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 ]

I’ve migrated my website hosting from CPHosting to Integricity.
It’s not very difficult but I was very unsure since I’m doing it for the first time.
My old webhost(CPHosting) allows SSH Secure Shell but new webhost Integricity doesn’t allow it.
I will teach you how I did it.

First, I need to move all my files and folders to the new webhost.
I did that by creating a tarball.
I use PuTTy to login to my old webhost.



Once I’m in, I type
cd public_html
or it could be –
cd htdocs

depending on the structure of your webserver.
Hit Enter and you should be in your WWW root where your web pages reside.
If you want to be certain that you’re in the right folder, just type
ls
hit Enter, and you should be able to see all your web pages and folders listed. Once you’re certain you’re in the right directory / folder, you can proceed to create the backup file of website or tarball (compressed file) of your entire* website.

Now, you will want to type in a command that will collect all these files and folders, and compress them into one little file – a tarball.
Type
tar -cpzf filename.tar.gz *
Within seconds, it should be done and now you can either download this file through your regular browser by just pointing to it; i.e. http://www.raymond.cc/filename.tar.gz or ‘get’ it using a regular FTP program from your webserver just like you would any web page, image file or script off your webserver previously.
Since my new Webhost doesn’t allow SSH, I contacted them and asked them to download the tarball and extract it to my new webhost.

One more thing I need to move is the MySQL database.
Again, using PuTTy, log on to my old server with SSH and get to my WWW root, which is public_html.
Type the command below the dump the database into a file.
mysqldump –opt -u dbusername -p dbname > dbname.bak.dump
It should ask you for your MySQL user’s password.
After complete dumping the MySQL database into a file, I download it at http://www.raymond.cc/dbname.bak.dump

My new webhost has phpMyAdmin that use to administer MySQL database and I used that to restore the database.
Before restoring the database, I need to create the exact same database name and user for MySQL.
After doing that, on phpMyAdmin, click on the database name that I’ve just created on the left hand side and then click on SQL tab on top.

I will just need to click on the Browse… button to locate the dump file which I downloaded to my computer.
Click Go, wait for a few minutes to upload and restore the database and it’s done migrating!

Two days ago I’ve shared with you a registry hack which will stop Windows from executing instructions found in autorun.inf. Good thing is your computer will never be infected by virus through the autorun.inf method. The downside of using this hack is that if you insert a CD or DVD with software on it, you have to explore it by hand to find the setup program and also the autorun.inf file will still remain at the root of the drive and could possibly infect other computer if it doesn’t have any protection against autorun.inf threats.

If you want Windows to continue processing autorun.inf file for CD or DVD and also want to protect your computer from USB flash drive autorun.inf. Here is a USB firewall software for Windows which is able to accomplish that.


Net Studio USB FireWall is a very smart application which protects you from all malicious programs which try to launch itself using autorun.inf through opening the drive from Windows Explorer. It will inform and warn you when such program exist in your USB storage.

When you get a warning after inserting a USB flash drive, you can click the SHOW AUTORUN.INF button to view what are the instructions in the autorun.inf file. If you don’t remember putting an autorun.inf file in the USB flash drive or don’t know how it got there, simply click the DELETE button from USB FireWall and it will clean it for you. The good thing about USB FireWall is that it doesn’t need any virus definition update because it is designed to detect autorun.inf file from USB storage drives.

This tool only monitors the USB device and ignores CD or DVD drives. This can pose a problem because the hacker can still use a hacked U3 smart drive which has the capability of emulating a CD drive to infect the computer with virus or steal sensitive data. USB FireWall is not THE perfect tool to protect your computer from USB autorun threats, but it does provide some level of protection, while still allowing autorun.inf file to be processed. Using USB FireWall has an advantage over the registry hack and that is to alert me when my USB contains autorun.inf so I don’t accidentally use my USB flash drive to infect other people’s computer with virus.

If you ask me which method I’d prefer to use to protect myself from autorun.inf threats, I’d go with the registry hack. It’s simple and don’t require any third party tools. What about you?

[ Download USB FireWall ]

Without a doubt that Process Explorer from Sysinternals is one of the best Task Manager replacement tool. It provides a lot of detailed information which most normal computer users wouldn’t know how to interpret. There are tons of other free Task Manager alternative such as Anvir Task Manager, PC Inspector Task Manager, DTaskManager, TaskPatrol 2, Process Manager 2 Lite, Daphne, Process Viewer and etc…

Here is another task manager software called System Explorer. I’ve heard about but never put it to the test. Now that I’ve did, I find that it is really good and it has its own pros if compared with the famous Process Explorer.


System Explorer is freeware tool for exploring internals of Windows based operating systems. Can be used as Task Manager replacement with many features. The latest version 1.5 (or above) is based on plugin system which provides possibility to turn off unwanted functionality or extend actual functionality with external plugins. It can run on Windows XP, Windows Vista or further.

Major features of System Explorer

Detailed information about Tasks, Processes, Modules, Performance, Startups, IE Addons, System Addons, Uninstallers, Windows, Services, Drivers, Connections, Snapshots and Opened Files.

