Secure your system completely :

Please check this out periodically for upadated information .



How to avoid your PC from being getting affected with malware ,viruses , trojans,keyloggers and other nasties taking control of your PC ?

Prevention is better than medication , in other means prevention is better than detecting and removing the infections .



The traditional way of adding additional protection



Securing your PC through multiple secuirty layers based on anti-virus,anti-spyware,anti-trojans,HIPs and other secuirty software costs too high , one hundred full proof solution will be getting not guaranteed .

Here cost means financial as well as by adding more secuirty layers in the PC , hampering performance on your PC .

So how do you prevent infection?


The basics:

1.Download latest fixes of windows and ms office from microsoft update service

()
2.Stay away from sites offering commercial software serial numbers, keygens and other hacked material. Avoid accidentally wandering to hostile sites by installing McAfee Site Adviser ()

3.Make sure your other software products are also fully updated, particularly popular products like anti virus, anti spyware, and other security products and browsers like Firefox, Opera, the Adobe Reader, Sun Java, Flash plug-ins and media players. The easiest way to do this is to use the free Secunia Software Inspector ()
4.only download files from trusted sources and never install programs that friends give you on removable media(cd/dvd/pen drive/floppy) unless you have verified that are clean by either submitting them to free web based testing services such as Jotti (/) and Virus Total (), or through scan through in built security software on your PC.
5.Install a robust firewall to ensure worms can't secretly enter your PC via the internet. My current favorites are the free Comodo firewall Pro (http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/) and ZoneAlarm Pro but there are several other excellent choices including Jetico and Netveda to name but two.
6.Stop Using Internet Explorer, instead use Firefox or Opera,It's no secret that Internet Explorer is filled with security holes. While Internet Explorer 7 is a huge improvement over it's predecessor but it still is no where near as secure as Firefox.When it comes to patching vulnerabilities found, According to the Washington Post ,Microsoft has been notorious for not releasing patches in a timely fashion. According to the Washington Post, Internet Explorer was known to have exploit code for unpatched critical flaws for 284 days of 2006. The article goes on to compare this with 9 days for Mozilla Firefox. For safer internet browsing is,For safer browsing, do not use Internet Explorer
7.No Toolbars Allowed, ALL Toolbars. Starting from Microsoft, Google, Symantec or whoever. No toolbar till this day which is a absolute necessity . They open another gateway into your PC to allow ugly things into your PC.For each toolbar added, you are opening a window of opportunities for bad things to enter into your PC.
8. Don’t Use File Sharing Programs such as Limewire, Kazaa, Shareaza, Edonkey, Bearshare etc. I would say 1 out of every 10 files contains a virus/worm/spyware. it is nice to be able to download that new song you heard on the radio or download the latest software, all for free. But realize that by doing this, you are playing with a loaded gun, when it comes to the security of your computer.
9.PrivBar is a free Internet Explorer add-on written by Aaron Margosis that displays in a toolbar the privilege level under which the current instance of Internet Explorer is running.
http://www.speakeasy.org/~aaronmar/NonAdmin/PrivBar.zip
10.If you are a Firefox user check out the free IsAdmin extension that provides similar functionality to PrivBar .
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4259

11. Software products to be fully updated , and these should be used from very reliable sources .

12. Use commodo firewall which also provides services of HIPS (ost Intrusion Prevention System)

13.Never install programs unless you are fully confident they are clean.

14.Don't open file attachments unless you are absolutely sure of the source. Email file attachments are one of the most common vectors for system viruses. Modern antivirus software will scan incoming email as a matter of course, but you still have the possibility of a new virus that has yet to be added to t
the list of scanned-for viruses.

15.Install the Backup Utility in XP Home/Pro or Vista.

16.Scan your computer for vulnerabilities with Microsoft's free security scanner (MICROSOFT BASELINE SECUIRTY ADVISER ), Download and run the device to test your local computer (you will need access to an administrative account you wish to scan). The MBSA creates a security log which contains easy to read info on any vulnerabilities that may exist and how to correct them.


The software is available here.
(http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b13ebd6b-e258-4625-b0a3-64a4879f7798&displaylang=en)

17. Test your PC with online secuirty probe :

Each will investigate your system for security vulnerabilities which could be used by a malicious hacker or virus or for trojan activities to compromise and steal your PC and data. Use these services to ensure that you are well secured .

Some free online security scanners:
https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
http://www.pcflank.com/scanner1s.htm
http://scan.sygatetech.com/


18. Relocate My document folder

If you wish to direct the data stored in your 'my documents' folder to a different disk location/partition , you can do this very easily without advanced registery alterations. By default, this data is stored in 'c:\documents and settings\(username)\my documents'.

To change the location of My Documents folder right click the 'my documents' icon on the desktop or the start menu, and select 'properties.'

In the 'target' tab, enter the path to the folder location you wish to use, or press the 'find target' button to browse to the folder. Prior to that open a folder in the new target location and rename it as My Documents and copy its path and paste it in the find target box .You will be asked if you wish to move all existing data to the new location.

