Things You Should Know About Your Laptop Battery

Connect the computer to external AC power under any of the following conditions:

(WARNING! Do not charge the computer battery while you are onboard aircraft.)

• When you are charging or calibrating a battery
• When you are installing or modifying system software
• When you are writing information to a CD or DVD

When you connect the computer to external AC power, the following events occur:

• The battery begins to charge.
• If the computer is turned on, the battery meter icon in the notification area changes appearance.

When you disconnect external AC power, the following events occur:

• The computer switches to battery power.
• he display brightness is automatically decreased to save battery life. To increase display
  brightness, press the fn+f8 hotkey or reconnect the AC adapter

Calibrating a battery

Calibrate a battery under the following conditions:

● When battery charge displays seem inaccurate

● When you observe a significant change in battery run time

Even if a battery is heavily used, it should not need to be calibrated more than once a month. It is alsonot necessary to calibrate a new battery.

Step 1: Fully charge the battery

To fully charge the battery:

1. Insert the battery into the computer.

2. Connect the computer to an AC adapter, optional power adapter, or optional expansion product,and then plug the adapter or device into external power.The battery light on the computer turns on.

3. Leave the computer plugged into external power until the battery is fully charged.

The battery light on the computer turns off.

Step 2: Disable Hibernation and Sleep

1. Click the battery meter icon in the notification area, and then click More power options.

– or –

Select Start > Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Power Options.

2. Under the current power plan, click Change plan settings.

3. Record the Turn off the display and Put the computer to sleep settings listed in the On

battery column so that you can reset them after the calibration.

4. Change the Turn off the display and Put the computer to sleep settings to Never.

5. Click Change advanced power settings.

6. Click the plus sign next to Sleep, and then click the plus sign next to Hibernate after.

7. Record the On battery setting under Hibernate after so that you can reset it after the calibration.

8. Change the On battery setting to Never.

9. Click OK.

10. Click Save changes.

Step 3: Discharge the battery

The computer must remain on while the battery is being discharged. The battery can discharge whether or not you are using the computer, but the battery will discharge faster while you are using it.

● If you plan to leave the computer unattended during the discharge, save your information beforebeginning the discharge procedure.

● If you use the computer occasionally during the discharge procedure and have set energy- saving timeouts, expect the following performance from the system during the discharge process:

◦ The monitor will not turn off automatically.

◦ Hard drive speed will not decrease automatically when the computer is idle.

◦ System-initiated Hibernation will not occur.

To discharge a battery:

1. Unplug the computer from its external power source, but do not turn off the computer.

2. Run the computer on battery power until the battery is discharged. The battery light begins to blink

when the battery has discharged to a low battery level. When the battery is discharged, the battery light turns off and the computer shuts down.

Step 4: Fully recharge the battery

To recharge the battery:

1. Plug the computer into external power and maintain external power until the battery is fully recharged. When the battery is recharged, the battery light on the computer turns off.

You can use the computer while the battery is recharging, but the battery will charge faster if the computer is off.

2. If the computer is off, turn it on when the battery is fully charged and the battery light has turned off

Step 5: Reenable Hibernation and Sleep

CAUTION: Failure to reenable Hibernation after calibration may result in a full battery discharge and information loss if the computer reaches a critical battery level.

1. Click the battery meter icon in the notification area, and then click More power options.

– or –

Select Start > Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Power Options.

2. Under the current power plan, click Change plan settings.

3. Click Restore default settings for this plan, and then follow the on-screen instructions.

Conserving battery power

● Select low power-use settings through Power Options in Windows Control Panel.

● Turn off wireless and local area network (LAN) connections and exit modem applications when you are not using them.

● Disconnect external devices that are not plugged into an external power source, when you are not using them.

● Stop, disable, or remove any external media cards that you are not using.

● Use the fn+f7 and fn+f8 hotkeys to adjust screen brightness as needed.

● If you leave your work, initiate Sleep or Hibernation, or shut down the computer.

Storing a battery

CAUTION: To prevent damage to a battery, do not expose it to high temperatures for extended periods of time.

If a computer will be unused and unplugged from external power for more than 2 weeks, remove the battery and store it separately.To prolong the charge of a stored battery, place it in a cool, dry place.

NOTE: A stored battery should be checked every 6 months. If the capacity is less than 50 percent,

recharge the battery before returning it to storage.

Calibrate a battery before using it if it has been stored for one month or more.

Test the Detection Power of your VIRUS GUARD

After installing VirusScan, you may logically wonder, how do I know if it's working?

To test your installation, copy the following line into its own file, then save the file with the name EICAR.COM. More detailed instructions are found below.

