Setting Linux Firewall

IPtbles is an administrator tool for filtering and configuring network. These options specify the desired action to perform. Only one of them can be specified on the command line unless otherwise stated below. For long versions of the command and option names, you need to use only enough letters to ensure that iptables can differentiate it from all other options.

-A, --append chain rule-specification

Append one or more rules to the end of the selected chain. When the source and/or destination names resolve to more than one address, a rule will be added for each possible address combination.

-D, --delete chain rule-specification

-D, --delete chain rulenum

Delete one or more rules from the selected chain. There are two versions of this command: the rule can be specified as a number in the chain (starting at 1 for the first rule) or a rule to match.

-I, --insert chain [rulenum] rule-specification

Insert one or more rules in the selected chain as the given rule number. So, if the rule number is 1, the rule or rules are inserted at the head of the chain. This is also the default if no rule number is specified.

-R, --replace chain rulenum rule-specification

Replace a rule in the selected chain. If the source and/or destination names resolve to multiple addresses, the command will fail. Rules are numbered starting at 1.

-L, --list [chain]

List all rules in the selected chain. If no chain is selected, all chains are listed. Like every other iptables 

command, it applies to the specified table (filter is the default), so NAT rules get listed by

iptables -t nat -n -L

Please note that it is often used with the -n option, in order to avoid long reverse DNS lookups. It is legal to specify the -Z (zero) option as well, in which case the chain(s) will be atomically listed and zeroed. The exact output is affected by the other arguments given. The exact rules are suppressed until you use

iptables -L -v 

exemple :

for drop packet to our ip :

iptables -D INPUT -s 127.0.0.1 -p icmp -j DROP

for allowing trafic to web or tcp :

   iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT

for cheking our rules:

   iptables -L

for flasing our rules:

   iptables -F

Wine windows software emulator

Wine is a free software application that aims to allow computer programs written for Microsoft Windows to run on Unix-like operating systems. Wine also provides a software library, known as Winelib, against which developers can compile Windows applications to help port them to Unix-like systems.

Wine is both an emulator and a compatibility layer. It duplicates functions of a Windows computer by providing alternative implementations of the DLLsthat Windows programs call, and a process to substitute for the Windows NT kernel. This method of duplication differs from other methods that might also be considered emulation, where Windows programs run in a virtual machine. Wine is predominantly written using black-box testing reverse-engineering, to avoid copyright issues.

The name Wine initially was an acronym for WINdows Emulator. Its meaning later shifted to the recursive backronym, Wine Is Not an Emulator in order to differentiate the software from other emulators. While the name sometimes appears in the forms WINE and wine, the project developers have agreed to standardize on the form Wine.

In a 2007 survey by desktoplinux.com of 38,500 Linux desktop users, 31.5% of respondents reported using Wine to run Windows applications. This plurality was larger than all x86 virtualization programs combined, as well as larger than the 27.9% who reported not running Windows applications.

Iptables

       Iptables  is used to set up, maintain, and inspect the tables of IPv4 packet filter rules in the Linux kernel.  Several different tables may be defined.  Each table contains a num‐ber of built-in chains and may also contain user-defined chains.


       Each chain is a list of rules which can match a set of packets.  Each rule specifies what to do with a packet that matches.  This is called a `target', which may be  a  jump  to  a user-defined chain in the same table.


       A  firewall  rule  specifies  criteria for a packet and a target.  If the packet does not match, the next rule in the chain is the examined; if it does match, then the next rule is specified by the value of the target, which can be the name of a user-defined chain or one of the special values ACCEPT, DROP, QUEUE or RETURN.



       ACCEPT means to let the packet through.  DROP means to drop the packet on the floor.  QUEUE means to pass the packet to userspace.  (How the packet can be received by  a  userspace process  differs  by  the  particular  queue  handler.   2.4.x and 2.6.x kernels up to 2.6.13 include the ip_queue queue handler.  Kernels 2.6.14 and later additionally include the  nfnetlink_queue queue handler.  Packets with a target of QUEUE will be sent to queue number '0' in this case. Please also see the NFQUEUE target as  described  later  in  this  man page.)   RETURN  means  stop  traversing  this chain and resume at the next rule in the previous (calling) chain.  If the end of a built-in chain is reached or a rule in a built-inchain with target RETURN is matched, the target specified by the chain policy determines the fate of the packet.