19. Remove ads from webpage .

If you are Internet Explorer user then use IE7Pro not only provides ad blocking but also tab management, proxy switching, mouse gestures and more including a very valuable crash recovery feature. Download from this link:
http://www.ie7pro.com/ Freeware, Internet Explorer 7, 985KB.

If you are using Firefox then , can effectively remove ads from web pages using the marvelous free free Ad-Block extension .

20.See one of my article on registery How to back up and restore the registry in Windows XP and Windows Vista
from the following location

21. If you are internet explorer users then fix this :

Microsoft Patch Fixes Slow Running IE7

http://tinyurl.com/yna8n3

22. Windows XP SP2 a Must for security enhancement .of your operating system and also Microsoft support for Windows XP SP1 ends on October 11. If you have had problems with installing XP2 then sort them out by consulting this site [http://winhlp.com/WxSP2.htm] or Microsoft's special SP2 support site [http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=windowsxpsp2].

How to back up and restore the registry in Windows XP and Windows Vista

How to back up and restore the registry in Windows XP and Windows Vista



Registry Editor is an advanced tool used for viewing and changing settings in your system registry. It contains all the information, settings of your computer. Even your user account username and password is saved in the resgistry (if configured to store in the registry).

As Registry Editor allows you to add/modify registry, it is advisable that you only use it if GUI does not provide the option you are looking for. If you make some incorrect changes, your system may crash and break. So it is always good to make a backup of your registries before making any changes in it.


Manual steps to back up the registry in Windows Vista or in Windows XP

Windows Vista
1. Click Start, type systempropertiesprotection in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow.
2. Wait for Windows to search for available disks and most recent restore points. In the System Properties dialog box, on the System Protection tab, click Create,
3. Type a name for the restore point and then click Create.
4. After the restore point has been created successfully, click OK two times.
Note If System Restore is turned off, click to select the local disk, click Apply and then click Create.

Windows XP
1. Click Start, click Run, type %SystemRoot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe, and then click OK.
2. On the Welcome to System Restore page, click Create a restore point, and then click Next .
3. On the Create a Restore Point page, type a name for the restore point and then click Create
4. After the restore point has been created, click Close.
Note If System Restore is turned off, you receive a message that asks whether you want to turn on System Restore now. Click Yes. Then, in the System Properties dialog box, click to clear the Turn off System Restore check box, click OK, and then repeat this step.


Manual steps to restore the registry in Windows Vista or Windows XP


Use System Restore to undo registry changes in Windows Vista or in Windows XP
Windows Vista
1. Click Start, type systempropertiesprotection in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow.
2. In the System Properties dialog box, on the System Protection tab, click System Restore,
3. In the System Restore dialog box select Choose a different restore point, and then click Next
4. Select the restore point that you want to use, and then click Next.
5. Confirm your restore point, and then click Finish System restore restores the selected Windows Vista configuration and then restarts the computer.
6. Log on to the computer. When the System Restore confirmation page appears, click OK..

Windows XP
1. Click Start, click Run, type %SystemRoot%\System32\Restore\Rstrui.exe, and then click OK.
2. On the Welcome to System Restore page, click Restore my computer to an earlier time (if it is not already selected), and then click Next .
3. On the Select a Restore Point page, click the system checkpoint. In the On this list select the restore point area, click an entry that is named "Guided Help (Registry Backup)," and then click Next. If a System Restore message appears that lists configuration changes that System Restore will make, click OK.
4. On the Confirm Restore Point Selection page, click Next. System Restore restores the previous Windows XP configuration and then restarts the computer.

The System Restore tool restores your PC to a previous state (that you selected!), without losing anything, such as documents, history lists, favorites, or e-mail. This method is not reliable if you want to rollback the Registry changes made a longtime ago. So, I would better recommend using the first method (below) for this case.
5. Log on to the computer. When the System Restore confirmation page appears, click OK..


Method 1: This method is mostly used when you are making changes to some specific area in the registry, but it can also be used to make full backups.

To backup a selected branch/key, follow the instructions below:

* Click Start, and then click Run.
* In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK
* Locate and then click the key that contains the value that you want to edit
* On the File menu, click Export.
* In the Save in box, select a location where you want to save the registry entries ( .reg ) files.
* In the File name box, type a file name, and then click Save.

pict.


Below the Save as type box, you will see Export Range. There you select the range you want to export. Select All if you want to backup all the settings, or select the second option, Selected Branch, to export only the selected branch.


The third party tool:

ERUNT - The Emergency Recovery Utility NT
Registry Backup and Restore for Windows NT/2000/2003/XP

v1.1j, 10/20/2005, Freeware Download this version , as the latest version (http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt) has not been freeware , but the author leave above version as freeware , as users will be using this and be satisfied to buy the latest version. Excellent promotion .
Written by Lars Hederer

Backing up the registry with ERUNT
----------------------------------

Note: To ensure proper operation of ERUNT, you should be logged in as
a system administrator.

