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Buy, Sell, Trade or Find Free Torrent Invites for Private Torrent Trackers Such As redacted, blutopia, losslessclub, femdomcult, filelist, Chdbits, Uhdbits, empornium, iptorrents, hdbits, gazellegames, animebytes, privatehd, myspleen, torrentleech, morethantv, bibliotik, alpharatio, blady, passthepopcorn, brokenstones, pornbay, cgpeers, cinemageddon, broadcasthenet, learnbits, torrentseeds, beyondhd, cinemaz, u2.dmhy, Karagarga, PTerclub, Nyaa.si, Polishtracker etc.

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  1. Great giveaway @Mudit21 would love to appy for it. thank you
  2. WElcome to invitehawk..The place to be..Enjoy your Stay..
  3. WElcome to invitehawk..The place to be..Enjoy your Stay..
  4. OpenVPN is software used for virtual private networking (VPN). It can be downloaded for free and used on Windows, Linux, and macOS computers, as well as Android and iOS devices. VPNs protect data traffic across public networks such as the internet. Using a VPN improves the security of a computer, whether it's connected over Wi-Fi or a physical Ethernet cable. It's important to note that OpenVPN is not a VPN service in and of itself. Instead, it's just a way to connect to a VPN server that you can access. This might be a VPN service provider you've purchased or are using for free or one provided by a school or business. How to Use OpenVPN OpenVPN can be used by both the server computer that's acting as the VPN and also by the client device that wants to connect to the server. A base package is a command-line tool for server setup, but a separate program exists for graphical user interface setup for ease of use. An OVPN file must be used to tell OpenVPN what server to connect to. This file is a text file that includes instructions on how to make the connection, after which you are prompted to enter the login details to access the server. For example, if you're using one of the OVPN profiles from the Private Internet Access VPN provider because you want to connect to a PIA VPN server, you first download the file to your computer and then right-click the OpenVPN program in the taskbar to import the profile. If you have more than one OVPN file that you want the program to be able to use, you can put all of them in the \config\ folder of the program's installation directory. Once OpenVPN analyzes the file and knows what to do next. You log in to the server with the credentials given to you by the provider. OpenVPN Program Options There aren't a lot of settings in OpenVPN, but there are a few that might be useful. If you're using the software on Windows, you can have it launch when the computer first boots up. There's also a Silent Connection and Never Show Balloon option you can enable to avoid getting alerts when OpenVPN connects you to the VPN server. A proxy can be used too, for even greater security and privacy. Some advanced settings found in the Windows version of this tool include changing the folder of the configuration files (the OVPN files), setting the script timeout settings, and running the program as a service. OpenVPN Price Options OpenVPN software is free from a client's perspective, meaning a free connection can be made to a VPN server. However, if it is used on a server to accept incoming VPN connections, OpenVPN is only free for two clients. The company charges a modest annual fee for additional clients.
  5. You can't just download torrents like you do other types of files. Instead, you need a dedicated torrent downloader, a special kind of program that downloads the actual movie and music files that the torrent file is pointing to. You have two broad choices when it comes to torrent downloading tools: cloud software, which are online services that you subscribe to; and client software, which are programs that you install directly on your computer. Of course, always be sure you're running fully updated antimalware software before you visit any of these sites. While cloud software is arguably better at cloaking your P2P habits, both cloud and client software have their advantages. Each offer different levels of price, control, and customization to suit different tastes. Below you'll find the most popular torrent downloaders to use with your torrent file sharing. This list is compiled from hundreds of regular suggestions. Feel free to email us if you have suggestions for this list and be sure to check out our How to Download Torrents on a Chromebook piece if that applies to you. Be sure to check this list of the best torrent sites, as well as these VPN service recommendations, two things you'll want to get right! 01 of 09 Bitport.io Bitport.io is an excellent torrent downloader service in the Czech Republic. This cloud torrent service does not require an install on your computer! Instead, you log into your online account and they will download torrents for you onto their own private servers. Once your large files are transferred to them, you then log on and download the completed file directly to your computer. The free version allows 1 GB of storage. You can subscribe to get more storage and unlimited transfer speeds. Bitport is an excellent service, and considering the risks that they incur, the small $5, $10, or $15 monthly fee is an excellent value. 02 of 09 Tixati Tixati software for torrent downloading. screenshot Tixati is a reliable and fast torrent program authored by the architect of the WinMiX OpenNap program. Displaying a forward-thinking architecture, Tixati embraces the shift towards trackerless torrent swarming, meaning magnet links, PEX, and DHT swarming work very well in Tixati. The throttling features and range of priority adjustments appeal to fussy P2P users, plus the download speeds are as fast as Vuze and uTorrent. The bitfield graphs and executive dashboard display are very professional. This product certainly earns a place among the best torrent clients today. 03 of 09 Transmission If you're a Mac user, Transmission is one of the first torrent downloaders you should try! This open-source product is designed specifically for Mac so that it achieves the fastest download speeds possible. It's not as feature-rich as some of the other PC-based and Linux-based competitors, but it will definitely meet regular user demands and get your torrent files downloaded quickly. Tip: There is a version for Windows machines, too! 04 of 09 Deluge Torrent Software Deluge torrent software. screenshot Deluge is open source torrent downloader software that runs on Windows, Linux, and Unix. This torrent client is built to be a very lightweight product that uses minimal memory and processor power. It offers prioritization features, as well as selective and scheduled downloading, which is invaluable to serious P2P users. Our readers describe the speeds they get on Deluge as the same or faster than Tixati or BitComet or uTorrent. 05 of 09 uTorrent uTorrent downloading software. screenshot Known as both "u-torrent" and "micro torrent", this is one of the most popular client-based torrent downloader tools out there. uTorrent has all the functions a great torrent downloader will ever need, and it only requires 1 MB of hard drive space. uTorrent has all the downloading and seeding performance of its competitors, but with minimal impact on the rest of your computer's speed. 06 of 09 Tribler Tribler torrent software. screenshot Tribler is special. It is both a torrent client and a built-in search engine for finding torrents on the Web. If more people use Tribler, this actually circumvents the repeated issue of people's favorite torrent sites being temporarily shut down. So, if you are very pro-downloading, Tribler actually helps the torrent ecosystem to grow and stay alive. 07 of 09 Boxopus Boxopus, like bitport.io, is a cloud-based torrent downloader. Very conveniently, Boxopus can store your torrents in your Google Drive or Box accounts. The service does charge $1.50 per week, $14.50 per month, or $50 per year, all USD. While that 7-day price might sound expensive, it's actually very reasonable if you plan your downloads so that you can use the week-long access to its maximum. 08 of 09 Vuze You can call it bloatware, or you can call it the Lexus of torrent downloaders! Vuze is a large software product that offers a smorgasbord of features... most of which you may never use. You can play any media in Vuze, including HD videos. You can play music, and run most any media on this product. Apparently, you can also use Vuze to run media on your iPhone, Xbox, or PSP. Vuze is very popular, and you'll want to give Vuze a try for a couple days and decide for yourself if this powerful product fits your style of downloading and viewing media. 09 of 09 BitComet BitComet Torrent Software. screenshot The BitComet torrent downloader is very good but has lost many users to uTorrent, Transmission, Vuze, and Tixati. If you are a serious downloader who has particular tastes in interfaces, definitely give BitComet a try. If you are a new user, start with uTorrent or Vuze first. Many private torrent sites will ban you for using BitComet as there is a pervasive belief that BitComet reports incorrect ratio information, and also leaks data to DHT.
