Category: Security

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PC Hacks Security System Performance

How To Protect Your Settings From Being Changed By The Virus Or Trojans

How to prevent a virus or trojan change the settings of your computer

One feature that many of of the Viruses and Trojans have in similar is that after their installation, they begin to change the system’s configurations and registry keys in order to hide and breed.

This is possible because, in general most of the users operate their windows with administrator privileges , thus helping the virus to spread throughout the system by not having a permit limitation.

The best method to protect your system from the configuration changes made by the Virus or Trojans is to work without administrator permissions but this change of approach is difficult to instill among users. So, assuming that most work will continue with the privileged user, we must find an alternative to protect the user even working in administrator mode.

This protection is offered by free software ” WinLockLess ” , which must run with administrator privileges. It provides complete protection against the registry changes.

The method of employment is very easy. Choose those aspects that you want to protect and press the Activate Changes button, and thus you will have them all protected .

It Will Protect Your System In Two Modes :

 How To Protect Your Settings From Being Changed By The Virus Or Trojans http://winlockless.en.softonic.com/Image Courtesy by : Softonic

1. User Profile Protection:

Protect the registry branches hanging from HKEY_CURRENT_USER .

Contains:

  • Protect “Run” current user: Affects the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Software / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion / Run
  • Protect “Winlogon” current user: Affects HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Software / Microsoft / Windows NT / CurrentVersion / Winlogon
  • Protect Home Folder: Protects your home folder where application shortcuts are added.
  • Protect RunOnce and RunOnceEx: Affects the keys HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/RunOnce and HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/RunOnceEx
  • Protect Explorer User Policies: Affects HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Software / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion / Policies / Explorer / Run
  • Protect “Load” current user: Affects HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Software / Microsoft / Windows

2. Protection of the entire system:

Protect the registry branches hanging from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

Contains :

  • Protect “Winlogon” machine: Affects HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / Software / Microsoft / Windows NT / CurrentVersion / Winlogon
  • Protect “Run” machine: Affects the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / Software / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion / Run
  • Protect “SafeBoot” (F8, safe mode): Affects SYSTEM / CurrentControlSet / Control / SafeBoot
  • Protect RunOnce and RunOnceEx: Affects ramas HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/RunOnce y HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/RunOnceEx
  • Protect Explorer Policies of the machine: It affects HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / Software / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion / Policies / Explorer / Run
  • Protect common startup folder: Protect your home folder where application shortcuts are added.

The application protects you from all well known viruses , including the famous police virus. So we strongly recommend its implementation to increase your system protection.

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PC Hacks Security Web Guides

Hide your IP Address And Stay One Step More Secure On The Internet

Hide your IP Address And Stay One Step More Secure On The Internet

Online privacy is one of the most important aspect that you should consider. If you don’t then things could end up disastrous. Usually IP addresses are like your footprints, and often should not be known by the websites you visited or other users. So there are a number of methods to hide your IP address and thus making your online life a bit more secure.

Also See: How To Find The IP Address Of Your Computer

What Is An IP Address? It is your identity on the internet, which identifies your computer, smartphone, tablet, or anything else with which you are connected. As we always say ” If it’s on the internet, it isn’t private ” , Any server which you connect to, or any internet user can easily obtain your IP address.

By using IP address they can obtain the data such as the country you live in, what browser you use, even know your Internet habits and also have a chance to know your computer’s IP address. If someone else knows all such details about you and your computer, then your security is truly under question.

 

Hide your IP Address And Stay One Step More Secure On The Internet

 

How to Hide your IP Address ?

There are several methods to hide your IP address in order to protect your privacy , but neither method is 100% effective only hinder your crawl. Here are the three methods to hide your IP address:

 

#1 Web-Proxies:

This is the fastest and simplest method. No need to install anything on your computer or on your web browser. All you need to do is, just move on to any web-proxy website and enter the address that you want to access anonymously in the search bar. Now you will be redirected to your requested website by hiding your IP address.

Many of these proxies allow additional settings, such as advertising, cookies or applications running on the website and many more. There are now many web proxies, both free and paid versions, some of them are:

 

#2 Configure the proxy settings in the browser :

Another method is to configure the proxy settings in your web browser. So by using this method you can directly use your web browser itself so as to hide your IP address. To do this you must access the settings of your browser and establish a web proxy of your choice.

