Apparently, if you really want to, you can enter a “GodMode” in Windows7 which will allow you to all the system controls by opening one folder.

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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Do you need telnet on your Windows 7 box?

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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Most of us have file on our computer that should not and are not for public consumption.  However, that bank account file, password file, confidential report, or sensitive exposé newspaper article that is for your eyes only, has to live somewhere.  How do you keep these file from being opened, read, or even visible to anybody?  Encrypting the data is one way, but that can be cumbersome and even confusing to some of us.

Easy File Locker (Windows Only)

Easy File Locker is a small utility that can help you protect your sensitive files. Easy File Locker allow you to select files or folders and decide what kind of permissions to set.  You can choose to allow read, write, delete, and even decide whether you want the file to appear in a file listing (meaning it won’t show up in explorer or by doing a directory listing using the DOS Command Prompt). You can even set a password to prevent users from opening the utility where you can view the files.

Easy File Locker is free and easy to install. Simply download from Easy File Locker and run through the install wizard.

Once installed, you need to run the application to open the interface and choose to start protecting files.
Add files or folders to protect by clicking on the “plus” signs in the toolbar.

Select the type of protection and click on the “OK” button.

Don’t forget to set a password before exiting the program. This give you an added level of protection by not allowing anybody to open and modify the permissions of the files you are protecting.

Once files are protected, users will get a permission denied message if they try to modify the file when they access levels are restricted.
A very nice feature of Easy File Locker is that it also stops access to file even when the computer is booted into safe mode.

Even files access from the Command Prompt is protected.

The system is not foolproof of course. You do have to remember to set a password, and if you forget it, then I’m not sure you have any options but to recreate the files from scratch (that is if you have not hidden them and can remember all of the file you tried to protect).  The same can be said for encryption tools like TrueCrypt, so don’t let that discourage you.

For those of us who have a few files that need to be kept from prying eyes, Easy File Locker is the perfect little utility.

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A computer virus has been circulating as a “Greeting Card” email message. The message title contains the words “Greeting Card”, “E-Greeting”, “Christmas Card”, “Online Greeting”, “Greeting for you” or some variance thereof. When the link is followed to view the greeting card, the computer then becomes infected with a virus or trojan (see below for more about what this is) by running ecard.exe.

Please don’t click on any links one of these emails.  Especially if you do not know the person that supposedly sent you the greeting card.  Once again, if you receive an email that meets the above criteria, please delete it.

As a matter of principle, I don’t believe in sending E-Cards as they (the companies that provide the e-greeting service) can be used to collect and sell “valid” email addresses to other companies.  Please take a look at my 9 Tips to Less Spam post for more info on how to avoid getting spam like this.

Cleanup Info

Symantec has some info on how to cleanup the trojan.  Basically disable system restore, update your virus definitions, do a full virus scan, and cleanup the registry.

• http://www.symantec.com/norton/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2008-122308-1429-99&tabid=3

Trojan Info

A trojan is a malicious program that collects information about your Internet activity and send that info to other websites where the information is collected.  Some are very sneaky and collect keystrokes, password and bank login information.  Bottom line is, don’t get a trojan.

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• USB Thumb Drives Can Pose a Threat To Your Machine

Have you ever found a USB stick in the lobby of a hotel?  Perhaps there are two or three in a pile or on a display that asks you to “take one”.  Maybe you work at a company and someone has dropped of a pamphlet or flier for a product and left a USB thumb drive behind with “literature” about the product.

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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AVG anti-virus recently released an update to their virus definitions file which incorrectly detected a critical Windows file as being a Trojan horse program.

Both AVG 7.5 and 8.0 (free versions and pay versions) incorrectly identified “user32.dll” as being a malicious Trojan program called PSW.Banker4.APSA (according to their forum post).

AVG Forum Post

Depending on the configuration settings chosen for AVG, the detection could result in the removal of user32.dll and the inability to reboot the PC.  User32.dll is a critical file which allows for API calls to the Windows Graphical User Interface.  If the file is missing during  boot, the computer will Blue Screen.

We get the following from Computer World’s report:

AVG released a follow-up signature update to correct the problem, but that solution only worked if the user had not turned off his PC, or rebooted it, after installing the buggy update and then deleting user32.dll.

AVG’s support website has some details on how to recover user32.dll in their support section.

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For those of us out there that have been missing the telnet command on Vista, here is how you enable it on MS Windows Vista.  No reboot is required.

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.

