There are so many firewall software that claims to protect your computer against hackers and malicious programs and I am sure you have wondered which is the best firewall. Look no further because it is definitely Online Armor. No it’s not something that I just say for fun but it has been proven with a series of 84 tests. If you take a look at the latest Matousec Proactive Security Challenge test results, Online Armor took the first place by scoring 99%, reaching level 10+ and excellent protection level when compared with 40 other security suite software that has firewall function.

There is a free version for Online Armor and this version managed to get number 6 out of 41 which I’d say it’s pretty impressive for a free product. Of course having the best product will cost you money and Online Armor Premium v3.5 cost $39.95. However you can now get it for FREE, thanks to Gizmo! This offer will end on 11.59 PM Wednesday August 12, 2009. (All times are US Pacific Standard Time). So get your free Online Armor Premium v3 license key fast by following the few simple steps below!


1. Go to http://www.tallemu.com/cart/

2. Click the “ADD TO CART” button for Online Armor.

3. Then click the “Checkout” button on the top right of the screen.

4. Indicate whether you are an existing or new customer. If new then complete the registration details and click the “Register” button.

5. At the Checkout screen, enter the promo code GIZMO and click the “Apply Promo Code” button.

6. You should now see that the total has changed to $0.00. Click the Pay button.

7. Now check your email address and you should receive an email from Online Armor Sales (support@tallemu.com) with the subject [Online Armor Store] – Order processed?. Note down your License Key.

8. Download the latest version of Online Armor and install. During installation, you’ll be prompted to register Online Armor by entering license key.

Currently Online Armor runs on Windows XP and Vista, 32 bit only. This free Online Armor Premium v3.5 license is valid for 1 year. Most of the firewall software such as Outpost, ZoneAlarm, Online Armor, Lavasoft, Sunbelt are subscription based meaning you have to renew every year like what you normally do for antivirus software. There are only very few firewall software such as Jetico and Malware Defender that will provide you with lifetime updates when you purchase a license.

Maybe, I’d say that “maybe” Online Armor scored so well in Matousec test is because it is made to block all leak tests created by Matousec. I said that because I tried cutting off using netCut on my test computer running Online Armor Premium but the firewall didn’t detect anything at all. Obviously the Internet and LAN was inaccessible until I turn off netCut. I tried searching in Options and couldn’t find anything that could block or protect a computer from ARP poisoning. I am sure Tall Emu, the company that made Online Armor knows about netCut as I found a discussion dated year 2007 in WildersSecurity but don’t know why they did not make their program to protect against such attacks.

I’m never a big fan of BETA software because it is still under testing and can cause our computer to be unstable. However, when it comes to web browser such as Firefox or Internet Explorer, I can’t wait to test the second BETA release. The reason why I only test second beta release and higher is because most likely the developers would have already fixed a lot of bugs that is found in the first BETA. So in the second beta, we can use the new features and it is also likely less buggy.

I just got to know that Internet Explorer 8 BETA 2 was released two days ago and I immediately went to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 website to download and install it on my computer. Testing IE8 on my computer for only 10 minutes and I can only say that IE8 is by far the best improvement that Internet Explorer has ever made.


Internet Explorer 8 is being developed around three themes: everyday browsing (the things that real people do all the time), safety (the term most people use for what we’ve called ‘trustworthy’ in previous posts), and the platform (the focus of Beta 1, how developers around the world will build the next billion web pages and the next waves of great services).

The first thing that I noticed about Internet Explorer 8 is it launches faster than Internet Explorer 7. One nice feature that Safari web browser already has is the IE8 InPrivate feature.

InPrivate Browsing prevents Internet Explorer from storing data about your browsing session. This includes cookies, temporary Internet files, history, and other data. The next time when I do online banking in Internet Explorer, I don’t need to manually delete the cache anymore… Firefox can support private browsing through Stealther add-on but unfortunately Opera doesn’t have this feature at all.