Another possibility to hide your IP using the browser is to install extensions that help us to maintain our privacy and security.

 

#3 Proxy software :

These proxies have to be installed on your computer , and work the same way as any normal program. One of the best known software proxies is the ” TOR Project “, which besides being free, it is one of the most reliable and safe to hide in the network methods. TOR browser is also pretty popular and is being used by thousands of people worldwide.

It is composed of a network of computers called nodes. When you connect to TOR, it follows a path through the various nodes and finally connect to the server, making it quite difficult to find the source as you can seamlessly connect to the network from a node located in any other country. Besides this, communications through the TOR network are encrypted , making it even more difficult.

We don’t say its unchangeable but surely it isn’t going to give way to intruders so easily.

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Security

Security Concerns Of Not Removing Metadata From Your Files

Currently all office files and even images lead a series of hidden data called metadata. Through them you can extract information about who edits the document, its software version, if they access servers, etc. If you have not taken proper care about the metadata of your files then third parties may get a chance to use the information of your’s or your company’s. The presence of metadata makes it very easy to attack and sneak into your system. Also meta-data may even jeopardize your privacy.

Security Issues By Not Removing The Metadata From Your Files

Today every user should know what meta-data is and how to remove them in order to restrict the third parties from attacking your system. If an office document has not deleted the corresponding metadata, then huge amounts of information can be extracted from them. This information can be from the username of a system to the version of software that performs the document.

In addition to the Office documents, images also possess this meta-data, and by extracting this we can get a truly compromising information, such as geographic location , i.e, the exact place where you have taken the photo, or even recover the original shape and size of photos if that are modified. This is really dangerous, because with the technology that we have today and the number of photos that we have on social networks like Facebook , someone could easily know our geographical location in minutes after we upload a photo.

Metadata: the beginning of the attack :

One of the main methods used by hackers to steal information is metadata extraction. Using Internet search engines they can easily download all files of a company, either pdf, word, excel … and can extract information from them (unless the meta-data was deleted).

Security Issues By Not Removing The Metadata From Your Files

By using a number of tools you can have a structural map of the internal network of a company. This may contain data related to users, servers to which they have access, software releases and operating systems and can even have some extract passwords. All this can be done through extraction of such meta-data is a way to get enough information, and therefore makes it easier to perform security attacks.

How to extract metadata:

There are number of programs that extract metadata from one or more files at once almost automatically . One of the best known application for the extraction of metadata is the FOCA . This program has been developed for 64 bit operating computers. It performs two tasks, one is meta-data extraction and next is network map formation with extracted metadata.

This program is used by many specialized security professionals to perform penetration testing , and is also available for free, you can download it from their website.

And Now, Its for you to decide if you are you going to continue publishing photos without deleting their metadata or not!

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PC Hacks Security

How To Remove Sensitive Data ( Metadata ) From Microsoft Word

How To Remove Sensitive Data ( Metadata ) From Microsoft Word

When we share anything on the Internet, we are only intended to publish the data that we want. We don’t want any incriminating information containing data that calls into question our privacy (Sensitive Data). When we publish any document or file, we are often unaware of the amount of data that is hidden and carried along. That might be like author, resolution, size, etc. to avoid this, today we are going to teach you the way to delete all your private data that is attached to your document.

How To Remove Sensitive Data ( Metadata ) From Microsoft Word

Internet is a medium that allows us to share all kinds of files like photos, videos, presentations, documents and many more. It is a good showcase to publicize what we want others to see. However, we are not always aware that we don’t want certain data to be published . This applies to documents that are created with Microsoft Word. In many cases, after writing the documents or articles, we just share in the net, believing to have full control of what is published . But this is not so.

Along the document, it adds a series of data that can compromise your privacy. Reflect the information regarding the creation dates, resolution, size, author, etc. They are in short private data (also called sensitive data or metadata). But there’s no need to worry as Microsoft Word allows us to remove this sensitive data.

How To Remove The Sensitive Data From Your Word Document :

Through few simple steps we will get rid of these private data that should not be published. To do this, the first step is to open the document that you want to publish. Emphasize that we have tested through Microsoft Word 2010, but also works in other editions.

metadata

Now just move on to the file tab and click on info option. Now click on the check for issues option from the displayed list. It will display a small menu with three options, all related to the preparation of the document before sharing. Click on the Inspect Document option then it will open a window with a list of options. Only mark Document Properties and Personal Information and then click Inspect.