X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*

The file size will be 68 or 70 bytes.

If VirusScan is running and configured correctly, when you try to save the file, VirusScan will detect the virus. If VirusScan is not running, start it and scan the directory that contains EICAR.COM. When your software scans this file, it will report finding the EICAR test file.

Note that this file is NOT A VIRUS. Delete the file when you have finished testing your installation to avoid alarming unsuspecting
users.

Creating Eicar.com

1. Click on Start.
2. Select Run.
3. In the Open box type: notepad
4. Maximize the window.
5. Highlight the following on the following line of text:
X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*
6. Right click on the highlighted text and choose 'copy'.
7. Switch back to Notepad.
8. Right click anywhere inside of Notepad and select 'paste'.
9. Click the File menu and select 'save as'.
10. Change the 'Save as Type' to 'all files'.
11. Name the file eicar.com.



Check your virus guard NOW !!!

Advantage of AHCI

1. Hot-Plugging (will not cover here as it will not affect computer performance)
   
2. Native Command Queuing (might improve computer/system/hard disk responsiveness, espcially in multi-tasking environment
   

Will it slow down my computer

Several websites claim, NCQ (one of AHCI component) will cause performance degradation in single threaded benchmark, but other author claim otherwise. Let put our think hat here.

Their claims might correct at certain extent, but it is hard to prove that those single threaded benchmark will reflect real world application. Nowadays, hard disk is the slowest component in any modern PC (except we are using SSD). Antivirus, firewall, anti-spyware, windows update, background defragmentation, indexing (search), user applications (firefox, word, media player) ; all contribute to super multi-tasking, which I believe NCQ (AHCI) will show it advantage. So, in order to have better understanding on how NCQ (AHCI) could improve system responsiveness, let see what is NCQ actually is.

So, what is NCQ?

In principle, Native Command Queuing is relatively simple. It allows the drive to execute write /read commands that are transmitted randomly in order to optimise the movement of the reading head.

Speed is increased but there is also an impact on power consumption and noise level which is reduced. Of course, applications don’t have to work simultaneously and don’t have to wait for the previous result to send the next command. This of course isn’t always possible. Another possibility in using NCQ is multitasking in the case where you run two very heavy applications simultaneously from the drive point of view.

To better explain this situation, imagine an elevator, in which two people enter simultaneously on the ground floor. The first pushes the 12th floor button and the second the 2nd floor. It would be counterproductive to go to the 12th floor and then to the 2nd floor. The principle of NCQ was already in the ATA norm since 1997 with TCQ (Tagged Command Queuing). This heavier protocol could sometimes lead to significant performance losses in the case of low loads (no or very little command reorganisation to do) and has been integrated in a limited number of controllers. Hitachi supports it on 7K250 drives, like Western and the Raptor WD740GD, while on the chipset side, we can count on NVIDIA but not Intel.

SATA 3.0 Gbits /s defines a new speed of data transmission for the Serial ATA interface. Initially, SATA reached up to 1.5 Gbits /s, which really corresponds to 150 mega-octets per second as 20% of information is dedicated to error correction. The transfer rate is now increased to 300 MB/s but we have to keep in mind that this is the interface speed. It has nothing to do with disc speed alone. At most, cache speed would be affected.

For NCQ to be enabled, it must be supported and turned on in the SATA host bus adapter and in the hard drive itself. The appropriate driver must be loaded into the operating system to enable NCQ on the host bus adapter. Many newer chipsets support the Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI), which should allow a generic driver supplied by the operating system to control them and enable NCQ. In fact, newer mainstream Linux kernels support AHCI natively. Unfortunately, Windows XP requires the installation of a vendor-specific driver even if AHCI is present on the host bus adapter. Windows Vista corrects this situation by including a generic AHCI driver.

Benchmark Time J

Note : Intel and nVidia Standard mean these hard disk were benchmark using Intel and nVidia chipset without AHCI technology. Intel AHCI and nVidia Driver mean these hard disk were benchmark with AHCI turned on.

We start with a performance index based on figures obtained with the « XP Startup », « Application Loading » and « General Usage » profiles of PC Mark 2005.

The first thing to notice is that all drives benefit from the change to AHCI or the installation of NVIDIA’s driver. These two parameters allow the activation of NCQ…even for Western drives that do not support this functionality! With Intel’s platform, the most important gains due to AHCI are noted with the Samsung, Maxtor and Seagate drives. With NVIDIA it’s mainly the Raptor 150 GB and Samsung. For Maxtor and Hitachi, however, they are just noticeable.

If you focus just on drive performances, the Western SE16 dominates followed by Hitachi. Seagate ends up last behind Samsung.

