Typing DOS commands on the Windows Command Line prompt is a most efficient and faster way of doing things in Windows XP. Here's a run-down of the most useful DOS commands available in Windows XP. Some of these DOS commands even do not have an visual alternative.
DOS Command-line tools must be run at the prompt of the Cmd.exe command interpreter. To open Command Prompt, click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
ipconfig - Windows IP configuration Useful for troubleshooting your internet connection. Displays the current IP address of your computer and the DNS server address. If you call your ISP for reporting a bad internet connection, he will probably ask you to run ipconfig.
fc - Free BeyondCompare in XP FC is an advanced DOS Command that compares two files and displays the differences between them. Though the file comparison results are not as interactive as BeyondCompare or Altova DiffDog, fc is still very useful. You can even set fc to resynchronize the files after finding a mismatch.
type - open text files sans Notepad Similar to Unix cat command, Type is my favorite DOS command for displaying the contents of a text files without modifying them. When used in combination with more switch, type splits the contents of lengthy text files into multiple pages. Avoid using the type command with binary files or you'll hear alien PC beeps and see some greek characters on your PC.
ping - Say hello to another computer Ping network command followed by the web-address or IP address tells you about the health of the connection and whether the other party is responding to your handshake request. Ping tool can also be used to convert the web address to a physical IP address.
tree - visual directory structure You often need to take prints of your physical directory structure but XP has no simple "visual" commands for printing directory contents. Here, try the Tree DOS command and redirect the output to a text file.
tree > mydirectory. txt print mydirectory. txt
attrib - make hidden files visible Attrib lets you change attributes of System files and even hidden files. This is great for troubleshooting Windows XP. Say your XP doesn't boot ever since you edited that startup boot.ini file (Hidden), use attrib to remove the Hidden attibute and edit the file using EDIT dos command.
assoc - which program will open that .xyz file The assoc DOS command can be used to either isplay or even modify the file name extension associations. The command assoc .htm will quickly tell you the name of your default web browser (see picture)
move - more flexible than copy-paste Say you got a lot of XLS and DOC files in you MyDocuments folder and want to move only those XLS files that have their name ending with 2006. In XP Explorer, you have to manually select each file and then cut-paste to another folder. However, the DOS move command make things much simpler. Just type the following at the command prompt: move *2006.xls c:\2006Reports\
find - advanced file search with filter Find is the most powerful DOS command and even more useful than the Windows Desktop Search tool or the Windows Find Wizard. The find command searches for a specific string of text in a file or files. After searching the specified file or files, find displays any lines of text that contain the specified string.
To search your hard disk to find and display the file names on drive C: that contain the string "Google" use the pipe (|) to direct the results of a dir command to find as follows: dir c:\ /s /b | find "Google"
Quick tip - Drag to avoid typing: When your command acts on a file or folder, you must type the path to that folder after the command. You can save typing time by dragging the file or folder from Windows Explorer into the command window.
To view help at the command-line, at the command prompt, type the following: CommandName /?
1) For Windows- Start -> Run -> type cmd - in command prompt, type ipconfig /flushdns - Done! You Window DNS cache has just been flush.
2) For Linux
- To restart the nscd daemon, type /etc/rc.d/init.d/nscd restart in your terminal - Once you run the command your linux DNS cache will flush.
3) For Mac OS X
- type lookupd -flushcache in your terminal to flush the DNS resolver cache. ex: bash-2.05a$ lookupd -flushcache - Once you run the command your DNS cache (in Mac OS X) will flush.
Thanks to the people who really contribute their time and much more their passion in developing applications that would make this world a better place to live in. opensource is the thing that has fascinated me sine long, infact the very day I first recognized the Internet, and went into the hosting business, I have made a point to contribute my share to the fabulous opensource community. The other day I was viewing a documentary on the Goolge boys who made history and billionaires of themselves by doing just this, help make the world a better place to live in.
Portable Apps Suite your computer, without a computer™ as they call it is something everyone should know and learn about. I have loved applications that have standalone executable files without installations, thats whats portability is all about. When you are in a business like web hosting such applications mean a lot to you when you are on the move. It makes a big difference when you have all your tools loaded on a flash drive or a portable hard drive. You can connect to your machines and clients and have records at hand all the time. Web Hosting is all about this after all. One of the favorite standalone application of mine has been putty and utorrent, thanks to my friends who pointed out to me these things.
PortableApps.com is the one place where you can find these wonderful mouth watering softwares. It also has a portable OS, MAC 7. Running a Mac from a Flash Disk, thats something you got to look at. Carry all your bookmarks, passwords, tools and even media players in your pocket. Well thats what has made me feel comfortable with the growth of technology and the open source community. Best of all these apps are totally free, no spyware, no adware, you dont even need to give your email address, nor buy any hardware. Well you are free to donate a small sum, whatever you like to. The site contains a portable version of office suite, filezilla, firefox, thunderbird, a PDF reader, an IM tool and much more.
Sometimes even an experienced user will not realise that a computer is infected with a virus. This is because viruses can hide among regular files, or camoflage themselves as standard files. This section contains a detailed discussion of the symptoms of virus infection, how to recover data after a virus attack and how to prevent data from being corrupted by malware. Symptoms of infection There are a number of symptoms which indicate that your computer has been infected. If you notice "strange things" happening to your computer, namely:
unexpected messages or images are suddenly displayed unusual sounds or music played at random your CD-ROM drive mysteriously opens and closes programs suddenly start on your computer you receive notification from your firewall that some applications have attempted to connect to the Internet, although you did not initiate this, then it is very likely that your computer has been infected by a virus
Additionally, there are some typical symptoms which indicate that your computer has been infected via email:
your friends mention that they have received messages from your address which you know you did not send your mailbox contains a lot of messages without a sender's e-mail address or message header These problems, however, may not be caused by viruses. For example, infected messages that are supposedly coming from your address can actually be sent from a different computer.
There is a range of secondary symptoms which indicate that your computer may be infected:
your computer freezes frequently or encounters errors your computer slows down when programs are started the operating system is unable to load files and folders have been deleted or their content has changed your hard drive is accessed too often (the light on your main unit flashes rapidly) Microsoft Internet Explorer freezes or functions erratically e.g. you cannot close the application window 90% of the time the symptoms listed above indicate a hardware or software problem. Although such symptoms are unlikely to be caused by a virus, you should use your antivirus software to scan your computer fully.
