favorite search engine to see if other people have received the same note. A security site may have already pegged it as a hoax.

Sniffing Out an Infection

There are signs that indicate that your PC is actually infected. A lot of network activity coming from your system (when you’re not actually using Internet) can be a good indicator that something is amiss. A good software firewall, such as ZoneAlarm, will ask your permission before letting anything leave your PC, and will give you enough information to help you judge if the outgoing data is legitimate. By the way, the firewall that comes with Windows, even the improved version in XP Service Pack 2, lacks this capability.

To put a network status light in your system tray, follow these steps: In Windows XP, choose Start, Control Panel, Network Connections, right-click the network connection you want to monitor, choose Properties, check “Show icon in notification area when connected,” and click OK.

If you’re interested in being a PC detective, you can sniff around further for malware. By hitting Ctrl-Alt-Delete in Windows, you’ll bring up the Task Manager, which will show you the various processes your system is running. Most, if not all, are legit, but if you see a file name that looks suspicious, type it into a search engine and find out what it is.

Want another place to look? In Windows XP, click Start, Run, type “services.msc” in the box, and press Enter. You’ll see detailed descriptions of the services Windows is running. Something look weird? Check with your search engine.

Finally, you can do more detective work by selecting Start, Run, and typing “msconfig” in the box. With this tool you not only see the services running, but also the programs that your system is launching at startup. Again, check for anything weird.

If any of these tools won’t run–or if your security software won’t run–that in itself is a good sign your computer is infected. Some viruses intentionally disable such programs as a way to protect themselves.

What to Do Next

Once you’re fairly sure your system is infected, don’t panic. There are steps you can take to assess the damage, depending on your current level of protection.

* If you don’t have any antivirus software on your system (shame on you), or if the software has stopped working, stay online and go for a free scan at one of several Web sites. There’s McAfee FreeScan, Symantec Security Check, and Trend Micro’s HouseCall. If one doesn’t find anything, try two. In fact, running a free online virus scan is a good way to double-check the work of your own local antivirus program. When you’re done, buy or download a real antivirus program.
* If you have antivirus software, but it isn’t active, get offline, unplug wires– whatever it takes to stop your computer from communicating via the Internet. Then, promptly perform a scan with the installed software.
* If nothing seems to be working, do more research on the Web. There are several online virus libraries where you can find out about known viruses. These sites often provide instructions for removing viruses–if manual removal is possible–or a free removal tool if it isn’t. Check out GriSOFT’s Virus Encyclopedia, Eset’s Virus Descriptions, McAffee’s Virus Glossary, Symantec’s Virus Encyclopedia, or Trend Micro’s Virus Encyclopedia.

A Microgram of Prevention

Assuming your system is now clean, you need to make sure it stays that way. Preventing a breach of your computer’s security is far more effective than cleaning up the mess afterwards. Start with a good security program, such Trend Micro’s PC-Cillin, which you can buy for $50.

Don’t want to shell out any money? You can cobble together security through free downloads, such as AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition, ZoneAlarm (a personal firewall), and Ad-Aware SE (an antispyware tool).

Just make sure you keep all security software up to date. The bad guys constantly try out new ways to fool security programs. Any security tool without regular, easy (if not automatic) updates isn’t worth your money or your time.

Speaking of updating, the same goes for Windows. Use Windows Update (it’s right there on your Start Menu) to make sure you’re getting all of the high priority updates. If you run Windows XP, make sure to get the Service Pack 2 update. To find out if you already have it, right-click My Computer, and select Properties. Under the General tab, under System, it should say “Service Pack 2.”

Here are a few more pointers for a virus-free life:

* Be careful with e-mail. Set your e-mail software security settings to high. Don’t open messages with generic-sounding subjects that don’t apply specifically to you from people you don’t know. Don’t open an attachment unless you’re expecting it.
* If you have broadband Internet access, such as DSL or cable, get a router, even if you only have one PC. A router adds an extra layer of protection because your PC is not connecting directly with the Internet.
* Check your Internet ports. These doorways between your computer and the Internet can be open, in which case your PC is very vulnerable; closed, but still somewhat vulnerable; or stealthed (or hidden), which is safest. Visit Gibson Research’s Web site and run the free ShieldsUP test to see your ports’ status. If some ports show up as closed–or worse yet, open–check your router’s documentation to find out how to hide them.