I also like the fact that it is no longer a hassle to reopen closed tabs. It can be done in IE7 but again it requires third party addons. After opening and closing a few web page through tabs, simply open a new empty tab will show you the tabs that you’ve closed since starting Internet Explorer 8. I guess this feature is a must since a lot of other browsers such as Firefox already has this.

The URL bar where you enter the website link is also improved and is now called Smart Address Bar. Typing in the Smart Address Bar not only searches across Favorites, History, and RSS feeds, but provides a great experience. You can easily delete any unwanted suggestions from the list by clicking the red “x” when you place your mouse cursor over an item.

If you frequently visit a website that is designed for older browsers, you can use the new IE8 built-in Compatibility View. Simply press the Compatibility View button if you see display problems on a website like misaligned text, images, or text boxes. It’s located next to the Refresh button on the Address Bar. Actually I very seldom encounter problem displaying a webpage correctly on Internet Explorer as most websites are designed to be compatible with IE.

Then there are other top features like Web Slices which keep up with changes to the sites you care about most, Accelerators that let you complete your everyday browsing activities more quickly and even discover new services and SmartScreen Filter which is a new security feature that helps to protect you against deceptive and malicious websites which can compromise your data, privacy, and identity.

One problem I noticed about Internet Explorer 8 is it takes up a lot of memory. If I open 4 tabs, it actually launches 4 iexplore.exe processes and took up a total of 141MB! Unlike Internet Explorer 7, opening 4 tabs only launches 1 iexplorer.exe process and takes up only 64MB. Let’s hope the developer of IE8 realizes this and will improve on the memory usage. Oh and finally you can install IE8 on pirated Windows because the installer doesn’t validate if your Windows is genuine or not. I believe this is to encourage more users to use Internet Explorer.

[ Download Internet Explorer 8 ]

More than a week ago Microsoft has released a new WGA 1.8.31.0 that causes Windows XP Professional wallpaper and background to auto reset to black screen every 60 minutes. There wasn’t any cracks at that time so the only way is to use RemoveWGA to remove the notifications. However, once you’ve removed Windows Genuine Advantage Validation, you won’t be able to download any updates from Windows Updates and Microsoft Download Center.

Someone by the name “hey” commented that team ETH0 which was famous with its WGA and OGA fixes has left the cracking scene for some security reasons. Good news is after a week since the latest WGA 1.8.31.0 is out, the latest WGA has been cracked but not by the famous eth0 group. It is unknown who or which group cracked and released this latest WGA 1.8.31.0 as the info file only mentioned that this is a tribute to ETH0, creator of base version crack. I’ve tested the latest Windows Genuine Advantage Validation v1.8.31.0 cracked files and it works!


All you need to do is to run the installer.bat file and it will create a backup of the original LegitCheckControl.dll, WgaLogon.dll and WgaTray.exe by adding a .bak extension at the end. It will then copy the cracked LegitCheckControl.dll, WgaLogon.dll and WgaTray.exe file to System32 folder in Windows. Reboot the computer and persistent desktop notification at the bottom right hand of the screen that says “You may be a victim of software counterfeiting. This copy of Windows did not pass genuine Windows validation.” will be removed. The rest of the Windows genuine notifications will be removed as well. It is also possible to visit Windows Update to download and install latest Windows updates and fixes.

Note: When you run installer.bat file, a command prompt window will appear and you will see “ETH0 Windows Genuine Advantage v1.7.69.2 Crack Installer. Press any key to continue..“.

You don’t need to worry about that because the echo command that controls what gets shown on the screen is not updated. I wished I could post about this earlier but couldn’t do so because I was away for a week and have very limited Internet access. So here you are, hope it’s not too late…

[ Download Windows Genuine Advantage v1.8.31.0 Crack ]

I’ve got a friend asking me how to restore the “Show Desktop” icon back to quick launch on taskbar if accidentally deleted?

I really have no idea how to do it at first other than copying the “Show Desktop” icon from another computer. It works! But what if you do not have another computer with you that time? Here’s how you can MANUALLY create the “Show Desktop” icon.


