TechnosalonS

28 April, 2012

Save your Gmail Messages in Google Docs

You can save your Gmail messages in Google Docs and then edit them like any other document. The other use case is that once a Gmail message is available inside Google Docs, you can easily export that email as a PDF file or as a Word document while retaining the original formatting and without requiring an external PDF writer.

To integrated Google Docs with Gmail, go to the Labs page and enable the “Create a Document” gadget. Save the changes and return to your Gmail Inbox.

Next, open any of your existing email messages and you should see a “Create a Document” link under the More box as shown in the screenshot above. This will export the current message as a new document in Google Docs – the rich text formatting is preserved but if the message includes any file attachments, Google Docs will ignore them.

One more thing. The Google Docs app for Android allows offline access to your documents so once you have saved your most important Gmail messages in Google Docs, they can be accessed on your phone without a data connection as well.

Internet Security: Common Browser-Based Attacks to Avoid at Any Cost

Don’t fall victim to the attacks described below. It’s ultimately you who decides here whether you’ll let hackers access to your computer or compromise your account. So make an informed decision by reading and implementing the methods and advise in the post below.

Facebook Phishing – To Access the Video, Please Login

Some of your friends might post a video like this on your wall:

Oh cool, a hot chick video. Click. Here’s what happens after you click:

A new window will appear prompting you to enter your username and password. If you’re in a rush, you probably WON’T notice the URL above.

Well, that’s what happened with many Facebook users on May 29th. The name of this phishing attack is “Most Hilarious Video Ever.” If you were a victim of this attack, your account was compromised.

Do you want to run that Java Applet? It comes from a trusted source…NOT!

Do you want to run that Java Applet? It comes from a trusted source…NOT!So you want to run some cool game or online app in your browser. Before you do that, the website is asking you to run a Java Applet:

If you’re like most casual surfers, you might say: “Why not?” and proceed by clicking on “Run.”

BIG MISTAKE. See what happens after that:

Yes, several files are created in your Temp folder including one .exe file which is probably a dangerous virus. Java apps can do nasty things in your computer. That’s why browsers give you ‘danger’ windows like the one above.

Do not download .exe files from Facebook (apps)

The below screenshot is from a malicious Facebook application that asks you to ‘update your video software’ by installing a brand new FLV player:

Why would they REALLY ask you to download a FLV player? Is there a virus in it? In this case, no. The reason is money. Every time you download the software (FLV Direct Player), the owner of the Facebook app will get money for that. It’s called PPI (pay per install).

After a bit of research, I found they get $1.5 for each new installation. So if 1000 people download and install that FLV player, the owners of the Facebook app get $1500:

Rogue Antivirus – Would you Like to Download Anti-virus That is ACTUALLY a Virus?

This has happened to me twice so far. I would be searching for a particular topic on Google and then click on a search result and see a page come up that looks like a Microsoft security scan.

THIS IS A FAKE SECURITY SCANNER. There is NO WAY for a security scanner or an anti-virus to run in your browser without your permission. After this ‘scanning’ is done, you’ll usually get a window saying your computer is infected:

After that, you get prompted to download an .exe file which is the magical antivirus that will remove the infections. Unfortunately, the file you’ll download actually contains a virus and if your computer wasn’t infected before it will be now.

Another common screen you may get is this:

One Key Lesson to Learn:

Who’s most likely to fall victim of these attacks? It’s the person with the lowest attention span.

Bad news: We ALL have low attention spans. Hackers are using this to make us click “Run” and execute a Javascript applet without seeing the URL, or enter our login information and not see the beginning of the URL realizing it’s an unknown website.

The key lesson is: If you get a suspicious message or request (like the ones above), SLOW DOWN and say: “Wait a minute. This doesn’t seem right. Let me check the URL. Or can anti-virus programs really scan my computer via the browser?” So sustaining your attention is the key to protecting yourself from these kinds of attacks.

If you Like this Post than share it with your FACEBOOK friends!!

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25 April, 2012

15 Most Interesting Linux Facts

Linux is one of the world’s most powerful and popular operating system. Linux operating system was developed by Linus Benedict Torvalds at the age of 21. At present there are more than 300 flavors of Linux available and one can choose between any of them depending on the kind of applications they want.

Linux is a freeware and generally speaking its free from Virus and other malware infections. In this post I will share few Linux facts which may or may not be know for many of us.

