Here's a great tip to speed up your browsing of Windows XP machines. Its actually a fix to a bug installed as default in Windows 2000 that scans shared files for Scheduled Tasks. And it turns out that you can experience a delay as long as 30 seconds when you try to view shared files across a network because Windows 2000 is using the extra time to search the remote computer for any Scheduled Tasks. Note that though the fix is originally intended for only those affected, Windows 2000 users will experience that the actual browsing speed of both the Internet & Windows Explorers improve significantly after applying it since it doesn't search for Scheduled Tasks anymore. Here's how :
Open up the Registry and go to :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace
Under that branch, select the key :
{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}
and delete it.
This is key that instructs Windows to search for Scheduled Tasks. If you like you may want to export the exact branch so that you can restore the key if necessary.
This fix is so effective that it doesn't require a reboot and you can almost immediately determine yourself how much it speeds up your browsing processes.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Set the Search Screen to the Classic Look
When I first saw the default search pane in Windows XP, my instinct was to return it to its classic look; that puppy had to go. Of course, I later discovered that a doggie door is built into the applet.
Click "Change preferences" then "Without an animated screen character." If you'd rather give it a bare-bones "Windows 2000" look and feel, fire up your Registry editor and navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ CabinetState.
You may need to create a new string value labeled "Use Search Asst" and set it to "no".
Click "Change preferences" then "Without an animated screen character." If you'd rather give it a bare-bones "Windows 2000" look and feel, fire up your Registry editor and navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ CabinetState.
You may need to create a new string value labeled "Use Search Asst" and set it to "no".
How to Remove Windows XP's Messenger
Theoretically, you can get rid of it (as well as a few other things). Windows 2000 power users should already be familiar with this tweak.
Fire up the Windows Explorer and navigate your way to the %SYSTEMROOT% \ INF folder. What the heck is that thingy with the percentage signs? It's a variable.
For most people, %SYSTEMROOT% is C:\Windows.
For others, it may be E:\WinXP. Get it? Okay, on with the hack!
In the INF folder, open sysoc.inf (but not before making a BACKUP copy first). Before your eyes glaze over, look for the line containing "msmsgs" in it. Near the end of that particular line, you'll notice that the word "hide" is not so hidden. Go ahead and delete "hide" (so that the flanking commas are left sitting next to one another). Save the file and close it.
Now, open the Add and Remove Programs applet in the Control Panel. Click the Add / Remove Windows Components icon. You should see "Windows Messenger" in that list. Remove the checkmark from its box, and you should be set.
NOTE: there are other hidden system components in that sysoc.inf file, too. Remove "hide" and the subsequent programs at your own risk.
Fire up the Windows Explorer and navigate your way to the %SYSTEMROOT% \ INF folder. What the heck is that thingy with the percentage signs? It's a variable.
For most people, %SYSTEMROOT% is C:\Windows.
For others, it may be E:\WinXP. Get it? Okay, on with the hack!
In the INF folder, open sysoc.inf (but not before making a BACKUP copy first). Before your eyes glaze over, look for the line containing "msmsgs" in it. Near the end of that particular line, you'll notice that the word "hide" is not so hidden. Go ahead and delete "hide" (so that the flanking commas are left sitting next to one another). Save the file and close it.
Now, open the Add and Remove Programs applet in the Control Panel. Click the Add / Remove Windows Components icon. You should see "Windows Messenger" in that list. Remove the checkmark from its box, and you should be set.
NOTE: there are other hidden system components in that sysoc.inf file, too. Remove "hide" and the subsequent programs at your own risk.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Useful Windows XP DOS Commands & Tricks
Typing DOS commands on the Windows Command Line prompt is a most efficient and faster way of doing things in Windows XP. Here's a run-down of the most useful DOS commands available in Windows XP. Some of these DOS commands even do not have an visual alternative.
DOS Command-line tools must be run at the prompt of the Cmd.exe command interpreter. To open Command Prompt, click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
ipconfig - Windows IP configuration
Useful for troubleshooting your internet connection. Displays the current IP address of your computer and the DNS server address. If you call your ISP for reporting a bad internet connection, he will probably ask you to run ipconfig.
fc - Free BeyondCompare in XP
FC is an advanced DOS Command that compares two files and displays the differences between them. Though the file comparison results are not as interactive as BeyondCompare or Altova DiffDog, fc is still very useful. You can even set fc to resynchronize the files after finding a mismatch.
type - open text files sans Notepad
Similar to Unix cat command, Type is my favorite DOS command for displaying the contents of a text files without modifying them. When used in combination with more switch, type splits the contents of lengthy text files into multiple pages. Avoid using the type command with binary files or you'll hear alien PC beeps and see some greek characters on your PC.
ping - Say hello to another computer
Ping network command followed by the web-address or IP address tells you about the health of the connection and whether the other party is responding to your handshake request. Ping tool can also be used to convert the web address to a physical IP address.
tree - visual directory structure
You often need to take prints of your physical directory structure but XP has no simple "visual" commands for printing directory contents. Here, try the Tree DOS command and redirect the output to a text file.
tree > mydirectory.txt
print mydirectory.txt
attrib - make hidden files visible
Attrib lets you change attributes of System files and even hidden files. This is great for troubleshooting Windows XP. Say your XP doesn't boot ever since you edited that startup boot.ini file (Hidden), use attrib to remove the Hidden attibute and edit the file using EDIT dos command.
assoc - which program will open that .xyz file
The assoc DOS command can be used to either isplay or even modify the file name extension associations. The command assoc .htm will quickly tell you the name of your default web browser (see picture)
move - more flexible than copy-paste
Say you got a lot of XLS and DOC files in you MyDocuments folder and want to move only those XLS files that have their name ending with 2006. In XP Explorer, you have to manually select each file and then cut-paste to another folder. However, the DOS move command make things much simpler. Just type the following at the command prompt:
move *2006.xls c:\2006Reports\
find - advanced file search with filter
Find is the most powerful DOS command and even more useful than the Windows Desktop Search tool or the Windows Find Wizard. The find command searches for a specific string of text in a file or files. After searching the specified file or files, find displays any lines of text that contain the specified string.
To search your hard disk to find and display the file names on drive C: that contain the string "Google" use the pipe () to direct the results of a dir command to find as follows:
dir c:\ /s /b find "Google"
Quick tip - Drag to avoid typing: When your command acts on a file or folder, you must type the path to that folder after the command. You can save typing time by dragging the file or folder from Windows Explorer into the command window.
To view help at the command-line, at the command prompt, type the following:
CommandName /?
DOS Command-line tools must be run at the prompt of the Cmd.exe command interpreter. To open Command Prompt, click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
ipconfig - Windows IP configuration
Useful for troubleshooting your internet connection. Displays the current IP address of your computer and the DNS server address. If you call your ISP for reporting a bad internet connection, he will probably ask you to run ipconfig.
fc - Free BeyondCompare in XP
FC is an advanced DOS Command that compares two files and displays the differences between them. Though the file comparison results are not as interactive as BeyondCompare or Altova DiffDog, fc is still very useful. You can even set fc to resynchronize the files after finding a mismatch.
type - open text files sans Notepad
Similar to Unix cat command, Type is my favorite DOS command for displaying the contents of a text files without modifying them. When used in combination with more switch, type splits the contents of lengthy text files into multiple pages. Avoid using the type command with binary files or you'll hear alien PC beeps and see some greek characters on your PC.
ping - Say hello to another computer
Ping network command followed by the web-address or IP address tells you about the health of the connection and whether the other party is responding to your handshake request. Ping tool can also be used to convert the web address to a physical IP address.
tree - visual directory structure
You often need to take prints of your physical directory structure but XP has no simple "visual" commands for printing directory contents. Here, try the Tree DOS command and redirect the output to a text file.
tree > mydirectory.txt
print mydirectory.txt
attrib - make hidden files visible
Attrib lets you change attributes of System files and even hidden files. This is great for troubleshooting Windows XP. Say your XP doesn't boot ever since you edited that startup boot.ini file (Hidden), use attrib to remove the Hidden attibute and edit the file using EDIT dos command.
assoc - which program will open that .xyz file
The assoc DOS command can be used to either isplay or even modify the file name extension associations. The command assoc .htm will quickly tell you the name of your default web browser (see picture)
move - more flexible than copy-paste
Say you got a lot of XLS and DOC files in you MyDocuments folder and want to move only those XLS files that have their name ending with 2006. In XP Explorer, you have to manually select each file and then cut-paste to another folder. However, the DOS move command make things much simpler. Just type the following at the command prompt:
move *2006.xls c:\2006Reports\
find - advanced file search with filter
Find is the most powerful DOS command and even more useful than the Windows Desktop Search tool or the Windows Find Wizard. The find command searches for a specific string of text in a file or files. After searching the specified file or files, find displays any lines of text that contain the specified string.
To search your hard disk to find and display the file names on drive C: that contain the string "Google" use the pipe () to direct the results of a dir command to find as follows:
dir c:\ /s /b find "Google"
Quick tip - Drag to avoid typing: When your command acts on a file or folder, you must type the path to that folder after the command. You can save typing time by dragging the file or folder from Windows Explorer into the command window.
To view help at the command-line, at the command prompt, type the following:
CommandName /?
How to Access Blocked Websites
Blocking access to undesirable Web sites through the use of Internet protocol filters has been a common government tactic since commercial Internet access first became available here in 1995. China and Saudi Arabia are believed to extend greater censorship over the net than any other country in the world under the pretext of information control.
Most of the blacklisted sites in Saudi Arabia are either sexually explicit or about religion, women, health, drugs and pop culture. They even block access to websites about bathing suits. So if you want to buy something to swim in, they seem to treat that as if it were pornographic in Saudi Arabia.
In China, webites containing sexually explicit content were among those blocked, but they also included sites on sensitive topics such as Tibet, Taiwan, and dissident activity. China also blocks access to Google News, Typepad and Blogger hosted blogs.
But what if an innocent website is accidentally blocked by your ISP or your government. There are always legitimate reasons to visit these blocked websites. We have listed a few methods to help you access blocked websites in school, college, office or at home.
Approach 1: There are websites Anonymizer who fetch the blocked site/ page from their servers and display it to you. As far as the service provider is concerned you are viewing a page from Anonymizer and not the blocked site.
Approach 2: To access the blocked Web site. type the IP number instead of the URL in the address bar. But if the ISP software maps the IP address to the web server (reverse DNS lookup), the website will remain blocked.
Approach 3: Use a URL redirection service like tinyurl.com or snipurl.com. These domain forward services sometimes work as the address in the the url box remain the redirect url and do not change to the banned site.
Approach 4: Use Google Mobile Search. Google display the normal HTML pages as if you are viewing them on a mobile phone. During the translation, Google removes the javascript content and CSS scripts and breaks a longer page into several smaller pages.
Approach 5: Enter the URL in Google or Yahoo search and then visit the cached copy of the page. To retrieve the page more quickly from Google's cache, click "Cached Text Only" while the browser is loading the page from cache.
Approach 6: A recent Oreilly story on accessing blocked websites suggested an approach to access restricted web sites using Google language tools service as a proxy server. Basically, you have Google translate your page from English to English (or whatever language you like). Assuming that Google isn’t blacklisted in your country or school, you should be able to access any site with this method.
Approach 7: Anonymous Surfing Surf the internet via a proxy server. A proxy server (or proxies) is a normal computer that hides the identity of computers on its network from the Internet. Which means that only the address of the proxy server is visible to the world and not of those computers that are using it to browse the Internet. Just visit the proxy server website with your Web browser and enter a URL (website address) in the form provided.
This page has a long list of proxies. You can either choose one yourself or let the service choose a random proxy for you. Also bookmark the DMOZ directory of free web-based proxy services and DMOZ directory of free proxy servers
Update: China appears to have moved beyond simply blocking access to a Web site with IP filters and may now be employing packet filters to scan individual packets for undesirable information, said Duncan Clark, managing director at telecommunication analyst BDA China Co. Ltd.
Most of the blacklisted sites in Saudi Arabia are either sexually explicit or about religion, women, health, drugs and pop culture. They even block access to websites about bathing suits. So if you want to buy something to swim in, they seem to treat that as if it were pornographic in Saudi Arabia.
In China, webites containing sexually explicit content were among those blocked, but they also included sites on sensitive topics such as Tibet, Taiwan, and dissident activity. China also blocks access to Google News, Typepad and Blogger hosted blogs.
But what if an innocent website is accidentally blocked by your ISP or your government. There are always legitimate reasons to visit these blocked websites. We have listed a few methods to help you access blocked websites in school, college, office or at home.
Approach 1: There are websites Anonymizer who fetch the blocked site/ page from their servers and display it to you. As far as the service provider is concerned you are viewing a page from Anonymizer and not the blocked site.
Approach 2: To access the blocked Web site. type the IP number instead of the URL in the address bar. But if the ISP software maps the IP address to the web server (reverse DNS lookup), the website will remain blocked.
Approach 3: Use a URL redirection service like tinyurl.com or snipurl.com. These domain forward services sometimes work as the address in the the url box remain the redirect url and do not change to the banned site.
Approach 4: Use Google Mobile Search. Google display the normal HTML pages as if you are viewing them on a mobile phone. During the translation, Google removes the javascript content and CSS scripts and breaks a longer page into several smaller pages.
Approach 5: Enter the URL in Google or Yahoo search and then visit the cached copy of the page. To retrieve the page more quickly from Google's cache, click "Cached Text Only" while the browser is loading the page from cache.
Approach 6: A recent Oreilly story on accessing blocked websites suggested an approach to access restricted web sites using Google language tools service as a proxy server. Basically, you have Google translate your page from English to English (or whatever language you like). Assuming that Google isn’t blacklisted in your country or school, you should be able to access any site with this method.
Approach 7: Anonymous Surfing Surf the internet via a proxy server. A proxy server (or proxies) is a normal computer that hides the identity of computers on its network from the Internet. Which means that only the address of the proxy server is visible to the world and not of those computers that are using it to browse the Internet. Just visit the proxy server website with your Web browser and enter a URL (website address) in the form provided.
This page has a long list of proxies. You can either choose one yourself or let the service choose a random proxy for you. Also bookmark the DMOZ directory of free web-based proxy services and DMOZ directory of free proxy servers
Update: China appears to have moved beyond simply blocking access to a Web site with IP filters and may now be employing packet filters to scan individual packets for undesirable information, said Duncan Clark, managing director at telecommunication analyst BDA China Co. Ltd.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Sendspace crack - No need to wait for slots !!!
If every time you want to download a file from sendspace, it says they're no free slots available, here's what you should do.
Go to [Google Language Tools] and paste the sendspace link in the box "Translate a web page".
Press translate.
You'll be directed to a new page, where you'll actually have the download link waiting for you.
In the new page, you will see a link to download the file...
Another trick
If your facing problems like this
Sorry, the free service for your country is unavailable. Please try later or upgrade to sendspace Max™ to get instant, fast downloads without the country download limit.
Here is the trick to get direct link from sendspace in just 4 steps:
1. Go to http://www.hideu.net
2. Paste sendspace url in URL box
3. Untick Remove client-side scripting (i.e. Javascript)
4. Click on browse you will get direct link of download.
Go to [Google Language Tools] and paste the sendspace link in the box "Translate a web page".
Press translate.
You'll be directed to a new page, where you'll actually have the download link waiting for you.In the new page, you will see a link to download the file...
Another trick
If your facing problems like this
Sorry, the free service for your country is unavailable. Please try later or upgrade to sendspace Max™ to get instant, fast downloads without the country download limit.
Here is the trick to get direct link from sendspace in just 4 steps:
1. Go to http://www.hideu.net
2. Paste sendspace url in URL box
3. Untick Remove client-side scripting (i.e. Javascript)
4. Click on browse you will get direct link of download.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
How Employers Disable USB Ports & How Employees Enable them again
A desktop computer equipped with a CD writer or a DVD burner is a rare sight is most companies. But a much larger security threat is posed by the open USB ports where mischievous office workers can just plugin the Flash Pen Drive, External Hard Disk or their iPod music player and transfer corporate data or even copy licensed software to their memory sticks in seconds.
Also, USB keys are not just a popular way to sneak data out from companies, unhappy employees may use USB ports for delivering trojans or spyware into the company networks.
Now some smart admins disable usb drive by changing the BIOS settings and then lock the BIOS using passwords. Some not so-smart admins fix tapes over the USB ports to prevent employees from inserting any USB device into their computer.
However, both these approaches can prove to be counter-productives as your staff can no longer use USB keyboards, wireless mouse, digital cameras, camcorders, scanners, printers or even USB microphones to their computers.
So a more reasonable option for sysadmins is to disable write access to USB port so that data files cannot be written to the mass storage device. The USB thumb drive will be read-only.
Open the Windows Registry and open the following key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\ Control\StorageDevicePolicies
Now add a new DWORD called WriteProtect and put the value as 0 to disable write privileges to the USB port. To reverse the step, either delete the WriteProtect REG_DWORD or toggle the value to 1 which will enable the port.
Remember that the above trick works only with Windows XP SP2.
If you like to go a step further and disable users from connecting USB storage devices to their computers, here's the trick:
Open registry and navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet \Services\UsbStor
Now in the right pane, double-click Start and type 4 in the Value data box (Hexadecimal) and quite the registry editor. To enable the USB storage devices, change the Start value back to 3.
No matter how good the protection tricks are, determined people always find workarounds. Here are some of the tricks that may render the above methods unusable:
» Employee may boot computer using a LiveCD like Knoppix or Ubuntu so the USB drives are again available to him for writing.
» They could open the computer chasis, take the battery out to reset the BIOS settings.
» Some may even invest in a PS2 to USB port converter.
» If he manages to get admin access for a temporary period (like installing software), he may undo the registry edits.
The cat-mouse game will never end. USB drives will remain a headache for the sysadmins for some time. However, Windows Vista will make life much simpler for IT administrators. There's a new Policy in Vista that allows USB keyboards or mouse to be used but not any USB devices.
Also, USB keys are not just a popular way to sneak data out from companies, unhappy employees may use USB ports for delivering trojans or spyware into the company networks.
Now some smart admins disable usb drive by changing the BIOS settings and then lock the BIOS using passwords. Some not so-smart admins fix tapes over the USB ports to prevent employees from inserting any USB device into their computer.
However, both these approaches can prove to be counter-productives as your staff can no longer use USB keyboards, wireless mouse, digital cameras, camcorders, scanners, printers or even USB microphones to their computers.
So a more reasonable option for sysadmins is to disable write access to USB port so that data files cannot be written to the mass storage device. The USB thumb drive will be read-only.
Open the Windows Registry and open the following key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\ Control\StorageDevicePolicies
Now add a new DWORD called WriteProtect and put the value as 0 to disable write privileges to the USB port. To reverse the step, either delete the WriteProtect REG_DWORD or toggle the value to 1 which will enable the port.
Remember that the above trick works only with Windows XP SP2.
If you like to go a step further and disable users from connecting USB storage devices to their computers, here's the trick:
Open registry and navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet \Services\UsbStor
Now in the right pane, double-click Start and type 4 in the Value data box (Hexadecimal) and quite the registry editor. To enable the USB storage devices, change the Start value back to 3.
No matter how good the protection tricks are, determined people always find workarounds. Here are some of the tricks that may render the above methods unusable:
» Employee may boot computer using a LiveCD like Knoppix or Ubuntu so the USB drives are again available to him for writing.
» They could open the computer chasis, take the battery out to reset the BIOS settings.
» Some may even invest in a PS2 to USB port converter.
» If he manages to get admin access for a temporary period (like installing software), he may undo the registry edits.
The cat-mouse game will never end. USB drives will remain a headache for the sysadmins for some time. However, Windows Vista will make life much simpler for IT administrators. There's a new Policy in Vista that allows USB keyboards or mouse to be used but not any USB devices.
How to Save Flash Files in Firefox & IE
Save Shockwave Flash swf files off the web to your hard disk from Firefox or Internet Explorer. There's a good chance that the animation or cartoon game you want to download was created using Flash. Use these tips for downloading Flash files from the Internet to your hard drive. You save all Flash animations from web pages, including Flash websites, Flash game, Flash Animations, Flash Tutorials, Flash Movie Trailers, Flash Advertisements, or what ever Flash files you find in the web.
Shockwave Games, Website elements, Screen Casts (software demos) created in Macromedia Flash (swf) always fascinate me. I generally like to save these flash files embedded in webpages to my hard-drive for offline viewing.
But saving flash animations from websites is not so easy. Macromedia Flash player context menu has no option to download or save the Flash movie from the web browser. The right-click context menu of most browsers won't work on Flash objects. So I will share some techniques (work-arounds) to save flash files from Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer (IE), Opera or MyIE2 web browsers.
1. Saving Flash files from Firefox
Firefox for Newbies
a. Click Tools - Page Info
b. Click the Media Tab on the Page Info Windows
c. The media tab has a complete list (with preview) of Images, CSS Files and Shockwave Flash files that were downloaded by the Firefox browser while rendering (loading) the page.
d. Scroll down the list and locate the swf file.
e. Click the "Save As" button. Select some directory on your hard drive and save the file (No need for a third-party plug-in)
Firefox for Geeks and Power Users
a. Type about:blank in the Firefox address bar
b. Now click List cache entries or directly type about:cache?device=disk (Disk cache device)c. Press Ctrl+F and try to location the flash file by typing some part of website URL or the flash file name or just .swf. After some hit and trial, you should be able to locate the swf file URL
d. Click the SWF URL to open the Cache Entry Information page. Right click on the link and choose "Save link as"
2. How to save flash in IE browser
a. Click Tools - Internet Options
b. In the General Tab, click the Settings button available in the Temporary Internet Files group.
c. Click View Files to open your Temporary Internet Files folder. Depending upon your IE settings, the Temp. folder can contain tens of thousands of files.
d. Click View - Details. Now click View - Arrange Icons By - Internet Address. Depending upon the webpage, there could one or more Flash files (Shockwave Flash Object) under the Inernet Address.
e. Once you find the right flash file, right-click and choose Copy. Then paste the swf file in any other directory. Be sure tokeep the page and IE open to avoid purging of the cache file.
For newbies, I suggest the following approaches:
1. Get a download accelerator like Flashget and tell it to automatically download the shockwave extention (*.swf)
2. Or download a free IE plug-in for saving flash files.
3. How to save Flash files from Opera browser
Just like IE, Opera stores the flash files in the browser cache.
4. Save flash in MyIE2
Either follow the exact procedure for Internet explorer or download the free Flash saver MyIE2 plugin.
Shockwave Games, Website elements, Screen Casts (software demos) created in Macromedia Flash (swf) always fascinate me. I generally like to save these flash files embedded in webpages to my hard-drive for offline viewing.
But saving flash animations from websites is not so easy. Macromedia Flash player context menu has no option to download or save the Flash movie from the web browser. The right-click context menu of most browsers won't work on Flash objects. So I will share some techniques (work-arounds) to save flash files from Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer (IE), Opera or MyIE2 web browsers.
1. Saving Flash files from Firefox
Firefox for Newbies
a. Click Tools - Page Info
b. Click the Media Tab on the Page Info Windows
c. The media tab has a complete list (with preview) of Images, CSS Files and Shockwave Flash files that were downloaded by the Firefox browser while rendering (loading) the page.
d. Scroll down the list and locate the swf file.
e. Click the "Save As" button. Select some directory on your hard drive and save the file (No need for a third-party plug-in)
Firefox for Geeks and Power Users
a. Type about:blank in the Firefox address bar
b. Now click List cache entries or directly type about:cache?device=disk (Disk cache device)c. Press Ctrl+F and try to location the flash file by typing some part of website URL or the flash file name or just .swf. After some hit and trial, you should be able to locate the swf file URL
d. Click the SWF URL to open the Cache Entry Information page. Right click on the link and choose "Save link as"
2. How to save flash in IE browser
a. Click Tools - Internet Options
b. In the General Tab, click the Settings button available in the Temporary Internet Files group.
c. Click View Files to open your Temporary Internet Files folder. Depending upon your IE settings, the Temp. folder can contain tens of thousands of files.
d. Click View - Details. Now click View - Arrange Icons By - Internet Address. Depending upon the webpage, there could one or more Flash files (Shockwave Flash Object) under the Inernet Address.
e. Once you find the right flash file, right-click and choose Copy. Then paste the swf file in any other directory. Be sure tokeep the page and IE open to avoid purging of the cache file.
For newbies, I suggest the following approaches:
1. Get a download accelerator like Flashget and tell it to automatically download the shockwave extention (*.swf)
2. Or download a free IE plug-in for saving flash files.
3. How to save Flash files from Opera browser
Just like IE, Opera stores the flash files in the browser cache.
4. Save flash in MyIE2
Either follow the exact procedure for Internet explorer or download the free Flash saver MyIE2 plugin.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
How to Hide Secret Documents, Videos or Audio Messages inside JPG Image Files ?
A USA Today story claimed that al-Qaeda operatives were sending out encrypted messages by hiding them inside digital photographs [jpg files] on eBay.
While the claim was never proved, it is very easy to hide [or embed] any other file[s] inside a JPEG image. You can place video clips, pdf, mp3, Office documents, zipped files, webpage or any other file format inside a JPEG image.
And when a suspecting user [read CIA, FBI] tries to open that jpeg file [with concealed information] in either a photo editing software or as a thumbnail inside Windows Explorer, it would be tough to make out if this camouflaged jpg file is different from any standard jpg image.
Let's say you want to hide a confidential PDF document from the tax investigation officers. What you can do is convert that file into a regular jpg image so even if anyone double-clicks this file, all he will see is a preview of the image and nothing else. And when you want to work on the actual PDF, just rename the extension from jpg to pdf.
Here's the full trick:
Step 1: You will need two files - the file you want to hide and one jpg image - it can be of any size or dimensions. [If you want to hide multiple files in one jpeg image, just zip them into one file]
Step 2: Copy the above two files to the C: folder and open the command prompt window.
Step 3: Move to the c: root by typing cd \ [if the files are in another folder, you'll have to change the prompt to that folder]
Step 4: The most important step - type the following command:
copy /b myimage.jpg + filetohide.pdf my_new_image.jpg
To recover the original PDF file, just rename my_new_image.jpg to filename.pdf.
Here we illustrated with an pdf file as that works with simple renaming. If you want to apply this technique to other file formats like XLS, DOC, PPT, AVI, WMV, WAV, SWF, etc, you may have to first compress them in RAR format before executing the copy /b DOS command.
To restore the original file, rename the .jpg file to .rar and extract it using 7-zip or Winrar.
That's it - No advanced Steganography tricks involved here. Just remember to write the correct syntax of the copy command:
copy /b sourceimage.jpg + filetohide.ext targetimage.jpg
While the claim was never proved, it is very easy to hide [or embed] any other file[s] inside a JPEG image. You can place video clips, pdf, mp3, Office documents, zipped files, webpage or any other file format inside a JPEG image.
And when a suspecting user [read CIA, FBI] tries to open that jpeg file [with concealed information] in either a photo editing software or as a thumbnail inside Windows Explorer, it would be tough to make out if this camouflaged jpg file is different from any standard jpg image.
Let's say you want to hide a confidential PDF document from the tax investigation officers. What you can do is convert that file into a regular jpg image so even if anyone double-clicks this file, all he will see is a preview of the image and nothing else. And when you want to work on the actual PDF, just rename the extension from jpg to pdf.
Here's the full trick:
Step 1: You will need two files - the file you want to hide and one jpg image - it can be of any size or dimensions. [If you want to hide multiple files in one jpeg image, just zip them into one file]
Step 2: Copy the above two files to the C: folder and open the command prompt window.
Step 3: Move to the c: root by typing cd \ [if the files are in another folder, you'll have to change the prompt to that folder]
Step 4: The most important step - type the following command:
copy /b myimage.jpg + filetohide.pdf my_new_image.jpg
To recover the original PDF file, just rename my_new_image.jpg to filename.pdf.
Here we illustrated with an pdf file as that works with simple renaming. If you want to apply this technique to other file formats like XLS, DOC, PPT, AVI, WMV, WAV, SWF, etc, you may have to first compress them in RAR format before executing the copy /b DOS command.
To restore the original file, rename the .jpg file to .rar and extract it using 7-zip or Winrar.
That's it - No advanced Steganography tricks involved here. Just remember to write the correct syntax of the copy command:
copy /b sourceimage.jpg + filetohide.ext targetimage.jpg
Monday, February 05, 2007
How do I download videos from Youtube or Google Videos or Metacafe ?
Unless you are staying in an underground cave for more than a year without an internet connection, there's a healthy chance that you have atleast watched, if not downloaded, an online video on Youtube or Google Videos.
The online video sharing space has exploded in the recent months with the entry of new players like Metacafe, Blip.tv, Revver, Yahoo Videos and so on. Millions of video clips, technology shows, music albums, movie trailers are available on these video sites for online viewing or they can also be downloaded to your hard drive for offline viewing.
The downloaded video files are generally in FLV format (Flash Video) which is an Adobe standard for video compression. It has fast becoming the web standard for delivering online video (replacing Apple QuickTime, AVI, Windows Media and Real rm formats) because Flash Video can be viewed inside Macromedia Flash Players which is shipped by default with most web browsers. [Flash Video Learning Guide]
A lot of us know how to download Google Videos or Youtube videos from the internet but what do we do next ? Can we make the FLV video files searchable ? How do you edit FLV files ? All your questions and concerns are answered here:
What naming convention do I adopt for saving video files on my hard disk ?
Such files are easy to find later using desktop search programs. Alternatively, if you have the time and energy, the FLV Meta Data Injector can insert additional meta data into FLV files. It' keepvid.com http:>Watch Video Tutorial]
How can I play FLV files on my computer - They don't open with Windows Media Player or Winamp or iTunes ?
You can download free FLV players to watch FLV files locally. My favorite FLV player has a simple and easy-to-remember name - FLV Player. Another nice alternative is the Riva FLV player.
I download a large 30 minute video from Youtube but I am only interested in the last 10 minutes of the clip. How do I split a large FLV file into smaller playable video clips?
This is the most common question among video enthusiasts - they want to split a large FLV video file into smaller chunks for editing or resharing only the interesting tidbits on the internet. To break an FLV file, get the free FLV Parser - a tiny command-line tool to split FLVs into pieces. Its intended use is to convert a large FLV into a series of shorter FLVs based on a series of millisecond-based timecodes. Using the -s switch will split the audio and video of the outputted files; the audio track will be extracted as a series of MP3 files, and the short FLVs produced will have no audio track at all.
How do I convert FLV videos to Flash SWF or Windows AVI or Apple Quicktime mov formats ?
The free Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer software from Super can convert FLV files to practically any other video format including MP4, MOV H.264, AVI, ASF or Flash SWF animations. Download here.
How do I convert my AVI MPEG MOV 3GP movie clips back to FLV format ?
Say you complete editing your movie in Windows Movie Maker or Avid and now left with an MOV file that you want to convert to FLV. Just get the free Riva FLV encoder and relax. The Riva encoder even lets you select parts of the video that you want to convert to FLV and crop the rest.
I have three small video clips that I download from Google Videos and now want to join them into one single video - How do I merge FLV files ?
I am not aware of any free software that let you join FLV files other than the expensive Macromedia Flash Professional. However, here's a simple workaround to join several flv video file - convert individual flv files to avi using Super [as mentioned above], then join the multiple Avi files into a single avi file using free VirtualDub and finally convert this avi back to FLV using Riya FLV encoder.
How do I watch Youtube Video on my iPod, PSP or Television ?
Again we'll make use of the Super Video Encoder mentioned above. Just convert the FLV file into a corresponding format (like Apple iPod or Sony PSP or MPG) and transfer it to your gadget.
I want to add my own music and photos to a Youtube video clip but don't have the budget to buy Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro or Macromedia Flash. Can I still create my custom video for free ?
Chances are that your computer already has a full fledged video editing application installed by default - it's called Windows Movie Maker and should satisfy the needs of most hobbyist film makers. You can add titles, transitions and even certain video effects.
I don't like the FLV Video Player provided by Google Video. Can I create my custom skin for embedding the video clip ?
The online video sharing space has exploded in the recent months with the entry of new players like Metacafe, Blip.tv, Revver, Yahoo Videos and so on. Millions of video clips, technology shows, music albums, movie trailers are available on these video sites for online viewing or they can also be downloaded to your hard drive for offline viewing.
The downloaded video files are generally in FLV format (Flash Video) which is an Adobe standard for video compression. It has fast becoming the web standard for delivering online video (replacing Apple QuickTime, AVI, Windows Media and Real rm formats) because Flash Video can be viewed inside Macromedia Flash Players which is shipped by default with most web browsers. [Flash Video Learning Guide]
A lot of us know how to download Google Videos or Youtube videos from the internet but what do we do next ? Can we make the FLV video files searchable ? How do you edit FLV files ? All your questions and concerns are answered here:
It's strange that none of the video sharing sites provide a simple one-click button to download videos. So we will have to take the help of easy workarounds to download the videos. Here are three different ways to download any video from the internet though internally, they employ the same hack (Right-click -> "Save Target As" OR copy the link into your download manager. but change the file extension to .flv)
Approach 1: The easiest way is to copy your video URL and paste it on KeepVid Lite. When you click submit, you will be provided with a link to save the video as an FLV file.
Approach 2: Bookmark this Link or drag it your browser links toolbar. When you want to download a certain video, open the link in your browser and click the KeepVid button.
Approach 1: The easiest way is to copy your video URL and paste it on KeepVid Lite. When you click submit, you will be provided with a link to save the video as an FLV file.
Approach 2: Bookmark this Link or drag it your browser links toolbar. When you want to download a certain video, open the link in your browser and click the KeepVid button.
Approach 3: For Firefox Users - Install the VideoDownloader Extension from Mozilla Addons website - It downloads all embedded objects on a webpage including the video clips.
What naming convention do I adopt for saving video files on my hard disk ?
With time, as the collection of FLV files on your computer grows in size, it may get impossible to keep a track of the video files. The drawback of flv files is that they are neither searchable nor indexed by media gallery software like Picasa or Apple iTunes. Hence, an intelligent approach would be save the files in such a manner that it becomes obvious even for a layman to understand what the video is all about.
Try to include a short context and duration of the video in the name. For instance, the Google Factory Tour video is 5hours, 39minutes and 41seconds long. You can save it as Google_Factory_Tour_053941.flv or GoogleFactoryTour_053941.flv.
How can I play FLV files on my computer - They don't open with Windows Media Player or Winamp or iTunes ?
You can download free FLV players to watch FLV files locally. My favorite FLV player has a simple and easy-to-remember name - FLV Player. Another nice alternative is the Riva FLV player.
I download a large 30 minute video from Youtube but I am only interested in the last 10 minutes of the clip. How do I split a large FLV file into smaller playable video clips?
This is the most common question among video enthusiasts - they want to split a large FLV video file into smaller chunks for editing or resharing only the interesting tidbits on the internet. To break an FLV file, get the free FLV Parser - a tiny command-line tool to split FLVs into pieces. Its intended use is to convert a large FLV into a series of shorter FLVs based on a series of millisecond-based timecodes. Using the -s switch will split the audio and video of the outputted files; the audio track will be extracted as a series of MP3 files, and the short FLVs produced will have no audio track at all.
How do I convert FLV videos to Flash SWF or Windows AVI or Apple Quicktime mov formats ?
The free Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer software from Super can convert FLV files to practically any other video format including MP4, MOV H.264, AVI, ASF or Flash SWF animations. Download here.
How do I convert my AVI MPEG MOV 3GP movie clips back to FLV format ?
Say you complete editing your movie in Windows Movie Maker or Avid and now left with an MOV file that you want to convert to FLV. Just get the free Riva FLV encoder and relax. The Riva encoder even lets you select parts of the video that you want to convert to FLV and crop the rest.
I have three small video clips that I download from Google Videos and now want to join them into one single video - How do I merge FLV files ?
I am not aware of any free software that let you join FLV files other than the expensive Macromedia Flash Professional. However, here's a simple workaround to join several flv video file - convert individual flv files to avi using Super [as mentioned above], then join the multiple Avi files into a single avi file using free VirtualDub and finally convert this avi back to FLV using Riya FLV encoder.
How do I watch Youtube Video on my iPod, PSP or Television ?
Again we'll make use of the Super Video Encoder mentioned above. Just convert the FLV file into a corresponding format (like Apple iPod or Sony PSP or MPG) and transfer it to your gadget.
I want to add my own music and photos to a Youtube video clip but don't have the budget to buy Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro or Macromedia Flash. Can I still create my custom video for free ?
Chances are that your computer already has a full fledged video editing application installed by default - it's called Windows Movie Maker and should satisfy the needs of most hobbyist film makers. You can add titles, transitions and even certain video effects.
Here's how to edit a Youtube video inside WIndows Movie Maker - First convert the FLV to AVI format using Super Encoding software, then add your own pictures, music or video clips and finally export the completed file into any video format of your choice. It's that simple.
I don't like the FLV Video Player provided by Google Video. Can I create my custom skin for embedding the video clip ?
The problem with official video players, like the ones provided by YouTube or Metacafe, is that they cannot be customized and the embedded video content is completely contolled by the video hosting site. You cannot personalize the layout of the FLV players like the color settings, logos, etc. Hence the best solution is to get your creative juices flowing and design the skin of the FLV player yourself. Instructions are available at Adobe Website. You may have to have to download trial version of Macromedia Dreamweaver and Flash Professional software for this trick to work.
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