Few days ago there was a newly signed up user in forum requesting for help. Initially his computer had some error messages that pops up during Windows startup and he tried using some third party software to fix it. However it ended up making his computer unable to run any exe programs at all including the icons on desktop. He was very sure that he only changed the ProgramFilesDir value from C: to D: in registry. From what I know, this only changes the default location of Program Files where software are installed but no matter what, we all tried to help him undo the changes he made. I showed him how to run registry editor but he wasn’t able to as he kept on getting the error message “This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action“.

After spending a few hours trying to help and without any success, then I started thinking maybe this problem is caused by another factor which I’ve encountered before in Windows XP. Somehow a virus managed to corrupt the .exe association in registry causing the user unable to run any programs. I used TeamViewer to remotely connect to his computer and tried running this command “assoc.exe=exefile” in command prompt which should fix the problem but don’t know why this command has been denied. I checked his user account and he is an administrator. I then tried to use DougKnox‘s EXE registry fix but that failed too because I wasn’t able to import the .reg file since it requires regedit.exe. I also converted the .reg file into .exe file which can imported into registry without using regedit and that too didn’t work.

After 2 days, I am glad that I finally managed to fix the problem.


It turns out to be a corrupted .exe association and the reason those steps I taken didn’t work is because the Windows Vista registry location for exe association is different from XP. Obviously using the XP fix cannot work on Vista!

When you have a corrupted exe association, you definitely cannot use any registry editor to fix it because it is impossible to run it in the first place. So here are a few methods you can try:

1. Run command prompt and type assoc.exe=exefile (If you get access denied error, try step 2)

2. Download this .reg file and run it. Make sure you right click and select Save As. (If you cannot import the .reg file because Windows cannot find the registry editor, then try step 3)

3. Open command prompt and type the following command REG IMPORT vista-7-fixexe.reg. Make sure you’ve already CD to the directory where the .reg file is. (If you have problems getting this to work, try step 4)

4. Download the EXE compiled version of the registry file above and run it. Although it doesn’t make sense to run this exe file since most of the exe files are blocked, but this is the one that fixed the user’s computer. (If this couldn’t fix it, try step 5)

5. Microsoft Fix It has an automated way to fixing the exe association problem. Simply download this MicrosoftFixit50194.msi file and run it.

If done correctly, it should fix the problem instantly and no reboot is required. Now I will always remember that whatever works in XP doesn’t necessarily works on Vista and 7.

I’ve been using Firefox 3 since Release Candidate 1 (RC1) and what I really like about the new version is the improvement in time required to load web pages. Loading any websites seems to be much faster. However, the memory usage problem is there. Three weeks later came Firefox Release Candidate 2 (RC2) and I immediately downloaded and installed RC2 because it is suppose to fix more bugs.

I started to experience real big problem with Firefox 3 RC2 that is intermittently crashing of the browser. I thought this is normal because it is still under testing and not a final stable release. Within a week, Firefox RC3 was released and it is the last RC before the final release. Updated to RC3, still the same crashing problem. About a week later, Firefox 3 final was released and I immediately updated my Firefox to the latest version hoping that the crashing problem would be fixed.

Unfortunately even the final “stable” version of Firefox 3 is still crashing intermittently. Waited for nearly 2 weeks, but still no updates. This crashing problem is really annoying because it is intermittent and there is no way to replicate the problem. Firefox 3 can crash when opening a site with flash, opening a new tab, closing tab, filling up forms and etc… I’ve got really fed up with the problem and I had to find a solution.


Sometimes I’d get a screen that says “firefox.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience. If you were in the middle of something, the information you were working on might be lost. For more information about this error, click here.”

Clicking the more information link shows that there is a problem with mozcrt19.dll at offset 00006c6c. Sometimes it is caused by other DLL files.

And sometimes Firefox 3 crash is caused by ModName unknown at offset 0521001d.

There are times that Firefox 3 just crashes and closes itself. Immediately after that Mozilla Crash Report window will show asking me to report the problem to Firefox developers.

Firstly, I uninstalled Firefox and deleted Firefox folders in Program Files. I then install a clean version of Firefox 3 and use a new profile. After using it for a while, Firefox 3 crashed again. It clearly shows that there are problems with Firefox 3 because I’ve already done a clean installation and using a new profile.

