Antivirus softwares aren’t always able to undo all the changes made by a malware. After an infection you often end up with a messed up system, even after successfully eliminating the malware(virus) from your system. Some common headaches associated with an malware infection are :
Task Manager, Process Manager, Registry Editor, Group Policy Editor and MsConfig can’t be accessed.
Run command box in Start Menu is blocked
Folder Option in Explorer and Control Panel is missing.
Hidden files and System files can’t be displayed.
File Menu and Find Menu is missing.
Continue reading “Remove the Effects of Malware Infection with Virus Effect Remover”
Remove the Effects of Malware Infection with Virus Effect Remover
Modify Windows 7 Logon Screen Without Any Software
Rafael Rivera has done it again. Few months ago he found a way to unlock hidden features in Windows 7 pre-beta builds. Now he has uncovered an extremely simple technique to change Windows 7 Logon Screen background. Previous versions of Windows provided no easy way to modify the LongonUI. Users had to resort to 3rd party softwares like Logon Studio.
Microsoft still doesn’t provide a direct way to alter the LogonUI, but with a little bit of work you can set any wallpaper of your choice as the background in the recently leaked Windows 7 build 7057. This is what you need to do.
Fire up the Registry Editor by typing “regedit”
Browse to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background. Locate the DWORD value called ‘OEMBackground’ and set its value to 1. If this value doesn’t exist by default create it (Edit–>New–>DWORD (32-bit) Value).
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Opera Turbo to SuperCharge Browsing on Slower Connections
Earlier this week Opera unveiled a preview build called Opera Turbo (based on v10 – Peregrine) with server-side compression. Opera Turbo features a built in proxy that redirects all http traffic through Opera’s servers. The website data is compressed by the server and sent to the user. Opera claims that its servers can compress data by upto 80%. Since the amount of data to be downloaded is drastically reduced websites will appear to open significantly faster on slower connections. Text as well as images are compressed, without altering the layout of the webpage. The compressed images are of visibly lower quality than the original images. All flash elements are blocked by default and will only be downloaded if requested by the user. GIF images and other web elements aren’t compressed at all. Websites behind SSL are also not compressed. Opera Turbo also includes delayed script execution which ensures that the main content (text) of the webpage is loaded first. Most of the times this works out really nicely, but sometimes the scripts kick in a tad too late.
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Reclaim your Disk Space with DiskMax
Sometime back I had reviewed an instant search tool from Koshi Jon called neoSearch. This time I will take a look at another one of his application – DiskMax.
DiskMax is basically a junk file cleaner that gets rid of unneccesary files and folders lying around on your disk. It sports a very simplistic and clean interface. It has three modes – Quick, Standard and Detailed. Unlike most other software which provides a list of items to be cleaned before/after scan, Diskmax directly starts scanning and keeps asking for user choices where ever it deems necessary. While I prefer the traditional approach as that gives me better control and lets me know exactly what is going on, this simplified approach would definitely be appreciated by most standard users.
How to Remove Kido / Downadup / Downup / Conficker
Kido worm also known as Downadup, Downup and Conficker is continuing to spread more rapidly than ever, even though its already several months since it was first spotted. More than 9 million PC’s have been infected and Panda Security reporting infection rates of 6% in two million computers scanned via their website. China (the probable country of origin) is the most infected.
Kido exploits a known vulnerability in Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista (some versions even affect Windows 7) which was patched by Microsoft in October, 08. Unfortunately, a large number of PC users never bother to install Windows updates and hence are vulnerable to Kido worm. Symantec found an interesting correlation between countries with large number of pirated Windows users and countries infected on a large scale by Kido.
Top 10 Countries Infected by Kido
Downadap or Kido is remarkable in it’s sophistication. It can infect computers even if Autoplay feature is disabled for USB devices, by pretending to be a folder. It spreads via network as well as usb devices (pen drives, mp3 players etc). It resets your system restore points, disables Windows update, Windows Defender, Windows Security Center and even manipulates certain TCP settings to block access to security websites. It is also known to change access permissions. New variants even disable Firewall and may interface with Antivirus scans.
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Safari 4 and its Bagful of Lies
Apple really knows how to do something in style. Safari 4 is just another perfect example. They took something as mundane as a web browser and made is stylish and sexy. The Apple factor is evident in Safari from the moment you fire it up. Be it the sleek intro sequence or the stylish presentation of top sites or history search in coverflow style. But then, Apple just had to show their arrogance and spoil the fun with some outright shoddy marketing techniques.
150 features of Safari 4 (a clever gimmick since if you try you can always come up with 150 features in any modern day browser) is a prominent part of Apple’s marketing strategy. And this is where things get really sour. Let us examine some of the claims made by Apple :
Acid 3 Compliance
Apple Claims: Safari is the first — and only — web browser to pass Acid 3.
