The article goes on to say:
The trick is also said to work in Windows Vista, although some are warning that although it works fine in 32-bit versions of Vista, it can cause 64-bit versions of that operating system to crash.
Check out the full story on CNET’s site @
Understanding Windows 7’s ‘GodMode’ | Beyond Binary – CNET News.
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]]>Follow these simple steps to add the telnet command to your command line tools.
Click on “Start Button”
Click on “Control Panel (menu item)” in “Start menu”
Click on “Uninstall a program (link)” in “Control Panel”
Click on “Turn Windows features on or off (link)” in “Programs and Features”
Click in “Windows Features” box and find the “Telnet Client” check box
Allow the system to install the appropriate files – should take only a few seconds to a minute or so.
To test the functionality:
Click on the “Start button”
Click on “Search Box” in “Start menu”
Type “cmd” in the “Search box” to bring up a command prompt
Type “telnet” and hit “enter”. You should now see the Microsoft Telnet> prompt
There you go. Easy enough.
P.S. If you can’t find the “Telnet Client” check box in your programs list, you may need to upgrade your version of Windows 7 to get these features.
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]]>10 Fast Fingers
Ten Fast Fingers Speedtest is a great way to quickly challenge yourself. The site simply gives you some random works to begin typing. As soon as you do, the clock starts ticking down from 60 seconds. Once your time is up, you’ll be ranked among all the typists before you.
The site has support for multiple languages and claims that the most commonly used words are what is being randomly presented for you to test against.
Accuracy counts – you get a better ranking with less of a speed penalty if you just slow it down a bit and make less mistakes. I ranked better among the others typists and only incurred a two word per minute penalty by slowing it down.
TypingWeb
If you are looking for something a little more advanced, you can also try TypingWeb. TypingWeb allows you to create an account where you can store your typing data/progress (but this is not required).
TypingWeb has lots of different activities to help you improve your typing skills, including training courses and typing games. If you setup an account, you can also track your stats to see how your improving.
Keep your skills sharp and head over to these sites when you get a free moment.
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]]>
I recently came across about an interesting article that I wanted to share. It relates to computer repair shops and how an undercover operation by a news organization exposed some of their shady practices.
The article as originally published on pcpro.co.uk and explains how software to automatically turn on the built in webcam and record every keystroke mouse click was used to expose these shops and their bad practices.
Here is an excerpt from the article:
He also begins searching our hard drive until he finds log-in details for our Facebook and Hotmail accounts. With a cackle he removes a memory stick from around his neck, plugs it in and then copies them across.
He also discovers our holiday photos and copies those of our researcher in her bikini. The spy software takes a snapshot of the files on his memory stick.
The PCPRO article goes on to explain how the techs opened a folder named “Private” and began pursuing documents and photos and even begins copying them for personal use.
With a cackle he removes a memory stick from around his neck, plugs it in and then copies them across.
Most worryingly, when he discovers log-in details for our online bank account, he logs onto the bank’s website and attempts to break into the account. He only fails because the details we created were false.
The real message behind the article is simple. Be aware of what is on you computer and take measures to protect sensitive data. The simplest way is to encrypt sensitive files and folders. Use products like TrueCrypt or the small utility I wrote about called Easy File Locker to make sure those files are hidden and unreadable by anybody.
It’s a little bit of extra work, but will certainly put you at ease if you ever need to hand over you computer to a technician for repair.
P.S. Not all technician are searching through your files and photos. The article does go on to report on how one company’s technician fixed the problem without violating anyone’s privacy.
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]]>JustResizeIt is a free utility that makes image resizing really simple. This Adobe Air application will run on Mac, Windows, or Linux (so long as you have a GUI and can drag and drop with your mouse).
Once you download and install the application, you can easily batch processes a bunch of photos by dragging a group of them onto the little icons that corresponds to the size you need.
In this example I needed these photos to be at 640×480 so I dragged them to the properly 640×480 icon.
Once I release the mouse over the icon, JustResizeIt starts to process the files. You will see a progress indicator which tells you how many files have been processed so far.
When it has finished processing your files, you can simply drag the icon back to the same folder, to the desktop, or to a new folder where you want the resized files to appear (also try dragging them into the body of an email).
In this case, I chose to place the resized images back into the same folder the originals were in.
JustResizeIt automatically renames the files using the date and the size you chose and places them in the folder.
It’s that simple. No need to open a complicated photo editing program to resize images.
Customization
JustResizeIt also allows you to customize the current sizes and add new ones as well. If you need to change any of the settings, you can simply open the expansion tab up and have the customize settings available for use.
If you need a quick and easy way to resize your images, download JustResizeIt and give it a test drive yourself.
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]]>Do you have a photo or two or you want to share with a friend or family member? The simplest way I’ve found so far is to use Picmatic. Picamatic doesn’t require you to login or register an account to add or access photos.
