Stranger bullying increasing on Facebook

Social networking website Facebook will develop new security measures to combat a surge in bullying of strangers with offensive messages.

LONDON: Social networking website Facebook will develop new security measures to combat a surge in bullying of strangers with offensive messages, termed "trolling" in internet parlance.

Officials at Facebook are working on new systems to fight "trolling", where anonymous online users bombard victims with offensive messages or abuse, the Daily Telegraph reported.

A growing number of tribute pages, including those in memory of soldiers who died in Afghanistan, have been targets of trollers.

Currently, users can only manually delete abusive messages. But in efforts to combat the growing trend, Facebook has said it is working on new systems that would automatically delete abuse.

Jim Gamble, chief executive of Britain's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), who has been working with Facebook to combat cyber bullying, has welcomed the news.

Gamble said the "ClickCEOP" application on Facebook was downloaded more than 10,000 times since its launch in July. The application gives users a direct link to advice, help and the ability to report cyber problems to the centre.

A Facebook spokesman said while the company has already employed "robust" systems, engineers were developing new programmes to combat the threat.

"Users who send lots of messages to non-friends, or whose friend requests are rejected at a high rate, are marked as suspect."

Courtesy : Times Of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/social-media/Stranger-bullying-increasing-on-Facebook/articleshow/6304840.cms

Microsoft Unveils Research Prototype of LCD-Based Keyboard.

Microsoft Scientists Develop Adaptive Keyboard

Microsoft Corp.'s applied sciences group has developed a keyboard that is based on a large touch-screen. The device may adapt itself to a variety of programs and potentially allows to greatly simplify the input. One of the main drawbacks of the concept is the lack of tactile feedback.

Microsoft Adaptive Keyboard is a research prototype developed by Microsoft Hardware to explore how combining display and input capabilities in a keyboard can allow users to be more productive. The keyboard incorporates a large, touch-sensitive display strip at the top. In addition, the display continues underneath the keys, allowing the legends to be modified in real time. This lets users do things like change the character set to a different language or display command icons.

The Adaptive Keyboard is a research prototype, not a product. It is only available to participants in the UIST Student Innovation Contest, who are supposed to demonstrate usage models for the device.

Art Lebedev design studio from Russia released a keyboard that features an OLED screen inside each key. The product did not turn out popular due to its massive price. At present the Optimus Maximus keyboard costs $2400.

Samsung Epic 4G Coming to (U.S) Sprint August 31

Mobile operator Sprint has announced that it will start selling the Samsung Epic 4G smartphone beginning August 31 through its Web sites, stores, and retail partners like Walmart, Best Buy, and Radio Shack for $249.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate along with a two-year service agreement. And customers who need to get their hands on an Epic 4G right away can make a reservation for the phone starting August 13, picking up their reserved units at a Sprint store.

The Samsung Epic 4G is one of a spate of Android-based Samsung Galaxy S smartphones that will be landing at all major U.S. carriers—each carrier will be offering Galaxy S devices under different names. However, Sprint’s Epic 4G differs from the rest of the Galaxy S pack in two main areas: it sports a slide-out QWERTY keypad for messaging, mail, and text entry, and it sports a WiMax radio so it can tap into Sprint’s high-performance WiMax network. In areas WiMax isn’t available, the Epic 4G drops back down to 3G service.

“With its beautiful display and slide-out keyboard, Samsung Epic 4G is a powerful tool for our customers, and it extends Sprint’s 4G leadership with a second strong smartphone option,” said Sprint CEO Dan Hesse, in a statement.

The Samsung Epic 4G will ship with Android 2.1—Sprint says an over-the-air update to Android 2.2 will be along “in the coming months.” The Epic 4G sports dual cameras (a five megapixel video-capable camera as well as a front-facing VGA camera for video chat), 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a 1 GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird processor to drive graphics and applications. The device also features a 4-inch AMOLED display that can handle high-definition video content (720p at 30fps), a six-axis motion sensor for gaming, and a microSD slot for up to 32 GB of removable storage. The Samsung Epic will also be usable as a 3G/4G mobile hotspot for up to five Wi-Fi devices—hotspot capability will cost an additional $29.99 per month on top of regular service plans.

Sprint is touting the Epic 4G is a good fit for everyone from businesspeople to folks who look to their phones as sources of entertainment and gaming. Although Sprint’s WiMax network is only available in a growing handful of markets, the company plans to light up some major areas in 2010, including Boston, New York, San Francisco, Miami, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C.…which will make WiMax devices an option to a much larger number of mobile power users.

Mobile Number Portability Starting October 31? TRAI makes a smart move to ensure MNP

If there are two things that we Indian mobile users have been waiting for since ages, its 3G and Mobile Number Portability - and while both have dodged us for the past few excruciating months - looks like there would be a final decision on the MNP saga bit at least by October 31, 2010.

The TRAI, in a recent announcement has directed mobile operator in the country to implement MNP by October 31 this year or be ready to face the consequences. If that wasn't all, the Department of Telecom (DoT) made it clear to operators yesterday that the infrastructure for and tests for porting numbers from one service provider to another are to be completed before September 1. If they fail to do that, the service providers would be barred from launching new commercial services in any area - starting September 1.

Mobile number portability, a technology using which users can retain their numbers whilst migrating to a different service provider, has been in the works for quite some time now. Mobile operators have been dilly dallying over it for multiple reasons due to which the last deadline of June 30 was missed. State owned cell-cos have confirmed that they have already deployed all technical infrastructure required to support MNP which leaves the private players to act.

Do you think this time the companies would stick to the October 31 deadline? Leave us a comment and let us know your thoughts.

India's $35 Tablet is No Vaporware, Comes with Android, Wi-Fi, 2GB RAM and other features

If you thought the Indian HRD ministry's attempt at making that $35 (Rs. 1,500) laptop is pure government fantasy and the usual pep talk we see from the Indian government, be ready to be surprised. Not only does the tablet exist in a prototype form, it actually works pretty well - and how!

Before I start, let's take a look at the brief history behind the story. The first time we heard of the tablet was last month when the HRD ministry, out of no where announced its plans to bring this $35 wonder to the student community of India. Back then, it was welcomed with the usual suspicion and skepticism that the Indian and world media has regarding anything that is remotely connected to the Indian government.

A month on, when all the hype about the tablet was just about to die, folks from NDTV Gadget Guru managed to scoop an interview with HRD Miniter Kapil Sibal (if you don't know who he is, you REALLY need that tablet) who carried the tablet with him to the studios. And that resulted in the first video hands on of the device. Our first impressions?

Well, it's no beauty contest contestant. The looks are nothing much to home about. If you were expecting something curvy like the iPads or the JooJoos or the Notion Inks of the world, be prepared for a nasty, boxy surprise. But hey, this is no lifestyle product. This is pure utilitarian stuff so if it does the job, that should suffice.

The hardware on this thing is pretty impressive by the looks of it. I am not sure what processor does the number crunching inside but it looks quite meaty to handle most tasks thrown at it. It has 2GB of RAM which is quite sufficient for web browsing, the occasional video streaming and document editing tasks that this is expected to do. The tablet is particularly impressive when it comes to connectivity options. Apart from Bluetooth, it seems to have all you need - ranging from Wi-fi, USB ports, Video out and SD card slots to SIM card slots for 3G ready connectivity. There is a camera at the rear (the megapixel count is still under wraps) that should suffice for normal photography. Besides, I don't expect anyone to take this on an African Safari anyway - so, the camera is pretty much sufficient for something that won't cost more than $35. One disappointment might be the screen which is resistive in nature. But then, for $35, it's criminal to expect a capacitive display on this - that too a 7-inch one.



On the software front, while we all thought it would run some real excuse of an OS based on Linux, I was surprised to see it running Android OS! Yes, I know Android is based on Linux as well. The good thing about this bit is the fact that there is considerable activity on the app development front when it comes to Android and this would actually make the tablet appealing to people who are just looking for a pure, no frills tablet. While the version of Android doesn't look to be the latest one, it still is pretty much usable. Also, I think it is likely that the tablet is powerful enough to get an update to Gingerbread once that arrives. Let's hope the processor is clocked at 1Ghz or more so that its eligible for the update.

