The Active Geek february 2011

February 2011 | VOLUME01 | ISSUE03

How-To 7 Registry Hacks for

Analyze BSOD Avoiding Health Hazards Due To Prolonged Use of Computers

www.TheActiveGeek.com

February 2011 | VOLUME 01 | ISSUE 03

Welcome Editorial Hello geeks!

You might be wondering why we skipped the New Year issue. We were undergoing some very big changes and it was not possible for us to compile the January issue on time. So let me apologize for that first.

Our previous Editor, Abhishek Baxi has decided to drop out as editor due to time constraints. He will still be working closely with the team as a mentor. We wish him all the best for his future ventures.

The good news is that we have two new editors – Richard Hay and Nithin Jawali. We are glad to have both of them and you will hear from them directly from our next Issue onwards.

We are also making a few changes to our site, which you can see in a few days. The last but not the least, we are now accepting articles from our readers! So if you want to publish your articles in The Active Geek, please contact us at contact@theactivegeek.com. That’s the same mail id where you can send us your suggestions and tips.

Until the next edition, geek out!

Nithin Ramesh | Co-Founder, The Active Geek | nithin@theactivegeek.com

Meet our team Nithin Ramesh (Founder) – The man behind the whole idea of The Active Geek, Nithin loves writing about technology and focuses on the Windows ecosystem. He is doing graduation in Electronics and Communication engineering.

Abhishek Ghosh – A doctor by profession, Abhishek loves to write about technology. His fields of interest include Microsoft technologies, 2D and 3D graphics, painting and medical robotics.

Annkur P Agarwal – At work right out of school, Annkur has been an online retailer since 2002.

Currently Director, E-commerce at Kratee E-commerce and Consulting Ltd, Annkur runs an online blog network – OnlyGizmos - and oversees the e-retail arm. Other than that, he spends his Saturday mornings teaching computers to under privileged kids under an education project iLearn.

Corrine Chorney – A Microsoft MVP in Consumer Security, Corrine authors a blog - Security Garden (SecurityGarden.blogspot.com) - and serves as administrator, moderator and contributor at a number of online forums. Additionally, she provides help to home computer users with malware issues.

Dustin Harper – Very active in the online Microsoft and third-party forums, Dustin is an MCTS in Windows Vista Configuration and Windows 7 Configuration.

John Ackerley – A techie from UK, John loves gadgets and gaming. He is now a moderator at TheWindowsClub.com.

Rahul Manekari – A curious techie who likes to legwork on tech gadgets and news, Rahul is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology.

Vasu Jain – A Microsoft MVP, software engineer and a tech blogger, Vasu writes for popular Windows blogs like MeraWindows.com and TheWindowsClub.com, and can be found active on Twitter where he shares his day-to-day thoughts and his views on the world of technology.

Vipul Taneja – A techie kid who loves playing with technology, Vipul loves reading about latest tech gadgets and future tech products. He is also a Microsoft Student Partner, and is moderator at MeraWindows.com and Windows8beta.com. He also loves coding sometimes, and has a better hand on C#, SQL and Windows Phone 7 apps.

Tech Buzz Microsoft and Nokia announces partnership Nokia has announced that they will be making Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7, the primary platform for their mobile phones. They will also make Bing, the default search engine. On the flip side, Microsoft will be given the right to use Nokia Maps technology.

Nokia will be given exclusively, the rights to customize Windows Phone 7. They have already release a few images of the concept Windows Phones which is shown below.

Now whether this partnership will be able to make an impact on the smartphone OS platform is yet to be seen.

Rumors 0f a cheap iPhone Nano Surfaces Bloomberg is reporting that Apple is set to release a cheap version of its hugely popular device iPhone. The move is to compete against Android which is now the number one mobile operating system. The iPhone Nano will be sized at one-thirds of the iPhone 4 and will lack the home button. The price is expected to be around 200$ without a contract.

Nithin Ramesh

Feature

nithin@theactivegeek.com

Life Inside The Browser Over the years cloud based apps have come a long way from the simple email to a full blown operating systems. These days you can easily find a cloud based replacement for top desktop software. Here’s a rundown on a few cloud based apps that could replace desktop applications.

Operating System - Google Chrome OS Although there are a few cloud based operating systems available the most anticipated is the one from Google. It will be able to completely utilize your PC’s hardware unlike most of its competition which requires you to run a normal OS and browser to access the web OS. Here are a few details that you would want to know.

•

Only web apps will work. You won’t be able to install normal applications like Word or Photoshop. But the good part is that those web apps will work with all supporting browsers. Also an internet connection is not required for a web app to work. Google has setup a Web Store where you can download apps for Chrome OS.

•

Chrome OS notebooks will come with solid state Drives and not traditional hard drives.

Nithin Ramesh

Feature

nithin@theactivegeek.com •

The first Chrome OS laptops are slated to be released during the first half of 2011.

Productivity – Office Web Apps and Google Docs Although Google Docs had been out there for some time now, the new Office Web Apps turned out to be far better than Google Docs. Office Web Apps is a stripped down version of the original Office suite which also sports the familiar tabbed interface. The interface of Google Apps is the old menu style found in Office 2003 and previous versions. Although they are stripped down versions both Web Apps and

Google Docs are easy to use however, the tabbed interface makes the options a lot easier to access in Web Apps. When I tried to edit a document with various fonts I noticed that certain rarely used fonts, Arno Pro in this case, were replaced when opened for editing in Google Docs whereas there was no such problem in the Word Web App. When I tried copying text the bold style and color was lost in Web App while those where retained in Google Doc. Considering the overall performance of both Office Web Apps has a slight edge over Google Apps with its tabbed interface and support for more fonts.

Nithin Ramesh

Feature

nithin@theactivegeek.com

Aviary – Productivity

Aviary is an online image editor and music creator. Although not a complete replacement for Photoshop and Soundbooth it does have features like layers, grouping, filters etc. in an easy to use interface. The Aviary suite also comes with an app to edit vectors. The tools included in Aviary are: • Image Editor • Music Creator • Screen Capture • Color Editor • Effects Editor • Vector Editor • Image Markup

Nithin Ramesh

Feature

nithin@theactivegeek.com

JayCut – Productivity JayCut is an excellent online tool to edit videos. It has an easy to use interface somewhat similar to the Windows Movie Maker but has a lot more features. With JayCut you can add transitions, audio, effects, additional clips etc. It allows you to either download the edited file or export it directly to YouTube once you have finished editing.

Panda Antivirus – Antivirus Panda was the first to develop an antivirus for the cloud. It provides protection for endpoint, email and web. There are two versions – free for personal use as well as for non-profits and a pro version which costs about $29.99. The free version itself is featured packed with Antivirus & Antispyware protection from the cloud, Anti-Rootkits for protection against hidden threats, online & offline permanent protection, offline protection by disabling Auto-Run on your PC, behavioral blocking of new and unknown

Nithin Ramesh

Feature

nithin@theactivegeek.com threats etc. The pro version along with the above features comes with additional abilities such as behavioral analysis and USB vaccination. If you will be using it for personal use the free version is pretty much all you need.