What you should do if you notice symptoms of infection If you notice that your computer is functioning erratically
Don't panic! This golden rule may prevent the loss of important data stored in your computer and help you avoid unnecessary stress. Disconnect your computer from the Internet. If your computer is connected to a Local Area Network, disconnect it. If the computer cannot boot from the hard drive (error at startup), try to start the system in Safe Mode or from the Windows boot disk Before taking any action, back up all critical data to an external drive (a floppy disk, CD, flash memory, etc.). Install antivirus software if you do not have it installed. Download the latest updates for your antivirus database. If possible, do not use the infected computer to download updates, but use a friend's computer, or a computer at your office, an Internet cafe, etc. This is important because if you are connected to the Internet, a virus can send important information to third parties or may try to send itself to all email addresses in your address book. You may also be able to obtain updates for your antivirus software on CD-ROM from the software vendors or authorized dealers. Perform a full system scan. If no viruses are found during a scan If no viruses are found during the scan and the symptoms that alarmed you are classifed, you probably have no reason to worry. Check all hardware and software installed in your computer. Download Windows patches using Windows Update. Deinstall all unlicensed software from your computer and clean your hard drives of any junk files.
If viruses are found during a scan A good antivirus solution will notify you if viruses are found during a scan, and offer several options for dealing with infected objects.
In the vast majority of cases, personal computers are infected by worms, Trojan programs, or viruses. In most cases, lost data can be successfully recovered.
A good antivirus solution will provide the option to disinfect for infected objects, quarantine possibly infected objects and delete worms and Trojans. A report will provide the names of the malicious software discovered on your computer. In some cases, you may need a special utility to recover data that have been corrupted. Visit your antivirus software vendor's site, and search for information about the virus, Trojan or worm which has infected your computer. Download any special utilities if these are available. If your computer has been infected by viruses that exploit Microsoft Outlook Express vulnerabilities, you can fully clean your computer by disinfecting all infected objects, and then scanning and disinfecting the mail client's databases. This ensures that the malicious programs cannot be reactivated when messages which were infected prior to scanning are re-opened. You should also download and install security patches for Microsoft Outlook Express. Unfortunately, some viruses cannot be removed from infected objects. Some of these viruses may corrupt information on your computer when infecting, and it may not be possible to restore this information. If a virus cannot be removed from a file, the file should be deleted. If your computer has suffered a severe virus attack Some viruses and Trojans can cause severe damage to your computer:
If you cannot boot from your hard drive (error at startup), try to boot from the Windows rescue disk. If the system can not recognize your hard drive, the virus has damaged the disk partition table. In this case, try to recover the partition table using scandisk, a standard Windows program. If this does not help, contact a computer data recovery service. Your computer vendor should be able to provide contact details for such services. If you have a disk management utility installed, some of your logical drives may be unavailable when you boot from the rescue disk. In this case, you should disinfect all accessible drives, reboot from the system hard drive and disinfect the remaining logical drives.
Recover corrupted files and applications using backup copies after you have scanned the drive containing this data. Diagnosing the problem using standard Windows tools Although this is not recommended unless you are an experience user, you may wish to:
check the integrity of the file system on your hard drive (using CHKDSK program) and repair file system errors. If there are a large number of errors, you must backup the most important files to removable storage media before fixing the errors scan your computer after booting from the Windows rescue disk use other standard Windows tools, for example, the scandisk utility For more details on using these utilities, refer to the Windows Help topics.
If nothing helps If the symptoms described above persist even after you have scanned your computer, and checked all installed hardware and software and your hard drive using Windows utilities, you should send a message with a full description of the problem to your antivirus vendor's technical support department.
Some antivirus software developers will analyse infected files submitted by users.
After you have eradicated the infection Once you have eradicated the infection, scan all disks and removable storage media that may be infected by the virus.
Make sure that you have appropriately configured antivirus software installed on your computer.
Practice safe computing.
All of these measures will help prevent your computer getting infected in the future.
Windows XP Professional includes a basic PC remote control tool which lets you log onto your PC remotely from anywhere. Do you know how to use it? It’s called Remote Desktop Connection, and when you’ve properly configured your PC, this handy utility will let you log into your computer from anywhere in the world and control it as if you were sitting in front of it instead of half a world away. If you’re running Windows XP Professional, you already have all the software you need to connect remotely to your PC. Whether you’d like to monitor a server, grab files from your home PC at work, or just keep an eye on your machines when you’re out, connecting remotely is easy to do. However, due to the vagaries of network configurations and various other quirks beyond your control, you may not be able to actually connect. Until now. Preparing your system First, you need to know the IP address of the computer you want to connect to. The only sure-fire way to always be able to connect to your PC’s is to use an ISP that provides you with a static IP address. Most ISPs give customers dynamic IP addresses, which can change every few days or even hours. Because your IP address is the way you’ll locate your computer on the net, you’ll need to know what your IP address is and monitor it as it changes. The good news is that there are loads of programs that will notify you of IP address changes, whenever they occur. We like IP Address Monster (www.ipmonster.com). It’s a small program that runs in your system tray and can be configured to e-mail you whenever your IP address changes. IP Address Monster should be your first stop to remote connectivity. This handy utility will keep tabs on your Internet address and send you an e-mail whenever it changes. Now that you know your IP address, you need to make sure that Remote Desktop Connection is enabled. Make sure your firewall is configured to allow incoming connections on port 3389 (firewalls vary, so check your documentation to find out how to open the port). You can turn on Remote Desktop Connection in the System Control Panel (Start, Control Panel, System). Check the Remote tab and make sure “Allow users to connect remotely to this computer” is checked. You’ll also need to have at least one user account that requires a password because accounts without passwords are prohibited from logging into Remote Desktop. To enabling Remote Desktop, open the System Control Panel, go to the Remote tab, and check this box. It’s important to make sure the passwords on the machine you’re going to remotely log into are “good” ones. This means you should use a mixture of letters and numbers, avoid words that are found in dictionaries, and change the password regularly to protect yourself from mischief. Making the connection At this point, your PC should be prepped and patiently waiting for a connection. To log in, you need to open the Remote Desktop Connection client on your remote PC. Go to Start, Programs, Accessories, Communications, Remote Desktop Connection. Input the IP address you want to connect to (courtesy of IP Address Monster) in the Computer field. Then enter your username and password. Now you’ll want to tweak a few settings to optimize your remote experience. Whiz-bang features gobble up bandwidth, so you should tune your settings to match your home net connection. We recommend you start with a minimal feature set. Press the Options button, then the Display tab. Change the display settings to full-screen, 256-color. This looks acceptable and consumes practically no bandwidth. You’ll also want to browse to the Experience tab and change the Performance setting to reflect your home PC’s connection speed. Switching to a lower color resolution and a smaller display area will greatly minimize the amount of data that has to transfer between your computer and the remote PC. Once you’ve tuned the connection a bit, you’re ready to connect. Press the Connect key and you’re in! What to do next At this point, you should be connected. You can run programs and manipulate files just like you’re sitting in front of your PC. In fact, you can even use your PC’s e-mail and web browsers. Do you want to start downloading Desert Combat now so you can start playing it when you get home That’s easy enough; just log into your PC using Remote Desktop, open your web browser, and download the file. It will be sitting on your machine waiting for you as soon as you get home. If all your PCs are running Windows XP Pro, and you enable drive-sharing in the Local Resources tab, you can transfer files from remote PC to local PC. You can even remotely transfer files between local PCs on your home network. Once connected, you can interact with printer ports and networked hard drives. This is a handy way to delete those “special interest” videos you downloaded before your wife finds them.