Sibal, during the entire course of the interview, emphasized that the $35 price is pretty much real and that had it been under the retail sales, the price would have been considerably higher. However, this project is government subsidized and has no intention to go retail. Surprisingly, he also confirmed that he is aiming to bring the cost down to $10 later! By 2011, he expects at least a million units of the $35 tablet in the hands of Indian students. He adds that once that is done, we are ready to take the next step and take the tablet global.

What we think about this $35 wonder from India? For once, India has proved and has actually made something that isn't just there on paper or in pictures. It is pretty much real and more importantly, it works pretty well. If the idea is taken forward, there is no doubt that this will positively impact the education of millions of children who do not have access to basic computing. Think of it - an Internet tablet for under $35. Only Indians could pull off this one!

Zeus Trojan steals $1 million from U.K. bank accounts

This illustration shows the different moving parts to the online scam.

(Credit: M86 Security)

Consumers and businesses in Great Britain have lost more than $1 million so far this summer from a Trojan that is infecting their computers, prompting them to log into their bank accounts, and then is surreptitiously transferring money to scammers in other countries, security researchers said on Tuesday.

About 3,000 bank accounts were found to be compromised at one financial institution, which was not identified, according to a white paper released by M86 Security.

The multilevel scheme uses a combination of a new version of the Zeus keylogger and password stealer Trojan, which targets Windows-based computers and runs on major browsers, and exploit toolkits to get around anti-fraud systems used at bank Web sites, the report found.

Bank sites that offer two-factor authentication, such as one-time passcodes and ID tokens, are ineffective because the malware has taken over the browser after the victim has logged into the banking site, Bradley Anstis, vice president of technology strategy at M86 Security, told CNET.

"This latest iteration of Zeus is dedicated to online banking," and is bringing malware to a new level of technical sophistication, Anstis said. The Trojan uses encrypted communications between the infected computers and the command-and-control servers and performs illegal online banking transactions," he said. M86 Security is working with law enforcement.

It appears to works similarly to the URLZone bank Trojan reported by Finjan a year ago that targeted German bank customers.

Here's how the latest online scam works.

A computer user is compromised by either visiting a legitimate Web site that is secretly hosting the malware, or a site designed to host the malware, or a legitimate site hosting the malware in an advertisement. The primary attack came through malicious advertisements, including ads delivered by Yahoo's Yieldmanager.com, the report said.

The malware redirects a Web surfer to an exploit kit, either the Eleonore Exploit Toolkit or the Phoenix Exploit Toolkit, that then exploits a vulnerability on the surfer's computer and drops the Trojan on the machine. The Eleonore Exploit Toolkit includes exploits for vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader, Java, and Internet Explorer, among others.

"The initial infection where the exploit kit compromised the victim's machine used a number of vulnerabilities that we list in the paper, one of those was an IE vulnerability that affected IE v6 & v7," Anstis said. "However that was only one of the six or so vulnerabilities that could have been used for this initial infection. The exploit kit tests the victim machine for each one in order to get a successful infection."

While more than 280,000 compromised computers were running some variant of Windows, there were about 3,000 Macs running the exploit kit that were part of the botnet, along with about 300 PlayStations and seven machines running Nintendo Wii, the report found.

The Trojan contacts a command-and-control server located in Eastern Europe to get instructions that sit on the victim's computer, waiting for the opportunity to act.

When the user accesses his or her bank Web site, the Trojan transfers the log-in ID, date of birth, and a security number to the command-and-control server. Once the user accesses the transactional section of the bank Web site, the Trojan receives new JavaScript code from the outside server to replace the original bank JavaScript used for the transaction form.

When the user interacts with the transaction form for legitimate business, the Trojan works behind the scenes to manipulate the transaction. First it checks the account balance and if it is over a certain amount it will determine how much to steal within a limit so as not to trigger automatic fraud detection alarms.

The money is transferred to bank accounts of so-called "money mules," typically innocent people recruited to use their own bank accounts to funnel money through. From there, the money is transferred to accounts in other countries that are controlled by the scammers.

Anstis declined to identify the bank whose customers were targeted. "Interestingly, this company did offer free security software," he said. Either "the owners of the compromised accounts didn't take them up (on the offer) or the software wasn't effective."

This is a screenshot from a fake Web site created to lure money mules to the scam.

(Credit: M86 Security)

Microsoft's Prototype Mobile Phone Showcased

Looks like Microsoft's not-so-pleasurable experience with the Kin hasn't affected the tech giant's ultimate mobile phone plans.

What then would be the reason behind this latest prototype smart-phone it has come up with? The phone, known as the "Menlo" internally, is a touchscreen smart-phone with a capacitive touch screen (4.1-inch diagonal, 800x480).

The phone and its spec details appeared on a Microsoft Research Paper (PDF) titled "User Experiences with Activity-Based Navigation on Mobile Devices". The phone runs Microsoft Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 which incorporates a Bosch BMA150 3-axis accelerometer and Bosch BMP085 digital pressure sensor (barometer). The paper also comes with something known as "Greenfield", which happens to be an activity-based navigation app that helps users find a specific parked car.

While, all this does sound impressive, can we take this development as a hint towards the chance of Microsoft opting to make its own smart-phone? True, the Kin experiment proved to be a disaster - but then, that wasn't a smart-phone platform.

We have our fingers crossed!

Human brain on a microchip nearly ready

TORONTO: The human brain on a microchip is almost ready!

Turning into reality science fiction of films such as "The Terminator" — where machines and men meld into reality — Canadian scientists have successfully connected brain cells to a silicon chip to "hear" conversation between brain tissue.

The neuro-chip, which has been developed by medicine scientists at the University of Calgary, will network brain cells and thus record brain cell activity at a resolution never achieved before, according to Naweed Syed who led the team that made the breakthrough.

The neuro-chip will help future understanding of how brain cells work under normal conditions and thus permit drug discoveries for a variety of neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, a university statement said Tuesday.

"This technical breakthrough means we can track subtle changes in brain activity at the level of ion channels and synaptic potentials, which are also the most suitable target sites for drug development in neuro-degenerative diseases and neuropsychological disorders," Syed, who is professor and head of the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, has been quoted as saying.

The new neuro-chips are also automated.

"Previously it took years of training to learn how to record ion channel activity from brain cells, and it was only possible to monitor one or two cells simultaneously. Now, larger networks of cells can be placed on a chip and observed in minute detail, allowing the analysis of several brain cells networking and performing automatic, large-scale drug screening for various brain dysfunctions," the university statement said.

The University of Calgary is excited at the potential of this made in Canada technology, said university vice president Rose Goldsmith.

"The University of Calgary is proud to be the home of this cutting edge Canadian work with a neurochip. The advances in research and health care made by possible by this technology are immense. The work and collaboration happening in the lab of Naweed Syed is another example demonstrating our leadership in the field of biomedical engineering."

The new technology has been published online this month in the journal, Biomedical Microdevices.

Samsung's Cheapest Touchscreen Phone Out in India

Samsung Champ costs Rs. 4,100

Samsung has quietly launched its smallest and cheapest touchscreen handset in India. The Samsung Champ (C3300), as the phone is known, is a very tiny touchscreen handset.

It features a 2.4-inch resistive touchscreen that has a QVGA resolution. It has a 1.3 megaixel camera at the rear and also boasts of various connectivity options including Bluetooth and USB.

The phone, as expected, doesn't support 3G but is good enough for GPRS/EDGE based Internet usage. It has a 3.5 mm music jack as well and packs in an FM radio.

Like other Samsung feature phones, this one too is social networking friendly and comes with a load of social networking tools. Memory is expandable using microSD cards and with a 1000 mAH battery, the phone should offer decent battery life as well.

The phone costs Rs. 4,100 only, making it arguably the cheapest touchscreen you can buy from one of the mainstream phone makers out there.

World's cheapest Laptop; just Rs 1,500

It is a touchscreen device and supports Wi-Fi for internet access.