Perfs – file copy

Performances – file copying

The next test is file copying. We measured reading, writing, and also the copy of the following files on hard drives: 2 big files for a total of 4.4 GB, plus 2620 files which total 2 GB, and finally 16046 files which weighs 733 MB. The source or target for reading or writing on the disc are two Raptor 74 GB in RAID which are capable of ensuring a transfer rate of 110 MB/s without restrictions.

This type of information is uninteresting of course because if the sequential transfer rate gives an idea of performances during the copy of big files, things will be different with small files. We copied the files in two different ways: whiting the same partition in the beginning of the disc and from this partition to a second one that begins at the middle of the disc.

First surprise, for unknown reasons the activation of AHCI on the installation of NVIDIA drivers notably reduces some of the reading performances: it is the case of the Raptor 150 GB in AHCI and the Seagate and Maxtor drives with NVIDIA’s drivers. These two use Agere controllers. Only the Western SE/SE16 really benefit from the modification which is in fact the installation of NVIDIA’s drivers. Except for these cases we noted that the Maxtor and Samsung provide the best transfer rates here whereas Western and Seagate are the slowest.

For writing however, AHCI/Driver NVIDIA gains are significant except for Seagate and Hitachi’s drive with NVIDIA’s platform. We noted the excellent performances of Samsung’s drive and the opposite for the Maxtor, which was really good for reading. Fortunately, gains obtained by the AHCI and NVIDIA’s drivers for this disc compensate for this.

Whether it’s for close or far copy, one drive is here very surprising when used with an AHCI controller. The Samsung drive is much faster than a Raptor and 30% ahead of the closest 7200 Rpm competitor. We made several tests to confirm these results and we always obtained the same figures. The other surprise was the performance drop recorded on the Maxtor with NVIDIA’s drivers.
We also noted that a better access time doesn’t guaranty better performances for extended copies, because Hitachi’s performance reduction is more significant with a close copy than other discs. Except for Samsung and the Raptor, it’s the Western SE16 which is the fastest here.

Perfs – IOmeter per platform

Performances – IOmeter per platform

IOMeter is used to simulate a load in a multi-user environment. It’s a load type file server comprised of 80% reading and 20% writing, which is 100% randomly accessed on the disc. In this case, the NCQ can be particularly useful. We tested the IOMeter with a number of concurrent commands from 1 to 128 and of course for a single command, the NCQ doesn’t bring any improvements. The performance gap with the Raptor is much more significant, because this drive is particularly well suited to this type of use.

As the volume of data is rather significant we decided to represent it first per platform then below per drive with and without activation of the AAM on Intel’s platform.

For Intel and without AHCI, Western drives are ahead whatever the number of simultaneous accesses. Seagate is very close but loses ground beyond 16 accesses, even though the Hitachi and Samsung are relatively close. The Maxtor’s performances are clearly lower, however, despite a gap that tends to diminish as the load increases.

The activation of AHCI changes things. The Maxtor drive sees its performances increasing from 2 concurrent accesses to come in first (except of course for the Raptor). Maxtor can say thank you to NCQ. If Seagate also benefits from the NCQ, it isn’t really the case for Hitachi. Of course, it doesn’t change the Western SE/S16’s performances, because it simply doesn’t support this function. However, this doesn’t prevent them from reaching very high performances.

Without NVIDIA’s drivers, performances with NVIDIA’s platform are relatively similar to those obtained with Intel.

With NVIDIA’s drivers, the situation is different, because the NCQ really seems to work with 8 concurrent accesses and above. This is quite a lot and it doesn’t often happen in the case of a single user. Maxtor’s drive is strongly impacted even if it doesn’t stop it from being in the lead with 128 accesses (5% faster than with Intel’s platform).

Perfs – IOmeter per disc & AAM

Performances – IOMeter per drive & AAM

Here are now performances obtained per disc. In addition we added results obtained with AAM (Automatic Acoustic Management) activated on Intel’s platform.

For Hitachi, the NCQ doesn’t bring much whether it’s on an NVIDIA or Intel platform. We noted that with this type of access the AAM strongly reduces performances. The gap tends to reduce with the increase in number of simultaneous accesses.

We noticed with Maxtor’s drive that if NCQ based performance gains are visible from the start on the Intel platform, they only appear beyond 8 concurrent accesses on the nForce. It then immediately catches up and even results are even better. It’s rather unfortunate however, because in practice this type of drive will be of use for personal computers or with a limited amount of concurrent accesses. Here we can easily see the benefit of the NCQ to counter the negative effect of the AAM as from 4 simultaneous accesses the NCQ compensates completely.