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A Computer Virus Warning
Click here for the latest updates, including other variants of the zip file…
A computer virus has been circulating as an email attachment. The “From” address indicates that the email came from a UPS representative. The virus is a zip file attachment with the names of “ups_invoice.zip” or “ups_tracking.zip”, or some variance thereof. The email is usually found to have the title of “UPS Tracking Number xxxxx” and states that a package you sent was not able to be delivered and that you are required to print the attached invoice to collect the package at your nearest UPS office.

If you receive email that meets the above description, please delete it. Do not attempt to open the attachment or forward the email to anybody.  Simply opening the attachment will release the virus and infect your machine.

UPS has issued the following statement regarding the email.

Attention Virus Warning

We have become aware there is a fraudulent email being sent that says it is coming from UPS and leads the reader to believe that a UPS shipment could not be delivered. The reader is advised to open an attachment reportedly containing a waybill for the shipment to be picked up.

This e-mail attachment contains a virus. We recommend that you do not open the attachment, but delete the email immediately.

UPS may send official notification messages on occasion, but they rarely include attachments. If you receive a notification message that includes an attachment and are in doubt about its authenticity, please contact customerservice@ups.com.

Please note that UPS takes its customer relationships very seriously, but cannot take responsibility for the

unauthorized actions of third parties.

Once again, if you receive an email that meets the above criteria, please delete it. Do not attempt to open the attachment.

Even if you have just sent a package, and think the email could be relative to you, please go to the web site http://ups.com and check the status of your packages online.

Virus Removal

Both Symantec and McAfee have released new virus definitions which detect and remove the virus (per their web sites).

There are basically two steps to removal.

• Stop/Suspend System Restore (WinXP)

1. Click Start.
2. Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
3. On the System Restore tab, check Turn off System Restore or Turn off System Restore on all drives.
4. If you do not see the System Restore tab, you are not logged on to Windows as an Administrator.
5. Click Apply.
6. When you see the confirmation message, click Yes.
7. Click OK.

• Download your latest virus definition and run a full scan.

Here is the info from McAfee and Symantec

McAfee Info
http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_132901.htm

Symantec Info
http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2008-071517-2718-99&tabid=3

Update:

7/24 – A new variant of this virus/trojan has been reported.  The email subject status “Your parcel is in the customs office” and the attachment name is “Tax_Invoice.zip”.

7/29 – Another variant is also in the wild now taking on the form of an “Airline” Invoice or e-ticket.  The attachment has the name: E-ticket_xxx.zip.

Photo Credit Nils Geylen

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I’m one of those kinds of people that use a terminal or command prompt quite often. I find that I can get some things done more quickly with terminal tools that by opening an application.

Take for example ftp. Yes, I can open Cyberduck or FileZilla and do a transfer, but sometimes it is just quicker to open up your trusty terminal.

Read the full story

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Update: Vista Users – check out this link to learn How to Customize the Sendto Menu in Windows Vista.

Here is a quick way to add things to the “Send To” right click menu in Windows XP.

First let’s explain how this might be helpful.

Have you ever wanted to open a file that Windows didn’t know how to open? For instance, a text file that had a weird extension like .out or .dat. You could open it with Wordpad or Notepad, but Windows doesn’t recognize the extension so instead you have to double click on the file and choose what program to open it with. This can be a bit frustrating. Sometimes it can take you longer to open the file than to read the contents.

How about if you could just right click on the file and send it to Wordpad or Notepad? This works great for file types that your Windows XP OS doesn’t know about. For instance, I have a program that creates log files with a .output extension. I know they are text files, and if want to quickly look at them, I can just right click and send them to Wordpad. The file opens up normally and if I want to make edits or changes, I can do that too.

Would you like to easily put files in a folder that you frequent often? Right clicking the files and doing a “Send To”, instead of doing a copy and paste can save us some time.

Want something on the Desktop, why not send it there?

Customize the “Send To” menu is easy and can help make us a little more efficient.

To customize the “Send To” menu:

1. Click on the Start button, then on Run.
2. Type sendto in the box, and click OK.

The resulting folder that appears is where you add and remove items as you see fit. Try adding a shortcut to Notepad, Wordpad, or another of your favorite text editors. Also try adding a shortcut to a folder you copy things to a lot.

What other useful additions to the “Send To” menu have you found?

Vista Users:

Cut and past the following into the Vista search bar to customize the Sendto Menu

%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo

Follow the same instructions as above to start customizing

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