Open Notepad and enter the following text:

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

Save the new file as Show Desktop.scf then drag and drop the icon on the Quick Launch bar or whatever location you want the shortcut to appear.

Easy isn’t it?

Using e-mail client to check for new emails is so much easier and convenient without the need of opening your browser, logging in to website, typing in your username and password, and waiting for the whole interface to be loaded.
With e-mail client, you can skip all the process above and still able to read and send email just by opening your configured e-mail client.

Yahoo! Mail disabled free access to its POP3 service o­n 24th April, 2002. So it’s no longer possible using any e-mail client such as Outlook Express or Microsoft Outlook to check your Yahoo! e-mails.
Is there anyway to continue using any e-mail client such as Outlook Express to read and send Yahoo! email eventhough this free service has been disabled by Yahoo!?

Fortunately, YES! Continue reading to find out how…


The YPOPs! team consisting of 6 person has created a free software that acts as a middleman between your e-mail client and the Yahoo! POP3 service. Well, this application is more like a gateway. It provides a POP3 server interface at o­ne end to talk to email clients and an HTTP client (browser) interface at the other which allows it to talk to Yahoo! In short, YPOPs! is an application that provides POP3 access to Yahoo! Mail. It is available o­n the Windows, Linux, Solaris and Mac platforms.

Yahoo Mail Beta is not supported by YPOPs! You must switch back to the normal old Yahoo Mail interface to use YPOPs! otherwise you’ll get an error message window like the one below.

If you’ve made up your mind to use e-mail client to check your Yahoo! e-mails, it doesn’t make a different if you’re using the Yahoo old or the new beta.

To switch from the new Yahoo Mail Beta to the the old interface, just follow the instructions below.
1. Sign in to your Yahoo! email at http://mail.yahoo.com/

2. At the top of your Yahoo! email, you’ll see a note saying “Welcome, yourname”. You’ll see a “Switch Back” link just beside it.

3. After clicking on the Switch Back link, you’ll be prompted to confirm switching back to your old original Yahoo! Mail. Click “Switch Back” button again.

An important note that you should know is you can’t revert back to the new Yahoo Mail Beta once you’ve done a switch before.
So make sure you’ve really made up your mind to use YPOPs! with email client to send and receive Yahoo Mail in future.

After downloading and installing YPOPs!, by default you don’t need to configure anything. The default configurations looks fine. All you need to configure is your email client’s POP3 and SMTP address which is 127.0.0.1
For complete tutorial on email client configuration, please refer from this link.

[ YPOPs! Website | Download YPOPs! ]

If the ASecurityAssurance.com website automatically loads when you launch Internet Explorer, then I’d like to inform you that you’ve been infected by a trojan called Zlob.

You might even get popup from your tray bar warning you that you’ve been infected by Win32@mx trojan.

asecurityassurance.com is a dangerous hijacker which is comes from Trojan.Zlob spyware. These kind of hijackers displays a fake warning message such as, W32.Myzor.fk@yf warning message to purchase the paid version of rogue security applications (for example; VirusProtectPro, MalwareBurn, VirusRanger and so on.,). Once the Trojan.Zlob installed, it drops many spyware applications to hijacked your homepage. Not only this, It also displays fake flashing warning alerts on your system tray.

If your computer is infected by Trojan.Zlob and hijacked by the asecurityassurance.com then your computer is in trouble because it does transfer back and forth information from the infected computer which makes it a potential for application/data theft.

Fortunately, there are free automatic removal tool to clean Zlob trojan without any effort.


1. Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool

– This tool is being offered by Microsoft. It is very efficient in removing specific malwares. I was once infected by Optix trojan and it was able to remove it. Here is a list of malwares that it can remove. Make sure you select Full Scan when it ask you to choose a type of scan.
[ Download Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool v1.34 ]

2. Spybot – Search & Destroy

– The latest Spybot definition has an update for cleaning Zlob. It can detect latest Zlob trojan variant.
[ Download Spybot – Search & Destroy 1.5 ]

3. Roguefix

– Roguefix detection and removal script to clean computers with the Windows XP operating system that are infected with fake security warnings from a family of rogue scanners, Desktop/Homepage hijackers, their installing/accompanying trojans and ‘partner’ programs. Very easy to use. Download the batch file, run it and follow the instructions.
[ Download Roguefix ]

4. G Data Removal Tool

G-Data removal tool also able to clean a list of specific virus.
[ Download G Data Removal Tool ]

If you’re unable to access the Internet after cleaning Zlob trojans, you might need to use LSP-Fix to repair Winsock 2 stacks.