Atom was designed by Intel to enable a new generation of continually connected mobile Internet devices, as well as another new category of low-cost, Internet-centric notebooks that the chipmaker calls “netbooks” and basic Internet-centric desktop PCs that it dubs “nettops.”

Atom is part of a collection of chips designed to enable Internet experiences in pocketable devices. The 45-nanometer Intel Atom processors pack a hefty 47 million transistors on a single chip that measures less than 26 millimeters, which makes them Intel’s smallest and lowest-power processors yet.

Here are highlights of the Technology Insight presentation:

The Atom processor was developed specifically for targeted performance and low power while maintaining full Intel microarchitecture instruction set compatibility. Designed from the ground up, this new microarchitecture had one guiding principle during development, which is to drastically reduce power consumption without sacrificing performance.

Explaining how Atom processors make use of multiple threads for better performance and increased system responsiveness, Thakkar said that this translates into scalable performance and increased power efficiency, especially for tasks like fast Web page rendering or multimedia and gaming applications.

The Atom chips boast low thermal design power enabled by improved power management technologies. Low TDP means the Atom chips consume less power, leading to less heat that needs to be dissipated, making it quieter and easier to cool. This gives the new chip the ability to deliver high performance to run the Internet and a broad range of software applications on a small form factor.

Neither Thakkar nor Kuttanna would answer one audience member’s question about whether Intel was planning a “tick-tock” strategy for the Atom processor, similar to the one announced for the new Nehalem processor. Intel’s tick-tock strategy aims to shrink processor size with a new manufacturing process in odd years, and roll out new processor architectures in even years. “Wait to see in Moorestown,” Thakkar responded.

The next generation of handheld devices will run on Intel’s upcoming mobile Internet device platform, Moorestown, which analysts say should be available in 2010. Moorestown will combine a computer processor, graphics processing unit, and memory controllers into one chip; it will be 50% smaller and consume 50% less energy than Intel’s current platform used in mobile devices.

First the safety rules

The inside of a computer is a bad place full of electricity and sharp edges.
On the electricity side always when working on you computer make sure that it’s still plugged in to the power socket and the power is turned off, this is to ensure that any static
From you is discharged through the earth. The inside of most computer cases are unfinished metal and has very sharp edges so be careful.
The first signs of a battery failing are:-

1) your clock starts running slowly
2) when you boot (start) your computer it has a problem finding your hardware (no hard drive, no cd rom)

To change the battery you need the following tools

1) a X-point screwdriver
2) an anti-static strap(optional)
3) a new battery (seems logical)

Then unplug all the cables from the back of the computer as you remove them make a note where they came from. (So when you finished you can put them back)

Move the computer somewhere where you can work on it with ease

Remove the cover by locating the screws around the outer edge (back) of the computer
Some computer cases only require you to remove 2 screws on one side then a panel can be removed allowing you access to the computers insides, others you must remove 6 screws and remove the whole case by sliding it to the rear and lifting it off.

Now make sure that you read the safety instructions about static.
Look inside you will see a round silver thing that looks about the size of a 10p piece (quarter). This is the battery itself, carefully lift the retaining clip and slide the battery out. That’s it removed now go to your local computer retailer, electrical retailer (Tandy/Radio shack) taking the old battery with you and get a new battery.

Back to your computer insert the new battery by lifting the clip and sliding the battery in.

Reinstall your case and plug all the cables back (you did remember to label them didn’t you)

Now for the fun part.

You will now need to go into you bios….

Right the bios is the god of your computer.

To access it, when your computer first starts you will see a black screen with white text.

If you look carefully you will see a line that says something like “press del for setup” or some other key (F2 or ESC or tab) this will take you to god’s house where you can make lots of changes to the way your machine works.

It is also the place where you can make your nice computer in to a rather expensive door stop so be careful and don’t go playing with anything.

You will now be presented with a blue screen with a lot of options on it,
The one we want is load optimised/default settings.

Press the F10 key and type y the computer should now reboot.

If every thing went well then your computer will now be up and running.

Shizers way: Keep computer running. Lay it on it’s side and remove side cover to expose MoBo. Take any thin object, “small screwdriver, knife point, wood shiskabob skewer. Pull back the battery retaining clip. Toss the old battery in the junk recepticle, unless you belong to greenpeace and want to save the earth. Install the new battery. No need to reset bios becasue the compter supplies voltage to the cmos while it is running. Reset or resync clock with internet. Done!

