Raymond.CC Blog

Category: Computer

How to Set Blank Page in New Tab for Major Web Browsers • Raymond.CC

The latest Firefox 13 has just been pushed out and the first thing I noticed is opening a new tab displays the top 9 webpages that I frequently visit. This not-so-new feature has long been introduced on most of other popular web browsers such as Chrome, Opera, Safari and even Internet Explorer, making Firefox the last to implement this feature. Some people may like this feature because it is convenient for them to open the web page that they normally visit but to me, I personally do not like it due to privacy reasons.

Although my laptop is only used by me and not shared by anyone else, there was a rare case when my wife’s friend urgently needed to use my computer because she needed to visit an airline website to check on the flight schedule. I wasn’t at home that time and before I can even tell her to use the portable version of Firefox where web cache and browser history are disabled, she already launched Google Chrome from the Start Menu. I trust that she wouldn’t go through the history on Chrome but displaying it out when opening a new tab might just tempt her to check on the sites that I frequently visit even though I have nothing to hide. The best is to just disable listing of top or frequent visited websites on new tab and here is how you can set the blank page in new tab for Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera and Internet Explorer.

Firefox
Starting from Firefox 13, opening a new tab will load the about:newtab URL which shows the 9 most visited sites. You can easily change the new tab URL to a blank page by following the steps below:
1. Type about:config at the address bar and click the I’ll be careful, I promise! button.
2. Search for newtab at the search bar.
3. By default the browser.newtab.url is set to about:newtab. Right click on it, select modify and change the value to about:blank. Now whenever you open a new tab in Firefox, the about:blank page will be shown instead of about:newtab.

Optionally, you can also hide the new tab page by clicking on the button located at the top right of the newtab page. This has the same effect as toggling the browser.newtabpage.enabled value from true to false.

Opera
Opera by default shows the Speed Dial when open a new tab. To replace the Speed Dial with a blank page when opening a new tab in Opera:
1. Type about:config at the address bar
2. Search for “speed dial state” at the quick find bar.
3. By default the value for speed dial state is 1. All you need to do is change it to 3 and click the Save button at the bottom to disable the Opera speed dial when opening a new tab.

Optionally, you can directly access the Speed Dial State setting by visiting the URL below:

opera:config#UserPrefs|SpeedDialState

Chrome
There are two pages that you switch around in new tab for Chrome where it displays the most visited sites or 4 google services (Chrome Web Store, Gmail, YouTube, Google Search) plus the bookmarks bar at the top. Unfortunately there is no built-in method to disable Google Chrome from showing most visited webpages and also bookmarks bar at the top. You will need to install a free Chrome extension called Blank New Tab where it disables about:newtab and display the about:blank page in new tab. The changes takes effect immediately without any extra configuration after installing the Blank New Tab extension for Chrome.

Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer by default displays your most popular sites in new tabs by opening the about:Tabs page. To display a blank page in new tab for Internet Explorer:
1. Go to Tools and select Internet Options
2. Click the Settings button for Tab
3. Select “A blank page” from the drop down menu for “When a new tab is opened, open:”
4. Click the OK button to save the changes.

Safari
Safari by default opens a page displaying the Top Sites in new tabs. To display a blank page for new tabs in Safari:
1. Click the Settings icon at the top right and select Preferences.
2. At the General tab, click the drop down menu for “New tabs open with” and select Empty Page.

Hope this guide has helped you improve your privacy on your web browsers.

Related posts:
Get Rid of Unwanted Toolbars in Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer with Toolbar Cleaner
Fix Internet Explorer New Window and Tab Always Blank and Not Loading Problem
Opera Turbo Loads Webpages Faster on Slow Internet Connections
Auto Type Captcha in Firefox, Chrome and Safari with Rumola
Google Chrome and Opera Shows Hidden and Protected Operating System Files or Folders

June 8, 2012

Get Notified When Unauthorized User Checks Your Webmails • Raymond.CC

Recently, one of my old friend needed to “borrow” my email account to send an email because he claims that he only has company email which he checks with Microsoft Outlook from his laptop. I wonder who doesn’t have a webmail account nowadays? Even my 62 years old mother has a GMail! Since we’re old friends, I didn’t want to hurt our friendship, I stupidly gave him my email login information for him to send the email. Immediately after he finished send the email, I immediately changed my password. After this incident, I thought to myself, I should have asked him to spend 5 minutes to sign up for a new account instead of me giving my password to him. Yeah, it was a bad move…

Even after changing my password, I still felt unsafe, thinking that he might have some way to check my email. The best way to know if someone has accessed your email is “IF” there is a last login information displayed. Unfortunately, Hotmail/Gmail/Yahoo doesn’t have this feature.

Many years ago, you cannot set an email “unread” if you’ve already read it. The only way is to delete it after reading to avoid being detected. Now, all webmails has this feature and the email snooper can read all your emails and then set it back to unread. The best way I can think of is to set a trap in my inbox so I can get notified when there’s an unauthorized login.

This concept is not something new but it works. The plan is to send yourself an email containing a HTML file which claims to be a password file. When the unauthorized user logged in to your email, he/she would definitely want to open the password file. Once the email snooper opens the HTML, you will be notified.