The Truth is :Webkit released a public build that achieved Acid 3 compliance on March 2006, 2008. On the very same day Opera announced that it had also aced the Acid 3 test and soon afterwards released an internal build Wingogi that passed Acid 3 test. Opera 10 (currently in alpha) also passes Acid 3 test.
Built-in Google Search
Apple Claims : Safari was the first popular browser to build a search field into its user interface.
The Truth is : Opera was the first browser to offer Integrated Search (in 2000, with the release of Opera 5). It’s one of many Opera Innovations that has been adapted by almost all other browsers. Apple implemented this feature in 2003.
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LastPass : Password Manager and Form Filler
LastPass is an online password manager and form filler that promises that it will be the last password you would ever need to remember. It’s definitely not the first software of its kind. Roboform has been the king of all such softwares for a long time. Does LastPass pack enough punch to defeat Roboform? Let’s take a look.
LastPass is a newage solution that realises the importance of data portability. Accordingly all the password and profiles are encrypted and stored offline as well as online. This ensures wherever you go, all your data is always available to you. For more information on the encryption and storage technology check out this page.
Immediately after installation LastPass asks you to create an online account and imports existing data from Internet Explorer, Firefox, RoboForm, 1Password, KeePass, MyPasswordSafe, Password Safe, Sxipper, and PassPack. LastPass integrates itself seamlessly with Internet Explorer and Firefox via plugins. Additionally it provides 3 bookmarklets to extend the LastPass experience to all the other browsers and mobile devices. Opera, Google Chrome, Safari, iPhone and even Opera Mini is supported through bookmarklets. Opera fans have been craving for a AIRoboform plugin or something similar to implement auto-form filling for a long time. LastPass finally allows Opera users to enjoy auto forum-completion in Roboform style. LastPass also has a mobile optimised page for accessing data from mobile phones.
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RapidZearch – Search Engine for File Sharing Sites
RapidZearch is a file search engine which makes finding files online easier by searching for files in multiple file sharing and uploading sites. Currently Rapidshare, Megaupload, Sendspace, 4shared, Mediafire and Badongo are supported. RapidZearch.com database includes over 4,000,000 file links only for rapidshare.com and millions of links for other popular file sharing and uploading sites. It claims to update its database daily automatically trashing dead/invalid links.
RapidZearch does its job decently enough. You can always use Google to search for rapidshare, megaupload links by using the search string “keyword +website.com” (this actually works better than the often advertised “site:rapidshare.com query” search string). In fact Google search yielded better results in my test queries. However, with Google Search you would always end up with some invalid links or links to various rapidshare link library. RapidZearch has the ability clear out all the clutter and display only valid links. Another shortcoming of RapidZearch is the absence of the option to filter results by file extension (once again possible in google using the search string “+inurl:extension query”.
While RapidZearch is not the first service of it’s kind , its execution is better than most. I personally would continue using Google however RapidZearch definitely presents a simpler alternative which would be preffered by many.
Opera 10 – First Glimpse
The wait is over! Peregrine is finally here! Opera claims that the new build is up to 30% faster than the previous build! I have been using Peregrine for last couple of hours and it’s definitely blazing fast. I haven’t done any tests but Peregrine definitely puts Opera right on track to reclaim the lost crown of being the fastest browser. Among other things the new engine adds support for Web Fonts and is 100% ACID 3 compatible.
The alpha build isn’t feature complete and is mainly intended to showcase the new engine – Presto 2.2. The major new feature additions are Spell-Checker and Update Manager – as I had earlier speculated. Both of them were long overdue and are welcome additions. Another long awaited and much requested feature – HTMl formatting for emails, has been added. Hopefully, my other suggestions/wishes will also get implemented. You can get a taste of what’s to come from here.
Download Opera v10 alpha :
Windows
Mac
Mac Intel
Unix
P.S. : The Opera v10 webpage is sporting a favicon. Is that an indication of the icon Peregrine is likely to feature?
TuneUp Utilities 2009 – Only System Optimiser You’ll Ever Need
TuneUp Utilities is an award winning system optimization tool that has long been my favourite. The 2009 edition was released yesterday and boasts of several new features. Let’s take a look at the latest release and see if it’s worth the upgrade.
New in 2009 :
Retooled Interface: TuneUp Utilities 09 maintains the look and feel of TuneUp 08 with a few changes. The new addition is the Start Page. It basically acts as a dashboard. It gives you a quick summary of your computer’s current condition, and recommends actions to be taken. There are other several minor changes e.g. “Maintain Windows” Tab has been renamed to “Clean Windows” which makes more sense.
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