If you don’t want to spend big bucks on a new PC, consider upgrading your old system’s motherboard and CPU. This can boost the machine’s performance and give you access to the latest technologies. It can also save you hundreds of dollars.

What you won’t get is a new hard drive, optical drive, or operating system, though the new motherboard gives you the option of upgrading these components later. When you do it yourself, you choose the make, model, and cost that serve you best, rather than settling for what’s preloaded in an off-the-shelf machine.

For as little as $200 to $350, you can purchase a motherboard with a new Pentium 4 or Athlon processor and 512MB of RAM. (Visit this link to check the latest motherboard prices.) That’s hundreds of dollars less than the retail cost of a midrange PC that supports AGP 8X graphics cards, Serial ATA drives, and the other advanced features that your new motherboard is likely to offer.

Motherboard Buyers Guide

Size matters: Most desktop PCs sold in the last few years conform to the ATX form factor (as do most motherboards), but not all do. Many small or ultrabudget systems are based on other designs, and some PCs from HP/Compaq, IBM, and other big-name vendors aren’t ATX-compatible. Refer to your computer’s documentation to see if the new motherboard will fit inside its case.

Find the right CPU: The optimal combination of CPU price and performance may lead you to early versions of Athlon XP and Pentium 4 processors: Retail boxed versions of 1- to 2-GHz AMD Athlon XP processors cost less than $100, while Pentium 4 processors running at comparable speeds are less than $130. OEM versions of both (that’s minus the fancy box, the cooling fan, and sometimes a warranty) may be priced considerably lower. Avoid older Pentium 4 processors with 256KB of L2 cache. CPUs with 512KB cache are faster and well worth the small added expense.

Be picky: Steer clear of no-name vendors and buy from established manufacturers only.

Pay for power: Your old PC’s power supply may not have enough wattage or may lack the 12-volt amperage needed to run some Pentium 4 and Athlon motherboards. Check the new motherboard’s requirements against the specs on your power supply. If in doubt, buy a power supply that generates 300 watts or more,

Faster is better: A motherboard’s frontside bus speed is the rate at which data moves between the CPU and RAM. FSB speed can have a greater effect on overall system performance than listed CPU speed, which is a multiple of the FSB speed. The faster the FSB, the better.

Get it all: Your new motherboard needs PCI slots and USB ports, two UltraATA/100 connectors, parallel and serial ports (if you use these), and at least two DIMM slots for RAM (DDR RAM is best). For a little extra money, you can get Serial ATA, ethernet, RAID, FireWire, Wi-Fi, and other advanced features.

Sight and sound off: Some low-cost motherboards have sound and graphics functions built in. The quality of these integrated functions is often marginal. Make sure that any built-in sound and graphics can be disabled, and that separate audio and graphics boards can be added.

Minimize Your Mousing

For people in a hurry, every unnecessary mouse movement is an aggravation. Windows 2000, Me, and XP let you set the pointer to automatically move to commonly used buttons in dialog boxes. Click Start, Settings, Control Panel (or Start, Control Panel in XP), and click or double-click Mouse (choose “Printers and Other Hardware” first if you’re in XP’s Categories view, or “View all Control Panel options” if you’re in Me’s “commonly used” view). Now select Pointer Options, check the box labeled “Automatically move pointer to the default button in a dialog box” (the option’s wording varies slightly in Windows 2000), and click OK.

This reg file automatically ends tasks and timeouts that prevent programs from shutting down and clears the Paging File on Exit.

1. Copy the following (everything in the box) into notepad.

QUOTE
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]
“ClearPageFileAtShutdown”=dword:00000001

[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop]
“AutoEndTasks”=”1″

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]
“WaitToKillServiceTimeout”=”1000″

2. Save the file as shutdown.reg
3. Double click the file to import into your registry.

NOTE: If your anti-virus software warns you of a “malicious” script, this is normal if you have “Script Safe” or similar technology enabled.

If XP will not install from the CD or if you have a new drive with no operating system on
it yet try these:

Install Windows XP from the hard drive with Windows 98 already installed:

Boot Windows 98
Insert the XP CD into your CD reader
Explore Windows XP through My Computer
Copy i386 folder to C:\
Go into C:\i386 folder and double click on winnt32.exe to launch the setup from the hard drive

Install Windows XP from DOS (ie. no OS on a new hard drive):

Boot with a Windows 98 Start Up disk
Insert the Windows 98 CD into the CD reader
Run smartdrv.exe from the Win98 directory on the windows 98 CD (file caching)
Type cd.. to back up to the root directory
Insert Windows XP CD into the CD reader
Copy the i386 folder to C:\
Go into C:\i386 folder on C: and type winnt.exe to launch the setup from the hard drive.

