Social media sharing buttons included in blogs allow companies to track your surfing habits even if you do not click on them, some of these buttons will insert a tracking cookie in your browser and when you visit other sites it will be notify them of other places you have been visiting, some companies will even create your online profile justifying it saying that they want to serve you targeted advertising, the problem with the scheme is that the user has never consented to Internet browsing habits tracking, many people do not realize that in order to have a cookie from site A they don’t really need to visit site A, third party cookies can be inserted in user’s browsers by visiting any site.
ShareMeNot Firefox privacy addon
Unlike other Firefox privacy addons like NoScript or Ghostery, ShareMeNot will not remove the social media sharing buttons, it keeps them usable while blocking their tracking cookies unless you specifically approve them in the settings. The supported social media buttons at the moment are Facebook, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, Twitter,Google +1 and Digg, this addon is part of a research project from the University of Washington (US).
Knowing what is running on RAM memory when the system is live not only helps you find out computer load and what programs are taking up most of your expensive limited RAM memory, it also helps to spot malware, which often runs in RAM memory.
RAMMap RAM Memory Analyser
RAMMap is a 27Kb freeware from Microsoft Sysinternals that will give you exhaustive information on processes, priorities, physical pages and file details, everything is orderly displayed and classified in tabs, its advanced memory usage analysis is a little geeky, experts will love the detailed data reports that include memory load and path, newbies will benefit of this software by gaining a good understanding on how Windows manages and allocates RAM memory, if you are troubleshooting computer problems this program might be a convenient tool, memory snapshots can be saved as .rmp, a proprietary file extension unique to RAMMap.
You can use a remote webcam to watch your pets at home, set up a virtual baby monitoring system or just for home surveillance while you are away, this is a good and cheap way to secure your house setting up a spy webcam and have it to activate on motion detection without the need for expensive cabled CCTV that can be spotted a mile away.
After signing up for a UGOlog account you will need to register your webcam with them, this is easy to do, any brand will work even IP webcams, there is no need for software downloads the setup process is carried out in UGOlog servers, once it is done you will be able to monitor your home or business in real time and record everything or schedule your webcam to start recording at a certain time or if the webcam has a motion sensor set it up to detect intruders, its RSS feed able to notify you of webcam changes can be the alarm warning you that someone just entered your home.
UGOlog provides you with a simple to use web browser interface to access the webcam broadcasting, recording and settings, the interface can manage more than one webcam and it includes a timeline and history archive which is stored at UGOlog servers, this can be accessed from any PC with internet access all you need is your UGOlog username and password.
Remote webcam surveillance UGOlog
It is possible to take webcam screenshots instead of continuous video surveillance recording, taking screenshots will save hard disk space when storing them. The free service is capped in data storage, with paid for options giving you more space allowing for more webcam snapshots to be taken per hour and more cameras to be connected.
Cryptnos is a small open source program to create pseudo-random passwords out of cryptographic hashes (MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512, RIPEMD-160, Whirlpool and Tiger 1995 original), it associates a website domain name with the passphrase of your choice and combines it with a hashing algorithm with as many iterations as you like, to create a unique password as randomly as it is possible using software, the user is able to specify what characters the created password can contain, i.e. numeric, alphanumeric, and specify the password length.
Open source password generator CrypNos
Generated passwords are never stored and the parameters used to create them are kept encrypted with AES256 making it easy to securely export and import the settings to another computer, a platform independent Java version of Cryptonos is in future plans, at the moment you can use a Windows installable version that gives you help tooltips hoovering the mouse over the input boxes, an Android phone version without support for SD cards due to security reasons, and a webpage with configurable settings to decide on how to create your random passwords online without needing to install anything and on the go.
The program download page includes the software digital signature, a good practise that not many software distribution sites use, of use to check if anyone has modified the program you are about to download and changed it with another version full of malware.
BTW: The lion in the background is my desktop wallpaper and not part of the program 🙂
The most common way to access the Internet for home users is through DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) a standard protocol ( RFC 1531 ) that assigns dynamic (changing) IP addresses to the host, this is done automatically and saves the ISP the need for human intervention, a computer can get a new IP address every time it reconnects to the network, DHCP keeps a central database with the IPs that have been assigned to avoid giving the same IP to different devices which would cause network problems with data packets not knowing what way to go.
Just because your old IP has been given away to someone else this doesn’t mean that your activities have not been logged and you are not traceable, a database with the customer ID linking him to the leased IP with times and dates at which that particular IP was assigned to the customer will be kept, either for troubleshooting or legal reasons, some ISPs could keep this information for years, possibly no more than two as data retention laws, where they exist, do not go that far.
Renew a computer IP disconnecting your router
A DHCP allocated address can be renewed wherever your ISP configuration servers decide it needs to be renewed, even while you surf the Internet (unconventional), or you can force your ISP to give you a new IP. Disconnecting the router (on/off button) for a couple of minutes will finish the IP lease,you are likely to get a new IP when you reconnect to the network and your old IP will have been assigned to someone else.
If you do not get a new IP address after disconnecting and reconnecting your router from the network, try to leave your router disconnected for longer, a few hours to make sure, best done overnight, your chances of being given a new IP by your ISP (DHCP) will improve the longer your device has been disconnected.