  6. Install WinRAR Software Step 1: Download WinRAR utility from RARLAB.com. How: Download WinRAR from here. Explanation: WinRAR is what we call an “archive manager” program. Its job is to package and compress large files for more efficient downloading. WinRAR is capable of squeezing a 1024 megabyte movie into 600 megabytes of smaller linked files. Because of its power and versatility, this tool is extremely popular amongst file sharers. In your case, you are interested in decompressing (“extracting”) a downloaded file and converting back into a full usable format. WinRAR is free to try and is only 1136 kilobytes large. After a month of using it, the RAR programmer asks that you purchase it for $29USD. 02 of 07 Install a CD/DVD Virtual Emulator Step 2 Task: Download and install "emulator" software that will treat your files as if they were an optical CD-DVD drive. How: Download "Daemon Tools" optical drive emulator here or here. Explanation: Unlike the .avi and .mpg digital file formats that PC's can easily view, many P2P movie files are in optical .bin or .dat format. Bin and dat are a standard format for a DVD or CD player, but to make them viewable on a PC, you need to install an adapter software. This adapter software is called "mounting an optical drive image" with "emulator" software. The single most popular CD/DVD emulator software is Daemon Tools 4.x.x Daemon is a free and high-quality product. You can download this freeware from multiple download locations. 03 of 07 Install three different movie player products. Step 3 Task: Download and install VLC, DivX, and Windows Media Players. How: Download free VideoLAN VLC Player here. Download free DivX Player here. Download free Windows Media Player 9 here. Explanation: There is an ambiguous mishmash of file types available through Internet P2P downloading. A smart user knows this and uses at least 3 different movie players in order to successfully view the range of varying movie files. The 3 suggested players are Windows Media Player (usually included with Windows XP), DivX Player, and VideoLan VLC Player. Depending on what kind of file you download, you will need to try each of these players until the movie plays successfully. As of this writing, these three tools will play 99% of all downloadable movies, as long as they have the required codec (compress/decompress) libraries installed. Foreign film note: if you are trying to view an .ocg or .ogg file that requires subtitles, you will require special additional software (see upcoming article for explanations of .ocg/.ogg files) 04 of 07 Extract the WinRAR primary archive into its .bin/.cue/.dat formats. Step 4 Task: Find the one main .rar file, and extract (decompress) it using right click. How: Using Windows File Explorer or My Computer, find the primary RAR file. It will have an icon shape of 3 tiny books, and will likely be the only file with a .rar extension at the end of its name. Tip: use (Window button) - E on your keyboard to quick launch Windows File Explorer. Right click on that single primary .rar file, and “extract to” a subfolder (This is usually the third choice in the R. click menu) Make a mental note of the name of the folder you are creating, as you will need to “mount” that folder later. Confirm “yes” to the resulting dialog boxes, and give the WinRAR about 2 minutes to do its extracting job. The software will decompress the primary RAR file, and it will also auto-link it to the dozens of its sister .r## supporting files. You only extract the one primary RAR file … the software will take care of the sister files behind the scenes. The final result will be a .bin and .cue file, or a .dat and .cue file. Explanation: Large movie files archives are comprised of dozens of .r01, .r02, .r03 files. Each of these files is commonly 14,649kb large. This is how WinRAR purposefully packages a large file. WinRAR squeezes it down into dozens of smaller linked “sister” .r## files, often half the original size. Tip: right click on one of the .r## files, and check its properties. You can see a graph of how much it was compressed from its original file size. 05 of 07 "Mount" the movie .cue file to act as a virtual optical drive. Daemon Tools CD drive emulator. Step 5 Task: Now you convince your computer that the extracted movie files are a virtual CD or DVD disc. How: Launch the Daemon Tools software. A red or green lightning bolt icon will appear at bottom right of your screen in the Windows clock tray. Right click on this Daemon lightning bolt icon, and choose the first “virtual drive” letter you have available. Usually, this is G:. Then choose “Mount Image”. Choose a drive letter of your choice… the letters themselves are arbitrary and are just a code pointer to name your virtual drive.(tip: to view multiple movies, set your emulator to have 3 or 4 virtual optical drives. 1 drive can play 1 .bin/.cue file movie, 2 drives can play 2 .bin/.cue file movies, and so on.) Browse using the resulting File dialog box to point to the .cue file you extracted a few minutes ago. Within a few moments, another dialog will ask you what to do with that .cue file. Choose “Open folder to view files”. Within another few moments, you are likely to see another dialog box named “G:”, and four folders with names like this: EXT, MPEG#, SEGMENT, and VCD2. This dialog box means that Windows sees the files as if they were a CD or DVD. Open the MPEG# folder, and you will find the primary move file in .avi, .mpeg, or .dat format. 06 of 07 Launch the .avi/.mpeg/.dat file into one of your movie viewers. Step 6 Task: Open your "mounted" .dat/.bin/.avi/.mpg movie file into the movie player software that displays it best. How: Find the primary movie file. It will commonly be upwards of 600,000kb large, and will often have the file extension .bin, .dat, .avi. or .mpeg at the end of its name. Try double-click to launch the .bin/.avi/.mpeg/.dat into your default player. Default player will be Windows Media Player for most users. If Media Player fails, then try opening the file into DivX Player. You can use a drag-and-drop technique for opening, or launch DivX and open the movie file from there. DivX is commonly used for viewing .dat files. Lastly, try the VLC player from VideoLAN. VLC player commonly renders .avi files that come from Europe. There you go. For 95% of you who have read this tutorial, you should now be watching your movie! If your file is not working after all the above steps, then go to Step 7. Explanation: Almost as ambiguous as Step 5, this Step 6 happens to be the guesswork step. Because some virtual CD-DVD files will only play in certain players, you will need to use trial-and-error to identify which player works best for that movie. Gratefully, DivX, Windows Media Player, and VLC seem to cover 99% of all movies available on P2P. 07 of 07 Troubleshooting Why Your Movie Still Won’t Play Step 7 Task: Troubleshooting problems. How: If even after trying the previous 6 steps repeatedly, your downloaded movie does not play, then you are likely plagued by one of the following problems. You downloaded a corrupt file that was masquerading as a full movie or CD. If this is the case, your only recourse is to find a better copy of the file and download that superior copy. You failed to successfully install the 3 movie players and the DVD Daemon Tools, emulator. If so, then you need to go back and reinstall those products. The movie/CD you downloaded is in such an exotic format, you will need to use very custom software to view it. If this is the case, then your only recourse is to email the file sharer person directly and ask for their guidance. You are trying to use Daemon Tools emulator on Windows Vista, without updating it to version 4.08 or better. If you run Windows Vista, you will need to download and install at least version 4.08 of Daemon before Daemon will work properly. Explanation: Unfortunately, because of the mishmash of file types and the amateur knowledge of many file sharers, downloaded movie quality is inconsistent. What may be one positive experience of downloading one day will be followed by frustrating broken files the next day. Experienced P2P downloaders have come to learn this, and they adapt with their various tools and techniques. Check back often to see if new file types require new user responses.