Running out of hard disk space, yet also want to keep all the files that are currently on the system in perfect order? Install an extra hard disk, and see your available space rise!

Firstly, make backups of your existing system files. You may never know when these may come in handy. If your current hard disk may go down the pan, you’ll be glad to have something to start with again. Also, if you want to use all your data that is on this drive, back it up anyway; ready to be transferred to the new drive. Also, create a system disk for your PC. This can be created by going to Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs, and then the “System Disk” tab. The instructions should be there for you. “WHEN I INSTALLED MY EXTRA HDD I DDNT FOLLOW ANY OF THE ABOVE MENTIONED….INSTEAD JUST OPEANED THE CABINET AND LOOKED FOR THE WIRES AND CONNECTED THEM …ANY ONE CAN TELL WHERE THE CORRECT WIRE GOES ….. THE MAIN THING IS TO MAKE SURE THAT THE BROAD THIN GRAY WIRE OR DATA CABLE SLOT WITH THE WORD ‘P2′ IS CONNECTED TO THE EXTRA HDD”

Once you are prepared on the software side, turn off your PC and open the case to your PC (Please take proper precautions at this point. Anti-static wristbands and other such devices should be used. If you don’t have these, just make sure you are properly earthed, and know what you are going to do. Oh, and please turn off the PC properly. I don’t want you dying on me, literally!). The hard disk is the metal box shaped thing that is either the size of the floppy drive or it could be the size of the CD-Rom drive. It should be easy to spot, because it might even say “Hard Disk” on it. At this point, look and see where you can put the new drive, and how you are going to connect it up. If there is no hard drive in there, then don’t worry; I’ll explain how to connect it up as well.

Look at the end of the HDD. It should have a load of sockets and pins for you to play around with. At one point, you should be able to see some pins with some jumpers attached, and a sticker on another side telling you what configuration of jumper positions means what to the computer. If you are attaching it to the same IDE cable as your existing drive, then set it to “Slave”, otherwise, select “Master” and fit it as close to the start of the cable as possible (The start of the cable being where it’s connected to the motherboard). This cable is an “IDE” cable, and can only be fitted two ways to the drive itself. Look for an indication as to which side pin number 1 is (Look for stickers again!) and insert the IDE cable in that socket and pins, with the red side as close to pin 1 as possible. Then, just fit it into the computer, as you would do any other drive (For the thickies, which means attaching it to the case using the mounting screws that should come with the PC. Before you do this though, note down the extra information on the top of the drive, usually the number of cylinders, heads, sectors, and any other information. Next, connect one of the power cables to the HDD (These are the 4 cable collections with connectors attached, which leads from the power supply unit), and close the PC case.

Next, you will have to mess with CMOS. Turn on the PC, and hit whatever key you are told to at the bootup to get to the CMOS menus. When in there, choose the relevant section (We can’t say exactly, because there are many different CMOS set-ups around) and select “IDE Auto-detection”. If the hard disk does not appear on it, then you will have to enter the information manually. Use the notes you collected from the top of the hard disk earlier to tell the computer what the hard disk is.

IMPORTANT:
Afterwards, insert the system disk(”THE BACKUP DISK THAT CAN BE CREATED BY RIGHT CLICKING A DRIVE4R AND SELECTING FORMAT AND THEN THE CREATE BACKUP DISK OPT”) prepared earlier and “Save” your editing of the CMOS and exit. The system disk should work instead of the original hard disk (Or if you are installing from scratch, then it will boot from the A: anyway).
Type “fdisk” at the dos prompt. This runs a program called, surprisingly, FDISK. Tell the computer which drive ie the harddisk is the new one (Please choose the correct one at this point. Make a mistake, and you really could be using those backups!), and then tell it what partitions you want (Don’t worry about it, as there are full instructions while you are running the program). Once this is done, you can reset your PC (Except if this drive is being installed from scratch and is on it’s own. If this is the case, then you can format the drive by typing “format c:” This will format the drive for you, but what’s really good is if you type “format c: /s” instead, as this installs some important files at the same time. Then, just follow the instructions to install whatever OS you are going to use.)
If you are adding this drive as a second HDD, Go into Windows (Or any other OS, but the instructions may be different!) and then format from “My Computer” like you would a floppy disk. There you go: A newly installed hard disk, with minimum effort!….and dont take the risk of formatting any of the drives u know!!!! if in doubt contact me here or don’t do at all………”SOD will not be held responsible for any data lost in this process”

Ok, this is a little trick that i usually use to find cd keys with google.

if your looking for a serial number for nero (for example) goto google.com and type nero 94FBR and it’ll bring it up

this works great in google

HOW DOES THIS WORK?