Start ERUNT, confirm the Welcome message.

Type in the name of a restore folder where the backed up registry
files should be saved, or click "..." to browse your computer's drives
and select a folder. You can also simply leave the default, which is a
folder named ERDNT inside your Windows folder, the advantage being
that you have access to this folder from the Windows Recovery Console
in case Windows does not boot anymore.

Note that in the folder edit field, ERUNT by default appends a folder
named the current date to the restore folder, which allows you to keep
as many registry backups as you wish in the same restore folder,
separated into the different creation dates. This feature, as well as
the appearance of the date string, can be configured via the ERUNT.INI
file, described later in this document. If you want the registry backup
to be created directly in the folder you select, you can also simply
remove the date from the folder edit field before clicking "OK".

Restoring the registry with ERDNT
---------------------------------

Situation: Windows is running normally.

To restore a previous registry backup, open Windows Explorer, navigate
to the folder where you saved the backup to, and double-click the
ERDNT.EXE file to start the restoration program. (Each restore folder
has its own copy of ERDNT.EXE in it.) Select which registry components
to restore, then click "OK" to start restoration. When the process is
complete, click "OK" to restart the computer and activate the restored
registry.

Note: If you experience any problems restoring the registry, please
read "ERDNT technical information" later in this document to learn
what ERDNT is actually doing during the process, or simply read on
through the following emergency scenarios for other ways of restoring
the registry.

With this , another utilities provided by the author ,

Optimizing the registry with NTREGOPT
-------------------------------------

Similar to Windows 9x/Me, the registry files in an NT-based system
can become fragmented over time, occupying more space on your hard
disk than necessary and decreasing overall performance. You should
use the NTREGOPT utility regularly, but especially after installing
or uninstalling a program, to minimize the size of the registry files
and optimize registry access.

The program works by recreating each registry hive "from scratch",
thus removing any slack space that may be left from previously
modified or deleted keys.

Note that the program does NOT change the contents of the registry in
any way, nor does it physically defrag the registry files on the drive
(as the PageDefrag program from SysInternals does). The optimization
done by NTREGOPT is simply compacting the registry hives to the
minimum size possible.

To optimize your registry, simply run NTREGOPT, click "OK", and when
the process is complete click "OK" to reboot the computer. You should
do so immediately because any changes made to the registry after
NTREGOPT has been run are lost after the reboot.









Guided Help to export registry keys and to back up the registry in Windows XP

Guided Help is available to export registry keys and to back up the registry. Guided Help can automatically perform the steps for you.

The actions that this Guided Help performs cannot be undone after Guided Help is finished.
Requirements to install and to use this Guided Help
• You must be logged on to Windows by using a computer administrator account to install and to use this Guided Help.
• You must be running an English version of Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Media Center Edition, or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition to install and to use this Guided Help.
You must first download Guided Help. To start, click the following link:

http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=aw;en-us;322756&eula=1




For more information about using the Backup utility to back up the system state, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Similar solutions

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320820/ How to use the Backup utility to back up files and folders in Windows XP Home Edition

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308422/How to use the Backup utility that is included in Windows XP to back up files and folders


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309340/How to use Backup to restore files and folders on your computer in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310405/ How to turn off and turn on System Restore in Windows XP



Information for other Windows operating systems and advanced users

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256986/Windows registry information for advanced users

For more information about Guided Help, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/915092/Description of Guided Help for Microsoft Knowledge Base articles

MAKE CERTAIN OF YOUR PC

MAKE CERTAIN OF YOUR PC

(from my article "secure your system completely" browse through this space : )

How to avoid your PC from being getting affected with malware ,viruses , trojans,keyloggers and other nasties taking control of your PC ?

Prevention is better than medication , in other means prevention is better than detecting and removing the infections .



The traditional way of adding additional protection



Securing your PC through multiple secuirty layers based on anti-virus,anti-spyware,anti-trojans,HIPs and other secuirty software costs too high , one hundred full proof solution will be getting not guaranteed .

Here cost means financial as well as by adding more secuirty layers in the PC , hampering performance on your PC .

So how do you prevent infection?


The basics:

1.Download latest fixes of windows and ms office from microsoft update service

(http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en)
2.Stay away from sites offering commercial software serial numbers, keygens and other hacked material. Avoid accidentally wandering to hostile sites by installing McAfee Site Adviser (http://www.siteadvisor.com/)
3.Make sure your other software products are also fully updated, particularly popular products like anti virus, anti spyware, and other security products and browsers like Firefox, Opera, the Adobe Reader, Sun Java, Flash plug-ins and media players. The easiest way to do this is to use the free Secunia Software Inspector (http://secunia.com/software_inspector/)
4.only download files from trusted sources and never install programs that friends give you on removable media(cd/dvd/pen drive/floppy) unless you have verified that are clean by either submitting them to free web based testing services such as Jotti (http://virusscan.jotti.org/) and Virus Total (http://www.virustotal.com/flash/index_en.html), or through scan through in built security software on your PC.
5.Install a robust firewall to ensure worms can't secretly enter your PC via the internet. My current favorites are the free Comodo firewall Pro (http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/) and ZoneAlarm Pro but there are several other excellent choices including Jetico and Netveda to name but two.
6.Stop Using Internet Explorer, instead use Firefox or Opera,It's no secret that Internet Explorer is filled with security holes. While Internet Explorer 7 is a huge improvement over it's predecessor but it still is no where near as secure as Firefox.When it comes to patching vulnerabilities found, According to the Washington Post ,Microsoft has been notorious for not releasing patches in a timely fashion. According to the Washington Post, Internet Explorer was known to have exploit code for unpatched critical flaws for 284 days of 2006. The article goes on to compare this with 9 days for Mozilla Firefox. For safer internet browsing is,For safer browsing, do not use Internet Explorer
7.No Toolbars Allowed, ALL Toolbars. Starting from Microsoft, Google, Symantec or whoever. No toolbar till this day which is a absolute necessity . They open another gateway into your PC to allow ugly things into your PC.For each toolbar added, you are opening a window of opportunities for bad things to enter into your PC.
8. Don’t Use File Sharing Programs such as Limewire, Kazaa, Shareaza, Edonkey, Bearshare etc. I would say 1 out of every 10 files contains a virus/worm/spyware. it is nice to be able to download that new song you heard on the radio or download the latest software, all for free. But realize that by doing this, you are playing with a loaded gun, when it comes to the security of your computer.
9.PrivBar is a free Internet Explorer add-on written by Aaron Margosis that displays in a toolbar the privilege level under which the current instance of Internet Explorer is running.
http://www.speakeasy.org/~aaronmar/NonAdmin/PrivBar.zip
10.If you are a Firefox user check out the free IsAdmin extension that provides similar functionality to PrivBar .
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4259

11. Software products to be fully updated , and these should be used from very reliable sources .

12. Use commodo firewall which also provides services of HIPS (ost Intrusion Prevention System)

13.Never install programs unless you are fully confident they are clean.

14.Don't open file attachments unless you are absolutely sure of the source. Email file attachments are one of the most common vectors for system viruses. Modern antivirus software will scan incoming email as a matter of course, but you still have the possibility of a new virus that has yet to be added to t
the list of scanned-for viruses.

15.Install the Backup Utility in XP Home/Pro or Vista.

16.Scan your computer for vulnerabilities with Microsoft's free security scanner (MICROSOFT BASELINE SECUIRTY ADVISER ), Download and run the device to test your local computer (you will need access to an administrative account you wish to scan). The MBSA creates a security log which contains easy to read info on any vulnerabilities that may exist and how to correct them.


The software is available here.
(http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b13ebd6b-e258-4625-b0a3-64a4879f7798&displaylang=en)

17. Test your PC with online secuirty probe :

Each will investigate your system for security vulnerabilities which could be used by a malicious hacker or virus or for trojan activities to compromise and steal your PC and data. Use these services to ensure that you are well secured .

Some free online security scanners:
https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
http://www.pcflank.com/scanner1s.htm
http://scan.sygatetech.com/


18. Relocate My document folder

If you wish to direct the data stored in your 'my documents' folder to a different disk location/partition , you can do this very easily without advanced registery alterations. By default, this data is stored in 'c:\documents and settings\(username)\my documents'.

To change the location of My Documents folder right click the 'my documents' icon on the desktop or the start menu, and select 'properties.'

In the 'target' tab, enter the path to the folder location you wish to use, or press the 'find target' button to browse to the folder. Prior to that open a folder in the new target location and rename it as My Documents and copy its path and paste it in the find target box .You will be asked if you wish to move all existing data to the new location.

19. Remove ads from webpage .

If you are Internet Explorer user then use IE7Pro not only provides ad blocking but also tab management, proxy switching, mouse gestures and more including a very valuable crash recovery feature. Download from this link:
http://www.ie7pro.com/ Freeware, Internet Explorer 7, 985KB.

If you are using Firefox then , can effectively remove ads from web pages using the marvelous free free Ad-Block extension .

20.See one of my article on registery How to back up and restore the registry in Windows XP and Windows Vista
from the following location

21. If you are internet explorer users then fix this :

Microsoft Patch Fixes Slow Running IE7

http://tinyurl.com/yna8n3

22.Use Instant Messaging Without an IM Client so that , any infections might have intruded , if you use the IM utilities can be averted .
It supports a wide range of systems including Yahoo, Messenger, Jabber, AIM, ICQ, MS and more.
http://www18.meebo.com/





















However , sticking to these rules is not a bed of roses ; it requires a level of discipline characters most users may be don't have. Who hasn't been tempted to open a funny Word email attachment or install a free flash game?

This means that more protection is a necessity apart from this basic security rules .


Yours First Step To be Protected :


A normal Windows environment is a user account with full administrator rights. It's probably what you are using right now as it is the default setup in all recent versions of Windows up to but excluding, Windows Vista.