Like with Samsung’s drive it is only from 16 concurrent accesses that the interest of NCQ is noticeable. Performances from this figure are much higher however than the one obtained with Intel’s platform. We noted that the activation of AAM leads to less significant performance reductions than with the Hitachi or Maxtor in this area.

With Seagate’s drive it isn’t possible to activate the AAM, which isn’t too critical. Once again, we have to wait until more than 8 accesses for the nForce NCQ to bring performance gains.

NCQ isn’t on the two Western drives and this is the reason why performances are similar between NVIDIA and Intel with or without AHCI / Driver. Once more we noted that even without NCQ, the gap due to the AAM tends to diminish with the increase of the number of concurrent accesses.

Here now is the Raptor 150 GB, which is in a totally different league except for NVIDIA’s NCQ performances.

Perfs – Perfs index & files with AAM

Performances – Applicative index & file copy with AAM

If performances with the IOMeter are strongly affected by AAM activation (because of the 100% random nature of disc accesses) we should take a look at the level of performances in less extreme situations.

As you can see, the performance drop is almost invisible on the Hitachi and isn’t huge on the Maxtor and Samsung. It’s greater for Western Digital. The Seagate 7200.10 doesn’t allow the user to modify the noise level whereas its adjustment with the Raptor doesn’t change anything.

We could have expected such a result. Whether it’s with reading or writing, performances don’t change much with or without noise management as heads don’t have to move a lot.

For copying the performance loss is notable for some of the discs such as the Western and slightly so with the Samsung. Hitachi and Maxtor’s performances remain almost unchanged. At times we even recorded a slight performance increase but this is most likely a testing error.

Warning (Potential Problem with AHCI)

Common problems switching to AHCI under Windows :

• Enabling AHCI in a system BIOS will cause a 0×7B Blue Screen of Death STOP error (INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE) on installations of Windows XP where AHCI/RAID drivers for that system’s chipset are not installed. Switching to AHCI mode requires installing new drivers before changing the BIOS settings.
  
• For Intel chipsets (for example, Intel ICH9) drivers are available from either an OEM board or computer manufacturer. For the Intel versions, the driver must be loaded before loading the OS (by pressing F6 as setup starts).The Intel drivers will work for both XP and Vista. Also, in the case of ICH9, an unsupported method to enable AHCI on ICH9 is available.
  
• When attempting to install Microsoft Windows XP or a previous version on an AHCI-enabled system will cause the setup to fail with the error message “set up could not detect hard disk drive…”. This problem can only be corrected by either using a floppy disk with the appropriate drivers, by slipstreaming the appropriate drivers into the Windows XP installation CD or by turning on IDE emulation in the BIOS settings if available (usually called as COMPATABILITY or ACPI).
  
• Enabling AHCI in a system BIOS with Windows Vista already installed will result in a BSoD if SATA has been running in IDE mode during Vista’s installation. Before enabling AHCI in the BIOS, users must first follow the instructions found at Microsoft Knowledge Base article 922976.
  
• Enabling AHCI in a system BIOS on installations of Windows XP or Windows Vista will cause SATA Optical drives to disappear. A Hotfix for Windows Vista is available under the title: “SATA optical drives are not available after you start a Windows Vista-based computer.” This problem is also fixed in Vista SP1.
  

Common problems switching to AHCI under Linux :

• AHCI controller does not work on AMD/ATI RS400-200 and RS480 HBA when MSI is enabled due to a hardware error. In order for AHCI to work users must provide the “pci=nomsi” kernel boot parameter. With MSI disabled in this way, the PCIe bus can only act as a faster PCI bus with hotplug capabilities. This is also true of the Nvidia nForce 560 chipset.
  
• AHCI controller on AMD/ATI SB600 HBA can’t do 64-bit DMA transfers. 64-bit addressing is optional in AHCI 1.1 and the chip claims it can do them, but in reality it can’t, so it is disabled. After that it will be forced to do 32-bit DMA transfers. Thus DMA transfers will occur in the lower 4 GiB region of the memory, and bounce buffers must be used sometimes if there is more than 4 GiB of RAM.
  

Verdict :

These extensive benchmarks clearly show to us, AHCI (NCQ) definitely could improve computer system responsiveness, transfer rate, number of IO per second and the list goes on. Enough to say, it will make your hard disk more efficient (and indirectly reduce it wear and tear). Notice that, not every hard disk with NCQ turn on could provide positive performance gain at every single benchmark. I believe this phenomenon explain why certain author claim NCQ improve their benchmark score while others don’t.