Example:


              iptables -A PREROUTING -t mangle -i eth1 -m cluster --cluster-total-nodes 2 --cluster-local-node 1 --cluster-hash-seed 0xdeadbeef -j MARK --set-mark 0xffff


              iptables -A PREROUTING -t mangle -i eth2 -m cluster --cluster-total-nodes 2 --cluster-local-node 1 --cluster-hash-seed 0xdeadbeef -j MARK --set-mark 0xffff


              iptables -A PREROUTING -t mangle -i eth1 -m mark ! --mark 0xffff -j DROP


              iptables -A PREROUTING -t mangle -i eth2 -m mark ! --mark 0xffff -j DROP


       And the following commands to make all nodes see the same packets:


              ip maddr add 01:00:5e:00:01:01 dev eth1


              ip maddr add 01:00:5e:00:01:02 dev eth2


              arptables -A OUTPUT -o eth1 --h-length 6 -j mangle --mangle-mac-s 01:00:5e:00:01:01


              arptables -A INPUT -i eth1 --h-length 6 --destination-mac 01:00:5e:00:01:01 -j mangle --mangle-mac-d 00:zz:yy:xx:5a:27


              arptables -A OUTPUT -o eth2 --h-length 6 -j mangle --mangle-mac-s 01:00:5e:00:01:02


              arptables -A INPUT -i eth2 --h-length 6 --destination-mac 01:00:5e:00:01:02 -j mangle --mangle-mac-d 00:zz:yy:xx:5a:27


       In the case of TCP connections, pickup facility has to be disabled to avoid marking TCP ACK packets coming in the reply direction as valid.


              echo 0 > /proc/sys/net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_tcp_loose

Fix Metasploit Error After Update

If you are found this error :

root@bt:~# msfconsole 

[-] Failed to connect to the database: could not connect to server: Connection refused

        Is the server running on host "127.0.0.1" and accepting

        TCP/IP connections on port 7175?

 {"adapter"=>"postgresql", "database"=>"msf3", "username"=>"msf3", "password"=>"259959f7", "host"=>"127.0.0.1", "port"=>7175, "pool"=>75, "timeout"=>5} ["/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:968:in `initialize'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:968:in `new'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:968:in `connect'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:217:in `initialize'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:37:in `new'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/postgresql_adapter.rb:37:in `postgresql_connection'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:223:in `new_connection'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:245:in `checkout_new_connection'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:188:in `block (2 levels) in checkout'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:184:in `loop'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:184:in `block in checkout'", "/opt/framework/ruby/lib/ruby/1.9.1/monitor.rb:201:in `mon_synchronize'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:183:in `checkout'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:98:in `connection'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:326:in `retrieve_connection'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_specification.rb:123:in `retrieve_connection'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_specification.rb:115:in `connection'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/base.rb:1271:in `columns'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/base.rb:1284:in `column_names'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/base.rb:1297:in `column_methods_hash'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/base.rb:1986:in `block in all_attributes_exists?'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/base.rb:1986:in `each'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/base.rb:1986:in `all?'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/base.rb:1986:in `all_attributes_exists?'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/active_record/base.rb:1842:in `method_missing'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/msf/core/model/workspace.rb:69:in `default'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/msf/core/db.rb:189:in `default_workspace'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/msf/core/db_manager.rb:161:in `connect'", "/opt/framework/msf3/lib/msf/ui/console/driver.rb:190:in `initialize'", "/opt/framework/msf3/msfconsole:130:in `new'", "/opt/framework/msf3/msfconsole:130:in `<main>'"]

don't panic, because that problem can be fixed with this case :

 rm /opt/framework/postgresql/data/postmaster.pid 

 rm /opt/framework/postgresql/.s.PGSQL.7175

 rm /opt/framework/postgresql/.s.PGSQL.7175.lock

 /etc/init.d/framework-postgres start 

After that, open msfconsole :

root@bt:~# msfconsole 

NOTICE:  CREATE TABLE will create implicit sequence "mod_refs_id_seq" for serial column "mod_refs.id"

NOTICE:  CREATE TABLE / PRIMARY KEY will create implicit index "mod_refs_pkey" for table "mod_refs"

Call trans opt: received. 2-19-98 13:24:18 REC:Loc

     Trace program: running

           wake up, Neo...

        the matrix has you

      follow the white rabbit.

          knock, knock, Neo.

                        (`.         ,-,

                        ` `.    ,;' /

                         `.  ,'/ .'

                          `. X /.'

