IT Masala

Windows XP's automatic update facility is really fantastic.You don't need to update manually, but its annoying too…it requires a reboot at the time when you're working on the computer… Then you get this lovely dialog:

This is the most Naggiest Dialog Box ever seen. It can't be closed. Not like KBC(where you get 4 choices) Here You get only two choices– Restart Now, or Restart Later. If you click Restart Later, it pops up again ten minutes later.

I want automatic updates, but I also want to restart my computer when I feel like it. Is there any way to turn off this amazing-annoying dialog box ? 

What is wuauserv Service ?

Enables the download and installation of Windows updates. If this service is disabled, this computer will not be able to use the Automatic Updates feature or the Windows Update Web site.

Two Solutions for this disabling this annoying dialog box :

Read the rest of this entry »

You must have observed , Printers are becoming too damn cheap (Rs 5,875 or $133 ) for a brand new HP Officejet 4355 All-in-One which has print+scan+fax+copy features..What more you want ? Only thing that the printer sucks is the ink.This seems to be very costly deal when we look at the prices of printer cartridges. Its really not a big deal buying a printer now.Only worry is about the recurring cost of the printer cartridges. But don't worry , it does not mean you cannot print using  the cheap ones.You just have to know a few simple tricks.

My teacher always used to ask me , how to print only what i want in the webpage , otherwise the whole page with all the graphics were being printed and it would be a waste of ink. The first trick is best for people like my teacher who wants a piece of selected text to be printed.

Print only required Text : The best and my favorite way which i tell to everybody is : Select the text you want to print from a page. Goto File click on Print (or press <Ctrl> P) to get the Print dialog box. Choose Selection under Print Range . This will save the ink to a very large extent.

Preview before print : After you click on Print Preview you will get a dialog box, goto the "Page Setup" tab and adjust your page margins to remove unwanted headers and footers and the left and right side in the page .(For example when you are printing a mail , you need to adjust page margins to remove unwanted ads on top,bottom and left and right of the mail ). And also enter the start and end pages in the Print Range boxes so that you print only the pages you want.

Change Print Quality :  To reduce your ink usage - If you printing a normal page for personal use and not worried about colour quality then do this . Select the Printer Properties button and choose Draft mode under Print Quality. Check the Grayscale Printing button. To further reduce the ink usage you might also have option of Fast Draft, Fast Normal, Normal, High, and Picture.Choosing Fast Draft(is my fav option) will save ink to a larger extent.

Shutting Down the Printer :  I see people putting off the main power switch and not use the printer's switch. Due to this type of shutdown the printer heads are not parked properly. This can dry the printer head out or cause it to clog. Always use your printer's own power switch to turn it off.

Cartridge Drying :  If you keep printer cartridges without use for long , it will dry up .So print atleast one page once a week to prevent the cartridge from drying up.

Refill Kits- These seem to save a lot of money, but at a cost ( the print quality may not be satisfactory) !

My friend, who runs a cyber centre uses refill kits , its a nice way of saving money, but the print quality is not so impressive.And moreover the refilled cartridge holds less ink than the new cartridge. ( no doubt my friend still saves good amount of money using the refill kits , anyway , it depends on the individual too.)

Online criminals are thriving even in the face of new automated defenses. 

Do you think the new built-in phishing filters in Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 will protect your private data? Think again. Anti-Phishing Working Group found 37,439 new sites- the number of sites devoted has nearly doubled since last year. (Click on the "Image" thumbnail to see the chart showing this trend.)

According to RSA, a security vendor, hackers in January started selling a phishing kit that lets criminals set up very convincing fake Web sites with little effort. The fake site pulls images and layouts from the real site, usually a bank or other financial institution, and passes the user's information back to the real site to mimic a regular log-in–while keeping a copy of the account data for the criminals.

Research firm Gartner estimates that 3.5 million Americans gave up sensitive information to phishers in 2006, an 84 percent jump from the previous year–for a total loss of $2.8 billion. One single phishing gang, called Rock Phish, is estimated to have taken in more than $100 million.

What should you do to protect yourself?

- Heuristic scanning may help combat the scourge

- Use McAfee's SiteAdvisor browser add-on for IE and Firefox (highly recommended)

- Look at the browser address bar which will turn green. This is due to the new type of site certification–called Extended Validation Secure Sockets Layer, or EV SSL–may also help.The sites are verified by 3rd party such as Verisign.

- Never click a link in an e-mail or on a third-party site to go to any of your financial accounts.

- You always use your own bookmark or type in the address of the particular bank

- Be careful before clicking on the link in the email even when you're 100 percent certain that the e-mail is legitimate, you should be extra cautious.

-  Automated tools, such as the free Password Safe and PwdHash utilities can provide some help.

But to combat ever-adapting phishers, your best protection remains…YOU.

Related Artciles :

- India ranks third in phishing 

- Beware of Fake UTI Bank page online

- How Phishing Works 

- Fake Ebay Pages & Forums 

Videos :

- Phishing 101 : Learn how to avoid scam emails and phishing schemes targetting banks, PayPal, eBay, etc. Courtesy of My-PC-Help.com

- Phishing Demo : A demonstration of a live PayPal phishing site before we send requests to have it taken offline.

- Phishing Demo - Aloha : A live site phishing demo. The target is a small Federal Credit Union in Hawaii.

- Phishing :  Learn how to avoid phishing scams!

via [ pcworld ]

A 27B source inside Turkey reports that some proxies work for routing around the country's block on YouTube, which was instituted at the direction of a court after it found that a Greek video hosted on the site violated a law against ridiculing the country and its leaders.

