Disabling Auto start-up in Live Messenger and other Applications

After you make installation for an application it may add itself into the auto startup list in your windows in-order to start when your windows starts. Auto startup is a great feature in windows and used by many software applications to function when windows starts such as your anti-virus (which is really important to protect you), your messenger, special drivers and many more. It also may be used by malicious programs. So I’ll let you know how disable auto startup programs.

Most of instant messenger programs provide you with easy way to disable auto startup from its interface.

Live/MSN messenger

• Open your live messenger and click show menu button.
• Go to tools and then click options.
• The option dialogue box will open, click General from the left pane.
• Uncheck the box of “Automatically run Windows Live Messenger when I log on to Windows”.

Yahoo messenger

• Open your Yahoo messenger and click “Messenger” from the menu bar then click Preference.
• Select “General” from the left pane.
• Uncheck the box of “Automatically start Yahoo messenger”.

Google Talk/ messenger

• Click “Settings”.
• Uncheck the box of “Start automatically when starting Windows”.

A more advanced way to see the list of all software applications which are auto startup.

Click “Start” menu then click “Run” and type “msconfig”.

The “System Configuration” dialogue box will open then select “Startup” tab. You will find a full list of applications that run at startup so you can disable them but be careful before you disable anything and make sure that you don’t need the application that you’re going to disable to run at startup.

Change URL Search Engine

Many people use URL bar to query their preferred search engine. Internet Explorer makes it easy to change URL search engine by choosing a default search engine from search engine list box. However Firefox requires a little bit more to do.

In order to change URL search engine:

1. Open Firefox and type "about:config" in the URL bar then press enter.
2. In the filter text box type "keyword.url" then double click the result.
3. By default it is set to Google search engine but if you would like to change it to your preferred search engine choose one of the following links:
   Live: "http://search.live.com/results.aspx?form=CHROME&q="
   Yahoo: "http://search.yahoo.com/search?p="

SRWare Iron: a fast browser without any problems at privacy and security

Anyone would prefer a fast web browser like Google chrome that could render a page of old Facebook smoothly but worry about his own privacy and security. As Google chrome received heavy criticism at privacy and security.

Google Chrome is based on the free Source code Chromium project. The Chromium project is released under the BSD license and there is a cool software company "SRWare" build it to people who care about their own privacy and called it SRWare Iron . Also they provide a comparison page between Google chrome and SRWare Iron. Here you a picture of SRWare Iron.

Warning faceilbook.com is a phishing website

I found that one of my friends in facebook get spammed from a website its domain faceilbook.com. It links you to the real facebook sign in page in order to steal your password. Then from your account it writes in your friend’s wall something like this:

“Somebody wrote something really funny in their blog about you . everybody see it here http://leolafiker.blogspot.com”

After that link redirect them to the same domain so take care and check the URL before you sign in.

 

Remove Your Personal Information from Windows Files

In order to protect your own privacy you should remove your personal information of the file before you share it. In windows vista, right click on the file --> go to details tab --> click on “Remove Properties and Personal Information” -->

 

check “Remove the following properties from this file --> then select the information you want to remove.

Restore Details Pane in Vista

Details Pane is a part of vista explorer, which provides advanced viewing capabilities for selected icons. Accidentally, you may hide it and you can’t restore it back. So here you are the way to show it back. First, make sure “show preview and filters” is selected from general tab inside folder options dialogue box.

Then click Organize --> Layout --> Details Pane

New Vulnerability for Vista OS

New vulnerability discovered for windows vista. This video will show you a way to gain access to windows system without logging into windows vista and without user’s password. I just surprised how it comes. Windows vista is supposed to be secured enough and fully protected with its “cool” UAC. Using any live cd of any Linux distro then you become able to change or rename system files or log on into it without a password. This is what Microsoft offers us. According to the one who discovered the hole, he claims that windows XP aren’t vulnerable to it. It seems that Microsoft doesn’t learn from its old experience or its mistakes. I also get surprised when I compare Aero interface of vista with XGL interface of Linux (watch these: 1, 2).

Why not use Linux??

In Egypt, starting your small business as an internet café is a good idea as it’s very profitable and easy to start. However it faces many risks that could get you out of the road and make you stop. It’s all because of the technology itself. Day by day there is something new and forces you to be up to date and eats your cash. Moreover, you may find it’s hard to get vista license per each pc which costs about L.E 500 (home basic) moreover Microsoft announced the upcoming windows codenamed “SEVEN”. The best way is to rely on free open source software such as Linux distro which will save you more and makes you stop worrying about the upcoming software technology and focus in hardware parts.