15 Most Interesting Linux Facts

Only 2% of the current Linux kernel written by Linus Torvalds.
The Linux kernel version is written in the programming language C.
The first commercial distribution GNU / Linux was Yggdrasil was launched Lice-CD format in 1992. Red Hat was one of the first distributions to settle within companies and data centers in 1999.
A guy named William Della Croce Jr. registered the name Linux and demanded royalties for use of the mark. Later, he agreed to assign the trademark to the true owner, who is Torvalds.
Countries such as Russia, Brazil and Venezuela have put their focus on Linux as a basis for interoperable management , cost efficient and technologically independent.
U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Navy Submarine Fleet, Federal Aviation Administration uses Linux in government offices. Indian state of Tamil Nadu uses Linux for education purpose.
90% of the world’s most powerful supercomputers using an operating system GNU / Linux, in fact, the top ten of supercomputers use Linux. In fact, the penetration of Linux in data centers is very high, 33.8% of the world runs on Linux servers compared to 7.3% does so in a Microsoft operating system.
The name of the penguin, Tux , is not entirely clear. On the one hand, it is said that the origin of the name comes from the fact that penguins appear to be wearing a tuxedo, which in English is said max tuxedo tux and is abbreviated. In contrast, another source comes from the letters of the logo of Tux are Unix Torvalds.
Torvalds wanted to call the kernel Freax (a combination of “free”, “freak”, and the letter X to indicate that it is a Unix-like), but his friend Ari Lemmke, who administered the FTP server where the kernel was hosted for download, the download directory called kernel of Linux Torvalds.
Debian was one of the first GNU / Linux that was constituted and organized as a community of developers.
Linux is present in highly critical applications such as Japan’s bullet trains, traffic control, San Francisco, the New York Stock Exchange, CERN, many air traffic control systems or control of nuclear reactors of submarines and ships many nuclear war.
Linux programmers are often associated with living “isolated” in the world, however, over 75% of the code developed for the Linux kernel came from private sector developers. In fact, large technology companies like Intel, Google, IBM, AMD, Sun Microsystems, Dell, Asus, HP, Analog Devices, Oracle, Novell or Red Hat help developing applications, contributing to the core or pre-installing any GNU / Linux their machines. In fact, during the 2003 Super Bowl (which paralyzes the United States and remains glued to the TV for many Americans), IBM delivered a beautiful ad talking about Linux and open source options.
The GNU project in 1991, had no drivers and kernel, that’s what led to Linus Torvalds to address the Linux kernel development. If GNU had had, perhaps, Torvalds had not been put to work on that.
The Linux kernel is now the most widely ported operating system, running on a great variety of operating systems.
World known companies such as Google, Cisco, Facebook, Twitter, Linked in etc use Linux as their main operating system.

24 April, 2012

5 Tips To Keep Your Files Secure

We are currently living in a connected world. Everywhere you go, you will most likely have access to a computer with an Internet connection.

The computer is used for various things from completing a school assignment to banking. It is therefore, extremely crucial to keep all your files secure in order not be have your personal information compromised.

Here are 5 tips on how you can keep your personal information and files secure.

Tip #1:

When using the Internet, always use a difficult to guess password on all websites. Avoid using a single combination of username/password for all websites.

If your password is too easy to remember, then it is probably not good enough.

Use Password Manager programs like KeePass to keep track of your passwords so that you do not have to crack your brain in order to memorize all your username/password combinations.

Tip #2:

Always make sure your computer itself is password protected. There are ways to configure your computer to auto login or remove the login functionality but you must never do this!

Your computer is the gateway to your personal information and access to the Internet.

Tip #3:

Use encryption software to protect sensitive data. Keep all your sensitive data in one main folder and use a software like TrueCrypt to create an encrypted volume.

We must protect our information from all eventualities. With encrypted volume to store all your sensitive data, even if you lose your laptop, your data will be safe.

Tip #4:

Always keep your firewall and anti-virus software up-to-date. Choose to auto-update so that you do not have to worry about scheduling a time to manually update it.

The computer firewall protects you from hacking attempts. You should also not visit suspicious websites or click on suspicious emails unless you are sure of the source.

Tip #5:

There are many public places offering Internet access. While this may be convenient, do not use such facility to access your private or sensitive information. Do not even open up your personal file using a public computer because you will not know if the computer has been compromised.

Use these 5 tips to keep your files secure. There will be moments where you are tempted to ignore these tips out of convenience. But always remember the value of your personal and sensitive information. Once they are compromised, the repercussions may be really damaging.

21 April, 2012

Find your Computer Uptime

A trick for all geeks who would like to know how long since they haven.t shut down their computer.

1. Go to Task Manager ( Ctrl+Shift+Esc brings without UAC popup)

2. Go to Performance tab.

3. In the system Information you can check out the uptime in the format Day : Hour : Minute : Second.

You can track your computer uptime easily now.

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How to Change the Size of Recycle Bin

Some times you might want to consider increasing or reducing the size of your Recycle Bin. By default Windows XP reserves 10% of your hard drive for the Recycle Bin. You can resize individual drive or all of them globally.

Before starting, We have to empty the bin first.
Right click on the Recycle Bin icon and select Properties.
Here I have multiple drives of various sizes from which i can choose to configure each drive separately.
Just select the tab for each drive and move the slider to change the percentage of space you wish.

Once you have finished resizing click Apply and OK.
The size you choose is user specific. You may want to increase the size of the Recycle Bin or turn it off completely.