Windows File Protection (WFP), first introduced with Windows Millennium, (Windows Vista uses something called Windows Resource Protection) is a built system that detects the replacement and overwriting of system files, caused by malware or badly written software, if system files where to be erased it would cause continuous operating system crashes and even prevent it from booting up. Windows File Protection can not be turned off by users (unless using a kernel debugger).
After uninstalling a program you will find junk files left behind due to a substandard uninstaller, many times those files can not be manually erased with Windows complaining that they are locked, another explanation for locked files is corrupted files or changed file permissions, it is also possible that folders pointing to an invalid name or to an extremely long path can give you an error when you attempt to erase them, and there are malware files locking themselves in to prevent you from erasing infected files.
FilExile erase locked files
Erasing locked files
FileExile is an easy to use open source program that will get rid of hard to erase folders and files, all you have to do is to locate the hard to erase file or folder, select it and click on “Delete“, you will not even need to reboot your computer. FileExile allows you to log all operations to keep track of what has been erased.
I have also managed to erase locked files using a simple secure data shredding application this gets around Windows File Protection most times and circumvents Windows recycle bin.
This lightweight system monitoring software (802Kb) supervises the programs running in your PC, it will create a snapshot of the critical files in your operating system and warn you if anything has changed, it uses heuristics, based on file behaviour, to detect zero day attacks. WinPatrol has a tabbed easy to navigate interface. Inside the “StartUp Programs” tab you will see a list of the software that starts at boot time, double clicking on any of the program names will give you further information on them, with another click you can disable a start up program or decide to delay its launch, this can speed up your Windows boot up time.
WinPatrol will stop changes without your permission in the registry, scheduled tasks, IE Addons, ActiveX controls and more, hidden files will be exposed and if a program has changed a file association, WinPatrol can restore it. Unlike other antispyware software WinPatrol does not scan your hard disk for malicious files it monitors the system files behaviour instead, this will minimize conflicts with other computer security software you are running. WinPatrol also has a privacy feature to stop Internet tracking cookies allowing you to manage your cookies and erase them based on cookie name using keyword filtering.
WinPatrol system monitoring tool
If you suspect you have malware in your computer or notice a sluggish PC, you can use WinPatrol to look at the software running and kill unwanted background processes, WinPatrol it is a good complimentary tool to stop malware. Together with a good antivirus and firewall, this software will help you control how your computer system files work, some of the features like real time monitoring and access to a database with information about cryptic files and what they do are only available with the non free Plus version of WinPatrol.
This security app consists of a front end application implementing Linux IP tables (IP packet filtering at kernel level) to stop unauthorized outgoing Internet connections, unlike other so called “Android firewall” applications that only block SMS messages and calls, Droidwall really blocks app Internet access.
A benefit of blocking apps Internet access, besides security, is that you will not waste your bandwidth and battery with unknown call home data connections that some developers embed in their apps, Droidwall lets you turn off 3G and Wifi access, with 4G support, for any application, if you don’t trust an app installed in your smartphone disable its Internet access, you can log what app is accessing the Internet and review it later making sure there are no malicious hacking or unwanted Internet activities going on in your phone.
Droidwall can be password protected so that only the phone owner can change the settings, it is easily configurable, with a whitelist mode where nothing is allowed onto the Internet and any app desiring Internet connection will need an approval first, and a blacklist mode where Internet access is available for all apps and the user needs to select what applications to block.
Free Android firewall Droidwall
Droidwall default firewall method is the whitelist mode which is safer, if you modify the settings make sure to tap on “Apply rules” after the changes or they will not take effect. This Android firewall app does not work in the background continuously consuming battery, once the rules have been saved the app gets out of the way and will not waste battery power.
Note: App requires a rooted device for installation.
Freenet is a free P2P software designed from the ground up for anonymous file sharing, it is targeted at those who want to exercise free speech without fear of censorship or retribution, besides anonymous filesharing Freenet also lets you to publish websites and take part in online bulletin boards that are only accessible to those who use the software.
The network is decentralized without any central hub, shared files are stored encrypted in different computers around the world, the default folder where shared files are stored is called “datastore“, the size of this folder, just like bandwidth made available, is determined by the user during installation and it can go from a few Megabytes up to dozens of Gigabytes. Because all the stored data is encrypted Freenet users do not know what they are sharing and have no saying on what is being shared, this allows for denial of knowledge, while some people will be sharing Linux distributions, others could be storing copyrighted work but they will not be aware of it because the contents in the disk are encrypted and the user can not see them, communications in between nodes is encrypted too.
Files in Freenet are kept or deleted depending on popularity, if something isn’t downloaded for some days, Freenet will make way for new uploads.
Freenet Linkageddon site directory
How to Install Freenet
The software is a small 13MB download and it is recommended that you have 650MB of free disk space to store the files being shared, different languages can be chosen during installation, I would recommend you to change the default installation directory somewhere else easy to find, the default folders is set to install in between Windows system folders.
Once you have installed Freenet, if you have a proper firewall blocking outgoing connections (ie not Windows firewall), you will get a few warnings about Java attempting to access the Internet, you will need to authorize this, after that your Internet browser will launch and a wizard will guide you during the set up of your Freenet node, it took me no more than 5 minutes altogether, Freenet has no fancy GUI it operates from inside your browser but it gets the job done easily.
Note: Freenet website has been blocked by the Chinese Government for years.
How to be Anonymous on Freenet
It is strongly recommended that you do not use the same browser that you normally use to surf the Internet for Freenet (Freenet runs inside the browser), a malicious script while surfing the Internet could break with your anonymity and find out what Freenet sites you have visited, Freenet works well with all major browsers (except IE), just download any other. When you first get started with Freenet you will have to use the “connect to strangers” option in order to find something of value to download, as soon as you make 5 friends on Freenet choose the high security settings called “only connect to friends“, it needs a minimum of 5 friends for this to work and it makes tracing data back to you extremely difficult.
This anonymous file sharing software include plugins to extend its anonymity service, like for example Freemail, a messaging system where mails are sent over Freenet encrypted and anonymously, Freemail makes it very difficult for others to learn who you are communicating with. Freenet plugins can be fetched over the network to get around ISP censorship (i.e. China), you should be careful about what plugins you install, these are not necessarily approved by Freenet developers and could endanger your P2P anonymity.
I attempted to use Freenet while running a VPN and Freenet stopped working, I think this is due to the TUN/TAP drivers that OpenVPN uses and Freenet might also be using, I noticed that without the VPN active Freenet forged ahead, in my experience it is incompatible to run Freenet and a VPN at the same time, however Freenet FAQ does not say anything about this, I can’t guarantee 100% it was something else.
Freenet anonymous file sharing
Freenet advantadges
Decentralized filesharing, even if one server goes down the content will still exist
Files shared by users are stored encrypted nobody knows what they share (helps reduce legal liability)
Self regulated filesharing software keeps popular files and erases files that nobody downloads
Communications in between Freenet nodes is anonymous and encrypted
Anonymous discussion boards and website publishing can be done on top of P2P file sharing
Freenet Disadvantages
There are lots of offensive material around
When using high anonymity settings filesharing is slow (data has to be routed around nodes)
It can daunting for newbies, the concepts are not easy to understand
Conclusion on anonymous P2P over Freenet
Freenet is as close as one can get to real P2P anonymity, the network can be slow at times due to the data being bounced around nodes but anonymous discussion boards, directories with links to find content, and anonymous email over the network make up for it. This is one of the best darknets that exist for anonymous file sharing in P2P, when used accurately, Freenet is for file sharing what the tor proxy is for anonymous Internet browsing.
I only found two downsides, the software can be hard to understand and speed is slow, other than that this darknet is brilliant.
Freenet speed improves a lot after a few hours! Do not give up on it due to speed, the longer you run it, the quicker downloading files over Freenet will be.
UPDATE 2015: Link to Freenet removed, this software has been cracked by law enforcement. Avoid!
Computer forensics is a branch of digital forensic science associated with investigations to recover, identifying and analysing data stored in digital devices (PC, iPhone, CDs, etc), the process a computer forensics investigation follows resembles that of data recovery but the evidence is subject to guidelines to document an audit trail and preserve the extracted data so that it can be used in a court of law if necessary.
Computer forensic experts are the people who have been trained in extracting and analysing evidence from digital media , a computer forensics expert should be able to tell what happened, how it happened and who/what was involved, computer forensic experts take part in child pornography investigations, identity fraud cases, malicious hacking incidents, etc. To become a computer forensic expert it is necessary to have a background in computer science, some universities offer certification in computer forensics, you will also need work experience as a computer forensics analyst or IT Security (i.e. internship).
How to Perform Computer Forensics and Data Recovery
OSForensics is a collection of computer forensics tools, some of them used by law enforcement, providing you with information about computer configuration and activities.
After creating a case with OSForensics you will be able to see the computer’s recent activities like connected USB devices, recently browsed websites or downloaded images, another option allows you to recover passwords stored in the browser, if a file has been erased by Windows this forensic tool can recover it as long as it has not been overwritten, a time line lets you see a graph with a good overview of what and when it happened, the results can be exported in CSV or HTML format for further processing, e.g. printing, email.
OSForensics free computer forensics software
The OSFMount tool allows you to mount all kind of disk images ( .iso, .bin, .nrg, .sdi, .vmd,etc) and view them without having to burn it to a CD-Rom. The Mismatch File Search tool can scan the hard disk searching for files which default extension has been changed in order to disguise them, for example renaming a .jpg file as .txt (which can be reversed), the Mistmatch File Search tool will look at the file headers bytes where the file type is specified and make sure it corresponds with the file extension it represents.