Unfortunately, many Internet café owners in Egypt know nothing about Linux and they thought the only software companies that offer operating systems is Microsoft and Mac. One day, I asked one of the owners to install a Linux distro and I showed him this also I told him it’s a free license. He replied me “FREE, it may be a shareware or for a limited period of time”. Definitely I was shocked. However I persuaded him how it’s important to use Linux>

So does Linux suit that business????

Sure, it does. There are many energy companies in Egypt such as Eni Group use Linux. This means it’s very stable and secure. But you may get confused when it comes to choose your distro. You may choose Ubuntu because it supports many drivers and it’s easy to install. Also see this.

Besides, software tools for maintenance which you use to have on windows like Deepe Freeze is available for Linux here and Zencafe as an alternative for EasyCafe which lack many security features , Zencafe available here. Practically Ubuntu needs no maintenance.

Does Ubuntu satisfy my clients’ needs?

Most of your client needs two things to browse internet, running games applications or use word processing software. Ubuntu includes Firefox internet browser, which supports the latest internet technologies. It supports “Moonlight” as well as “adobe flash”. So your clients won’t face any problems while browsing internet. Also Ubuntu includes OpenOffice which satisfy you and your clients needs and they can use it as a substitute of Microsoft office. To run win windows application or windows games you can use wine.

Just think of it. It will save you money and without much effort. And if you need help to deploy and install Ubuntu you may contact me : neo . max . geek --@gmail

ADSL2+ Become Available in Egypt

Now most ISPs of Egypt can provide you or your company with ITU G.992.5 or ADSL2+ version of networking which allow you to download more data in less time. It's capable of doubling the size of the data download per second. As the data rates can be as high as 24 Mbit/s or more.

An important thing you should do before you register is to check if your router supports ADSL2+ or not. Most new routers support ADSL2+. I recommend for you to buy a Zyxel one. If you already have a LAN network and you just want to make an upgrade you can purchase Zyxel model (prestige 660R-61c). It's only one port and not wireless so it won't cost you a lot. The supported routers which available in Egypt are (3COM E75 / 3COM A75 / SpeedTouch 585 / Paradyne 6218-I2 / Paradyne 6218-A1)

Here is a comparison chart between the cost of the service in the two major ISP of Egypt TE DATA and LINKdotNET.

Limited Package

Bandwidth/Upload	TD Data	LINKdotNET
256/64 Kbps	95 L.E	95 L.E
512/128 Kbps	150 L.E	160 L.E
1024/256 Kbps	250 L.E	250 L.E
2048/512 Kbps	400 L.E	400 L.E
4/1 Mbps	500 L.E	Unavailable
5/1 Mbps	Unavailable	555 L.E
8/1 Mbps	850 L.E	888 L.E
12/1 Mbps	Unavailable	999 L.E
16/1 Mbps	1500 L.E	Unavailable
24/1 Mbps	2250 L.E	1999 L.E

EasyCafe Weakness

 

EasyCafe is internet café management software from TinaSoft. Also it lets you to administrate all of your PCs easily. Unfortunately, any user can break the software administration easily using Process Explorer. The following video showing you how EasyCafe administration is very weak and can be broken:

Keep Your Windows Safe Without Anti-Virus

Do you really fed up with your anti-virus software. Does it annoy you because it eats a lot of computer’s RAM, making your computer runs slowly!! In my opinion, now most operating system is secured enough and there is no need for using anti-virus software products. However, a good understanding of how viruses get in your computer and using free simple monitoring tools is better. It will save you money and the time to scan your files.

A computer virus is a just a program. So let me ask you can you run a program without installing it?!! Sure you can’t. I know that nowadays there is portable software but it doesn’t make sense without clicking it. Now can you guess who is person who installed the virus in your computer or allow someone else to take control of your windows remotely?!! Unfortunately, it’s you and it’s your fault. How?!! There are several ways. To name a few

· While you surf the Internet you may find a cool advertising that offers you a program update your desktop background or your screen saver daily.

· You visit a website and you think it’s for broadcasting like YouTube and it tells you there is an error occurred you need to download ActiveX. To make sure that your computer is provided with all plug-ins go to Adobe then flash player and go to Silverlight download Silverlight.

· Using of non genuine copies of windows or cracked software products.

· Downloading programs from un-trusted sites.

· Using file sharing software like Limewire.

To keep your computer safe the following steps:

· Backup your important files.

· Backup your windows registry.

· Use a free firewall to monitor your ports like Zone Alarm.

· Instead of using pirated software you can use a free one under GNU license from SourceForge

· If things go wrong you can use system restore. So don’t forget to keep a clean restoration point.

· Use process explorer to monitor processes that run in background.

· You can use file-sharing software like Azureus instead of Limewire.