The original way suggested by Erik Larkin from PC World magazine is to use OneStatFree to track the hit when the hacker opens the HTML file. Problem with this method is you need to login to OneStatFree to know if someone has logged in to your email and open the attached HTML file. I’d like to improve this by automatically send a notification to your other email address when someone opens the HTML file.

Here’s how to do it.

1. Sign up for a free OneStatFree account. Accept Terms and Conditions. It’s not necessary to enter your real information in the registration form.

2. After signup, you’ll receive an email from signupfree@onestat.com which contains a text attachment OneStatScript.txt. Save it to your computer.

3. Now go to LinkBlip, a website that provides email notification when someone opens a link that you created from LinkBlip. Enter your OTHER email address, anything on the URL (you can use google.com) and hit the “Ok, Send me an email when someone visits the above URL” button. Now you’ll get a link something like this (http://lburl.com/xxxxx) from LinkBlip.
Notify when someone access your email

4. Open OneStatScript.txt and add this code at the first line above the OneStat code. Replace the xxxxx with the one that you got from LinkBlip in step 3.
<head><meta http-equiv=”refresh” content=”0;url=http://lburl.com/xxxxx”></head>

5. Save the .txt file with a name that will catch an email snooper’s eye, like “BankPasswords”, or PasswordList and make it an .html file so it opens automatically in a web browser.

6. Send the file as an e-mail attachment to the Web mail account that you want to monitor. Use a similarly baited subject line, like “Account log-ins” for the message. Just be sure not to open the file when you send it — you don’t want to set off your own alarm.

When an unauthorized user opens the HTML file, you’ll get an email notification that looks like this. LinkBlip is able to tell you when the link was clicked and from which location.
Notification when someone opens your email

You can then log in to your OneStat account to double confirm whether someone DID open the HTML trap file. OneStat gives you better information such as IP Address, Country, Referrer, Date & Time, and Organisation.
OneStat Email Trap

Here’s a VERY important information. I tested LinkBlip and it seems that it can only send the email once. I tried to visit the same link again for a few times but it won’t send a new email. I then created a new LinkBlip link, and it was able to send the email but also only once. Maybe Linkblip link on works once. To be on a safe side, make sure you’re using a NEW linkblip link that hasn’t been visited/used before.

Thanks to Eric Larkin from PC World for his original idea! Now we can know whether our email has been compromised or not.

[ Visit LinkBlip | OneStat ]

Disable Windows Vista User Account Control (UAC)

Message or Text That Automatic Deletes After Viewing

June 6, 2012

Unable to Activate Windows 7 Error Code 0xC004C008 • Raymond.CC

I have a desktop computer which comes with Windows Vista preinstalled but I’ve wiped the drive and installed Windows 7 activating it with a Technet license. A technet license is a genuine product key where I can activate Windows 7 legally but the license agreement states that it is only for testing purposes but cannot be used for playing games, email and etc. I also use Rollback RX, a software that is very similar to Comodo Time Machine to revert the PC back to the time when I created a snapshot. So every time after testing a software extensively, I would rollback to get a clean state of Windows 7 again. It is much better than Ghost because it takes less than a minute to restore with Rollback RX compared to Ghost which takes 4 minutes.

One weird problem I always encounter is after rolling back the system, Windows 7 will be deactivated and I will have to activate it again via online.
3 days until automatic activation. activate windows now
As far as I know, a single technet Windows 7 product key can be used to activate up to 10 different machines and there are no limits in activation for that 10 computers. Since yesterday I was having problems getting Windows 7 activated after rolling back the system.

Every time I click the “Activate Windows online now” button and waited for a few seconds, I get a window saying “Type a different product key for activation. The product key you typed cannot be used to activate Windows on this computer”. I then get 4 options to buy a new product key online, retype your product key, use the automated phone system to activate or contact Microsoft to help resolve this problem.

Activate Windows 7 Problem

Clicking on the Show me details for the error that requires this change link tells me that the following information was found for this error: Code: 0xC004C008 and description The activation server determined that the specified product key could not be used.
0xC004C008 product key could not be used

Since I have a technet account and I can generate up to 10 product keys, I generated a new Windows 7 product key and tried activating again but still failed. Finally I talked to Paul about this issue and he said he and some of his friends are having similar problems too and this happens once in a while when the Microsoft activation server are acting up. That explains why we have 3 days until the automatic activation starts again which by then Microsoft would have fixed their activation server.

Anyway I tried the 3rd option which is to use the automated phone system to activate Windows 7 and it worked! I called up a toll free number, keyed in the installation ID via the phone’s keypad and received an auto generated confirmation ID. Have you ever experienced such problem in your Windows 7?