Things that seem to work now:

- Using Firefox, instead of IE or Safari

- YouTube videos embedded in a web page or blog work fine

- A proxy, specifically http://youtubeproxy.org/ works well. Just visit that page and then find the video you want to watch.

Others proxies to try include:

http://www.proxymy.com
http://www.proxysmurf.com/
http://www.worksurfing.com/
http://unblockfacebook.com/
http://www.bypassfilter.net/
http://www.ibypass.org/
http://www.ipzap.com/
https://proxify.com/ https://proxify.us/ https://proxify.biz/
http://kproxy.com/index.jsp
http://www.attackcensorship.com/attack-censorship.html
http://mrnewguy.com/
http://www.unblockwebsites.com/
http://spysurfing.com/
https://www.the-cloak.com/anonymous-surfing-home.html
http://www.stupidcensorship.com/
http://www.evilsprouts.co.uk/defilter/
http://www.bypassbrowser.com/
http://www.proxymouse.com/
http://www.fsurf.com/
http://www.browseatwork.com/
http://www.surfonym.com/
http://www.iamnewguy.com/
http://www.ninjaproxy.com/

Find updated proxies here: http://myspaceblockedproxies.com/

My favourite:

For all such blocks is type in the website's ip and you will get through !

- Instead of typing YouTube.com into a browser window, type 208.65.153.253, to evade the DNS server.

This works for all sites which are blocked.. 

You want to know the ip of any website : Just ping it using command prompt.

Just type : ping <website name.com>    

Ex : ping www.youtube.com     to know its Ip address.

The problem with Windows is , it has huge number of nagging warnings and popups ..

No doubt its done for our convenience,but its too irritating..So here is a solution which will get rid of it …Most of them involved lengthy descriptions of how to navigate the registry just to add the “NoLowDiskSpaceChecks” key. Just follow these steps :
Here’s a much easier solution; one command line you can cut and paste into any open command prompt window.

REM copy here

regini HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer “NoLowDiskSpaceChecks” = REG_DWORD 1

REM end copy here

(REM lines added to make this easier to copy correctly)

OR

You can also change this through TweakUI too
via [ download squad ]

Here are some nice links helpful for writing ..check out..

The wizards at iPodWizard.net have hacked their way to add a background image to first-generation iPod nanos.All you need is a firmware patch supplied by the authors.

You will need the free iPodWizard utility for Windows, which, will allow you to change your iPod's fonts, graphics and text.

Maybe in the near future we might get the same hack for the 5th generation ipods. You can change your background picture by loading that firmware binary in iPodWizard and changing index 78 picture. Click Download to download the required iPod Nano Firmware. Download

Tutorial on their site..

Preview :

[ Download ] via  Background Image on Nano [iPodWizard.net]

Go Mobile is pretty old stuff , but today only my friend asked me how i am online on Yahoo messenger as   . You can also have the same status, just complete these few steps and you can be " Mobile " on Yahoo messenger using your Mobile device.

Now What is Go Mobile?

Go Mobile is a feature that makes it easy to sign in to Yahoo! Messenger on your mobile phone or other device when you are away from your PC. Your friends will see you as I'm Mobile and will be able to send messages directly to your device.

To register your mobile device:

1. Click the "Messenger" menu in Yahoo! Messenger and select "Sign in to Mobile Device."
2. Select a country and service provider from the pull-down menus and click the "Continue" button.
3. Choose the device type and create a name for your phone. Click the "Next" button.
4. Enter phone number and click the "Next" button.
5. A confirmation code will be sent to your device. Enter the code and click the "Next" button.
6. Your mobile device is now registered.

continue reading ……

You can use the "Sign in to Mobile" feature in Yahoo! Messenger, as well as send and receive messages using your mobile device.

1. Click the "Messenger" menu in Yahoo! Messenger and select "Sign into (device's number will appear here)." This will log you out of Yahoo! Messenger on your computer and immediately log you in to Yahoo! Messenger on your device.
2. Click the "OK" button to sign in to your mobile device.

Note: If you do not receive the confirmation code within 10 minutes, repeat the registration process. If you still do not receive the confirmation code, try sending an email message to your mobile device. If you do not receive either message, contact your mobile service provider to find out if your mobile device can receive text messages.

Sometimes you change your cellphone or you lose it .. So you need to register a new number , Now follow these steps to delete the old cellphone number and register for a new mobile number. 

How do I delete or change my Go Mobile device?

To delete or change a mobile device:

1. Click the "Messenger" menu in Yahoo! Messenger and select "Preferences."
2. Click the "General" category.
3. Click the "Edit mobile device" button and enter your Yahoo! ID and password to sign in to Yahoo! Mobile.
4. Under the Other Mobile Devices section, click the trashcan icon to the right of the device.
5. Click the "Delete" button.

Note: To change your Go Mobile device, you must first delete your original device and then register your new device.

Want to have editing options at your easy reach ? Here are some steps to make it possible .

This lets you put the common editing icons like cut, copy, and paste onto your IE 7 toolbar…

1. Right-click on a blank area of the toolbar.
2. Select Customize Command Bar
3. Select Add or Remove Commands
4. Move (or Add/Remove) the buttons you want from the left column to the right column
5. Press Close when done.

You have just joined a group and want to upload a collection of your photos. Doing it one at a time is very cumbersome. Follow these steps to easily add multiple pictures to a group at once.

1. Log into Flickr
2. Click on Organize link
3. Drag photos you want to add to the group into the Batch Edit part of the screen
4. Click on Send to Group
5. Select the group
6. Press OK and wait.

[ Flickr ]