As for DELL VOSTRO 1310, I realize, AHCI or NCQ improve my system (Vista) responsiveness espcially when I am using several programmes. Background activity such as anti-virus, spyware, defrag or event torrenting seem lighter than before (IDE). For the record, my DELL VOSTRO 1310 use WesternDigital SATA 300 with NCQ mobile hard disk.

My personal recommendation, turn on AHCI if your system permit you to do so. For Vista user, you can turn AHCI support without reformat your system. What you need to do is, enable Vista standard AHCI driver (provided you install Vista in IDE mode, so AHCI driver is not activated) using regedit.

Convert SATA IDE to AHCI on Vista?

Consider the following scenario. In the BIOS setup of a Microsoft Windows 7 or Windows Vista-based computer, you change the Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) mode of the boot drive to use the Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) specification. You then restart the computer. In this scenario, you receive the following error message:

STOP 0x0000007B INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE

This issue occurs if the AHCI driver (Msahci.sys) in Windows 7 and Windows Vista is disabled. This driver must be enabled before you change the SATA mode of the boot drive.

Important in This method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

To resolve this issue, enable the AHCI driver in the registry before you change the SATA mode of the boot drive. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Exit all Windows-based programs.
2. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
3. If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.
4. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci
5. In the right pane, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.
7. On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.

During the Windows 7 or Windows Vista installation process, any unused storage drivers are disabled. This behavior speeds up the operating system's startup process. When you change the boot drive to a driver that has been disabled, you must enable the new driver before you change the hardware configuration.

For example, assume that you install Windows Vista or Windows 7 on a computer that contains a controller that uses the Pciide.sys driver. Later, you change the SATA mode to AHCI. Therefore, the drive must now load the Msahci.sys driver. However, you must enable the Msahci.sys driver before you make this change.

This issue affects only the boot drive. If the drive that you change is not the boot drive, you do not experience this issue.

AHCI provides several features for SATA devices. These include hot plug functionality and power management functionality. For more information about the AHCI specification, visit the following Intel Web site:

http://www.intel.com/technology/serialata/ahci.htm

APPLIES TO

• Windows Vista Business
• Windows Vista Enterprise
• Windows Vista Home Basic
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• Windows Vista Starter
• Windows Vista Ultimate
• Windows 7 Enterprise
• Windows 7 Enterprise N
• Windows 7 Home Basic
• Windows 7 Home Premium
• Windows 7 Professional
• Windows 7 Professional N
• Windows 7 Starter
• Windows 7 Starter N
• Windows 7 Ultimate
• Windows 7 Ultimate N

Advanced Host Controller Interface(AHCI)

The Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) specification describes the register-level interface for a host controller for Serial ATA. The specification includes a description of the hardware/software interface between system software and the host controller hardware. This specification is intended for hardware component designers, system builders and device driver (software) developers.

Implementation of the Advanced Host Controller Interface specification requires a license from Intel. Contributors of the Advanced Host Controller Interface specification for Serial ATA have signed the Advanced Host Controller Interface specification for Serial ATA - contributors agreement in order to be licensed to use and implement this specification. This contributors agreement provides Contributors with a reciprocal, royalty-free license to certain intellectual property rights from Intel and other Contributors for their products that are compliant with the licensed versions of the Advanced Host Controller Interface specification for Serial ATA.

Intel intends to continue including suitable inputs, comments and suggestions from contributors to refine and update the Advanced Host Controller Interface specification through a series of specification releases that will be marked as being revision 1.x of the specification. Licensing of the applicable final specification of the AHCI Specification (as defined in the contributors agreement) allows the implementation of both discrete and integrated compliant AHCI host controllers. Licensing of the applicable draft version of the applicable specification level (also defined in the contributors agreement) will allow the implementation of compliant, discrete AHCI host controllers only.

The latest revision of the specification is revision 1.3. Subsequent revision 1.x levels of the specification will be completed by Intel at its discretion as time and circumstances permit.

How to Choose the Best Web Browser

Today's Web browsers are faster and more feature-rich than ever before. If you're not sure which one you should use, our look at the most popular options will help prep you for prime surfing.

The recent launch of Firefox 3.5 was just the latest in a crescendo of activity on the browser front over the past few months. We've seen Google tout speed with its bare-bonesChrome 2. We've seen Apple's Safari 4 bring on both the speed and all the interface eye candy we've come to expect. Opera has come in with not only a beta of its feature-packed version 10, but also an alpha of an app called Opera Unite that makes the browser a server as well as a consumer. Starting it all was that juggernaut Microsoft, coming out withInternet Explorer 8, which the company claimed was more compliant with open Web standards.