Windows Live Messenger Unable To Sign In With 8100030d Error Code

FREE Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 Activation Code Valid for 6 Months

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June 6, 2012

Easily Configure Firefox about:config Options Safely via GUI • Raymond.CC

Most of the advanced computer user that uses Mozilla Firefox should know about the hidden about:config link. By typing about:config in the url area, a warning window will appear telling you that this might void your warranty and changing these advanced settings can be harmful to the stability, security and performance of this application. After clicking the I’ll be careful, I promise button, a page with probably hundreds of hidden settings will appear.
configure Firefox about:config
The settings found in about:config is not something you can simply enable or disable because if you do it wrongly, chances are websites will load slower than usual, takes more memory usage, or even crashing your computer. Of course there are some settings which is deemed as safe for you to configure but unfortunately it’s not easy to tell which one is safe or not since there are hundreds of settings in there. For our convenience, Thomas Leberbauer has written a useful Firefox addon that allows us to safely configure the hidden options in about:config.

gui:config is an extension for the browser Mozilla Firefox and provides many additional useful options. It makes it easier to change preferences that can only be found in the about:config. The extension supports a comfortable way to apply changes to these options. It displays the options, included in the current version, using checkboxes, dropdownlists and textboxes.

Firefox Advanced Settings

After installing gui:config addon, just click the Tools from menu bar and select Advanced Settings to access the graphical user interface of about:config.

gui:config does not have every single options found in about:config. It only provides options that are safe for basic computer users to play around. It even has description of every option that is listed in gui:config so you could understand the options that you see there. If you’re experiencing problems after blindly configuring about:config via gui:config addon, you can revert the changes back to default by clicking the Reset All button. You can even reset one specific option to its default value just right-click on it and choose “Set to default value”. The change takes effect immediately without restarting Firefox.

[ Install gui:config addon for Firefox ]

Enable Firefox Incompatible Add-Ons and This add-on is for older versions of Firefox

Firefox Updated Tab Auto Opens Whenever You Start Firefox

Disable Annoying Firefox 3 Automatic Scanning for Viruses When Finish Downloading

Easily Configure Synergy with Xhirl Synergy Wizard

June 4, 2012

Sniff and Reassemble Files Uploaded or Download from FTP Network using NetworkMiner • Raymond.CC

If you do a little research on FTP security, you will find many articles saying that it is totally insecure because when you log in to your server via FTP to upload some files, it is actually sending the username and password in clear text, NOT encrypted. If you are getting your Internet connection from a direct modem or router, then you’re pretty much safe from this attack but if you get your Internet from a server in your local area network, it is possible for the server administrator to launch a packet sniffer to capture the login credentials when you connect to the FTP server.

I knew about this weakness long ago but today I just found out that not only your FTP login information can be captured but the files that you upload or download from FTP can also be capture and reconstructed! Let’s say you are uploading a sensitive WordPress configuration file wp-config.php. I can use a packet sniffer tool to sniff, capture and then automatically reconstruct the wp-config.php that you uploaded WITHOUT even logging in to your FTP server!

Here is a tool called NetworkMiner which is a Network Forensic Analysis Tool (NFAT) for Windows. NetworkMiner can be used as a passive network sniffer or packet capturing tool in order to detect operating systems, sessions, hostnames, open ports etc. without putting any traffic on the network. NetworkMiner can also parse PCAP files for off-line analysis and to regenerate or reassemble transmitted files and certificates from PCAP files.

You would be surprised to know how easy it is to do it with NetworkMiner. Just download, extract and run NetworkMiner. I then selected the network adapter that I’ll be sniffing and click on the Start button to start sniffing. I connect to my server’s FTP and upload a file called CD-konboot-v1.1-2in1.zip. Now take a look at NetworkMiner. It managed to reassemble 2 files and one of it is CD-konboot-v1.1-2in1.zip. I just need to right click on the file and select either open file or open folder to access the file. If you look at the credentials tab, NetworkMiner also managed to capture the FTP username and password.

Reassemble File after Packet Sniffing

FTP security is weak, that’s why there is SFTP. SFTP, or Secure FTP, is a program that uses SSH to transfer files. Unlike standard FTP, it encrypts both commands and data, preventing passwords and sensitive information from being transmitted in the clear over the network. Its functionally is similar to FTP, but because it uses a different protocol, you can’t use a standard FTP client to talk to an SFTP server, nor can you connect to an FTP server with a client that supports only SFTP.

There is another similar tool mainly used to capture and reassemble files uploaded or download from FTP called FTPXerox. It was written to demonstrate the fact that any “clear-text” file transfer protocol is susceptible to such attacks. It implements a full end-to-end TCP re-assembly engine that watches for FTP transfers. Once the engine detects an FTP file transfer, it grabs the file off the wire and stores it in a local file. It is quite intelligent in the sense, it can reconstruct exact file names and even grab binary files! FTPXerox is a very old tool released on year 2001 and it does NOT support PASV mode file transfers.

[ Download NetworkMiner ]

Right Click ZIP Files on Network Unspecified Potential Security Risk

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Review on WinPatrol – A Tool That Sniff Out Malicious Mysteryware

May 30, 2012

Windows Genuine Advantage Validation v1.5.722.0 Cracked • Raymond.CC

I visited Windows Update and there was no new Windows Genuine Advantage to install. However, I’ve got some comments saying that there’s a new version 1.5.722 is out. Microsoft usually rolls out the latest Windows Genuine Advantage to only certain regions and not all at the same time. So for those people who are affected and installed the latest WGA v1.5.722, you can find the cracked LegitCheckControl.DLL, WgaLogon.dll and WgaTray.exe at the end of this post.

