TweakNow WinSecret is free tool that gathered the most popular Windows XP and Vista registry settings and provide them in an easy and safe user interface. All settings are divided into different category such as Application, Control panel, Windows Core, OEM info, etc. and can make changes quite easily with the associated help file. Any changes can undo with a click if anything went wrong.

For example, if you wish to change OEM Information in order to customize Windows registration information displayed in System Properties, this tool would be useful. You can add manufacture’s logo, computer model, manufacture’s name and other information to system properties.

TweakNow WinSecret can be downloaded (4.35Mb) from www.tweaknow.com. Minimum requirement for this program is Windows XP and Windows Vista.

One of the main features of this program is its small size (just 7Kb) and low memory usage. Using this program is quite simple. Download and run it. It will sit on the system tray. Right click on it, select ‘Option” and click on ‘Disable autorun for all system drives’ for enabling/disabling auto run.

Click on ‘Check local drives’ from the ‘Action’ menu to find autorun.inf files on all drives. When this file was found, program shows message and renamed this file into autorun.inf_current date_time, and set to it attribute "normal", making it visible for system. As a result it prevents infection.

From the ‘Setting’ tab select ‘Auto start’ if you want to run the program automatically on Windows boot. USB is checked and found to be clean (see result here). Supports Windows 2000 and XP.

SecretDrive has lot of features such as strong "on the fly" data encryption by one of five modern encryption algorithms, RAM disk support, optional creation of up to 4 hidden disks in an existing one, encryption or decryption of files, simple and intuitive user interface, built-in passwords generator, etc.

This tool is designed to run under Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista and Windows 7. You can download SecretDrive from the www.eterlogic.com. SecretDrive 32bit version is absolutely free; you can download and use it without limitation.

This tool is designed to run under Windows 2000/XP/2003/VISTA 32-bit and note that you must also download and place the latest virus pattern file in the same folder as the Trend Micro Sysclean Package.

How to use this tool?
1. First of all download (4.5Mb) Trend Micro Sysclean from here or here
2. Download (14.5Mb) latest Malware definition ( lptXXX.zip) from here or here
3. Download (5.3Mb) latest Spyware definition (ssapiptnXXX.ZIP) from here or here
4. Create a new folder on your local drive and copy Sysclean.com into this folder. Now extract both malware and spyware definition files into this folder.
5. Now close all running application on your computer including anti-virus program.
6. Double click Sysclean to run the tool. Wait until the scanning finishes. You can also specify any drive or folder for scanning from advanced option.

Configuring the tool is also very simple. Just download (free for home use) and install the program. Right click on any file, select open with, then select ‘Add application’ and select program(s) and click OK to confirm. More over you can remove any inappropriate applications from the list at any time.

Features includes: adds a user-configurable "Open with" sub-menu to each file, allows an unlimited number of applications for each file type, easily add applications for any file types, import and export of configuration data to copy settings to another system and very small memory footprint.

This new version (3.5) has the same convenient user-interface and included new features such as option for converting FAT file system to NTFS file system and exploring FAT/NTFS partitions.

This free utility offers a range of powerful functions such as resizing partitions, copying partitions, creating new partitions, deleting partitions, formatting partitions, converting partitions, exploring partitions, hiding partitions, changing drive letters, setting active partitions, and a handful of other functions. More details and download.

As W32/Conficker worm is considered to be critical and its authors are always trying to improve it by adding new functionality and anti-debugging tricks, it is highly recommended to scan your system using the latest release of Stinger.

You can download the latest update of Stinger from the Avert Tools site. After download, run the tool, no installation required.

Before scanning the system, from the preference tab, set scanning sensitivity level to high or low, scanning targets (processes and boot sector) and choose delete, report or repair on virus detection and click ok to save. (Via). More security related articles here.

How to use this program? Download, install and run it. Enter a password (and a password hint – optional) and click on ‘Enter password’ button. Now you see program main window. To prevent copying file, click on ‘Activate’ button and enter the previously entered password. To deactivate this feature, click on ‘Deactivate’ button and enter your password.

To uninstall this tool, enter your password and wait for completing the process. The tool is clean and if you want you can verify this tool before downloading or installing.

Here is free tool called ‘Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider’ that may helps you to install digitally unsigned drivers by creating your own unverified certificates. This tool supports both 32 and 64 bits of Windows Vista and 7.

Procedure for using this tool: Download and run the tool. Enable ‘Enable Test Mode’ and click ‘Next’ button and follow the instruction (restart your system). Now enable ‘Sign a System File’ and select the driver file that you want to install. Repeat it if you have more than one. That’s all.

If for some reason you are interested to revert it, launch the application again, choose “Disable Test Mode” from the main menu, and restart your system. The tool is free and clean and use at your own risk. [via-blogsdna]

It uses industry standard 128 bit encryption, so your data and communications are cent percent secure and private (according to Comodo). More over it requires no expert configuration; anyone can setup this in minutes, so it is suitable for users of all experience levels.

This tool gives many possibilities. For example, you can share your music and photograph, setup a multi-player gaming session, secure messaging using built-in chat client, create a highly secure worldwide network for collaboration on enterprise projects, whatever your needs, EasyVPN guarantees a fast setup and 100% private and secure peer to peer connectivity.

Comodo EasyVPN is available in 32 bit and 64 bit versions and is free to download and use.

NSS Labs, the leading independent security product testing and certification organization, has examined six major browsers- Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera against socially engineered Malware and published a report called ‘Web Browser Security - Socially Engineered Malware Protection’.

The report reveals that Internet Explorer 8 (RC1) is the safest one with a 69% catch rate against Malware. It was 30% in Mozilla Firefox (3.07), 24% in Apple Safari, 16% in Google Chrome (v1.0.1549) 5% in Opera v9.64, and 4% in Internet Explorer 7. (You can download the complete test result from here (pdf))

From this report you can clearly understand that presently Internet Explorer 8 is the safest browser that you can rely on. At the same time Internet Explorer 7 failed to perform a better result.

Remember that this tool is not intended to be a replacement for continuous, real-time protection from the latest security risks; it will find only the threats; to resolve these security risks and protect your computer from future infections, it is recommended that you install and maintain security software.

To identify the latest Internet risks, Norton Security Scan required latest virus definitions. You can download it from the app. However, when you have not updated the virus definitions for more than a week, Norton Security Scan automatically updates the definitions.

Everything will search only files and folders (does not search file contents) on local NTFS volumes. If needed, users can configure the tool to what files and folders are exclude or include in the data base.

This little FREE tool also has many interesting features such as using a web browser; users can browse and download the HTTP server's folders and files, very little system resources requires, etc. More information and download from www.voidtools.com.

aTube Catcher allows to export the multimedia content to your computer or your mobile device. The file types supported are 3GP, 3G2, AVI, XVID, MP4, MP3, MP2, WMA, WMV, GIF, FLAC, WAV, PSP, MPG, VOB, OGG, MOV and AVI.

However, there are some disadvantages with this tool such as no batch downloading, installing eBay auction desktop icon and P2P Max toolbar (you can disable both). The bundled FLV player is also not working properly. But if you like a free and faster web video downloader, this tool might be a good choice.

The complete details and downloads available from this page. To remove Internet Explorer 8 automatically, click the Fix this problem link. Then click Run in the File Download dialog box, and follow the steps in this wizard.

The easiest way is to back up the drivers before you format your hard drive. There are several tools to handle this. One such free tool is Driver Backup that will allow you to backup and restore your drivers. You can use this tool to export drivers from either Vista or XP.

Download the tool (330Kb) from here and unzip it. Run the tool (Windows XP required .NET Frame work2) and it will lists all drivers from your computer. To back up, click on ‘Start Backup’ button and select a path to back up. You can restore this using ‘Restore’ button.

One of the important things about this tool is that, it will allows you to pick a particular driver that is installed on the system and export it into a folder for reinstallation later.

This Windows 7 transformation pack comes with no installers. It includes only the system files that are required to get the look of Windows 7 build 7057. The transformation pack also comes with a detailed implementation guide.Download Windows 7 Transformation Pack.

Download the tool from www.f-secure.com and run it (No installation required). It will do a quick check for rootkit symptoms and proceed with scanning and removing infections.

You may want to disable your anti-virus program before running F-Secure Easy Clean, because they may block access to some files, so F-Secure Easy Clean cannot scan or clean them. Turn on your anti-virus program after finishing the scan.

Remember that it is not a full antivirus product. It does not remove all the known malware; it focuses just to the most common viruses, worms and other types of malware in the wild.

KUninstall is a small (330Kb) and clean software. Just download the program, unzip in a folder and run it. Right click on item list to see detailed information, locate key in Registry or uninstalling the program.

You can type some characters of program name to filter items or select from item list. Click on Finder and drag it the program window or desktop icons, quick launch toolbar, taskbar or system tray you want to uninstall.(via)

The first thing you must do is go to the file menu in IE8, and click ‘Import and Export’. From the popup window, choose ‘Import from other browser’ if you want to import from another browser.

Click next and select the browser (s) (Firefox, Opera, Safari) from where you want to import book marks, favorites and RSS feed. Then click on ‘import’. [via]

Download the program from www.visipics.info and install it, run the program. Add the folder containing pictures on your hard-drive. To add a folder simply drags into the top pane of the program window.

Slide the Filter tab to select the level, if you want the scan to be strict, or loose. The Strict level means the slower the speed of scanning.

Then click the Play button to scan. The duplicate image should appear in the Thumb-list on the left pane. Wait until "Remaining files" and "To compare" fall to 0.

To delete duplicates, left-click the pictures to mark them (or select ‘Autoselect’ to automate the process) and click on ‘Delete’ button.

Trend Micro eMail ID is a browser plug-in for Firefox and Internet Explorer that helps you identify legitimate email messages in your inbox. It uses a two-step check to verify the authenticity of messages from hundreds of major companies, and then displays the result in the “from” area so that you’ll know what’s real. This helps you avoid opening and acting on phishing messages attempting to spoof real companies.

Trend Micro eMail ID is available as a beta download for evaluation and it supports Yahoo mail, Live/Hotmail, Gmail, AOL mail, Earthlink and Outlook Express 6. Trend Micro eMail ID requires Internet Explorer 6.0 or 7.0, Firefox and preferably a High speed internet access. More information and download from Trendmicro.

Start-up tool is a tiny, standalone executable file, so it can be run directly from a USB stick. Using this application is very simple. Download and run the ‘Startup.exe file’. It will show you all items in the start menu list. Selecting any items from the list will provide details about that item.

To remove, edit, add, disable or enable any items from the list, just right click on it and select what you want. This tool is clean and can be downloaded from here or here.

• Control Center for monitoring, administering and controlling the entire program
• Central configuration with user-friendly standard and advanced options and context-sensitive help
• Scanner (On-Demand Scan) with profile-controlled and configurable search for all known types of virus and malware

• Integration into the Windows Vista User Account Control allows you to carry out tasks requiring administrator rights
• Guard (On-Access Scan) for continuous monitoring of all file access attempts
• Integrated quarantine management to isolate and process suspicious files
• Rootkit protection for detecting hidden malware installed in your computer system (rootkits) (Only for 32-bit systems)
• Direct access to detailed information on the detected viruses and malware via the Internet
• Simple and quick updates to the program, virus definitions, and search engine through Single File Update and incremental VDF updates via a webserver on the Internet
• Integrated Scheduler to plan one-off or recurring tasks, such as updates or test runs
• Very high rates of virus and malware detection using innovative search technologies (search engines) and heuristic search processes
• Detection of all common archive types, including detection of nested archives and smart extensions
• High-performance multithreading function (simultaneous high-speed scanning of multiple files)

What is Alternate Data Stream? Like the function and purpose of fork in Macintosh system, the Alternate Data Stream (ADS) used in Windows NTFS file system allows users to associate additional information onto a file, such as the author and the title of a document, or other data on a graphic file, etc (they are created automatically).

With ADS Revealer you can scan and remove this hidden ADS from the hard drive, folder or from the whole system according to your settings. ADS Revealer can be downloaded from www.nod32.it (site language is Italian, program interface in English)

From Windows 7, right click on 'Computer' - Manage - Storage - Disk management. Now you should be able to see a partition that has no drive letter assigned to. Right click on this partition and click Change Driver Letter and Paths.

Then click Add and choose Assign the following driver letter. Here you can choose any letter that you want or leave the same shown by default and click Ok and close all windows.

Now go to ‘computer’. You should be able to see the XP or Vista partition here. Now you can access anything saved on your XP or Vista partition from Window 7.

BitDefender is the first to offer a free tool from a new domain that can be disinfects all versions of Downadup worms. The new version, Win32.Worm.Downadup.Gen detected by Defender Labs is more powerful and hard to disinfection.

You can download and run the free tools provided from http://www.downadup.org/ to get rid your computer or network of this e-threat. [via]

One of the main features of WinPatrol 2009 is new "Recent" tab that lets you see new programs and settings recently added to your computer. This is helpful in finding malware that comes with multiple randomly named files

Another feature is increased background performance and reduces conflicts with other programs. WinPatrol 2009 hides individual alert messages and lock settings to prevent potential errors by other computer users. More features and download available from here.

For this free service, Steganos uses an encryption standard AES 256 Bit. To use this service, you required a free account with them. (Steganos is known for its security products for quite some times now).

Just create an account, type in a new text or insert an existing text by pasting it into the text field, choose a password and click on "Start Steganos FreeCrypt". Your encrypted text will appear immediately. Now the encrypted text can be sent out via email.

As it is a portable version, you need not install it. Download the zip file and unzip in a folder. Run the ‘Runonce.bat’ file preferably as administrator. Then launch movie maker by clicking ‘Moviemk.exe’ file.

However, while testing this with Windows 7 build 7000, it shows some errors. For example the preview window remains black when previewing a movie. The developer should look in to that. [Via].

• Open your Thunderbird. From ‘Tools’ select ‘Account settings’. Then click ‘Add Account’. From the pop-up windows make sure ‘Email Account’ is selected.
• Then click Continue. Under Your Name field enter your name. Under Email Address field enter Your complete email address (example@hotmail.com or @live.com)
• Click ‘Next’ and make sure POP3 is selected under ‘Select the type of incoming server you are using’ and enter pop3.live.com under Incoming Server
• Uncheck ‘Use global inbox’ to store your mail in its own directory.
• Click next and enter your Windows Live Hotmail address (example@hotmail.com or @ live.com.) under Incoming User Name. Click ‘next’, ‘next’ and click on ‘Finish’
• Now select ‘Server Settings’ under your Windows Live Hotmail account’s root. Make sure SSL is selected and verify 995 is entered under Port.
• Now select Outgoing Server (SMTP) from the server list. Click Add and type Windows Live Hotmail under 'Description' and enter smtp.live.com under Server Name. Verify 25 is entered under 'Port' (when sending mail, if you find any problem try 587)
• Make sure 'Use name and password' is checked. Enter your Windows Live Hotmail address (example@hotmail.com or @ live.com.) and click TLS under ‘Use secure connection’. And click OK.
• Go back to your Windows Live Hotmail account's root and select 'Windows Live Hotmail - smtp.live.com' under 'Outgoing Server (SMTP)' and Click OK to finish.
• Now select your account, click ‘Read message’ and enter your hotmail account password when asking.

Interesting thing is that, you need not require any coding experience to create a gadget. Just copy and paste the html code for a web widget directly into Amnesty Generator and generate a new sidebar gadget with the click of a button.

Here is an example. If you want to show your blog’s updates as a sidebar gadget on a friend’s desktop, create one web widget with Widgetbox. Copy the html code (flash) and paste it onto Amnesty generator, give it a name and click generate to create the gadget.

This free tool can be dowloaded from here and it features the following: Autofill - does the work for you, Inline step-by-step instructions included and supports Flash widgets, games and video.

This removal tool provided by BitDefender detects and eliminates all traces of Downadup worms and probably BitDefender is the first to offer a free tool from a new domain without being blocked by the e-threat.

To disinfect your computer, download (2.5Mb) this free tool from http://bdtools.net and unzip it. Run the executable file: bd_rem_tool.exe and wait until it finishes.[Via]

To install the user picture on Windows XP, place them to: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\User Account Pictures\Default Pictures. (‘Application Data’ is a hidden folder. In order to see it, select ‘’Show hidden files and folders’ from Windows explorer /Tools /Folder options /View)

To install them on Windows vista, place them to: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\User Account Pictures\Default Pictures [via]

Adware Pro is a rogue security program that installs malware on your system. As shown the image below it tries to deceive you through a name similar to the real one and offering a free download of the program. If you installed and scanned your PC with this program, it displays exaggerated scan results and forces you to buy it for removing the threats.

This rogue program is detected by NOD32 as Win32/Adware.AntivirusPro. So it is advisable that, before downloading and installing such programs it is always essential to verify the reliability of the program. [Via – Eset]