Renew a computer IP to using Windows cmd
To renew your computer’s IP address in Windows launch cmd, go to Windows search and type in cmd or command.com, make sure to run cmd as administrator otherwise you won’t be able to get a new IP.
Windows cmd command launch
At the command prompt type: ipconfig (click Enter) if you have more than one device connected to your router (wireless and Ethernet) type ipconfig /all (Optional step to see your current IP address)
ipconfig /all shows all connected media
At the command prompt type: ipconfig /release (click Enter)>>>>This step will disconnect you from the network and your computer IP address will show as “Media disconnected”
ipconfig release disconnect IP
At the command prompt type: ipconfig /renew (click Enter) >>>>Now exit (type exit and click Enter) wait a couple of minutes for a new IP to be assigned to your computer
Windows ipconfig /renew gets new IP
Renew computer IP using the router interface
Login into router administration launching your browser and typing in the router IP (normally http://192.168.1.1/), the router user and password could be admin:admin or something else depending on brand, enter your router brand on an Internet searcher to find out the default password.
Once inside the router management interface release your IP, every manufacturer has a different way to do this, there is no golden rule about where to find this setting, when you have found it, turn off the router, switches and all network cards, leave it off overnight and switch it back on the next day remembering to enter the router management interface once again to renew your computer IP.
Renew computer IP troubleshooting
Some ISPs assign IPs based on a device MAC address, in those cases the only for you to get a new IP will be changing your network card or using special software to fake your computer MAC address.
If you type ipconfig at the command prompt and see that your IP starts with 169.254.*.* then you are not connected to the Internet, Windows will assign you a 168.254.*.* IP when the computer can not connect to a DHCP server, this IP is called an APIPA address (Automatic Private IP Addressing).
If after disconnecting your router from the network overnight and reconnecting next day in the morning you still get the same IP call your ISP and ask them how long do you need to be disconnected in order to renew the computer IP.
Try disabling your firewall and antivirus if ipconfig /renew does not work as it can cause problems renewing your IP by blocking ports, in rare occasions it could also be that your network card drivers need to be updated.
LightBeam is a Firefox addon that will show you how tracking cookies behave, it helps to educate users about how much personal data is being collected without their knowledge, many people do not realise that tracking cookies share data in between websites, this addon will show with grey dots legitimate cookies that store settings and tracking cookies that monitor what sites you visit on the web with red dots, and arrows indicating the traffic direction.
This privacy addon shows a real time visualization of companies, analytic software, social networking sites and others tracking users across the web as they go from page to page, the extension launches the visualization website in a new tab and it remains open as the user surfs, it shows the user that advertising networks like Doubleclick (Google property) insert cookies that know what you do in a variety of unrelated websites belonging to different companies, aka tracking cookie, having a cookie sharing data across sites advertisers can build a personal profile with personal tastes based on what one has been looking at, this data can then be used to personalize adverts or sold.
Lightbeam Internet tracking visualizer
A privacy plugin like Lightbeam is useful to see for yourself all of the data that tracking cookies collect and share about you or to show your friends how they are being monitored on the web.
Internet browser Do Not Track
Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer browsers all have a built-in do not track feature allowing users to opt out tracking websites sending out a signal in the HTTP headers indicating this preference, but it relies on advertising networks honouring it, while the major players do, there are still many companies left that ignore the Do Not Track choice as it is not compulsory by law.
To turn on Do Not Track in Firefox: Go to Firefox>Options>Privacy and tick the checkbox “Tell websites I do not want to be tracked”
To turn on Do Not Track in Internet Explorer (IE 9 and above only): Visit Microsoft Do Not Track test page scroll down and download the tracking protection list.
To turn on Do Not Track in Safari: Go to Develop>Send Do Not Track HTTP Header and click on it.
Once you have instructed websites not to track down your Internet browsing habits you could see the same adverts more often as nobody should know if they have already been shown to you at other websites, websites you visit could also get less money with Do Not Track visitors, targeted advertising commands higher dollar than random banners.
Autorun is a Windows feature that indicates the operating system what action must be carried out when a drive is mounted, i.e. USB external drive, thumbdrive, CD-Rom, according to the latest BitDefender report autorun is also one of the most exploited methods to insert malware in computers, the Conficker worm for example created an autorun trojan on removable drives attached to the infected machine, autorun command, i.e. view, play file menu options, is executed without user intervention which is meant to be helpful but it carries a security risk being able to execute malware too.
BitDefender USB Immunizer
BitDefender USB Immunizer will warn you if autorun is enabled in your computer offering you to disable it with a single click, it will then create an Autorun.inf folder on your chosen drive (thumbdrive, SD card, etc) this file will stop malware from auto launching and will prevent itself from being overwritten by another program storing a hidden folder and other files inside Autorun.inf (where autorun commands are) making it hard for malware to locate and erasing it, if you ever need to erase the file yourself you can do so booting from a Linux live CD which will override windows file permissions.
An alternative to USB Immunizer preventing malware from launching exploiting Windows autorun feature is the open source project “No Autorun” which locks the default Autorun.inf file as opposed to creating its own like BitDefender does.
