Protect Yourself from getting Hacked

Is it easy to hack email accounts technically?

Answer is No.
It is difficult to hack email accounts but the hackers makes trap in which user fall and lend up losing their email accounts.

They make trap such that we lend up giving our own passwords.

Below are methods how hackers set trap and solutions to it.

Website Phishing (Spoofing):

In case of Website Spoofing or Phishing the attacker creates Website with same GUI look and feel as original website but the URL of Website is different.This website is created for cheating purpose.

Eg:An attacker creates a spoofed web page of let say hotmail.com which would be exactly same as hotmail ,so people believe it as original website.Their main intention is to get password,if user enters his username and password unknowingly on login page he gives away his id and password to attacker.

Solution:

• Never access email or secured site(where login required) other than original site
• Type URL in address bar never visit form any hyperlink.
• Check address bar whether the address of website is proper eg:For instance spoof page would be yahooo.com in case of yahoo.com

This applies to all site where secure login required.

Key Loggers:

Key Logger is a tool, kind of a spyware which records the key activities of keyboard on your machine.Attackers installs keylogger on your machine back-door without your knowledge ,when you are installing some program if keylogger is patched with it then logger also gets installed or click on illegitimate link like tempting screen saver,spams,ads,images etc.

The logger records all activites and sends log file periodically to attacker without your knowldge.From these log files attacker extract your password and uses it.

Solution:

• Key your PC update with antivirus and antispyware.
• Don't click on unknown links spam links however tempting may be.
• Scan installable file before running it.
  

Improper Password:

According survey conducted people use their close relative name,date of births,mobile numbers,religious significance name and digit like 1234 as password.Whenever attacker targets a specific user he understands person properly by seeing traffic activities and personal info of users studies his target properly and uses guess work to crack password or else can crack using brute forcing it.

Solution:

• While keeping password, use random words.
• Password must be mix of block, small alpahabets ,numerics,and special charcters in order to make it strong.
• Whenever making any email or social networking account remember to keep your secondary email.If you haven't you could edit it whenever required.If at all you forget your password or hacked your password reset request will be send to you on secondary account.
  
• Never use same passwords for all accounts.

Registration forms & Spam mails:

Most of free forums downloading sites have compulsion registration there are many fake and spams among those too which infringe with your personal details.People generally have habit of keeping same password as that of their email accounts,thus land up giving password.

Spam mails: There are instance where there are forge spam mail which call themselves from bank or support team of hotmail , gmail and ask to mail username password in order to avoid from closing accounts.No provider sends this mail they all are fake spams.

Solution:

• Never use same passwords on registration pages as your email account,use different passwords.
• Use some temporary email accounts not personal email accounts while registering yourself in forums etc.

After all prevention is better than cure

My other post regarding protection from Hacking KeyLoggers

My other post regarding protection from Hacking Trojans

How to Set BIOS to Boot from CD

All modern Computer Systems manufactured in the last years, support boot from cd feature, but it may be required to configure this feature in bios or previous owner of your computer system may have disabled this feature or may have changed the boot priority sequence )

When you start your computer, check the boot-screen for setup key, In most newer pc it will be DELETE key.

Press DEL key or ESC five times when computer starts to enter BIOS setup

AMBIOS user

now you will see some similar screen and choose the BOOT option and choose Boot Device Priority and choose first boot device to CDROM and second boot device to HARD DRIVE You can press F10 to save settings.

Award Bios you will see some similar screen a nd choose the right key to Enter setup

Now choose Advanced Bios Features

and set First Boot Device to CDROM and Second or third to HDD-0 and Press F10 to save it.

PeBuilder Boot disk

Pebuilder Window Xp boot disk is a recovery XP boot disk which is made using PEbuilder software it can be used for recovery specially while to removing viruse,take backup when your OS doesnt load even in safe mode.

Below is the .iso file of Pebuilder Window Xp boot disk download it and write the image file into a CD



To write into CD you can use free burning software InfraRecorder from link below




Step to write ISO file of Boot disk:
After downloading the iso file

1. Download and install InfraRecorder, a free and open source image burning program.

2. Insert a blank CD in the drive and select Do nothing or Cancel if an autorun dialog pops up.

3. Open Infra Recorder and click the 'Write Image' button in the main screen.
   • Alternatively you can select the 'Actions' menu, then 'Burn image'.
   
