In my last post, I told you about movie tags and prints. In this post i will tell you about various movie formats. You must have heard about VCD , Super VCD (SVCD), Divx , XviD etc. Now let us talk about them in detail.

The Various types of formats and their definations are as follows:

VCD -
VCD is an mpeg1 based format, with a constant bitrate of 1150kbit at a resolution of 352x240 (NTCS). VCDs are generally used for lower quality transfers (CAM/TS/TC/Screener(VHS)/TVrip(analogue) in order to make smaller file sizes, and fit as much on a single disc as possible. Both VCDs and SVCDs are timed in minutes, rather than MB, so when looking at an mpeg, it may appear larger than the disc capacity, and in reality u can fit 74min on a CDR74.


SUPER VCD(SVCD) -
SVCD is an mpeg2 based (same as DVD) which allows variable bit-rates of up to 2500kbits at a resolution of 480x480 (NTSC) which is then decompressed into a 4:3 aspect ratio when played back. Due to the variable bit-rate, the length you can fit on a single CDR is not fixed, but generally between 35-60 Mins are the most common. To get a better SVCD encode using variable bit-rates, it is important to use multiple "passes". this takes a lot longer, but the results are far clearer.



XVCD/XSVCD -
These are basically VCD/SVCD that don't obey the "rules". They are both capable of much higher resolutions and bit-rates, but it all depends on the player to whether the disc can be played. X(S)VCD are total non-standards, and are usually for home-ripping by people who don't intend to release them.



KVCD-
KVCD is a modification to the standard MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 GOP structure and Quantization Matrix. It enables you to create over 120 minutes of near DVD quality video, depending on your material, on a single 80 minute CD-R/CD-RW. We have published these specifications as KVCDx3, our official resolution, which produce 528x480 (NTSC) and 528x576 (PAL) MPEG-1 variable bit rate video, from 64Kbps to 3,000Kbps. Using a resolution of 352x240 (NTSC) or 352x288 (PAL), it's possible to encode video up to ~360 minutes of near VCD quality on a single 80 minute CD-R. The mpeg files created will play back in most modern standalone DVD players. You must burn the KVCD MPEG files as non-standard VCD or non-standard SVCD (depends on your player) with Nero or VCDEasy.



DivX / XviD -
DivX is a format designed for multimedia platforms. It uses two codecs, one low motion, one high motion. most older films were encoded in low motion only, and they have problems with high motion too. A method known as SBC (Smart Bit-rate Control) was developed which switches codecs at the encoding stage, making a much better print. The format is Ana orphic and the bit-rate/resolution are interchangeable. Due to the higher processing power required, and the different codecs for playback, its unlikely we'll see a DVD player capable of play DivX for quite a while, if at all. There have been players in development which are supposedly capable, but nothing has ever arisen. The majority of PROPER DivX rips (not Re-Encs) are taken from DVDs, and generally up to 2hours in good quality is possible per disc. Various codecs exist, most popular being the original Divx3.11a and the new XviD codecs.



CVD -
CVD is a combination of VCD and SVCD formats, and is generally supported by a majority of DVD players. It supports MPEG2 bit-rates of SVCD, but uses a resolution of 352x480(ntsc) as the horizontal resolution is generally less important. Currently no groups release in CVD.



DVD-R -
Is the recordable DVD solution that seems to be the most popular (out of DVD-RAM, DVD-R and DVD+R). it holds 4.7gb of data per side, and double sided discs are available, so discs can hold nearly 10gb in some circumstances. SVCD mpeg2 images must be converted before they can be burnt to DVD-R and played successfully. DVD>DVDR copies are possible, but sometimes extras/languages have to be removed to stick within the available 4.7gb.



MiniDVD -
MiniDVD/cDVD is the same format as DVD but on a standard CDR/CDRW. Because of the high resolution/bit-rates, its only possible to fit about 18-21 mins of footage per disc, and the format is only compatible with a few players.
Thats all aboout the movie formats i will discuss about some more useful information related to movie downloads in my next post.
PLZZ LEAVE YOU COMMENTS.......