Basic Problem Prevention & Solution For Safe Computing
SAFE COMPUTING This post is meant to be a basic problem prevention and solutions for all members. Before you can expect an optimally running system, you should make sure that it is clean and you have proper protection in place. Sometimes a system has just been too compromised and a full Windows reinstallation is required, including formatting (erasing) the hard drive. In this event, make sure all of your data files are backed up. A format and reinstall will definitely solve malware problems. At the very least you need a spyware and virus protection program. Usually two spyware programs are a good idea, but only one full time loaded virus program is sufficient. Some are more resource intensive than others, can slow your system down, and be a real pain to uninstall later. Norton fits in this category, but many people are happy using and paying for it. AVG Free is, of course free, and provides real time protection. For Spyware there are a lot of safe, and free choices. AdAware and Spybot are my personal favorites, but others use SpySweeper and others. Some of these programs are for removal, others are for protection from infestation. A program like CCleaner is also VERY helpful. Be warned that there are MANY spyware prevention programs that are just that -spyware! Be careful of programs that you do not see on this list. Any of these spyware programs should be updated first, then turn system restore off and run it in Safe Mode (F8 at boot time before you see the Windows logo). Anything found can be deleted safely. Occasionally more resistant malware is found and Ewido can be helpful for getting these trojans on Windows 2000 and XP systems only. The above suggestions for running in safe mode with system restore off is applicable. The reason is that a restore can be harboring malware, and without doing this you run the risk of reinfecting the system. Any unknown popup that says "Your computer has a problem. Click here to fix it" or similar should be a red flag. Do NOT click on the link or you will definitely be further infected. It also requires that you deal with the problem immediately with the above action. Download Links: AdAware is free here: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download506.html Spybot is free here: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download2471.html SpySweeper can is free here: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3263.html AVG Free is available here: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download886.html Ewido is free to try at: http://www.ewido.net/en/
Actions home users can take to protect their computer systems
1. Consult your system support personnel if you work from home - If you use your broadband access to connect to your employer's network via a Virtual Private Network (VPN) or other means, your employer may have policies or procedures relating to the security of your home network. Be sure to consult with your employer's support personnel, as appropriate, before following any of the steps outlined in this document.
2. Use virus protection software - The CERT/CC recommends the use of anti-virus software on all Internet-connected computers. Be sure to keep your anti-virus software up-to-date. Many anti-virus packages support automatic updates of virus definitions. I recommend the use of these automatic updates when available.
3. Use a firewall - We strongly recommend the use of some type of firewall product, such as a network appliance or a personal firewall software package. Intruders are constantly scanning home user systems for known vulnerabilities. Network firewalls (whether software or hardware-based) can provide some degree of protection against these attacks. However, no firewall can detect or stop all attacks, so it’s not sufficient to install a firewall and then ignore all other security measures.
4. Dont open unknown email attachments - Before opening any email attachments, be sure you know the source of the attachment. It is not enough that the mail originated from an address you recognize. The Melissa virus spread precisely because it originated from a familiar address. Malicious code might be distributed in amusing or enticing programs. If you must open an attachment before you can verify the source, we suggest the following procedure: 1. be sure your virus definitions are up-to-date (see "Use virus protection software" above) 2. save the file to your hard disk 3. scan the file using your antivirus software 4. open the file For additional protection, you can disconnect your computer's network connection before opening the file. Following these steps will reduce, but not wholly eliminate, the chance that any malicious code contained in the attachment might spread from your computer to others.
5. Dont run programs of unknown origin - Never run a program unless you know it to be authored by a person or company that you trust. Also, don't send programs of unknown origin to your friends or coworkers simply because they are amusing -- they might contain a Trojan horse program.
6. Disable hidden filename extensions - Windows operating systems contain an option to "Hide file extensions for known file types". The option is enabled by default, but you can disable this option in order to have file extensions displayed by Windows. After disabling this option, there are still some file extensions that, by default, will continue to remain hidden. There is a registry value which, if set, will cause Windows to hide certain file extensions regardless of user configuration choices elsewhere in the operating system. The "NeverShowExt" registry value is used to hide the extensions for basic Windows file types. For example, the ".LNK" extension associated with Windows shortcuts remains hidden even after a user has turned off the option to hide extensions.
7. Keep all applications (including your operating system) patched - Vendors will usually release patches for their software when a vulnerability has been discovered. Most product documentation offers a method to get updates and patches. You should be able to obtain updates from the vendor's web site. Read the manuals or browse the vendor's web site for more information. Some applications will automatically check for available updates, and many vendors offer automatic notification of updates via a mailing list. Look on your vendor's web site for information about automatic notification. If no mailing list or other automated notification mechanism is offered you may need to check periodically for updates.
8. Turn off your computer or disconnect from the network when not in use - Turn off your computer or disconnect its Ethernet interface when you are not using it. An intruder cannot attack your computer if it is powered off or otherwise completely disconnected from the network.
9. Disable Java, JavaScript, and ActiveX if possible - Be aware of the risks involved in the use of "mobile code" such as ActiveX, Java, and JavaScript. A malicious web developer may attach a script to something sent to a web site, such as a URL, an element in a form, or a database inquiry. Later, when the web site responds to you, the malicious script is transferred to your browser. The most significant impact of this vulnerability can be avoided by disabling all scripting languages. Turning off these options will keep you from being vulnerable to malicious scripts. However, it will limit the interaction you can have with some web sites. Many legitimate sites use scripts running within the browser to add useful features. Disabling scripting may degrade the functionality of these sites.. More information regarding the risks posed by malicious code in web links can be found in CA-2000-02 Malicious HTML Tags Embedded in Client Web Requests.
10. Disable scripting features in email programs - Because many email programs use the same code as web browsers to display HTML, vulnerabilities that affect ActiveX, Java, and JavaScript are often applicable to email as well as web pages. Therefore, in addition to disabling scripting features in web browsers (see "Disable Java, JavaScript, and ActiveX if possible", above), we recommend that users also disable these features in their email programs.
11. Make regular backups of critical data - Keep a copy of important files on removable media such as ZIP disks or recordable CD-ROM disks (CD-R or CD-RW disks). Use software backup tools if available, and store the backup disks somewhere away from the computer.
12. Make a boot disk in case your computer is damaged or compromised - To aid in recovering from a security breach or hard disk failure, create a boot disk on a floppy disk which will help when recovering a computer after such an event has occurred. Remember, however, you must create this disk before you have a security event.
1. What is at risk? Information security is concerned with three main areas: * Confidentiality - information should be available only to those who rightfully have access to it * Integrity -- information should be modified only by those who are authorized to do so * Availability -- information should be accessible to those who need it when they need it These concepts apply to home Internet users just as much as they would to any corporate or government network. You probably wouldn't let a stranger look through your important documents. In the same way, you may want to keep the tasks you perform on your computer confidential, whether it's tracking your investments or sending email messages to family and friends. Also, you should have some assurance that the information you enter into your computer remains intact and is available when you need it. Some security risks arise from the possibility of intentional misuse of your computer by intruders via the Internet. Others are risks that you would face even if you weren't connected to the Internet (e.g. hard disk failures, theft, power outages). The bad news is that you probably cannot plan for every possible risk. The good news is that you can take some simple steps to reduce the chance that you'll be affected by the most common threats -- and some of those steps help with both the intentional and accidental risks you're likely to face. Before we get to what you can do to protect your computer or home network, lets take a closer look at some of these risks. 2. Intentional misuse of your computer The most common methods used by intruders to gain control of home computers are briefly described below. 1. Trojan horse programs - Trojan horse programs are a common way for intruders to trick you (sometimes referred to as "social engineering") into installing "back door" programs. These can allow intruders easy access to your computer without your knowledge, change your system configurations, or infect your computer with a computer virus. 2. Back door and remote administration programs - On Windows computers, three tools commonly used by intruders to gain remote access to your computer are BackOrifice, Netbus, and SubSeven. These back door or remote administration programs, once installed, allow other people to access and control your computer. We recommend that you review the CERT vulnerability note about Back Orifice. 3. Denial of service - Another form of attack is called a denial-of-service (DoS) attack. This type of attack causes your computer to crash or to become so busy processing data that you are unable to use it. In most cases, the latest patches will prevent the attack. It is important to note that in addition to being the target of a DoS attack, it is possible for your computer to be used as a participant in a denial-of-service attack on another system. 4. Being an intermediary for another attack - Intruders will frequently use compromised computers as launching pads for attacking other systems. An example of this is how distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) tools are used. The intruders install an "agent" (frequently through a Trojan horse program) that runs on the compromised computer awaiting further instructions. Then, when a number of agents are running on different computers, a single "handler" can instruct all of them to launch a denial-of-service attack on another system. Thus, the end target of the attack is not your own computer, but someone elses -- your computer is just a convenient tool in a larger attack. 5. Unprotected Windows shares - Unprotected Windows networking shares can be exploited by intruders in an automated way to place tools on large numbers of Windows-based computers attached to the Internet. Because site security on the Internet is interdependent, a compromised computer not only creates problems for the computer's owner, but it is also a threat to other sites on the Internet. There is great potential for the emergence of other intruder tools that leverage unprotected Windows networking shares on a widespread basis. 6. Mobile code (Java, JavaScript, and ActiveX) - There have been reports of problems with "mobile code" (e.g. Java, JavaScript, and ActiveX). These are programming languages that let web developers write code that is executed by your web browser. Although the code is generally useful, it can be used by intruders to gather information (such as which web sites you visit) or to run malicious code on your computer. It is possible to disable Java, JavaScript, and ActiveX in your web browser. We recommend that you do so if you are browsing web sites that you are not familiar with or do not trust. Also be aware of the risks involved in the use of mobile code within email programs. Many email programs use the same code as web browsers to display HTML. Thus, vulnerabilities that affect Java, JavaScript, and ActiveX are often applicable to email as well as web pages. 7. Cross-site scripting - A malicious web developer may attach a script to something sent to a web site, such as a URL, an element in a form, or a database inquiry. Later, when the web site responds to you, the malicious script is transferred to your browser. You can potentially expose your web browser to malicious scripts by * following links in web pages, email messages, or newsgroup postings without knowing what they link to * using interactive forms on an untrustworthy site * viewing online discussion groups, forums, or other dynamically generated pages where users can post text containing HTML tags 8. Email spoofing - Email spoofing is when an email message appears to have originated from one source when it actually was sent from another source. Email spoofing is often an attempt to trick the user into making a damaging statement or releasing sensitive information (such as passwords). Spoofed email can range from harmless pranks to social engineering ploys. Examples of the latter include * email claiming to be from a system administrator requesting users to change their passwords to a specified string and threatening to suspend their account if they do not comply * email claiming to be from a person in authority requesting users to send them a copy of a password file or other sensitive information Note that while service providers may occasionally request that you change your password, they usually will not specify what you should change it to. Also, most legitimate service providers would never ask you to send them any password information via email. If you suspect that you may have received a spoofed email from someone with malicious intent, you should contact your service provider's support personnel immediately. 9. Email-borne viruses - Viruses and other types of malicious code are often spread as attachments to email messages. Before opening any attachments, be sure you know the source of the attachment. It is not enough that the mail originated from an address you recognize. The Melissa virus (see References) spread precisely because it originated from a familiar address. Also, malicious code might be distributed in amusing or enticing programs. Never run a program unless you know it to be authored by a person or company that you trust. Also, don't send programs of unknown origin to your friends or coworkers simply because they are amusing -- they might contain a Trojan horse program. 10. Hidden file extensions - Windows operating systems contain an option to "Hide file extensions for known file types". The option is enabled by default, but a user may choose to disable this option in order to have file extensions displayed by Windows. Multiple email-borne viruses are known to exploit hidden file extensions. The first major attack that took advantage of a hidden file extension was the VBS/LoveLetter worm which contained an email attachment named "LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs". Other malicious programs have since incorporated similar naming schemes. Examples include * Downloader (MySis.avi.exe or QuickFlick.mpg.exe) * VBS/Timofonica (TIMOFONICA.TXT.vbs) * VBS/CoolNote (COOL_NOTEPAD_DEMO.TXT.vbs) * VBS/OnTheFly (AnnaKournikova.jpg.vbs) The files attached to the email messages sent by these viruses may appear to be harmless text (.txt), MPEG (.mpg), AVI (.avi) or other file types when in fact the file is a malicious script or executable (.vbs or .exe, for example). 11. Chat clients - Internet chat applications, such as instant messaging applications and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) networks, provide a mechanism for information to be transmitted bi-directionally between computers on the Internet. Chat clients provide groups of individuals with the means to exchange dialog, web URLs, and in many cases, files of any type. Because many chat clients allow for the exchange of executable code, they present risks similar to those of email clients. As with email clients, care should be taken to limit the chat clients ability to execute downloaded files. As always, you should be wary of exchanging files with unknown parties. 12. Packet sniffing - A packet sniffer is a program that captures data from information packets as they travel over the network. That data may include user names, passwords, and proprietary information that travels over the network in clear text. With perhaps hundreds or thousands of passwords captured by the packet sniffer, intruders can launch widespread attacks on systems. Installing a packet sniffer does not necessarily require administrator-level access. Relative to DSL and traditional dial-up users, cable modem users have a higher risk of exposure to packet sniffers since entire neighborhoods of cable modem users are effectively part of the same LAN. A packet sniffer installed on any cable modem user's computer in a neighborhood may be able to capture data transmitted by any other cable modem in the same neighborhood. 3. Accidents and other risks In addition to the risks associated with connecting your computer to the Internet, there are a number of risks that apply even if the computer has no network connections at all. Most of these risks are well-known, so we wont go into much detail in this document, but it is important to note that the common practices associated with reducing these risks may also help reduce susceptibility to the network-based risks discussed above. 1. Disk failure - Recall that availability is one of the three key elements of information security. Although all stored data can become unavailable -- if the media its stored on is physically damaged, destroyed, or lost -- data stored on hard disks is at higher risk due to the mechanical nature of the device. Hard disk crashes are a common cause of data loss on personal computers. Regular system backups are the only effective remedy. 2. Power failure and surges - Power problems (surges, blackouts, and brown-outs) can cause physical damage to a computer, inducing a hard disk crash or otherwise harming the electronic components of the computer. Common mitigation methods include using surge suppressors and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS). 3. Physical Theft - Physical theft of a computer, of course, results in the loss of confidentiality and availability, and (assuming the computer is ever recovered) makes the integrity of the data stored on the disk suspect. Regular system backups (with the backups stored somewhere away from the computer) allow for recovery of the data, but backups alone cannot address confidentiality. Cryptographic tools are available that can encrypt data stored on a computers hard disk. I encourage the use of these tools if the computer contains sensitive data or is at high risk of theft (e.g. laptops or other portable computers).
This section provides a basic introduction to the technologies that underlie the Internet. It was written with the novice end-user in mind and is not intended to be a comprehensive survey of all Internet-based technologies. Subsections provide a short overview of each topic. This section is a basic primer on the relevant technologies. For those who desire a deeper understanding of the concepts covered here, we include links to additional information. 1. What does broadband mean? "Broadband" is the general term used to refer to high-speed network connections. In this context, Internet connections via cable modem and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) are frequently referred to as broadband Internet connections. "Bandwidth" is the term used to describe the relative speed of a network connection -- for example, most current dial-up modems can support a bandwidth of 56 kbps (thousand bits per second). There is no set bandwidth threshold required for a connection to be referred to as "broadband", but it is typical for connections in excess of 1 Megabit per second (Mbps) to be so named. 2. What is cable modem access? A cable modem allows a single computer (or network of computers) to connect to the Internet via the cable TV network. The cable modem usually has an Ethernet LAN (Local Area Network) connection to the computer, and is capable of speeds in excess of 5 Mbps. Typical speeds tend to be lower than the maximum, however, since cable providers turn entire neighborhoods into LANs which share the same bandwidth. Because of this "shared-medium" topology, cable modem users may experience somewhat slower network access during periods of peak demand, and may be more susceptible to risks such as packet sniffing and unprotected windows shares than users with other types of connectivity. (See the "Computer security risks to home users" section of this document.) 3. What is DSL access? Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Internet connectivity, unlike cable modem-based service, provides the user with dedicated bandwidth. However, the maximum bandwidth available to DSL users is usually lower than the maximum cable modem rate because of differences in their respective network technologies. Also, the "dedicated bandwidth" is only dedicated between your home and the DSL provider's central office -- the providers offer little or no guarantee of bandwidth all the way across the Internet. DSL access is not as susceptible to packet sniffing as cable modem access, but many of the other security risks we'll cover apply to both DSL and cable modem access. (See the "Computer security risks to home users" section of this document.) 4. How are broadband services different from traditional dial-up services? Traditional dial-up Internet services are sometimes referred to as "dial-on-demand" services. That is, your computer only connects to the Internet when it has something to send, such as email or a request to load a web page. Once there is no more data to be sent, or after a certain amount of idle time, the computer disconnects the call. Also, in most cases each call connects to a pool of modems at the ISP, and since the modem IP addresses are dynamically assigned, your computer is usually assigned a different IP address on each call. As a result, it is more difficult (not impossible, just difficult) for an attacker to take advantage of vulnerable network services to take control of your computer. Broadband services are referred to as "always-on" services because there is no call setup when your computer has something to send. The computer is always on the network, ready to send or receive data through its network interface card (NIC). Since the connection is always up, your computer’s IP address will change less frequently (if at all), thus making it more of a fixed target for attack. What’s more, many broadband service providers use well-known IP addresses for home users. So while an attacker may not be able to single out your specific computer as belonging to you, they may at least be able to know that your service providers’ broadband customers are within a certain address range, thereby making your computer a more likely target than it might have been otherwise. The table below shows a brief comparison of traditional dial-up and broadband services.
Dial-up Broadband Connection type Dial on demand Always on IP address Changes on each call Static or infrequently changing Relative connection speed Low High Remote control potential Computer must be dialed in to control remotely Computer is always connected, so remote control can occur anytime ISP-provided security Little or none Little or none 5. How is broadband access different from the network I use at work? Corporate and government networks are typically protected by many layers of security, ranging from network firewalls to encryption. In addition, they usually have support staff who maintain the security and availability of these network connections. Although your ISP is responsible for maintaining the services they provide to you, you probably won’t have dedicated staff on hand to manage and operate your home network. You are ultimately responsible for your own computers. As a result, it is up to you to take reasonable precautions to secure your computers from accidental or intentional misuse. 6. What is a protocol? A protocol is a well-defined specification that allows computers to communicate across a network. In a way, protocols define the "grammar" that computers can use to "talk" to each other. 7. What is IP? IP stands for "Internet Protocol". It can be thought of as the common language of computers on the Internet. There are a number of detailed descriptions of IP given elsewhere, so we won't cover it in detail in this document. However, it is important to know a few things about IP in order to understand how to secure your computer. Here we’ll cover IP addresses, static vs. dynamic addressing, NAT, and TCP and UDP Ports. An overview of TCP/IP can be found in the TCP/IP Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) at: htp://www.faqs.org/faqs/internet/tcp-ip/tcp-ip-faq/part1/ and http://www.faqs.org/faq s/internet/tcp-ip/tcp-ip-faq/part2/ 8. What is an IP address? IP addresses are analogous to telephone numbers – when you want to call someone on the telephone, you must first know their telephone number. Similarly, when a computer on the Internet needs to send data to another computer, it must first know its IP address. IP addresses are typically shown as four numbers separated by decimal points, or “dots�. For example, 10.24.254.3 and 192.168.62.231 are IP addresses. If you need to make a telephone call but you only know the person’s name, you can look them up in the telephone directory (or call directory services) to get their telephone number. On the Internet, that directory is called the Domain Name System, or DNS for short. If you know the name of a server, say www.cert.org, and you type this into your web browser, your computer will then go ask its DNS server what the numeric IP address is that is associated with that name. Every computer on the Internet has an IP address associated with it that uniquely identifies it. However, that address may change over time, especially if the computer is * dialing into an Internet Service Provider (ISP) * connected behind a network firewall * connected to a broadband service using dynamic IP addressing. 9. What are static and dynamic addressing? Static IP addressing occurs when an ISP permanently assigns one or more IP addresses for each user. These addresses do not change over time. However, if a static address is assigned but not in use, it is effectively wasted. Since ISPs have a limited number of addresses allocated to them, they sometimes need to make more efficient use of their addresses. Dynamic IP addressing allows the ISP to efficiently utilize their address space. Using dynamic IP addressing, the IP addresses of individual user computers may change over time. If a dynamic address is not in use, it can be automatically reassigned to another computer as needed. 10. What is NAT? Network Address Translation (NAT) provides a way to hide the IP addresses of a private network from the Internet while still allowing computers on that network to access the Internet. NAT can be used in many different ways, but one method frequently used by home users is called "masquerading". Using NAT masquerading, one or more devices on a LAN can be made to appear as a single IP address to the outside Internet. This allows for multiple computers in a home network to use a single cable modem or DSL connection without requiring the ISP to provide more than one IP address to the user. Using this method, the ISP-assigned IP address can be either static or dynamic. Most network firewalls support NAT masquerading.
11. What are TCP and UDP Ports? TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol) are both protocols that use IP. Whereas IP allows two computers to talk to each other across the Internet, TCP and UDP allow individual applications (also known as "services") on those computers to talk to each other. In the same way that a telephone number or physical mail box might be associated with more than one person, a computer might have multiple applications (e.g. email, file services, web services) running on the same IP address. Ports allow a computer to differentiate services such as email data from web data. A port is simply a number associated with each application that uniquely identifies that service on that computer. Both TCP and UDP use ports to identify services. Some common port numbers are 80 for web (HTTP), 25 for email (SMTP), and 53 for Dmain Name System (DNS). 12. What is a firewall? The Firewalls FAQ (htp://www.faqs.org/faqs/firewalls-faq/) defines a firewall as "a system or group of systems that enforces an access control policy between two networks." In the context of home networks, a firewall typically takes one of two forms: * Software firewall - specialized software running on an individual computer, or * Network firewall - a dedicated device designed to protect one or more computers. Both types of firewall allow the user to define access policies for inbound connections to the computers they are protecting. Many also provide the ability to control what services (ports) the protected computers are able to access on the Internet (outbound access). Most firewalls intended for home use come with pre-configured security policies from which the user chooses, and some allow the user to customize these policies for their specific needs. More information on firewalls can be found in the Additional resources section of this document. 13. What does antivirus software do? There are a variety of antivirus software packages that operate in many different ways, depending on how the vendor chose to implement their software. What they have in common, though, is that they all look for patterns in the files or memory of your computer that indicate the possible presence of a known virus. Antivirus packages know what to look for through the use of virus profiles (sometimes called "signatures") provided by the vendor. New viruses are discovered daily. The effectiveness of antivirus software is dependent on having the latest virus profiles installed on your computer so that it can look for recently discovered viruses. It is important to keep these profiles up to date.
1. What is computer security? Computer security is the process of preventing and detecting unauthorized use of your computer. Prevention measures help you to stop unauthorized users (also known as "intruders") from accessing any part of your computer system. Detection helps you to determine whether or not someone attempted to break into your system, if they were successful, and what they may have done. 2. Why should I care about computer security? We use computers for everything from banking and investing to shopping and communicating with others through email or chat programs. Although you may not consider your communications "top secret," you probably do not want strangers reading your email, using your computer to attack other systems, sending forged email from your computer, or examining personal information stored on your computer (such as financial statements). 3. Who would want to break into my computer at home? Intruders (also referred to as hackers, attackers, or crackers) may not care about your identity. Often they want to gain control of your computer so they can use it to launch attacks on other computer systems. Having control of your computer gives them the ability to hide their true location as they launch attacks, often against high-profile computer systems such as government or financial systems. Even if you have a computer connected to the Internet only to play the latest games or to send email to friends and family, your computer may be a target. Intruders may be able to watch all your actions on the computer, or cause damage to your computer by reformatting your hard drive or changing your data. 4. How easy is it to break into my computer? Unfortunately, intruders are always discovering new vulnerabilities (informally called "holes") to exploit in computer software. The complexity of software makes it increasingly difficult to thoroughly test the security of computer systems. When holes are discovered, computer vendors will usually develop patches to address the problem(s). However, it is up to you, the user, to obtain and install the patches, or correctly configure the software to operate more securely. Most of the incident reports of computer break-ins received at the CERT/CC could have been prevented if system administrators and users kept their computers up-to-date with patches and security fixes. Also, some software applications have default settings that allow other users to access your computer unless you change the settings to be more secure. Examples include chat programs that let outsiders execute commands on your computer or web browsers that could allow someone to place harmful programs on your computer that run when you click on them.
There is nothing more important than password security in a world of technology. It is the first step to creating a safe and secure environment. If your password becomes compromised, there are limitless consequences to what could happen. There are a few very important factors in keeping your passwords safe and secure that everyone should adhere to. Do not tell anyone your password No one should ever know your password; your bosses, your friends, or your bank. None of them should ever know your personal passwords. Any help desk, company, or organization will have administrators or technicians that can reset your password if they need to do something with your account. Organizations will never ask for your password over the telephone or e-mail! Do not write your passwords down The key to a good password is one that you can remember easily, but is hard to guess. It's very important not to write your password down. Hiding it inside your desk, a book, in a picture is just waiting for someone snoopy to find it. Some organizations will require the writing down of passwords, but generally these are Administrator positions and the password books are locked up in a controlled safe or secure location. Your boss shouldn't have all your personal passwords in his desk! Be aware all the time When you are entering your password at the computer, or at a bank machine, be aware of who is around you. If you think someone is trying to look at what you are typing, ask them to step back, turn their head, or cover up the keyboard or keypad with your other hand. If you think that anyone may have your password or has seen you enter it, change your password immediately. Do not use the same password Far too many people only use one password for everything they do, it makes it easier to remember, but compromises their security. If you use the same password for chatting on a web forum and your online banking password, you are just asking for trouble. Use unique passwords for different projects, websites, and logins. Password complexity Password complexity is a very important issue with most users. Often users will have small passwords that are very simple because they worry about trying to remember them. It's very important to have a password that is complex enough to stop people from guessing it, or using automated programs to randomly break it. I will outline good and bad characteristics of passwords below, along with some tips for creating passwords. Avoid bad passwords, or easily guessable passwords There are many characteristics that are considered bad when it comes to choosing a password. These characteristics should be avoided at all costs to help keep your password as secure as possible. Don't use personal information in your passwords. Passwords that contain your date of birth, pets, drivers license number, social insurance number and similar information should be avoided. This also means person numbers of your children, friends, and family also! Make sure your password is adequately complex, don't use passwords like: kenken, dog, sex. Stay away from incremental passwords! If you use a password like HiThere1, don't change your password every few months with HiThere2, HiThere3. Create unique passwords each time. Don't reuse your old passwords even if you haven't used that password in 3 password changes, keep away from reverting to your old passwords. Don't use words from the dictionary. Passwords should be original conceptions, with no words that could be guessed by an automated program. Notes on character substitution I mentioned in the last point that dictionary words should be avoided. This is very true, but in addition to that, there are now dictionary attacks that integrate common slang spellings and special characters. For those of you who were on the internet and BBS world, the old KRAD, elite speak, can be just as easily guessed as a properly spelled word from the dictionary. A couple of examples of what I'm talking about are, "elite speak" could just as easily be "l33t sp34k", "project" and "pr0j3ct". Don't rely on character substitution as a means of securing a simple password. Creating a good password Creating a good password is the key to your personal security. Keep these rules in mind when choosing your passwords: A password should be over eight characters in length. Do not use dictionary words. Do not use character substitution such as "l33t sp34k" Do not user personal information Do not use variations on your userid or login name Use both upper and lower case letters (a-z and A-Z) Use numbers in your password Use special characters (% # @ *) Remembering passwords Everyone knows how frustrating it is to remember passwords, but there is one way that seems to help many people. Trying creating your password using a Mnemonic Device. "I like money, give me your money!" could translate to: Il$,gmyM! "Oh, I wish I was an Oscar Myer Weiner!" could be: OH,iwIwaOMW Simple phrases that are easy to remember for you seem to work the best.