4. Select the Ubuntu CD image file you want to use, then click 'Open'.
5. In the dialog, click 'OK'.

Before using the CD check the BIOS setup Disk Priority and make CD as first disk priority.
How to set Disk priority in BIOS Click here

Sometimes when system files are infected by viruses then you can' t remove it using normal procedure because when OS is ON the processes are still running hence you can't manipulate it.

Step to remove viruses

• In order to remove virus in such case,you need to know the virus location.

• Using this disk you can remove virus,Before the OS load while starting computer insert the PE builder boot disk in CD-Rom and make your machince run from CD rather than HDD it will prompt you during boot if your first booting device is CD Press any key to boot from disk or else cursor may blink then press any key and it will load from CD it would take 2 mins to load do not interrupt between and finally the screen below appears
  

• Now your machine is running from Disk

• Click on go then program and then select A43 File management utility as shown below
  

• Explorer opens as shown below, now you can go to any location on hard disk and manipulate things ,go to known virus location and remove it .
  

Steps When your computer crashes and cant open in safemode or need to take back up of important data on USB drive

• Before starting your computer connect the USB drive to your machine or else Bart PE wont detect the USB drive
• Now follow above procedure show for virus removal then after opening the explorer backup your data on USB drive.

MAC OS X LEOPARD

TECHNOLOGY

64-BIT

Bridge the generation gap.
Since the entire operating system is 64-bit ready, you can take full advantage of the Xeon processors in Mac Pro and Xserve. You get more processing power at up to 3.0GHz, without limiting your programs to command-line applications, servers, and computation engines.

Driver compatibility.
Because of its universal nature, with Leopard you don’t need a new set of drivers — or devices. New 64-bit applications work just fine with your existing printers, storage devices, and PCI cards. Even better, if you upgrade to new 64-bit-capable drivers, your 32-bit applications will also benefit from the increased throughput.

64-bit frameworks

In addition to the POSIX and math libraries supported in Tiger, Leopard enables developers to build complete 64-bit applications using the Cocoa, Quartz, OpenGL, and X11 GUI frameworks. You can even use 64-bit Java on capable Intel processors. And the 64-bit and 32-bit versions of the libraries are built from exactly the same code base, to ensure a consistent experience for both developers and users.

CORE ANIMATION

Welcome to the next level in computer animation. No, it’s not a feature film — it’s your desktop. Core Animation is an API that makes it simple for Mac developers to add visually stunning graphics and animations to applications. Without any esoteric graphics and math techniques, you can create fluid, stutter-free effects and experiences as groundbreaking as Spaces and Time Machine.

Order from depth.

Using Core Animation, Mac developers can create snazzy animations in their programs using different media types, such as text, 2D graphics, OpenGL renderings, and video, simultaneously. These items are placed on layers, and a scene can contain a few layers or thousands of layers, each with its own content. Core Animation can add different effects to layers, then composite and render them in real time. When content changes, Core Animation updates it automatically.

Two heads are better than one

Core Animation takes advantage of the multiple cores in most new Intel-based Mac computers. When developers use the framework for an application, the process runs in its own thread. On a multicore Mac, that means the application runs on one core, and Core Animation runs on the other. Core Animation runs on any Core Image-capable Mac (including most Mac systems shipped in the past two years).

Shift from manual to automatic.
No need to create animations by managing individual elements on a frame-to-frame basis. Just describe the start state, the end state, and any interim states or keyframes, and let Core Animation do the rest. You can also describe how your animation should react to user input, and it adjusts accordingly. Core Animation opens up the power of Apple’s graphics technologies and proven aesthetics to every developer. You’ll be seeing its effect in a new generation of amazing apps to come.