Quite simple really. 94FBR is part of a Office 2000 Pro cd key that is widely distributed as it bypasses the activation requirements of Office 2K Pro. By searching for the product name and 94fbr, you guarantee two things.

1)The pages that are returned are pages dealing specifically with the product you’re wantinga serial for.

2)Because 94FBR is part of a serial number, and only part of a serial number, you guarantee that any page being returned is a serial number list page.

I hope this trick help you finding your ccd keys easily

Enjoy

As it turns out, there isn’t much to the boot process:

1. A boot loader finds the kernel image on the disk, loads it into memory, and starts it.
2. The kernel initializes the devices and its drivers.
3. The kernel mounts the root filesystem.
4. The kernel starts a program called init.
5. init sets the rest of the processes in motion.
6. The last processes that init starts as part of the boot sequence allow you to log in.

Identifying each stage of the boot process is invaluable in fixing boot problems and understanding the system as a whole. To start, zero in on the boot loader, which is the initial screen or prompt you get after the computer does its power-on self-test, asking which operating system to run. After you make a choice, the boot loader runs the Linux kernel, handing control of the system to the kernel.

There is a detailed discussion of the kernel elsewhere in this book from which this article is excerpted. This article covers the kernel initialization stage, the stage when the kernel prints a bunch of messages about the hardware present on the system. The kernel starts init just after it displays a message proclaiming that the kernel has mounted the root filesystem:
(more…)

Setting Up A Ftp:
Well, since many of us have always wondered this, here it is. Long and drawn out. Also, before attempting this, realize one thing; You will have to give up your time, effort, bandwidth, and security to have a quality ftp server.
That being said, here it goes. First of all, find out if your IP (Internet Protocol) is static (not changing) or dynamic (changes everytime you log on). To do this, first consider the fact if you have a dial up modem. If you do, chances are about 999 999 out of 1 000 000 that your IP is dynamic. To make it static, just go to a place like h*tp://www.myftp.org/ to register for a static ip address.

You’ll then need to get your IP. This can be done by doing this:
Going to Start -> Run -> winipcfg or www.ask.com and asking ‘What is my IP?’

After doing so, you’ll need to download an FTP server client. Personally, I’d recommend G6 FTP Server, Serv-U FTPor Bullitproof v2.15 all three of which are extremely reliable, and the norm of the ftp world.
You can download them on this site: h*tp://www.liaokai.com/softw_en/d_index.htm

First, you’ll have to set up your ftp. For this guide, I will use step-by-step instructions for G6. First, you’ll have to go into ‘Setup -> General’. From here, type in your port # (default is 21). I recommend something unique, or something a bit larger (ex: 3069). If you want to, check the number of max users (this sets the amount of simultaneous maximum users on your server at once performing actions - The more on at once, the slower the connection and vice versa).

The below options are then chooseable:
-Launch with windows
-Activate FTP Server on Start-up
-Put into tray on startup
-Allow multiple instances
-Show “Loading…” status at startup
-Scan drive(s) at startup
-Confirm exit

You can do what you want with these, as they are pretty self explanatory. The scan drive feature is nice, as is the 2nd and the last option. From here, click the ‘options’ text on the left column.

To protect your server, you should check ‘login check’ and ‘password check’, ‘Show relative path (a must!)’, and any other options you feel you’ll need. After doing so, click the ‘advanced’ text in the left column. You should then leave the buffer size on the default (unless of course you know what you’re doing ), and then allow the type of ftp you want.

Uploading and downloading is usually good, but it’s up to you if you want to allow uploads and/or downloads. For the server priority, that will determine how much conventional memory will be used and how much ‘effort’ will go into making your server run smoothly.

Anti-hammering is also good, as it prevents people from slowing down your speed. From here, click ‘Log Options’ from the left column. If you would like to see and record every single command and clutter up your screen, leave the defaults.
(more…)