For people who use notepad to write down any info on a day to day basis (//like diary//): 1. Open a blank Notepad file 2. Write .LOG as the first line of the file, followed by a enter. Save the file and close it.
3. Double-click the file to open it and notice that Notepad appends the current date and time to the end of the file and places the cursor on the line after.
4. Type your notes and then save and close the file.
5. Each time you open the file, Notepad repeats the process, appending the time and date to the end of the file and placing the cursor below it.
Like any average user, I was under the impression that my emails are relatively secure and could only be viewed by the recipient. Imagine my surprise, when I discovered that all emails whether by Yahoo/Gmail or by local ISPs are sent similar to the open postcard which can be read by the postmen, the staff at the post office who come in contact with the postcard, and the post office will retain a copy of all my personal and business mails.
The irony was that the intended recipient would need a password to get access to the email whereas most of the people /computers involved in the email delivery system gets a free copy!
It may be argued, that given the volume of emails, who will have time to peep into ones mails. But I would not want to leave my house door wide open giving the thieves GET IN MY HOUSE FREE CARD. Nor would I want my competitors to get hands on my pricing or quotations or my company’s system administrator to get a copy of my new job offer. Thats what happens when we use Yahoo/MSN/Gmail and other similar mail servers. (Although they do offer other great services, but not sufficient privacy.)
I came across two interesting FREE mail servers which promises us PGP encryption security. (they claim to be one of the best in the world) They are www.s-mail.comand www.hushmail.com . They are not rich in graphics, free storage space and features like those of Yahoo,Gmail etc., but offer us good privacy. Hushmail also has secure “type chat” but no voice chat. There would be much wider and better choices available on the net. Do let us all know if any of you have come up with a better secure FREE mail servers.
If you do intend to use Hushmail.com, do make sure you select a long passPHRASE of atleast seven words, as oppose to the usual passWORD. Because it uses individual passPHRASE to base its encryption for your email account.
My intention in this mail to let all laymen’s like me, know how their emails are being processed, and can exercise due diligence depending on their own privacy requirement.
There is a range of unpleasant malware out there that can literally place your PC & its data into some1 else’s hand. Even if this thing or possibility doesn’t concern you, the more immediate effects of spyware, Trojans & dialers probably will. Means if u doesn’t take care of ur computer and if u try to ignore these things then u should better understand that these things will not ignore ur computer means these things are searching such computers on internet which have no protection against themselves so they can easily attack ur computer. Once any of these things gets into ur computer then ur computer will start behaving in an abnormal way.. or your ur computer will give u slow performance. In case of dialers, the first you may know about them is when an impossibly high phone bill arrives on ur doormat.
Most of the people are familiar with the concept of a computer virus : the self-replicating piece of code that hides inside another program or documents so that you unwittingly pass it on to other machines, thus spreading the infection. However, viruses are only one kind of malware, which is the term used to describe any potentially harmful software. There’s a whole list of other types of such things which do different things as per instructions.
You may well have come across a worm, which is often mistakenly called a virus& works in a similar way, except that it doesn’t need ur help to execute it…. as it can infect other computers effectively by itself. The Trojan may also be familiar to you. It’s a program that at first appears very interesting and even useful or fun to install, but once you run it the unpleasant contents are revealed, although not always immediately. Means Trojans are software that all of us install in our computer mistakenly and after getting access to ur computer it starts slowing down your computer or start doing some other works in ur computer not immediately but it do that.
You also probably familiar with spyware & adware programs that exist to promote other services either with or without your permission and that may collect marketing information about you. I think it’s better if I explain u some common malware types in a good way.. let c how can I do that hmm…
And now just c below THE SUSPECT LIST. The name below are the most common malware candidates. The below spyware programs are explained with the software name too …..means.. I am explaining u the spyware type with a true example that if u install that software then wat will happen or wat kind of spyware will get installed or…. Aaaahhh… wat should I say.. just c the details below then u will get to know that wat I am trying to say hahah…
SPYWARE: -
How it Works : Spyware is software that collects data on the PC user without his or her knowledge. This may include logging the web sites visited or even caching credit card numbers in severe cases.
Example : Gator ( This is a software which is available for download on internet) if u download and installed in ur computer then it starts producing pop-ups & partially disable firewalls. It’s manufacturer, the claria corporation denies that the application is spuware but if u install this software in ur computer then surely strange things will do gets start.
WORM: -
How it Works : Worms are similar to viruses, but they are self contained & don’t need to insert themselves into other programs or files. They use email or other file transmitting capabilities of PCs to disperse themselves.
Example : MyDoom, first detected at the end of January 2004, spread rapidly & caused a global internet slowdown.. sure it was really interesting to c that who ever developed such thing … his bug has slow down the internet world wide… it was a real disaster situation.
EXPLOIT: -
How it Works : An exploit is a piece of software designed to take advantage of a bug or flaw in another program, providing access to the host PC or the ability to damage it.
Example : Exploits tend to be known by the vulnerability that they use, like the recent OLE & COM vulnerability patched by Microsoft in February 2005.
WABBIT: -
How it Works : Wabbits are self-contained like worms, but they don’t replicate via networks. Instead they multiply repeatedly on the local computer, seriously affecting its performance, although they may have other ill effects built in, too.
Example : Cookie Monster, named after its sesame street inspiration. What it does is that it locks up the terminals, causing them to repeatedly demand cookies.
ROOT KIT: -
How it Works : There is a set of tools installed remotely on a system once it has been hacked. Root Kits exist for most operating systems & may differ depending on the method used to crack your PC.
Example : Specific examples are hard to point to, but rootkits can either give access to the Operating System “kernel” (core service of any operating system) or to applications running remotely.
TROJAN HORSE: -
How it Works : A Trojan is a malicious program disguised as legitimate software. It often renders your defenses useless or opens a backdoor for an attacker.
Example : Fraggle Rock emerged in Britain 2001. It logged keystrokes, stole passwords and provided remote access to infected PCs.
DIALLER: -
How it Works : A dialer is designed to use your modem to make an unauthorized phone call, usually to a premium rate number. The victim’s PC runs up big phone bill & the scammer collects the profits.
Example : Mejorbus used the possibility of accessing porn web cams as an enticement to download. It hijacked the browser & dialed the premium rate number at startup.
BACKDOOR: -
How it Works : A backdoor may be installed on your system via a Trojan or worm. It may also have been planted in an otherwise legitimate (legal) application. It provides a way to access your system, usually remotely, while avoiding normal authentication procedure.
Example : The SoBig worm installed backdoor that enabled infected computers to be used as spam relays.
BROWSER HIJACK: -
How it Works : Software designed to hijack your browser may be executed via a Trojan or a worm. It resets your browser home & search pages to ones favoring the site of origin. Undoing this is tricky. Means to remove these browser hijacks from your browser is quite difficult but nothing is impossible..
Example : Fastwebfinder resets the homepage to www.fastwebfinder.com . it also modified the search bar, search page and favourites of internet explorer (only).
ADWARE: -
How it Works : I think I heard this name b4. This describes software supported by advertising. In it’s most kind form, adware displays advertisements within a program. However, more intrusive advertising might trigger pop-ups or even gather marketing data. This crosses over with the next category spyware.
Example : Winad emerged in 2004. Among other behavior, it triggered numerous pop-up adverts in internet explorer (only)
VIRUS: -
How it Works : A virus is a program that can replicate itself. It spreads by inserting copies of itself into other programs or documents, in a similar manner to the way living viruses insert themselves into body cells.
Example : Elk Cloner, thought to be the first computer virus, replicate itself via floppy disks.
Top-posting: Writing the message above the original text, when one replies to an email or a post in a newsgroup. Bottom-posting: The opposite of top-posting. Now the new message is placed below the original text.
We are fanatic Usenet-readers. As a result we are often annoyed by people who keep top-posting. This is considered as not good 'Net etiquette'. The majority of Usenet-users prefer bottom-posting. In addition to bottom-posting, it is customary to leave out non-relevant parts of the message with regard to the reply, and to put the reply directly beneath the quoted relevant parts. If you want to know more about writing new posts. Check out this site: http://www.xs4all.nl/~hanb/documents/quotingguide.html
Below you can find our arguments why bottom-posting is better than top-posting.
Because it is proper Usenet Etiquette. Check out the following URL: http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1855.html . It is a little outdated but still has a lot of valid points. Let us quote something from this site:
If you are sending a reply to a message or a posting be sure you summarize the original at the top of the message, or include just enough text of the original to give a context. This will make sure readers understand when they start to read your response. Since NetNews, especially, is proliferated by distributing the postings from one host to another, it is possible to see a response to a message before seeing the original. Giving context helps everyone. But do not include the entire original!
We use a good news reader like Forte Agent. Good newsreaders like Agent put the signature by default at the end of the post, which is the Usenet convention. Microsoft Outlook Express however has some serious bugs. Let us quote someone we know:
"The day Microsoft makes something that doesn't suck is probably the day they start making vacuum cleaners." -Ernst Jan Plugge
We are programmers ourselves, and we know it is very easy to implement to put a signature at the end of the post instead of putting it directly above the post you are replying to and can not change the position. Forte Agent has as a feature that reply to a post it will remove the signature (recognizable by '-- ', note the extra space) and everything below it, so it will remove a part of the original message. This is good Usenet practice so Agent is not faulty. Outlook Express on the other hand is faulty, check this bugreport regarding the Usenet signature delimiter.
Top-posting makes posts incomprehensible. Firstly: In normal conversations, one does not answer to something that has not yet been said. So it is unclear to reply to the top, whilst the original message is at the bottom. Secondly: In western society a book is normally read from top to bottom. Top-posting forces one to stray from this convention: Reading some at the top, skipping to the bottom to read the question, and going back to the top to continue. This annoyance increases even more than linear with the number of top-posts in the message. If someone replies to a thread and you forgot what the thread was all about, or that thread was incomplete for some reasons, it will be quite tiresome to rapidly understand what the thread was all about, due to bad posting and irrelevant text which has not been removed.
To prevent hideously long posts with a minimal account of new text, it is good Usenet practice to remove the non-relevant parts and optionally summarize the relevant parts of the original post, with regard to one's reply. Top-posting inevitably leads to long posts, because most top-posters leave the original message intact. All these long posts not only clutter up discussions, but they also clutter up the server space.
Top-posting makes it hard for bottom-posters to reply to the relevant parts: it not possible to answer within the original message. Bottom-posting does not make top-posting any harder.
Some people will argue that quoting looks bad due line wrapping. This can simply be dealt with by dropping Outlook Express as a start, and using only linewidths of 65 - 70 characters. Otherwise one has do it manually, and that can be tiresome.
A reason given by stubborn top-posters: they don't like to scroll to read the new message. We like to disagree here, because we always have to scroll down to see the original message and after that to scroll back up, just to see to what they are replying to. As a result you have to scroll twice as much when reading a top-poster's message. As a counterargument they say (believe us they do): "You can check the previous message in the discussion". This is even more tiresome than scrolling and with the unreliable nature of Usenet (and even email is inevitably unreliable), the previous message in the discussion can be simply unavailable.
Some newsgroups have strict conventions concerning posting in their charter. As an example we can tell you that in most Dutch newsgroups, you will be warned, killfiled or maybe even flamed, if you fail to follow Usenet conventions or if you do not quote according to the quoting guidelines. In general: it is better to practice the guidelines, if one does not want to get flamed in a newsgroup one just subscribed to.
We can conclude that there are no good reasons we know of for top-posting. The most top-posts originate from the minimal work people spend on making posts. We think that one should be proud of one's post, that is it contains relevant content, well-formed sentences and no irrelevant 'bullsh*t', before uploading to your newsserver. If the majority of the group will adhere to this convention, the group will be nicer, tidier and easier to read.
As a final remark we want to bring non-quoting into mind. This means that the original content of an email or Usenet post is completely removed. It makes it very hard for a reader to find out to what and whom one is replying. This phenomenon can be partly attributed to wrong settings of news- and email-clients, and partly to people who want to start with clean replies.