But it turns out that standards are a far murkier issue than they may first seem. Firefox's promoters will brand IE as a completely behind-the-times, non-standards-supporting browser, but the standards Firefox supports haven't yet been ratified by the organization that's been the official keeper of the standards, the W3C. Firefox's support for the

Rendering speed is another issue to consider when choosing a browser. Though all browsers today are much faster than they were a few years ago, the clear winner—at least as far as JavaScript rendering—is Chrome. JavaScript rendering is important for modern sites, which are behaving increasingly like applications rather than static pages. Chrome performed best in my tests using the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark, finishing in just 1,503 ms. But Safari isn't far behind, at 1,707 ms, and Firefox is right in the mix, at 2,413 ms. The once-snappiest Opera trails at 7,974 ms, and IE8 is left in the dust with a 10,281-ms time.

In terms of features and customizability, Firefox, IE, Opera, and Safari all outshine the stripped-down Chrome. But no browser can come close to Firefox in both its extensions and theming capabilities. Mozilla's "Fashion My Firefox" and "Personas" tools make it simple for novice users to customize the browser to their hearts' content. IE also has an add-on capability, but there's nowhere near the ecosystem for it as there is for Firefox. True, only IE offers WebSlices and Accelerators, which deliver up-to-date data to you with little fuss, right inside the browser, but few sites currently support WebSlices.

One thing's for sure: There's no lack of choice in today's market, with speed, site compatibility, and convenience features abounding in free browsers both from the large software companies and open source projects. And if the big players aren't to your taste, there are interesting lesser-known browsers, such as the recent Japanese import, Lunascape 5, which actually combines the rendering engines of Firefox, IE, and Safari. Whichever you choose, your browsing is bound to be smoother than it was even two years ago. Here are our takes and links to reviews of the top recent entries to help you make your choice.

Firefox 3.5

With version 3.5 of its browser, Firefox shows its willingness to champion emerging Web standards and continue to improve speed. Add the new private browsing mode, improved tab handling, and incredible customizability, and you have a winning combination.

Google Chrome 2.0

This version of the speediest browser gets even faster and adds a few features its more mature competitors already offer. But Chrome still trails in convenience and customizability.

Internet Explorer 8

The latest version of the world's leading browser delivers category-leading security and adds some pretty slick browsing aids, such as WebSlices and Accelerators. It defaults to a more standards-compliant mode, but still offers a backward compatibility button. A predictive address bar brings it closer to Firefox, but the lack of a download manager and robust extension ecosystem hold the browser back.

Opera 9.5

This version of Opera is faster, has better standards support and includes lots of unique browsing helpers. But some sites still don't play well on the Opera stage. Version 10 is available in beta form, but you can already read ourOpera 10 beta hands-on. Another remarkable Opera project is Unite, which turns the browser into a peer-to-peer server, although this feature is still in alpha.

Safari 4

Safari offers plenty of eye candy, with its Cover Flow history display. Some clever interface innovations, near-Chrome speed, and site compatibility make it a good choice overall. For Mac users, the Safari 4 upgrade is a no-brainer, but Windows users will probably prefer Firefox or Chrome as IE alternatives.

The folks at Mozilla have deemed the changes in this incarnation of the popular Firefox browser significant enough to skip the planned version 3.1 and instead bump up the release number to 3.5. And I agree—it's a big improvement. By its appearance, you'd be hard pressed to tell how Firefox 3.5 differs from 3.0, but it's what's inside that counts. The new version speeds up JavaScript performance and catches up with other recent browsers like Internet Explorer 8, Opera 10, and Safari 4 by adding a private browsing mode. And 3.5 builds on everything that made the previous versions of Firefox great, like the myriad extensions and themes and the "awesome" address bar for quickly getting where you're going on the Web. The result? An impressive piece of software gets even better.

How to make strong, easy-to-remember passwords

One of the best ways to protect your online security is to have strong passwords that you change periodically. But that's easier said than done. Coming up with hard-to-guess passwords is hard enough, but it's even harder to have separate passwords for different sites and to remember new ones after you change them.

One way to create a password that's hard to guess but easy to remember is to make up a phrase. You could type in the entire phrase (some sites let you use spaces, others don't) or you can use the initials of each word in the phrase, for instance, "Igfsliit2010" for "I graduated from Srilanka Institute of Technology in 2010." You get the idea--upper case numbers, letters, and symbols that are seemingly meaningless to everyone but you. Microsoft has an excellent primer on passwords and a password strength checker.

But even if you do come up with a clever and hard-to-remember password, don't use it for every site. Since lots of people do that, there's the risk that a sleazy site operator--or a sleazy person who works for a legitimate site--could use it to break into your accounts on other sites.