                .-;--''--.._` ` (

              .'            /   `

             ,           ` '   Q '

             ,         ,   `._    \

          ,.|         '     `-.;_'

          :  . `  ;    `  ` --,.._;

           ' `    ,   )   .'

              `._ ,  '   /_

                 ; ,''-,;' ``-

                  ``-..__``--`

       =[ metasploit v4.1.2-dev [core:4.1 api:1.0]

+ -- --=[ 755 exploits - 397 auxiliary - 109 post

+ -- --=[ 228 payloads - 27 encoders - 8 nops

       =[ svn r14141 updated today (2011.11.02)

our metasploit has been fixed .

Good luck !!

Crossover, windows emulator for linux

crossover allow you to install many windows aplication  in linux operating sistem.You can think of it as an emulator, but it's different, because there's no Windows OS license required. Your applications integrate seamlessly in OS X or Linux; just click and run. No rebooting, no switching to a virtual machine, and no Windows Operating System license required!
Adding new Windows software is easy. Just place your install CD in your machine, and CrossOver will recognize it and offer to install it. Once installed, CrossOver will configure your application to run on your computer. That's all there is to it.
CrossOver is capable of running a range of Windows software. To see if your favorite application is supported, please check ourCrossOver Compatibility Center, or search for them using the search box at the top of this page.

Gparted tool partition

Setting Gparted :

1. Download the GParted Live zip file.
2. If you already have a FAT16 or FAT32 partition on your USB flash drive then skip to the next step (3).
   Otherwise prepare at least a 200 MB partition formatted with either a FAT16 or FAT32 file system.
   If the USB flash drive or USB hard drive does not have any partition, you can use a partitioning tool (e.g. gparted, parted, fdisk, cfdisk or sfdisk) to create a partition with a size of 200 MB or more.
   Here we assume your USB flash drive or USB hard drive is /dev/sdd (You have to comfirm your device name, since it's _NOT_ always /dev/sdd) on your GNU/Linux, so the partition table is like:

   # fdisk -l /dev/sdd
         Disk /dev/sdd: 12.8 GB, 12884901888 bytes
         15 heads, 63 sectors/track, 26630 cylinders
         Units = cylinders of 945 * 512 = 483840 bytes
         Disk identifier: 0x000c2aa7
   
            Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
            /dev/sdd1   *           1       26630    12582643+   b  W95 FAT32
       

   Then format the partition as FAT with a command such as "mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sdd1"
   WARNING! Executing the mkfs.vfat command on the wrong partition or device could cause your GNU/Linux not to boot. Be sure to confirm the command before you run it.

   # mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sdd1
         mkfs.vfat 2.11 (12 Mar 2005)
       

3. Insert your USB flash drive or USB hard drive into the USB port on your Linux machine and wait a few seconds. Next, run the command "dmesg" to query the device name of the USB flash drive or USB hard drive. Let's say, for example, that you find it is /dev/sdd1. In this example, we assume /dev/sdd1 has FAT filesystem, and it is automatically mounted in dir /media/usb/. If it's not automatically mounted, manually mount it with commands such as "mkdir -p /media/usb; mount /dev/sdd1 /media/usb/".
4. Unzip all the files and copy them into your USB flash drive or USB hard drive. You can do this with a command such as: "unzip gparted-live-0.4.5-2.zip -d /media/usb/"). Keep the directory architecture, for example, file "COPYING" should be in the USB flash drive or USB hard drive's top directory (e.g. /media/usb/COPYING).
5. To make your USB flash drive bootable, first change the working dir, e.g. "cd /media/usb/utils/linux", then run "bash makeboot.sh /dev/sdd1" (replace /dev/sdd1 with your USB flash drive device name), and follow the prompts.
   WARNING! Executing makeboot.sh with the wrong device name could cause your GNU/Linux not to boot. Be sure to confirm the command before you run it.
   
   NOTE: There is a known problem if you run makeboot.sh on Debian Etch, since the program utils/linux/syslinux does not work properly. Make sure you run it on newer GNU/Linux, such as Debian Lenny, Ubuntu 8.04, or Fedora 9

reff:http://gparted.sourceforge.net

The power of "chroot"

A chroot is a way of isolating applications from the rest of your computer, by putting them in a jail. This is particularly useful if you are testing an application which could potentially alter important system files, or which may be insecure.


Creating a chroot

This section provides instructions on creating a basic chroot. For more advanced chroots.