It has been developed by a group of engineers at the IITs. Sources say that it is powered with a 2 watt system and it can run on solar power.

The display is seven inches in size. It can connect to an external keyboard. It comes with 2GB of internal storage. External storage can be added. It would be powered with Linux based operating system.

NEW DELHI: You may not be able to buy Apple's iPad, but you may easily get a made in India 'Sakshat' computing device at a throwaway rate. The Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal unveiled a low cost computing-cum-access device yesterday, touted as the world's cheapest laptop.

The low-cost computer for students has all the elementary features, including Internet browsing. The indigenously made computer is expected to be available to the students by next year.

Bring it down
HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, unveiling the device, said the ultimate objective would be to bring down the price to Rs 470 ($10). Several teams comprising experts, students and professors from IITs and IIS Bangalore were working with the HRD Ministry to bring out the low-cost computing device.

"We have come out with the device at Rs 1,500 ($35) and now we invite individuals, entrepreneurs, firms and industries to produce the device at cheaper rates than this," he said. Sibal said the manufacturer as well as the distribution pattern has not been finalised as yet but the price tag of Rs 1,500 ($35) has been computed after taking all aspects into consideration.

The low-cost computer fulfils a key mandate of the government, to provide high quality E-content free of cost to all learners in the country under the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology. The computing device will support functionalities like video web conferencing facility, and multimedia content viewing.

Ingenious
The ministry started its efforts, subsequent to the lukewarm response from corporates, by holding discussions on the concept with a group of professors of IIT Bangalore. The B Tech and M Tech students were guided to produce the motherboard for such low cost device with ample flexibility to change the components.

The minister said that one motherboard design was generated by a students of VIT Vellore under his B Tech project which had worked out to Rs 2,209 ($47). The motherboard was fabricated at IIT Kanpur. Thereafter, through various processes of customisation as per the needs of the learners, it was possible to reduce the price of the computing device.

Horrific photo forced photographer to kill himself? Don't be too quick to click

After a week full of click-jacking attacks, we're seeing other dodgy links being spread widely between Facebook users who should perhaps know better.

One that I have seen crop up a lot, is appearing in the status updates of Facebook users with phrases like:

This horrific photo forced photographer to kill himself! http://tinyurl.com/VerySadPhoto

and

This horrific photo forced photographer to kill himself! http://tinyurl.com/HorriblePic

Clicking on links like these can take you to Facebook pages which names such as "Man Commits Suicide 3 Days After Taking This Photo".

These Facebook pages force you to first "Like" them and then republish the link on your own Facebook page (advertising it to your online friends) before you eventually get to see the photograph.

Just ask yourself this - do you really want to recommend a page to your friends, before you know what lies behind it? For all you know, you could be passing on a link which will ultimately take your online pals to a phishing page or malware.

As it happens, the pages are lying in any case.

The photograph - of an emaciated young girl in Sudan - was taken in March 1993 by prize-winning South African photo-journalist Kevin Carter. Carter did kill himself - but it was over a year later in South Africa, not three days after the photo was taken as claimed by the Facebook links.

You can probably imagine, however, that people would easily agree to publish the link to all their friends - in their morbid interest to see the photo - and thus help it spread quickly.

In fact, it's no surprise that links like these are spreading so quickly and virally across Facebook, when popular pages such as "I like your makeup...LOL JK, it looks like you got gangbanged by Crayola" (currently 1.7 million fans and counting) have republished it to all of their followers.

Sigh.. If only you had to take the equivalent of a driving test before you were allowed to run a Facebook page with that many followers. Just imagine the harm they could do by posting a stupid or malicious link..

So, what's the purpose of these pages about the horrific photograph? Well, if we want to give the creators of these pages the benefit of the doubt, it's possible that they have created them out of curiousity - to see how many people they could trick into "Like"ing their page.

But I suspect there's more to it than that. My feeling is that once a page like this has managed to gather a large enough following, it could be abused for the purposes of spamming, spreading malware and stealing identities.

So you really should take much more care over which pages you agree to "Like" on Facebook. Remember, you should never be bullied into publicising a Facebook page before they have shown you the content you are interested in. After all, if you like what you see, you'll only be too happy to share it with your friends, right?

If you have been unfortunate enough to have been ensnared by this latest nuisance, do the following:

• Remove the update from your newsfeed (so your friends will no longer click on it)
• Enter Edit profile/Likes and interests and remove the "Man Commits Suicide 3 Days After Taking This Photo" page from your list of Pages you like (you may have to click on "Show other Pages")
• Go to "Privacy Settings" and edit your settings for "Applications and websites" in order to check that you have not inadvertently added any unwanted applications.

Facebook Gives 20 Free Game Credits

Free Credits for Facebook Apps

Open a game application in Facebook today and you might notice a pop-up that says “Facebook Gave You 20 Free Credits”. Gamers can use these free credits to buy premium items in your favorite games.

The 20 credits are valued at $2.00 USD. Is this a marketing strategy to keep users happy and keep them away from the upcoming Google Games? I’m not sure but whatever it is, thank you Facebook. Enjoy gamers!

---

Facebook Gave You 20 Free Credits

You received 20 free Facebook Credits (a $2.00 USD value). Use them to buy premium items in your favorite games on Facebook. Go play!

Indian Rupee finally gets its symbol

Finally, the Rupee will have a symbol like the Dollar ($) or the Euro (€) or the Pound (£). The Cabinet today finalised the design for the Rupee.

IIT post-graduate Uday Kumar's entry has been selected out of five shortlisted designs as the new symbol for the Indian Rupee.

The government had organised a symbol design competition with a prize money of Rs 2.5 lakh. Five designs were shortlisted from a competition and all new notes will bear the design finally approved.

The growing influence of the Indian economy in the global space is said to have prompted this move that will result in the Indian rupee joining the select club of global currencies like the US dollar, the British Pound, European Euro and Japanese Yen that have unique symbols.

The abbreviation for the Indian Rupee, 'Re' or 'Rs' is used by India's neighbours Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

New Profile Spy Spam Spreading on Facebook

A new Facebook scam lures users into signing up for premium mobile services and spamming their friends by promising to show a list of profile visitors. It even instructs users to disable ad-blocking programs.

It all starts with a spam message received from one of the victims, which reads “OMG OMG OMG... I can't believe this actually works! Now you really can see who views your profile!!! WOAH ? --> [URL]” Following the included link takes users to a site on an external domain called ilikefacebook.in.

The site displays fake Facebook-style notifications claiming to be example of alerts users will receive when someone views their profile. The logo for a well-known rogue Facebook app called Profile Spy is also shown on the page.

[IMG=2]Users are also told that in order to sign-up for the Profile Spy application they need to like and share the page. At the time of writing this article around 29,000 users clicked the “Like” button and 27,000 the “Share” one. Posting the spam message manually in five different places on Facebook is also allegedly required.

Finally, after the victims have heavily spammed their profile with messages promoting this scam, they are taken to a window claiming that they also need to take a survey. “Then the 'verification' launches you into one of those endless surveys (you get a choice of six) the point of which is to collect your cell phone number so you can be billed $9.99 per month,” Tom Kelchner, a security researcher at Sunbelt Software, who analyzed the attack, warns.

People should be aware that there is no feature on Facebook which allows viewing profile visitors; and considering the privacy implications of such functionality, it will probably never be allowed. Therefore, any message or application that claims otherwise is most definitely a scam.

Top Best: 5 Free VPN Services as alternatives to Web Proxies for Anonymous Web Browsing & Surfing

Anonymity while surfing Internet may be a major concern for many People. Hackers are most established participants in the category although they don’t rely on simple solutions like VPN. Anonymous web surfing using VPN or Web Proxy minimizes the risks in leaving traces of browsing. Some main purposes for anonymous web browsing can be identified as

Bypass/Unblock Local Firewall Restrictions

The user may be forced to browse web through some firewall of local network at office school/university, or country. In result, the web surfers are not allowed to visit some of websites according to the policy. These websites may include social websites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and many more. The restriction may have been enforced over larger scale like China has blocked through ‘Great Firewall of China’.

