Save your passwords online with Agatra
Submitted on November 10th, 2005 by admin
Filed under Productivity and Services and Security
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Just from reading the title I know what many of you are thinking - why would I want to save my passwords online? You might be right, after all, it could be a security concern. If this doesn’t bother you, there is a pretty cool new service out called Agatra which offers a web-based interface to all your services which require a password. Sign up for a free account, and begin adding all your various accounts to the service and you will be presented with links which automatically log you in to each service based on the information you’ve provided. This is very useful for those of you who do a lot of traveling and need an easy way to remember your passwords and don’t want to be bothered with writing them down and carrying them around with you. While I like the idea in theory, I am a bit of a security freak so if giving your passwords to a third-party bothers you, don’t use it. Still, the convenience of Agatra is pretty tempting so you may at least want to use it for non-sensitive data like maybe your favorite social bookmarking site or RSS aggregator.
[Via Lifehacker]
Want to sue Sony? Read on!
Submitted on November 10th, 2005 by admin
Filed under Announcements and Software and Security
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It looks like the Electronic Frontier Foundation is looking to sue Sony for the recent debacle with the rootkits they are installing on people’s PCs to prevent them from pirating their CDs (by the way, there is a new worm which takes advantage of this so if be careful). The EFF is looking for a few good people to e-mail them testimonials on their experiences in order to make a case. Be sure to read this Boing Boing post to see what they are looking for. California is already suing Sony so there might be something to this.
Find out if your PC has been hacked with DShield
Submitted on November 3rd, 2005 by admin
Filed under Services and Security
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Every smart computer user knows that they need to have certain software on their computers - firewall, antivirus, antispyware - particularly if they are running Windows. Sometimes, even with all these tools, it is possible that your computer may be being used to attack others. Want to find out if your computer is vulnerable and on the list of internet baddies? Then check out, DShield, a free service which scans your IP and ports and lets you know if you’ve been cracked.
Using GMail as a spam filter
Submitted on October 15th, 2005 by admin
Filed under Email and Security
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GMail is a great e-mail service, but some of you may not be willing to part with an old e-mail address. Want to get rid of some of that unsightly spam? Use a GMail account as a spam filter! GMail has one of the best spam filtersets of any web-based e-mail service (Hotmail probably being the worst) and you could use this to your advantage to keep your inbox free of nasties.
Super Duper system recovery for Mac users
Submitted on October 14th, 2005 by admin
Filed under The Mac Side and Software and Hardware and Security
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This is one of those applications where the name doesn’t lie; Super Duper is just that - super! Super Duper is a fantastic Mac application which makes creating system backups and recoveries a super duper easy job (ok, I’ll stop). There may be times when your Mac just won’t boot. Maybe it’s a system update gone wrong, an unexpected crash, or maybe you’d like to test some production software; what if you lose your data? With Super Duper you don’t have to as creating a clone of your system is just a matter of selecting a couple of options and hitting the start button as everything comes preconfigured. Super Duper will run you a cool USD19.95, a small price to pay to ensure the safety of your data.
Disposable e-mail address services
Submitted on October 4th, 2005 by admin
Filed under Email and Resources and Security
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One of the best tricks to stop spam e-mail from reaching your inbox is by creating a disposable e-mail address. I’ve used a Hotmail account for spam for a long time, but recently, many services have popped up which serve exclusively to route spam to. Some of these services provide RSS feeds of e-mail, others let you forward e-mail to your real account. Some require registration, some don’t. See what works best for you, though my favorite is still Mailinator (NOTE: Brian, who writes for TipMonkies sometimes, works on Mailinator and created the great Spam Map for the service) because of its simplicity. All the following are free.
Firefox essential: mboverloadPAK v.3
Submitted on September 27th, 2005 by admin
Filed under Productivity and Browsers and Software and Security
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There are over 600 extensions available for Firefox over at Mozilla Update, and for the average user, that is just too much. Who has the time to browse through all those extensions and pick which are useful and which are not, right? Well apparently someone does, and he goes by the name of mboverload. He has actually gone through all 600+ extensions and picked out the cream of the crop - only those extensions which are essential or at least, extremely useful - and put them together in one easy to install package the mboverloadPAK v.3.
In this extension pack, you’ll find all kinds of great extensions, including some of my favorites like Greasemonkey, PasswordMaker, and BugMeNot. You can find a full list of the available extensions right here. Categories range from bookmarking tools, to RSS aggregators, to password creation and cookie management. If you’re a Firefox user, this is one piece of software you do not want to be without. There’s even a handy Flash installation guide!
PasswordMaker: one password to rule them all
Submitted on September 27th, 2005 by admin
Filed under Browsers and Software and Security
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With a tagline ripped from the Tolkien classics, what self-respecting geek could possibly pass up PasswordMaker, a free extension for Firefox, Mozilla, and Netscape, which makes creating secure and uniqe passwords for websites extremely simple? What makes PasswordMaker especially secure is that passwords are not stored anywhere, instead, all you need is a single master password and the web address of a site in order to create a secure password through a one-way hash algorythm. Because of the way the password is created, PasswordMaker claims it is impossible to calculate what the master password is and all other created password.
Don’t have Firefox, Mozilla, or Netscape? No problem. PasswordMaker offers an online version with all the same functionality as well as a Konfabulator widget. An Internet Explorer version of the extension, as well as desktop versions for computers, PDAs and mobile phones is coming soon.
Top ten tips for blogging anonymously
Submitted on September 27th, 2005 by admin
Filed under Resources and Services and Security
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Our good friend Tim Yang posted The Real Top Ten Tips for Blogging Anonymously on his blog, and if you’re at all security conscious (paranoid?) about your blog, it’s definitely worth a reading. Some of the tips include blogging from cybercafes, or behind an anonymous proxy, using encryption, blogging via e-mail and more. Be sure to check out the full list with all the juicy details right here.
Additionally, you might want to check out Reporters Without Borders’ PDF handbook for bloggers about dissident blogging which has some good, though somewhat basic tips as well.
Figure out what those Windows processes do
Submitted on September 24th, 2005 by admin
Filed under Resources and Services and Windows and Security
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Windows runs a lot of hidden processes in the background, and some may have pretty obscure, with names that just aren’t very descriptive. Some may even be spyware or malware which could make your system unstable or insecure. What do these processes do? Now you no longer have to sort through hundreds of Google searches, thanks to a great resource called Process Library. Process Library is exactly what the name implies: a library of processes. You will find a wealth of information when searching for a particular process, including a detailed description, who created it, whether it’s a system process or application, and whether it can contains a virus, trojan, or other nasties. Definitely a worthwhile source, so if you’re ever in doubt, be sure to head over to Process Library.