1. Install the dchroot and debootstrap packages.
2. As an administrator (i.e. using sudo), create a new directory for the chroot. In this procedure, the directory /var/chroot will be used. To do this, type sudo mkdir /var/chroot into a command line.
3. As an administrator, open /etc/schroot/schroot.conf in a text editor. Type cd /etc/schroot, followed bygksu gedit schroot.conf. This will allow you to edit the file.
4. Add the following lines into schroot.conf and then save and close the file. Replace your_username with your username.

   • [lucid]
     description=Ubuntu Lucid
     location=/var/chroot
     priority=3
     users=your_username
     groups=sbuild
     root-groups=root

5. Open a terminal and type:

   • sudo debootstrap --variant=buildd --arch i386 lucid /var/chroot/ http://mirror.url.com/ubuntu/

   This will create a basic 'installation' of Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) in the chroot. It may take a while for the packages to be downloaded.
   Note: You can replace lucid with the Ubuntu version of your choice.
   Note: You must change the above mirror.url.com with the URL of a valid archive mirror local to you.
6. A basic chroot should now have been created. Type sudo chroot /var/chroot to change to a root shell inside the chroot.

Setting-up the chroot

There are some basic steps you can take to set-up the chroot, providing facilities such as DNS resolution and access to /proc.

Note: Type these commands in a shell which is outside the chroot.

1. Type the following to mount the /proc filesystem in the chroot (required for managing processes):

   • sudo mount -o bind /proc /var/chroot/proc

2. Type the following to allow DNS resolution from within the chroot (required for Internet access):

   • sudo cp /etc/resolv.conf /var/chroot/etc/resolv.conf

Very few packages are installed by default in a chroot (even sudo isn't installed). Use apt-get install package_name to install packages.

See Debootstrap Chroot and Installing Mandriva Linux in a Chroot for more advanced set-up instructions.

Accessing graphical applications inside the chroot

You can run graphical applications within a chroot, but you need to provide an X server for them to run in first. The easiest way to do this is to set the display of the chroot system to be identical to the root display of your system's main X server.

In other words, in the chroot shell type

export DISPLAY=:0.0

Any X command you type will now get its own window as you're used to, but as it is running inside the chroot jail it will not be able to see your normal file system.

You don't have to enter the chroot shell to access its commands. Suppose you want to run Firefox in a chroot jail in order to avoid security problems with signed Java applets and other components which otherwise would have access to your personal files. You can do this by running the command

gksudo chroot /var/chroot firefox -DISPLAY=:0.0

This command can also be invoked from the menu, or a panel applet or desktop shortcut.

If you want the chroot to have its own display, you need to create this display with the Xnest command. Perform the following instructions outside the chroot:

1. Install the xhost and xnest packages.
2. Ensure that /proc is mounted and DNS resolution is set-up within the chroot (see above).
3. Type the following into a Terminal:

   • Xnest -ac :1

   A blank Xnest window should appear.
4. Open another Terminal and type the following to enter the chroot:

   • sudo chroot /var/chroot

5. While in the chroot shell, type the following:

   • export DISPLAY=localhost:1

     If you have problems starting graphical applications, type the above command again, but replace localhost with127.0.0.1
6. Start a window manager inside the chroot. For example, install the metacity package and type:

   • metacity &

7. Start a graphical application inside the chroot (making sure that you installed it in the chroot first). It should appear in the Xnest window.

You can install a complete Ubuntu desktop in the chroot by installing the ubuntu-desktop package. GNOME can be started from the command line by running the gnome-session command.

How to install webgoat in backtrack

WebGoat is a deliberately insecure J2EE web application maintained by OWASP designed to teach web application security lessons. In each lesson, users must demonstrate their understanding of a security issue by exploiting a real vulnerability in the WebGoat application. For example, in one of the lessons the user must use SQL injection to steal fake credit card numbers. The application is a realistic teaching environment, providing users with hints and code to further explain the lesson.

1. Before installing firs download webgoat from this link .
2. To extract the file format 7zip, install p7zip by :
    apt-get install p7zip
3. Now extract webgoat file :
    p7zip -d WebGoat-OWASP_Standard-5.3_RC1.7z
4. if the extract has been completed, go into the folder extract :
    cd WebGoat-OWASP_Standard-5.3_RC1
5. change the file permissions webgoat.sh to be executable  by this commant :
    chmod +x webgoat.sh
6. webgoat need to run the OpenJDK-6-jre and openjdk-6-jdk, and to get it can use the following command :
    apt-get install openjdk-6-jre openjdk-6-jdk
7. After installation is now ready to run webgoat on port 80 or 8080 by this commant:
    ./webgoat.sh start80 or ./webgoat star8080


Now we can open webgoat from browser bay this url http://127.0.0.1/webgoat/attack

Network Hacking (Port Scanning)

Port Scanning :- Port scanning is carried out to determine a list of open ports on the remote host that have certain services or daemons running. In port scanning, the attacker connects to various TCP and UDP ports and tries to determine which ports are in listening mode.