Bypass/Unblock Default Regional Restrictions

There are many web services which impose restrictions on IP level so that these services can be accessed from specific regions. For example, Hulu and Pandora are not accessible outside of USA. Similarly, Spotify is only available in major parts of Europe.

Anonymous Web Browsing/Surfing for Privacy

The user does not want to reveal its identity which can be traced. Anyone who wants to speak about forbidden social issues, receive some information, and involve in illegal activities like P2P file sharing without revealing the identity is concerned.

There are two popular solutions for anonymous web surfing which are free VPN and Web Proxies. Free web proxies are usually less secure and fast and they also block java scripts or dynamic content. Specifically, if the user is behind regional restrictions imposed by websites like Hulu and want to view videos outside US then free web proxies are useless. In this case, the most viable and useful solution is to use free VPN software/clients. List of following free VPN services are being compiled after comprehensive testing.

FreeVPN by WSC
It will almost fulfill your needs of anonymous web surfing. The user will browse through secure connection and IP is hidden. It has a pretty simple interface which offers list of VPN servers. A double click on the desired server will make your connection more secure and anonymous. This FreeVPN client is my favorite one. They have included many free VPN servers since their beginning. Their current version 3.11 offers connection through free 4 US, 1 Canadian and 1 Chinese VPN servers. They also offer a premium paid service which includes anonymous surfing/browsing through UK, Swedish, French, German, and Italian VPN servers. It works on all Windows NT versions 2000/2003/XP/Vista/7/2008. There is an iPhone version available also.

UltraVPN
This is a free, open source, and platform independent VPN solution based on OpenVPN. The internet traffic is encrypted using SSL and also anonymous. The user is required to get an account before actually using it. After downloading and installation, enter the account details and connect. You will be able to use Skype, Watch Hulu outside US, and anonymous web surfing. UltraVPN works on Windows, MAC, and Linux.

ItsHidden

This is another free VPN service which doesn’t require download or installation of any client. The user needs to create an online account and then setup ItsHidden onPC. They offer Free and Premium services. Free ItsHidden offers a dedicated 5GB bandwidth and 128 bit secure network connection. They claim total privacy for users and no logs are kept. ItsHidden free VPN is OS-independent and works on Windows, MAC, and Linux.

CyberGhost
This VPN service also offers a fast, secure, and anonymous web browsing connection for users. Like other services, a tunnel is formed between VPN client and server using SSL and 128 bit encryption which takes your surfing in a private mode. The IP address is also hidden. CyberGhost has free and premium plans as well. In Free plan, 1GB traffic/month is available which enough for basic uses is. It works on all Windows versions.

AnchorFree HotspotShield
No doubt, this is one of the most popular free VPN services. Its popularity compelled Hulu to block at IP level although ban no longer works. HSS has a bandwidth limitation of 10 GB. The security will protect from Identity Theft, Hide IP for Privacy, and unblock restricted websites. It works on Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 and Mac OS X Tiger/Leopard/Snow Leopard.

PacketiX.NET VPN Client
It is not a free VPN service in reality but they let a user test VPN using a client. Their server is Japan based and provides a speedy and reliable free VPN solution for normal users. You only need to download VPN client which will connect you to PacketiX VPN Online Test Environment. The encryption is performed using digital signature based on the SSLv3 protocol and user authentication by PKI is available.

Some Notable VPN offering Free Service by Invitations

HideIP VPN
It is a premium service and the servers are based in USA and UK and users can access Hulu, Pandora, ABC, NBC, BBC, ITV, etc. Account invitations are offered in start of every month.

AceVPN
The servers of premium VPN service are in USA and Europe (France, Germany, Netherlands, UK). You can use AceVPN if gets an invitation of existing user.

Above mentioned Free VPN services are good alternatives to web proxies for anonymous web surfing/browsing. They ultimately let you bypass/unblock any local or regional restrictions and allow access to blocked websites like Facebook, MySpace, Hulu, and Pandora.

If there are some other Free VPN services which have not been covered, please mention in comments.

How To Install MAC On Intel & AMD Machines OR Assembeld PC

!!! READ CAREFULLY AND TAKE NOTES IF NEEDED !!!


Welcome to iATKOS v7 Installation..


The oscar goes to Apple and OSX86 community..

Thanks to all OSX86 community and all the computer guys that share their ideas, give feedback and report errors and even fix them sometimes.

And zapf2000, thank you buddy, for all of your supports, cheers to ggrn.de people..

Thanks to our operators Pere, Machan and prasys for their supports, tests and helps.

Special thanks to Pere and other friends for making our forum a useful place..

And finally thanks to nice OSX86.ES and OSX86.Türk people..


uphuck



Attention:

1- This DVD is designed for Non-Apple x86 computers. So, do not try to boot it on Apple Hardware!

Requirements for OSX86:

Minimum: x86 SSE2 CPU, 512MB RAM, 10GB free space on target partition, OpenGL VGA card.

Recommended : Intel Core or AMD x2 CPU, 1GB RAM, 15GB free space on target partition, nVidia 6600 or newer - ATI X1300 or newer - Intel GMA 950 or X3100 VGA card.

Motherboard (the most important part) should be compatible for you to boot iATKOS v7 DVD and install natively.

2- This DVD includes Apple's Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.7 (9J61) installation, some basic drivers and x86 patches.

3- IMPORTANT NOTICE - Make sure that the md5 checksum of your iATKOS iso image matches the one posted on our website. Do this MD5 check just before mounting or doing anything with the iso image! Otherwise you may have a faulty DVD image. Use quality media/burner and burn slowly.

4- MAKE SURE YOU TAKE NOTE OF YOUR Hardware IDs, Device IDs and device names before installing this system. This is very important. If you aren't sure what devices/hardware you own nor its IDs, then 3 options:
-Boot iATKOS v7 DVD, run "Hardware Info" from Utilities menu and take notes.
-Fire up a Linux Live CD (ie. Ubuntu Live CD), type "lspci" in terminal and take notes.
-Windowsers, get Everest Ultimate Edition and take note of your hardware.

5- Do a google search or surf to InsanelyMac, Hackint0sh, our forum, related OSX86 sites or wiki to find out if your hardware is supported or not. OSX86 does not support a wide range of hardwares like Linux and Windows. Do make sure that it is supported before you install. This is very important because after installation you may ask like "how can I get this hardware to work" and people would simply slap you with "it will never work". This little search will avoid your frustration and anger! Extending your lifespan!

6- IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG AFTER Installation - Please don't panic Scroll down for the Troubleshooting guide. If that fails, take a screenshot (or a picture) of what went wrong and post it in the forums. Make sure you have done the 3 Revival steps and troubleshooting steps before posting in the forum!



Information:

- You can update your running iATKOS v7 system using software updater just like real Macs on most PC hardware (Intel/AMD). Please read the related section below.

- You can also make upgrade/refresh/driver-only installs to your existing OSX86 system using iATKOS v7 DVD. Please read the related section below carefully.

- We also worked on solving the incompatibility issues for many hardwares, so more hardwares should be able to run this OS natively by using iATKOS v7 with additional advantages.

- Easy Software RAID installation with manual bootloader installers and packages.

This OSX86 installation DVD release supports both GPT (Guid Partition Table) and MBR (Master Boot Record) partitioned harddrives.
(Note: GPT is a partition table type for x86 computers which is also Intel Mac's partition table type. Its structure is different from MBR and so it has some nice features. The whole multiboot procedure may not be so friendly for newbies, so they should go on using MBR.
MBR has a limit of 4 primary partitions (which is a must for booting an OS, however linux can boot from logical partitions by MBR) but GPT has no such thing like primary or logical, therefore you can create up to 128 bootable partitions on GPT disks. HFS+ resizing is only possible on GPT drives and be sure it is such a comfortable feature. Windows Vista SP1 supports GPT and also Windows XP can be installed to a Hybrid GPT drive which can be easily created using OS X disk utility. I have no idea about GPT supports of Win 95, 3.1 or older versions, not even DOS. Feedbacks will be appreciated New Linux booter Grub2 supports GPT and also many Linux distros can be installed to Hybrid GPT drives.
In the near future, most of x86 computers will run on GPT drives.)