The Memory Viewer allows you to view the computer RAM memory running processes while the computer is on, useful to find malware in RAM if you detect anomalies. Another very useful feature is the indexing of files, OSForensics can search a hard drive much quicker than the built-in Windows search and show a preview with thumbnails inside a pane. Keyword and date filtering search are on the menu just like email messages indexing, Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird, Windows live mail, Eudora and many others are all supported (.pst, .mbox, .msg, .eml, .dbx), email message headers with the sender’s IP, can be viewed.
OSForensics can run on a live system but a real computer expert will avoid doing so until the hard drive has been cloned first, a running operating system changes data while functioning, e.g. timestamps, running malware, logs. The first thing a computer forensic expert does before seizing a compromised system is to pull the machine’s plug off the wall to cut the power as logging off a computer using the shut down process will modify many logs and processes.
OSForensics free version main features
Memory viewer and dumper
Raw disk viewer
Verify & create hash values
Disk imaging & drive zeroing
Install and run from USB stick
Collect system information, settings, environment
This free forensics software can be copied to a USB device to be used onsite, it will make for a good tool in triage cases quickly determining if a digital device has anything of interest that justifies taking it away to the lab. OSForensics makes for a great appliance for those wanting to get in the computer forensics field and learn on their own, the free version has some missing features but still useful.
Typical law enforcement agencies computer forensics software like Encase is much more complex to use, with no free version and very expensive for an individual, beginners should start learning with a cut down version such as this one.
SignNow is a free service allowing you to digitally sign a document online, it doesn’t require any registration or download making the process quick, it works with all major browsers, you can digitally sign a document using the iPhone and Android phone too, the site uses a SSL digital certificate for encrypted communication with the browser stopping third parties from eavesdropping on the uploaded document, documents are not stored and automatically erased after 30 minutes once they have been digitally signed.
When you have uploaded the document you would like sign, PDF preferred, you will be able to create a signature with your mouse or touch screen and select the font to be used (typeface mimicking handwriting), the date will be added to the signature. If you need someone else to add a signature to the document you can choose to “Invite a signer”, that person will receive an email with the document for them to follow the same process, a sticky note with instructions can be added to the signed document.
Are digital signatures legally binding?
Electronic signatures are legally binding at the very least in the US and European Union, as far as the courts are concerned there is no difference in between between a digital signature and a handwritten signature with ink on paper, with some exceptions, the US Electronic Signatures Act of 2000 mentions that the creation of wills, testamentary trusts, divorce, adoption, family papers and the like are not acceptable signed on its digital signed form.
SignNow digital signature online
Digitally signed documents will save you money in the form of time and help the environment, document management and storage will be easier, SignNow offers extra features paying a fee, there are other similar companies offering paid for digital signing of documents, like echosign and docusign, they are more appropriate for business dealings, a digitally signed document includes the date it was signed and it is tamper proof, most services allow for timestamp settings where you can specify the organization and add some company logo or watermark.
Duplicati is a free open source project for Windows and Linux to back up your data encrypted on the cloud, a USB device or a network drive. The software has a user friendly interface where you can configure and monitor your backup jobs, the best feature is probably its built-in support to backup data on the cloud, Duplicati can use FTP, Webdav and SSH to send your data to a remote server, you can use one of the supported services, Amazon S3, Cloudfare (Rackspace) and Tahoe-LAFS (open source P2P decentralized system), or rent a cheap VPS (Virtual Private Server) and use it for your own backups keeping control of everything with no third party reliance.
A wizard will guide you through the process of creating your first backup job, you can choose one of the folder suggestions given (My Documents, My Music, etc) or select custom folders you would like backed up, the screen will show how much free hard disk space you need for the job, the data is all encrypted using AES256 by default or you can use Gnu Privacy Guard with PGP keys to encrypt it, everything is digitally signed so that nobody can tamper with the data.
Duplicati data backup with encryption
Duplicati main features
Data encrypted and digitally signed
Built-in support for backing up data on cloud services
Support for differential backups
Real time backup error notifications
Restoring a backup job is as easy as choosing “View contents” from the backup logs and launch the wizard, you will be asked if you want to schedule, edit, remove or restore files, after choosing restore files you are then offered different dates and the option to change the default location where to save the content.
Duplicati doesn’t have a fancy interface like other free backup software but it is easy to use and the encryption and SSH options make this program one of the best for backing up sensitive data. If you are worried that the files you store on the cloud can be leaked, subpoenaed, etc, or worried about your cloud storage provider so called encryption having a backdoor (like Dropbox), use Duplicati, do not give the authority to others to look after something as important as your encryption keys, data leakage liability will be yours not theirs, this backup software encryption has no backdoor, you can even use your own PGP encryption keys (created using GNU Privacy Guard) for peace of mind.