1) TCP Ports Scanning :- Almost all port scans are based on the client sending a packet containing a particular flag to the target port of the remote system to determine whether the port is open. Following table lists the type of flags a TCP packet header can contain.

Flag	Meaning
URG (urgent)	This flag tells the receiver that the data pointed at by the urgent pointer required urgently.
ACK (acknowledgment)	This flag is turned on whenever sender wants to acknowledge the receipt of all data send by the receiving end.
PSH (push)	The data must be passed on to the application as soon as possible.
RST (reset)	There has been a problem with the connection and one wants to reset the connection with another.
SYN (synchronize)	If system X wants to establish TCP connection with system Y, then it sends it's own sequence number to Y, requesting that a connection be established. Such apacket is known as synchronize sequence numbers or SYN packet.
FIN (finish)	If system X has finished sending all data packets and wants to end the TCP/IP connection that it has established with Y, then it sends a packet with a FIN flag to system Y.

A typical TCP/IP three way handshake can be described as follows :
1) The client sends a SYN packet to the server.
2) The server replies with a SYN packet and acknowledges the client's SYN packet by sending an ACK packet.
3) The client acknowledges the SYN sent by the server.

Different techniques of TCP port scanning are :-
1) TCP connect port scanning
2) TCP SYN scanning (half open scanning)
3) SYN/ACK scanning
4) TCP FIN scanning
5) TCP NULL scanning
6) TCP Xmas tree scanning

2) UDP Ports Scanning :- In UDP port scanning, aUDP packet is sent to each port on the target host one by one.
If the remote port is closed, then the server replies with a Port Unreachable ICMP error message. If the port is open then no such error message is generated.

3) FTP Bounce Port Scanning :- The FTP bounce port scanning technique was discovered by Hobbit. He revealed a very interesting loophole in the FTP protocol that allowed users connected to the FTP service of a particular system to connect to any port of another system. This loophole allows anonymous port scanning.

Recommended   Tools
Nmap	http://www.insecure.org/nmap
Superscan	http://www.foundstone.com

How to turn off Autoplay

Autoplay is very useful, but can also be a security risk.
To turn it on or off:
1. Open gpedit.msc from the run box from the start menu.
2. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System >all settings
3. Find Turn off autoplay

How To Speed Up Your Windows XP

If like mine, your PC is getting slower and slower, there are a number of things you can do to speed it up. You will be surprised how much faster your computer gets after these steps, you won’t need to buy a new one. In addition to following the tips below, it’s a good idea to buy a trusted all-in-one PC optimizer. I would recommend FixCleaner, a Microsoft Certified all-in-one tool which optimizes your computer and hugely improves speed through a number of tasks, including:

• cleaning the registry
• removing errors
• deleting junk files
• downloading critical updates
• improving browser speed

Please refer to the FixCleaner website at www.fixcleaner.com to see the full list of features. By using a PC maintenance program such as FixCleaner, you can save a load of money from buying a new computer.
Here is what you can do yourself to improve your Windows XP’s performance:

Step 1 : Remove unused software

You probably don’t use half the programs you have installed over time. Removing the ones you don’t need anymore can significantly speed up your Windows XP computer. To remove software:

1. Go to the Control Panel (Start -> Control Panel) and select Add Or Remove Programs. It may take a while for the list to load if you have many programs installed.
2. Going through the whole list, select programs you rarely use and uninstall them, one by one.
3. Restart your computer to see the changes.

Step 2: Use Less Graphics

Do you really need a wallpaper and the fancy animations when opening or closing windows? Disabling animations can increase the speed at which your computer opens and closes windows. To disable window animations:

1. In Control Panel, go to System and select the Advanced tab. Click the Performance Settings tab.
2. In the Visual Effects window, disable all the animations in the box, or simply select “Adjust for best performance” as shown on the screenshot on the right. Press Apply.

