Checking for Windows XP Firewall

To see if you're running Windows Firewall:

1. Click on the Windows Start button, and select Control Panel. The Control panel window will appear.
2. Click on the Security Center link. The Security Center will appear.
3. If the Firewall header says ON, you are running Windows Firewall.

Configuring Windows XP Firewall

If you're running Windows Firewall and having connection problems in Firefox:

1. Click on the Windows Start button, and select Control Panel. The Control panel window will appear.
2. Click on the Security Center link. The Security Center will appear.
3. If the Firewall header says ON, you are running Windows Firewall.
4. Ensure that Don't allow exceptions is not selected.
5. Click to select the Exceptions tab.
6. Find Mozilla Firefox (or firefox.exe) in the list of programs. If it is there, click to select it. If not, skip the next step.
7. With Mozilla Firefox selected, click the Delete button. Confirm that you want to delete the entry.
8. Click the Add Program... button.
9. In the Add a Program window, click the Browse... button.
10. Navigate to the Firefox program directory (e.g. C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\) and double-click on firefox.exe.
11. Click the OK button to close the Add a Program window.
12. Click the OK button to close the Windows Firewall Settings window.

Source:- http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Configuring+Windows+Firewall

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Computer hackers accessed the home e-mail account of Indiana University South Bend's arts dean over the weekend and sent dozens of e-mails to students and others containing links to a drug designed to treat sexual dysfunction.

Arts dean Marvin Curtis says he noticed the problem Saturday and placed a notice on his Facebook wall to alert friends that he had found a computer virus on his laptop and that e-mails linking to Viagra marketing sites were not from him.

Curtis says he has downloaded antivirus software and hopes that fixes the problem.

Source:Chicagotribune.com

Your internet cafe might be housing a potential security threat-called the Typhoid adware, it works in similar fashion to Typhoid Mary, the first identified healthy carrier of typhoid fever who spread the disease to dozens of people in the New York area in the early 1900s.

Adware is software that sneaks onto computers often when users download things, for example fancy tool bars or free screen savers, and it typically pops up lots and lots of ads.

Typhoid adware needs a wireless Internet cafe or other area where users share a non-encrypted wireless connection.

"Typhoid adware is designed for public places where people bring their laptops," says Aycock. "It's far more covert, displaying advertisements on computers that don't have the adware installed, not the ones that do," he added.

The study demonstrated how Typhoid adware works as well as presents solutions on how to defend against such attacks.

Typically, adware authors install their software on as many machines as possible.

But Typhoid adware comes from another person's computer and convinces other laptops to communicate with it and not the legitimate access point.

Then the Typhoid adware automatically inserts advertisements in videos and web pages on the other computers.

Meanwhile, the carrier sees no advertisements and doesn't know that he or she is infected, just like symptomless Typhoid Mary.

U of C researchers have come up with a number of defenses against Typhoid adware.

One is protecting the content of videos to ensure that what users see comes from the original source. Another is a way to "tell" laptops they are at an Internet cafe to make them more suspicious of contact from other computers.

"When you go to an Internet cafe, you tell your computer you are there and it can put up these defenses. Anti-virus companies can do the same thing through software that stops your computer from being misled and re-directed to someone else," said Aycock.

The study was presented at the EICAR conference in Paris, a conference devoted to IT security.

Source: news.yahoo.com

Users of Apple's iPad tablet computer have been targeted by hackers with an email offering a fake iTunes update that downloads malware to their Windows PCs, internet security firm BitDefender warned yesterday.

The company reported on its official blog that several iPad users who also owned a Windows PC had received an email with the subject line 'iTunes Software Update'.

The email contained a link that led users to a fake download page, designed to precisely resemble the real iTunes page. BitDefender identifies the malware as Backdoor.Bifrose.AADY.

It's the first piece of malicious software aimed at taking advantage of the current buzz surrounding Apple's new tablet computer, which has seen record sales since it was launched on 3 April.

Sabina Datcu of BitDefender wrote on the company's Malware City blog that “The figures make it clear as daylight why malware creators were so keen on crashing this promising party. To carry conviction, the e-mail emphasizes that users should keep their iPad software updated 'for best performance, newer features and security'.”

According to the blog, the malware infects a Windows PC's explorer.exe file and opens a backdoor to the computer, allows hackers to access the system.


Source: itproportal.com

This is one question that asked many people. "Should we get a desktop or laptop?" It’s depending on your requirement. Desktop and Laptop both are same computer.
For and unfortunately, most uses may require the power of a desktop pc. I will list some of the more common uses of a pc and discuss the specs needed.