The best way to enhance the level of protection is to make right that if a malware program sneak inside the your PC , that it is disallowed to run on your PC in a normal Windows environment .


There are three filters in which you can keep away malware from normal Windows environments.

1.Run all high risk programs with limited rights
2.Run all high risk programs in a sandbox or virtual machine
3.Use a Windows limited user account for your daily work



1.Run all high risk programs with limited rights

Run as a full administrator user but restrict the rights of all programs such as your browser and email client ,media players or other internet facing programmes that can be sources of malware infection.



Themost familiar of these is DropMyRights. (http://blogs.msdn.com/michael_howard/archive/2004/11/18/266033.aspx)
It allows users to easily create special versions of their that run from a full administrator account but with the restricted rights of a Windows limited user or guest user .

The approach however has some weaknesses perhaps the worst of which is downloaded files. Yes you are safe from infection while using a browser but if you run any files you download then you can easily be infected if those files contain embedded malware.


2.Run all high risk programs in a sandbox or virtual machine
(http://sandboxie.com/)
The important point is that while running in the sandbox, the programs have no get at to your PC.

Any files you download are marooned to the sandbox. Similarly, any programs that are executed only do so within the sandbox and have no access to your normal files,the sand box created a PC environment within the sandbox itself not in the Windows operating system or indeed any other part of your PC.

This means that that if you get infected by malware while using the sandbox your "actual" computer is not touched on. Furthermore you can close the sandbox and all that's within it is erased including any infections, leaving alone your real PC in a clean and pure state.

. There are also some fantabulous sandboxing programs around including freeware guide the donationware utility "SandBoxie."

Files in the sandbox are not really permanently on your computer unless you by choice move them from the sandbox to your actual PC. If you close the sandbox without moving them they will be missed eternally.

Virtual machines such as VMWare (http://vmware.com/)and Microsoft's Virtual PC(http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx) are standardised to sandboxing but take the idea advanced by completely detaching the virtual machine from theactual PC at a abstract level.
Infections that are obtained in the virtual machine cannot affect the actual PC. Similarly shutting down the virtual PC removes all line of infection.

From a users perspective sandboxing is a better bet than fully virtualisation solutions . But the most prime thing is that user's have to be disciplined at using this .

So,all you need is a good firewall and a good anti-virus program and good anti-spyware programme . Aggregating these with a good sandbox and you will have better security than other users who employ five or more different levels of active security software/freeware protective cover

Your PC will be faster; a counterpoint to machines running multiple security protection products.

3.Use a Windows limited user account for your daily work

Most malware products need full administrator rights to install themselves. In a limited account they just can't get a footings .

It's easy to set up a limited user account. Just go the Control Panel, select User Accounts and create a new user account as a limited user. Then sign in to this account for your normal computer work rather than the account you a currently using

How to Easily Run Programs With Reduced Rights

Having full administrator rights gives the user the highest level of privilege possible. It means that Windows will allow a user to pretty well do anything they want on their PC. That includes installing any program they choose, even programs that change the way the operating system works.
Many malware programs including rootkits require administrator privileges to install. If users operated with reduced rights such programs couldn't as easily infect their PCs.
On other operating systems such as Linux and Mac OS X, users normally run with reduced rights.
The more recent versions of Windows do in fact allow users to be assigned to different user groups with different privileges.
In order of reducing privilege these are: "administrator", "power user" group, "user" group and "guest".
Sign on as the reduced rights user for normal PC use and then logout and use the administrator rights user account for program installation, registry editing and other demanding tasks.In this way by having two user accounts on PC: one with full administrator rights and the other with reduced rights.
Constantly switching users or logging in and out of these accounts is a pain in the butt .
Always operate as a reduced privilege user and use the special Windows "run as" function from the command window or context menu when you needed to run a program that requires administrator privileges.
It's a slightly more workable solution but not exactly convenient as you need to enter your admin account password every time.
An Open Source utility called RunAsAdmin Explorer Shim( RES).
RES is a Windows XP program that allows you to sign-in as an administrator but work within a Windows shell with reduced rights.
It works by placing an icon in the system notification area of your tray. Clicking this icon brings up a menu that allows to run programs with several different level of trust from "administrator" through to "user."
With this can do day-to-day work in a restricted rights shell but easily run any program that requires elevated privileges without the need to logoff or enter the admin password. You have the advantage of safety and convenience at the same time.
It wasn't built into Windows XP.
There are also two versions available: a stable V1 release and a V2 beta. I installed the latter is working fine though.
It took a few setting changes and reboots to get everything working perfectly. It's definitely not a task for the faint hearted or technically challenged but neither is using "run as."
To un-install RES start up a command window with admin rights and enter the command c:\Windows\Shim\Explorer.exe /r
Logoff as the current user and while re-login, the usual rights for that user account.Then can delete the c:\Windows\Shim\Explorer.exe folder.
Non technical users will have to use Windows Vista to get a satisfactory solution to the user rights problem.