I tried using the latest Opera but somehow I am not used to it. Some of the shortcut keys and mouse clicks are different. One example is I need to simultaneously press CTRL + SHIFT + LEFT CLICK to open a link in a new tab. As for Firefox, it only requires CTRL + LEFT CLICK to open a link in a new tab… Another problem is some of the websites doesn’t display correctly in Opera.

I could revert back to Firefox 2 but I am so used to the speed in loading websites with Firefox 3. I remembered that the most stable version I used for Firefox 3 was RC1. What I did was I downloaded Firefox 3 RC1 Portable, extracted to my hard drive, copied my local profile to the portable version and voila, I am using Firefox 3 but no crashes. This is my temporary solution until the developer of Firefox fix the crashing problem. The local Firefox profile is usually installed in C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\default.???\ Just copy the contents of that folder (except the cache directories) to the FirefoxPortable\Data\profile directory.

I know that I will be exposed to security risk when using Firefox 3 RC1 but crashing few times a day is very annoying, unproductive and gets on my nerves. I have Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 and it should protect my computer from any malicious codes that is vulnerable to Firefox 3 RC1.

Update: I noticed that an Add-on {972ce4c6-7e08-4474-a285-3208198ce6fd}:3.0 is causing the crash. The weird thing is I don’t even have any add-on installed! I went to C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\extensions and found a folder {972ce4c6-7e08-4474-a285-3208198ce6fd} with a install.rdf file inside. I removed the folder and so far it’s not crashing for me “yet”.

[ Download Firefox 3 RC1 Portable ]

This article is not about hacking or cracking people’s Windows Live Messenger or Hotmail password. It’s a very useful way to gain your customer’s trust when helping them setup Outlook Express. Let me explain a scenario to help you understand better. My customer Outlook Express crashed. After fixing and restoring Outlook Express, it can now run but all his old emails and his email configuration is lost. To set up Outlook Express to receive his Hotmail emails, I’ll need to enter his Hotmail email address and his password. After complete setting up his Outlook Express, it’ll automatically tries to download folders from Hotmail.

In a few seconds, I get another prompt asking to re-enter user name and password for Hotmail server. My customer re-enters his user name and password, but the same thing happened again. I click cancel and got an error message saying “Access to the account was denied. Verify that your username and password are correct. Bad Password“.

I am 100% sure that my customer doesn’t remember his Hotmail password. After trying a few different password, still couldn’t log in. I also couldn’t help him reset his Hotmail password because he couldn’t remember his secret answer to his secret question. Later, I noticed something and figured a solution to recover his Hotmail password.


I noticed that he has Windows Live Messenger and when I run it, it has his Hotmail address and password saved! Both the “Remember me” and “Remember my password” is checked. There are many MSN password retrieval software but I like this Windows Live Messenger Password Recovery the most because it doesn’t reveal ALL of the saved password. If I am the customer, I wouldn’t feel good that the technician that came to fix my computer saw all the username and passwords that saved on my computer. It feels like me typing my password and someone is looking at me doing it.

This Windows Live Messenger Password Recover will only reveal the password when you type the correct email address that’s saved on that computer. If you leave the filter blank, it won’t return any email or password combination.

What I did was, run Windows Live Messenger Password Recover program from my USB flash drive, ask my customer to type his Hotmail address at the filter, and click on the Check button without me looking. If he gets it right, he’ll get a notification saying “Password found. Remember not to misuse the program.”

My customer was so happy and thankful because not only he can receive his Hotmail from his Outlook Express, he was able to remember his Hotmail password without feeling that I know his password too. I believe that it’s important to let your customer trust you.

[ Download Windows Live Messenger Password Recovery ]

I’ve only heard of Fortinet from VirusTotal as it is one of the antivirus engines that participate in VirusTotal. Fortinet has recently provided a free version of their antivirus program called FortiClient Endpoint Security Suite which is not much of a difference compared to the premium paid version. The only features that is not found in the Standard edition is an antispam protection, central management and logging. For a home user, these features are mostly not needed and the already available features (Antivirus/Antispyware engine, SSL and IPSec VPN clients, Personal Firewall protection, Intrusion Prevention, Web Filtering, Endpoint Application Detection, Endpoint Monitoring and Control, WAN Optimization, Anti-Rootkit Protection, Pre- and Post-Execution Behavioral Analysis, Real-Time Poisoned Webpage Protection, FortiGuard update services) makes it a very complete internet security suite.