Click HERE to download LSP-Fix.

Yesterday I wrote an article about an email notifier called POP Peeper which you can use it to send and receive webmails and POP3. It works pretty much like an email client but it lacks of some important features that is usually included in email client, that’s why it’s called an email notifier.

Some of you might still prefer to receive emails using Outlook which is more powerful. If that is the case, here is a solution on how you can receive webmails such as Windows Live Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail and POP3 using your favorite email client such as Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express.


With FreePOPs, it is possible to get all your email messages in your favorite email client. It is able to support more than 100 domains. Check out the supported domains list here. There is one limitation on FreePops, that is FreePOPs helps doesn’t help you in sending messages. You can use your ISP SMTP or GMail SMTP to send out email.

There is nothing to configure in FreePOPs. Just download, install, update modules and configure your email client such as Outlook Express or Microsoft Outlook.

After installing FreePOPs, it is important that you update the modules first. Run FreePOPs-updater from the programs menu. If one day you are unable to download your email using outlook, you can also run FreePOPs-updater to check if there’s any update on the modules.

An example on how to add Yahoo Mail to Outlook Express:
1. Go to Tools menu, choose the Accounts
2. Click Add -> Mail
3. Enter your Display Name and click Next
4. Enter your full Yahoo email address, for example raymond@yahoo.com and click Next
5. Make sure POP3 is selected. Enter incoming mail (POP3) as localhost. As for Outgoing mail (SMTP), enter your ISP SMTP. (Usually you can get this info from your ISP website)
6. Enter your full email address in Account name, for example raymond@yahoo.com and your password.
7. Click Finish.
8. Select the newly created email account and click Properties button.
9. Go to Advanced tab, change the Incoming mail (POP3) port 110 to 2000 and also make sure that “This server requires a secure connection (SSL)” is uncheck.

10. Click OK and you’re done.
11. On Outlook Express, click the Send/Recv button and it’ll download your emails.

If you get error messages that says “The connection to the server has failed“, make sure your firewall allows port 2000 and also FreePOPs is running.

Actually GMail supports POP3 and SMTP. You can configure your email client with the information provided here. If you need to send out mail from Yahoo, YPOPs supports sending and receiving Yahoo! email.

I remembered I once found a software that is able to Send and Receive Hotmail using email client but somehow I couldn’t find it anymore. Tried HotPOP3 and Hotmail Popper, but it doesn’t work because it is outdated. If you know any, do leave a comment.

What I like about FreePOPs is, the wide amount of webmail domains supported.

[ Download FreePOPs ]

I very frequently need to change my IP address, Subnet Mask, Gateway and DNS whenever I am from home to work or vice versa. That’s because I use static IP at home for some software port forwarding purposes and DHCP auto IP address assignment when at work.

To make my life easier, I found a free software that can easily help me to switch between network settings. Yeah, it’s quite normal but let me assure you that this software has a little more advantage compared to other network settings switching program.


Net Profiles is able to help mobile computing becomes a whole lot easier. It eliminates the need to manually reconfigure your network settings when you move your desktop/laptop computer to another location. Once a profile is created, Net Profiles can configure your IP settings, proxy settings, mapped drives, default printer, wallpaper, and screen resolution with a click of a button; as well as run any number of user-defined applications upon activation of a profile.