Setting up a limited account may be easy but using it can be a real pain. For example you won't be able to install most programs. You won't be able to update others.


Most users though, find using a limited account to be simply too embarassing and inopportune.
That said using a limited account is an excellent solution for advanced users .




Peaceful security products




Peaceful security products like on-demand scanners (manualy initiation)is a necessity .

It may be an anti-spyware scanner,an anti-virus scanner, a rootkit detector or a keylogger scanner.

They don't impose an on-going command processing overhead time on your computer. The only computer power they consume is while they are actually performing a scan.

In this category comes the free version of AVG Antispyware or free Panda Anti-rootkit detector or Bit Defender Anti-virus or MULTI VIRUS CLEANER (http://www.viruskeeper.com/us/mvc.htm). And because they are not perpetually running they are less chance to cause any problems with other programs.

Run on-demand scans periodically: weekly, monthly whatsoever. They are a good to prevent anything goes wrong to your on-acess security programmes .

How to Easily Run Programs With Reduced Rights

How to Easily Run Programs With Reduced Rights


Having full administrator rights gives the user the highest level of privilege possible. It means that Windows will allow a user to pretty well do anything they want on their PC. That includes installing any program they choose, even programs that change the way the operating system works. Many malware programs including rootkits require administrator privileges to install. If users operated with reduced rights such programs couldn't as easily infect their PCs. On other operating systems such as Linux and Mac OS X, users normally run with reduced rights. The more recent versions of Windows do in fact allow users to be assigned to different user groups with different privileges. In order of reducing privilege these are: "administrator", "power user" group, "user" group and "guest". Sign on as the reduced rights user for normal PC use and then logout and use the administrator rights user account for program installation, registry editing and other demanding tasks.In this way by having two user accounts on PC: one with full administrator rights and the other with reduced rights. Constantly switching users or logging in and out of these accounts is a pain in the butt . Always operate as a reduced privilege user and use the special Windows "run as" function from the command window or context menu when you needed to run a program that requires administrator privileges. It's a slightly more workable solution but not exactly convenient as you need to enter your admin account password every time. An Open Source utility called RunAsAdmin Explorer Shim( RES). RES is a Windows XP program that allows you to sign-in as an administrator but work within a Windows shell with reduced rights. It works by placing an icon in the system notification area of your tray. Clicking this icon brings up a menu that allows to run programs with several different level of trust from "administrator" through to "user." With this can do day-to-day work in a restricted rights shell but easily run any program that requires elevated privileges without the need to logoff or enter the admin password. You have the advantage of safety and convenience at the same time. It wasn't built into Windows XP. There are also two versions available: a stable V1 release and a V2 beta. I installed the latter is working fine though. It took a few setting changes and reboots to get everything working perfectly. It's definitely not a task for the faint hearted or technically challenged but neither is using "run as." To un-install RES start up a command window with admin rights and enter the command c:\Windows\Shim\Explorer.exe /r Logoff as the current user and while re-login, the usual rights for that user account.Then can delete the c:\Windows\Shim\Explorer.exe folder. Non technical users will have to use Windows Vista to get a satisfactory solution to the user rights problem.

Windows XP I Clear desktop clutter without losing functionality

First unlock the taskbar . Right-click the taskbar.

Select " 'Toolbar ' then ' new Toolbar ' " . Name it ' My Toolbar '

and place in ' My Documents ' ------- it will appear next to system tray .

Right click and while holding drag it to the top of your screen means Desktop.


Drag your Desktop items onto it .


Right click on it , and uncheck ' Show title and show text ' .

Also in ' view ' , check ' Use small icons ' .

Create restart/ shutdown icons on your desktop , and drag them onto this toolbar .

Arrange all icons and lock the taskbar .

Now delete all icons on your desktop .

To delete the system icons such as Recycle Bin , instead of tampering with the registry ,

use Tweak UI .

It has an option under ' Desktop/Icons ' .

Uncheck all .

Remove all (or most) of the icons from the quick- launch on your button of the taskbar .

You can always transfer them to ' My Toolbar '.

This way you also clear up space in your taskbar .

Here you will have a strip (taskbar) in the buttom and a strip (My Taskbar) at the top,

with your wallpaper/desktop appearing clean . And with all functionality clean .


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Creating restart/ shutdown icons on your desktop



You can create quick desktop shortcuts to shutdown or lock your PC

To do this right click an empty area of the desktop or folder where you wish to create the shortcut and hit 'new\shortcut.' For the location of the shortcut, enter 'shutdown -s -t 01' for a shutdown command or 'shutdown -r -t 01' for a restart. Hit 'next' and give your shortcut an appropriate name.