In case you are using any of the earlier editions of MS Word, then you can find this Inspect Document option in the Prepare Tab within the Office button to the top left of your MS Word window.

When the scan is completed, it will show you the data found. In our case, we detected document properties and author. To delete this data just simply select Remove All and then click Close. With this simple action our document will be free of private data and we can publish without any effect.

As we have seen, a very simple making process. With these few steps we managed to delete data that should not be published and that endanger over privacy on the Internet .

Now that you know why what this is all about.. Do you doubt if this is all really important? Share with us.

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Security

How Your PC Can Get Infected Even When Antivirus Software Works Fine

how antivirus software works

Antivirus software like we are told is certainly the most important software on our computers (these days in mobiles as well). But what we missed is, to understand how antivirus software works.

Because of this, there are instances your computer gets infected even though you have antivirus software installed and active.

In this article, we explore what exactly the capabilities of antivirus software are and help you understand how antivirus software works.

how antivirus software works

But first lets’ get around why our computers actually get affected. From the reports of several virus attacks here’s what we found out.

Than any other illegal means, earning money from a malware infected computer is more easy and safe. In addition, if the owner of that target computer isn’t so good on securing his stuff, the bad guys’ work gets more simplified. But how do these cyber criminals do it is the million dollar question and this is probably how:

Software Vulnerabilities: There are these backdoors around every other software, which invite bugs. The complex the software gets the more vulnerabilities it holds.

Sheer Intelligence: Though they are on the wrong side we do have to accept this strength of theirs. It isn’t so easy to create a virus that can surpass the best-secured systems.

So, lets’ accept they are good with their stuff but there are ways in which we can pave them off from our money and lives. One way is by relying on good updated antivirus software and here’s why you should.

How Antivirus Software Works – Techniques

You’ll understand why we always recommend an updated antivirus by actually getting into how these antivirus software work. And lets’ begin.

Antivirus software is a computer program which is capable of identifying and eliminating any malware present in our computers. Here are all the methods it employs to achieve its purpose:

Signature Based Detection –The Dictionary Approach

With this methodology, the antivirus program scans all the files looking for matches to its virus dictionary (or) database.

This database contains the virus signatures, which is the binary code (a unique arrangement of 1s and 0s) of all known viruses. Hence if there is a match in any of the files this software flags it malicious.

Though mostly this is the method followed there is one basic loop hole with this. If at all there is some new virus which isn’t present in the database of the software, it is let go. This is the reason why we recommend updated AV software.

Detection Based On Behavior

This approach of malware detection is far better and acceptable. Here the AV software continuously monitors the behavior of programs.

Once it finds any program for say, trying to write into an executable file or anything abnormal for that matter, it flags it suspicious and notifies the user about it. This technique is further divided into two types:

Analogy-Based Detection (Setting up what is normal behavior and anything abnormal is flagged suspicious)

Specification-Based Detection (All the computer actions are mediated by a predetermined policy and nothing other than this is done).

How To Detect Malware Infection On Your Computer

easy way to Detect Malware Infection On Your Computer. Let’s be honest, no one wants to own a computer that is infected with malicious programs. Therefore

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Conclusion:

An antivirus software works by performing one or more of these mentioned techniques; hence providing those extra layers of security to your computer.

Well for all those who argue antivirus software is for crap, I suggest being safe than sorry for their computers could be on the brink of with over 100 viruses and 500 new malware being released into the internet each single day.

Now that you understood how antivirus software works hope you stay more secure than ever. Express your views about the same in the comments section below.

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Security Software

Some Of The Best Tools To Sandbox Programs In Your Computer

Some of the Best Tools to Sandbox Programs in Your Computer

Everyone likes to try new programs in Windows but not always do it with caution. To avoid shocks or conflicts between a test program and Windows, a good solution is to use a sandboxing tool.

Trying a new Windows program is something which we usually do, and everyday there are hundreds of emerging new utilities that improve our current state. However, most of the programs are safe and there’s nothing to worry about. But sometimes some wayward program may bring in some bugs into your Windows computer. To avoid such problems, there are several possible solutions like using virtual machines or by performing system restore or even by using a sandbox technology. Today we are going to introduce you to some of the best tools for sandboxing your programs. But before that, here’s something about sandboxing.

Some of the Best Tools to Sandbox Programs in Your Computer

The sandbox technology is basically to create a virtual environment, where you can run programs or processes without directly relating them to the rest of the system. In this way, you can run a fully functional program and in case of any failure, there wont be any affect to the other programs or the operating system. This technology has been around much but has not become popular until it was used in OS X and Google Chrome. The advantages of using sandbox are many, mainly related to security and ease of adoption.

Sandbox Tools for Windows :

Sandboxie :

We start with the most popular tool for sandboxing in Windows. Sandboxie is an incredibly easy to use and very intuitive tool. It will not cost you anything to learn to take advantage of it. It will virtually serve any application , from programs to games, Internet and the rest. It also allows exporting files created within the sandbox for use in Windows, because by default all files created are deleted. You can test for a limited time and purchase a license for personal use for only $ 22.15 or 15 €.

iCore Virtual Accounts :

Another option to consider is iCore Virtual Accounts . As in the previous case, it creates a virtual sandbox to run specific programs, it is compatible with most programs, including web browsers or games, barely noticeable resource consumption and is very easy to use and manage, and can create two or more virtual spaces for different uses. Among its advantages, it also allows you to create a customized version of sandbox to fit your needs completely before installation.

Evalaze :

Available in three different versions, one free Evalaze provides a simple environment to virtualize applications without affecting Windows. On his website you will see a list of supported applications , although you can try on your own with specific programs or games. The process is very fast using a handy wizard that guides you step by step on what you must do.

BufferZone :

Something more complete is BufferZone , which lets you create virtual spaces for your programs and perform a host of activities, such as accessing web pages, opens mail messages and attachments within these virtual spaces, talking on IM safely and even share files over P2P networks. In this sense, BufferZone acts as a kind of filter between your programs and Internet threats. In addition, as with virtual machines, it even allows you to backup in order to restore the configuration of the virtual space in case damaged by the malfunction of a program.

Browser in the Box :

Browser in the Box specializes only the Internet safely. This sandbox tool creates a virtual space in which you can run the web browser, which is only a virtual machine with Debian, Linux and Firefox . Although resource consumption is high, it provides a safe navigation and will not download or install any malicious program. If in case, you want to then you can directly restore the virtual machine at any time. Anyway, if you think that downloaded files are safe, you can extract them from Browser in the Box for Windows.

Comodo Internet Security :

This comprehensive security suite offers all kinds of tools, such as antivirus, firewall, antispyware, protection in the torn and also a practical module for running applications under sandbox . Like the rest of Comodo Internet Security options, even creating a virtual space or sandbox is very simple. Just go to “Sandbox Tasks” and click on the “Virtual Run” button. After selecting the programs that you want to run in the sandbox, it will start in protected mode. On the other hand, you can do directly from Windows Explorer by right-clicking on the program and selecting “Run in COMODO Sandbox” option.

Cameyo :

Another option to consider is Cameyo , which converts all files of a program to a portable version that includes within it a single executable file to work. In this sense, Cameyo creates a sandbox that allows the usage of programs without affecting Windows, which is another very practical and easy to implement sandbox possible solution for Windows.

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Security

Ever Tried Sandboxing Your Programs? Here’s Why You Should

Sandbox: Sandboxing and Security

Are you sure your antivirus software is sufficient to protect your computer? Are you a regular target to viruses and other malware? Then wait not, it’s time to have an extra security layer in your computer. So this extra layer should be so good that hardly any of these malware can penetrate though it, isn’t it! So here’s the best solution for you and that’s ‘Sandboxing’.

 

Sandbox: Sandboxing and Security

What Is Meant By Sandboxing :

Sandbox is that virtual environment in your computer which can contain and run all the malicious applications without your system getting affected. A sandbox, in normal terms, is a wooden box of sand children play with and is specially designed to confine sand within the layout of the box. If not done so, there are umpteen chances the sand gets spread all over the place making a big mess.