Password managers
One solution is to use a password manager. There are several available programs and Web storage services, but the ones I'm most familiar with are RoboForm and Lastpass. These programs can generate passwords for you and remember them so you don't have to. Both programs are, themselves, password protected, though you have the option of running RoboForm without a password or having Lastpass remember its own password on your PC. That's OK as long as no one else has access to your machine. I recommend that you manually enter your master password on a laptop that could more easily fall into the wrong hands.

RoboForm has a free trial version that's limited to 10 passwords after the trial ends. Lastpass is free.

RoboForm has been around for a long time, but Lastpass is a relatively new offering. Company CEO Joe Siegrist describes the program as a hybrid because it stores your passwords and usernames both on your machine and on the Web. You can download the browser plug-in to a PC or a Mac to work directly with Firefox on either platform or Internet Explorer on Windows, but there are also ways to use it with Safari and Chrome. Because it has a Web interface, it can work with any Web-enabled device, but the plug-ins for IE and Firefox make it easier to use.

On Firefox and IE, Lastpass records your usernames and passwords when you first enter password-protected sites and then enters them for you automatically for subsequent visits. Passwords are stored in a "vault," which is actually a Web page stored on your PC, as well as the company's servers, so you can access it from any device, including a borrowed machine. The password vault on your machine is automatically synchronized with the server, so you don't have to worry about synchronizing or backing up your data.

Password data, according to Siegrist, is encrypted on the PC and on the servers. He said that no one--himself included--can decrypt them without the master password that only you know. Assuming the encryption is as good as he says it is, this should protect your security even if their servers are compromised. The company provides a lot of security information on its FAQ.

There are also versions for Blackberry, iPhone, Windows Mobile, and Android as well as a Web site for phones and browsers that aren't supported directly.

Download Accelarator Addon For FireFox ...DownThemAll! 1.1.4

Add to Firefox

recommended

Version	1.1.4
Works with	Firefox: 3.0 – 3.5.*
Updated	June 30, 2009
Developers	Federico Parodi, Nils Maier, others
Homepage	http://www.downthemall.net/
Rating	Rated 5 out of 5 stars 732 reviews
Downloads	28,823,132 Statistics

The first and only download manager/accelerator built inside Firefox!

More about this add-on

DownThemAll is all you can desire from a download manager: it features an advanced accelerator that increases speed up to 400% and it allows you to pause and resume downloads at any time.

DownThemAll is fast, reliable and easy-to-use! It lets you download all the links or images contained in a webpage and much more: you can refine your downloads by fully customizable criteria to get only what you really want!

DownThemAll is absolutely freeware and open-source. No Adware, no Spyware.

For more information,
http://www.downthemall.net/howto/features/

Image Gallery

Support

Support for this add-on is provided by the developer at http://www.downthemall.net/howto/faq/#faq5

What You Need to Know About Network Attacks

’ve already introduced you to some of the most common network attacks like the IP address sweep, port scanning, and IP spoofing.

I have also recently covered the ping of death and other network attacks, including the SYN flood, UDP flood, ICMP flood and the teardrop attack.

Now that we have the basic Denial of Service Attacks (aka DoS attacks) and the Reconnaissance Attacks out of the way, let’s talk about other types of network attacks.

Today I’ll focus on:

• Access Attacks
• Worms, Viruses and Trojan Horse attacks
• Application Layer Attacks

I hope that this article, along with my previous ones, will shed some light on vulnerabilities in security and help you with your concerns regarding your network’s security needs. It may even inspire you to get your CCNA Security Certification.

Access Attacks

Access attacks are performed by intruders that illegally gain access to account databases and any other type of personal and confidential information. In order to achieve their destructive intentions, access attackers try to “dig” in well known “holes” of all basic text messages that might occur during an FTP or web service.

Keep in mind that not all attackers originate from the outside world. A lot of intrusion incidents have been reported as jobs from within the organization. So don’t think that all attackers have to first overcome the constraints of accessing the system’s boundary.

They may already be logged into the system. They may be the people sitting right next to you, sharing the same resources, asking you for advice.

The main types of access attacks are:

• Password attacks
• Port redirection
• Man-in-the-middle attacks

Let’s examine each one of these malicious attacks in more detail.

• Brute-Force Attacks

The attacker is repeatedly trying to guess the administrator’s password with the help of sophisticated software that uses time-consuming, advanced computational methods to compute the encrypted password.

The end result is that the attacker equipped with the decrypted administrator password is now capable of fulfilling all of his malicious plans.