- This dvd may not include all the necessary drivers required by your setup. Additional steps may be needed to be taken by the user to setup and use such components.

- Main system is fully stock! That means it can't run on x86 hardware without selecting none of x86 patches.


Clean Installation:

1- Run Disk Utility via Utilities menu and erase the target partition for clean install. Do partitioning if you need to.

- You can choose MBR (Master Boot Record) or GPT (Guid Partition Table) via partitioning options. If you want to change your existing partition table type, note that all your existing data on disk will be gone!
- For Windows fellows that has not tested this amazing system yet and that does not want to loose their windows software, porn and virus&trojan archive on D:\, should use Parted Magic Live CD for preparing an active primary target partition and after that, just erase it via diskutil. Jump to Step 2.

2- Select the destination for installation.

3- Click "Customize"*** and select what you need.

4- Click Install.

Install time is about 15 minutes.



Upgrade/Refresh Installation:

You can upgrade your existing installation (keeping your applications, data, user settings and accounts) with iATKOS v7 DVD. This works best on iATKOS installations but should work for most Leopard installations from 10.5.0 on Intel/AMD CPU's if you do it carefully. But it is still risky if you are not sure what you are doing.

For upgrading previous installations other than iATKOS, users should apply a very basic iATKOS v7 installation with basic sata/ide and vga drivers (and one of the Voodoo kernels if AMD) at first time. Users can enlarge their selection list with no worries of loosing their data, applications and settings on next trials of their system upgrade/refresh. But note that some of your applications just might not be fully compatible with 10.5.7 main system of Apple which is nothing to do with this OSX86 release.
System refresh is also a good option for just renewing your running system when something is wrong with it.


1- Select the destination for installation.

2- Click "Customize"*** and select what you need.

3- Open "Installer Log" from Window menu.

4- Click "Install" and click to Installer Log window to get it to front.

5- After Install before pressing "Restart", click to "Reset Password" from Utilities menu.

6- Reset passwords and directory permissions of all users and root.

7- Click "Restart" and reboot to your new system.

8- Change your user account type from "standart" to "admin" via System Preferences by using root password.


Install time is about 15 minutes.



Driver (only) Installation:

Another feature is installing necessary drivers/patches/kernels at anytime by using iATKOS v7 DVD.

- Boot iATKOS v7 DVD and select your destination target
- Click "Customize" and uncheck all items except the driver/patch/kernel you need to install
- Press "Install"
- Ignore the fail screen and click "Restart"



*** Customize section is the most important part of the installation for you to make OS X work on your hardware.

Customize:

There is already a basic default profile chosen. Only adding a few packages will probably be enough for most hardwares, read the package details carefully!

Simple information about packages:

- iATKOS Main system: If you want to install the osx86 main system, you need to select this.

- Bootloader: You have 3 choices. You must select one of them for booting your osx86 system. For RAID systems do not select none of the bootloaders, you will need to install the bootloader using one of the chameleon booter installer applications in utilities menu.
Chameleon v2 is the default selected bootloader, it has many options and a gui, however it is still experimental, if you have problems like unexpected kernel panics then choose old chameleon v1 during next install.
Chameleon v1.0.11 is compatible for most systems.
Xiezhy bootloader is also a very nice booter which looks like boot camp. It has no RAID support but besides that you can try it, you will like it.

- /Extra directory: This creates a directory named "Extra" on your root and executes it only if chameleon v2 is selected. Some Legacy drivers that cannot be loaded when system is booted with "-f" option and for some reason cannot be included in system mkext can be easily loaded from Extra folder in all conditions.

- DSDT: This package is to fix the DSDT of your motherboard and save it to a file for overriding at boot. This is needed for many mobos.

- Decrypters: You must select one of the decrypters for your x86 hardware.

- SMBIOS: You can select one of the enablers or one of classic x86 SMBIOS drivers. However these are not needed if chameleon v2 bootloader is selected.

- Kernels: 2 kernels and 3 choices. A custom kernel must be selected for AMD CPU's.
1- Not selecting none of the kernels. Stock kernel will be used by this way. More compatible systems may not select none of the kernels and use stock kernel.
2- 9.5.0 Voodoo kernel. This is more compatible and has many add-ons.
3- 9.7.0 Voodoo kernel. This is adds support for new Intel Core I7 series.

- ACPI: For older and Non-Intel motherboards, you can choose x86 modified ACPI or old APIC drivers for booting problems. Do not use VoodooPS/2 with these modified ACPI drivers, use ApplePS/2 if you have PS/2 devices. You'd better to use the stock ACPI if your motherboard is compatible enough.

- Disabler: This driver disables some problematic stock drivers.

- OHR: Driver for freeze issues on shutdown/reboot.

- Drivers: Additional drivers for your setup.
-VGA:
-nVidia: Try EFI string for desktop cards, if not working for you fully then try Enablers by the order listed. If you have GTX 2XX series card then select one of the GT200 drivers with an enabler.
-ATI: Check "ATI HD" for ATI cards. You will need to search for your ATI vga driver after system install to have a fully working ATI. Nearly every ATI model has its own driver and thats why I hate them all.
-Intel: You can use EFI string for many GMA 950 and X3100 laptops. Try the others if fails.
-System:
SATA/IDE drivers: 10.5.7 system only supports Intel ICH7 and some ICH8 Non-AHCI controllers, so you will need to select some of the SATA/IDE drivers for your Intel/Non-Intel Non-AHCI controllers and also select AHCI for some fixes to 10.5.7 AHCI driver.
-Intel Speedstep: Speedsteping support for Intel CPU's.
-Cardbus driver: This may be needed for some onboard firewire chips, pccard slots, USB ports, card readers and some PCI slots. If you have a compatible but non-working PCI card ie. wireless network card or a non-working onboard firewire, then you should try this driver. Note that this package also includes an ACPI driver which overrides the previous selected ACPI driver(s).
-USB: USB driver for problematic chips. You may also add CardBus driver to your selections to have your USB working fully. Made by Slice. Thanks to orByte for the method to patch the USBEHCI driver. This may fail for some motherboards.
-Sound: VoodooHDA is selected by default. It supports many sound chips. You can switch to Azalia Audio driver which enables just sound output, no input. AppleHDA 10.5.6 is for enabling AppleHDA Injectors because 10.5.7 AppleHDA is incompatible. Note that you may have rare kernel panics with VoodooHDA, just reboot again, thats it.
-PS/2: You can select Voodoo PS/2 which works for all and claims to make USB-PS/2 mouse/keyboard combinations work. Voodoo PS/2 with trackpad can be another choice for laptops but it fails on some laptops and cause freezes. Apple PS/2 driver is an old driver that you need to choose instead of VoodooPS/2 when using x86 modified ACPI drivers. By using Apple PS/2, both mouse and keyboard should be connected through PS/2.
-Network: Network drivers, nothin to explain..

-Languages: Additional language support. Apple still does not support some of them in retail DVD's, but we do.

-Post-Install Actions: This is needed for full system install but you should uncheck this if you only need to install a driver.

Please read the description of the packages carefully.




Preparing an Upgradable System:

This release is more successful for creating upgradable systems than our previous releases. So there is no exact profile of selections for upgradable systems anymore. It will be possible even for most AMD systems. But there are still some limitations for some drivers:

- GMA 950 Desktop
- GMA 950 Rare
- GMA X3100 p
- USB

If you need these driver(s) on your system then you should reinstall them after main system update is applied. This may be fatal only for GMA 950 Desktop systems and for GMA 950 laptops that has the 27AE id which is inside the "GMA 950 Rare" package, the rest is ok.
But do not forget there may always be problems with existing drivers and upcoming new system, no one can exactly know how will they deal with new system. ie: new upcoming kernel may be incompatible with even Intel hardware, if so users that selected one of the Voodoo kernels will be the lucky ones to do the update. Or same issue may come up with the ACPI driver of new update. So we may not know what will happen exactly but most solutions are inside the v7 DVD, we have done our best for making this happen.



