TrackMeNot + Firefox = anonymous searching

After AOL released user search data last year and the chaos that ensued have led to increased concern among users of being profiled by search engines. If you would like to thwart these search engines from profiling you, you should get the TrackMeNot extension.The extension periodically queries designated search engines with random keywords and thus provides bogus data to the search engine which in turn totally messes with the search engines profiling.

If this extension is used along with Tor and Privoxy it can cloak you in an extra layer of privacy. This is one of the must have extensions for those who value their privacy.

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Anonymous browsing with Tor and Firefox

If you are worried about your privacy and would like to browse the internet anonymously then you should consider using Tor in conjunction with Firefox. This great software includes a router and privoxy (a proxy server) which can mask user IP affording you to browse the web safely and anonymously. Foxtor and torbutton Firefox extensions allow you to enable and disable tor and privoxy from within the Firefox browser.

here’s how you install all three

1. Download and install tor from this link.
2. Download and install either Foxtor or Torbutton.
3. Start tor from the system tray
4. Click on the foxtor or torbutton icon to toggle anonymous browsing.

keep in mind that you should not use tor with BitTorrent or other P2P software to download illegal software.

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Alternatives to Windows programs

The open source revolution is providing more choices to users than ever before, be it a completely free operating system, a fully featured office suite or very good graphics editing program, the sheer number of alternative programs to some popular proprietary programs is amazing. The following site has a very nice list of programs that provide alternative programs to some propriety ones www.foogazi.com

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Firefox Installation step-by-step

Here is a step-by-step tutorial on installing Firefox. This tutorial is mainly aimed at the  first time Firefox user. Firefox is a great way to experience the web,you should try it if you haven’t already.

A Home User’s Security Checklist for Windows

With more and more spyware and malware targeting windows everyday, here’s a handy check list to make your PC secure A Home User’s Security Checklist for Windows

Checking file integrity with MD5 hashes

Click on image to see actual size.

The next time you are downloading a file off the Internet and want to make sure the file is not corrupt or virus infected try to see if the file has a MD5 hash file or a SHA1 hash file. Simply put each file  generate an unique signature when hashed using the MD5 algorithm  The signature changes if the contents of the file change or gets corrupted

 

.You can download the tools to verify file integrity here. or here for a graphical tool.

Alternative operating systems

If you ever thought that Windows was the only operating system and there are no alternatives to it, then think again. Here is a small list of mostly free alternative operating systems that match and sometimes surpass Windows features.

EICAR – Dummy test file to check you Antivirus software

EICAR.org has got a dummy test virus file that anyone can download to test the effectiveness of the antivirus software on their machine. The file is available here. most self antivirus software should warn you when downloading the program. THis itself is a good sign. Download all 4 kinds of files listed and check if you get warnings for all 4. If not its time to switch to a better antivirus program.

Note: I have mentioned the free AVG antivirus in my previous blog posts.

Securing windows XP

If you are tired of the lax security in windows XP and really want to do something about it here os a great article that tells you how to do just that.

Tweaking Firefox for better performance

Here is how to make firefox faster. This method requires a bit of editing Firefox’s settings .if you prefer to use a wizard to do the same, you can download tweak network settings extension.