Easy check of suspicious files via VirusTotal and Jotti service.

Automatic security check of processes, modules and any selected files with Spyware Terminator database.

Easy search details about file/process via online databases

Easy access to System Utilities. Able to replace Windows Task Manager

Performance graphs for monitoring usage of system resources in time

Action History for monitoring processes activities

Making of System Snapshots for easy finding of system changes.

History Tab provides information about system activity (Processes Start/End, Files Modification, Connections, System Events)

Plugin System offers high customization of System Explorer. Users can choose what plugins wants to use. Developers can make new features.

Multiple language support (English, Espanol, Deutsch, Portuguese, Japanese)

Process Explorer is very easy to use and understand yet it gives you a lot of advanced features for free! The latest version uses Spyware Terminator database to automatically check for any suspicious running process and you can easily upload the suspicious file to VirusTotal or Jotti to scan it with multiple antivirus.

Another feature that a lot of Task Manager replacement software don’t have is snapshot. Snapshot is very useful when you need to check for any files/registry being added, modified or removed in your system. Let’s say you’ve installed a trial software and would like to remove it complete from your computer. Unfortunately most of the uninstaller isn’t capable of removing all traces of the software. All you need to do is to create a snapshot before and after the software installation, compare the 2 snapshots to get a detailed report of file system and registry changes.

Just like a lot of Task Manager replacement software, you can easily replace your default Windows Task Manager with System Explorer by going to Options > Replace Task Manager. Normally we do not keep task or process manager software open. We only run it when we need to but if you want to keep System Explorer opened, I don’t see that as a problem because it only takes up 4MB in memory usage.

[ Download System Explorer 1.5 RC2 ]

I never once posted about windows explorer replacement/alternative or file managers such as xplorer², Total Commander, UltraExplorer, FreeCommander, Directory Opus, XYplorer and etc because I think that the current Windows Explorer is good enough for my daily task in creating new files, moving and copying files. Or maybe it is because I am so used to it since Windows Explorer’s layout didn’t changed much except for enhancement since Windows 95.

For the past few months I’ve been noticing that Q-Dir being updated very frequently. I remembered that it is some sort of file management freeware and I didn’t bother about it since I am already satisfied with Windows Explorer. I am trying NOT to focus so much on security, I thought perhaps I should check and see what is Q-Dir all about.


Q-Dir is a lightweight and easy to use piece of software that allows you to easily manage your files and folders.

Features of Q-Dir:

Favorites: Quick access to most often used folders.
Drag&Drop: Move files by dragging in Q-views, and other programs such as MS Explorer.
Clipboard: Copy/ Paste between the Q-Dir directory views, and other programs such as MS Explorer.
Folder-Type: ZIP-, FTP-,cabinet-,network-, system – folders, shortcuts …
Views: Large icons, tiles, list, detail, thumbnail (Vista: extra large symbols) .
Export: to XLS, CSV, TXT, HTML.
Popup Menus: Desktop, My Computer.
Screen magnifier: Anything on the screen can be enlarged.
Color Filter: Different colors for different item types (e.g. *.log;*.txt).
Highlight-Filter: Effective way for fast items highlighting.
File-Filter: Allows for quick and easy filtering of the items.
Columns: All columns support, and save function .
Quick-Link’s: For fast folder access.
Folder-Select: Fast & flexible folder selection address-bar/ desktop menu/ my-computer menu/…
Multi-INI: Several INI files for Q-Dir.
Tree-View: Simple and quadruple.
Preview: Allows a quick preview.
Portable: Q-Dir is portable since v2.77

Actually Q-Dir is very similar to Windows Explorer but it adds a few enhancement to give us better file and folder management. The most significant advantage over Windows Explorer is the Quadro-View which splits into 4 window. The shortcut keys in Q-Dir such as CTRL+C for copying, CTRL+X for cutting and CTRL+V for pasting are the same as in Windows Explorer. This is good so it won’t be confusing and you don’t need to memorize new shortcut keys. The color filter is also very useful because with one look we get to know what type of file is that.

To run Q-Dir as portable without installation, unzip Q-Dir_Installer.zip and you’ll get Q-Dir_Installer.exe. Simply rename Q-Dir_Installer.exe to Q-Dir.exe and it will automatically run as portable.

From Q-Dir’s changelog, we can see that this freeware is being updated at least twice per month. Since Q-Dir is being updated so frequently, I’d like to see a built-in update checker to notify me whenever there is an update or even better, auto download and replace the old one with the updated version of Q-Dir. Okay, Q-Dir might not be the best File Manager that has tons of features but I like it simply because it is similar to Windows Explorer. Last but not least, Q-Dir is FREE.

[ Download Q-Dir ]

Another word for LiveCD is LiveDistro. LiveDistro is a generic term for an operating system distribution that is executed upon boot, without installation on a hard drive. Typically, it is stored on bootable media such as a CD-ROM (Live CD), DVD (Live DVD), USB flash drive (Live USB), among others.

The term “live” derives from the fact that these distributions are a complete, runnable, i.e. “live” instance of the operating system residing on the distribution media, rather than the typical case of a collection of packages that must first be installed on the target machine prior to using the OS. A LiveDistro does not alter the current operating system or files unless the user specifically requests it. The system returns to its previous state when the LiveDistro is ejected and the computer is rebooted. It does this by placing the files that typically would be stored on a hard drive into temporary memory, such as a ram disk. In fact, a hard drive is not needed at all. LiveDistros are a good way to demo or preview an operating system without having to install it to a hard drive.

Do you know that there are currently 315 types of LiveCD/DVDs?


My favorite LiveCD I always carry around with me is BackTrack. To me, it’s the best and most complete security testing live distro. Last month, BackTrack has been updated to version 2. Simply download the ISO image, and burn it on a CD. Place the CD into your drive and boot from it.

There are few category of LiveCD/DVDs to cater for different purposes. The most widely used LiveCD is desktops. I know a friend who can still use Windows even though his computer doesn’t have a hard drive. He can’t do much, but he can still surf the internet, type letters, listen to music and etc…

1. Desktops: provides a working GUI desktop environment with a collection of desktop programs, such as browsers and text editors. Many also include utilities for other purposes, such as home entertainment, but are only listed here because the additional functions are not their primary focus.

2. OS Replacement: provides an option to transfer the cd to the hard drive, or to install an OS in a different form

3. Education: provides a collection of educational programs, or was created to be used in the educational field

4. Rescue: provides tools needed for data recovery

5. Clustering: provides tools for making clusters

6. Security: contains network security tools

7. Home Entertainment: geared towards playing video and audio

8. Gaming: video games!

9. Medical: contains medical programs

10. Diagnostics: contains utilities for testing hardware

11. Firewalls: distributions created to be used as firewalls

12. Forensics: distributions containing forensic tools

13. Servers: distributions used for various server functions

If you’re a computer technician, a rescue livecd is very helpful to you. If your customer’s Windows is unbootable, you can use a rescue livecd to boot up Windows, then copy all the important files to another computer on a network or you can also plug in your USB flash drive and back it up there.

For security administrators, security livecd is useful to you. You’re able to determine weakness in the network or system with hundreds of security tools in the livecd.

Generally, if you want to learn how to use linux or get a feel of it, a desktop livecd or replacement OS is most suitable since you don’t need to repartition your hard drive and risk loosing all your data. Visit The LiveCD List link below to find out all 315 LiveCD/LiveDVD.

[ Visit The LiveCD List ]

Microsoft has never released a service pack for Windows98 SE. But Exuberant Software made a Service Pack for Windows98 SE users. It contains all Windows98 SE updates from Windows Update site and more.

It is a self-extracting and self-installing pack like Microsoft’s update files. Thus, you cannot choice individual files. However, the pack installs only required fixes for your system. Uninstallation is possible from Add-Remove Programs. However, I don’t recommend uninstallation of the pack, if you don’t face any problem.

This is *only* for WINDOWS 98 SECOND EDITION ENGLISH. I highly recommend that you should backup your system before installing the pack. You must have at least 32 MB of RAM.

It contains only operating system updates. It does NOT contain Internet Explorer 6, DirectX 9, Media Player 9 and their updates.


Features of UNOFFICIAL Windows98 Second Edition Service Pack 2.1a:
• 120+ updates and hotfixes
• Solves 512 MB of RAM problem.
• 256-color tray icons.
• Better Notepad: MetaPad 3.5 (Optional).
• Optimized swap file usage (Optional).
• Better WDM and USB support.
• Adaptec ASPI 4.60.1021 drivers (Optional).
• Windows Scripting Host 5.6.
• DCOM98 1.3.
• OLE Automation Libraries 2.40.4522.
• Dial-Up Networking 1.4.
• Microsoft Installer 2.0.
• MDGx’s HTML Help Update.
• TweakUI (Optional).
• Command Prompt Here (Optional).
• New Animated Boot and Shutdown Logo (Optional).
• Microsoft Layer for Unicode.
• Visual Basic 5.0 SP2 runtime library.
• Visual Basic 6.0 SP6 runtime library.
• Visual C++ 6.0 SP6 runtime libraries.
• Updates JET 3.5 files to JET 3.5 SP3.
• Supports 98lite 4.7.
• Windows 2000/ME desktop icons.
• Windows 2000 color scheme (Optional). (view sample screenshot)
• Supports custom “Program Files” directory.
• Shows attributes column in details view on the Windows Explorer.
• Semi-slipstreaming support.
• Some tweaks (Optional).

Known Problems:
• If you have Crystal Sound Card (CS423x), and have a problem with the sound, you have to upgrade your drivers.
• Uninstallation needs Windows 98 SE CD-ROM. It also doesn’t remove all installed files. It only reverts back half of the installed files with original 98 SE files. So, I don’t recommend uninstallation of the pack, unless you are having a serious problem.

[ Download UNOFFICIAL Windows98 Second Edition Service Pack 2.1a ]