Grooveshark – Music Grooveshark is a free online music streaming service. You can either search for the music that you love or make use of their playlists to listen to music of your favorite genre. After a quick free registration you can also create playlists of your own and even share them with others. As long as you don’t mind a few ads it is completely free.

They also offer two paid plans called the Grooveshark Plus and Grooveshark Anywhere which costs $6 and $9 respectively. With the Plus account you can use the service without any ads and with the Anywhere account you get an ad free interface plus you can use both the desktop and mobile applications.

The only downside is that you need an internet connection to use this service unlike Spotify.

Nithin Ramesh

Feature

nithin@theactivegeek.com

Meebo – Desktop Chat Meebo is an excellent web based application to chat with your friends over a range of IM networks. It supports almost all major IMs such as Yahoo, Google Talk, Windows Live, Facebook, ICQ, and AIM.

The best part is that you don’t need a Meebo account as long as you use only a single IM account at once. If you use multiple accounts you need to register for a free Meebo account and then you can use multiple accounts at once.

You can even use audio/video calls with supported IMs such as Yahoo.

Harsh Mahajan

Feature

Understanding Windows Azure Introduction: Windows Azure™ is a cloud services operating system that serves as the development, service hosting and service management environment for the Windows Azure platform. Windows Azure provides developers with on-demand computing and storage to host, scale, and manages web applications on the internet through Microsoft® datacentres.

Windows Azure is a flexible platform that supports multiple languages and integrates with your existing on-premises environment. To build applications and services on Windows Azure, developers can use their existing Microsoft Visual Studio® expertise.

In addition, Windows Azure supports popular standards, protocols and languages including SOAP, REST, XML, Java, PHP and Ruby. Windows Azure is now commercially available in 40 countries.

Fig 1: Microsoft cloud 1

Harsh Mahajan

Feature

Windows Azure is a new Windows offering at the Web tier of computing. This represents a significant extension to the Microsoft family of Windows computing platforms from Windows Vista and Windows Mobile at the experience tier, Windows Server at the enterprise tier, and now Windows Azure being Microsoft’s Web tier offering, what you might think of as Windows in the cloud.

Windows Azure is the lowest level foundation for building and deploying a high scale service, providing core capabilities such as virtualized computation, scalable storage in the form of blobs, tables and streams, and perhaps most importantly an automated service management system, a fabric controller that handles provisioning, geodistribution, and the entire lifecycle of a cloud-based service.

We can think of Windows Azure as a new service-based operating environment specifically targeted for this new cloud design point, striking the best possible balance between two seemingly opposing goals. Microsoft is betting on Azure , and as the system scales out, they will be bringing more and more of their own key apps and key services onto Windows Azure because it will be their highest scale, highest availability, most economical, and most environmentally sensitive way of hosting services in the cloud.

Microsoft also provides higher-level developer services including Live Services, Microsoft .NET Services and Microsoft SQL Services. These services, when taken together with Windows Azure itself, constitute a much larger Azure Services Platform. The higher level developer services, which you can mix and match ala carte, provide functions that as Windows developers you'll find quite valuable and familiar and useful. As you are well aware, Dynamics CRM and SharePoint are two of our most capable and most extensible platforms for business content, collaboration, and rapid solutions.

Basic Architecture of Windows Azure: Windows Azure is the operating system that manages not only servers but also services.

Under the hood, Windows Azure runs on 64-bit Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems with Hyper V support. You can think of Windows Azure as a virtual operating system composed of multiple virtualized servers running on massively scalable but abstracted hardware. The abstraction between the Windows Azure core services and the hardware is managed by Fabric Controller. Fabric Controller manages end-to-end automation of Windows Azure services, from hardware provisioning to maintaining service availability. Fabric Controller reads the configuration information of your services and adjusts the deployment profile accordingly.

Harsh Mahajan

Feature

Fig 2: Basic architecture of Windows azure

Compute: Windows Azure compute can run many different kinds of applications. Whatever an application does, however, it must be implemented as one or more roles. Windows Azure then typically runs multiple instances of each role, using Built-in load balancing to spread requests across them. Fig below shows how this looks.

Fig 3: Windows Azure applications can consist of Web role instances and/or Worker role instances and VM role instances

Harsh Mahajan

Feature

•

Web roles, intended primarily to make it easier to create Web-based applications.

Each Web role instance has Internet Information Services (IIS) 7 pre-configured inside it, so creating applications using ASP.NET, Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), or other Web technologies is straightforward. Developers can also create applications in native code—using the .NET Framework isn’t required.

This means that they can install and run non-Microsoft technologies as well, including PHP and Java.

•

Worker roles, designed to run a variety of Windows-based code. The biggest difference between a Web role and a Worker role is that Worker roles don’t have IIS configured inside them, and so the code they run isn’t hosted by IIS. A Worker role might run a simulation, for example, or handle video processing or do nearly anything else. It’s common for an application to interact with users through a Web role, then hand tasks off to a Worker role for processing. Once again, a developer is free to use the .NET Framework or other software that runs on Windows, including non-Microsoft technologies.

•

VM roles, each of which runs a user-provided Windows Server 2008 R2 image.

Among other things, a VM role can sometimes be useful in moving an onpremises Windows Server application to Windows Azure.

The fabric Controller: All Windows Azure applications and all of the data in Windows Azure Storage live in some Microsoft data center. Within that data center, the set of machines dedicated to Windows Azure is organized into a fabric.

Fig 4: Fabric controller 1

Harsh Mahajan

Feature

As the figure shows, the Windows Azure Fabric consists of a (large) group of machines, all of which are managed by software called the fabric controller. The fabric controller is replicated across a group of five to seven machines, and it owns all of the resources in the fabric: computers, switches, load balancers, and more. Because it can communicate with a fabric agent on every computer, it’s also aware of every Windows Azure application in this fabric. (Interestingly, the fabric controller sees Windows Azure Storage as just another application, and so the details of data management and replication aren’t visible to the controller.)

This broad knowledge lets the fabric controller do many useful things. It monitors all running applications, for example, giving it an up-to-the-minute picture of what’s happening in the fabric. It manages operating systems, taking care of things like patching the version of Windows Server 2008 that runs in Windows Azure VMs. It also decides where new applications should run, choosing physical servers to optimize hardware utilization.

To do this, the fabric controller depends on a configuration file that is uploaded with each Windows Azure application. This file provides an XML-based description of what the application needs: how many Web role instances, how many Worker role instances, and more. When the fabric controller receives this new application, it uses Storage: Windows Azure Storage is a scalable, highly available, and durable service to store any kind of application data. The Storage service provides you with the ability to store data in three different types of storage types: blobs, queues, and tables. Each storage type has advantages; depending on the application requirements, you can choose the appropriate storage type for your data. You can also use multiple storage types within the same application

Harsh Mahajan

Feature

Fig a5: Storage overview

The simplest way to store data in Windows Azure storage is to use blobs. A blob contains binary data, and as Figure above suggests, there’s a simple hierarchy: A storage account can have one or more containers, each of which holds one or more blobs. Blobs can be big—up to 50 gigabytes each—and they can also have associated metadata, such as information about where a JPEG photograph was taken or who the singer is for an MP3 file. Blobs are just right for some situations, but they’re too unstructured for others.