Software RAID Systems:

Do not choose none of the bootloaders for installation on a RAID target. You will install the bootloader manually using one of the Manual Chameleon installers via Utilities menu. Do this manual bootloader installation before main system install (you can do it after system installation but you need to open the install log during install).

- Preparing Software RAID targets: You cannot prepare RAID targets by booting with an osx86 DVD, you can only erase the existing RAID targets for clean installation.
You have 2 options: You can create RAID volumes via a running OS X system using Disk Utility. Other option is restoring an osx86 DVD to a USB-HDD, installing a chameleon bootloader to it manually and booting with it. This time you will be able to create RAID volumes using Disk Utility. We recommend Striped RAID for main system target and Mirror RAID for storage target.
You can create Software RAID volumes using whole disks or individual partitions.

- Bootloader Installation: Software RAID systems boot using boot helper partitions and so the bootloader needs to be installed to boot helper partition instead of the RAID slice. As mentioned above, you will need to use one of the manual Chameleon Installers which you can find under Utilities menu. You will need to enter the bsd number of your boot helper partition. You can get the values using Disk Utility or System Profiler. i.e. if the RAID slice of your system target is disk0s2, then your booter helper partition that you need to install the bootloader is disk0s3. Do the math for other examples.


Multiboot:

iATKOS v7 has no integrated procedure for multibooting but preparing a multiboot GPT or MBR system with this release is easy.

Here is a ''How To'' for GPT and MBR triple boot including Mac-Win-Linux.

- MBR (Master Boot Record) triple boot -

- Change your partition table type to MBR (msdos type) and create 3 primary partitions by using iATKOS Disk Utility or Parted Magic Live CD. HFS+ format for OS X target, Fat32 for the others.
Note: %99.99999 of the PC harddrives already have MBR partition map scheme (msdos type) which you can change it to GPT via Parted Magic CD or iATKOS Disk Utility if you like to.

- Add boot flag to Vista or Linux target and install the OS' in any order you like. For linux, do not install bootloader to MBR, install it to linux root.

- Boot iATKOS v7 DVD and install OS X to its target as usual.

- Now you may need to repair Vista: Add boot flag to Vista partition, boot Vista DVD, select repair, add boot flag to OS X partition, thats all.

Now you have triple boot on MBR.

Note: Adding boot flag to MBR partitions: Boot Parted Magic Live CD, right click to partition, select flags and click to boot.

- GPT (Guid Partition Table) triple boot -

- Change your partition table type to GPT (Guid Partition Table) and create 3 partitions by using iATKOS Disk Utility. HFS+ format for OS X target, Fat32 (msdos) for the others. (This may fail on some hardware)

- Boot iATKOS v7 DVD, install only bootloader to OS X target. ***

- Boot Windows Media and install it to its Fat32 target partition.

- Boot Linux media and install the OS. Install the bootloader to linux root.
(Note: Some live linux cd stuff (knoppix, kanotix, parsix, etc.) has built-in installer applications and they use gparted for partitioning and formatting targets. At this point, formatting target to linux fs via Gparted is not a good choice (they can break the hybrid gpt), use unix fdisk just for changing the target partition type from ''c0'' to ''83'' which is linux partition type and then continue installation.)

- Boot iATKOS v7 DVD and install OS X as usual.

Now you have triple boot on GPT, thats all.




Unsuccessful Installation, Related Symptoms and Simple Troubleshooting guide:

At times after installation, your system may not work properly as in - it may restart, not boot at all or hang at a certain point. This is quite normal and there are many ways for it to be fixed. It varies from one case to another case. However this basic troubleshooting guide would help you to fix most of the common problems.

If you're facing hangs, freezes or kernel panics (which is present as a shutdown symbol on the screen just after boot) type in "-v -f" (without quotes) in the boot command of the bootloader. This would give you verbose output which is useful for us to help you or for you to post in the forums so that we can trace it down.

"Waiting for root device" - It means that OS X doesn't see your hard disk or boot device (which means you can face with this during dvd boot or after system install during hdd boot) at all. Chances are: If you face with this during hdd boot, then you may have installed the wrong drivers. Try this, reboot back using DVD, check the proper patch/driver for your hardware if any (read the driver installation section in readme). If you have selected before, try re-installing it clean without selecting it and vise versa. If that fails or if you got this error during dvd boot, then change your SATA mode from RAID to ACHI or even to IDE, and also you need to check other bios settings that might be the usual problem, read the "mickey mouse guide" on our forum for bios settings. This usually does fix the problem. If not, then you may have really incompatible hardware for this OS.

CPU errors - Try to boot with "cpus=1" without the quotes. It happens on certain CPUs due to BIOS/DSDT bug. Your DSDT may need patching.

Blue screen on bootup - This means that OS X doesn't see your monitor properly or your graphics card isn't working correctly. Reinstall again, but this time make sure you don't select any enablers/efi strings and you might also select the package to remove NVDAResman.kext, these would fix it, then you can login to gui and search drivers for your vga.

Kernel Panic (i.e IOxxyyzzz failed) - This means you have selected an incompatible driver. Keep in mind that sometimes certain kext patches may not work for your system even though they are the same chipset but a slight variation may cause it not to work on your PC. Reinstall back but this time don't select any funny patches/drivers. This would resolve your problem.

Unable to boot - If you can get to the GUI but for some reason if certain things don't work. Don't fear, simply boot in safe mode by typing -x in the boot parameters of your hard disk. This would bypass some non-working things and would get you to the OS X Desktop. From there you can navigate through the Internet and fix up your PC.

Here is a neat tip by the way. If you're troubleshooting something remember to boot with "-f" (without quotes) always, this would force the drivers to be reloaded and at times it can fix your problem.


*******************************************

For additional Help and instructions, here is the website and irc channel.

web: http://www.uphuck.com
http://www.osx86.es

IRC: irc.atlantis-irc.net #uphuck.DVD
core.osx86.hu #iATKOS

******************************************

Good luck. If you enjoy your Mac OS X Leopard System, then buy a real Mac. Remember that this system is only for testing Mac's amazing system. Using OS X without a license is not right.

You can download iATKOS from Torrent Sits....at Your Own Risk

Top 10 facebook Hacks

The Most Essential Hacks of Facebook and presented them to you.

1.How to View the Album of Any User Even if it is Private

You can use this script to view a photo in the original album, even if you’re not friends with the person.

Get it Here

2. How to Remove Annoying Facebook Advertisement

Get rid of some of the Facebook advertising and sponsored by sections with this tool.

Get it Here

3. How to see Real Profiles from Public Pages

This script redirects to real profiles from the Facebook people pages (public profiles). There is a risk of an infinite redirect loop if not logged in, so be logged in.

Get it Here

4. How to Undo Facebook Changes

If you hate some or all of the new Facebook changes, undo them with these scripts and use what you liked previously.

Get it Here

5. How to View All the Photos from a Person

You can search for pictures of a Facebook member who has tight privacy settings and view all his/ her pictures without his/ her consent.

Get it Here

6. How to Find More Friends at Facebook

Suppose some of your friends have newly joined Facebook and you didn’t even knew. Use this script and it will help you go through your friends’ friends list and find them out.

Get it Here

7. How to Share Files from Facebook

With this box widget, you can share files from your computer through Facebook. Isn’t it great?

Get it Here

8. How to Get a Job from Facebook

Looking for a job? This application gives Facebook users unique access to job information, networking opportunities and other career resources.

Get it Here

9. How to Tighten up the Privacy and still Maintain Communication Convenience

The Private Wall combines the best of both worlds of Facebook: online convenience and communication with more serious privacy settings.

Get it Here

10 How to Cheat Facebook Texas Hold em Poker

This is one of my Favorite hacks and that is why I have saved it for the last one. Using this software you can see the cards of any player and the advanced version of this software allows you to even add credits to your account for free.

Get it Here

Yes, firefox is already pretty damn fast but did you know that you can tweak it and improve the speed even more?