In the same Performance Options window, choose the Advanced tab, and press the Change button in the Virtual Memory area. From there you can change the size of your paging file – a file on your hard drive that acts as RAM. By increasing the size of your paging file, you can significantly increase speed, but be warned! Using your hard drive as RAM can cause damage to it, so it’s a good idea to buy a better RAM instead.

Step 3: Clean your Registry

You should regularly clean your Windows XP’s Registry to remove old errors that can clog up the registry. To properly clean the Registry, you need a reliable Registry Cleaner software. There are some free ones out there, but I would not be too comfortable with using them. Instead, buy a trusted registry cleaner program so for a little bit of extra cash, you can feel safe. I would recommend FixCleaner, which in addition to cleaning your registry does a number of other things to significantly speed up your Windows XP.

Step 4: Stop unwanted Startup programs

By disabling programs that are set to automatically open when the computer starts, you can greatly speed up your startup process – the time between turning on the computer and being able to fully use it.
Here’s how to disable Startup programs:

1. Click Run in your Start menu, type msconfig into the box and press enter.
2. Select the Startup tab.
3. Go through the list, disabling programs you don’t need by un-ticking the box left of them. Only disable programs you are sure you do not need, and I recommend not touching the ones in the WINDOWS directory.

Step 5: Clean up your hard drive

Performing a disk cleanup can free some hard drive space and also speed up your computer. To use the disk cleanup tool:

1. Go to Start -> Run and type cleanmgr.exe. Press Enter.
2. It will probably take a while, especially if you have never used this tool before.

Step 6: Defragment your hard drives

Defragmenting your drives can make a big difference in your computer’s speed. Defragmenting places files physically closer on the hard drive, making it easier and faster for the hard drive to read these files and write new ones. It is a good idea to defragment your hard drive regularily, so it alway stays optimal. I posted a tutorial for an automatic defragment link here: http://www.xptricks.net/windows/xp/2008/01/cool-xp-tips-tricks-automatically-defrag-drives/
There are also a number of commercial defragment programs available, which are more powerful than the Windows tool and come with a wide variety of features. If you don’t want to spend any money on this, I would recommend Auslogics  Disk Defrag, which is a great, free tool.
Here’s how to defragment your hard drives using the built-in Windows tool:

1. In My Computer, right click on a drive you want to defragment.
2. Click Tools and select Defragment
3. Click the Analyse button first, which will analyse your hard drive and see how fragmented it is.
4. Once the report is finished and the system finds it necessary to perform a defragmentation, press defrag. This will take a very long time, but you have to be patient.

Step 7: Use a PC optimization tool to do the rest

There are a hundreds of other ways to improve your computer’s speed and performance but it is impossible to list all of them here or go through them manually. To fix them, you can either purchase a separate tool for each one, which will end up costing you a fortune, or buy an All-In-One optimization program that will do all the dirty work and fix errors behind the scenes for you. Going through all the steps mentioned above will definitely speed up your Windows XP, but running a  professional tool even after following these manual steps will increase performance even further.
This is why I recommend that you purchase a trusted, reliable solution to fix computer problems for you. I recommend using FixCleaner, because it will fix all of the problems that you can’t manually, and save time on many by fixing them automatically.
FixCleaner has a clean, easy to use interface that lets you fix your PC’s problems even if you did not understand any of the procedures above. Unlike most other tools, FixCleaner is Microsoft Certified, which means that Microsoft has approved the software and that it is safe and reliable. You can download a free tool that will check your computer and produce a report on how much it can be optimized.

reff : http://www.xptricks.net

How To Remove Toolbars In Firefox Internet Explorer And Google Chrome

Many freeware and even shareware softwares nowadays come with bundled programs that get installed automatically without much knowledge to the user. Most of the non-techie users will find themselves in trouble once these bundled programs are installed and get into the way of the work being done on the computer. One such hindrance is from the browser toolbars. Most software come bundled with toolbars which get installed on our installed browsers, the most popular being Firefox, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome.
Toolbar Cleaner is a free utility which lets you remove almost all kinds of toolbars installed in your browsers. It can remove about 15000 toolbars now including the browser helper objects (BHOs). This can also be very helpful in removing the spyware and malware that get installed in the browsers as BHOs.
The only thing I don’t like about Toolbar Cleaner is that it doesn’t have a portable version. If it had a portable version, any IT administrator could take this useful software with him on the USB and use it on any system he wanted.
Let’s look at the installation process of Toolbar Cleaner. It’s very easy to install Toolbar Cleaner as the installation process is guided by an installation wizard. The only tedious thing is the last options before finishing the setup. Here’s the screenshot:

It gives the following options:

• Protect my system with Anti-phishing Domain Advisor
• Set MyStart as homepage

I don’t recommend the anti-phishing domain advisor and would stick to the built-in security built into Internet Explorer and Firefox. The second option would disturb your homepage so I would uncheck both of the options.