To let applications work with data in a more fine-grained way, Windows Azure storage provides tables. Don’t be misled by the name: These aren’t relational tables. In fact, even though they’re called “tables”, the data they hold is actually stored in a simple hierarchy of entities that contain properties. And rather than using SQL, an application accesses a table’s data using the conventions defined by ADO.NET Data Services. The reason for this apparently idiosyncratic approach is that it allows scale-out storage—scaling by spreading data spread across many machines—much more effectively than would a standard relational database. In fact, a single Windows Azure table can contain billions of entities holding terabytes of data. Blobs and tables are both focused on storing and accessing data.

The third option in Windows Azure storage, queues, has a quite different purpose. A primary function of queues is to provide a way for Web role instances to communicate with Worker role instances. For example, a user might submit a request to perform some compute-intensive task via a Web page implemented by a Windows Azure Web role.

The Web role instance that receives this request can write a message into a queue describing the work to be done. A Worker role instance that’s waiting on this queue can

Harsh Mahajan

Feature

then read the message and carry out the task it specifies. Any results can be returned via another queue or handled in some other way.

Regardless of how data is stored—in blobs, tables, or queues—all information held in Windows Azure storage is replicated three times. This replication allows fault tolerance, since losing a copy isn’t fatal. The system provides strong consistency, however, so an application that immediately reads data it has just written is guaranteed to get back what it just wrote.

Windows Azure storage can be accessed by a Windows Azure application, by an application running on-premises within some organization, or by an application running at a host. In all of these cases, all three Windows Azure storage styles use the conventions of REST to identify and expose data, as Figure 4 suggests. In other words, blobs, tables, and queues are all named using URIs and accessed via standard HTTP operations. A .NET client might use the ADO.NET Data Services libraries to do this, but it’s not required—an application can also make raw HTTP calls.

The above figure clearly shows the commitment of Microsoft in providing optimum services and enhanced user satisfaction levels.

PDC 2010: what’s new in Windows Azure

Harsh Mahajan

Feature

This is the final overview picture of the windows azure platform which will directly compete with Google, amazon and VMFORCE(partnership of VMware and Salesforce) in the PaaS space.

Now here are the list of updates from PDC10: •

WA VM Role

•

WA Virtual Network

•

Extra Small Instances (half the hardware, half the cost)

•

New Portal

•

Multiple users/roles for management

•

Rolling out WS2008R2/IIS7.5

•

Admin Mode

•

Full IIS

•

Remote Desktop

•

WS AppFabric Caching as a service

•

SSRS as a service

•

Dallas

•

New Composition Model and designer

•

Microsoft will be hosting TFS in Azure

What is more impressive and you will be interested as a developer will be that that Windows Azure now has additional role called WA VM ROLE or ELEVATED PRIVILIGES ,earlier we had a Web Role which used to work as front end to interact with clients and Worker Role which was a background processing application. The VM role and elevated privileges functionality removes roadblocks that today prevent developers from having full control over their application environment.some of its features are: •

Full control of OS image (WS08R2)

•

Full operations: reboot, reimage, remote desktop

•

Customer must configure and maintain the OS

•

SLA still requires 2 instances

•

Fabric controller will not understand the health of the running applications, but does automate management

•

No durability of instance state on failure/restart

•

Still sit behind load balancer (one public IP)

•

Priced by the hour

Feature

Harsh Mahajan •

The Windows license of the instance is included in pricing

Another interesting fact for developers is that we have now an additional compute instance called as EXTRA SMALL .New compute instance chart is as follows: Compute Instance Size

CPU

Instance Storage

I/O Performance

Cost per hour

Extra Small

1.0 GHz 768 MB

20 GB

Low

$0.05

Small

1.6 GHz 1.75 GB

225 GB

Moderate

$0.12

Medium

2 x 1.6 GHz

3.5 GB

490 GB

High

$0.24

Large

4 x 1.6 GHz

7 GB

1,000 GB

High

$0.48

Extra large

8 x 1.6 GHz

14 GB

2,040 GB

High

$0.96

Memory

Another interesting fact is that now web role uses FULL IIS, its key features are : •

Web Role now uses full IIS by default

•

Supports o Multiple sites o Multiple applications o Virtual directories

•

Everything else in IIS can be scripted with admin mode

•

Can push iterative changes to running instances in minutes

PDC10 brings lot of cool stuff for the developers and Microsoft will also be launching new web portal of it.Microsoft is eyeing potential market share of SOA and will be directly competing with Google, Amazon, IBM, VMWare and SalesForce.

Security

Corrine Chorney corrine@theactivegeek.com

Online Privacy Background Concern for privacy online is not new. Internet surfers have long considered awareness and removal of tracking cookies and spyware a priority. Among the early programs addressing this issue was the introduction by Steve Gibson of the now defunct “OptOut” program in June, 2000, OptOut was designed for the automated removal of specifically targeted spyware, As I recall, I installed OptOut on my Windows 95 computer before I found it necessary to install a software firewall.

Fast forward to today. There have been many changes since 2000, not only in computer hardware and software but also in tracking methods. In this digital age, the concern for protecting the privacy of personal information is paramount. The information contained in our medical, insurance, pharmacy, employment and school records, bank and credit reports, tax and government data provide not only a story of our life but also a key to our identity.

There is, however, more to online privacy than personal records. Consider the following activities: • • • •

Information searches Browsing online for products and services Information shared with friends on social networking sites Travel and location information with location-enabled Smartphone applications

As any of the above online activities are conducted, information is stored on your computer. This information is potentially available for data collection and manipulation, resulting in targeted advertisements.

Advertisements are a “necessary evil”. Maintaining websites is not cost free. Thus, the need for the subsidy provided website owners by advertisers. Although many free and licensed applications and browser add-ons have been created to block or remove what is commonly referred to as tracking cookies, other means of tracking website visits have evolved.

Security

Corrine Chorney corrine@theactivegeek.com

The Future Particularly due to a year-long study by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a lot of attention has been devoted to online privacy. On December 1, 2010, the FTC released a preliminary report entitled "Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change".

The one hundred twenty-two (122) page PDF file is available for download at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2010/12/101201privacyreport.pdf ). Briefly, the FTC report provides a broad framework centered on three concepts: privacy by design, simplified choice, and greater transparency.

Within days of the FTC report, the Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 team announced tracking protection for inclusion in the Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate. Both privacy advocates and consumers alike will see this as a major step forward to providing additional online privacy.

IE9 and Privacy: Introducing Tracking Protection • Opt-in “Tracking Protection” to identify and block many forms of undesired tracking.

• “Tracking Protection Lists” to enable control of the third-party site content that can be tracked when online.

With Tracking Protection in Internet Explorer 9 (IE9), you will have control of what data is shared as you navigate from one website to another. This is accomplished by adding Tracking Protection Lists (TPL) to Internet Explorer. Anyone, and any organization, on the Web can create and publish Tracking Protection Lists.