I can’t wait to test the free antivirus from Fortinet because it can be installed on Windows server and is offered free of charge to anyone – consumers, small businesses, large enterprises – who seeks comprehensive protection for their laptops and personal computers. If you didn’t know, the free version of Avira, Avast, AVG and Rising is only meant for home usage. If you install them on corporate or educational environment, that is considered piracy and can be fine.

Here’s what I have to say about the free antivirus by Fortinet.


The setup file is only 10MB in size which I’d considered it to be very small if compared to other antivirus. However the first update takes a very long time to finish, perhaps it is downloading the latest antivirus engine and definition. I also like the interface because it is very neat, simple, easy to understand and use. Every main feature is being categorized at the left hand sidebar and there is very little configuration.

You don’t really need a powerful computer to run FortiClient. The system requirements are:

Pentium processor or equivalent

100 MB hard disk space

Compatible Operating System & Minimum RAM

– Windows 2000: 128 MB

– Windows XP 32-bit and 64-bit: 256 MB

– Windows Server 2003 32-bit and 64-bit: 384 MB

– Windows Vista: 512 MB

– Windows 7: 512 MB

After installing FortiClient on a clean Windows XP Professional SP3 with all latest hotfixes, I am seeing a total of 8 processes with 58MB memory being taken up. Running a full system scan with normal scan priority only takes up 30% CPU usage in average. FortiClient took 9 minutes and 38 seconds to complete scanning 21817 items which is also pretty fast. When I ran a full system scan again the next day, it took only 5 minutes and 2 seconds to scan 21815 files. Very likely FortiClient maintains a database of “safe files not to scan” to cut down the scanning time.

I’ve planted 21 virus that are currently circulating around the Internet on the test computer and sadly FortiClient only catches 10 out of 21. I noticed that most of the virus that are not detected by FortiClient are from Asian countries such as Brontok and Almanahe.

I’ve also tested FortiClient against my private trojan since it came with a firewall and intrusion detection. First of all, the virus signature cannot detect the trojan. When it comes to heuristic analysis, FortiClient also fails to detect any injection. Then I connected my test computer from my laptop using the backdoor trojan, there was no warning on the intrusion detection. I am not surprised why Fortinet scored so badly in Matousec proactive security challenge.

I also noticed another annoying issue with Fortinet which is I cannot access a shared folder on a local network. When another computer tries to access my shared folder, they get login prompt asking for password when simple file sharing is turned on. I’ve even configured the firewall to “Pass All” which means disabling the firewall, setting the network as Trusted zone and set the security level to Low but still cannot access shared folders. Finally I disabled webfilter and now I can access any shared folders on the network.

I like the fact that the free FortiClient allows anyone to use for free on any environment and also can be installed on nearly every version of Windows including both 32-bit and 64-bit but they should really work hard on improving the virus detection and firewall protection.

[ Download FREE FortiClient Endpoint Security Suite ]

I’ve been having problems with my computer since nearly 2 week ago.
Auto restart, bluescreen, lots of errors during startup scandisk and etc…
Checked each computer hardware very closely and everything was all right except my motherboard. I am currently using a MSI K7T266 Pro2.
I even had UPS to have stabilize power supply, not sure why it failed. I guess when it’s time is up, it will eventually spoil. Or should I say, bad luck?


If I need to buy a new motherboard, I’d need to change the processor (cpu) and memory (ram) as well because the new motherboard is not going to support my old AMD Athlon XP processor and Kingston DDR memory. Phew, the whole thing is gonna cost me a lot.

Looked around the few well known motherboard makers such as Asus, Abit, MSI and Intel and I’d still prefer MSI.
I’d like to buy MSI 955X Platinum motherboard which is the latest and best they have but it cost a bomb!
The second best MSI motherboard is 945P Platinum, and it cost half the price of 955X Platinum. I don’t think I need 955X Platinum because I won’t be using two built-in LAN (RJ45) and a few extra features.
Check out this cool motherboard that has 3 x ATA133 HD connectors and 4 x Serial ATA connectors. I really need the ATA because I have 3 ATA hard drives.