This same concept is applied in computing to confine all the malware of your computer to a set location. Sandboxing enables you to run malicious software, websites and games once they are placed into your computer’s sandbox; and you wouldn’t notice a glitch. Now that you know what a sandbox can do, you can test or analyze suspicious software or code in a rather protected atmosphere.

Sandbox and Security:

By now you must have understood that a sandbox is a virtual controlled atmosphere. Let’s now talk about the how-it-does-so part. First of all, sandboxing a piece of code or an application means, providing it access to the minimum resources it requires thereby denying any other resource permissions it requests for, which it may abuse.

Hence the behavior of this sandboxed application can completely be monitored. During the entire process, the virus (if at all any) is confined to that box and can’t infect the host computer.

For instance, let’s consider the browser you are viewing this page from. If at all this browser is sandboxed, all the websites you visit run inside the sandbox. These websites are then confined to run only within your browser without any access to other resources, say your webcam. Simply, they can’t get to your webcam or your local computer files or your USB stick. They are totally confined.

Now consider you haven’t sandboxed this particular browser, if at all now you enter some malicious website it is the same as installing a virus knowingly. Surely your antivirus software will offer the first line of defense but had it not been updated to that virus signature, Boom! You are in trouble.

Recently many programs come with their own sandbox. For the above mentioned example it really isn’t that easy for malware to intrude into your system because it first has to cross the browser’s sandbox. Google Chrome and Internet Explorer have their own sandboxing techniques employed which alert you in times you are browsing through malicious content.

Not just browsers, even many other applications like the PDFs, Word Processing Documents, Mobile Apps, Browser plug-ins all have their own sandbox. But this sums up only to be one layer of security and to stay safe its better you have multiple layers of them. You can learn the art of sandboxing your programs in our coming articles.

The Bottom Line:

To stay safe online and to protect your personal data, it is must that you have an updated antivirus in your computer. Few antivirus programs like Comodo Internet Security include sandboxing. Like mentioned, it is just one layer of security and for sound protection you need many more of those layers.

‘Whatever happens in the sandbox stays within the sandbox’.

 

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Security

How To Find Out If Someone Used Your Computer Without Permission

How to know if some one uses your computer , lock your computer using mouse

Privacy and protection are the major factors that almost every computer user is concerned about. The data and tasks that we store in our PC deserve to be safe from the curiosity of others. That’s why we have many protection systems like passwords , patterns , face detection and many more. Today we are going to teach you about a service that will not prevent access to your PC, but It would warn you when someone tries using it hence effectively barring anyone from stealing your data.

How To Find Out If Someone Used Your Computer Without Permission , Someone Used Your Computer , Someone Used Your Computer

How To Know If Someone Used Your Computer :

As computers store lots and lots of data and perform lots of tasks; obviously we can’t compromise on their security. The privacy concern of our personal Computers hence often worries us a lot.

To achieve this, we use passwords or security patterns. However, they are not the only or the best possible ways to protect our PC. In Windows, if we set a password, we will always be locking the computer and then have to enter the password to unlock it. It’s a process that can be tedious if we take the computers frequently.

To simplify this, today we introduce you ” Mouselock “, a simple service set, allowing us to lock our PC without shutting down the screen . It should be noted that it will only warn you when someone uses your PC without permission, it do not prevent

Mouse Cursor Is The Key To Lock :

Mouselock is a free running service, there is no need to download or install anything. Simply go to their official website to get started.

How To Find Out If Someone Used Your Computer Without Permission, Someone Used Your Computer , Someone Used Your Computer , Someone Used Your Computer

The first thing you will be asked when you enter the website of Mouselock is to associate with your Gmail account .To do this, just you need to click on ” Sign in with Google “, and enter your email and password to login. You will be asked for permission, click on accept. Remember to allow Mouselock to access your webcam.

Now just choose a number from 1 to 10 to lock the system , and you need to click on the blue circle to activate the lock. From this point, your PC will be locked. If someone moves the cursor, then they will have five seconds to hit the correct number that you have chosen . If this fails, you will get a email notification along with a photo of the offender taken by the webcam .

At this point we find a negative part in the service , as it may be coincidence that the person trying to access your PC might guess the number correctly. It’s a security risk that must be taken into account .

As we have seen, Mouselock is a very simple and quite effective service despite the negative we have discussed about. It is intended primarily for when you use the computer very continuously and abandon a while to deal with any matter .