Although the default installation of IE9 will not include Tracking Protection lists (TPL), the option will be available to add lists created by others. In effect, the lists provide a “Do Not Call” indicator for external content, unless you visit those sites directly. The TPL will also include the ability to include “OK to Call” addresses. This is to ensure you can access these sites even if one of their lists has the site identified as “Do Not Call.” Tracking Protection is not on by default. Thus, after turning on Tracking Protection, it will remain on until you turn it off.

Corrine Chorney

Security

corrine@theactivegeek.com

The process of change is not simple. Realize that it will be ongoing. As a postscript to the IE Blog article, IE9 and Privacy: Introducing Tracking Protection Dean Hachamovitch, Corporate Vice President, Internet Explorer: added: "One aspect of the larger tracking discussion involves a change to “HTTP headers.” The key thing to note is that such a change is the start but only part of delivering tracking protection. It is a signal to the web site of the consumer’s preferences. The rest of that solution (defining what that signal from the consumer means, what to do with it, verification, enforcement, etc.) is still under construction."

Today The Internet Explorer 9 tracking protection will provide a viable option for protecting your privacy. I expect that the other browsers will provide similar methods of providing tracking protection in future releases. In the meantime, there are other options available for protecting your privacy. In the following segments are instructions for restricting tracking cookies as well as examples of options and a few of the available browser extensions for managing DOM Storage and Flash Cookies. Also included are browser settings for private browsing sessions.

Cookies There are considerations when blocking cookies. Keep in mind that not all cookies are tracking your every move. As a simple example, website logon cookies remember pages read. Also, note that cookies cannot be used to run code (run programs) or to deliver viruses to your computer.

Session Cookies are also useful. Some websites require session cookies to track your movements on the site. Without the session cookies, you would repeatedly be asked for the same information already provided. As an example, session cookies are used when shopping online to remember items placed in a shopping cart. Without the session

Corrine Chorney

Security

corrine@theactivegeek.com cookies, the shopping basket would disappear before you reach the checkout. Session cookies are stored in memory not on the hard drive. They expire when the browser is closed.

Third-party Cookies are cookies that are set by one site, but can be read by another site. This enables advertisers that use third-party cookies to track your visits to the websites on which they advertise. With third-party cookies, your web surfing habits are logged, allowing advertisers to tailor advertisements to your interests.

What if you do not want to be tracked?

The Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) provides a system for opting out of popular ad networks. The Network Advertising Initiative tool identifies the member companies that have placed an advertising cookie on your computer. Using the NAI tool is simple.

Merely choose the provided option to Select All member companies or check specific boxes that correspond to the company(s) from which you wish to opt out. After you click the Submit button, the tool will automatically replace the selected advertising cookie(s) and verify your opt-out status.

TrackBlocker is a Firefox extension provided by PrivacyChoice.org. The extension not only blocks cookie tracking by over 200 ad companies it also deletes Flash cookies from these companies.

Most web browsers have a feature in their settings that lets you disable cookies from third-party websites. Shown below are the instructions for the setting to block tracking cookies for the major web browsers.

To block third-party cookies in Internet Explorer, do the following steps: • • • • •

Launch Internet Explorer and select the Tools menu Click Internet Options, click Privacy, and then click Advanced.

Check the box next to Override automatic cookie handling Check the option to Block in the Third-party Cookies column.

Click OK.

Corrine Chorney

Security

corrine@theactivegeek.com

Firefox also has the option to block third-party cookies. The steps include: • • •

Launch Firefox and click the Tools menu Select Options and Privacy Uncheck the option to Accept third-party cookies.

Google Chrome allows all cookies by default. Below are the steps for changing the default settings: • • •

Launch Google Chrome and click the Tools menu Select Options.

Click the Under the Bonnet tab and locate the Privacy section

Corrine Chorney

Security

corrine@theactivegeek.com • • •

Choose the Content settings button.

Click the Cookie settings tab and choose your preferred settings.

Click Close.

Safari has similar instructions as the other browsers: • • •

Launch Safari and go to Preferences and then click the Security tab Click the Show Cookies button Click the radio button for the option Only from sites I visit (Block cookies from third parties and advertisers).

The terminology used by Opera is similar to Safari.

• • • •

Launch Opera and press CTRL+F12 to open the Opera Preferences menu.

Select the Advanced Tab Select Cookies from the left sidebar menu.

Select Accept cookies only from the site I visit to disable third-party cookies.

Corrine Chorney

Security

corrine@theactivegeek.com

Opera also has the option to disable “referrer logging�, which allows a website to know what site you were previously visiting. Some sites depend on referrer logging to work correctly. If you elect to disable referrer logging in Opera, it can be done through Settings > Preferences > Advanced > Network. Uncheck Send referrer information.

DOM Storage Although we generally associate the term cookie with data stored by websites we visit, DOM Storage does not store cookies per se. Rather, DOM storage is per-session or domain-specific data. It is easier to control how information stored in one window is visible to another with DOM Storage. (According to W3C, officially, the term is Web Storage but the common term is DOM for Document Object Model.)

DOM Storage is comprised of two primary parts, Session Storage and Local Storage.

Corrine Chorney

Security

corrine@theactivegeek.com In Session Storage, any data input is stored for the duration of the session. Thus, if a new tab is opened, the data from the Session in the original tab is stored for the new tab. Conversely, Local Storage spans multiple windows and persists beyond the current session. Local Storage allows Web applications to store up to 10 MB of user data. This could include data stored offline for later reading.

Disable DOM Storage It is easy to disable DOM storage cookies in both Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers by following the simple instructions below. It is important to note, however, that some sites (i.e., CNN) may not work correctly with DOM storage disabled.

Internet Explorer • • • • • •

Launch Internet Explorer and open the Tools Menu Select Internet Options Click the Advanced tab Scroll down until you reach Security Uncheck the box for Enable DOM Storage Click Ok

Firefox A simple way to disable DOM Storage in Firefox is with the extension, Better Privacy. To make the change manually, do the following: • • • • •

Launch Firefox and type about:config in the address bar In response to the warning, click I'll be careful, I promise!

Scroll down until you reach dom.storage.enabled or copy/paste dom.storage.enabled in the filter Double-click the dom.storage.enabled line item and it will change from its default value True to False Close the about:config tab

To undo the change to Internet Explorer or Firefox, simply reverse the above steps.

Security

Corrine Chorney corrine@theactivegeek.com

Recently, Google NotScripts extension was released. It is currently necessary to create a password when using the extension and also make other settings changes back to default. The Opera and Safari browsers use DOM storage but, at this point, it does not appear that either provides a means for disabling it.

Flash Cookies Blocking all or just third-party cookies and clearing browser history does not remove another form of cookies -- Flash cookies. Flash cookies are also known as local shared objects (LSO) or Super Cookies. Because Flash cookies are not as well known as HTTP cookies, they provide the additional advantage for advertisers for tracking and providing targeted advertising. As a result, Flash cookies also jeopardize your online privacy. The same advantages of Flash cookies over HTTP cookies for advertisers are disadvantageous in maintaining privacy.