Office Uses:
Mostly use in office like Microsoft Word, Excel, etc. We also use for mail checking, store data and use like small server. This type of computer have not heavy requirement for extra use. You have able to handle very easy that type of any new desktop or laptop.


Multimedia Applications Uses:
laptops are mostly used for listening to music or watching movies. The only times that it will not be adequate is if you want better components like a much larger and better screen resolution and better sound quality. If you want high resolution viewing, you can connect a laptop to another separate monitor but then you might not be able to go with a higher resolution because of your graphics hardware on the laptop. Also, your sound options are very limited with laptops. All laptops use onboard cards that are adequate for most uses but for the highest sound quality, you will not have it and your external component options are very limited. For desktops, you have a wide range of choices for internal PCI slot upgrades. To sum it up, for high resolution and high definition audio, you may have to go with desktops.

PC Games:
Here I am not talking free in build games in your computer or laptop Solitaire or any other simple game. We are talking about PC Games like Counterstrike, Crysis, Sins of a Solar Empire etc. If you want batter playing of pc games then you have required heavy hardware it will depend on the graphics hardware.

Multimedia Encoding:
If you are looking any video or audio production and encoding, you better go with desktops. You will need lots of hard drive space and most laptops do not have choices for very large drives. You will also need a very good processor and a powerful video card will help too.
The most important are computer installation with Latest OS.

I will introduce some latest operating system features and what are the features that a particular operating system should have used. Some of these features are a part of all operating systems, while some of them may or may not be available in the computer operating system you are using. So I will give you online computer support 24x7 every time.

Managing Hardware/Software
As already know, it is the operating system that causes the software and hardware in a computer to interact with each other. It is also the platform that causes one software in the computer to communicate with another. Once the computer operating system in a computer loads during the booting up process, other application software’s can be loaded into the computer.

Consistent Application Program Interface
Application Program Interface which software development peoples refer to as APIs allow the applications those run on one computer to run on another computer having the same computer operating system. It is important that the operating system has a consistent API. Undoubtedly, every operating system will have deferent type’s requirements, but it should be enough to support computer hardware’s.

Program Execution
The operating system to execute all the types of computer programs running in it. It is a rather more complicated process. It allows to multitasking and allows different programs to run at the same time and share the many types of computer system resources. Here, it requires allotting RAM space to different computer applications running on the computer. The execution of more than one program may also require the computer operating system to prioritize the operations running on the computer system.

Memory Management
we already defined in the part on program execution, it is up to the computer operating system to provide memory to the different programs running on the computer system. It has to prioritize and allocate memory to each application. Even when data is saved in a secondary storage device, it is the computer operating system that decides how that particular chunk of information should be stored.

Networking
Computers need to communicate with each other via networking. A computer without Internet is not even imaginable. It is the task of the computer operating system to provide the required networking features. It allow to you used two or more computers to connect and form a network or connect to the Internet. More on computer networking.

Security
Computer system security that an operating system should provide is undoubtedly one of its most important features. We used passwords setting for logging in, to providing firewall protection; everything comes under the tasks of an operating system. Many network utilities may require printer sharing, file sharing and using TCP/IP protocols. Hence, it becomes very important for the computer operating system to provide proper security so that the computer's security is not compromised in such cases.

From past few days, I was facing several technical issues with my computer like, blue screen error, system slow down, applications taking long time in launching, system crash, etc. I decided to contact iYogi Technical Services for troubleshooting my computer related technical issues, and one of its tech experts resolved my problems in few minutes via remote connection.
Features
Numerous services are offered through online technical support for troubleshooting computers. These services include resolving Internet browsing issues, troubleshooting software and hardware errors, configuration of many applications like Office suite, e-mail, PC optimization, software installation, re-installation and un-installation, Windows upgrade, resolving registry issues, diagnostic and repair services for hardware and software, spyware and virus removal, driver update, etc.
All these services are offered anytime and anywhere. It means you can access online services from any location, provided you have an Internet connection.
Usability
Computer troubleshooting via remote connection offers many benefits like cost effectiveness, availability, instant access, etc. In online technical support, a tech expert accesses your PC via remote connection, after getting your permission. Once he gets access on your system, he starts diagnosing it for finding out the possible causes behind the technical issues.
After completion of diagnosing process, tech expert will carry out the necessary steps to root out your technical issues. In this way, process of computer troubleshooting via online support gets completed.
Limitations
Online technical support offers many benefits as compared to on-site support. In on-site support, you either have to take your system to any service centre, or you have to call any technician at your premises. If you will take your system to any service centre, it would take three to four days in troubleshooting your computer. If you will call any technician at your home, then you have to pay extra for the services.
Therefore, it is wise to go for online tech support to resolve the issues related to computer troubleshooting.