MULTICORE

Today’s Mac computers offer astounding performance with up to eight cores of processing power. So how do you take full advantage? Simple. With Leopard. A rearchitected system, finely tuned key applications, and powerful new tools for developers make Leopard the perfect OS for your multicore Mac

Why multicore matters.
For decades, every time a faster processor hit the market, you got better application performance but hotter, power-hungrier chips that were far from mobile-friendly. New multicore processors help solve the power problem, but application performance may not automatically improve. That’s where Leopard comes in, providing powerful tools that make it easy to reap the benefits of multicore computing.

Multiple cores, multiple efficiencies.
The new Leopard scheduler is very efficient at allocating tasks across multiple cores and processors. So Leopard spends less time managing tasks and more time performing computations. A new multithreaded network stack speeds up networking by handling network inputs and outputs in parallel.

Multicore apps in Leopard.
Apple engineers have updated several applications in Leopard — including Mail, Address Book, and Font Utility — to be fully multicore ready. Each of these apps breaks up processor-intensive actions into a series of more manageable steps that execute one by one on single-CPU computers and in parallel on newer, multicore systems. Cocoa uses that same technology to speed up Spotlight searches and Dictionary lookups.

UNIX

What can the fully compliant UNIX technology in Leopard do? It can run any POSIX-compliant source code. Help you make the most of multicore systems. Put a new, tabbed-interface Terminal at your fingertips. Introduce a whole host of new features that make life easier for every developer. So, really, what can’t it do?

UNIX certification.
Leopard is now an Open Brand UNIX 03 Registered Product, conforming to the SUSv3 and POSIX 1003.1 specifications for the C API, Shell Utilities, and Threads. Since Leopard can compile and run all your existing UNIX code, you can deploy it in environments that demand full conformance — complete with hooks to maintain compatibility with existing software.

Terminal 2.
The Terminal application in Leopard takes advantage of the operating system’s native text and graphics capabilities, using Input Manager and CoreText to fully support non-English languages. The updated layout engine provides very fast rendering of ASCII, ISO, and Unicode text, and a new user interface gives users around the world the ability to harness the power of UNIX. A simplified inspector and integrated settings pane make it easy to change the look and feel of Terminal.

Self-Tuning TCP.
Leopard gets the best possible bandwidth from either broadband or narrowband networks by optimizing buffer sizes according to the local resources and connection type. Starting with a larger window helps TCP with ongoing dynamic optimization. This is especially valuable when connecting to high-bandwidth/high-latency networks like Verizon’s FiOS, which previously required specialized tools such as Broadband Tuner.

Autofs.
The brand-new multithreaded autofs filesystem layer keeps track of which paths are actually located on remote AFP, SMB, or NFS fileservers — even across symlinks — and automatically mounts the appropriate server. The Finder and other applications needn’t wait for one mount to complete before requesting another. Now you can specify automount paths for your entire organization using the same standard automounter maps (e.g., NIS) supported by Linux or Solaris.

64-bit applications.
Leopard is the first mainstream OS to completely and seamlessly support both 64-bit and 32-bit applications on the same platform, making use of all your existing devices. Even major graphical system libraries — including Cocoa, X11, and OpenGL — are available to both 32-bit and 64-bit processes.

Multicore optimized.
Leopard features improved scheduling, memory management, and processor affinity algorithms to make better use of multiple cores. Several subsystems (TCP networking, the autofs automounter, NFS server) have been rewritten to be fully multithreaded. Also, POSIX thread allocation has been optimized to support the new NSOperation APIs.

SECURITY

Safe and easy.
The security features built into Leopard are unobtrusive, easy to use, and accessible to everyone. And Apple responds quickly to any threat, providing timely software updates that make installing the latest security enhancements one-click simple.

Secure from the open source.
Apple engineers use a variety of approaches to identify potential security threats and proactively protect the OS against them. Since the core of Leopard is open source, Apple gets the benefit of a worldwide community of security researchers who help to further improve security on the Mac. Apple also works with a number of security organizations, including CERT/CC, FIRST, the FreeBSD security team, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Danger-free downloads.
Sometimes innocent-looking files contain malicious applications in disguise. That’s why files downloaded using Safari, Mail, and iChat are screened to determine if they contain applications. If they do, Leopard alerts you, then warns you the first time you open one. You decide whether to open the application or cancel the attempt. And Leopard can use digital signatures to verify that an application hasn’t been changed since it was created.