A partial list of Flash Cookie/LSO properties includes: • • • • • • •

Unlike HTTP cookies, Flash Cookies are never expiring HTTP cookies are 4 KB, compared to the default storage availability of 100 KB of storage for LSO’s.

Browsers provide control mechanisms for HTTP Cookies, which is not generally the case for LSO's.

Highly specific personal and technical information (including system and user name) can be stored via Flash.

The stored information can be sent to the appropriate server without permission.

There is no easy way to monitor sites following you with flash-cookies.

LSO’s work in every flash-enabled application, thus allowing cross-browser tracking via the shared folders.

Considering the complexity of Flash Cookies, the question in your mind most likely is how to control or remove them from your computer. Below are few options for consideration.

Adobe provides an On-line Settings Manager, illustrated below, to configure Flash Player settings. To use the tool, you need to go to the Adobe Website Storage Settings panel to make the changes to the settings.

Corrine Chorney

Security

corrine@theactivegeek.com Although the changes are made via the on-line manager, the settings are only stored on your computer. I have discovered that the Adobe On-line Settings Manager version has changed several times. As a result, it has been necessary after a Flash Player update to revisit the site to verify the settings.

For on-line game players, note that Flash cookies are used to save a game in progress.

In that case, you will want to add an exception to the on-line game site.

The Taco plug-in is available for both Internet Explorer and Firefox. It helps manage and delete standard cookies as well as Flash and DOM Storage Cookies. The plug-in also lets you see who is trying to follow your online movements and helps you decline targeted ads from more than 100 ad networks.

Firefox users have the option of using the BetterPrivacy or Flashblock extension.

Flashblock blocks all Flash content from loading. It then leaves placeholders on the webpage. With that method, if you wish to view the Flash content, you can click to download and then view it.

The BetterPrivacy extension manages Flash Cookies by removing them on every browser exit. It also provides the capability of reviewing, protecting or deleting new Flashcookies individually. If desired, the automatic functions can be disabled. BetterPrivacy

Corrine Chorney

Security

corrine@theactivegeek.com also protects against the previously discussed DOM Storage.

Private Browsing Private browsing options are available for occasions when you do not want to leave evidence of your browsing or search history. When surfing at an Internet CafĂŠ or unsecured Wi-Fi location this feature is recommended to protect not only your privacy but also security should it be necessary to access a banking or similar secure site.

Internet Explorer Internet Explorer 8 and Internet Explorer 9 provide several easy ways to start InPrivate Browsing. The feature is available from the Safety menu, by pressing CTRL+Shift+P, or from the New Tab page. Any of those actions will result in launching a new browser session that will not record any information, including searches or website visits.

Closing the browser window will end the InPrivate Browsing session.

Note: InPrivate Browsing is not available in earlier versions of Internet Explorer.

Firefox To access Private Browsing in Firefox, click on the Tools menu and select Start Private Browsing or key CTRL+Shift+P. To end Private Browsing, reverse the process by clicking on the Tools menu and selecting Stop Private Browsing.

Google Chrome Private browsing in Google Chrome is called Incognito mode. To turn on Incognito mode, from the Tools menu, select New incognito window or key CTRL+SHIFT+N. To stop browsing in Incognito mode, close the Chrome window.

Opera Opera provides the option of launching either a private tab or window. Any new tab

Corrine Chorney

Security

corrine@theactivegeek.com opened in a private window is a Private Tab. Browsing history is removed when the tab or window is closed. Click the red O in the upper, left corner and select Tabs and Windows | New Private Tab or Tabs and Windows | New Private Window. This feature is also available from the File menu on the menu bar.

It is apparent that there is a long way to go toward online privacy before the tenants proposed in the FTA draft report are accomplished. Internet Explorer 9 is taking a step forward in design with tracking protection. I anticipate that the other browsers will follow with something similar. A simplified choice and an easier method of changing the settings is needed. Beyond that, and more importantly, a clear understanding of the information advertisers are collecting is needed in order to make informed decisions about what information to allow or block.

Cyber security is a shared responsibility.

Tips & Tricks

Vasu Jain Vasu.jain@theactivegeek.com

7 Registry hacks for Windows 7 Windows 7, the fastest selling Windows operating system, has already been very fast and reliable but for those users who always want to have full control over Windows there are some registry edits that can tweak a few internal settings to optimize system performance and add more features that satisfies the needs of advanced users for full control over Windows.

The Windows Registry is a hierarchical database that stores configuration settings and options on a Windows operating system. Introduced in Windows 3.1, the registry contains information that windows continually references during operation, such as profiles for each user, applications installed on computer, applications running on platform like kernel, device drivers, services etc.

These Seven Registry tweaks can be applied to the Windows Registry to speed up Windows and to gain more control. To start the registry editor go to RUN and type regedit which requires administrator privileges to open. The registry editor will open in a tree structure to make it easy to navigate to the branches you need to access for each of these tweaks.

Microsoft has issued the following warning with respect to the Registry Editor: "Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious, system-wide problems that may require you to re-install Windows to correct them. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use this tool at your own risk."

Before you make these changes I recommend that you make a backup of important files as well as the Windows Registry as a precautionary measure.

To back up the registry (the current settings), 1. Open the Registry editor.

2. On the 'Registry' drop-down menu, click 'Export Registry File'.

3. In the Export range panel, click 'All', then save your registry as Backup.

Vasu Jain

Tips & Tricks

Vasu.jain@theactivegeek.com So make sure you are comfortable with this type of editing and risk, back up your registry and then dive in to these tweaks.

1. Change the Width of Taskbar Buttons Super Taskbar aka Superbar in Windows 7 is a handy feature which can be set up to combine taskbar buttons from the same program and never display their labels.

However, the more applications you pin to taskbar the less space remains. To get more space on the taskbar you can adjust the widths of taskbar buttons.

1. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics

2. On the Right side pane, open the "MinWidth" entry. If it's not there, create it by Rightclicking in the right pane, select New, then Select "String Value," and name the object MinWidth.

3. Change the number in the "Value Data" field the width you want to set for the taskbar icons.

4. Click OK. 2. Turn off Aero Snap Aero Snap in Windows 7 provides an easy method to maximize, minimize, dock left or right a window if you drag the window to the top/bottom/left/right. This feature can be disabled by using a registry tweak.

Vasu Jain

Tips & Tricks

Vasu.jain@theactivegeek.com

1. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop.

2. Scroll down to "WindowArrangementActive" entry in the right side pane, and open it.

3. Change the number in the "Value data" field from 1 (Aero Snap is enabled) to 0.

4. Click OK. Note: To enable the Aero Snap again simply change the “Value data" field from 0 to 1.

3. Change Your Logon Screen Background Changing the wallpaper on your desktop is one of the easiest things to do in Windows but if you can have that display any image you want why not do the same with your logon screen?

1. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\L ogonUI\Background.

2. Find the "OEMBackground" key; or right-click in the right pane and select "New," then "DWORD (32-bit) Value" to create it (and then give it that name).

Vasu Jain

Tips & Tricks

Vasu.jain@theactivegeek.com 3. Double-click on "OEMBackground" to open it.

4. Change the value in the "Value data" field to 1.

5. Click OK.

6. Navigate to directory %Windows\System32\oobe\info\backgrounds. If it does not exist, create the folder first.

7. Copy a JPEG image smaller than 256 KB size into the info\backgrounds folder to use as your logon screen background 8. Rename the image backgroundDefault.jpg. The info\background folder also supports 12 other files of specific resolutions. The files should be named backgroundXXXXX.jpg, where the XXXXX is one of the following: 900x1440, 960x1280, 1024x1280, 1280x1024, 1024x768, 1280x960, 1600x1200, 1440x900, 1920x1200, 1280x768, or 1360x768. For example, background1280x960.jpg will be used 1280 by 960resolution.

9. The next time you restart your computer, or log out, you'll see this image as the new logon screen.

Vasu Jain

Tips & Tricks

Vasu.jain@theactivegeek.com 4. Add "Copy To" and "Move To" options in context menu Add "Copy To" and "Move To" options in files and folders context menu, so that you can easily copy and move them to other locations. To use the functionality right click on a file, select Copy To Folder or Move To Folder, and then a move to box will pop up and let you choose a location to either copy or move the file or folder to.

1. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers 2. At this key, right click and choose the New Key option 3. Now you will double-click on the (Default) value and enter the following: {C2FBB630-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13} 4. Click OK and continue. This will enable Copy to in context menu.

5. If you want to enable Move To, Repeat steps 1-4, except creating a new key named Move To, and using this value in step 3: {C2FBB631-2971-11D1-A18C-00C04FD75D13} 6. Now when you right click on a file or folder, you should see the following options:

Vasu Jain

Tips & Tricks

Vasu.jain@theactivegeek.com 5. Disable the low disk space check notification in system tray During the past few years the rapid growth in internet & media have stuffed hard disks with loads of data be it multimedia or software downloads. Generally hard disks in laptops are not enough to store so much data and starts displaying a popup of low disk space if a drive in Windows is low on disk space. To disable the annoying low disk space check so that you don't get this notification in system tray follow the registry tip.

1. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\C urrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced 2. Right-click in the right pane, clicks "New," and click "DWORD Value" or "DWORD (32bit) Value."

3. Name the new DWORD "ExtendedUIHoverTime.""NoLowDiskSpaceChecks"=dword:00000001 4. Double click on ExtendedUIHoverTime to open it.

Vasu Jain

Tips & Tricks

Vasu.jain@theactivegeek.com 5. Select the "Decimal" option in the "Base" section. In the "Value data" field, enter the delay time (in milliseconds) for the preview to appear.

6. Click "OK" to commit the change.

6. Change the Time Delay in Windows 7 Taskbar Previews Taskbar preview is one of the most interesting and helpful features in Windows 7.

Taskbar previews appear when you hover the mouse cursor over the taskbar icon of a currently running program. You may notice a time delay in taskbar preview however, you can always speed it up, using this tweak to the registry.

1. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced 2. Right-click in right pane, click New, & click "DWORD Value" or "DWORD (32-bit) Value."

3. Name the new DWORD "ExtendedUIHoverTime."

Vasu Jain

Tips & Tricks

Vasu.jain@theactivegeek.com

4. Double click on ExtendedUIHoverTime to open it.

5. Select the "Decimal" option in the "Base" section. In the "Value data" field, enter the delay time (in milliseconds) for the preview to appear. (The Windows standard is 400ms.)

6. Click "OK" to commit the change.

7. Change the Delay Time of Aero Peek Aero Peek is Windows 7's replacement for the old Show Desktop button. Just move your mouse cursor over the icon at the right end of the Taskbar to make all your open windows transparent and see the desktop below. Just like the Taskbar Preview tip discussed above there is a delay associated with Aero Peek as well which can be tweaked in similar fashion.

1. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced 2. Right-click in the right pane, click "New," and click "DWORD Value" or "DWORD (32bit) Value."

3. Name the new DWORD "DesktopLivePreviewHoverTime."

4. Double click on DesktopLivePreviewHoverTime to open it.

Vasu Jain

Tips & Tricks

Vasu.jain@theactivegeek.com

5. Select the "Decimal" option in the "Base" section. In the "Value data" field, enter the delay time (in milliseconds) for the preview to appear. (The Windows standard is 1,000ms.)

6. Click "OK" to commit the change.

Note: For most of the tweaks, restart your system so as the changes will affect and you'll definitely experience the tweaking affect.

So play safely and Happy Tweaking.

Dustin Harper

Tips & Tricks

Dustin.harper@theactivegeek.co m

Windows 7: Parental Controls The Internet is full of great information and anything is available from music to movies to books and everything in between. However, with all that great knowledge and entertainment there is also the bad and the ugly. For those with children in the house that also use the family computer this could be a recipe for disaster. Thankfully, Microsoft has seen the dark side of the Internet and being a family oriented company they have included a set of Parental Controls within Windows 7 (it is also available for Windows Vista).

There are a lot of options available to keep your family safe while online and offline.

Parental Controls can limit what sites your child goes to with a whitelist and a blacklist, limit what games they can and cannot play, limit when they can use the computer and what programs they are allowed to run. There are a few initial steps to configure before you can set all the options however.

First, you need to make sure your main Administrator account is password protected.

This makes it so that your child cannot access your account and turn off Parental Controls. Next, you need to make sure you have another account made for the person that you are going to enable Parental Controls. This can all be done from the Parental Controls icon within the Control Panel.

Dustin Harper

Tips & Tricks

Dustin.harper@theactivegeek.co m Now that the hard part is over it is time to setup the actual Parental Controls which is pretty self-explanatory. You can access the Parental Controls through the Control Panel.

You set time limits for computer usage for any time day or night. This isn’t the best way to control access to the PC for the kids, but if you want to make sure they go to bed on time, get their homework done, or only like to allow them a certain amount of time online this is a great place to set a limit on when they can use the PC. The one thing that you cannot do is limit the duration of time online. You can only limit the hours and days which they can or cannot use the PC.

Most kids enjoy gaming on the PC, from the basic Solitare to the newest Crysis. But, some games are not appropriate for all ages. You can set limits on what games can be

Dustin Harper

Tips & Tricks

Dustin.harper@theactivegeek.co m played based on the ESRB rating. This can keep the kids from downloading and playing a Mature rated game without your knowledge.

You can also limit or block which games have certain content rather than the rating. If you want to have any game other than those with drugs and alcohol, that option is available. There is a long list of items you can block and this will block the entire game from running under the kids account, not block the actual content of the game itself.

You can also block individual games from running that are already installed on your computer.

The last feature of the Windows 7 Parental Controls is the ability to block individual applications. The best way to do this is to enable all and only disable the few that you do not want them to be able to access.

Some are dependent on

Dustin Harper

Tips & Tricks

Dustin.harper@theactivegeek.co m others and some are easily overlooked that could interfere with legitimate usage.