Picmatic is a web based interface that allows you to upload a picture in one click. Simply pick a square on the Picamatic web page and choose the file to upload. Keep uploading until you’re done.
Once you have uploaded a file, you’ll see a clickable “Links” item. This will reveal the various links you can use to share the photo. Links for Forums, Blogs, Chats, and the direct URL (your file size is below 300Kb) to the photo are visible.
Picamatic also lets you send the URL of your Picamatic photos to yourself in email. Click the “Save these images” link and enter your email address. Check your spam folders if you can’t find the email. It’s a good idea to add picamatic.com to your spam filter to ensure delivery. The next time you want to access the files you can access them anytime by click on the link in your email. You can also bookmark the link for easy access to the files anytime.
Picamatic says there are no size limits or limits to the number of photos you can upload. So far, Picamatic has not indicated any intent to delete your files after a certain period of time. So you could potentially store files for as long as you want.
Head over to Picamatic and try it out for yourself.
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]]>Online passwords are now just a part of our daily life. Many of us don’t really consider how important it is to have a strong password or what it takes to make a strong password. Most of our online activities require us to provide a password in order to use them. A weak password can really cause a lot of trouble if it gets cracked or guessed. The weaker the password, the easier it is for automated programs to crack your password with a “brute force attack”. Here is a easy, visual way to check your password strength.
The Password Meter offers a password tester. You can quickly see if your password’s complexity is too low and what you can do to make it stronger.
Enter your password in the password field and immediately get feedback as you type every letter, number or symbol. As you progress to a more complex password, the items in the Additions Pane will start to turn colors and you’ll see the symbols start to change as well.
The Password Meter calculates your password score by adding points from the Additions items and Subtracting points from the Deductions items. It is pretty hard to get all of the deductions to zero, but it’s fun trying. I was able to get a perfect score with the following xBc1$3Dy4=.
Give it a try at http://www.thepasswordmeter.com.
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]]>Bad guys do this kind of thing all the time. Security experts will tell you that it is an easy way to get infected with a virus, or have a trojan program spread to your or your company’s network.
This exploit works by utilizing the AutoRun feature that is triggered by inserting a thumb drive in an available USB port (Windows only). Those drives that have programs on them are told to run via a configuration file that has been placed at the top level of the drive’s file system.
Let’s look at how this might work:
- The executable program that the bad guys want to have run is placed on the thumb drive (say the file is called “install_bad_software.exe”).
- A file is created called “Autorun.inf” with a few lines of text indicating which file to run.
- The USB thumb drives are distributed in various ways – i.e. left at company or hotel lobbies.
- Once you place the USB thumb drive into your PC, the file is executed and you are well on your way to installing malicious software.
Here is an example of an Autorun.inf file. They can be quite simple.
[AutoRun]
shellexecute=install_bad_software.exe
Another trick that is used is to direct you to a website that will install a virus or trojan.
[AutoRun]
shellexecute=http://bad-software-install.com
Prevention
You can prevent AutoRun from kicking off any programs by simply holding down the <SHIFT> key while inserting the drive in your computer.
Just beware of those “free”, flashy looking USB drives that you may find lying around. They could be dangerous. Just remember to use the <SHIFT> key when inserting.
Photo by inya.
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]]>Microsoft has a number of free templates that you can download to help you with all sorts of things. Visit Microsoft’s Template site to start your search.
You can narrow down templates by Office application — such as Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, etc… Or look for templates based on what you need — like real estate, calendars, finance and accounting, travel, lots more.
The site also allows you to share templates of your own. You will need a Windows Live ID to get started, but it is free to get one and easy to set up.
The templates work on both Mac and Windows computers. New templates are added all the time, so check the Microsoft site often. Subscribe to the Templates Blog to keep up to date.
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]]>Telnet isn’t your only option though. If you prefer to log in to hosts via ssh, you can simply download Putty which is a free terminal emulator that supports ssh and telnet. I use telnet more for a troubleshooting and don’t recommend that you use it for remote log in. It’s just not as secure.
To Enable Telnet on Vista
First step is to open your Vista Control Panel and then click the “Progams” icon.
Click on “Start”, then “Control Panel” to bring up this screen…
Next, click on “Turn Windows Features on or off”.
Click highlighted area…
Find the “Telnet Client” item and make sure it is checked before clicking “OK”.
“Telnet Client” is checked…
You will then see a progress window that won’t seem to be doing much for a minute or two, but it will eventually start moving, so be patient.
Progress bar – wait a few minutes indeed…
Finally – we’re done…
Once the installation is finished, you now have access to the telnet command. Just type telnet <host> in the search bar of Vista, or if you prefer, run in it from a command prompt.
The shell now doesn’t complain about not finding telnet…
I hope this was helpful. Don’t forget to check out all the other features you can turn on and off while you’re enabling telnet.