Almost everyone who is using a PC and has an internet connection must have heard about these words. Yes i am talking about movie tags or what you can call as different types of movie prints or rips like Camrip, Dvdrip, Xvid rip etc etc. In this post i will explain in detail all types of tags related to movies which will help you out while downloading any movie from torrents or through a website. So CHECK IT OUT!!!

FIRST OF ALL
Lets talk about the camrip. Actually its name suggests its defination.

CAMRIP -
A camrip is a theater rip usually done with a digital video camera. A mini tripod is sometimes used, but a lot of the time this wont be possible, so the camera make shake. Also seating placement isn't always idle, and it might be filmed from an angle. If cropped properly, this is hard to tell unless there's text on the screen, but a lot of times these are left with triangular borders on the top and bottom of the screen. Sound is taken from the onboard microphone of the camera, and especially in comedies, laughter can often be heard during the film. Due to these factors picture and sound quality are usually quite poor, but sometimes we're lucky, and the theater will be fairly empty and a fairly clear signal will be heard.

OTHER TYPES WHICH ARE ALSO SIMILAR TO THAT OF CAMRIP.

TELESYNC (TS) - A telesync is the same spec as a CAM except it uses an external audio source (most likely an audio jack in the chair for hard of hearing people). A direct audio source does not ensure a good quality audio source, as a lot of background noise can interfere. A lot of the times a telesync is filmed in an empty cinema or from the projection booth with a professional camera, giving a better picture quality. Quality ranges drastically, check the sample before downloading the full release. A high percentage of Telesyncs are CAMs that have been mislabeled.



TELECINE (TC) -
A telecine machine copies the film digitally from the reels. Sound and picture should be very good, but due to the equipment involved and cost telecines are fairly uncommon. Generally the film will be in correct aspect ratio, although 4:3 telecines have existed. A great example is the JURASSIC PARK 3 TC done last year. TC should not be confused with TimeCode , which is a visible counter on screen throughout the film.



SCREENER (SCR) -
A pre VHS tape, sent to rental stores, and various other places for promotional use. A screener is supplied on a VHS tape, and is usually in a 4:3 (full screen) a/r, although letterboxed screeners are sometimes found. The main draw back is a "ticker" (a message that scrolls past at the bottom of the screen, with the copyright and anti-copy telephone number). Also, if the tape contains any serial numbers, or any other markings that could lead to the source of the tape, these will have to be blocked, usually with a black mark over the section. This is sometimes only for a few seconds, but unfortunately on some copies this will last for the entire film, and some can be quite big. Depending on the equipment used, screener quality can range from excellent if done from a MASTER copy, to very poor if done on an old VHS recorder thru poor capture equipment on a copied tape. Most screeners are transferred to VCD, but a few attempts at SVCD have occurred, some looking better than others.



DVD-SCREENER (DVDscr) -Same premise as a screener, but transferred off a DVD. Usually letterbox , but without the extras that a DVD retail would contain. The ticker is not usually in the black bars, and will disrupt the viewing. If the ripper has any skill, a DVDscr should be very good. Usually transferred to SVCD or DivX/XviD.

Downloading these 1st kind of rips is not considered good because it is most poor quality when it comes to sound and display and is also not original

SECONDLY
now let us talk about different types of original and good quality prints. So these are as follows:

DVDRip -
A copy of the final released DVD. If possible this is released PRE retail (for example, Star Wars episode 2) again, should be excellent quality. DVDrips are released in SVCD and DivX/XviD.



VHSRip -
Transferred off a retail VHS, mainly skating/sports videos and XXX releases.



TVRip -
TV episode that is either from Network (capped using digital cable/satellite boxes are preferable) or PRE-AIR from satellite feeds sending the program around to networks a few days earlier (do not contain "dogs" but sometimes have flickers etc) Some programs such as WWF Raw Is War contain extra parts, and the "dark matches" and camera/commentary tests are included on the rips. PDTV is capped from a digital TV PCI card, generally giving the best results, and groups tend to release in SVCD for these. VCD/SVCD/DivX/XviD rips are all supported by the TV scene.



WORKPRINT (WP) -
A workprint is a copy of the film that has not been finished. It can be missing scenes, music, and quality can range from excellent to very poor. Some WPs are very different from the final print (Men In Black is missing all the aliens, and has actors in their places) and others can contain extra scenes (Jay and Silent Bob) . WPs can be nice additions to the collection once a good quality final has been obtained.



DivX Re-Enc -
A DivX re-enc is a film that has been taken from its original VCD source, and re-encoded into a small DivX file. Most commonly found on file sharers, these are usually labeled something like Film.Name.Group(1of2) etc. Common groups are SMR and TND. These aren't really worth downloading, unless you're that unsure about a film u only want a 200mb copy of it. Generally avoid.

THIRDLY
Left are the silvers and their discription is as follows:

Watermarks -
A lot of films come from Asian Silvers/PDVD (see below) and these are tagged by the people responsible. Usually with a letter/initials or a little logo, generally in one of the corners. Most famous are the "Z" "A" and "Globe" watermarks.



Asian Silvers / PDVD -
These are films put out by eastern bootleggers, and these are usually bought by some groups to put out as their own. Silvers are very cheap and easily available in a lot of countries, and its easy to put out a release, which is why there are so many in the scene at the moment, mainly from smaller groups who don't last more than a few releases. PDVDs are the same thing pressed onto a DVD. They have removable subtitles, and the quality is usually better than the silvers. These are ripped like a normal DVD, but usually released as VCD.

After the formats and rips now lets talk about different types of tags. When downloading a movie you will see different types of scene tags these are basically used to make the users judge which one is good for them. So lets talk about them in detail:

PROPER -
Due to scene rules, whoever releases the first Telesync has won that race (for example). But if the quality of that release is fairly poor, if another group has another telesync (or the same source in higher quality) then the tag PROPER is added to the folder to avoid being duped. PROPER is the most subjective tag in the scene, and a lot of people will generally argue whether the PROPER is better than the original release. A lot of groups release PROPERS just out of desperation due to losing the race. A reason for the PROPER should always be included in the NFO.



SUBBED -
In the case of a VCD, if a release is subbed, it usually means it has hard encoded subtitles burnt throughout the movie. These are generally in malaysian/chinese/thai etc, and sometimes there are two different languages, which can take up quite a large amount of the screen. SVCD supports switch able subtitles, so some DVDRips are released with switch able subs. This will be mentioned in the NFO file if included.



UNSUBBED -
When a film has had a subbed release in the past, an Unsubbed release may be released

LIMITED -
A limited movie means it has had a limited theater run, generally opening in less than 250 theaters, generally smaller films (such as art house films) are released as limited.



INTERNAL -
An internal release is done for several reasons. Classic DVD groups do a lot of .INTERNAL. releases, as they wont be dupe'd on it. Also lower quality theater rips are done INTERNAL so not to lower the reputation of the group, or due to the amount of rips done already. An INTERNAL release is available as normal on the groups affiliate sites, but they can't be traded to other sites without request from the site ops. Some INTERNAL releases still trickle down to IRC/Newsgroups, it usually depends on the title and the popularity. Earlier in the year people referred to Centropy going "internal". This meant the group were only releasing the movies to their members and site ops. This is in a different context to the usual definition.



STV -
Straight To Video. Was never released in theaters, and therefore a lot of sites do not allow these.


OTHER TAGS -

*WS* for widescreen (letterbox)
*FS* for Fullscreen.



RECODE -
A recode is a previously released version, usually filtered through TMPGenc to remove subtitles, fix color etc. Whilst they can look better, its not looked upon highly as groups are expected to obtain their own sources.



REPACK -
If a group releases a bad rip, they will release a Repack which will fix the problems.



NUKED -
A film can be nuked for various reasons. Individual sites will nuke for breaking their rules (such as "No Telesyncs") but if the film has something extremely wrong with it (no soundtrack for 20mins, CD2 is incorrect film/game etc) then a global nuke will occur, and people trading it across sites will lose their credits. Nuked films can still reach other sources such as p2p/usenet, but its a good idea to check why it was nuked first in case. If a group realise there is something wrong, they can request a nuke.

NUKE REASONS :: this is a list of common reasons a film can be nuked for (generally DVDRip)

** BAD A/R ** :: bad aspect ratio, ie people appear too fat/thin
** BAD IVTC ** :: bad inverse telecine. process of converting framerates was incorrect.
** INTERLACED ** :: black lines on movement as the field order is incorrect.



DUPE -
Dupe is quite simply, if something exists already, then theres no reason for it to exist again without proper reason.

In my previous post you have learned about the introductory and learning part of Windows Registry. In this post you will learn some important and essential tricks about the registry or we can say Hacking windows registry.So let us start....

All of you should know about the structure of registry, its editing and how to make its backups. If not then go through my previous posts. because you will need it in this post. Now let us learn about the

TYPES OF REGISTRY BACKUPS:

It?s very important that before you do editing you make a backup of the current registry. If you ignore this warning, it might prove deadly for you?so better listen to me.
Open your registry. Go to Start>Run , type regedit . When you invoke the Export function from File>Export, you are given a choice of different file types that can be saved :
Registration Files (*.reg)
Registry Hive Files (*.*)
Text Files (*.txt)
Win9x/NT 4 Registration Files (*.reg)
All Files

Each one of the different file types above plays an important role in how the data you export is saved. Choosing the wrong type can give you unexpected results. So let me explain you quickly these file types.

• Registrations Files : The Registration Files option creates a .reg file. This is the most well known file format used for backing up the registry. The Registration File can be used in two ways. As a text file it can be read and edited using Notepad outside of Registry Editor. Once the changes have been made and saved, right clicking the file and using the [Merge] command adds the changed file back into the registry. If you make additions to the registry using regedit and then merge the previously saved Registration File, anything that you've added via regedit will not be removed, but changes you make to data using regedit that previously existed in the saved Registration File will be overwritten when it is merged

• Registry Hive Files : Unlike the Registration Files option above, the Registry Hive Files option creates a binary image of the selected registry key. The image file is not editable via Notepad nor can you view its contents using a text editor. However, what the Registry Hive Files format does is create an image perfect view of the selected key and allow you to import it back into the registry to insure any problematic changes you made are eliminated.

• Text Files : This option does just as the name suggests. It creates a text file containing the information in the selected key. It's most useful purpose is creating a record or snapshot of a key at a particular point in time that you can refer back to if necessary. It cannot be merged back into the registry like a Registration File.

• Registration Files : This option creates a .reg file in the same manner used by the Registration Files option. It's used by previous Windows versions and serves no purpose in XP unless you want to merge a key from XP into a previous version of Windows.

• Customize Windows Media Player Title Bar

• Connected Web Files and Folders

• Hide/Show My Documents Folder on Desktop

• Create a Hidden User Account

• Create Legal Notice Logon Dialog Box

• Manage Internet Explorer Error Reporting

You must have heard the word 'registry' many times may be on the internet or some game or software etc etc. So you should also be curious to know about registry.So I created this post to let you know about what exactly is registry, its features and some tweaks related to registry. So let us start with our main questions:

• What is the Registry?
  The Registry is a database used to store settings and options for the 32 bit versions of Microsoft Windows including Windows 95, 98, ME and NT/2000. It contains information and settings for all the hardware, software, users, and preferences of the PC. Whenever a user makes changes to a Control Panel settings, or File Associations, System Policies, or installed software, the changes are reflected and stored in the Registry.
  The physical files that make up the registry are stored differently depending on your version of Windows; under Windows 95 & 98 it is contained in two hidden files in your Windows directory, called USER.DAT and SYSTEM.DAT, for Windows Me there is an additional CLASSES.DAT file, while under Windows NT/2000 the files are contained seperately in the %SystemRoot%\System32\Config directory. You can not edit these files directly, you must use a tool commonly known as a "Registry Editor" to make any changes (using registry editors will be discussed later in the article).

• The Structure of The Registry
  The Registry has a heirarical structure, although it looks complicated the structure is similar to the directory structure on your hard disk, with Regedit being similar to Windows Explorer.
  
  Each main branch (denoted by a folder icon in the Registry Editor, see left) is called a Hive, and Hives contains Keys. Each key can contain other keys (sometimes referred to as sub-keys), as well as Values. The values contain the actual information stored in the Registry. There are three types of values; String, Binary, and DWORD - the use of these depends upon the context.
  
  There are six main branches, each containing a specific portion of the information stored in the Registry. They are as follows:
  
  
  
  • HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT - This branch contains all of your file association mappings to support the drag-and-drop feature, OLE information, Windows shortcuts, and core aspects of the Windows user interface.
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER - This branch links to the section of HKEY_USERS appropriate for the user currently logged onto the PC and contains information such as logon names, desktop settings, and Start menu settings.
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - This branch contains computer specific information about the type of hardware, software, and other preferences on a given PC, this information is used for all users who log onto this computer.
    
  • HKEY_USERS - This branch contains individual preferences for each user of the computer, each user is represented by a SID sub-key located under the main branch.
  • HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG - This branch links to the section of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE appropriate for the current hardware configuration.
  • HKEY_DYN_DATA - This branch points to the part of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, for use with the Plug-&-Play features of Windows, this section is dymanic and will change as devices are added and removed from the system.
    
  
  
  
  Each registry value is stored as one of five main data types:
  
  
  • REG_BINARY - This type stores the value as raw binary data. Most hardware component information is stored as binary data, and can be displayed in an editor in hexadecimal format.
  • REG_DWORD - This type represents the data by a four byte number and is commonly used for boolean values, such as "0" is disabled and "1" is enabled. Additionally many parameters for device driver and services are this type, and can be displayed in REGEDT32 in binary, hexadecimal and decimal format, or in REGEDIT in hexadecimal and decimal format.
  • REG_EXPAND_SZ - This type is an expandable data string that is string containing a variable to be replaced when called by an application. For example, for the following value, the string "%SystemRoot%" will replaced by the actual location of the directory containing the Windows NT system files. (This type is only available using an advanced registry editor such as REGEDT32)
  • REG_MULTI_SZ - This type is a multiple string used to represent values that contain lists or multiple values, each entry is separated by a NULL character. (This type is only available using an advanced registry editor such as REGEDT32)
  • REG_SZ - This type is a standard string, used to represent human readable text values.
    
  
  Other data types not available through the standard registry editors include:
  
  
  
  • REG_DWORD_LITTLE_ENDIAN - A 32-bit number in little-endian format.
  • REG_DWORD_BIG_ENDIAN - A 32-bit number in big-endian format.
  • REG_LINK - A Unicode symbolic link. Used internally; applications should not use this type.
  • REG_NONE - No defined value type.
  • REG_QWORD - A 64-bit number.
  • REG_QWORD_LITTLE_ENDIAN - A 64-bit number in little-endian format.
  • REG_RESOURCE_LIST - A device-driver resource list.
• Editing The Registry
  
  The Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE) is included with most version of Windows (although you won't find it on the Start Menu) it enables you to view, search and edit the data within the Registry. There are several methods for starting the Registry Editor, the one method is which we have already discussed above in our post. An alternative Registry Editor (REGEDT32.EXE) is available for use with Windows NT/2000, it includes some additional features not found in the standard version, including; the ability to view and modify security permissions, and being able to create and modify the extended string values REG_EXPAND_SZ & REG_MULTI_SZ.
  
  
• Create a Shortcut to Regedit
  This can be done by simply right-clicking on a blank area of your desktop, selecting New, then Shortcut, then in the Command line box enter "regedit.exe" and click Next, enter a friendly name (e.g. 'Registry Editor') then click Finish and now you can double click on the new icon to launch the Registry Editor.This makes us easy to open registry editor coz you dont need to write the commands every time or look for the registry editor in windows file system.
  
  
• Using Regedit to modify your Registry
  Once you have started the Regedit you will notice that on the left side there is a tree with folders, and on the right the contents (values) of the currently selected folder.
  
  Like Windows explorer, to expand a certain branch (see the structure of the registry section), click on the plus sign [+] to the left of any folder, or just double-click on the folder. To display the contents of a key (folder), just click the desired key, and look at the values listed on the right side. You can add a new key or value by selecting New from the Edit menu, or by right-clicking your mouse. And you can rename any value and almost any key with the same method used to rename files; right-click on an object and click rename, or click on it twice (slowly), or just press F2 on the keyboard. Lastly, you can delete a key or value by clicking on it, and pressing Delete on the keyboard, or by right-clicking on it, and choosing Delete.
  
  Note: it is always a good idea to backup your registry before making any changes to it. It can be intimidating to a new user, and there is always the possibility of changing or deleting a critical setting causing you to have to reinstall the whole operating system. It's much better to be safe than sorry!
  
  
• Importing and Exporting Registry Settings
  
  A great feature of the Registry Editor is it's ability to import and export registry settings to a text file, this text file, identified by the .REG extension, can then be saved or shared with other people to easily modify local registry settings. You can see the layout of these text files by simply exporting a key to a file and opening it in Notepad, to do this using the Registry Editor select a key, then from the "Registry" menu choose "Export Registry File...", choose a filename and save. If you open this file in notepad you will see a file similar to the example below:
  
  Quote:
  
  REGEDIT4
  
  [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup]
  "SetupType"=dword:00000000
  "CmdLine"="setup -newsetup"
  "SystemPrefix"=hex:c5,0b,00,00,00,40,36,02
  
  
  The layout is quite simple, REGEDIT4 indicated the file type and version, [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup] indicated the key the values are from, "SetupType"=dword:00000000 are the values themselves the portion after the "=" will vary depending on the type of value they are; DWORD, String or Binary.
  
  So by simply editing this file to make the changes you want, it can then be easily distributed and all that need to be done is to double-click, or choose "Import" from the Registry menu, for the settings to be added to the system Registry.
  
  
• Deleting keys or values using a REG file
  It is also possible to delete keys and values using REG files. To delete a key start by using the same format as the the REG file above, but place a "-" symbol in front of the key name you want to delete. For example to delete the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup] key the reg file would look like this:
  
  Quote:
  
  REGEDIT4
  
  [-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup]
  
  
  The format used to delete individual values is similar, but instead of a minus sign in front of the whole key, place it after the equal sign of the value. For example, to delete the value "SetupType" the file would look like:
  
  Quote:
  
  REGEDIT4
  
  [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup]
  "SetupType"=-
  
  
  Use this feature with care, as deleting the wrong key or value could cause major problems within the registry, so remember to always make a backup first.
  
  Regedit Command Line Options
  Regedit has a number of command line options to help automate it's use in either batch files or from the command prompt. Listed below are some of the options, please note the some of the functions are operating system specific.
  
  
  * regedit.exe [options] [filename] [regpath]
  * [filename] Import .reg file into the registry
  * /s [filename] Silent import, i.e. hide confirmation box when importing files
  * /e [filename] [regpath] Export the registry to [filename] starting at [regpath]
  e.g. regedit /e file.reg HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT
  * /L:system Specify the location of the system.dat to use
  * /R:user Specify the location of the user.dat to use
  * /C [filename] Compress (Windows 98)

• MAINTAINANCE OF SYSTEM REGISTRY

• Windows 95

• Windows 98

• Windows 95

• Windows NT

• On Windows NT you can use either the "Last Known Good" option or RDISK to restore to registry to a stable working configuration.

SECURITY ENHANCEMENTS
After instaling a fresh windows and before entering the internet, You must take the following precautions to protect your PC from some common threats.These are as follows:

• Check Windows Update and Office Update regularly. You can find them free of cost at microsoft website only if your windows is genuine . Windows 2000,XP,VISTA and 7 users can configure automatic updates. Click on the Automatic Updates tab in the System control panel and choose the appropriate options. Windows updates provides you essential security features which secures your PC from certain threats.


• Install a personal firewall. Both SyGate and ZoneAlarm offer free versions. I suggest ZoneAlarm because it always asks you before any incoming and outgoing traffic to leave or enter you PC. Even the firewall came with windows XP dont have that additional features, but windows vista & 7 provides enhanced security features.Google it and you will find many links to download these firewalls


• Install a free spyware blocker. Our Editors' Choice ("Spyware," April 22) was SpyBot Search & Destroy . SpyBot is also paranoid and ruthless in hunting out tracking cookies.Just type 'free spyware' and you will find a no. of links to download spyware software.


• Block pop-up spam messages in Windows 2000 & XP by disabling the Windows Messenger service (this is unrelated to the instant messaging program). Open Control Panel Administrative Tools Services and you'll see Messenger. Right-click and go to Properties. Set Start-up Type to Disabled and press the Stop button. Bye-bye, spam pop-ups! Any good firewall will also stop them.


• Use strong passwords and change them periodically. Passwords should have at least seven characters; use letters and numbers and have at least one symbol. A decent example would F96aT$1. This will make it much harder for anyone to gain access to your accounts.But make sure you dont forget these otherwise it will be a problem for you also.


• If you're using Outlook or Outlook Express, use the current version or one with the Outlook Security Update installed. The update and current versions patch numerous vulnerabilities.If your emails are just for household purpose or not of the professional type i suggest better open your emails in internet explorer or mozilla firefox. it will be little more time consuming but this method is more secure because email accounts like gmail or yahoo can trace infected mails, viruses and spams thus protecting your pc also.


• Buy antivirus software and keep it up to date. If you're not willing to pay, try Grisoft AVG Free Edition(www.grisoft.com) . And doublecheck your AV with the free, online-only scanners available at( www.pandasoftware.com/activescan) and (http://housecall.trendmicro.com.Grisoft) even provide free and regular updates for all users and i ve also personally used it so i suggest it is the best free antivirus.
• Sites like Macfee,Norton, ESET etc provides free online scan for your computer.I suggest it is the best way if your PC is actually infected and needs to be cleaned up. But remember always scan from a trusted site like the above given names because there are many sites which can fake you and will gain access to your computer and steal essential data thus leading to your own lose.


• If you have a wireless network, turn on the security features: Use MAC filtering, turn off SSID broadcast, and even use WEP with the biggest key you can get. For more, check out our wireless section or see the expanded coverage in Your Unwired World in our next issue.


• Join a respectable e-mail security list, such as the one found at our own Security Supersite at (http://security.ziffdavis.com) so that you learn about emerging threats quickly and can take proper precautions.


• Be skeptical of things on the Internet. Don't assume that e-mail "From:" a particular person is actually from that person until you have further reason to believe it's that person.Better check details because it will tell you the exact senders address and it cant be faked. Don't trust unknown websites.Don't assume that an attachment is what it says it is. Don't give out your password to anyone, even if that person claims to be from "support.". Otherwise your account can be used for illegal purposes also.