The User Interface (GUI) of Toolbar Cleaner is quick simple and self explanatory. It lists all the toolbars and BHOs installed in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome respectively. You can check the toolbars which you want to remove and then click on “Remove selected Toolbar(s)/BHO(s)”. That’s all you have to do. Toolbar Cleaner will remove the selected options safely from the browser.
Download Toolbar Cleane

reff : http://www.technize.com/

How to manually remove viruses!

Have you ever been in the possition that you know you have an virus but you dont have any antivirus?? Its almost impossible to remove it manual without knowing about a few tips & tricks.
After reading this turtorial im sure you will know how to manual remove most of the virus lurking around. But that dosnt mean you shouldnt have any anti virus on you computer!
Anyway, lets get starting with the turtorial.. I suppose you already know what safe mode is. If you dont try pressing the F8 key some times when you start your computer. You havto do this when your computer is about to start the first windows components. In win2k or xp i think you can press space and then F8 when it ask you if you want to go back to previous working setting.
Enough talk about how to start you computer in safe mode, but if you want to manual remove viruses you almost everytime haveto do this in safe mode becouse in safemode most viruses dosnt start. Only some few windows component is allowed to run in safemode. So here is what to do.
Step: 1: Start your computer in safemode.
2: If you know where the virus are hiding delete the executable file.
3: Open the registry and go to the keys below and add an : in front of the value of the string that you think its the virus. Like this, if string is "virus" and its value is "c:\virus.exe" change its value to ":c:\virus.exe". The : is like comenting out the value. But if you are sure its the virus you can just delete the string.
Here are the keys you maybe want to look at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServicesOnce HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run 
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Runonce

4: The virus can start itself from some other places to. win.ini is the most common files that viruses can use. Soo you should find the files named win.ini and system.ini and look through them and see if you find anything.
5: Look through the startup folder that is normaly located in your profile directory \Start Menu\Programs\Startup.
6: Try searching for the virus executable to see if its hiding some other place.
7: Finally look through the list of services that windows is running. This list is often located under control panel - administrative tools - services. After this 7 steps just reboot your computer in normal mode and try to figure out if the virus is still there.. If not SUCCESS if yes, try to go back to safe mode and hunt some more. Off course this 7 steps will not work on every virus out there, but many of them.

WARNING: Be careful when in the registery because you can cause serious damage to your system in there.

Download Ubuntu Styler for Windows XP

Ubuntu Styler, let you to add extra effects in Windows explorer so that your Windows XP will look-a-like linux ubuntu. If you are ready and willing to give a try to Ubuntu Styler  in Your Windows XP then you might want to see the final preview first, So following is the Preview of Ubuntu Styler:

If you think the Ubuntu Styler  as shown in the image above is good then you can download it from following link below:

Download Ubuntu Styler for Windows XP

If you want to transform your Windows XP into linux ubuntu then you might want to read: Transform Windows XP into linux ubuntu without using Customization Pack

How To Make Portable Applications

Cameyo a free software substitute of VMWare Thinapp to make your applications portable

Portable Applications are those which do not require any prior installation for their execution and they can be carried around in your Flash drive or any removable disk drive. Moreover the Port Applications have the advantage that they do not have any dependencies on your OS and also do not left-up with residual files even after their un-installation.
An application which was commercially launched before and is being widely used by most of the firms and individuals for the creation of portable applications and packages is VMWare ThinApp.
Now save your pennies and try this new First Freeware- Cameyo an alternative to ThinApp; free platform for the virtualization of application.
The pictorial view is as follows, elaborating How to make Portable Application using Cameyo

Also see this video guide for the same:

Cameyo – Free Application Virtualization

How To Reset Windows 7 To Factory Settings

If you don’t have a Windows 7 Installation CD and forgot to create a System Restore point you can still make your Windows as good as new with a few steps. It’s better to reset your PC to factory settings than reinstalling in most cases because you won’t loose any User Files and also resetting takes a lot less time(depending on the number of applications you installed and changed you made). There is no option built into Windows 7 to reset to factory settings but you can do it on your own. You can easily get rid of all the softwares you have installed since you installed Windows and also get rid of whatever toll these installations have taken on your PC.In a fresh Windows Installation unless you have a modified Windows 7 CD it will only contain softwares from Microsoft. So first thing you may think about doing is to get rid of all the softwares that you installed.  We also need to Clean the computer’s registry, remove all logs, invalid shortcuts, temporary files etc.