DIY encryption.
The Disk Utility tool in Leopard helps you create encrypted disk images using 128-bit or even stronger 256-bit AES encryption. Safely email documents, files, and folders to friends and colleagues, save the encrypted disk image to CD or DVD, or store it on your Mac or a network file server.

Connect with confidence.
The VPN client in Leopard offers increased compatibility with the most widely used VPN servers on the Internet. So connecting to corporate networks securely — without additional software — is fast and easy.

Safe to share.
New sharing preferences in Leopard show you which folders your Mac is sharing and give you more control over who can access shared folders. Add users from your Address Book, create new file-sharing accounts so friends and family can securely access your files, or tie into a corporate directory to add users from your network. Sharing options abound in Leopard.

Sandbox tested.
Sometimes hackers try to hijack an application to run malicious code. Sandboxing helps ensure that applications do only what they’re intended to by restricting which files they can access, whether they can talk to the network, and whether they can be used to launch other applications. Helper applications in Leopard — including the network time daemon and the Spotlight indexer — are sandboxed to guard against attackers.

FEATURES

DESKTOP

The new look of Leopard showcases your favorite desktop image and puts new file Stacks at your fingertips for a stunning, clutter-free workspace

FINDER

Browse your files like you browse your music with Cover Flow

QUICK LOOK

Browse, play, view, and page through your files. Without opening them.

TIME MACHINE

See how your system looked on any given day and restore files with a click.

SPACES

Create up to 16 workspaces to stay clutter-free and organized.

MAIL

Email personalized stationery, take notes, and write to-dos that sync to iCal

iCHAT

Video chat with effects and backdrops, present remotely, and get more from text.

iCAL

Edit events inline and schedule group events with iCal Server

PHOTO BOOTH

Snap and share fun photos, complete with special effects

DASHBOARD

Sync all of your widgets to all of your Macs.

FRONT ROW

Remote control TV shows, photos, and movies on your Mac

DVD PLAYER

Play, control, bookmark, and even edit your favorite DVDs

SAFARI

Browse faster with even more features. Download the beta today

BOOT CAMP

Run Windows on your Mac — faster and easier.

DELL LAPTOPS

DellTM InspironTM 6400 Notebook

Rs.45,900

Processor :

Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor T5300 (2MB Cache, 1.73GHz, 533MHz FSB)Dell Recommends Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor T5600 (2MB Cache, 1.83GHz, 667MHz FSB)

Operating System

Genuine Windows VistaTM Home Basic Dell Recommends Genuine Windows VistaTM Business

Chipset
Intel® 945GM Chipset

Cache
On-die 2MB L2 Cache

Memory
512MB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz (1X512MB)

Hard Drive
80GB1 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive Dell Recommends 120GB1 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive

Monitor
15.4" Wide Screen XGA TFT Display (1280x800 res.) Dell Recommends 15.4" UltraSharpTM Wide Screen SXGA + TFT Display with TrueLifeTM (1680x1050 res.)
I/O Ports
4 USB Ports (2.0), Integrated IEEE1394 PorT

Battery
6 Cell 53Whr Lithium Ion Primary BatteryDell Recommends Spare Battery: 9 Cell 80Whr Lithium Ion Additional Primary Battery

Network Card
Integrated 10/100 Fast Ethernet

Modem
Internal 56K Modem

Controller Card
Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945 Network Connection 802.11a/g

Carry Case
Deluxe Carrying Case

Video Card
Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 Up to 128MB shared system memory

Sound Card
Integrated Stereo Sound w/ subwoofer

DVD/CD-ROM

DVD Burner

Speakers
Integrated Stereo Sound w/ subwoofer

Software
Dell Recommends Microsoft® Office Small Business 2007

Warranty
1-Year CompleteCover Support With Asia Pacific Regional Coverage Dell Recommends 3 Year Limited warranty(Next Business Day On-Site2 Service)

Telephone Support
1 Yr Telephone-based Hardware Support

FURTHER DETAILS

http://www.dell.co.in/