I manage to find an All-In-One crack for WGA 1.5.722 created by Cheeta for W5A.US website.
Windows Genuine Advantage 1.5.722 Crack
To install the latest cracked Windows Genuine Advantage Validation v1.5.722.0, just click on the first line that says “LegitCheckControl .DLL Validation v1.5.722.0 Installer” and a setup will run.
WGA 1.5.722 crack LegitCheckControl.dll
Just click on the next button until it starts replacing your original LegitCheckControl.dll, WgaLogon.dll and WgaTray.exe with the cracked ones.

If you’re familiar with the ETH0 cracking method which only requires you to run the installer.bat file, I’ve modified their batch file to run with the latest cracked LegitCheckControl.dll v1.5.722. Credits goes out to ETH0 for this simple and great batch script.
ETH0 WGA 1.5.722 crack
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 v1.5.722.0 Crack by Cheeta ]
[ Download WGA v1.5.722.0 Crack ETH0 installation method ]

Windows Genuine Advantage Validation v1.5.554.0 and v1.5.708.0 Cracked

Latest Windows Genuine Advantage Validation v1.5.526.0 Cracked

Windows Genuine Advantage Validation v1.5.716.0 Cracked

Windows Genuine Advantage Validation v1.5.532.2 Cracked

May 30, 2012

Download from RapidShare Without Limit with Premium Link Generator • Raymond.CC

RapidGrab, the website that provides unlimited free RapidShare downloading service has been down for a very long time now. When you visit the site, you only get a short message that says they’ll be back in a few days but it has been months! People with dynamic IP address is OK because you can either use Cryptload or (E)lephant to automate downloading but for people with static IP address, the only way is to use proxy. Using proxy is very troublesome and problematic because it’s slow and most of the time it has been used to download files from RapidShare.

I’ve tried very hard to look for a RapidShare premium link generator that works like RapidGrab and I found quite a few sites but I don’t like them because you have to be their “premium” member in order to use the premium link generator. Premium member means you must donate or pay a small amount in order to use their services.

After months of looking for one, finally I found a FREE and working RapidShare premium link generator. Use it fast because I’m not sure how long it’s going to last.

Before using this free service to generate RapidShare premium links, you must understand the instructions first otherwise you’ll never complete downloading your file. After pasting your RapidShare link to the box and hit the Download button, wait for a few seconds and you can start downloading. Most important thing is NOT to leave the website because once you do that, the download will halt. The rapidshare premium link generator page must open while downloading. It also says that the website will refresh every 11 minutes and you can’t stop the page from refreshing, otherwise download will stop.

You are also limited to downloading 3 files in a 24 hours period. If you use the 3 downloads then come back tomorrow if you want to download more.The 3 files must be equal to 300mb. Resuming downloads is NOT supported.

Now you’ve understood the rules, let’s start generating rapidshare premium links. Simple paste your rapidshare link to the box and click Download. That’s all! No need to wait for countdown timer and entering CAPTCHA code.

Generate rapidshare premium links

I’ve tested, it works but the download is not that fast. The website is hosted on a 10mbps server and the owner of this website is planning to upgrade to 100mbps so we can get faster downloads. There are times I can’t access this website, maybe due to many people using its free service.

Note: This is a free service offered by some kind people to generate RapidShare premium links, please do not abuse it. If you like this service, you can either donate to the owner via paypal OR help them get rapidshare points by downloading this file.

[ Visit RapidShare Premium Link Generator ]

Use Download Manager with RapidShare Premium

All-In-One Rapidshare Premium Pack 2006 v1.0

BEWARE: Phishing for RapidShare Premium Accounts

RapidShare Free premium-accounts Checker

May 30, 2012

Blocking the Free Antiviruses Ads Without Paying For Them • Raymond.CC

For those of us who use an antivirus, they come in one of two flavours. Free, and paid. And as many of their users, as well as Softpedia can attest, they are just as good, if not better then their paid counterparts. As a person who tries to live off the freebies as much as he can, a good free protector is a life saver.

But there is a trade off for using some of the better ones, like Avast and Avira. They come with ads, which remind you that, they too, are trying to make a living. And that they’d like you to upgrade and pay for their antiviruses. AVG, Panda Cloud, and Microsoft Security Essentials doesn’t carry out advertisements in their programs, but as most of us can tout, AVG simply not ready for the big time anymore, missing viruses, trojans, and worms here and there. For those that don’t want a cloud scanner or want to be asked about Windows Updates (since that’s how MSE updates), it leaves us with two wholesome choices: Avast Free, or Avira AntiVir Personal. And while we’d rather you not block our ads, I’m going to show you how to block their ads.

Depending on your operating system, you’ll have to do different things to block Avira’s ads from popping up.