That’s the beauty of this program being open source

.
Here’s what you do:
In the URL bar, type “about:config” and press enter. This will bring up the configuration “menu” where you can change the parameters of Firefox.

Note that these are what I’ve found to REALLY speed up my Firefox significantly – and these settings seem to be common among everybody else as well. But these settings are optimized for broadband connections – I mean with as much concurrent requests we’re going to open up with pipelining… lol… you’d better have a big connection.

Double Click on the following settins and put in the numbers below – for the true / false booleans – they’ll change when you double click.
Code:
browser.tabs.showSingleWindowModePrefs – true
network.http.max-connections – 48
network.http.max-connections-per-server – 16
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy – 8
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server – 4
network.http.pipelining – true
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests – 100
network.http.proxy.pipelining – true
network.http.request.timeout – 300

One more thing… Right-click somewhere on that screen and add a NEW -> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0”. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives. Since you’re broadband – it shouldn’t have to wait.

Now you should notice you’re loading pages MUCH faster now!

HowTo: Reinstall Ubuntu Automatically

Sometimes after a partial upgrade of Ubuntu you suddenly find that it has broken down the System Dependency Tree and now you are unable to revert back the changes.

In such cases there is a very simple command that reinstalls all the distribution packages and reconfigures them automatically.

sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh -a

Since this command would take a lot of time to process (~1 hour) depending on your hardware in case you have a minor dependency problem you can fix it via

sudo apt-get install -f

Secret ‘GodModes’ in Windows 7

The foxy-sounding name is a little deceiving, because as far as we know, it is exactly what people are calling it – a glorified control panel

. However, that goes without saying how useful this feature actually is.

GodMode is the name given to cheats in video games that provided you with all weapons and access to all areas. As it turns out, Windows 7 has a GodMode cheat as well. It is basically a control panel of sorts which provides you access to all the features in one explorer window

. In the Windows 7 control panel, features are grouped together either in categories or control panel item names. Nothing is grouped under anything in GodMode.

How to access GodMode?

Method 1:

1. Create a new folder and name it GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

2. The icon will be changed automatically to Control Panel’s icon.

3. Now open the folder and see the magic of Windows Registry!

Method 2

1. Create a shortcut with following path and set desired icon:

explorer.exe shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Note: Sometimes it kills explorer.exe using Method 1! probably Windows Vista x64 editions. Therefore I suggest to use Method 2.

Solution for the Crash

To get rid of this issue, Boot into Safe Mode with Command Prompt and delete that folder. For eg. You created a folder GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} on desktop, So either navigate to Desktop folder execute the following command:

RmDir “GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}”

Or type the absolute path of folder, like-

RmDir “C:\Users\\Desktop\GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}”

Applies To:

• Windows Vista x86 editions
• Windows Vista x64 editions
• Windows 7 x86 editions
• Windows 7 x64 editions

Windows has lot of GodModes

It is found that there are lot of GodModes and they differ based on the Strings used in Name the Folder.

In an e-mail interview, Steven Sinofsky, Windows division president, said several similar undocumented features provide direct access to all kinds of settings, from choosing a location to managing power settings to identifying biometric sensors.

As with the all-encompassing GodMode uncovered by bloggers, these other settings can be accessed directly by creating a new folder with any name (GodMode or otherwise) and then including a certain text string. Sinofsky noted more than a dozen strings create particular settings folders, in addition to the overarching GodMode folder option.

For example, the first one could be a folder named “Hungry Hacker.{00C6D95F-329C-409a-81D7-C46C66EA7F33}” (use everything inside quotes–but not the quotes themselves).

Here’s the list of strings:

{00C6D95F-329C-409a-81D7-C46C66EA7F33}
{0142e4d0-fb7a-11dc-ba4a-000ffe7ab428}
{025A5937-A6BE-4686-A844-36FE4BEC8B6D}
{05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}
{1206F5F1-0569-412C-8FEC-3204630DFB70}
{15eae92e-f17a-4431-9f28-805e482dafd4}
{17cd9488-1228-4b2f-88ce-4298e93e0966}
{1D2680C9-0E2A-469d-B787-065558BC7D43}
{1FA9085F-25A2-489B-85D4-86326EEDCD87}
{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}
{241D7C96-F8BF-4F85-B01F-E2B043341A4B}
{4026492F-2F69-46B8-B9BF-5654FC07E423}
{62D8ED13-C9D0-4CE8-A914-47DD628FB1B0}
{78F3955E-3B90-4184-BD14-5397C15F1EFC}

How to unlock your Cellphone for Free

First of all lets clear the basics and then we goto the tutorial.

What are Unlocked Cellphones? and Why anybody would want to Unlock it?

An Unlocked Cellphone is one that can be used on all networks operating on the frequency the phone is designed for. For example, in the UK there are four main networks, Vodafone, BT Cellnet, Orange and One2One. Vodafone and BT Cellnet operate on GSM900, while Orange and One2One operate on GSM1800. A UK dual band phone can operate on GSM900 and GSM1800, therefore being capable of working on all the networks.

However, as the networks don’t want to lose you as a customer, when they supply the phone (on contract or pay as you go) it can be locked to only accept SIM cards from their network.

If you wish to use a SIM from a different network, the phone needs to be unlocked.

How do I know if my phone is locked or unlocked?

There are two ways to check if your phone is locked/unlocked. Firstly, if you have a working SIM from a different network, try putting that into the phone and switching it on. If the phone works and you can make calls on that network, congratulations, your phone is already unlocked. If a message appears, saying “SIM card not accepted” or similar, the phone is probably locked.

How to Unlock your Cellphone?

It is very simple procedure.

1. Download & Install ” Unlock Code Calculator”



2. Start the software
   
   and Select your Cellphone Manufacturer and Cellphone Model
3. Enter the 15 Digit IMEI Number of your Cellphone. You can get IMEI number for your Cellphone by entering *#06# in your Cellphone and press Enter.
4. For Nokia Users you also need to select the Country and the Operator of your Cellphone.
5. Press Calculate and it will generate a Code similar to #pw+CODE+n#.
6. Now Press the Help button. Select your Cellphone Manufacturer and you will find the Steps of to use the above generated Code to unlock your phone.

Note (For Nokia Users): You might be confused by the DCT-2, 3 and 4. Here I have categorized different Nokia models into DCT 2, 3 or 4. If your Cellphone is not listed below it might be possible that it use Nokia DCT1 or 5. The List below is not exhaustive. I have prepared it by collecting it from internet.

Nokia DCT2: 3110, 8110, 8110i, 8146, 8148, 8148i, 9110, 9110i

Nokia DCT3: 2100, 2190, 3210, 3285, 3310, 3315, 3320, 3330, 3350, 3390, 3395, 3410, 3610, 3810, nk402, nk503, nk702, 5110, 5110i, 5120, 5125, 5130, 5148, 5160, 5170, 5180, 5185, 5190, 5210, 5510, 6090, 6110, 6110i, 6120, 6130, 6138, 6150, 6150e, 6160, 6161, 6162, 6185, 6190, 6210, 6250, 6290, 7110, 7160, 7190, 7290, 8210, 8250, 8260, 8270, 8290, 8810, 8850, 8855, 8860, 8890, 9000, 9000i, 9110, 9110i, 9210 y 9290

Nokia DCT4: N-GAGE, N-GAGE QD, 1100, 2110, 2300, 2600,2650, [NEM-2] (United states), 3108, 3100, 3120, 3200, 3220, 3300, 3510, 3510i, 3530, 3550, 3585, 3590, 3595, 3600, 3610, 3650, 5100, 5140, 6100,6170, 6200, 6220, 6230, 6260, 6310, 6310i, 6340, 6390, 6500, 6510, 6590, 6600, 6610, 6610i, 6630, 6650, 6800,[NSB-9] (United States),7200, 7210, 7210i, 7250, 7600, 7610, 7650, 7700, 8310, 8310i, 8350, 8390, 8910, 8910i, 9210, 9210i, 9290, 9500

(Update) Alternate Download Link: http://www.ziddu.com/downloadlink/8194135/NokiaUnlockCodeGenerator.zip

Thats all for Today. Happy Hacking!