  7. Step 1: Download and Install Winamp Music Player. (This tutorial is continued from this TS3 article) ACTION: Download Winamp Media Player 5.62. Once downloaded, perform the simple Winamp installation, using the default settings that pop up. The installation for Winamp should be identical for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows. Note: Winamp is a deprecated technology. That means is that it works well, but the programmers have chosen to no longer continue building new versions of the product. EXPLANATION: While there are many music players, Winamp is the easiest and most reliable for single-boxing a Teamspeak 3 music player. You can get a free Winamp Standard version at the Winamp site. There is a pro version available for $20 USD. Both the free and pro versions will play Ventrilo music without any limitations. More details on this Winamp requirement are available here. 02 of 07 Step 2: Download and Install Virtual Audio Cable Software ACTION: This step is very easy: you only need to download and install the VAC software. Once it is successfully installed, there is no need to even open VAC or configure VAC -- VAC runs silently in the background, automatically creating a music stream called "Line 1 - Virtual Audio Cable". We will use this Line 1 in an upcoming step. Trial version of VAC available here. Full version of VAC available here ($30 USD) Other versions of VAC are available at various download sites around the Web. EXPLANATION: VAC is 'routing' software for audio. This means: VAC lets you transfer music and voice signals from different software packages and microphones to play in other software or speakers/headphones of your choosing. This obscure-but-useful tool is the key to streaming music while also maintaining full voice communications in ventrilo.VAC is a product authored by Eugene Muzychenko, a gifted programmer.More details on this VAC requirement are available here. 03 of 07 Step 4: Command Windows to Allow VAC to Run "Unsigned" ACTION: This step may not be necessary, if Windows runs VAC without any error messages. However, if you do get VAC error messages after installing Virtual Audio Cable, you must command Windows to allow VAC to run "unsigned". There are four substeps to this procedure: 1) Disable Windows UAC: Start menu > (in the search command box, type: MSCONFIG) > Tools > Change UAC Settings > Launch > (set the slider to Never Notify). As you set the slider to "never notify", the Windows UAC dialog box will give the warning "not recommended". You can safely disregard this warning... DSEO is a benign product that will not threaten your computer's security as long as you practice good computer hygiene by running your antivirus every day. 2) Download and install DSEO here. 3) Take 5 minutes to follow the DSEO instructions at the web page here. You will need to point the DSEO signing to the full pathname of VAC. ** Note: the pathname to VAC driver will likely be "C:\Windows\System32\drivers\vrtaucbl.sys" 4) Once you have enabled Test Mode and have "signed" the vrtaucbl.sys file with DSEO, you can restart your computer. 5) Optional: here is an even-more detailed walk-through of the DSEO procedure, written by Tech F1. 6) NOTE: DSEO is mistakenly flagged as malware by some antivirus programs, like Avira, McAffee and Panda. This is a false alarm, and unfairly describes DSEO as malicious. The product is absolutely safe, just not encouraged by the Microsoft corporation. Read more details here. EXPLANATION:This is the most technically-challenging step of the whole process, because you are lifting the hood of your operating system to remove an annoying lock instituted by fearful administrators at Microsoft.Microsoft does not like developers making software for the Windows OS, unless the developers pay licensing fees. These fees can be prohibitively expensive, and some authors choose to offer their wares as "unsigned drivers". Microsoft likes to deter these authors' products by having the User Account Control lockout any products that have not paid licensing fees.On the provision that you practice good computer hygiene through daily antivirus checks, running unsigned drivers on your computer is very low risk. DSEO is simply the most reliable free product to do this bypassing of Windows UAC and driver signing.More details on this DSEO requirement are available here. 04 of 07 Step 5: Set Winamp Preferences to Output "Line 1, Virtual Audio Cable" ACTION: In Winamp: Options menu > Preferences... > ("Plug-ins") > ("Output") > Nullsoft DirectSound Output > Configure > (set device to Line 1: Virtual Audio Cable) EXPLANATION: VAC is running invisibly in the background, waiting to transfer audio signals for you to where you direct it. This transfer conduit is called "Line 1". You can optionally create more lines to send audio to other software, if you decide to get more complex with your audio.In the steps ahead, we will use "Line 1" from Winamp to be the input into your new Mumble user name. 05 of 07 Step 6: Create a Windows Desktop Shortcut to Launch Teamspeak 3 Twice ACTION: With your desktop Teamspeak 3 shortcut launch icon: Right-click and set the "target" to say "C:\Program Files\ TeamSpeak 3 Client\ ts3client_win64.exe" -nosingleinstance EXPLANATION: By adding the command -nosingleinstance to the Teamspeak 3 shortcut, you command it to allow multiple copies to launch. You will then launch the first copy to be your own voice login. You launch Teamspeak 3 a second time to use your Jukebox login for the music. 06 of 07 Step 7: Launch 2 Copies of Teamspeak 3 and Manually Configure One to Jukebox ACTION: With your desktop Teamspeak 3 icon: you will ultimately launch two copies of Teamspeak. One will be for your regular TS self, and other for the music streaming. This takes a few sub-steps, as described: Double-click and launch the first instance Teamspeak 3. Go ahead and connect to your server, using your regular login. This will be your regular voice ID, and the first of 2 logins. Using the desktop shortcut we modified earlier, launch TS3 a second time. 2 windows of Teamspeak will no be running on your screen. Connect to the same server as your first login, but change the name of your user to be "Jukebox" or other stylish name. This second login will be your music player. In that second TS3 login, go to Settings --> Options, choose Capture. Under Capture Device, choose Line 1 (Virtual Audio Cable). This will route the music from Winamp to your TS3 listeners. Still in Settings --> options --> Capture, choose Continuous Transmission. Enable the checkboxes for Echo Reduction, Echo Cancellation, Advanced Options, Remove Background Noise, and Automatic Gain Control. These checkboxes will improve the sound quality of your player. Click Apply and OK. Housekeeping items: On your music machine login: mute the login of your regular self, and also mute your music machine. You will listen to the music through Teamspeak 3, not directly from your own computer. Try keeping the music volume low, and let people manually turn up the volume on their end. REMEMBER: the above steps do not save in Teamspeak 3 when you close. Every time you launch Teamspeak 3, you need to repeat all of the instructions above. It is easiest to just leave your two ID's logged in when you are away from keyboard. Perhaps have the server admin create an 'AFK' channel for you to park your logins for convenience. Important Note: if your fellow Teamspeak users choose to mute the music player, they will also mute you and your voice comms. This is because Teamspeak will associate your single IP address with both logins. This is a weakness in the system that cannot be avoided with the current Teamspeak 3.x versions. We hope that this will change in the future. EXPLANATION: The first copy of Teamspeak 3 will be your regular voice connection. The second copy of Teamspeak 3 will be the streaming music from Winamp. Make sure you enable the 'deafen self' command for the second copy of Teamspeak 3... this will prevent the music playing twice in your headphones. 