Windows 7: Open the control panel, then locate and run the Administrative Tools option. For those new to using the Administrative Tools, it is basically a folder shortcut, and the program we’re looking for is Local Security Policy. When you run it, go to the Software Restriction Policy under
Click on Software Restriction Policy subfolder, and select the Additional Rules option, before right clicking on the second pane. Right-click on the right pane, and go to Additional Rules, then New Path Rule. Click Browse and navigate to C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\ and double-click avnotify.exe, then set the security level to Disallowed, click Apply and then OK. Close out of the Administrative tools.

Windows XP users can do one of two options, they can run at the Command Line Prompt (Start>Run>cmd.exe and hit enter) then in the box that pops up, they can run
cacls “%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\avnotify.exe” /e /d username
where username is the name you use to log in. If you’d like an even simpler way of doing it, ClickOff is a handy utility to do such a thing, if you just hit the hotkey and select the advertisement window, it closes automatically for you.

Windows Vista users can use the same tip that Windows 7 uses, or they can also direct themselves to C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\, right-click avnotify.exe and go to Properties, then under the Security tab, under the group or username SYSTEM, click edit. This will pop open with a new window where you can put a checkmark under the DENY comlumn for “read and execute”, thus making it impossible to run.

However, unlike Avira, Avast’s advertisement comes on it’s main screen, when you open it up to run a scan of your computer completely, it shows up there, as seen in the screenshot below.

Thanks to one of our forum members, LeoFelix, he has managed to find a way to block that ad from popping up as well. A simple edit of the HOSTS file on your computer blocks this ad entirely, while keeping your system fully protected.

The places to look for your host file in Windows Vista and 7 is:
C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\ or %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\
Under Windows XP Pro, the same file is located in:
c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
and finally, Windows XP Home, it is located in:
c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

All you have to do is open the HOSTS file as an administrator and add one line, which is:
127.0.0.1 program.avast.com
That’s it! That sends the ad looking for itself into the loopback interface, meaning it’s no longer going to be shown on your PC. One reboot and it’s gone, at least until Avast updates it’s location of the advertisement.

– ClickOff Page –

May 30, 2012

Windows Security Updates • Raymond.CC

Windows Security Updates Two days ago, Microsoft announced that a few security issue has been identified that could allow an attacker to remotely compromise your Windows-based system and gain control over it. One of the update patches Windows from DoS. Or in those days, we call it Nuke. You can make a computer bluescreen, hang or even restart by “nuking” them.
I got to know about it when I was checking for Windows Update at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

Security Update for Windows XP (KB913446)
Vulnerability in TCP/IP Could Allow Denial of Service
More Information…

Security Update for Windows Media Player 10 for Windows XP (KB911565)
Vulnerability in Windows Media Player Could Allow Remote Code Execution
More Information…

Security Update for Windows XP (KB911927)
Vulnerability in Web Client Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution
More Information…

Security Update for Windows Media Player Plug-in (KB911564)
Vulnerability in Windows Media Player Plug-in with Non-Microsoft Internet Browsers Could Allow Remote Code Execution
More Information…

Please do update your Windows as soon as you can.
You can either download each update and install yourself by going at the “More Information…” link, or simply just browse to Windows Update at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

Offline Windows Update

Updates…

Lack of updates…

Windows Update using Mozilla Firefox

May 29, 2012

Rotating Photos or Pictures in Windows Photo Viewer Causes Quality Loss • Raymond.CC

After coming back from our honeymoon, me and my wife has been going through the photos that we took numerous times. We just miss all the beautiful scenery and building architecture. At first my wife would just go through herself and then I’d join her when I am done checking the forums. I noticed that all the photos were properly rotated even though I’ve taken many photos with the camera in vertical position. She told me that whenever she rotates the photo and then go to the next photo, she will see a small “Saving” message. Then the next time she opens the image, it will stay at the same rotated position.

I immediately stopped her from continue doing that because I remembered when I was using Windows XP, when I rotate and go to the next photo, I get a warning message that says “Because of the dimensions of this picture, rotating it might permanently reduce its quality. Rotating a picture automatically saves it using the original name. To save a backup copy first, see ‘Copy an image’ in Help. Do you want to proceed?”.
JPEG lossless rotation
I wasn’t really sure at first so I did a test to see if rotating pictures with the built-in photo viewer in Windows will cause any quality loss.

I used a photo that is originally 1MB in size. After rotating 90degrees and closing the image, the file size became 957KB. I tried rotating it back to the original position and file size changes to 969KB. To verify if there are any difference, I used ImageMagick’s compare tool and indeed there were quality loss.

After doing more research on JPEG format, I found out that JPEG file format supports compression, which reduces image size while keeping the image acceptable to the human eye. Unfortunately, to compress images well, the algorithm intentionally loses information. What is saved is NOT the same image as what is in memory; the color of a particular pixel or area of an image will generally will NOT be exactly the same color that was saved. This is particularly true near the edges of objects within the image. Normally this lossy nature of JPEG is not very noticeable. However it can become noticeable when you either load and save a JPEG image multiple times or use a very low quality with a diagram showing sharp color changes.

Now, STOP using Windows XP’s Picture and Fax Viewer, Windows Vista’s Photo Gallery Viewer or Windows 7′s Photo Viewer to rotate your precious digital photos! Once the quality is loss, you can NEVER get it back.