I might go with Intel Pentium D 2.80Ghz and 1GB PC5300 of Corsair Memory.

Overall, it’s going to cost me around RM2000+ for this 3 piece of computer hardware. It’s worth it because of the speed and *touch wood* if there’s nothing wrong with the hardware, it will last me at least for another 3-4 more years.

Do let me know if you think I should get other brand of motherboard, processor or memory.

Windows Media Player 11 is really a huge improvement over Windows Media Player 10. Managing your library is made easier by using graphics all over around. It comes together with Windows Vista, but now it has also been leaked for Windows XP.

There is a Windows Genuine Advantage(WGA) check during installation, but there are workarounds on how to bypass WGA in order to install Windows Media Player 11.


First method…
1. Follow the steps in this post to crack your WGA validation
2. Download Windows Media Player 11 from either one of the links below.
TurboUpload
RapidShare
9Down
Alfa-Soft
EnFull1
EnFull2
EnFull3
.Torrent
3. Run mpsetup.exe to start Windows Media Player 11 installation.

Second method…
1. Download Windows Media Player 11 from either one of the links below.
TurboUpload
RapidShare
9Down
Alfa-Soft
EnFull1
EnFull2
EnFull3
.Torrent
2. Extract the installer mpsetup.exe using WinRAR or PowerArchiver and you will see a new folder named mpsetup.

3. Download cracked version of legitlib.dll from either one of the link below and replace the original legitlib.dll in mpsetup folder.
MyTempDir (Password: www.alfa-soft.tk)
RapidShare
4. Run setup_wm.exe from the mpsetup folder.

This is what your new Windows Media Player 11 will look like once you’ve successfully install it.

Looks cool eh 😉

Google company moves very quickly. In just a short while, Chrome, the web browser by Google is now at version 5. I use Chrome and Firefox simultaneously because opening a lot of tabs in Firefox makes it sluggish but when I do that on Chrome, it is still fast because it is light. Google Chrome 5 is finally out of beta and every Chrome users should update to the latest version because it boast a 213 percent and 305 percent in Javascript performance by the V8 and SunSpider benchmarks since their very first beta.

I personally have a mentality that says a software should have some interface changes on major updates but Chrome maintains the same good old feel. Good thing about it is current users won’t need to struggle to learn on where are the menus and buttons, for example the annoyance of ribbon menu in Office 2007.


Some of the new features that you will find in the new Google Chrome 5 are:

1. Faster – Google loves speed!

2. Sync – Able to synchronize bookmarks, themes, homepage, startup settings, web content settings, preferred languages and zoom settings across multiple computers.

3. HTML5 – Geolocation APIs, App Cache, web sockets, and file drag-and-drop. You can now drag and drop attachments in Gmail right from your desktop.

4. Bookmark Manager – Facelift so that it run inside Chrome tab like the Extension and Downloads tab.

5. Extensions in Incognito – You can now enable each extension to work in incognito mode through the extensions manager.

6. Adobe Flash Player integration – Adobe Flash Player has not been included yet because the Chrome developer team are waiting for Adobe to release Flash Player 10.1, then only the integration will take place.

If you would like to update to the new Chrome 5, it should take place automatically but if not, click the Customize and Control Google Chrome button which is located at the end of the address bar and select About Google Chrome. It will then check for updates and prompts you to update if you are using an older version of Chrome. If you have not tried using Google Chrome, its time to do that and you can download the full version from the link below.

[ Download Google Chrome 5 ]

Have you finished playing Tower Defense and Master of Defense? If you have and love the concept of this strategy game, here’s another free flash based Tower Defense game I found while browsing through some websites.

It’s called Desktop Tower Defense. I’ve been playing this game whole afternoon and it’s very addictive. Been trying different types of strategies to earn more points and win!



This game is possible to win but if you play the harder mode, I find it impossible to even last till half of the game. This version of tower defense has a special button “Send next level” that you can press to immediately send in the next group of creeps. Pressing that gives you extra points but make sure you have sufficient upgraded towers before doing that.

Other than that, you can also create a maze using your towers. So instead of the creeps walking straight to their destiny, you make them go round and round and you have a better chance of killing them.

If you find this game hard to win, how about cheating and get more gold to spend on building and upgrading your towers?

This version of Tower Defense is a simpler version but with a twist compared to the previous game I posted. Try it, I’m sure you’ll love it! When you’re done with the game, it’s even fun to hack the memory of the flash game and change the value to increase your Gold.

[ Play Desktop Tower Defense ]

Secured websites such as PayPal or online banking websites uses SSL encryption to ensure secure transactions between web servers and browsers. The difference between a normal and an encrypted webpage is the additional S after HTTP which becomes HTTPS. Current version of web browsers has made a change where by when you visit a normal unencrypted webpage, it no longer shows the HTTP. Only when you visit a SSL encrypted page, the web browser will display the HTTPS together with either the lock icon (Internet Explorer and Google Chrome), or Site Identity Button (Firefox) or Security Badge (Opera).

It doesn’t mean that entering your login information on a SSL encrypted page is 100% safe because there is a technique called WEBMITM (web man-in-the-middle) where the attacker is able to steal your sensitive information. Basically the attack will only work if the attacker manage to connect to the same network as you either through wireless or LAN. So make sure you’ve set your wireless router to use WPA2 encryption with a non-dictionary word as password and use a VPN when you have to connect to public Wi-Fi.


Implementing SSL encryption on certain webpages is not as easy as it looks because it involves quite a few steps. First I need to purchase a standard SSL certificate and so far the cheapest I found is $12.99 per year from Godaddy by using a discount coupon. Normally the Standard SSL certificate in Godaddy cost $64.95 per year but using this code sslqgasia7 will give you a huge discounted price. After purchasing, I need to log in to my server to generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) and submit it to Godaddy. Godaddy will then issue a digital SSL certificate where I will download it and install it on my server.

I wouldn’t want to use HTTPS on the whole site because it is slower, consume more bandwidth and puts more load on the server. So the best option is to only use HTTPS on certain important pages such as the registration and phone verification page. This is easily done with a custom vBulletin plugin that hooks a couple of location.

The biggest problem that I went through was the mixed-content of HTTP and HTTPS on a secured page. Although that shouldn’t cause any problems but it triggers a warning message “Internet Explorer blocked this website from displaying content with security certificate error” without a pad lock icon. Opening the secure page with mixed content in Chrome shows a red crossed out HTTPS. Instead of giving people confidence with the SSL encryption, the errors may end up scaring the visitors away.

A crossed out HTTPS in Google Chrome. Can be confusing if the page is still secure.

I used Firebug to track down all the images, javascripts and CSS files that are still loaded from HTTP on the HTTPS page and update the links to a more obscure relative URL syntax on the vBulletin template and StyleVars. It really did took me a while to find Ned Batchelder’s working solution… There are a couple of related articles published by HttpWatch which is very useful in fixing the mixed-content pages (1, 2, 3)

Phone verification page is secured with 2048 bit RSA/SHA encryption

Forum registration page is also secured and encrypted

I hope this update will provide everyone a more peace of mind when registering a new account in forum and performing a one-time phone verification. X-Ray will finally be released soon and am looking into code signing to guarantee to users that they are, in fact, running the code they believe they are running, and that the code was written by the individual or organization that the certificate was issued to. It is a good way to verify that the code being run has not been altered or corrupted, but the code signing process is pretty long and also expensive.

Just like many popular commercial antivirus company such as Avira, BitDefender, Kaspersky and F-Secure, Norton also has its own Rescue CD called Norton Recovery Tool where you can use it to boot up a computer (whether Windows is bootable or not) to recover a badly virus infected PC. Sometimes a computer is so badly infected by virus, your computer would be too slow to do anything or even worst, can’t boot up at all. A rescue disc would be the best way to scan your computer for virus because the virus will not be active and won’t interfere the antivirus program from doing its job. It can delete any virus found and hopefully lets you boot in to Windows again.

The latest Norton Antivirus 2009, Norton Internet Security 2009 and Norton SystemWorks v12 comes with Norton Recovery Tool. If you purchased any of the 3 Norton products above from Symantec online store, the receipt will have an additional information that says “In case you need to recover your system from heavy infections click here to download the Norton Recovery Tool“. But if you bought the product key from somewhere else such as from ebay or an OEM reseller, you will only get the genuine product key without the link to download Norton Recovery Tool.

I manage to find the direct download link to download the latest Norton Recovery Tool and posted it here for your convenience.


Norton Recovery Tool provides on-demand scanning and removal or repair of viruses, spyware and other security risks. This tool is not intended to be a replacement for continuous, real-time protection from the latest security risks. Do take note that Norton Recovery Tool does not detect rootkits. The minimum system requirements to run Norton Recovery Tool is a computer with 1.4 GHZ CPU and 1GB of physical RAM.

In order to use the Norton Recovery Tool to scan your computer for viruses, you’ll need to download the ISO from the link at the end of this article and burn the ISO file to a CD. Then follow the few simple steps below.

1. Insert the Norton Recovery Tool CD in the CD-ROM drive.
2. Exit all programs and restart your computer.
3. When you see the message “Press any key to boot the computer from CD or DVD”, press Enter.
4. In the Norton Recovery Tool window, select your language and click OK.
5. Enter your Norton 2009 Product Key, and click I Agree to accept the License Agreement.
6. Click Start Scan.
7. Follow the prompts.
8. After the scan is completed, remove the CD from the CD-ROM drive and restart your computer.

Norton Recovery Tool uses Symantec virus definitions to scan your computer for the latest security risks. Virus definitions are automatically updated when your computer is connected to the Internet with a connection that is “always on”. Wireless connection won’t work and DHCP server must be active to provide IP address. Most of the routers nowadays are configured to automatically provide internal IP address to a computer connected to it.

Note: Norton Recovery Tool is ONLY free for those who has a product key for Norton Antivirus 2008/2009, Norton Internet Security 2008/2009 and Norton SystemWorks 12. Notice that I didn’t use the word “GENUINE” because a 25 digit product key generated by “Norton Antivirus 2008 Keygen” (Norton.Antivirus.2008-EDGE) also works.

Norton Recovery Tool for Norton Antivirus 2009
Filename: recovery_nav_x86.iso
Filesize: 241MB
Direct Download Link

Norton Recovery Tool for Norton SystemWorks 12.0
Filename: NSWRECOVERY.iso
Filesize: 241MB
Direct Download Link

Norton Recovery Tool for Norton Internet Security 2009
Filename: recovery_nis_x86.iso
Filesize: 241MB
Direct Download Link

Before you purchase any computer games, most important thing is to check the game’s minimum system requirement because if your computer don’t meet the system requirement, you either experience a huge “lag” or bad graphics or don’t even get to play the game at all! Since the game can’t be played, it’ll end up in eBay. Certainly we don’t want that to happen.

What can you do if you don’t know anything about computer and you don’t even know your own computer’s specification? Of course, you can look up the computer sales receipt and call up the computer shop hoping that they’ll tell you your computer specifications but the pain truth is they are not so free to entertain these kinda calls.

Now you can skip all of that and just depend on the “System Requirements Lab” website to tell you if your computer can run that game.


System Requirements Lab is a FREE web-based service that quickly and automatically tells you if your computer can run a specific product. The entire service is run on a web site with immediate summary and detailed analysis provided both graphically and textually. This service analyzes your computer’s system information and compares it against a product’s specific minimum and recommended requirements. It then instantly provides both a summary and a detailed analysis of your system. In many cases if your PC does not meet a specific requirement then System Requirements Lab provides links to specific solutions so you can run the product.

Here is a summary graph from System Requirements Lab that shows a consumer that they passed the minimum requirement but not the recommended level. This overall analysis is provided as a quick explanation and to show how far or near your computer is to both minimum and recommended requirements.

You not only get an overall summary analysis for each specific product (can you run a product or not), but also a detailed evaluation of how your computer meets each listed requirement.

It’s very simple to run the scan. Just select the game from the drop down list(there is about 400 games and growing) and click the “Can you run it” button. If the game that you want to buy is not in the list, simply select ANY game as the result will show you your computer specifications.

System Requirements Lab states that only your computer’s hardware and system software is evaluated and no personally identifiable information is collected when it is checking your computer.

[ Visit System Requirements Lab Website ]

ESET released version 4 of ESET Anivirus (NOD32) and ESET Smart Security yesterday. Actually I wanted to do a review on the version 4 of ESET products but ended up spending nearly 4 hours trying to help a user to solve his computer problems via live support. If you’ve been here long enough, you should know that I am not a big fan of ESET products. Reason is it cannot detect my private trojan using its heuristic detection and it takes quite a lot of memory. The only advantage that I can see from using ESET products are the easy methods of obtaining username and password to update virus signature database.

I’ve only briefly tested the BETA version of ESET v4 but it was also disappointing as I am getting pretty much the same result as in version 3. Today I will bring ESET users some good news because the latest version 4 is pretty impressive and I would actually consider it to be one of my favorite antivirus program. If you already have a valid license, then there is no charge for the upgrade. All you need to do is to download the latest version of NOD32 Antivirus v4 or Smart Security v4 and use your username and password.


There are 2 products from ESET. NOD32 Antivirus v4 has antivirus and antispyware. As for Smart Security v4, it comes with an antivirus, antispyware plus firewall and antispam. Smart Security has more protection and it cost $59.99 compared to NOD32 Antivirus which only cost $39.99 for a year’s subscription.

This is how the latest ESET NOD32 Antivirus v4 looks like. The interface didn’t go through a major change, which is good because the old users would still be familiar with it and won’t have problems configuring it.

Here is what’s new on the latest NOD32 Antivirus v4:

Smarter Scanner – ESET NOD32 Antivirus inspects SSL-encrypted communication channels like HTTPS and POP3S and intelligently scans compressed files to find hidden threats other products miss. (Zemana AntiLogger has this feature)

Clean and Safe Email – Email scanning for Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird, Windows Live Mail, Windows Mail, and other POP3/IMAP mail clients, ensuring your email is free of viruses and other threats.

Removable Media Security – ESET NOD32 Antivirus scans autorun.inf and associated files when the medium is inserted, in addition to scanning any file on any removable device when it is accessed, or during a full-scan of the media.

System Tools – ESET SysInspector and ESET SysRescue simplify diagnosing and cleaning of infected systems by allowing deep scans of system processes to find hidden threats, and creating bootable rescue CD/DVD or USB drives to help you repair an infected computer.

Self Defense – ESET NOD32 Antivirus has built-in technology to prevent malicious software from corrupting or disabling it, so you can rest assured your system is always protected.

Improvements – Numerous speed, security and usability upgrades such as password protection, keyboard shortcuts, popups are hidden when running full screen applications, advanced protection status, and energy sipping battery mode which extends laptop battery life.

Now it’s time for the test. We’ll first check on the memory usage. I’ve installed ESET NOD32 Antivirus v4 on Windows XP and Vista. When Windows is fully booted up, I am seeing a pretty high memory usage of 50MB+ (ekrn.exe at 40MB+ and egui.exe at 10MB+). In Windows XP, the memory usage remained the same but in Vista, the memory usage for ekrn.exe and egui.exe slowly drops to a total of 12MB+. I believe this is the smart memory management feature in Vista and not ESET because I noticed that all other process memory usage are dropping as well. As for Windows XP, no matter how long I waited, the memory usage for NOD32 doesn’t drop.

I ran a full scan on my desktop, and it took 30 minutes 11 seconds to scan 201841 files. It also had some false positives by detecting Quick Heal Antivirus installer as a probable Win32/Agent trojan, PLoP as a probably unknown TSR.BOOT virus. The surprising part is ESET NOD32 Antivirus v4 manage to detect my private trojan and also ALL 16 BCD private FUD stubs as threats! That is a perfect 100% detection on a supposedly undetectable threat! Thumbs up!

I’ve also tried placing an autorun.inf file associated with a virus in a USB flash drive. Plugged in my computer and ESET NOD32 Antivirus v4 immediately prompts that it detected a virus in autorun.inf file and automatically removed it to prevent it from infecting other computers.

My verdict, ESET has improved their detection but the false detection rate has also gone up. It also comes with many new useful features such as Removable Media Security and rescue disk. As for the memory usage, I hope ESET will stop misleading users by stating that they are the fastest and lightest antivirus on their website. It’s NOT. If you want to use it on XP and concerned about the memory usage, you can try Minimem or Cleanmem.

[ ESET NOD32 Antivirus v4 and Smart Security v4 Website ]

After posting a tip yesterday on how to install Kaspersky Security Suite CBE 2009 which is exactly the same as Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 except that it is rebranded and uses German language, today Kaspersky has officially announced the release of the latest Kaspersky 2010 which uses engine v9. Although I am a big Kaspersky fan, I did not test the BETA version of Kaspersky 2010 until today. I never liked to use beta version of Windows patches or security software because it is possible that it will compromise the stability of my computer.

Here are some important information before I get to the review of the application. If you are a Kaspersky user that is using an older version of Kaspersky, good news is you’re eligible to update to the latest Kaspersky 2010 version for FREE as long as you have a valid license for previous Kaspersky v7 or 2009. The FAQ page did also mention that Kaspersky 2010 is incompatible with Windows 7. When Windows 7 has been officially released, it will be made compatible then. I also have 25 Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 license key to be given away!


First of all, you’ll notice a change in the interface on Kaspersky 2010. A new approach to the protection management called My Protection has been implemented. Computer protection is ensured in three different directions: user’s files and personal data, operating system objects and applications installed on the computer, and network activity.

New and improved features in Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010

NEW Kaspersky Toolbar for Internet browsers to warn you about infected or unsafe websites

NEW special Game Mode to suspend alerts, updates and scans while you play

IMPROVED basic identity theft protection, including improved secure Virtual Keyboard

IMPROVED Urgent Detection System to stop fast emerging threats

IMPROVED next generation proactive protection from zero-day attacks and unknown threats

New and improved features in Kaspersky Internet Security 2010. Includes all the above plus:

NEW Unique Safe Run Mode for questionable applications and websites

IMPROVED Security Application Monitor to give you full picture on programs installed on your PC

IMPROVED Identity Information Controller to give valuable data an extra layer of protection

IMPROVED Advanced identity theft protection, including improved secure Virtual Keyboard

Kaspersky has finally implemented a gaming mode which allows you to run full screen games without slowing down your gaming experience and getting notification on what to do if it has found a threat. However this gaming profile must be enabled in Settings in order for this feature to take effect. After enabling gaming profile, the profile will automatically take effect whenever Kaspersky detects a full screen program running

Like many other antivirus such as AVG and Norton, Kaspersky too has its own toolbar for Internet Explorer and Firefox plug-in that compares web addresses and other URLs against a database of suspicious and phishing websites to warn you about infected or unsafe websites.

Another new feature which can only be found in Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 is the sandbox feature. It allows you to run questionable applications and websites while keeping your computer safe even if it is dangerous.

The memory usage for Kaspersky 2010 is slightly higher compared to 2009. I am seeing a total memory usage of 15-20MB for KAV 2010 after using the computer for a few hours. As for CPU usage, I did notice very high spikes when running a full scan especially when it is scanning files inside archives. During normal real-time protection, the CPU usage is very minimal.

Thankfully this major update of Kaspersky 2010 is not bloated or slow. It does take slightly more computer resources but its giving your computer more advanced protection against current and new threats. I definitely recommend this update and I have 25 genuine Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 license keys to be given away. Just make sure you’re a subscriber to my newsletter and then post a comment below at the end of this article. The 25 winners will be randomly picked and announced in 24 hours time.

[ Download Kaspersky 2010 ]

So fast Microsoft has updated their Windows Genuine Advantage to version v1.5.716! No matter how often Microsoft updates their Windows Genuine Advantage, ETH0 crackers will be as fast to crack them 😀

I am still using version 1.5.540 of LegitCheckControl.dll and Windows Update didn’t prompt me to install any new Windows Genuine Advantage. I really have no idea how Microsoft distributes their WGA. Some people get it and some don’t. Well if you get it, then ETH0 is there to save your day!


To check what version of Windows Genuine Advantage is installed on your computer, just browse to C:\Windows\System32 and look for the file LegitCheckControl.dll. You can also use Search feature to look for LegitCheckControl.dll file. Right click on LegitCheckControl.dll and select Properties. Click on the Version tab and you should see the version number on that page.

ETH0 crack is really easy to use. Just download the crack from the link below, extract the files and run installer.bat. Make sure that all files extracted are placed together at the same folder! When installer.bat is ran, you should see a black colored DOS dialog box prompting you to “Press any key to continue…”

Just press any key, and it’s done cracking! All popup nag screens gone and you’re now able to download updates from Windows Update.

[ Download Windows Genuine Advantage v1.5.716.0 Crack ]