07 of 07 Step 3: Manually Disable Windows Driver Signing This step is the easier alternative to installing DSEO. If you are not confident doing technical configurations, then use this F8 reboot process. You can then skip to Step 5. To allow Virtual Audio Cable to run, you need to command Windows to allow 'unsigned drivers' to execute on your machine. This is a benign procedure, and will not put you at any more risk if you practice good computer hygiene as a rule. ACTION: Reboot your computer. As it is loading, press your F8 key repeatedly until the Windos software launches the 'boot options' black screen. You will then navigate with your arrow keys to select 'Disable Driver Signature Enforcement'. Then press Enter and allow the computer to boot completely. That's it. This procedure is a manual bypass that works for as long as your computer doesn't restart. When you do have to reboot, you will need to repeat this procedure each time. EXPLANATION: Microsoft does not like developers making software for the Windows OS, unless the developers pay licensing fees. These fees can be prohibitively expensive, and some authors choose to offer their wares as "unsigned drivers". Microsoft likes to deter these authors' products by having the User Account Control lockout any products that have not paid licensing fees. On the provision that you practice good computer hygiene through daily antivirus checks, running unsigned drivers on your computer is very low risk. Using this F8 reboot technique is one way to bypass driver signing. The other choice is to install DSEO software. More details on disabling this driver signing requirement are available here.
  8. The cornerstone of the Smart TV experience is viewing TV shows, movies, and other content via the internet streaming process; the streamed content is accessible via apps. Almost all Smart TVs have a selection of pre-loaded apps, but most Smart TVs allow viewers to add more. The precise steps needed to add more apps on a Smart TV may vary from brand-to-brand or model-to-model within a brand. There may also be slight changes in onscreen menu appearance from year-to-year. Here are some examples you might encounter. Samsung If you don't see an app on your Samsung Smart TV Homepage (aka Smart Hub) you would like to access, it may be available via the Samsung Apps Store. Samsung Smart TV Add Apps Process. Screenshots To find out if the app is available and then add it, do the following: Note: Make sure you have set up a Samsung account. This can be done through the TV's System Settings. If you have a Samsung account, click Apps on the menu bar. This will take you to the My Apps screen that displays all the pre-loaded apps, as well as access to apps in other categories, such as What's New, Most Popular, Video, Lifestyle, and Entertainment. If you see an app that's not in My Apps, but would like to add it, select the icon for that app. This will take you to that app's install page, which also provides information on what the app does, as well as some sample screenshots showing how the app works. If you don't see the app you want in the official categories listings you can see if it's available in the Samsung Apps store using the Search feature. To search for an app, select the magnifying glass located on the top-right corner of any of the app menu screens. Once you find the desired app, select Install. After the app is installed you'll be prompted to open it. If you don't want to open the app, just leave the menu and open it later from My Apps. Note: If you own a Samsung Smart TV from 2014 or an earlier model year, the onscreen menu system may look different; there may also be variations in the steps used to add apps. LG LG's Smart TVs use the WebOS platform, which includes app management. Just as with many smart TVs, LG includes a package of pre-installed streaming apps. LG WebOS Smart TV. Image provided by LG However, to ensure you can download additional apps you need to establish an LG Account. Here are the steps: Open Home Menu. Select Settings; it looks like a gear and is usually located on the top-right corner of the screen. Go to General. Select Account Managment. Select Create Account. Follow the account setup steps as prompted (Email Address, Password, etc). Select OK. Check your email for an account verification notice. Here are the required steps for installing apps: Press the Home button on the Remote control Launch LG Content Store Select an Apps Category or search for an app. Select an App you wish to download. Select Install. You'll see the price here instead of Install if the app isn't free. Select OK when prompted. This will begin installing the app. Once the app finishes downloading, you can launch it immediately or access it later from My Apps. VIZIO Depending on whether your Vizio TV incorporates the SmartCast or Internet Apps/Apps+ platform determines how you can add apps in addition to the core apps that are provided. Here is a short version on how to add apps to both types of Vizio Smart TVs. How SmartCast Works. Image provided by Vizio SmartCast On Vizio SmartCast TVs, apps are not added to the TV, but to a compatible mobile phone or tablet and then cast to the TV, in a similar manner as you would if using a Chromecast device. Here is how to add apps: Using your mobile device, go to the Google Play Store or Apple App Store Select an available Chromecast-enabled App. Tap Install. Once installed, the app is now part of your cast selection. To view the content from the app on your TV, Cast it from your mobile device; a SmartCast TV will automatically detect the cast and display it. Internet Apps/Apps+ If your Vizio TV incorporates Vizio Internet Apps (VIA) or Vizio Internet Apps+ (VIA+), instead of SmartCast, apps can be added directly to the TV using available selections provided by Vizio and, on some models, via the Google Play Store. Here are the steps: Select the V button on your Vizio TV remote control to open the Apps Menu. Select one of the App Store options (Featured, Latest, All Apps, or Categories). Highlight the app(s) you want to add that are not already on your list. For TVs that have VIA, press OK and go to Install App. After the app installs it will be added to your viewing selection. For TVs that have VIA+, press and hold OK until the app has been added to the My Apps list. Select the app to watch it. TVs with Chromecast Built-in Although Vizio incorporates Chromecast within its SmartCast platform, there are other TVs that have ChromeCast Built-in as their core streaming apps platform, too. These include select models from Haier, JVC, LeECO, Philips, Polaroid, Sharp, Skyworth, Soniq, Sony, and Toshiba. Polaroid TV with Chromecast Built-in. Image provided by Polaroid The steps used to add more apps on a TV with Chromecast Built-in are similar to that for Vizio SmartCast TVs, albeit without the added features that Vizio provides. Go to the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. Select an available Chromecast-enabled app. Tap Install and wait for the download and installation process to complete. Once installed, you can cast content from the app directly to your TV from your smartphone. Android TVs There are select TVs from Element, Hisense, LeECO, Sharp, Sony, Toshiba, and Westinghouse that incorporate the Android TV operating system. Android TV - Add Apps. Images provided by Hisense Here are the steps to add apps on an Android TV. From the Android TV Home screen, scroll down to the Apps row or Apps section displayed on your TV screen. Select the Google Play Store. To find apps (or games), you can browse, search, or select Get More. Select the app you want; you may also be prompted to hit Accept. Select Install. If the app requires payment, you'll be prompted to provide payment information. Once installed you can launch the app directly or from the Android TV home screen at your convenience. Note: Some Android TVs also include Chromecast Built-in, which provides a second option to access and add streaming apps. Roku TVs A Roku TV is one that has the Roku operating system built right into the TV, meaning you don't have to connect an external Roku streaming stick or box to the TV to access and manage streaming apps. Roku refers to apps that provide video and audio content as Channels. Utilities, such as productivity or network functioning, are referred to as apps. Roku TVs have the same onscreen menu interface as other Roku streaming devices. TV brands that offer this system on select models include Element, Hisense, Hitachi, Insignia, Philips, RCA, Sharp, and TCL. ROKU — Add Channels via Roku TV or Mobile Smartphone App. Images via Roku Here's how to add a Roku channel using the TV remote: Press the Home button. Select Streaming Channels; this will open the Roku Channel Store. Select one of the Channel Categories. Select the Channel you want to add. Select Add Channel to begin downloading and installation. When the installation is complete, you can open the app. If you don't open it at that time, it will be the last entry on your viewing list where you can access it at any time. You can also add channels, including private/hidden channels not listed in the official channel store, using the Roku Mobile App, a PC, or laptop, after which they will be available to watch on your Roku TV. Fire Edition TVs Just as there are TVs with Roku built-in, there are some TVs that have Amazon Fire TV functionality built-in. In other words, you can manage and add apps the same way you would using a plug-in Amazon Fire TV stick or box. TV brands that offer this system on select models include Element, Toshiba, and Westinghouse. Fire Edition TV - Add Apps Steps Example. The procedure for downloading and installing apps is the same on a Fire Edition TV as it is for a Fire TV stick or box. Using the TV's remote: Go to the Homepage. Go to Apps. Select an app category like TV/Movies. Select an app that you would like to add. Select Download or Get. An added notation will appear indicating the app is downloading. Once the app is downloaded and installed, there will be an indication that you can open it. The installed app will also be placed on Your Apps and Channels on the home page.
  9. Startup items, also commonly referred to as login items, are applications, documents, shared volumes, or other items you wish to automatically start up or open when you boot or log in to your Mac. A common use for startup items is to launch an application that you always use when you sit down at your Mac. You may, for instance, always launch Apple Mail, Safari, and Messages every time you use your Mac. Instead of launching these items manually, you can designate them as startup items and let your Mac do the work for you. Adding Startup Items Log in to your Mac with the account you wish to associate with a startup item. Click the System Preferences icon in the Dock, or select the System Preferences item from the Apple menu. Click the Accounts or the User & Groups icon in the System section of the System Preferences window. Click the appropriate username in the list of accounts. Select the Login Items tab. Click the + (plus) button below the Login Items window. A standard Finder browsing sheet will open. Navigate to the item you wish to add. Click once on it to select it, and then click the Add button. The item you selected will be added to the startup/login list. The next time you start your Mac or log in to your user account, the item(s) in the list will start up automatically. Drag-and-Drop Method for Adding Startup or Login Items Like most Mac applications, the Startup/Login Items list supports drag and drop. You can click and hold an item, and then drag it to the list. This alternate method of adding an item can be useful for adding shared volumes, servers, and other computer resources that may not be easy to find in a Finder window. When you have finished adding items, close the System Preferences window. The next time you boot or log in to your Mac, the item(s) in the list will start up automatically. Use Dock Menus to Add Startup Items If the item you wish to have automatically started at login is present in the Dock, you can use Dock Menus to add the item to the startup items list without ever having to open System Preferences. Right-click the app's Dock icon and select Options, Start at Login from the popup menu. Find out more about what's hidden within the Dock in the Use Dock Menus to Manage Mac Applications and Stacks article. Hiding Startup Items You may notice that each item in the login items list includes a checkbox labeled Hide. Placing a check mark in the Hide box will cause the app to start up, but not display any window that may normally be associated with the app. This can be helpful for an app that you need to have running, but whose app window doesn't need to be viewed right away. For instance, we have the Activity app (included with OS X) set to start automatically, but we don’t need the window since its dock icon will show us at a glance when CPU loads become excessive. If we need more info, we can always open the app's window by clicking on its dock icon. This also holds true for menu applets, those menu goodies that you can install in Mac's menu bar. You likely want them to run when you log in to your Mac, but you don't want their app windows open; that’s why they have easy-access menu bar entries. Startup Items Already Present You may have noticed when you accessed your account's login items list that there were already a few entries present. Many applications that you install will add themselves, a helper app, or both, to the list of items to start automatically when you log in. Most of the time the apps will ask your permission, or they will provide a checkbox in the app's preferences, or in a menu item to set the app as starting automatically at login. Don't Get Carried Away with Startup Items Startup items can make using your Mac easier and can make your everyday workflow a snap. But adding startup items just because you can lead to unusual consequences. For complete details on how to remove startup/login items, and why you should delete ones you no longer need, read through: Mac Performance Tips: Remove Login Items You Don’t Need.
  10. Making folders on your iPhone is a terrific way to reduce clutter on your home screen. Grouping apps together can also make it easier to use your phone — if all of your music apps are in the same place, you won't have to go hunting through folders or searching your phone when you want to use them. How you create folders isn't immediately obvious, but once you learn the trick, it's very simple. Follow these steps to create folders on your iPhone. Make Folders and Group Apps on the iPhone To create a folder, you'll need at least two apps to put into the folder. Figure out which two you want to use. Lightly tap and hold one of the apps until all apps on the screen start shaking (This is the same process that you use to re-arrange apps). Drag one of the apps on top the other. When the first app seems to merge into the second one, take your finger off the screen. This creates the folder. What you see next differs depending on what version of the iOS you're running. In iOS 7 and higher, the folder and its suggested name take up the entire screen. In iOS 4-6, you'll see the two apps and a name for the folder in a little strip across the screen You can edit the name of the folder by tapping on the name and using the onscreen keyboard. More on folder names in the next section. If you want to add more apps to the folder, tap the wallpaper to minimize the folder. Then drag more apps into the new folder. When you've added all the apps you want and edited the name, click the Home button on the front center of the iPhone and your changes will be saved (just like when re-arranging icons). To edit an existing folder, tap and hold the folder until it begins to move. Tap it a second time and the folder will open and its contents will fill the screen. Edit the folder's name by tapping on the text. Add more apps by dragging them in. Click the Home button to save your changes. How Folder Names Are Suggested When you first create a folder, the iPhone assigns a suggested name to it. That name is chosen based on the category that the apps in the folder come from. If, for instance, the apps come from the Games category of the App Store, the suggested name of the folder is Games. You can use the suggested name or add your own using the instructions in step 5 above. Adding Folders to the iPhone Dock The four apps across the bottom of the iPhone live in what's called the dock. You can add folders to the dock if you want. To do that: Move one of the apps currently in the dock out by dragging it to the main area of the home screen. Drag a folder into the empty space. Press the Home button to save the change. Making Folders on the iPhone 6S, 7, 8 and X Making folders on the iPhone 6S and 7 series, as well as the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, is a little trickier. That's because the 3D Touch screen on those devices responds differently to different presses on the screen. If you have one of those phones, don't press too hard in step 2 above or it won't work. Just a light tap and hold is enough. Removing Apps From Folders If you want to remove an app from a folder on your iPhone or iPod touch, follow these steps: Tap and hold the folder that you want to remove the app from. When the apps and folders start wiggling, remove your finger from the screen. Tap the folder you want to remove the app from. Drag the app out of the folder and onto the Homescreen. Click the Home button to save the new arrangement. Deleting a Folder on the iPhone Deleting a folder is similar to removing an app. Simply drag all the apps out of the folder and onto the Homescreen. When you do this, the folder disappears. Press the Home button to save the change and you're done.
  11. To wipe a hard drive means to completely erase the drive of all its information. Deleting everything does not wipe a hard drive and formatting does not [always] wipe a hard drive. You'll need to take an extra step to wipe the hard drive completely. When you format a hard drive or delete a partition, you're usually only deleting the file system, making the data invisible, or no longer blatantly indexed, but not gone. A file recovery program or special hardware can easily recover the information. If you want to make sure that your private information is gone forever, you'll need to wipe the hard drive using special software. Important: See Tip #2 at the bottom of the page for information on a "simple" wipe using the format command in Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista. Follow the easy steps below to completely wipe a hard drive: How to Wipe a Computer Hard Drive Time Required: This could take several minutes to several hours depending on how big the drive is and what software/method you choose to wipe it with. DBAN Wiping a Hard Drive. Back up anything you want to keep. When the hard drive wipe is complete, there will be absolutely no way to get anything on the drive back. Tip: If you've already been using an online backup service, you can safely assume that all your important files are already backed up online. Important: Make sure to back up everything you want to keep; sometimes multiple drives exist on a single hard drive. You can view the drives (volumes) that sit on a hard drive from the Disk Management tool in Windows. Download a free data destruction program. Any of the first six programs we recommend on that list will work great because they can be used to wipe a hard drive from outside of Windows, a necessary feature if you want to wipe the hard drive that Windows is installed on. Tip: I'm a big fan of DBAN, our first pick on that list. It's probably the most widely used hard drive wiping tool. See our How to Wipe a Hard Drive with DBAN tutorial if you're nervous about hard drive wiping or prefer a more detailed walkthrough (yes, with screenshots). Note: There are actually several ways to completely erase a hard drive but using data destruction software is the easiest and still allows the hard drive to be used again. Next, complete whatever steps are necessary to install the software or, in the case of a bootable program like DBAN, get the ISO image on a CD or DVD disc, or a USB device like a flash drive: If you're using a CD or DVD, this usually involves burning the ISO image to a disc and then booting from the disc to run the program. If you're using a flash drive or other USB drive, this usually involves burning the ISO image to the USB device and then booting from that USB drive to get started. Wipe the hard drive according to the program's instructions. Note: Most data destruction programs utilize several different methods to wipe a hard drive. If you're curious about the effectiveness or methods used to complete the hard drive wipe, see Data Sanitization Methods. After properly wiping a hard drive, you can be confident that whatever information was on the drive is now gone for good. You can now install Windows on the drive, create a new partition, sell or give away the hard drive or computer, recycle or dispose of it, restore your backed up files, or whatever else you need to do. 9 Best Sites to Sell or Trade Used Electronics Tips & More Information on Wiping Hard Drives Wiping a hard drive is operating system independent, so long as you use one of the bootable tools from our list. That means that you can use this same general process to wipe a hard drive if you have Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Linux, or any other PC operating system. Beginning in Windows Vista, the format process changed and a single write zero pass is applied to each standard (non-quick) format. In other words, a very basic hard drive wipe is performed during a format. If a single write zero pass is good enough for you, consider your drive wiped after a regular format in Windows 10, back through Windows Vista. If you want something even more secure, go ahead and follow the hard drive wipe instructions above. Keep in mind, too, that this is a wipe of just the partition you're formatting. If you have more than one partition on a physical hard drive, you'll need to format those additional drives as well if you want to consider the entire physical disk as "wiped." If what you really want to do is just make sure that files you delete are really gone, a data wiping tool is more than you need. See our Free File Shredder Software Programs list for programs that "destroy" individual files on an as-needed basis. Many of those "shredder" programs also do what's called a free space wipe, which is a wipe of all of the free space on your hard drive, which would, of course, include any of your previously deleted files. Still confused? See Wipe vs Shred vs Delete vs Erase: What's the Difference? for a lot more on this.
  12. Introduction A common misconception when working on removing malware from a computer is that the only place an infection will start from is in one of the entries enumerated by HijackThis. For the most part these entries are the most common, but it is not always the case. Lately there are more infections installing a part of themselves as a service. Some examples are Ssearch.biz and Home Search Assistant. When cleaning a computer the standard approach is to clean up the Run entries and the other more common startup entries first. For the most part, that will be enough to remove the infection. The problem arises when the log looks clean and yet there are still problems. One place to continue looking for the infection is in the operating system's services to see if there is a service that does not belong there and could possibly be loading the infection. A service is a program that is automatically started by Windows NT/XP/2000/2003 on startup or through some other means and is generally used for programs that run in the background. Please note, in order to properly use the instructions below you must either run the programs with Administrator privileges. Service Configuration A service is loaded on startup by either using svchost.exe or by windows directly launching the application. If a service is loaded directly by windows, the associated file name that launches the service can be found in the ImagePath value under the following registry entry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\servicename When the service is being launched by svchost.exe, it will be placed in a particular service group, which is then launched by svchost.exe. A listing of these groups and the services that are launched under them can be found here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Svchost Under this key you will find various groups (netsvcs, LocalServices, etc) in which each contain multiple services that will be launched when the group is loaded by svchost.exe. These groups are loaded by the following command: svchost.exe -k netsvcs It will load all the services found under the netsvcs group in the above key and appear as one process under the process list. So each time a new group is loaded by svchost.exe, you will find a new svchost.exe process listed in memory. It is for this reason why there are multiple svchost.exe processes listed on a machine. If you are using Windows XP, as this command is not available on Windows 2000, you can see what services each svchost.exe process is controlling by running the following command from a command prompt: tasklist /SVC When a service is launched in this way, the actual filename for the service can be found here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\servicename\Parameters\\ServiceDll The value of ServiceDLL is the actual service file that we want to be concerned with. Listing and Analyzing the services To get a report of configured services on your computer, I put together a simple batch file that uses Bobbi Flekman's swsc program program to get a list of the services and open a notepad. Nothing fancy, but saves time when diagnosing. This file can be found here: Getservices.zip To use the script, you simply unzip the file to your drive and you will now find a directory called c:\getservice. Inside that directory is a batch file called getservice.bat and the psservice.exe file. Simply double-click on the getservice.bat file and it will create a notepad containing a list of services installed on the computer you are running it on. Note: You must be running as a user with Administrator privaleges or this script will either not work or not give enough information. The output of the script will contain information about each service installed on your computer. The important information to look at in the service entries are:: SERVICE_NAME This is the name the service goes by and is what it is stored in the registry under. BINARY_PATH_NAME This is the actual file that is being used to launch the service. DISPLAY_NAME This is the name the service appears under in the services.msc in the control panel. START_TYPE This tells you if the service is disabled, manually started, or automatically started. Below are examples of how an entry would look for two different types of infections explanations of how to interpret the information given: SERVICE_NAME: O?'ŽrtñåȲ$Ó (null) TYPE : 20 WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS START_TYPE : 2 AUTO_START ERROR_CONTROL : 0 IGNORE BINARY_PATH_NAME : C:\WINDOWS\system32\d3xi.exe /s LOAD_ORDER_GROUP : TAG : 0 DISPLAY_NAME : Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Helper DEPENDENCIES : SERVICE_START_NAME: LocalSystem Home Search Assistant Example The Home Search Assistant uses a service, among standard Run entries, as part of its infection. The important attributes we can gather from the above information are as follow: It's display name in the Services control panel is Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Helper It has a service name of O?'ŽrtñåȲ$i in the registry. It is started automatically on boot up The file that starts this service is C:\WINDOWS\system32\d3xi.exe Armed with this information we now know what registry entries the service is stored in and the file that is being used as part of the Home Search Assistant infection. The next example is for the Ssearch.biz hijacker, but it is loaded in a slightly different way, causing us to work a little more in finding out what the infection file is. SERVICE_NAME: pnpsvc Provides plug and play svc devices support TYPE : 120 WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS INTERACTIVE_PROCESS START_TYPE : 2 AUTO_START ERROR_CONTROL : 1 NORMAL BINARY_PATH_NAME : C:\WINNT\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs LOAD_ORDER_GROUP : TAG : 0 DISPLAY_NAME : Plug and Play svc service DEPENDENCIES : SERVICE_START_NAME: LocalSystem SSearch.biz Example The SSearch.biz hijacker uses a service as part of its infection as well. The important attributes we can gather from the above information are as follow: It's display name in the Services control panel is Plug and Play svc service It has a service name of pnpsvc in the registry It is started automatically on boot up The file that starts this service is C:\WINNT\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs Now this information, though helpful, is somewhat useless without digging around further in the registry. We know that the file that starts the service is svchost.exe, but that is a legitimate program, so we do not want to delete it. How then can we find the appropriate file to remove? Remember what we discussed above about how svchost.exe works? From the BINARY_PATH_NAME we know that the file is part of the netsvcs group. That means that when svchost loads that group, which may contain many services, it will also load the file associated with this service. To find the actual file name for this particular service, we need to check the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\pnpsvc\Parameters\\ServiceDll The value of the ServiceDLL key is the actual file that we want to get rid of. In the next section we will discuss how to remove the service via deleting entries in the registry. Removing a service Removing a service manually requires removing entries from the registry. This can be a dangerous task for the health of your computer. If you do not feel comfortable doing this, then please ask someone else to help with this step of the cleanup procedure as making a mistake can cause the computer you are working on to not work properly. Service entries are stored in the registry under a section called ControlSet. A ControlSet are located under the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM A ControlSet is a complete copy of the configuration that is used to successfully launch services and other critical files & drivers for Windows. When you look under the above key there will always be at least two ControlSets and one CurrentControlSet. For the sake of this tutorial I will use what I have on my machine, which is ControlSet1 and ControlSet2 (there may be more up to a maximum of 4). One of these numbered control sets refers to the default configuration that is used when the computers normally boots. The other numbered control set refers to the one used when you choose to boot up using the Last Known Good Configuration. The last one, CurrentControlSet, is an exact mirror of the ControlSet we had used to boot into Windows, so that if you make a change CurrentControlSet it will automatically appear in the ControlSet it is mirroring and vice-versa. If you wanted to know for sure which ControlSet the CurrentControlSet is pointing to you can examine the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Select This key gives us important information as to which ControlSet was used on the last boot, which is used by default, and which is designated for LastKnownGoodConfiguration. This key contains the following values: Current This will contain the number of the ControlSet that we are currently using and which CurrentControlSet points to. Default This will contain the number of the ControlSet that Windows uses by default when booting. Failed This will indicate with ControlSet was the one that failed on last boot. If it is 0, then there was no failures. LastKnownGood This will contain the number of the ControlSet that Windows uses when we choose the Last Known Good Configuration If we wanted to manually remove a service from the registry we would only need to remove it from the numbered ControlSets (remember CurrentControlSet is a mirror of one of the numbered ones). For example, to remove the service for a SSearch.biz hijacker on my computer, we would simply delete from the registry the following entries: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\pnpsvc\ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Services\pnpsvc\ Once we reboot, these services will no longer be listed in the Services control panel. At times though, the malware will also install itself under these keys: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Enum\Root as subkeys called LEGACY_svcname. These LEGACY_svcname entries should be deleted as well, but will usually require you to change the permissions on them in order to delete them. Simply change the security permissions on these keys to Everyone (Full) and then delete them.
  13. Introduction It is exciting to get a new computer. Think of all the applications and games you can now run, the music you can store, and the pictures you can share with friends. Your new computer is delivered, you quickly unpack it, and start plugging it all in. The computer boots up, the desktop appears, and just by clicking on your web browser icon you are suddenly connected to the wide world of the Internet and all the enjoyment you can derive from it. Did I say enjoyment? I really meant to say Danger! That's right, you have now just connected your computer to the Internet with no protection, and studies show that within the next 24 hours there is a good chance you will be infected with some variant of malware. Whether that is a virus, worm, Trojan, spyware, or browser hijacker, or even hacker, something or someone is itching to infect your machine. It does not have to be this way though. By following some really simple steps you can set up your new computer without fear of what is lurking out there to infect you. Below I have outlined some general guidelines for all operating systems that you should use. I then go into more specific steps for various operating systems so that when you are connected to the Internet you are prepared for the worst. General Guidelines Use a Firewall The most important step when setting up a new computer is to install a firewall BEFORE you connect it to the Internet. Whether this is a hardware router/firewall or a software firewall it is important that you have immediate protection when you are connecting to the Internet. This is because the minute you connect your computer to the Internet there will be remote computers or worms scanning large blocks of IP addresses looking for computers with security holes. When you connect your computer, if one of these scans find you, it will be able to infect your computer as you do not have the latest security updates. You may be thinking, what are the chances of my computer getting scanned with all the millions of computers active on the Internet. The truth is that your chances are extremely high as there are thousands, if not more, computers scanning at any given time. The best scolution is if you have a hardware router/firewall installed.. This is because you will be behind that device immediately on turning on your computer and there will be no lapse of time between your connecting to the Internet and being secure. If a hardware based firewall is not available then you should use a software based firewall. Many of the newer operating systems contain a built-in firewall that you should immediately turn on. If your operating system does not contain a built-in firewall then you should download and install a free firewall as there are many available. If you have a friend or another computer with a cd rom burner, download the firewall and burn it onto a CD so that you can install it before you even connect your computer to the Internet. We have put together a tutorial on firewalls that you can read by clicking on the link below: Understanding and Using Firewalls Disable services that you do not immediately need Disable any non-essential services or applications that are running on your computer before you connect to the Internet. When an operating system is not patched to the latest security updates there are generally a few applications that have security holes in them. By disabling services that you do not immediately need or plan to use you minimize the risk of these security holes being used by a malicious user or piece of software. Download the latest security updates Now that you have a firewall and non-essential services disabled, it is time to connect your computer to the Internet and download all the available security updates for your operating system. By downloading these updates you will ensure that your computer is up to date with all the latest available security patches released for your particular operating system and therefore making it much more difficult for you to get infected with a piece of malware. Use an Antivirus Software Many of the programs that will automatically attempt to infect your computer are worms, trojans, and viruses. By using a good and up to date antivirus software you will be able to catch these programs before they can do much harm. You can find a listing of some free antivirus programs at the below link: Virus and Malware Resources Browse through the various free antivirus programs at the above list and install one before you connect to the Internet. Download it from another computer and burn it onto a CD so that it is installed before you connect. Specific Steps for Windows 95/98/ME Unfortunately these versions of Windows do not come with a built-in firewall. It is therefore recommended that you download a free firewall and antivirus software from another computer and burn it onto a CD. Then install these products on to your computer before you connect to the Internet. If you do not have the ability to do this, then immediately after you determine that you are connected to and are able to use the Internet, you must go to www.windowsupdate.com and download and install all critical updates available for your operating system. Keep going back and visiting this page until all the updates have been installed. When these updates are finished installing, then download and install a firewall and antivirus software. Specific Steps for Windows 2000 Windows 2000 does not contain a full featured firewall, but does contain a way for you to get limited security until you update the computer and install a true firewall. Windows 2000 comes with a feature called TCP filtering that we can use as a temporary measure. To set this up follow these steps: Click on Start, then Settings and then Control Panel to enter the control panel. Double-click on the Network and Dial-up Connections control panel icon. Right-click on the connection icon that is currently being used for Internet access and click on properties. The connection icon is usually the one labeled Local Area Connection Double-click on Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and then click on the Advanced button. Select the Options tab Double-click on TCP/IP Filtering. Put a checkmark in the box labeled Enable TCP/IP Filtering (All Adapters) and change all the radio dial options to Permit Only. Press the OK button. If it asks to reboot, please do so. After it reboots your computer will now be protected from the majority of attacks from the Internet. Now immediately go to www.windowsupdate.com and download and install all critical updates and service packs available for your operating system. Keep going back and visiting this page until all the updates have been installed. Once that is completed install an antivirus software and free firewall, and disable the filtering we set up previously. Specific Steps for Microsoft Windows XP If you have recently purchased a computer and it came with XP Service Pack 2 installed, then the firewall will be enabled by default and you will not have to do anything but install an antivirus software and check for any new updates at www.windowsupdate.com. On the other hand, if this is an older computer, or you are re-installing one, then you should follow these steps before you connect to the Internet: Log into Windows XP with an administrator account. Enable the Internet Connection Firewall by following the steps found in the following tutorial link: Configuring Windows XP Internet Connection Firewall Once the firewall has been turned immediately go to www.windowsupdate.com and download and install all critical updates and service packs available for your operating system. Keep going back and visiting this page until all the updates have been installed. Once that is completed install an antivirus software and free firewall. Disable the built in XP firewall. Specific Steps for MAC OSX Mac OSX has a built-in firewall that should be used before connecting to the Internet. To turn this firewall on follow these steps: Open up the System Preferences Click on the Sharing icon Click on the Firewall tab Click on the Start button Now the screen should show the status of the Firewall as On. Now that the firewall is configured you should connect to the Internet and immediately check for new updates from Apple by following these steps: Choose System Preferences from the Apple Menu. Choose Software Update from the View menu. Click Update Now. Select the items you want to install, then click Install. Enter an Admin user name and password. After the update is complete, restart the computer if necessary Now install an antivirus software on your computer if one is not already. Specific Steps for Linux/UNIX Almost all Linux distributions come with a built in firewall which is usually iptables. Make sure that the firewall is starting automatically at boot up and is configured to deny all traffic inbound to your computer except for the services you require like SSH. Unfortunately iptables would require a tutorial all in its own, so I will refer you to this already created tutorial: iptables tutorial for beginners Once the firewall is configured, go to the respective site for your Linux distribution and immediately download and install any of the latest security updates that are available. Windows is not the only operating system with security vulnerabilities and it is just as important for Linux users to have an up to date operating system.
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