After all is said and done with Parental Controls, your kids will be limited as to what they can do but, there are weaknesses in the built in controls. Microsoft has recognized this and added an Additional Controls which allows you to select other providers to supplement the built in settings. The one that is available from the start is the Windows Live Family Safety which is part of Windows Live Essentials. This allows you to monitor more of their online activities including who they can chat with, what websites they can and cannot visit, and get reports on what sites they do visit.

Dustin Harper

Tips & Tricks

Dustin.harper@theactivegeek.co m

While no parental control program is completely secure and able to protect your family from everything, Windows Parental Controls definitely takes a step in the right direction.

Coupled with Windows Live Family Safety you will have peace of mind of your child's safety while on the PC. Resources: Windows Live Family Safety 2011: http://explore.live.com/windows-live-family-safety

Jonathan King

How To

Analysing BSOD Out of the hundreds of errors Windows users encounter, perhaps the Blue Screen of Death generates the most fear and confusion. You're busy playing that new edition of World of Warcraft, innocently checking your email, or maybe casually surfing the web, when the screen goes blank and an alarming screen appears. Besides being inconvenient, Blue Screens of Death (BSODs) cause many people to fear for the safety of their data.

The tips displayed are often useless to the BSOD victim. Many BSODs appear for no apparent reason; no hardware has been changed or software installed.

The BSOD is technically know as a “Bugcheck” or “Bluescreen” by Windows, and results when Windows encounters an error it is incapable of recovering from. That can be caused by either hardware or software, or even a power fluctuation. Rather than risk data corruption or hardware damage, Windows shuts down; by default, it is configured to dump the contents of the RAM and page file that the OS is using to a file on the hard drive.

It is often these dump files that leave the most clues for the BSOD analyst. Analysts can run these files through a debugger and see what process was “in front” at the time of the crash, what drivers were loaded in RAM, and much more. Even that, however, can be

Jonathan King

How To

confusing for those who have not seen thousands of dumps before. What do you do if the debugger points to “ntkrnlmp.exe”, “ntoskrnl.exe”, or “win32k.sys” as the probable cause? Those are core OS files; certainly not the cause of a BSOD, right?

Thus, some generic troubleshooting tips are needed. The advice the actual blue screen gives is sound: “Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed” and “...disable or remove any newly installed software or hardware.” If nothing has been added or changed, faulty or dying hardware may be the cause, but software is still worth investigating. Do the BSODs occur during Safe Mode as well? If so, that suggests a hardware problem; if not, there is a good chance software is the cause.

As far as hardware goes, anything can be the culprit. There are bizarre cases of a bad DVD drive, a short in a monitor, and a conflict between a television remote and a TV tuner causing BSODs; however, most hardware BSODs are caused by the RAM, hard drive, motherboard, power supply, video card, or CPU. The RAM, hard drive, and CPU are fairly easy to test; a number of free programs exist to test them. I recommend Memtest86 for the RAM, and Prime95 for the RAM and CPU. Most RAM problems are due either to faulty modules or configuration issues. Overclocking the CPU can cause the system to error, as well.

Most hard drive manufacturer's provide their own disk diagnostics; Data Lifeguard Tools for Western Digital drives, Hitachi DFT for Hitachi drives, SeaTools for Seagate drives.

The aforementioned programs are compatible with any hard drive, so you can use them to test drives by other manufacturers as well.

The PSU and motherboard are not as easy to test. If you are handy with a multimeter, you can try to test the power supply voltages, but the results of this may not be conclusive. Expensive programs exist to test the motherboard, but again, they are inconclusive, and of course...expensive. They are usually diagnosed by swapping them out with known good ones, or by RMAing them and waiting for the manufacturer's response.

Software is also a major cause of BSODs. Malware is sometimes at fault, but usually buggy, incompatible, or corrupted drivers are to blame. As a general rule of thumb, it is

Jonathan King

How To

best to keep all drivers and software up-to-date; checking your computer manufacturer's site for driver updates is a good idea. If the computer manufacturer has not released new drivers for some time, try the chipset manufacturer. For example, the latest Ethernet drivers released for a particular Dell machine might be dated December 2009, but a check on the chipset manufacturer's site (say Marvell), shows drivers dated from September 2010.

Some drivers are more likely to cause BSODs than others; for example, SPTD is a driver used by a few CD virtualization and ISO-mounting programs; most notably, Daemon Tools and Alcohol 120%. SPTD has been causing BSODs for quite some time, and surprisingly, newer versions do not fix this. Windows Vista and 7 also gained a reputation for crashing with third-party security programs, although newer versions of these programs have seemed to correct this.

It takes some experience to recognize repeat offenders, but it is fairly easy to keep programs up-to-date. Microsoft has released a hotfix that addressed the BSODs seemingly caused by ZoneAlarm; the lesson to be taken away from this is to install your Windows Updates!

If you get suspected software BSODs, and updating drivers and other software does not help, consider a System Restore. Choose a restore point from some time before the BSODs started, as the real problem may have started before the first BSOD. As a last resort, remember that a clean install will take care of any software-related problems.

This can be a time-consuming process, however.

Finally, if you get stuck on a BSOD problem, don't hesitate to ask for help. There are a number of free tech support sites online, several of which have excellent BSOD staff.

They will typically ask for the dump files generated, and depending on the site, a full system report. Analysts who have thousands or tens of thousands of bluescreen cases under their belts can fire some dumps through their debuggers, check event logs and other reports, and type out a reply with excellent efficiency.

Dr. Abhishek Ghosh

How To

abhishek.ghosh@theactivegeek.com

Avoiding Health Hazards Due To Prolonged Use of Computers Meta analysis with 234 retrospective studies from 1986 to 2007 revealed that 6.3 out of 10 employees working in front of computer screens feel ocular-visual (cons 4 of 10 among other employees) problems, the median age being 57 years old.

In United States, DuPont Inc. reported 535 accidents in two years (1999 and 2000), eighty-one percent were related directly or indirectly to CTS (carpal tunnel syndrome).

In Northern California, the Kaiser Medical Care Program conducted a study of 1,583 pregnant women in 1988. The study revealed a significant number of obstetric problems in women who worked over 20 hours per week on computers during the first three months of pregnancy.

Primordial prevention of the problems

Numerous scientific studies have shown when we do not meet certain ergonomic constraints, the computer may become hazardous to our health. This danger increases significantly when spending more than four hours per day watching the screen. Every part of the body is exposed to the risks of the computer. You should know what the conditions that are related are, what causes it, how to protect yourself by using ergonomic equipment, exercises, changing job patterns and become familiar with laws to protect employees.

Internet Muscular tension

While browsing the Internet or playing your favorite sport, you apply the same muscles repeatedly and eventually will experience a problem: muscle pain, eyestrain or another, either now or later. Good posture, good habits and proper work environment can help you effectively minimize these, though cannot eliminate the risks. Your body will never adapt to your desktop computer or laptop computer usage or work, but rather the

Dr. Abhishek Ghosh

How To

abhishek.ghosh@theactivegeek.com contrary is the truth. The mission of several institutes is to help prevent muscle imbalances and relief through massage therapy and related disciplines. Its action is to manually perform acts stimulating the self-correcting mechanisms to prevent tissue degradation and restoring their functions. The practitioner's hands mobilize and stimulate different tissues depending on the type of aggression. This technique is applicable to all ages, for therapeutic purposes or not.

Psychology: The Internet Addiction

Comparing Internet addiction with the addiction to alcoholism, drug addiction and pathological gambling creating similar disharmony and broken marriages, career issues, young people turned to professional criminals; some research suggests that six or even ten percent of Internet users should be seriously affected.

Internet addiction as seen by a psychologist

Internet addiction is a relatively new phenomenon. An individual who faces a problem of addiction is an individual who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder.

What is Obsessive Compulsive disorder?

When you go to bed at night, you may forget whether you locked the door or not. It is natural to get right out of the bed and check once. Think of someone who is periodically getting up (say every fifteen minutes) from the bed to check the lock. He understands it is wrong (Insight is present and that is why he is not considered "mad", in common people’s term.) You might have recalled some real person from your real life, who practices this type of repetitive action. The most common is washing to get rid of dirt.

Dr. Abhishek Ghosh

How To

abhishek.ghosh@theactivegeek.com Site on the Internet for addiction The classification criteria of this disease in order to create a differential diagnostic that can be found on the net; A critical research conducted by Kimberly Young, statistics that show the evolving phenomenon of the Internet addiction.

Most common practices are:

•

(Data presented with one hundred twenty-five (125) IT professionals, conducted

by All India Institute of Medical Science, the paper is yet to be published so, the SD, Standard error of mean, P value are not given)

•

Checking e-mail unnecessarily more than five times a day. The compulsion increases with "no new e-mail). “In our study, 5 males checked up to 28 times per day on average, when emails to his account were blocked. Finally, they started to check Junk box, deleted items. After 65 days of study, 70% was opening typical spam emails with potential risks, 5% even stopped their antivirus software as the programs were disturbing them, as per their version."

•

Surfing social websites, spending more than two hours per day; chatting with friends who can easily be talked to over phone or in person.

•

Surfing adult websites, even websites loaded with known risks.

•

Solitary surfing (Feels disturbed when someone is at the room where the computer is, when the affected user is surfing).

Satisfaction or compulsion (How to stop addiction?)

Simply, if you feel you are getting addicted, go on a small vacation without any device with you that allows Internet communication. If it does not control the behavior, you should consult a Psychiatrist.

Living with your computer This new media responds with a thirst for communication that challenges all systems of information transmitted earlier. However, the dream of direct expression through a technology that can make everyone an expert leads to many people very frustrated.

Dr. Abhishek Ghosh

How To

abhishek.ghosh@theactivegeek.com Other psychological problems include: • • • •

Depression Increased risk of Alzheimer disease Schizophrenia Frank Psychosis (Schizophrenia)

Ergonomics and computers

Problems in the workplace:

- 43% of the posts causes postural constraints.

- 37% have a screen brightness set too high or too low.

- 24% have an inadequate seat: typically small or slender.

- 22% do not have a work plan.

- 21% of screens have glare.

- 9% have a screen too close to the eyes.

Ergonomic equipments are good for health?

The hardware can cause various physical problems, particularly due to poor posture.

Some manufacturers now offer hardware "ergonomic hardware.” With these products, the doctor may well be safe than be sorry ... starting with himself when he hooked the microphone. (From Article by Dr.Herve Cassagne, JAMA)

Back pain, vision problem. It accuses the computer of all evils. Often exaggerated. Still, at home or office, kids and adults spend time watching TV. Here are the rules for work or play more comfortably.

Dr. Abhishek Ghosh

How To

abhishek.ghosh@theactivegeek.com The ergonomics of your equipment and its positioning

Principles to be: screen, keyboard, mouse, chair, table, documents, and phone -- the distances and angles in respect to the workstation. Causes and solutions to your problems with fatigue, visual, cervical, at the shoulders, on the arms.

(Advice given by a professor at the school CĂŠgep du Vieux MontrĂŠal.)

As personal computers were introduced into the workplace, ways have been found to reduce various problems caused by the intensive use of such equipment. The two main components are posture and vision.

Ergonomic devices

Better to use ergonomic mouse and glare protecting computer screen. Further research and development of non-flat keyboard is needed for normal human hand posture.

Special note on orthopedic problems: Carpal tunnel syndrome, tarsal tunnel syndrome, low backache are the commonest problems in I.T. sector arises due to wrong posture or badly designed human interface hardware.

Just an example on how ergonomics can prevent these conditions.

Most of the cardiologists and radiologists perform echocardiography with a geometrical average of 55 patients per day in India. The patients have a median age of 47yrs. Ninety-seven percent do not complain of any orthopedic problem. We came to the conclusion that the excellent design of the console (clickable double track ball, easy GUI of the Operating System, hot keys, ease of use involving both hands for the Echocardiography and USG machines) along with the chair, positioning of the patient prevents it. However, almost 4-5 high-end servers can be bought with that price against one echo machine. We cannot expect such high-end Human interface device for general computers. Still trackball with neutral positioning of wrist can be expected.

(Thanks to Dr. A. Majumdar, M.S.; district president, IMA for the data)

Dr. Abhishek Ghosh

How To

abhishek.ghosh@theactivegeek.com Misconceptions:

-Prolong sitting can cause hernia (Right: It is itself not a risk, but may aggravate.

-I wear glasses, so my eyes are already weak, using computer can harm more (Right: Depends on the disease. If it is simple myopia, wearing glass in fact acts as a barrier for the rays)

Prolong computer usage sickness:

Typically occurs among Windows users, however; Windows users constitutes the majority of computer users today, so the data may be erroneous (Alpha error).

Symptoms are Nausea, dizziness, eye soreness, a sense of dissociation from time and space. Another symptom can also be an ill-defined headache.

"...this is the most dangerous condition as thought of today. I personally believe this is an alarm from the reticular formation that the hippocampus is being overloaded.

Numerous patients of younger age group, particularly those uses laptop or desktop heavily complains too. We can inform our patients to stay completely away from any form of computer for at least 5 days after it has started. For now, only symptomatic treatment is done. Cohort studies are needed to establish the definite relation with cerebella degeneration...." (Respected Dr. Casper; November 2010, The Health, for Internal circulation only).

To make it easy: Hippocampus is an important part of our brain that plays important role in memory and other functions of the body. Reticular formation can be thought as a processor cum cable connecting it other parts.

Dr. Abhishek Ghosh

How To

abhishek.ghosh@theactivegeek.com Laws:

In India, ESI Act protects employees from unhealthy or hazardous work environment.

There are a typical square feet of floor area, typical cubic feet of air space, maximum hours of work allocated for any employee as per law.

You can search for the relevant laws in your country. Remember, we work for pleasure and to remain healthy. If your job is making you ill, either you need to change the job role to suit your mental and physical health or work to change the conditions.

Note: Please do not self-diagnose your disease. This article is intended to give a general idea about the common health related problems arises due to overuse of computers.

Always consult a health professional for any specific problem.

© Copyright 2011 The Active Geek