THINKING HATS

A WISE WOMAN

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But, a few days later, he came back to return the stone to the wise woman. "I've been thinking," he said. "I know how valuable this stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me this stone." Sometimes it's not the wealth you have but what's inside you that others need




EKLAVYA, is India's official entry at the Oscars
EKLAVYA - The Royal Guard, has been voted as India's official entry to the Oscars. This is the third time Director Vidhu Vinod Chopra will be going to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. His short non-fiction film, AN ENCOUNTER WITH FACES was one of the first Indian films to be nominated for an Oscar in 1980. In 1989, PARINDA was sent to the Oscars as India's official entry. Commenting on this news, Director Vidhu Vinod Chopra said, "I'm elated by the news. But this was only the first battle. The real one is still ahead. I'm leaving for the US on 2nd October and will start my groundwork there. I'm banking on my previous experiences at the Academy and the overwhelming support the film has received in the West. I hope to make India proud." EKLAVYA - The Royal Guard has already received accolades in Hollywood. The film got a standing ovation at the Billy Wilder Theater in UCLA, where it was recently screened as part of the India Splendour Film Festival. Robert L. Friedman, the former President of Columbia Pictures and AMC Theaters applauded it as one of the great foreign films to have graced Hollywood in recent years. He further added, "The caring and most talented direction by Vidhu Vinod Chopra is worthy of maximum praise and awards. Mr. Chopra has created a masterpiece via this film, thanks to his genuine insight and love for his film vehicle. EKLAVYA is a movie that transcends all geographical boundaries - a movie for all people, everywhere, it represents the very best that India's great filmmaking community has to offer." Lionel Wigram, Producer of the HARRY POTTER films, said "It's a masterpiece and I can safely say that it stands an excellent chance of winning India a much awaited Oscar in the foreign film category." Jeffery Silver, Producer of the film 300, found it to be "a thriller that elevates to the level of art." The critics have also been unanimous in their praise: Something about "Eklavya: The Royal Guard" suggests a lost film by David Lean. - LA Times "...Gives any House of Flying Daggers set piece a run for its money." - Metro, UK "Vidhu Vinod Chopra is a poet on celluloid" - Times of India "Far from typical. Very strong and very Shakespearean" - The Sunday Telegraph, UK "Robustly unassuming and entertaining" - Guardian, UK "This is robust storytelling, with blood and thunder pumping through its veins, and real whiskers on its face." - LA Weekly "Vidhu Vinod Chopra's propulsive 'Eklavya - The Royal Guard' has epic sweep." LA Times WHAT IT PROVES , EAST IS EAST AND WEST IS WEST ,





Words of Wisdom Author Unknown

Standing for what you believe in, Regardless of the odds against you, And the pressure that tears at your Resistance, means courage Keeping a smile on your face, When inside you feel like dying, For the sake of supporting others, Means strength Stopping at nothing, And doing what's in your heart, What you know is right, means determination Doing more than is expected, To make another's life a little more bearable, Without uttering a single complaint, Means compassion Helping a friend in need, No matter the time or effort, To the best of your ability, means loyalty Giving more than you have, and Expecting nothing but nothing in return, means selflessness Holding your head high, And being the best you know you can be When life seems to fall apart at your feet, Facing each difficulty with the confidence That time will bring you better tomorrows, And never giving up, Means confidence.

SECURING PC WHILE SURFING

MAKE CERTAIN OF YOUR PC


How to avoid your PC from being getting affected with malware ,viruses , trojans,keyloggers and other nasties taking control of your PC ?

Prevention is better than medication , in other means prevention is better than detecting and removing the infections .



The traditional way of adding additional protection



Securing your PC through multiple secuirty layers based on anti-virus,anti-spyware,anti-trojans,HIPs and other secuirty software costs too high , one hundred full proof solution will be getting not guaranteed .

Here cost means financial as well as by adding more secuirty layers in the PC , hampering performance on your PC .

So how do you prevent infection?


The basics:

1.Download latest fixes of windows and ms office from microsoft update service

(http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en)
2.Stay away from sites offering commercial software serial numbers, keygens and other hacked material. Avoid accidentally wandering to hostile sites by installing McAfee Site Adviser (http://www.siteadvisor.com/)
3.Make sure your other software products are also fully updated, particularly popular products like anti virus, anti spyware, and other security products and browsers like Firefox, Opera, the Adobe Reader, Sun Java, Flash plug-ins and media players. The easiest way to do this is to use the free Secunia Software Inspector (http://secunia.com/software_inspector/)
4.only download files from trusted sources and never install programs that friends give you on removable media(cd/dvd/pen drive/floppy) unless you have verified that are clean by either submitting them to free web based testing services such as Jotti (http://virusscan.jotti.org/) and Virus Total (http://www.virustotal.com/flash/index_en.html), or through scan through in built security software on your PC.
5.Install a robust firewall to ensure worms can't secretly enter your PC via the internet. My current favorites are the free Comodo firewall Pro and ZoneAlarm Pro but there are several other excellent choices including Jetico and Netveda to name but two.
6.Stop Using Internet Explorer, instead use Firefox or Opera,It's no secret that Internet Explorer is filled with security holes. While Internet Explorer 7 is a huge improvement over it's predecessor but it still is no where near as secure as Firefox.When it comes to patching vulnerabilities found, According to the Washington Post ,Microsoft has been notorious for not releasing patches in a timely fashion. According to the Washington Post, Internet Explorer was known to have exploit code for unpatched critical flaws for 284 days of 2006. The article goes on to compare this with 9 days for Mozilla Firefox. For safer internet browsing is,For safer browsing, do not use Internet Explorer
7.No Toolbars Allowed, ALL Toolbars. Starting from Microsoft, Google, Symantec or whoever. No toolbar till this day which is a absolute necessity . They open another gateway into your PC to allow ugly things into your PC.For each toolbar added, you are opening a window of opportunities for bad things to enter into your PC.
8. Don’t Use File Sharing Programs such as Limewire, Kazaa, Shareaza, Edonkey, Bearshare etc. I would say 1 out of every 10 files contains a virus/worm/spyware. it is nice to be able to download that new song you heard on the radio or download the latest software, all for free. But realize that by doing this, you are playing with a loaded gun, when it comes to the security of your computer.