For rotating a JPEG picture without quality loss, you can use any of the programs in this list. There are a total of 81 softwares for you to choose from. One of my personal favorite is called JPEG Lossless Rotator. It is constantly being updated and also free for private non-commercial or educational use, including non-profit organization.

Related posts:

Easily edit your Photos online

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4 Free Tools to Optimize and Compress PNG Images Without Losing Quality

How To Enlarge Images Without Loosing Quality or Pixelated

Resize Image or Pictures Online

May 29, 2012

Free 6 Months ESET NOD32 v4 cfg.xml License by PCGamesHardware • Raymond.CC

Ever since Windows 7 was officially released, many antivirus company such as Kaspersky, Panda, ZoneAlarm, IObit, F-Secure and a-squared was fighting to give out free license subscription for a limited time because they know that Windows 7 is such a huge success and many users would be on the look out to find an antivirus that can run on Windows 7. Yesterday I got to know about another promotion for ESET NOD32 v4 by PCGamesHardware which gives a free 6 months subscription from ivan_baroveca in forum. If you don’t know what is ESET NOD32, it is an antivirus software package made by the Slovak company ESET and is commonly known as NOD32. If you check out this comparison page, it shows that ESET wins in terms of detection, performance and awards when compared to Norton, F-Secure, Kaspersky, McAfee and AVG.

All PCGamesHardware provided was a ZIP file to download which contains a cfg.xml file. As far as I know, ESET products are activated based on username and password. Every subscriber has their own unique username and password that can be used to download the installers and also to obtain the latest ESET virus definition. So I opened the XML file with notepad, took a quick look and found the username in clear text but the password is encrypted. Normally NOD32 username would start with EAV- followed by 8 random numbers and Smart Security with ESS-.
decrypt ESET XML password
Continue reading on how to license ESET NOD32 v4 with the cfg.xml file provided by PCGamesHardware.

At first I didn’t know what to do with the XML file but after a while I found out that ESET supports importing and exporting settings via XML file. Just follow the few simple steps on how to get your free 6 months ESET NOD32 license.

If this is you don’t have ESET NOD32 installed on your computer:
1. Download NOD32 v4 cfg.xml file provided by PCGamesHardware and extract.

2. Download the latest version of ESET NOD32 v4 trial. For 64-bit users, you can get it from here.

3. Install and follow the on screen instructions.

4. At the bottom left area where it says Display: Standard mode, click on the Change… link and click Yes button.
Change NOD32 display mode

5. Click on Setup at the left pane and then click Import and export settings.

6. Make sure that “Import settings” is selected and click on the … button to browse for the cfg.xml file.
eset import and export settings

7. Restart your computer and update virus signature database. NOD32 will download around 21MB to upgrade from trial to licensed version. If ESET fails to upgrade, try updating again. I had to update twice in order to get it right.

If you already have ESET NOD32 installed on your computer, you will only need to download the cfg.xml file and import it at Advanced mode. I tried using Nirsoft’s Asterisk Logger to reveal the asterisk behind the NOD32 password but it doesn’t work. However when I tried using Password Viewer which also does the same thing as Asterisk Logger, it worked perfectly by showing the hidden password!
decrypt eset password
Looks like ESET has blocked Nirsoft’s Asterisk Logger but not Password Viewer. I could just provide the ESET NOD32 username and password that I’ve decrypted from the cfg.xml file here but I don’t think it’s appropriate because I believe the license can get blacklisted very quickly. This license valid until 4/21/2010 which is less than 6 months because the promotion started on October.

Here are some unrelated information to today’s topic. There seems to be quite a lot of free license promotion going around. I will list them out here so you won’t wake up to another article of “Free this and free that”. ZoneAlarm and F-Secure offer has just expired…

1. McAfee VirusScan® Plus3-User with SiteAdvisor for 12 months
http://us.mcafee.com/en-us/affiliates/vmware/landingpages/16288.asp?cid=48523

2. IObit Advanced System Care Pro Edition
http://db.iobit.com/license-free/asc-free-license.php

3. a-squared Anti-Malware 4.5
http://www.emsisoft.com/en/order/24h/

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May 27, 2012

Lots of Hidden sqmdataXX.sqm and sqmnooptXX.sqm Files in C: drive • Raymond.CC

Do you still remember about the article that I’ve written a few days ago about Tiny Watcher? Basically Tiny Watcher starts by taking a snapshot of important parts of your Windows system; then it tracks changes (every time you log in, or whenever you want to). When a change is detected, you are notified. I’ve been faithfully using Tiny Watcher ever since it has helped me locate the source of spyware auto startup.

I installed it on my desktop computer yesterday and today after booting in to Windows, Tiny Watcher notified me that there are hidden files with the extension of SQM being modified.
SQMdata.sqm sqmnoopt.sqm
To be able to see the SQM files, you’ll need to enable “Show hidden files and folders” in Folder Options. All of the SQM files are located in the root of my C:\ drive and it goes by the file name of sqmdata00.sqm up to sqmdata19.sqm and sqmnoopt00.sqm up to sqmnoopt19.sqm. I have a total of 40 sqm files and I remembered seeing even more on some of the computers that I’ve repaired. The question on my mind is what created the SQM files, is it safe to remove them and how to disable SQM files from being modified or created.