Net Profiles Features:
* Save your network settings as profiles.
* Automatically activate wireless profiles when specified wireless connections are detected.
* Change IP Address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway, Primary and Secondary DNS Servers, WINS Server, and DHCP settings with the click of a button.
* Specify different mapped drives for each profile.
* Change your default printer based on which profile you’re currently using.
* Automatically change you profile via program shortcuts created with Net Profiles.
* Change the default homepage for Internet Explorer and Firefox.
* Proxy settings for Internet Explorer and Firefox.
* Run a user-defined list of programs when a profile is activated.
* Maintain separate desktop wallpaper for each profile.
* Change screen resolutions and color quality when profiles are activated.

Why I said Net Profiles is better than other network settings switching program is because it is totally free. You can use it for both commercial and non-commercial purposes! Other than that, you can proxy settings for your browser, map drives, set wallpaper and screen resolution, and even auto activate Wireless SSID for different profiles! The main window gives you the familiar look of Windows XP network connections. Definitely the BEST free network settings switching software!

Note: Microsoft .NET 2.0 is needed. If you don’t have it, Net Profiles installer will allow you to install Microsoft .NET 2.0.

[ Download Net Profiles v2.0.1 ]

Frankly I need to admit that I have quite a lot of email addresses. I have Gmail, Yahoo!, MSN, Hotmail, Pop3…. email accounts.
It’s not because I use them all to communicate with my friends and colleagues, but it’s because if I am able to get the login name that I want on a popular free email service, I’ll sign it up before someone else gets them.

Some free email providers such as Hotmail requires you to at least login to your mailbox once every 30 days or else your account will be deactivated.
On deactivation, all personal items including e-mail messages and address books are deleted and incoming messages are no longer accepted. After deactivation a user has 90 days to reactivate the account before the e-mail address is removed from the system.

It’s quite troublesome to login to each webmail when you have like 10 email accounts.
Why not automate the task?


Introducing ePrompter…

ePrompter automatically and simultaneously checks and retrieves your email messages from up to sixteen password protected email accounts AND lets you read, delete and respond to any of your messages with a simple click on the account of your choice – without ever having to launch your email program or go to your webmail’s site. Importantly, when ePrompter retrieves messages, it leaves the original messages on your various email accounts’ servers and/or webmail sites.

ePrompter works with AOL, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, POP3, Earthlink, Excite, iName, Juno, Lycos, Mail.com, Mindspring, MSN, MyWay, Netscape, OneBox, Rediffmail, SBC Yahoo, Switchboard, USA.net and hundreds of other email domains.

ePrompter notification features include a unique rotating tray icon, the main ePrompter screen, audio alerts for new messages, and a choice of five unique screensavers that let you know at a glance the number of new messages in each account.

Finally, ePrompter employs auto-upgrades which means it will be automatically updated to the most recent version of ePrompter once you click on “Update” button.

ePrompter website | Download

Oh My!! I accidentally deleted a very important e-mail in my Microsoft Outlook 2003!
Thanks to the Shift+Del that I am so used to whenever I need to deleted something.
Shift+Del automatically deletes files/emails without going in to Recycle Bin or Deleted Items folder. So be careful not to be too used to use this command or else you’ll end up accidentally deleting important files 🙁
PST has its own FAT, so to speak, and when an e-mail is deleted, it is simply marked to be replaced.

Luckily I found a few ways to recover my deleted emails in Microsoft Outlook 2003.


1. Software – GetData Recover My Email For Microsoft Outlook
This software able to recover individual deleted messages or deleted attachment from your Microsoft Outlook mailbox. It can even access your PST file even if it’s corrupted.
See how easy it is to use from the picture below.

FYI, there is also another software that is able to do the same for Outlook Express from this author.

2. A rather unorthodox solution – Corrupt and then recover the PST file
Make a backup first!
As the following steps involve corrupting Outlook’s PST file, I strongly recommend you make a backup before attempting the process outlined in this article. I realize PST files can be rather large, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

1. To corrupt the PST file, please use any hex editor of your choice. If you don’t have one, try searching for one on CNET’s Download.com.
2. Delete positions 7 through 13 with the spacebar. Since you’re using hexadecimal numbering, this actually clears 13 characters in the following positions: