Rest and Reflect

Android SD Card October 23, 2018

Always use an Android SD card in “Portable” mode rather than “Internal Memory” mode. This avoids it being encrypted and therefore the data can be read on any device (in case the phone fails or needs to be factory reset).

Source: http://www.tomsguide.com/forum/id-3525132/filled-memory-card-phone-upgrade-transfer-bigger-card.html#21196385

Docx conversion April 13, 2009

Get Docx2rtf http://www.nativewinds.montana.com/

Youtube to AVI March 9, 2008

http://vixy.net/

Passcards by GRC (Steve Gibson) February 20, 2008

https://www.grc.com/ppp

Clever concept

TED – videos of ideas worth spreading July 21, 2007

http://www.ted.com/index.php/
Photosynth, coolest thing ever! – http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/129

Stream your mp3 collection over the net June 1, 2007

http://www.vibestreamer.com/
Jinzora http://lifehacker.com/software/home-server/geek-to-live-build-an-internet-jukebox-with-jinzora-254178.php
http://subsonic.sourceforge.net

VNC and Hamachi hybrid January 27, 2007

http://www.crossloop.com/

Quick Online File Storage January 11, 2007

http://box.net/ — file storage
http://mihd.net/ — even better?

CPU Info App December 16, 2006

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Rsync November 9, 2006

Just learned how to rsync. Rsync is a program which allows you to download a large file (or directory), and synchronise the original with your copy just by comparing the two files. Hence no need to redownload the whole file again if corrupted or if a small part of it changes. Ingenious.

I needed to use this because I was trying to download the Knoppix Live DVD (over 4GB).

Not having *nix on my computer meant that I have to use cwRsync (a cygwin port of Rsync). Had a bit of difficulty to begin with, but http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Wikilearn/RsyncingALargeFileBeginner explained it all. I just had to guess as to what the correct “module” (non-*nix users read directory) was. Once I had that right, it worked a charm!

Encryption November 8, 2006

Online javascript webpage which encrypts text on the fly:
http://www.fourmilab.ch/javascrypt/javascrypt.html

Slideshow in any web browser October 25, 2006

That supports CSS and Javascript (i.e. most modern browsers).

http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/s5/

Works as well as PowerPoint, but has the advantage of:
being small (portable — just email yourself)
not requiring PowerPoint to be installed on the host computer (although most computers at places likely to need presentations already have PowerPoint installed)
seamlessly integrated into a website
works on any computer that has internet access (or just a browser – pretty much every Mac, Linux or Windows box – if you’re bringing a CD)
doesn’t have all the fancy animation features — which is a good thing, because it saves you from wasting time on those unimportant things

For something simpler, but less exciting, see:

presentations without powerpoint, how I do it

Best Deals in Australia October 7, 2006

http://www.ozbargain.com.au/

$89.00 Brother Mono Laser Printer HL2040
Dick Smith Electronics (NSW)

http://graysonline.com.au
http://www.staticice.com.au
http://www.dealsdirect.com.au
http://www.shopbot.com.au
http://www.techbuy.com.au
http://www.ausprices.com.au

Carry your computer with you on USB October 6, 2006

http://mojopac.com/portal/content/hellomojo.jsp
Great idea, especially if you use it from the very beginning after a fresh Windows install – but I haven’t tried it. Creates a portable Windows XP user profile: i.e. install any application on a USB and have it run wherever you go. (Currently requires Admin privileges.) Too bad it isn’t free! Apparently there are a number of problems with it: see Steve Gibson’s Security Now podcast #62 & #63. See U3 and Moka5 as well.

meanwhile… Secure Browsing:
Net Bank “relatively safely” on a public computer using a Live CD (doesn’t protect you from hardware keyloggers and may not be able to reboot a public computer)

security should be a combination of:
1. a clean/uncompromised interface site (e.g. a clean PC with a clean OS e.g. live CD and clean browser and the correct/unphished website; bank’s site should use strong encryption, virtual keyboard etc.; not using uncertain proxies, firewall – turn off UPnP; appropriate anti-trojan, anti-virus, anti-malware security programs)
2. something you know (a good often changed password)
3. something you have (e.g. a “random number” generator security device; a key)
4. something you are (e.g. fingerprint)

Browsers like Torpark [1] and Browzar [2] are give you a false sense of security. Both run off a USB, and require no installation. However, Torpark uses Tor (which as we know, is like running up a Jolly Roger when you’re not a pirate – asking for trouble! [3]) and Browzar is only a front-end to IE engine. Torpark, by using Tor, may make it difficult or near impossible for your proxy to interpret what you are doing. However, the Tor exit point has fully unencrypted data to play with. Do you trust it? The only advantage Browzar has is that it does not store a history or cache. You are as susceptible as if you were using IE and clearing your history and cache. And really you could just delete that data yourself. (Note: deleted data can be restored.) In the end, neither solution saves you from the keylogger trojan (probably the 2nd biggest threat to online security after plain carelessness poor passwords, not logging out etc.). Torpark and Browzar have their roles, but not when secure browsing is required.
[1] http://www.torrify.com
[2] http://www.browzar.com
[3] http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/German_police_seize_Tor_anonymity_servers

Upload Files Online September 14, 2006

http://www.fileul.com/ — seems quite simple and fast, no need to visit their site, downloads start automatically

HTTPS webpages are NOT always secure August 22, 2006

http://www.michaelhorowitz.com/securesubmit.html

Torrent Meta-Search Sites August 20, 2006

Just use Bit Che instead
http://convivea.com/download.php?id=2

New Computer Software July 29, 2006

Backup Device Drivers — Double Driver

Delete Pre-installed Software — http://www.yorkspace.com/pc-de-crapifier/

Or Reinstall Windows — nliteos.com

Shore up your Windows with patches (eg. Blaster, Sasser, WMF) — http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showforum=89
Use Steve Gibson’s freeware apps — http://www.grc.com/default.htm

Turn off Indexing of individual hard drives
Turn off System Restore
Turn off Autorun for CDs http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article03-018
and other devices:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=75640
http://winguides.com/registry/display.php/1142/

Turn off Administrative Shares — http://support.microsoft.com/kb/288164
Turn off dll Caching — http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/27128/27128.html
Turn off Prefetch — http://www.tweakxp.com/article37028.aspx http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=331520

Turn of useless services — majorgeeks.com/page.php?id=12 http://www.dead-eye.net/WinXP%20Services.htm
http://cybercoyote.org/security/services.shtml

If you’ve got time, read this — http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1590

Run MSCONFIG & HIJACKTHIS to remove anything extraneous — http://www.optimizingpc.com/optimize/msconfig.html http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php

Check your NETSTAT -ano

Update your HOSTS file — http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
Perhaps use a PACS file — http://www.schooner.com/~loverso/no-ads/

Create a secure Admin password & a default user with restricted privileges
Turn off automatic preview in IE and OE

Image your minimalistic, clean OS to a CD or DVD — http://www.partition-saving.com/ http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Back-Up-and-Recovery/DrvImagerXP.shtml http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/utilities.html

Then install the software you want — e.g. Firefox, Foxit, Media Player Classic, Real/Quicktime Alternative, FFDSHOW (Tryouts fork), Kerio (or Comodo) Firewall, Prevx, AVG Free, TrueCrypt, 7zip, Faststone, PopPeeper, DaemonTools, Isobuster, DVD Decrypter, ImgBurn, DVDInfoPro, BurnAtOnce (ideally use small, efficient programs that do not require installation, or write to the registry — see tinyapps.org)

Best Freeware July 20, 2006

http://www.launchy.net/ — program launcher
http://www.foobar2000.org/ — music player
http://www.miranda-im.org/ — instant messenger
http://poppeeper.com/ — email client
http://www.7-zip.org/ — zip
http://www.faststone.org/FSCaptureDetail.htm — screen capture, the only free program i know of that captures scrolling windows

Your Own Website July 8, 2006

host:
http://www.digitalspace.net – excellent reviews great price see here
http://www.aussiehq.com.au [AU]

Content Delivery Network:

Home

Dedicated Server:
http://www.netlogistics.com.au/dedicated/ [AU] founded by http://blog.karthick.net/

Forums:

Home

Free DNS:
http://www.everydns.net/
http://www.dyndns.com/services/dns/dyndns/
http://freedns.afraid.org/

PHP Forum – minimalistic and speedy:
http://www.punbb.org/
http://www.phorum.org/
http://getvanilla.com/

Proxy Test June 18, 2006

http://www.all-nettools.com/toolbox,net
http://stealthtests.lockdowncorp.com/
http://www.samair.ru/

Furl & Del.icio.us Simultaneously June 16, 2006

http://cogdogblog.com/code/marklet_maker.php

http://www.onlywire.com

Ruby on Rails June 16, 2006

Top Ruby on Rails Tutorials

alpha builds – nighties, weeklies, etc. June 16, 2006

Opera: http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/blog/
Firefox: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewforum.php?f=23
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/
VLC: http://nightlies.videolan.org/

Web 2.0 Apps May 24, 2006

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/3006 — DownloadHelper – download Youtube and Google videos
http://dropbox.com/ — file storage
http://www.zamzar.com/ — file format conversion! magnificent!
http://meebo.com/ — web-based IM
http://www.doodle.ch/ — when can you all meet? use this electronic whiteboard
http://writeboard.com/ — collaborative document editing (like MoonEdit)
http://writely.blogspot.com/ — word processor (owned by Google)
http://zohowriter.com — collaborative word processor
http://thumbstacks.com/ — presentation creator
http://vyew.com/ — web conferencing (show others your screen)
http://gliffy.com/ — Visio on the web (draw diagrams/flow-charts)
http://www.livejournal.com/ — interactive blogging
http://www.clipmarks.com/ — social bookmarking
http://www.governmententerprise.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=192300492&pgno=1&queryText=
http://notemesh.com/notemesh.php?a=home — collaborate to make notes for school

Aussie Broadband Speed Test May 16, 2006

http://www.ozspeedtest.com [within Aus]
http://www.testmy.net [more real world]

Some people say real-world test download multiple streams from:
http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/ [probably one of the fastest servers in Aus]

If using iinet – download test files from freezone:
ftp://ftp.iinet.net.au/

Commonly used: Bigpond SpeedTest
http://aus.matrixau.com:81/speedtest/ (Best!)
Or this mirror:
http://bmods.briscomp.org.au/ (2nd Best)
—–
http://users.bigpond.net.au/speedtest/ (3rd Best – but far from the standard of the other two)

Original post:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=488555

Theoretical discussion:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=408784
How to do a nearest server hop

Rarely recommended or used:
http://mc.iinet.net.au/speedtest/
http://www.tcpiq.com/tcpIQ/LineSpeed/Download/

Who Links To Me? May 7, 2006

Wondering who’s referencing your website?
http://www.wholinks2me.com/

How to Find Out Who Links To Your Blog And Why You Need To Know

http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/

Clean your computer April 22, 2006

How much space are those files using?
http://www.werkema.com/software/spacemonger.html
http://www.memecode.com/idisk.php

View IE history and cookies:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/iehv.html
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/internet_explorer_cookies_view.html
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/mzcv.html (Firefox cookies)

Clean Cache:
http://www.buttuglysoftware.com/CleanCache3.html

Or use a browser that does not keep a history or cache:
http://www.browzar.com

Delete temp files:
http://www.danish-shareware.dk/soft/emptemp
http://www.ccleaner.com/
ATF Cleaner http://www.atribune.org/content/view/25/2/
BleachBit http://bleachbit.sourceforge.net/download/windows

Find files fast:
http://www.guyswithtowels.com/dev/apps/fastfind.html

Oops! Undelete:
http://www.geocities.jp/br_kato/ (Restoration! the best and simplest)
http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/uk/welcome.htm (Recovery suite – use when Restoration fails)
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Fundelete.html (Recycle Bin Replacement)

Uninstall:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/myuninst.html
http://www.martau.com/index.php (use when you install and then again when you uninstall – but a slow process)

Clean Registry:
http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm

Edit Registry:
http://www.resplendence.com/registrar

Edit Shell Extension Context Menu:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html

Minimal WinXP installation:
http://www.nliteos.com/nlite.html

Patch WinXP:
http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showforum=89

Best Security Programs April 22, 2006

Partition Snapshot Ghost Backup Restore
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Back-Up-and-Recovery/DrvImagerXP.shtml [free]

Removal Tools
Brute Force Uninstaller – general purpose scripts http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/
Lonny’s Site – http://swandog46.geekstogo.com/
FixWareOut (WareOut and UnSpyPC) – http://swandog46.geekstogo.com/Fixwareout.exe
CWShredder – CoolWebSearch http://www.intermute.com/spysubtract/cwshredder_download.html

Startup Autoruns
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Autoruns.html
http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/strun.html
http://codestuff.netfirms.com/products_starter.html
http://www.diamondcs.com.au/index.php?page=asviewer

Process Explorer/Task Manager (use both)
http://www.neuber.com/taskmanager/
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.html

Intrusion Prevention
Prevx Home

Registry Intrusion Prevention
RegProt http://www.diamondcs.com.au/index.php?page=regprot
RegMon http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Regmon.html

Antivirus – never rely on just one, in fact use all the free ones at various times
NOD32 (Heuristics), Kaspersky (Database) [pay]
Antivir, AVG, Avast, AOL AVS [free]
http://virusscan.jotti.org/ [online]
http://www.virustotal.com/ [online]
http://www.clamwin.com/ [GPL open-source on-demand only]

Antispyware
http://spywarewarrior.com/ [reviews]
http://www.sunbelt-software.com/CounterSpy.cfm [pay]
http://www.webroot.com/consumer/products/spysweeper [pay]
http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/ [pay]
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx [free]

Antihijack
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html [HijackThis]
use with:
http://castlecops.com/CLSID.html [CLSID BHO List]

Antitrojan
Ewido [free]
Trojan Hunter [pay]

Antirootkit

Browsing [Don’t use IE if you can at all help it!!!]
use an alternative browser – Firefox or Opera (both with AdBlock)
use a HOST file – http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
use a PACS file – http://www.schooner.com/~loverso/no-ads/
use a programmable web filter – http://proxomitron.info/ http://proximodo.sourceforge.net/ http://greasemonkey.mozdev.org/

set IE’s security and cookies to the maximum settings
add sites to IE’s restricted list http://www.spywarewarrior.com/uiuc/resource.htm
use a personal FIREWALL – http://www.sunbelt-software.com/Kerio.cfm or http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/ – and use it to block IE, OE, MSN and WMP if you do not use them (or refer your internet connection proxy to a black-hole IP)
if you must use IE use all the max. security settings an if a website doesn’t work add it to the Trusted list (and remove it if no longer needed)

Turn off third party cookies
Turn off drive-by install features
Turn off install third-party extensions
Turn off ActiveX
Use a javascript on/off toggle (like the Firefox NoScript extension)

BTW, if you must use IE: use a front-end/shell. Doesn’t generally provide much increased security, but certainly more usable. http://www.avantbrowser.com or http://www.maxthon.com

use a NAT router (for broadband) – and set its Intrusion Detection settings to max, and check that it’s working at https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

Check your browser’s security – http://bcheck.scanit.be/bcheck/
Always keep your browser up-to-date! As new exploits are invented daily.

Use PeerGuardian to prevent dodgy IPs from connecting to you
http://phoenixlabs.org/pglite/

Display all open ports
Netstat -ano
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/cports.html
http://www.diamondcs.com.au/openports/

Packet Sniffer
http://www.ethereal.com/

Encryption (use only for important/vital/crucial documents)

Security Forums
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/index.php

Makers of Great Freeware Utilities April 3, 2006

http://www.sysinternals.com/
http://www.nirsoft.net/
http://www.analogx.com/contents/news.htm
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~nulifetv/freezip/freeware/index.html

Freeware Beta Files April 3, 2006

http://fileforum.betanews.com/
http://www.filehippo.com/
http://www.filepedia.com/
http://www.oldversion.com/

Australian PSTN Test Numbers March 16, 2006

http://www.accesscomms.com.au/reference/testnumb.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_telephone_numbering_plan

Freeware Video Conversion February 24, 2006

Mencoder/FFmpeg +/- SUPER GUI [free] http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html
ConvertXtoDVD [pay]
WinAVI [pay]

DVDShrink (transcode)
DVDRebuilder (if smaller = re-encoder)

AutoGK

FFDshow Tryouts
FLV (http://www.moitah.net/)

Jahshaka

VirtualDub

Favourite Firefox Extensions September 11, 2005

1. Stylish + FiltersetP [superceded: old Adblock Plus extension – may still use this for additional blocking]
2. FlashGot
3. GreaseMonkey + Jumplink script [superceded: old Jumplink extension]
4. NoScript
5. About This Site or CacheIt [superceded: Gcache & Methusalem (aka Wayback with some minor modifications)]
6. ShowIP
7. PageAddict (limit your timewasting)

HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Paste and Go
Scrapbook or Zotero
Open link in…
Launchy
Google Pagerank Status (or SearchStatus by quirk.biz for added features)
Download Statusbar
DownThemAll
BugMeNot
TabMix
Thumbs
SessionSaver
Extended Link Properties (similar to Moveax InternetFileSize)
IE Tab
Tiny Menu

OTHERS (used from time to time)
Furl tools
autositemap
User Agent Switcher

SECURITY NOT TESTED
McAfee Site Advisor http://www.siteadvisor.com/download/ff.html
Netcraft Anti-phishing toolbar http://toolbar.netcraft.com/install

Undelete Recover Lost Files August 6, 2005

Recommended

Restoration http://www.geocities.jp/br_kato/ http://www.snapfiles.com/get/restoration.html http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html
Testdisk http://www.cgsecurity.org/testdisk.html
File Recovery http://www.pcinspector.de/
Virtual Lab Data Recovery http://www.binarybiz.com/vlab/windows.php

Delete “Securely” (so it can’t be recovered)
http://www.tolvanen.com/eraser/ (up to version 5.3) –> http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/
http://www.scar5.com/
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/SDelete.html

Password Recovery
http://www.elcomsoft.com/prs.html

Truth About Anonymity August 4, 2005

I believe everyone has a right to privacy. But does that mean you and I should be using one of a multitude of “privacy products”? That has some problems.

First, what benefit would you gain from anonymity unless you have something to hide?

Second, because the people who use anonymous services like {http://freenet.sourceforge.net/ http://mute-net.sourceforge.net/ http://entropy.stop1984.com/ and http://www.anonymous-p2p.org/} are the minority of netizens, using them highlights you as a “high-risk” user. In a way you are associating yourself with a small number of users whose motives may not be the most legitimate, legal or virtuous. This increases the likelihood that someone will be interested in finding out exactly what you are up to. Same goes for anonymous proxies (or onion routers like JAP and TOR http://tor.eff.org/ http://torpark.nfshost.com/). [Update: TORPark http://www.torrify.com/ might be the most efficient way to use TOR – no installation required.]

Third, although it is much harder to track you if you are using one of those services, it is not impossible.

Finally consider what the proliferation of “anonymous” services may mean — people may be able to commit all sorts of crimes or misdemeanors on the internet and not have to be afraid of retribution. What kind of society would we create if everybody is answerable to nobody? All of a sudden the “ideal” Utopian concept of perfect privacy doesn’t taste so sweet. Take it from me, we function better with someone looking over our shoulder from time to time.

If you want to talk and share with your friends in relative privacy, the internet is a relatively safe place. True, someone can watch you, but that’s only if they want to. Encrypting your conversations etc. adds relative security against your average peeping tom. Group social applications such as http://www.wirehog.com/ are an interesting concept too.

Bottom line: if you want to use a service that protects your privacy — stay away from all those programs out there on the internet made by mysterious strangers you know nothing about. That’s like giving your house-keys to a stranger to look after when you go on holiday. Code your own protection, or at least use open-source software that doesn’t rely on certain specific servers, so that you what’s going on behind the scenes.

Update [Nov 9]: for a cautionary tale on the dangers of using/offering anonymous services: http://www.rose-hulman.edu/Users/groups/Thorn/HTML/current/frontpage/1.html

Update [Apr 26]: These programs also give you the illusion of internet security/privacy. And in fact can make you take more risks and give out more information than you normally would. And it does not discount the fact that your ISP is aware of what you’re doing, you are susceptible to the “over your shoulder” security breach, and there are other things such as keyloggers, cookies and malicious HTML code which can breach your security. And it does not prevent you from downloading viruses, trojans, or other malicious software etc. Never use a public terminal to check anything remotely private.

Emergency Email July 14, 2005

Instant – no signup (from most instant to most permanent)
Spam.la – all messages publically seen (unique concept – all other services allow you to see messages sent to a know address)
Mailinator.com – emails stored for a few hours, mailbox max. 10 messages, message max. 100k
Pookmail.com – emails stored for 24h
Mytrashmail.com – emails stored 2d-2w depending on size, message max. 500k
Dodgeit.com – emails stored forever

Disposable – forwarding
Jetable.org – self-destructing in 24h, 48h, 4d, 6d or 8d (you choose), you choose the address
Spamgourmet.com – self-destructing after a certain number of emails (you choose, max. 20, but can be refilled if desired), bidirectional (you can reply with this address), you choose the address
Sneakemail.com – bidirectional, never expires, you close the email address, set filter rules, ugly addresses, message max. 150k

Others – not tested (alphabetical)
Kasmail.com
Spambob.com
Spamday.com – short term, needs signup, 24h

Read POP3 mail
mail2web.com

Website Signups
bugmenot.com