However , sticking to these rules is not a bed of roses ; it requires a level of discipline characters most users may be don't have. Who hasn't been tempted to open a funny Word email attachment or install a free flash game?

This means that more protection is a necessity apart from this basic security rules .


Yours First Step To be Protected :


A normal Windows environment is a user account with full administrator rights. It's probably what you are using right now as it is the default setup in all recent versions of Windows up to but excluding, Windows Vista.


The best way to enhance the level of protection is to make right that if a malware program sneak inside the your PC , that it is disallowed to run on your PC in a normal Windows environment .


There are three filters in which you can keep away malware from normal Windows environments.

1.Run all high risk programs with limited rights
2.Run all high risk programs in a sandbox or virtual machine
3.Use a Windows limited user account for your daily work



1.Run all high risk programs with limited rights

Run as a full administrator user but restrict the rights of all programs such as your browser and email client ,media players or other internet facing programmes that can be sources of malware infection.



Themost familiar of these is DropMyRights. It allows users to easily create special versions of their that run from a full administrator account but with the restricted rights of a Windows limited user or guest user .

The approach however has some weaknesses perhaps the worst of which is downloaded files. Yes you are safe from infection while using a browser but if you run any files you download then you can easily be infected if those files contain embedded malware.


2.Run all high risk programs in a sandbox or virtual machine

The important point is that while running in the sandbox, the programs have no get at to your PC.

Any files you download are marooned to the sandbox. Similarly, any programs that are executed only do so within the sandbox and have no access to your normal files,the sand box created a PC environment within the sandbox itself not in the Windows operating system or indeed any other part of your PC.

This means that that if you get infected by malware while using the sandbox your "actual" computer is not touched on. Furthermore you can close the sandbox and all that's within it is erased including any infections, leaving alone your real PC in a clean and pure state.

. There are also some fantabulous sandboxing programs around including freeware guide the donationware utility "SandBoxie."

Files in the sandbox are not really permanently on your computer unless you by choice move them from the sandbox to your actual PC. If you close the sandbox without moving them they will be missed eternally.

Virtual machines such as VMWare and Microsoft's Virtual PC are standardised to sandboxing but take the idea advanced by completely detaching the virtual machine from theactual PC at a abstract level.
Infections that are obtained in the virtual machine cannot affect the actual PC. Similarly shutting down the virtual PC removes all line of infection.

From a users perspective sandboxing is a better bet than fully virtualisation solutions . But the most prime thing is that user's have to be disciplined at using this .

So,all you need is a good firewall and a good anti-virus program and good anti-spyware programme . Aggregating these with a good sandbox and you will have better security than other users who employ five or more different levels of active security software/freeware protective cover

Your PC will be faster; a counterpoint to machines running multiple security protection products.

3.Use a Windows limited user account for your daily work

Most malware products need full administrator rights to install themselves. In a limited account they just can't get a footings .

It's easy to set up a limited user account. Just go the Control Panel, select User Accounts and create a new user account as a limited user. Then sign in to this account for your normal computer work rather than the account you a currently using

Setting up a limited account may be easy but using it can be a real pain. For example you won't be able to install most programs. You won't be able to update others.


Most users though, find using a limited account to be simply too embarassing and inopportune.
That said using a limited account is an excellent solution for advanced users .

Peaceful security products

Peaceful security products like on-demand scanners (manualy initiation)is a necessity .

It may be an anti-spyware scanner,an anti-virus scanner, a rootkit detector or a keylogger scanner.

They don't impose an on-going command processing overhead time on your computer. The only computer power they consume is while they are actually performing a scan.

In this category comes the free version of AVG Antispyware or free Panda Anti-rootkit detector or Bit Defender Anti-virus . And because they are not perpetually running they are less chance to cause any problems with other programs.

Run on-demand scans periodically: weekly, monthly whatsoever. They are a good to prevent anything goes wrong to your on-acess security programmes .