Jonathan Kay, a Microsoft MVP explains that SQM is Software Quality Metrics, aka the Microsoft Customer Experience Program which is part of Messenger. When you install and run Windows Live Messenger for the first time, you might have noticed that there is a blue colored link accompanied with a small info balloon icon that says “Learn more about Customer Experience Improvement Program”. When Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) is enabled, sqmdata.sqm and sqmnoopt.sqm files will start generating at the root of your C drive.

From Microsoft’s website, they mentioned that they collect information about error messages that you might encounter as you use their product, about the operating system, and about the performance of your Messenger program. They also determine what type of Internet connection you use-dial up, LAN, corporate, etc.

Then there is another similar “data collecting” feature in Windows Live Messenger which is “Quality Improvement” and it can be found in Options. Microsoft did not say what kind of data they collect but it can answer some of the questions below.

What percent of people are unable to sign in to MSN Messenger?

What is the average time it takes someone to sign in?

What number of sent messages never reach the recipient?

What percent of people get disconnected when using MSN Messenger?

What percent of people are unable to establish an audio conversation?

I’ve tried deleting those SQM files and everything is still working as normal. To disable sqmdataXX.sqm and sqmnooptXX.sqm files from being generated in C drive, it’s best to disable both CEIP and Quality Improvement.

To disable Quality Improvement, run Windows Live Messenger, sign in, go to Tools > Options.. > General > Quality Improvement and uncheck “Allow Microsoft to collect anonymous information about how I use Windows Live Messenger”. Make sure that you’re signed in or else the options will be grayed out.
Disable MSN Quality Improvement

To disable Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP), run Windows Live Messenger, sign in, go to Help > Customer Experience Improvement Program. Select “I don’t want to participate right now” and click OK. You must also sign in to disable this option or else it will be blurred out.
Disable SQMDATA SQMNOOPT SQM files

There you go, no more sqmdata.sqm and sqmnoopt.sqm files will be generated at C drive in future. Also, your computer will stop sending “Quality Improvements” data to Microsoft.

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May 25, 2012

Free HyperCam 2 Screen Recording Software • Raymond.CC

HyperSnap is an excellent screen capture software created by Hyperionics which I have been using for nearly 10 years. Other than HyperSnap, they also have another product call HyperCam which is a screen recording software that captures the action from your Windows screen and saves it as a standard, easily edited, AVI (Audio-Video Interleaved) movie file. Both HyperSnap and HyperCam are shareware but recently Hyperionics announced that HyperCam 2 will be permanently available for free worldwide usage. When HyperCam 2 requires license registration, the unregistered version will embed a watermark on the captured video and also nags the user the register each time it is started.

The latest version of HyperCam 2.25.01 installer is only less than 1MB, unlike the popular Camtasia Studio which is currently at 187MB! Obviously Camtasia offers more advanced features but HyperCam is good enough to create regular software presentations, tutorials, demonstrations, walkthroughs, and other various tasks the user wants to demonstrate.

To capture a screen video with HyperCam 2, you will first need to specify the screen are that you want to record. At the Screen Area tab, you can select the region using your mouse, or a specific Window which the software will automatically specify the values for Start X & Y, Width and Height.

HyperCam 2

It would be very useful to be familiar with the built in hotkeys that allows you to start/stop/pause/resume recording. The hotkeys are hardcoded to HyperCam software and cannot be changed.

F2 = Start/Stop Recording

F3: Pause/Resume

F4: Single Frame Shot (in Pause mode)

At the Sound tab, you can select whether to record sound from your microphone. Finally the Options lets you choose if you want to record the mouse cursor movements and adding starbursts to the movie when mouse is clicked. The Starburst effect is to allow the viewer to know if the mouse has been left or right clicked. There is a screen notes button for you to annotate your movies with pop-up text boxes while recording. This feature is great when you are recording a video without a voice guidance. It is also possible to re-record a video with HyperCam 2 but you will have to refer to the official FAQ page for more information on how to do that.

HyperCam 2 is free but HyperCam 3 is available as shareware and apparently sold by Solveig Multimedia, not Hyperionics. The major advantages of HyperCam 3 over HyperCam 2 are:

new skinned user-friendly interface

able to grab video in overlay mode

able to edit captured video with HyperCam Media Editor

able to encode captured sound

useful, tiny HyperCam tray tool-bar

visual managing by recently recorded clips

ability to choose audio channel

I would say that the most useful feature in HyperCam 3 is the ability to edit captured video with HyperCam Media Editor, saving you the trouble of having to install another video editor software.

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May 25, 2012

Reviews on Webhost That Hosted Raymond.CC • Raymond.CC

The reason I think why most people would transfer their domain to another webhost is usually one of the reasons below:
1. Unable to support high traffic website
2. Bad service
3. Found a cheaper webhost
4. Unreliable and high downtime

As you can see, if the current webhost has very little problems and lives up to the customer expectation, the customer would continue hosting their domain at the webhost. From October 2005 up till today May 2007, I’ve transferred my domain Raymond.CC to 3 web hosting company. Here’s my reason why I transferred to 3 different webhosting company in less than 2 years and also review on them.

October 2005 – January 2006 : Hosted on CPHosting Reseller Account
I got to know about CPHosting through my cousin. He had a .com domain and I found CPHosting by doing a whois on that my cousin’s domain. That time I had a few websites and it’s all hosted on Webserver.com.my. So I thought that maybe getting a reseller account benefits me more as I can assign the amount of web space and also bandwidth for websites that are not busy. When the hosting period is up, I decided not to continue because it was quite expensive. Then I found Integricity.

January 2006 – June 2006 : Hosted on Integricity Shared Hosting
I went back to shared hosting on Integricity because they offer very cheap 2GB web space and UNLIMITED bandwidth. After hosting my domain for 6 months and the server could no longer take the load and causing the server to crash because my website is growing rapidly. Integricity introduced me a dedicated server which I couldn’t afford to have. So I had to look for a new webhost within a very short time. By the way, the “UNLIMITED” bandwidth was changed to 20GB to prevent abuse.

June 2006 – May 2007(Current) : Hosted on WebHostingBuzz Reseller Account

I’ve hosted Raymond.CC the longest in this current webhost WebHostingBuzz. I am very satisfied with this WebHost and never had any problems or even intentions in looking for a new webhost. Founded in 2002 by current CEO, Safvan Malik, WebHostingBuzz began life as a simple reseller account. The very first day was highly successful, and each subsequent day has been a success story for WebHostingBuzz too. WebHostingBuzz now provide services to almost 10,000 clients and have in excess of 100 servers facilitating this. They have staff from 3 different continents and have clients from almost every country in the world.

They have very good packages, from budget as cheap as $3 a month to powerful dedicated servers at $319 a month. They’ll even register and maintain your domain name for as long as your account is active with WebHostingBuzz, at no extra charge to yourself. Meaning, FREE DOMAIN for life if you host your website on their server. I believe whatever package you’re looking for, it’s there!

WebHostingBuzz also listens to customer’s opinion. When I hosted Raymond.CC in WebHostingBuzz, they only had Email Ticket Support System. I find this support system very slow and troublesome. Sometimes we need a support guy to attend to our problems immediately but there were no such system. Now, they have LiveChat sales and support that’s 24/7 online and even telephone support. WebHostingBuzz Toll Free is 888.WHB.BUZZ (942.2899) 9am-5pm EDT Mon-Fri. and for International: 1.866.239.3064.

Some webhost company just exist and continue with what they’re doing. As for WebHostingBuzz, they always go a step further. They now also have Client Community Forum where we can talk amongst WebHostingBuzz clients. This proves that WebHostingBuzz has got nothing to hide and allow customers to interact with each other.

As for WebHostingBuzz server uptimes, I never once encounter any downtime on Raymond.CC. WebHostingBuzz claims that Budget and Reseller package has 99.5% uptime and Ultimate package has 99.99% uptime. I read their company blog every month and most uptime figures are 100%. Here’s something you should know about the term “uptime“. Server uptime often refers only to a server being powered on and doesn’t account for network downtime.

One last thing I like about WebHostingBuzz is that they are partners with International Tree Foundation. As all of us know, our world is facing with global climate change issue. They’ve invested in a number of tree plantation projects at present to help offset the carbon emissions produced when generating the electricity to power their servers and they will continue to invest over the course of the next 5 years. It shows that WebHostingBuzz CARES!

There is NO perfect webhost but WebHostingBuzz’re damn close. I definitely recommend WebHostingBuzz to everyone.

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May 25, 2012

Latest Windows Genuine Advantage Validation v1.7.17.0 Cracked • Raymond.CC

According to Wikipedia, Microsoft’s latest version of Windows Genuine Advantage has been released on 16 February 2007. I checked Windows Update and indeed there’s a new KB905474 available to download and install.
Windows Update KB905474
Version number stated on Wikipedia is 1.7.0017.0. You might find some people saying that it’s 1.7.17.0. Don’t be confuse because both is actually the same file version.
WGA 1.7.17 crack

Team ETH0 again very quickly cracked the latest Windows Genuine Advantage Validation v1.7.17.0 and released it to public after a week. So far they’re the only one that cracked the latest WGA.

When I was downloading and installing the latest KB905474, I noticed that the installation is a little different this time. Last time the Windows Genuine Advantage would install silently and you couldn’t do anything. This time it has a it has an introduction about Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications.

Maybe Microsoft gotten too many complaints when they first launched WGA that installs silently during Windows Update.

If you’ve used ETH0 WGA cracks before, you’ll know that it’s very easy to crack WGA by simply running the installer.bat batch file and pressing any key to execute the crack.
ETH0 WGA 1.7.17 crack

Team ETH0 claims that their latest WGA crack is 100% working on Windows Update, Microsoft Download Center and no nag screens.

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May 25, 2012