Veoh is a San Diego, California-based company which runs an Internet Television service allowing users to find and watch major studio content, independent productions and user-generated material for free. However, as of 31st May 2008, many countries such as Malaysia, Cyprus, Romania, Panama, Hungary, Slovenia, Kuwait, Brunei, Indonesia, Chile, Malta, Thailand, Croatia, Turkey, Ukraine, Colombia, Bangladesh has been blocked due to a low concentration of users.

Try accessing veoh.com and you’ll get a message that says “Veoh is no longer available in COUNTRY. If you are not in COUNTRY or you think you have received this message in error, please report the issue below“. That’s all we that we see if our country is being blocked by Veoh! Nothing else!

I felt that Veoh is very harsh in blocking visitors according to country without providing any warning or notification first. It is very easy for Veoh to block visitor’s geographical location but it is also easy for us to continue accessing and watching Internet TV in Veoh even if we’re blocked.


I don’t watch much TV but one of my cousin asked me if there’s a way to continue watching a Korean drama from Veoh which she has been following for a long time. In my knowledge, to bypass country blocking restriction is to mask your IP address using proxy or VPN.

At first I tried web based proxy service such as anonymouse.org, but all I got was a similar screen saying “Veoh is no longer available in Anonymous Proxy”. Looks like not only they’ve blocked countries but also well known proxy web sites. Some other not so well known web proxy service such as privax.us and glype.com is able to let you access Veoh.com without getting the message that says Veoh is no longer available in MALAYSIA.

Using open public proxy which you enter the IP address and Port into your browser also works but it’s very slow. You have to work hard to find a fast proxy which belongs to a country (preferably US) that is not blocked by Veoh. Here’s a site called CyberSyndrome that updates the list of proxy every hour.

I found out that there is a way to directly access Veoh.com without using proxy. Normally veoh’s link is http://appserver.veoh.com but if you add two L’s with a hyphen in-front of appserver link, you can access the site without problems. The link will be http://ll-appserver.veoh.com/

You can access everything in Veoh.com through ll-appserver but the video won’t play. The most it will play up to 2 seconds and stop. To play the videos, you’ll need to use a VPN service such as Hotspot Shield. Perhaps you already know about this software because it has been posted at raymond.cc before. After installing Hotspot Shield, get connected, I can access Veoh.com and also watch the videos. You can see at the image below that I am watching the latest Survivor episode from Veoh.

Hotspot Shield currently works but it can also be easily blocked by Veoh if they want to. Another problem with Hotspot Shield is the 5GB bandwidth limit per month. If you go over it, you’ll get the error Bandwidth Limit Exceeded and will have to wait for next month until the bandwidth to reset.

If you’re willing to fork out a bit of money for VPN service, make sure that the VPN server belongs to country such as US and also it doesn’t being flagged as Anonymous Proxy by Veoh. I have a VPN account at WiTopia and the IP address I get is a US one but it doesn’t work on Veoh as I get the message “Veoh is no longer available in Anonymous Proxy”. So make sure you that you’ve inquired from the company before purchasing their VPN service. You can also find cheaper VPN service at DigitalPoint Buy, Sell or Trade forum but I’d advice you to only sign up for short term as most of them do not even have a proper VPN company website.

Update: If you are unable to connect using Hotspot Shield and getting Pulling Options page looping, Daemon Start Error or Bandwidth Exceeded, please refer to this article for a fix.

If you want to setup your computer system again you need to have the licenses and serial numbers at hand for all the software programs that you have purchased and registered. This does include the Windows product key but also other serial numbers for applications like Nero, Office, VMWare and pretty much every other application.

Instead of searching for the keys in your emails, manuals and receipts you could use another approach. Last month I’ve discovered SoftKey Revealer which is able to reveal the CD-Key and Serials for installed softwares on computer. It supports a huge list of software that it can recover but there are some that are not supported. Here is another sweet little application that scans the Windows Registry for Windows product keys and other serial numbers and licenses.


The License Crawler can discover application product keys and other serial numbers or licenses very quickly and supports all versions of Windows operating system from Windows 95 to Windows Vista.

It is a portable application that can be run from any location and would be a perfect fit for an USB stick. Asking clients to find serial and license keys is often very frustrating. Instead, tech support can simply run License Crawler without having to interact with the client at all. The portable file LicenseCrawler.exe is 53.5KB in size.

NOTE: Sometimes the Microsoft serial number discovered by License Crawler doesn’t match the serial number printed on your computer. Most likely, the manufacturer used just one OEM number for all his clients, instead of an unique one for each machine.. That makes the installation of Microsoft programs onto thousands of computers easier. This also means that the serial number printed on your computer hasn’t been activated yet, allowing you some degree of anonymity.

If you want to recover the serial numbers on a computer that is unable to boot up, just follow the instructions below.

1. Boot up the computer with Linux Live CD or BartPE and save the following file: Windows\System32\Config\software (no extension)
2. On another computer, open Regedit: (WIN+R) enter regedit
3. In the Registry editor, click to select HKEY_USERS, go to File > Load Hive… and browse the “software” file which you’ve saved earlier
4. Run the LicenseCrawler, select HKEY_USERS from the drop-down menu and click Start Search.
5. Once finished searching, run Regedit and select “unload hive…” from File menu.

The latest version of License Crawler which was released yesterday has a new feature where you can find CD keys on remote computers. If you run regedit, you can find “Connect Network Registry” from the File menu. I believe LicenseCrawler uses this method to connect to another computer’s registry and then search for license key. You need admin rights on the other computer for this to work.

The difference between SoftKey Revealer and License Crawler is SoftKey Revealer depend on decrypting license key structure but as for License Crawler, it has an intelligent search method which doesn’t require maintaining any key structure. That explains why License Crawler (53.5KB) file size is 28 times smaller than SoftKey Revealer (1.51MB).

[ Download LicenseCrawler ]

If you’ve followed my daily articles, you should already know how to include subtitles in downloaded movies. There’s also a tool called Subcrawler which allows you to find and download subtitles from various websites. It seems easy because you only need to make sure that the .SRT subtitle file has the same file name as the AVI movie file name.

Most common problem that many people face is the subtitle out of sync with the movie. It’s either too fast or too slow. There are many movie capping teams, so are the subtitle files and you must use the correct subtitle file with the movie. For example, you can’t use Blood.Diamond.2006.DVDRip.AC3-GoRDo.SubEng subtitle file Blood.Diamond.DVDRip.XviD-ViTE AVI movie. As you can see, it is the same movie but capped by different people (GoRDo and ViTE). So the time frame is not the same.

To solve this problem, you either keep searching for the correct version of subtitle or some people even go to the extend of editing the subtitle file to synchronize with the video file. Now there’s no need for you to do that anymore. I discovered 2 free software which is able to detect your video file and then download the correct subtitle SRT file.


Both 2 software uses fast hashing algorithm to determine what version of movie do you have. Then it will list out all languages and also subtitle that is uploaded by different people for you to select and download. Other than downloading subtitles, you can also upload subtitles.

1. SubDownloader

– SubDownloader is available for Windows, Linux and MacOS users. It’s very easy to use. Just download, install and run SubDownloader. At the right hand side you’ll see a few icons. The first one is for you to add a video file. Second one is for you to add a folder that contains all movie files. Third icon is to clear the contents and last one is to download subtitles. Once you’ve loaded the movie file, SubDownloader will automatically start searching for available matching subtitle. Once found, it will list the subtitles available for you to download. Check the subtitle and click the last button to download. The SRT subtitle file will automatically being downloaded to the location where you movie file is.

[ Download Subdownloader ]

2. Oscar

– Oscar works the same as SubDownloader. Can’t really notice much difference in terms of functionality. There is no need to install Oscar. Just download, extract and run oscar.exe. To load a video, click on the icons at the right hand side and click the second last icon to search for available matching subtitles. Once found, you can check the subtitle that you want to download and click the last button to download. It will also place the subtitle at the same location as your video file.

[ Download Oscar ]

Keyloggers, a short word for Keystroke Logging, is a very scary system that hackers can use to secretly monitor and capture all keystrokes, mouse clicks, passwords, visited web-pages and launched applications; tracks received and sent e-mails and lots more. It can even takes screenshots of the computer activity! Keystroke logging can be achieved by both hardware and software means. Hardware key loggers are commercially available devices which come in three types: inline devices that are attached to the keyboard cable, devices which can be installed inside standard keyboards, and actual replacement keyboards that contain the key logger already built-in. If you search “keyloggers” in Google, you’ll find tons of results. There are free keyloggers and also paid keyloggers which offers much more advanced keylogging system.

You will not notice the presence of such program. It is invisible in the Task List (when you press Ctrl-Alt-Del). It will not show in Task Bar, let alone your Desktop. It does not make any noise, your system will not slow down as in the case of spyware. But the key logger silently records all the keystrokes and puff — before you know it, your password has been changed and your credit card number has been used to make fradulent purchases.

Some people use keyloggers for good purposes and some abuse it. That’s why we need to learn how to beat the keyloggers in order to protect our information from being stolen. If you think you don’t have keylogger on your system, then it might have one. You can only be sure that you are safe from keyloggers after you’ve read this article.


Web Based On Screen Keyboards
Some website such as Citibank has an on-screen javascript keyboard which you can use your mouse to click the character. This way, you can avoid using your keyboard. There is no need to install anything because everything is loaded from the website. If you’d like to implement an on-screen keyboard on your website, please visit the links below.
1. JavaScript Virtual Keyboard by Dmitry Khudorozhkov.
2. Javascript VirtualKeyboard by WingedFox.
– In my opinion, WingedFox’s Javascript VirtualKeyboard is much better than Dmitry’s JVK.

Program On Screen Keyboards
If you want to use an on-screen keyboard on a website but the on-screen keyboard is not available, you can download and use program type of on-screen keyboard. Usually the on screen keyboard program is very small in size and free to use.

1. Neo’s SafeKeys

– Neo’s SafeKeys is only less than 8KB. You type your password by clicking each button on the keyboard of this application (with your mouse). Your password will appear, letter by letter, in the text box at the bottom of the window (within a “******” password mask). Select the text with your mouse and then drag-drop it onto the password box on your online form. Good thing about Neo’s SafeKeys is the utility changes width and height each time, as well as its placement on the screen (to fool mouse-loggers, buttons will always be in different positions each time you use the program). Nothing is stored in the clipboard (clipboard loggers cannot save the password). You can use upper-case letters and symbols (such as !@#${}) by pressing the CAP button – no matter how complex your password is, the utility can type it.

2. MiloSoft Virtual On Screen Keyboard

– A simple on screen keyboard.

3. Click-N-Type virtual keyboard

– You can choose a from a few different types of keyboard layouts.

4. Mouse Only Keyboard v1.4 (MOK)

– To avoid key loggers you can enter the password using only the mouse. This method protects you even against hardware keyloggers, or other keyloggers not supported by MyPlanetSoft Anti Keylogger. When the program is started, it deactivates all system-wide clipboard viewers, so you can safely copy passwords around different applications.

Important note: Please do NOT use Windows’ On-Screen Keyboard. It is pretty useless and keystrokes will be captured by keyloggers.

Encrypt Keystrokes
Another way is to encrypt your keystrokes at the keyboard driver level, deep within the operating system. So no matter what you type on your keyboard, the keylogger only records encrypted characters.

1. QFX KeyScrambler

– When the encrypted keystrokes reach your browser, KeyScrambler then decrypts them so you see exactly the keys you’ve typed. Keyloggers can only record the encrypted keys, which are completely indecipherable. There are 3 versions of KeyScrambler and one of them is free. The free version of KeyScrambler can only protect your logins on all websites. If you want more advance features, you have to purchase the professional or premium edition.

2. I Hate Keyloggers

– I Hate Keyloggers will disable this hook mechanism so the text will never reach the key logger program. Consequently, it will break some other programs that rely on this hook mechanism, but I Hate Keyloggers provides a hotkey combination to quickly disable or enable typing protection.

Detect Keyloggers (Anti Keyloggers)
There are programs that can detect some but not all keyloggers. So I’d recommend you to try all of them. Please take note that hardware keyloggers cannot be detected by software below. Please do not depend on anti keyloggers so much because there will always be new techniques which anti-keyloggers can’t detect.

1. SnoopFree Privacy Shield 1.0.5

– SnoopFree Privacy Shield is not another scanner product. It’s a powerful shield that guards your keyboard, screen and open windows from all spy software. The way it works makes it virtually impossible for any spy program to work on your computer.

2. MyPlanetSoft Anti-Keylogger v1.5

– The world’s smallest fully functional anti keylogger. Deactivates all existing system-wide keyloggers. Absolutely free. Ideal for use in any public environment such as internet cafes. No installation required, just download, unzip and run. Serves also as anti clipboard logger.

3. KL-Detector v1.3

– Use KL-Detector to find out whether your activity is being recorded without your knowledge. It claims that it is designed to be able to detect all keyloggers. And it’s free.

4. PSMAntiKeyLogger

– PSMAntiKeyLogger is a real-time protecting tool which protects you against not only Keyloggers but also Screen/Form capturers. It can be compared to SnoopFree except that it is a bit outdated.

Anti-Virus, Anti-Trojan and Anti-Spywares will detect keyloggers by signatures. As for firewall, it doesn’t stop keyloggers from logging your keystrokes but it can prevent the keylogger from automatically “sending” the logs to the person who installed the keylogger. Also do take note that hardware keyloggers can’t be detected by any of the software above. So you must be extra careful and always use the on-screen keyboard when you’re using a public computer.

Phew! Finally I’m done writing about defeating keyloggers… It has taken me whole day to write this!

I normally disable any not frequently used hardware in Device Manager such as the webcam, fingerprint reader, DVD-RAM, Modem, Firewire, PCMCIA adapter, and most importantly the wireless adapter. So far I only noticed that the computer boots up faster since it doesn’t need to load up the devices and most probably it could even prolong the battery life on my laptop. Many times I’ve seen people using their laptop connected to both wifi and LAN that is on the same router. Although this shouldn’t cause any problems because Windows routing table is smart enough to automatically detect and use the better connection, but it is still good to disable the unnecessary connection to avoid any possible dual interface routing issues. Previously I’ve tested the Windows routing table by connecting 3 different types of connection (3G, ethernet and wifi) on my computer and it puts 3G at first priority, followed by ethernet and then wifi.

If you normally have to switch between wifi and ethernet connection but find it a hassle to manually disable or enable the devices, here is how you can do it automatically.


Steve Wiseman from IntelliAdmin has written an intelligent vbscript that automatically disable wireless when Ethernet is available and vice versa. First you need to identify the name of the connection used by ethernet and wifi. Go to Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > Change adapter settings.

Once you’ve identified both the LAN and wifi connection name, download the correct NetSwitch vbscript file according to your Windows operating system from the link below and save the file from .dat to .vbs extension.

For Windows 2003, Vista, 7, and 2008: http://www.intelliadmin.com/NetSwitch.dat
For Windows XP: http://www.intelliadmin.com/NetSwitchXP.dat

To put the wired NIC as first priority and the wireless NIC as secondary, type the following command at command prompt. This means that whenever the wired network connection is connected, the vbscript will automatically disable the wireless connection. If the wired network connection is unavailable, the vbscript will then enable the wireless connection.

NetSwitch.vbs “Local Area Connection” “Wireless Network Connection”

This script requires to be ran as administrator. According to Steven, the best place to run the script would be from a group policy computer configuration logon script because it will run as local system and have the proper permission to enable and disable network cards. You can also use the Windows Task Scheduler workaround trick to run the NetSwitch vbscript with highest privileges.

Other alternative for this NetSwitch vbscript are BridgeChecker and Wireless AutoSwitch which both are shareware. If you have a Dell wireless adapter, it would probably come with a “Disable Upon Wired Connect” feature or for HP laptops, some models comes with auto wireless disable feature called LAN/WLAN switching in BIOS.

Ashampoo is another popular software company that has been around for nearly 10 years. The brand is not really that popular but for software freaks like me, I’ve heard about it long time ago. They currently have an extensive 43 software in their product list which is categorized into office products, security software, burning software, system utilities, multimedia software and tools & utilities.

Today will be the last day that I’ll be sharing with you on how to get commercial license for free. So I thought let’s end it with a big one! 😈 Out of their 43 software titles, I manage to find out how to get free genuine full license key code worth $500 for their 26 software. I spent 3 full days, including 1st of May working on this (searching for the links, downloading the software, testing whether the code works or not and finally writing it down in this blog).


Since there are 26 software, I will try to make this as simple as possible. I’ve included the link for you to get the free license and also the direct link to download the software. A short description of the software is also included. For more information regarding the software, you can visit the official Ashampoo website.

The first time you’ll only need to enter the email address and it’ll send you an e-mail containing a personal activation link with which you can complete the free registration process. When you receive the mail just click on the activation link it contains and follow the instructions displayed. Your free registration key will then be sent to you immediately. The next time you request a free license, you’ll only need to enter your email and also the password that has been sent to you.

1. Ashampoo Office 2006

Process your office documents and spreadsheets.

License | Download

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2. Ashampoo AntiSpyWare 2

Protect yourself against the full spectrum of Internet malware threats including rootkits.

License | Download

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3. Ashampoo AntiVirus

Protect your system against viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and dialers.

License | Download

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4. Ashampoo FireWall

Set up an effective firewall and prevent unauthorized online activity.

License | Download

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5. Ashampoo Magical Security 2

Encrypt your sensitive data to a self-decrypting archive on your hard disk, CD, or DVD.

License | Download

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6. Ashampoo Magical Security

Encrypt your private data on hard disc, CD or DVD!

License | Download

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7. Ashampoo Burning Studio 2008 v7

Create, copy, and rip your own audio, video, data CDs, and DVDs.

License | Download

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8. Ashampoo Burning Studio v6

Burn the files and images on CD and DVD discs

License | Download

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9. Ashampoo BurnYa! AudioCD 2

The easiest way to burn your own audio CDs!

License | Download

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10. Ashampoo BurnYa! DataDisc 2

Burning data CDs was never this easy!

License | Download

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11. Ashampoo WinOptimizer 4

Speed up searches on your hard drive and optimize overall system performance.

License | Download

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12. Ashampoo Magical Defrag 2

Defragment your hard disk automatically to speed up Windows operation processes.

License | Download

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13. Ashampoo Magical Defrag

Magically defragments your system with ease!

License | Download

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14. Ashampoo PowerUp XP Platinum 2

Tune up your computer like a pro in seconds!

License | Download

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15. Ashampoo Uninstaller Platinum 2

Remove Windows programs completely to keep your system clean.

License | Download

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16. Ashampoo Magical Optimizer

Clean the whole system: release the brake of your computer with only one mouse click!

License | Download

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17. Ashampoo ClipFinder

Find and download videos from YouTube, VideU, and MyVideo.

License | Download

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18. Ashampoo Photo Optimizer

Enhance your digital pictures, improve color, contrast, brightness with just one click.

License | Download

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19. Ashampoo Photo Commander 5

Manage images, music files, and videos with a number of tools.

License | Download

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20. Ashampoo Magical Snap 2

Capture, enhance, and edit, and easily make professional screenshots.

License | Download

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21. Ashampoo Magical Snap

Perfect screenshots – anywhere, any time

License | Download

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22. Ashampoo SeeYa!

Compress images and voice into a compact, one-file talking slide show.

License | Download

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23. Ashampoo Media Player+

Play audio, video, and streaming media, and burn audio files to CD.

License | Download

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24. Ashampoo Magical Uninstall

Monitor and manage your software installations.

License | Download

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25. Ashampoo Internet Accelerator 2

Speed up your surfing on the Web.

License | Download

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26. Ashampoo Startup Tuner 2

Deactivate services, uninstall software, and delete plug-ins.

License | Download

There you go, 26 Ashampoo commercial software worth $500 for free. Enjoy!

Last year I’ve shown you how to safely run untrusted programs in virtual space using Sandboxie so it won’t affect your computer if it is a virus. Whatever the files does to your computer, it is only doing the damage in the virtual space and your Windows remains safe. Not only it is able to protect your computer, it can also show you if there is any files created and also the registry changes. It is very powerful security program but computer beginners may find that virtualization software tough to understand and use.

Loading a suspicious file into Sandbox is easy but investigating the file with Sandboxie is no easy task. I’ve previously written a guide on how to investigate files using Sandboxie but there is still a lot of computer knowledge involve. How nice if you’re able to just scan and analyze the suspicious file and then it automatically generates a highly detailed threat report.

Good news is now you can and there is no need to install any software to analyze what the file can actually do you your computer when you run it. In short, it is like running the suspicious file on a computer that doesn’t even exist and then it tells you what it does to that system! If the report states that it is dangerous, you can simply delete the file from your computer to stay safe.


Instead of using software to analyze untrusted file, here are some free web based sandbox service analyzes malware. Submit your Windows executable and receive an analysis report telling you what it does. All of them are an advanced automated threat analysis system designed to analyze and report the behavior of computer viruses, worms, trojans, adware, spyware, and other security-related risks in a FULLY AUTOMATED mode. There is a big difference between analyzing file with antivirus and sandbox. When using antivirus, you depend on its signature which sometimes can give you false positive. But with sandbox, you will know for sure if it is a dangerous file or not.

I’ve used a trojan called “Bandook” and upload to all 5 sandbox websites for test to determine which provides the best report.

1. ThreatExpert

– File size limit of 5MB
– Report will be made available to public after submission.
– Report sent to your email
Note: I find that ThreatExpert is the best compared to the rest because it gives the most complete information about the trojan.
[ Submit File to ThreatExpert ]

2. CWSandbox

– File size limit of 16MB
– After file submission, you immediately get the report link
Note: Very accurate report and it is as good as ThreatExpert.
[ Submit File to CWSandbox ]

3. Anubis

– File size limit of 2MB
– Can either opt for web or email for report
Note: The report about where the trojan connects to is not accurate.
[ Submit File to Anubis ]

4. Sunbelt Sandbox

– File size limit of 12MB
– Can either opt for web or email for report
– You can only receive report link from Email so make sure you entered a correct email address
Note: Sunbelt Sandbox technology is provided by CWSandbox. Although it is the same technology, but the report result is different. Sunbelt Sandbox is unable to give accurate network activity report.
[ Submit File to Sunbelt Sandbox ]

5. Norman Sandbox

– Didn’t specify the maximum file size
– Report sent to email only
Note: This is the worst of all. It doesn’t have web report and don’t know what is the maximum file size that is supported. The worst part is it didn’t detect Bandook as a threat!
[ Submit File to Norman Sandbox ]

Whenever you have a suspicious file and can’t decide whether to run it or not, submit it to VirusTotal first. If it didn’t detect anything or if it gives you a 50/50 result, then the next thing you should do is upload it to online sandbox websites. Congratulations! You are now a virus/malware analyzer!

There’s a Hosts file on every operating system. Yes, Windows, Mac OS, Linux and Unix, all of them has it. For Windows XP, the hosts file is located at WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc and it’s called HOSTS without any extension. You can open the HOSTS file with notepad and you should see something like this.

The hosts file is a computer file used to store information on where to find a node on a computer network. This file maps hostnames to IP addresses. The hosts file is used as a supplement to (or instead of) the domain name system on networks of varying sizes. This file is (unlike DNS) under the control of the user who is using the computer.

Your HOSTS file may now be empty and useless. I’ll show you how you can put it to work and protect your computer from danger.


You can use HostsMan, the free hosts file manager and editor to manage your HOSTS file.

It has the ability to enable or disable your HOSTS file, edit your HOSTS file and update your host from 4 websites that maintain it. By updating your hosts file, you’re able to filter out advertisements. This can save network bandwidth, as well, by eliminating a request to the DNS server normally used for obtaining address information, as well as by not downloading the advertisements.

Before doing anything to your HOSTS file using HostsMan, it is advisable to make a backup first in case you want to restore your original HOSTS file. To make your backup, press CTRL+B simultaneously or go to Hosts menu and select “Manage Backups…“. Click on the Create Backup button to backup your current HOSTS file.

To update your HOSTS file, click on the middle button that says “Update Hosts” when you run HostsMan.

Check MVPS Hosts, hpHosts, Mike’s Ad Blocking Hosts, Peter Lowe’s AdServers List and click the Update button. It will then check for updates and prompt you if you want to continue to update hosts file. Click Yes to continue. Next, it will download all 4 hosts files, delete duplicates and update your HOSTS file. The next thing you’ll notice on HostsMan is the number of Hosts Names that has been increased to tens of thousands.

Please take note that your hosts file can be “hijacked“, or used for malicious purposes. For example, adware, computer viruses, trojan horses, or other malware can edit the hosts file (particularly on Windows-based systems) to redirect traffic from a “safe” site (such as Google) to sites hosting content that may be offensive or intrusive to the user or the user’s computer system.

If you’re afraid of your hosts file being hijacked, you can use limited accounts for normal everyday use. Not only it can protect your HOSTS file, but all system and program files as well.

[ Download HostsMan v3.1.55 ]

You might be a careful person who regularly scan computer for viruses, check for windows updates, clear temporary files, defrag hard drive and also making sure that your startup item is not loaded with programs. Suddenly, you noticed that there is a new startup item KernelFaultCheck with the command dumprep 0 -u or dumprep 0 -k in System Configuration Utility (MSCONFIG).

Is dumprep.exe a virus and how did it get into into my startup programs? Why even after removing dumprep.exe from startup, it comes back automatically? Continue reading to know what is dumprep.exe and how to permanently removing it from startup.


The explanation below is taken from Microsoft’s website.

The Dumprep.exe tool is a Windows XP fault logging program. If a serious error occurs, Dumprep.exe writes the error details to a text file. The Dumprep.exe tool then prompts you to send the error information to Microsoft. The Dumprep.exe tool is a non-essential system process that is installed for third-party use.

There usually 2 switches. -k is a kernel fault check and -u is a user fault check. Since Microsoft mentioned that dumprep.exe is a non-essential system process, we can disable it. To disable dumprep.exe from startup, to Control Panel > System > Advanced tab > click Settings button for Startup and Recovery. At write debugging information, click the drop down menu, select (none) and click OK.

Next, click the Error Reporting button, and select “Disable error reporting“. You can leave the option “But notify me when critical errors occur” checked. Click OK to close Error Reporting window.

Go to Run and type msconfig. Check if dumprep.exe still exist in the list or not. If it is there, run regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run. Select KernelFaultCheck name and hit delete. Restart your computer. If you don’t want to mess with registry, you can use HijackThis to remove it. Just do a system scan, check on %systemroot%\system32\dumprep.exe and click Fix checked.

If dumprep.exe still automatically added into startup after disabling error reporting and writing debugging information, that means your computer has experienced blue screen and memory dump before. You need to Search for MEMORY.DMP file and delete it. Usually the MEMORY.DMP file is located at Windows folder. Once you delete the dump file from Windows, VOILA! dumprep.exe will no longer appear in MSCONFIG.

Windows Defender, previously known as Windows AntiSpyware, is a free program for Windows user to detect and remove known spyware from your computer. Windows Defender (Beta 2) helps protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software. It features Real-Time Protection, a monitoring system that recommends actions against spyware when it’s detected, and a new streamlined interface that minimizes interruptions and helps you stay productive. The software uses automatic definition updates provided by Microsoft analysts to help detect and remove new threats as the threats are identified.

Improvements in Windows Defender (Beta 2)

• Enhanced performance through a new scanning engine.
• Streamlined, simplified user interface and alerts.
• Improved control over programs on your computer using enhanced Software Explorer.
• Multiple language support with globalization and localization features.
• Protection technologies for all users, whether or not they have administrator rights on the computer.
• Support for assistive technology for individuals who have physical or cognitive difficulties, impairments, and disabilities.
• Support for Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.
• Automatic cleaning according to your settings during regularly scheduled scans.

To download and install Windows Defender Beta 2, you will need to have an original legitimate Microsoft Windows. If you do not have it, there’s a way to bypass the validation that stops you from downloading and installing Windows Defender Beta 2.


1. Download and install Orca.
2. Download WindowsDefender.msi
3. Run Orca and load WindowsDefender.msi
4. In the left pane, select InstallExecuteSequence
5. Select the Action CHECK_WGA. Right-click it and select Drop Row. Click OK to confirm.

6. Save the MSI file and close Orca.
7. You can now install Windows Defender (beta 2) – and updates

Update 1-December-2006: Windows Defender Beta 2 is no longer available as it has become final version. To crack the final version of Windows Defender, follow the steps below.
1. Download and install Orca.
2. Download WindowsDefender.msi
3. Run Orca and load WindowsDefender.msi
4. In the left pane, select CustomAction
5. Select the Action CHECK_WGA. Right-click it and select Drop Row. Click OK to confirm.
6. Again in the left pane, select Dialog
7. Look for the dialog CheckWGA, change the Attribute from 2 to 0
6. Save the MSI file and close Orca.

I am stunned to find this method to bypass the Windows Defender Beta 2 validation because you are actually using Orca, which is a part of the Microsoft’s Platform SDK Components, to edit MSI file and bypass the validation! Microsoft created the validation, and they have their own tool to bypass it. WEIRD!

Font that is used on any websites can be identified using Firebug or Web Inspector. However that can be too complicated for some users. I have posted two Firefox plugins that is able to help you identify the font on a webpage but that restricts you to use Firefox and installing plugins. Here is WhatFont bookmarklet tool, created by Chengyin Liu, an undergraduate Computer Science student at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign which will probably offer the easiest and cleanest way to help you easily identify fonts on webpages. All you need to do is reveal or show the bookmarks toolbar on your Firefox web browser as it is hidden by default and drag the bookmarklet to the bookmark toolbar to install.


When you are on any webpage and you want to know what font is being used on the text, simply click on the WhatFont bookmarklet that is on the Firefox bookmarks toolbar. After a few seconds, when you see a button showing “Exit WhatFont” at the top right of the browser, it means that you can now start inspecting the font by either moving your mouse cursor to the text which will only show the font being used, or left click on it to show more information such as font family, font size, line height, HTML color code and a sample of the font.

To disable WhatFont, simply click on the Exit WhatFont button which will also automatically close all the popups. WhatFont is free also works on Typekit and Google Font API. Do note that the bookmarklet is only for Firefox. If you want to use WhatFont on Chrome or Safari, it must be installed as extension.

Install WhatFont

The topic says it all! It’s not possible to run multiple Yahoo Messenger at a time right after installing the official version of Yahoo Messenger. You’ll need to apply a simple patch on Yahoo Messenger to enable this feature.


Y!Multi Messenger developed by John Kirchner is the ultimate Yahoo Messenger Polygamy patch to run multiple instances of Yahoo Messenger! Perfect for those who use several Yahoo ID’s. With this you can login to as many Yahoo ID’s that you have. This will work with 8.x versions of YM.

To patch your Yahoo Messenger with Y!Multi Messenger, just follow the simple steps below:
1. Download both Y!Multi Messenger and RaveButtons.ocx at the end of this post.

2. Extract both downloaded files and place YMulti Messenger.exe together with RaveButtons.ocx and run YMulti Messenger.exe

3. Click Enable YMulti button.

4. Give it a few seconds for it to search for your Yahoo Messenger. Once found, it will auto patch. You will get a confirmation message once it’s done.

It’s that simple!

[ Download Y!Multi Messenger ]

P/S: You will need the RaveButtons.ocx file to use this program. [ DOWNLOAD RaveButtons.ocx ]

Firefox recently got updated to version 6.0.2 and as usual after updating, Firefox automatically checks for any outdated incompatible extensions or add-ons. I have the Add-on Compatibility Reporter plugin installed which forces Firefox to continue using any incompatible extensions, if not, the incompatible extensions will be automatically disabled. I normally ignore the Extensions tab since I never had any incompatible problems, then one day I noticed that there are 4 Java Console listed in the extensions. I guess Java doesn’t do a good job in removing old Java files after installing an update.

Java Console extension is actually quite useless for normal users as it is mostly used by developers. As long as your Firefox browser has Java listed in the “Plugins” tab, then you won’t have problem opening websites that requires Java. Theoretically less is better because logically running less stuff takes up less resources. If it doesn’t make much different, at least the Extensions tab looks neater. Weirdly there are no Remove button for you to easily remove the Java Console extension. Here is how to manually clean up the old Java Console from Firefox web browser.


First you need to locate where Firefox is installed to and by default it should be in C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\ for 64 bit Windows systems. If it’s not there, simply right click on the Mozilla Firefox shortcut icon and select Properties. Click on the Open File Location button to automatically open the Firefox location in Explorer. Access the Extensions folder and you should see a couple of long folders names with random letters and numbers.

There are two ways to determine if the folders belong to the Java Console:

1. Edit either chrome.manifest or install.rdf with a text editor such as Notepad. If you see Java Console in there, then that folder belongs to Java Console.

2. Access the inner folders until you find ffjcext folder or file. I believe ffjcext is short for Firefox Java Console Extension.

Before removing or deleting the folders, make sure you exit Firefox first. Once you have removed the folders from the Extensions folder, run Firefox and you will no longer see Java Console listed in the Extensions tab.

I have to admit that I am a person that NEEDS the status bar to be there at all times even though it can be disabled. When it comes to Windows operating system, one of the first configuration that I’ll do is to enable the Status bar by pressing pressing Alt+V in Explorer and click on the Status Bar to activate it. The same goes to web browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox. If you haven’t noticed, recently the Status bar feature is considered to be obsolete because it is taking up unnecessary space even though it’s only 25 pixels. The Status bar is not enabled by default in Windows 7 and even on the latest Internet Explorer 9. As for Windows 7, since the Details pane is enabled by default, there is no reason to have the status bar anymore.

In fact, you can’t even find a permanent status bar in Google Chrome and in the latest Firefox 4. The permanent status bar in Firefox 4 has been changed to show and hide when it is needed. For example when you move your mouse to a link, a temporary status bar shows the URL of the link that the mouse is hovered on, then hides away when you move your mouse away from the link. According to Firefox developers, the Status bar has been replaced with the Add-On bar which can be enabled from View > Toolbars > Add-On bar or press the hotkey Ctrl+/


When the Add-on bar is enabled, it shows the small icons of add-ons that you have installed in Firefox. However when you move the mouse cursor to a link, the URL temporarily shows up on top of the add-on bar, not inside the add-on bar.

I’ve received an email from Josh asking me if I know of a way to restore back the missing permanent status bar in Firefox 4. If you’re one of them like Josh, fortunately there is an easy way to do it without hacking the core of Firefox.

All you need to do is install the Add-on called Status-4-Evar which will bring back some of the old status bar items, giving you more control over the built-in Firefox features, and provide new alternatives.

1. In Firefox 4, simultaneously press Ctrl+Shift+A which will bring up the Add-ons Manager.
2. Type Status-4-Evar at the Search all add-ons bar at the top right and hit enter.
3. Click the Install button for Status-4-Evar and restart your Firefox 4 web browser.

Firefox 4 now shows the permanent status bar that you normally see in Firefox 3.