Just follow these steps to get your Windows as good as new:

Remove additional User accounts

Having many Users on your computer can lead to loss of a lot of memory on your Hard disk as the preferences of all the Users will be saved. So it is best to remove these additional accounts. To remove additional User accounts:

• Run cmd.exe to open Command Prompt. In command Prompt type this in net user administrator /active:yes and press Enter key.
• This will activate the Default Administrator account. Now just Log off from your Account and Log into the Administrator Account. After that right click Computer then click Properties.

• On the left sidebar you can see “Advanced System Settings”, click that to open a system Properties Window. Click the “Settings” option near User Profiles. After that just select all the other accounts and delete them.

Remove 3rd Party Applications

Installing 3rd party softwares always take a toll on your PC. They can leave behind many side effects such as Invalid Shortcuts, Empty Folders, Saved Preferences, Log Files and Options in Context Menu. These side effects are the reason why a lot of people prefer to Reinstall Windows once in a while. But there is no need to resort to such drastic measures all the time. You can actually remove all these problems with a few Tweaks in Windows Registry or with some softwares. Follow the following steps in order:

• Uninstalling Third Part Applications – To uninstall all of your 3rd party applications you have to take Programs and Features in Control Panel. Then just right click each of the programs that are not by Microsoft that you have installed in your PC and click Uninstall. If the Uninstaller asks whether or not to keep Preferences, choose to Delete these Preferences. This is the only actual time consuming step all the others are very fast when compared to this step.

Remove Files and Folders Left behind

• Now we are going to fix any damage done to the registry and also remove anything left behind after uninstalling of programs such as empty folders and also invalid shortcuts. For this we have for you a simple, free tool – Glary Utilities. Download it, Install it. You don’t have to upgrade it or anything. It has all the features that we need without updating. Open Glary Utilities and Under “1-Click Maintenance” Click on Scan for Issues. This should take a  couple of minutes only. This will remove all invalid shortcuts, traces, temporary files etc. Now only thing remaining to do on Glary Utilities is to remove empty folders.  So go to Modules in main window of Glary Utilities. Then click duplicate file finder. Now just select the drives in which you installed softwares. If you have drives which you maintain by yourself for storing data it is not necessary to check there. After the list of empty folders is generated by Glary then just check the ones you wish to delete or to just click Check All under the Check option and then click Delete Checked Folders. If you are sharing any folders on a network they will cause some trouble in deleting. So if you do have any shared folders then stop sharing them. To do so right click Computer then Manage. In the Computer Management windows that will now open select shared folders then Shares. You can stop sharing folders from here by right clicking on them and clicking Stop sharing.

• Now all that is left in this section is to remove logs from your PC. This is quite simple. Just run cmd.exe to open Command Prompt. Type in Del *.log /a /s /q /f. That’s it.

Remove Shell Components and Startup Programs

This step is for those who decided to skip the 2nd step i.e. Removing 3rd party applications. Usually after uninstalling any program shell components that it added will be removed. In case was some error and it was not removed then you can remove them by following these simple steps.

• Removing New Menu Items – If you have any items in this menu that were left behind after un-installation of a program due to some error or because you did not un-install the program then you can remove it using this simple tool. This tool helps disable these items from New Menu. Download it from here. Open the program and select the item you want to remove from the New Menu  and click Disable.
• Removing Right Click Menu Items – Installing many softwares will lead to piling up of such items. You can remove them using this software. Just go to the Remove Tab from the Main window, right click on the item then click Delete.Download the software from here.
• Removing Start Up Items – You can either use some software such as CCleaner,  Glary Utilities etc. or you can do it my Opening System Configuration and then removing them. To open system Management run msconfig. Then under the Startup tab in the System Configuration just un-check the items you want to remove.

Your Windows installation should be as good as new if you follow these simple steps. It is best after following these steps to create a Restore point. To create a restore point just search for “Create a restore point” in start menu. Click the Result to open a System Properties Window. Then just click Create. That’s it. Now you have a Clean Windows Installation and also have a restore point in case Windows ends up in its old unclean state again.