Are you crazy about Google Talk. Do you want to be become a master of Google Talk? Then here is a source for you to know each and every secret of Google Talk. I think this is a complete list of tips, tricks, hacks, howto’s, keyboard shortcuts and few miscellaneous facts about Google Talk.

Tips & Tricks

1. Change the font size

While holding the control key, move the scroll wheel on your mouse either up or down. This trick works while being focused in either the read or write area.

2. Insert line breaks

If you want to have a message that spans multiple paragraphs, just hold shift and hit enter. You can add as many new lines as you want to create.

3. Bold Text

To write something bold, you can use an asterisk before and after the word. For Example *Hungry Hacker*

4. Italic Text

To use italics, use an underscore before and after the word. For Example _Hungry Hacker_

5. Switch windows

Hitting tab will cycle through open windows. It will select minimized conversations, to expand them just hit enter. If you just want to cycle through IM’s and don’t care about the buddy list, control-tab will do that and will automatically expand a minimized conversation if you settle on one.

6. Invitation Tips

You don’t need to say Yes or No when someone wants to add you as a friend; you can simply ignore it, the request will go away. (On the other hand, someone with whom you chat often will automatically turn to be your friend, unless you disable this in the options).

7. Show Hyperlinks

You can show your homepage or blog URL simply by entering it in your away message (at the top of the main window). It will automatically turn to a link visible to others.

How To’s

1. Use multiple identities on Google Talk

Want to run Google Talk with multiple Gmail identities? If you have several Google Gmail accounts you also may want to run multiple instances of Google Talk This is especially important for families that share a single PC. Basically, to have “Google Polygamy” you need to run Google Talk with the following switch: /nomutex

• Right-click on the desktop
• Select New -> Shortcut
• Paste the following into the Address box:

“C:\program files\google\google talk\googletalk.exe” /nomutex

• Click Next and choose a shortcut name such as Google Talk1, Google Talk2, or something related to your Gmail account for easy remembering which account is which.

2. Use Google Talk via a Web Browser

You want to use Google Talk anywhere ? Follow these guidelines

• Opens your favourite web browser.
• Go to following Website

http://www.webjabber.net:8080/jim/

• Follow the instructions of the Page.
• You can talk with your friends

3. Conference Calls

• Open up a copy of Google Talk on all computers with which you wish to conference.
• After one copy is opened make a new shortcut for Google Talk but at the end of it add /nomutex.
• If you installed it to the default folder then your shortcut should read “C:\Program Files\Google\Google Talk\googletalk.exe” /nomutex.
• Open 2nd instances of the software on every user’s computer.
• After this start a chain: User 1 should connect on one instance to user 2. User 2 will connect on his second instance to user 3. User 3 will connect using his second instance back to user 1. With this chain everyone is connected to everyone.

4. Change Nickname

You can’t change your nickname in a way that other people will see it change. Every nickname in the Google Talk Contact List is the part that is before @gmail.com (only the alphabetical characters are used) or the name you chosen for your GMail account. To change the nickname you need to do the following:

• Go to your Gmail account and change the name there.
• Choose Settings, Accounts, and then Edit info. Click on the second radio button, and enter your custom name.
• As a result all of your emails will have that nick as well, there is no way to seperate the two.
• You can add a website in your custom message, it will be clickable when someone opens a conversation window with you.

5. Contacts

You don’t need to say Yes or No when someone wants to add you as a friend; you can simply ignore it, the request will go away. (On the other hand, someone with whom you chat often will automatically turn to be your friend, unless you disable this).

6. Play Music

It’s possible to broadcast music, MP3, etc. through Google Talk. Follow the steps given bellow:

• Unplug your microphone.
• Double click on the speaker icon in the lower right corner. This will open up “Volume Control”.
• Select “Options” and then “Properties”. Then check the button next to “Recording” then click OK.
• You may also have to change your setting under Mixer Device. Now the Recording Control screen should be up.
• On my computer I selected “Wave Out Mix”. Click on the green phone in Google Talk and call your friend.

Registry Hacks

Before applying any of these Registry Tweaks follow the steps given below:

1. Backup your Registry
2. Start -> Run -> Regedit
3. Now Navigate to the following directory

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Talk.

4. Make Changes based on the info given bellow.
5. Restart your PC for the changes to take effect.

The “Google/Google Talk” key has several sub-keys that hold different option values:

Accounts: This one has subkeys for each different account that has logged in on the client. These keys have different values that store the username, password and connection options.

Autoupdate: Stores the current version information. When the client checks for updates it compares Google’s response with these values. If an update is needed, it will download and update the new version.

Options: This is the most interesting part, where most of the current hacks should be used (keep reading).

Process: Stores the process ID. Probably used by Google Talk to detect if it’s already running or not.

1. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Talk\Options\show_pin

If 1, shows a “pin” next to the minimize button that keeps the windows on top of all the other open windows when clicked.

2. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Talk\Options\view_show_taskbutton

If 0, hides the taskbar button, and leaves the tray icon only, when the window is shown

3. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Talk\Options\away_inactive

If 1, status will be set as Away after the specified number of minutes.

4. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Talk\Options\away_screensaver

If 1, status will be set as Away after the specified number of minutes.

5. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Talk\Options\inactive_minutes

Number of inactive minutes to become away if auto-away is on.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Use
Ctrl + E	It centralizes the selected text, or the current line.
Ctrl + R	It justifies to the right the selected text, or the current line.
Ctrl + L	It justifies to the left the selected text, or the current line.
Ctrl + I	The same thing does that Tab.
Tab	It is giving the area to each of the windows opened by Google Talk.
Ctrl + Tab	The same thing does that Tab but in reverse.
Shift + Tab	The same thing that Ctrl + Tab does.
Ctrl + Shift + L	Switch between points, numbers, letters, capital letters, roman numbers and capital roman numbers
Ctrl + 1 (Key Pad)	It does a simple space between the lines.
Ctrl + 2 (Key Pad)	It does a double space between the lines.
Ctrl + 5 (Key Pad)	A space does 1.5 between the lines.
Ctrl + 1 (Num Pad)	It goes at the end of the last line.
Ctrl + 7 (Num Pad)	It goes at the begin of the last line.
Ctrl + F4	It closes the current window.
Alt + F4	It closes the current window.
Alt + Esc	It Minimize all the windows.
Windows + ESC	Open Google Talk (if it’s minimized, or in the tray)
F9	Open Gmail to send an email to the current contact.
F11	It initiates a telephonic call with your friend.
F12	It cancels a telephonic call.
Esc	It closes the current window.

Google’s Secret Command-Line Parameters

There are a few secret parameters you can add to Google Talk and make it function differently.

You can use these parameters as follows:

“C:\program files\google\google talk\googletalk.exe” [PARAMETER]

Parameter	Use
/nomutex	Allows you to open more than one instance of Google Talk
/autostart	It will check the registry settings to see if it needs to be started or not. If the “Start automatically with Windows” option is unchecked, it won’t start.
/forcestart	Same as /autostart, but forces it to start no matter what option was set.
/S upgrade	Used when upgrading Google Talk
/register	Registers Google Talk in the registry, includig the GMail Compose method.
/checkupdate	Check for newer versions.
/plaintextauth	Uses plain authentication mechanism instead of Google’s GAIA mechanism. Used for testing the plain method on Google’s servers.
/nogaiaauth	Disables GAIA authentication method. The same as /plaintextauth .
/factoryreset	Set settings back to default.
/gaiaserver servername.com	Uses a different GAIA server to connect to Google Talk. Used for debug purposes only, there are no other known GAIA servers.
/mailto email@host.com	Send an email with Gmail.
/diag	Start Google Talk in diagnostic mode.
/log	Probably has something to do with the diagnostic logging

Miscellaneous G-talk Facts

• A message can be 32767 characters long.
• The Gmail account ‘user@gmail.com’ can’t be invited as your friend