Latest Tips from MakeUseOf.com |  |
- Give Yourself An Extra Layer Of Downloading Protection With Peer Block
- Cool Websites and Tools [November 18]
- Free FLV Converter – A Simple Freeware To Convert FLV Videos To AVI
- Clicker – The Complete Guide To Online TV & Movie Shows
- 10 Programs You Should Add To Your New Android Mobile Phone (Part 2)
- Quickly & Easily Protect & Encrypt Files With Conceal
- A Windows User’s Crash Course In Switching To A Mac
- Benchmark Your System With PTS Desktop Live [Linux]
- Technology Explained: Open Router Ports & Their Security Implications
| Give Yourself An Extra Layer Of Downloading Protection With Peer Block Posted: 19 Nov 2009 04:01 AM PST
I know some people that have – but most of you are just downloading away without a care in the world. Would you like a little bit of extra downloading protection? Companies set up fake peers and trackers that either send you malicious files or note your IP address. Now using Peer Block we can stop them from getting all of us! Once a IP range is detected as being malicious they are added to the Peer Block database. Peer Block will then prevent your machine from allowing them to connect. It is not foolproof by any means but for those of you who keep on downloading, this might be a little piece of mind. Let's take a look at how it works. You start your downloading protection by downloading the application from here. Just unzip the contents and run the exe file. If you have show extensions turned off in your Windows Explorer it will be the icon shaped like a blue cube. It is the third one down in my screenshot below:
We hit next on the first screen to move along through the installer. The rest of the screens will have information for you to fill in. On the second screen which you can see below, this screen allows you to pick what you want blocked. For most of us it will just be P2P (for most file sharing applications) but you can also block ads, spyware and educational sites. You can import or create your own list and there is an option to allow http always – this means you can browse via your web browser to sites in the ranges that are in your list. Check which ones you want and hit next to continue. You should also read the recommendation at the bottom of the screen.
Now these lists change daily so just like your antivirus software you need to keep your definitions up to date. Configure this on the next screen that you can see below.
That is it. You have a little bit more downloading protection in your online adventures of bootlegging and pirating… Arrrr matey!
The application will start updating the Peer Block application and the selected lists that you choose way back at the beginning.
Once the updates are complete the application will generate a list cache so it can do its thing.
That's it. The application is now running and blocking what you requested. You can click on the disable button to disable the whole kit and kaboodle or click the allow HTTP to allow web access to an address in your list.
Do you have any other methods of staying safe? We would love to hear about it in the comments! Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too. Related posts
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| Cool Websites and Tools [November 18] Posted: 18 Nov 2009 05:01 PM PST
(1) KidsEatFor – If you eat out with your family often, KidsEatFor is definitely for you. It allows you to locate restaurants where kids get to eat for free. Just type in your address or zipcode (US only) and hit "search", KidsEatFor will then give you a list of nearby restaurants that offer kids specials. Read more: KidsEatFor -Locate Restaurants Where Kids Eat Free
(2) Meeting Scheduler for Gmail – Innovative Firefox add-on which integrates meeting scheduling within Gmail. The add-on is by ScheduleOnce, a company offering meeting scheduling solutions across various other apps too. Read more: Meeting Scheduler for Gmail (Firefox only) (3) PhotoTagger – Facebook app by Face.com which helps in proper tagging of your Facebook pictures and lets you organize them in custom albums. It also notifies you by email when a photo with you in it is uploaded across the network, be it tagged or un-tagged. It utilizes its facial recognition technology in identifying your pictures. Read more: PhotoTagger – Very Cool Facial Recognition App for Your Facebook Photos (4) Norbt – Simple web page with a useful purpose – helping you quickly and easily send encrypted messages online. Read more: Norbt – Easily Send Encrypted Messages (5) Favicon Tool – Next time you need a favicon for you website or blog, try favicon generator tool from DagonDesign. It lets you upload an image (in JPG, PNG, or GIF format) and turn it into a standard 16×16 favicon icon. The application is free, simple to use and doesn't require sign up. Read more: Favicon Tool – Turn Image Into Favicon These are just half of the websites that we discovered in the last couple of days. If you want us to send you daily round-ups of all cool websites we come across, leave your email here. Or follow us via RSS feed. Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/ Related posts
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| Free FLV Converter – A Simple Freeware To Convert FLV Videos To AVI Posted: 18 Nov 2009 02:01 PM PST
In this article, let us look at Free FLV Converter, a simple freeware application you can use to convert FLV videos to AVI. Free FLV Converter is developed by Koyote Soft, and can also be downloaded from CNET Downloads. Free FLV converter can download embedded FLV (or SWF) videos directly from the Internet, and can convert FLV to AVI, iPod (MPEG4 or H.264), iPhone, 3GP, PSP, or MP3 audio only. Conversely, it can also convert videos from other formats (DivX, XviD, MpeG, DVD, and AVI) to FLV. InstallationDownload and run the setup program to install the software. It is a light-weight download at 6MB, compared to most other video converters, and does more than just convert videos as we shall see. The only thing you would want to take care of during installation, is to avoid installing the Dealio toolbar. This is a “bloatware” toolbar that is promoted to support this freeware application, but you can easily opt out of installation by deselecting the two checkboxes during setup. Select your preferred language the first time you launch the program.
Convert FLV To AVILet's say you have already downloaded a video in FLV format to your PC and want to convert it to AVI. On the Free FLV Converter toolbar, click the Conversion from FLV button.
This will bring up a Select File Dialog from which you should select the FLV video file you wish to convert. A conversion window opens up showing the file to be converted at the top, and settings to be used for the conversion at the bottom. Click the Convert button at the bottom to convert the file.
You can customize the conversion settings if you wish. You can choose the output format, output quality, and location of the output video file in the Output configuration section. The video and audio sections allow you to set advanced settings for the codec, frame rate, aspect ratio, bit rate, etc. The default settings work fine if you don't want to dive into technical details. From this dialog itself, you can click the “+” button at the top to add more files to convert multiple videos in batch mode. The program shows you a preview while converting. The speed of conversion is quite fast, and the program did not slow down my PC or interfere with other applications, thus working very efficiently. Convert To FLVIn much the same way as converting FLV to other formats, you can also use Free FLV Converter to convert other video formats to FLV. Just click the Conversion to FLV button on the toolbar, select the file to convert, and you get a FLV file that you can embed on your website. You also get a HTML webpage created automatically with the embedded video. Search VideosYou can use Free FLV Converter to search for videos on popular video sharing websites without opening your browser. Click the Search button on the toolbar to search for videos. You can select websites like YouTube, Google, DailyMotion, MetaCafe, etc. from the Site drop-down list, enter your search terms, and click Search.
The search results are shown in the right pane. You can play, download, or go to that video's page on the site. You can multi-select and download multiple videos at once. Download VideosIf you already know the URL for a certain video that you wish to download, click the Tube downloader button on the toolbar. Here you can enter the URL of the video page that you wish to download.
You can also load a text file containing a list of URLs of videos you want to download. For a freeware application, Free FLV Converter’s feature set is very impressive. Do you like to use any other application to convert FLV videos to AVI? Share with us in the comments! Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on Twitter ? Now you can follow MakeUseOf on Twitter too. Related posts
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| Clicker – The Complete Guide To Online TV & Movie Shows Posted: 18 Nov 2009 12:01 PM PST
In their own words, Clicker positions itself as – one part directory, one part search engine, one part wiki, one part entertainment guide, and one part DVR. In short, Clicker tries to be the sum of lots of parts. I guess it tries to take the best search experience and match it with an online viewing experience à la Hulu. The ultimate goal is to be the last stop (or at least a necessary one) for online TV entertainment where you can view TV shows online. So let's explore the parts and arrive at the sum. Clicker As A Search Engine
The search engine is very friendly as it displays close suggestions when we type in the name of a show. The results page returns all available videos as well as media reports from other news and entertainment channels. Filters to sort the results make narrowing down on the one to watch quite easy. For the sake of organization, you can create a playlist of your shows which update automatically as more shows become available online.
Related videos i.e. shows which are similar to the one you are searching for, also offer interesting finds. Clicker As A Directory
A better top down approach to explore a genre would be use the directory organization of the site. You can start from Shows by Title, browse them By Source or By Show. You can also go to them using the huge scrollable Shows by Category list. Shows by Media lets you filter result by TV Shows, Web Originals, Movies and Music. Within each, the Trending section features what's hot and current on the site. Clicker As A Wiki
Each show or episode has the gist with it. You have a brief description, pictures, cast members info, ratings, external links, related shows etc. You can also add your own two bits in the form of memorable quotes, other tidbits and even edit the main description to something more fitting. Clicker As A Video Player
A click on Watch Now and you are taken to the hosting site where you can view TV shows online. Remember, Clicker does not host the content itself but merely acts as an indexer to all the content that's online. So, viewer restriction policies might apply for some shows. For instance, some (like shows in Hulu) may not be viewable by people outside certain geographical areas like the U.S. Or for instance, to view Netflix movies, you must have a Netflix account. Depending on the terms of use (like, Free), some shows can be viewed on the site's embedded player. Clicker As An Entertainment Guide
The huge database itself is an entertainment station. Clicker keeps everything indexed with what's running offline and online. New shows get added and if you have a playlist, it gets updated automatically. Clicker has source partners from YouTube to Amazon, from internet streaming movies to VOD for-purchase movies. On the homepage itself you can directly go to what's new, what's hot and shows that are recommended. The Sum Of All PartsArranging all that mine of information itself is a huge challenge and Clicker does it seamlessly. The search doesn't overwhelm the user with thousands of mish-mashed results like a general search engine but delivers trimmed down, on the button results. The content is indexed well as felt from the fast auto-suggestions and the search results. The site seems to be updated frequently as I didn't get a dropped link. That's an incredible achievement when you have a site which has content drawn from so many different sources. One or two additions down the line would surely help. For instance, you can sort the videos by popularity but there doesn't seem to be a rating system like we see in IMDB. Links to critic comments would also help. The site has just come out of beta and so it's still going to be a work in progress and the blog says that very thing. But first impressions surely will make you keep clicking. Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/ Related posts
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| 10 Programs You Should Add To Your New Android Mobile Phone (Part 2) Posted: 18 Nov 2009 11:01 AM PST
Looking through the Android Market, I have come to the conclusion that there is a lot of crap in there (busty bikini girls washing your Android screen with soap and water, while grinning insanely at you?) but there are also a lot of gems. Finding those gems can be really difficult, unless you know exactly what you are looking for. I have found things simply by thinking to myself “what would be useful to me? What do I need on a phone?”. Busty bikini girls are definately not on that list but the following items are. So let’s start once again at looking at some of the things you should consider installing on your Droid. PicSay
As well as being able to alter the photo in terms of contrast, brightness and many more (see the screenshot to the left for examples), you can also add fun special effects such as word balloons, titles, graphics, color correction and highlighting. Just increase or decrease the desired special effect by running your finger over the bar at the bottom of the screen and see the photo being updated in real time.
A great app and one that is definately needed if you use your phone camera a lot. WikiMobile
Searching for a topic is as simple as inputting it into the search box. Entries are laid out on the screen nice and compactly, and are easy to read. If you don’t know what you are looking for, try clicking “Random Article” to see….yes, you guessed it….a random article! Clicking it just now took me to the page for “naked imperialism” while clicking it again took me to the page about koala bears. You can also click the popular button to…do you need me to spell it all out? Nah, I guessed not. You can work out all by yourself what the “popular” button does. With “My Bookmarks“, you can easily save WikiMobile entries to a bookmarks section for later reading. Just go to the entry you want to save, tap your menu and choose “add bookmark“. Now article research is made much easier and those visits to the doctor’s waiting room need not be boring ever again. Who needs to read a woman’s magazine when you can read about how to build a fractional rig on a boat? Barcode Scanner
Starting the app, you will get the red laser-like line across the middle of your screen. Just place the barcode completely within your screen with the red line through the middle. Hold it steady for 30 seconds or so and the barcode scanner will then give you the option to open a product search or a web search. Both options lead to Google so I recommend going with the web search. The app is most successful with books as it takes you to the book on Google Books. I particularly like this part as I am often in bookshops, trying to figure out whether to buy a particular book or not. Now I can just get my phone out, scan the barcode and then quickly scan the relevant book reviews on Google Books. No more buying total stinkers. Nightwatch
The clock is very customisable :
Process MonitorThis one is perhaps one of the most important ones of all and I don’t understand why Android doesn’t include this as a default function. Process Monitor is basically an app to mimic Windows’s Task Manager. You can see a list of all running apps with the ability to either kill the application (shut it down) or open it. To choose, just press down on the desired app and wait for the pop-up menu to show. One of the things you have to bear in mind about an Android phone is that the battery is not that great. If you use the internet and apps on it quite a lot, the battery will drain in less than a day. So you should always be looking for ways to decrease the pressure on the battery such as disabling needless taskbar notifications and killing unneeded apps. Since Android doesn’t have a similar default app, Process Monitor is definately needed. As well as showing all the currently running apps, PM also shows you the level of your battery and the amount of currently available memory. So that concludes my ten recommended apps for the Google Android phone. In the next few articles, I will be looking at the games you should be installing on your Droid as well as the best websites to view on a mobile phone. While you are waiting for all that, let us know what you think about these 5 apps and whether you know of any better ones. I am always open to suggestions about how to improve and refine my phone! Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/ Related posts
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| Quickly & Easily Protect & Encrypt Files With Conceal Posted: 18 Nov 2009 10:01 AM PST
Conceal is meant for use on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. What sets it apart from other encryption software is just how easy it is to use and how easy it is to choose the type of encryption that you want to use. Let’s take a look at the software, shall we?
There it is. That’s about as simple and intuitive an interface as one can have for an encrypting/decrypting program. If you have it open and just want to drag files over the lock to encrypt the files, you can do that! The same goes for dragging encrypted files to the key to decrypt them.
Once you drag a file to the lock to be encrypted, this is what you will see:
Just choose a destination for the encrypted file, and provide your password for that file. For added security, you can delete the original file by checking the Delete Original File box. No sense having an encrypted and an unsecured version of the file on the same computer. That kind of defeats the point. Clicking on the Options button shows you this:
This is where you can determine what kind of encryption you want to use. The author has done a good job by briefly stating the strengths and weaknesses of each method. If you don’t specify the method you want to use, the program defaults to TripleDES. Again, good thinking by the author. Given choices, the one that should be default should be the most secure choice. You are then prompted to save your password. Go ahead and click Yes.
Now, you’ll be asked where you want to save the outcome. Choose wherever works best for you, and click OK.
Once you get to this window, just click OK. The encryption will begin. On the fast encryption. the progress happens so quick that you won’t see it happen.
As all good programs should do, Conceal notifies you when the encryption is done. Just click the OK button to confirm. File secured!
The process is almost identical for unencrypting a file. Just find the file that was encrypted. It should have a file extension of .xcon. Seems ironic to me that something secured should have a file extension that reads aloud as ex-con. Drag the file to the key side of the Conceal program. A small window will open asking you for your password.
Go ahead and enter the password that you used to encrypt the file. Then click on the link that reads Save and Close. You can also choose an alternate destination to save the decrypted file. However, that’s not necessary for this article. The decryption happens pretty quick as well. Once that’s done, Conceal presents you with confirmation that it happened. Once again, click the OK button to clear the notification.
It’s that easy! The program works very well, has the basic options that most people would ever need, and, as all of my favourite software is, it’s free! To be picky, I would like to see some slight changes to the interface, like the placement of the Save and Close. If that were a button placed near the bottom of the window, the flow would be more logical. But, as I said, that’s being picky! Overall a good piece of freeware that I would recommend. Related posts
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| A Windows User’s Crash Course In Switching To A Mac Posted: 18 Nov 2009 08:01 AM PST
Uprooting yourself from a perfectly safe and familiar surrounding which you were enveloped in while using your PC and switching to a Mac may be uncomfortable and in fact, downright awkward. But trust me, once you understand the difference between the two and learn to adapt to the “Mac style”, the dust should inevitably settle and perhaps you’ll eventually enjoy using a Mac. This crash course will be a stripped down version of most tutorials on how to use a Mac. I will only touch on the bare essentials and hopefully that will make your learning experience a less complicating one. If you need more information about using a Mac, be sure to check out MakeUseOf’s Mac Manual, written by yours truly. Installing AppsIf you’re looking to install an application in Windows, most likely you’d have to double-click on the setup.exe file to run in the installer. On a Mac, the majority of apps are packaged in a disk image called a DMG. The usual installation procedure is:
Sometimes, an app will come with an installer. Simply follow the instructions and you’re golden. Uninstalling AppsIf you need to remove an application in Windows, you’ll have to head into Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs. On a Mac, because most apps are self-contained, all you need to do is drag the app from your Applications folder to the Trash. Finito.
Tweak SettingsIn Windows, Control Panel is the operations center. Everything you need in order to change any settings will be found there.
On a Mac, you’ll need System Preferences. It can be accessed from the Apple menu, located in the top-left hand corner or in the Utilities folder (Applications -> Utilities). Every customizable setting — from display font size and screen saver patterns to Bluetooth and Printer Sharing — will be found there. If you can’t seem to locate the setting you need, use the Spotlight search field within System Preferences to narrow down the possibilities.
Exploring For FilesIf you need to explore the contents of say, the Program Files folder in Windows, you’ll definitely use Windows Explorer and would presumably start by double-clicking My Computer. On a Mac, what you would use is the Finder. Click on the Finder icon (the smiley face) on the Dock and a new Finder Window will open, displaying the contents of your Home folder. From there, you are able to access your Applications, Documents, Downloads, Movies, Music and Pictures folders.
Keyboard ShortcutsMost Windows keyboard shortcuts revolve around the Control button. To copy — Control + C, to paste — Control + V and so on. On a Mac, the big kahuna is the Command button. It’s located next to the spacebar and has a clover icon on it. You’ll definitely need to reprogram your fingers (your thumb, actually) to hit this button instead of Control. For a complete list of commonly-used Mac OS X shortcuts, refer to MakeUseOf’s Cheat Sheets page or the Mac Manual. Launching ApplicationsThe regular rigmarole to go through if you need to launch an app in Windows would be to click on Start, then go on from there depending on how you have your Start menu customized. On a Mac, the Dock is where you’ll start. Drag all of your favourite apps — internet browser, instant messaging client, music player, movie player, etc — from the Applications folder onto the Dock for easy access.
Dealing With Unresponsive AppsIf something went wrong while using a Windows PC, most users will instinctively press the infamous Control+Alt+Del key sequence to invoke the Task Manager. On a Mac, if an app isn’t responding, your safest bet is to force it to quit. You can do this by right-clicking the app’s icon on the Dock and click on Force Quit.
Alternatively, you can learn to use Mac’s task manager — Activity Monitor. System MaintenanceIf you get a whiff that your Windows PC is starting to clunker and slow down, the obvious easy-fix is to use Window’s Disk Defragmenter. On a Mac, fragmentation is automatically dealt with by the operating system so you don’t need to worry about that. If you notice your Mac starting to slow down, take a look at some optimizers in this article and here for a couple of tips to keep your Mac running smoothly. Many (even seasoned) Mac users will advise you to run Disk Utility to repair file permissions as a cure-all for Mac slowdowns. I have to point out this is a myth. Repairing permissions deals with a very specific issue, read more about it here. I hope that this crash course helps any recent Mac Switchers out there to comprehend the alien (albeit very pretty) operating system before them. I can’t emphasize the importance of user experience here. You’ll only learn to master a Mac after you’ve used it for some time and no tutorial can completely substitute your personal learning process. Image credit: Daniel Morris Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/ Related posts
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| Benchmark Your System With PTS Desktop Live [Linux] Posted: 18 Nov 2009 06:01 AM PST
Others may use them for bragging rights on that new top-of-the-line gaming machine. Whatever your interest, computer benchmarks certainly are fun. However, obtaining system benchmarks can be tedious. In the past, installing benchmarking applications could be expensive or, with some systems, difficult and time consuming. Phoronix has been providing free and quality benchmarking software for Linux for several years and adding support for other architectures since. Free BSDs, OpenSolaris, and MacOS are among those supported and Windows support is in the pipeline. As nice as these packages are, they still require time and the right software support in order to install and function. One way to address these inconveniences is to use PTS Desktop Live, a live CD built on Ubuntu containing the test suite which removes any operating system or software requirements for the target machine and avoids having to install any extra software permanently onto your system. Just boot the live CD and you’re ready to go.
The point-and-click interface makes obtaining your computer benchmark so easy to do, even for the average Joe. Just in case, an introduction opens at boot with basic information and links to the home site where much more information is found. But no special information is really needed. Just click on the big green “P” on the panel or “Phoronix Test Suite” in the Applications menu under System Tools. At that point merely click on any of the tests to get basic information as to what it benchmarks and then click Install to download and install the test. Since using Ubuntu as its base, the tools are now delivered as binaries eliminating the need to compile making the process much quicker. The user will be asked if and where to store the results and if they’d like to upload to Global. Remember that this is a live CD and all data will be lost upon shutdown unless moved to a more permanent storage medium. All computer benchmark information is stored in the
One of the recommended Profiles is Favorites. This is a nice collection of general purpose tests commonly used by Michael Larabel, the founder and lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite. When the test suite is installed, just click the “Run Test” button. When asked what to name this particular test and the Test Identifier, just pick something you’d remember easily. After completion of the tests, data can be viewed in the included Web browser and displayed in easy-to-read graphs. You can choose to compare the results with other machines listed on the Phoronix Global site and you can upload your results for others to use for comparison or for future reference. One of my favorite activities is to compare new hardware with old after an upgrade. One of yours might be to show your best friend how much better your machine rocks than his (or vice versa). Remember, the best feature of the Phoronix Test Suite Desktop is the FUN!
What benchmarking tools do YOU use? Let us know all about them in the comments. Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/ Related posts
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| Technology Explained: Open Router Ports & Their Security Implications Posted: 18 Nov 2009 04:01 AM PST
Most people know what FTP is. FTP is the File Transfer Protocol. It is designated to run on port 21. Now let’s think about this. If you want to have a FTP server on your computer that is accessible to the outside world you will need to open port 21 on your router or firewall. Bittorrent Client Azerus uses inbound and outbound ports 6881-6889 below is how I opened them on my Dlink router
To open a port on your network you would log into your router or firewall. You will need this IP address and username/password to connect. Once you are in, you would look for the firewall portion of your interface. If this is over your head, go to Port Forward and they will walk you through it. All you need is your router’s make and model. Your firewall or router might call it Applications, Rules , Virtual Servers or Firewall rules.
The third and forth columns are what we are looking at. The third column has the address of the machine that is connected to your machine then there is a colon and the port number this machine has connected or is trying to connect on. The last column states either Listening or Established. Listening means the port is open and waiting and Established means that the machine is connected. The reason that the manufacturers made it so difficult to open ports was security concerns. By opening ports on your router you are essentially unlocking a window or door to your home. The bad guys might not know it is unlocked but by trying it, they might figure it out. To give you an example of how opening ports can harm you, I will share with you my first time I got hacked. It was not a proud moment. It was humbling and an eye opener. I came home from work to check why I could not get to my FTP on my home computer from work. My machine was on and it looked like the hard drive was going crazy. Once I logged on to the machine I saw that my free space was at less than 1% and my machine was crawling due to no free space issues. Apparently someone used my open port 21 to gain access to my IIS based FTP server and upload crap loads of porn. I quickly took my machine offline and checking the log files, was going in and out of the machine all day and night with a new user set up. By opening port 21 there was a way into my machine and using some exploit they took it over. I saw that the hackers were connecting from specific IP addresses - I blocked those in my router and then I modified my rules. All my rules now have source IP addresses, No longer will I open a port to everyone – I will add my office IP address and work around that. Another nifty tip is to use different port numbers than the usual ports. When I say usual ports I mean port 80 is normally used to access the web but you can change the port your webserver uses to 8888 via IIS. They you would need to type in http://www.yoururl.com:8888 if the user did not know the port they could not find the website. I used 3737 for FTP for a while. The reason this helps is that hackers scan networks for open ports. Port scanning takes time and so they scan for ports like 21,22,80,8080 and other commonly used ports. If you are able to change your ports do so. In this instance I then accessed my FTP site using my IP and the port like so: ftp://172.23.33.211:3737 (that is a fake IP address for you hackers out there!) Most FTP clients allow you to change the port your client connects with as well. You can use a free port scanner from an outside computer like this one or you can use a service like Can You See Me to scan individual ports.
The external website is a better test as it shows what is open from the outside in.
One you confirm that you have ports open that you want to close you will need to go to your router and find the rules and delete them or you can turn on your Windows Firewall from your services manager. For total control download Zone Alarm's free offering. The firewall will provide you with protection from threats inside and outside your network. How do you safely open ports and protect yourself from threats? Share your opinions with us in the comments! Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section! New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/ Related posts
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Do you BitTorrent? Do you download stuff from Kazza, Limewire or whatever you crazy kids are downloading from nowadays? We all know that it is illegal to download copyrighted works from the Internet. No matter if it is a movie, music, an application or even a textbook. You could be subject to hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. We have heard horror stories of a college kid or a grandfather being sued by the RIAA or another company hell bent on you not downloading their proprietary materials. So what do you do? Do you stop downloading?
The Flash FLV video format has become the default format for video on the web. Many popular video websites like YouTube, Google Videos, DailyMotion, MetaCafe, and Yahoo! Videos use the FLV video format. Meanwhile, most Windows desktop video programs used to play and edit videos use the Microsoft AVI file format. As a result, many users frequently need freware to convert FLV videos found on the web to AVI format on the desktop.
Another online movie and TV site? Hmmm, yes…but Clicker seems to stand apart from the crowd (and it's a swarm!).
Last time I 
I have an excellent camera on my phone but nevertheless, some photos just don’t come out the way I want them to. In the absence of an official Photoshop app for the Android, PicSay is a suitable alternative in the meantime.
OK, you could go to the 
This one is limited in its usefulness but I included Barcode Scanner because I still like it and I love the looks I get in shops when I walk up to products and zap the bar code with my phone!
Nightwatch turns your Android phone into a glowing alarm clock. You will need to either lay the phone down on its side (the screen turns as you turn the phone) or you will need to buy/make a stand for it to sit on. But either way, this allows you to see the time in the dark and set your alarms effectively.
There are a number of free programs out there that you can use to 
If you have a nagging urge to read this article, I’d imagine that you’ve been a Windows user throughout your technological life. Switching from one operating system to another (in this case to a Mac) is far from easy, especially when the two operating systems have so little in common.
Everybody likes benchmarks. Whether your talking about hardware or software, benchmarks allow companies to describe their wares and offer users a chance to identify any bottlenecks or other problems with their systems.
An open router port is the term used to refer to a virtual door allowing specific data in or out of your router. One example of a port is the most popular port 80. Port 80 is used for HTTP or Web traffic. If port 80 is closed outbound for your computer, then you would not be able to get to the Internet. Think of a port as a door. And the door has rules that let people through one way, both ways or prohibits them from passing through,
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