• Port Redirection

IP redirected traffic has been always a security headache. An attacker that is familiar with the network of the victim could install a special application on a user’s computer that could redirect traffic towards a specific user via the hacked user. This is accomplished without violating firewall rules in the network.

• Man-In-The-Middle Attack

This type of attack can be implemented when someone working for your ISP gains access to all the traffic that originated from your network towards any other network. And if you didn’t implement security protocols, then the attacker could examine and analyze your traffic in order to obtain information regarding your network and users in it.

But that’s not all the attacker is capable of. Corruption of transmitted data is something even worst, and the attacker can even alter your data.

In my opinion, password attacks are extremely dangerous. They’re all about obtaining a user account password, and having the password at hand the attacker can invade the system pretending to be an authorized user and cause catastrophic effects on the system’s operations.

I have a few suggestions for minimizing the chances of being exposed to these types of attackers. But before we move on to that, let’s take a look at more network attacks — worms, viruses and Trojan horse attacks.

Worms, Viruses and Trojan Horse Attacks

Last year I wrote an article on the best ways to battle viruses, worms and Trojan horse attacks so if you’re not familiar with these types of network attacks, take a look at the article now.

What you need to remember about viruses and Trojan horses is that they can be effectively eliminated with the use of an up-to-date antivirus system, or even better by implementing a host-based intrusion prevention system (HIPS) like Cisco’s Security Agents (CSAs). CSAs is a specialized software that monitors all kinds of activity performed on a given host and protects the host by implementing a state of the art antivirus and network firewall.

Application Layer Attacks

Unfortunately, application layer attacks cannot be completely eliminated. More and more application vulnerabilities are constantly being discovered, which in turn provides more and more harmful capabilities to attackers.

Application layer attacks are actually like any other attack on your network. The purpose of this attack does not differ from others; it’s nothing more than exploiting the network of the victim, acquiring access and performing malicious plans on the system.

What actually differs is the method of performing the attack. Attackers try to take advantage of well-known application vulnerabilities like for example sendmail or FTP.

More and more software weaknesses are discovered. The software production companies take correction measures against these weaknesses but unfortunately the evil mind of an attacker is always capable of discovering fresh new software malfunctions.

5 Network Security Tips To Live By

Do you think that danger is all around your network? Do you feel that you are about to be the next victim of an attackers malicious plot? Do you fully understand the consequences of overlooking your network’s security needs?

I hope you will take this article along with all other security related articles really seriously for the sake of your network and your career. I would like to close this article with a quick reminder about all those little things that MUST be followed if you want to be able to sleep peacefully at night and your network to operate safely.

1. ALWAYS keep your operating system and antivirus software up-to-date
2. Keep your eyes open — make sure that you’re aware of the newly discovered vulnerabilities and don’t hesitate to request advice and guidance from others
3. Pay attention to your system — observe and analyze your system’s log files (operating system logs, network device logs etc) on a daily basis
4. Don’t use plain text passwords — encrypt your passwords where possible using strong encryption algorithms and keep your passwords safe. If you need to have them in an electronic file or even on a piece of paper make sure you keep them in a safe place, somewhere where only you have access to.
5. Set appropriate policies to both host computers and network devices to lock login accounts after 3 consecutive unsuccessful login attempts. This way you eliminate the chance of having someone continuously try to resolve the password.

If you have any good tips for securing your network share them in the comments.

How to Prevent Threats and Attacks on Your Cisco Network

Most network attacks are well documented and investigated. The behavior of these attacks and the various stages that these attacks are progressing have already being examined and clarified. In this article I’ll provide you with all the necessary details concerning the behavior and attack strategy of the most dangerous malicious attacks that could invade your system and cause harmful irreversible effects.

Getting to Know Your Enemies

The few minutes that you’ll spend reading this article will save you hundreds of minutes and possibly hundreds of dollars that you might need to repair the ruins that your attackers leave behind — if they find you unprepared for them.

Today I’ll focus mainly on the reconnaissance methods that the attackers exploit and present in detail how these methods achieve their goals (which in this case is about how the enemy learns about YOU!)

The Various Stages of an Attack

All malicious attacks go through a couple of stages.

In the first stage, the attacker collects and evaluates information from the prospective “victim.” In the second stage, the actual attack is performed while at the same time the attacker tries to hide evidence about its operation.

You’re probably wondering “what kind of information does the attacker try to collect?” Just to give you an idea, below is a small list of information about a given network that would make an attacker really happy:

• IP addresses of active hosts
• The actual port numbers that are active on the active hosts
• The topology of the network
• The operating system of the hosts

Let’s start by introducing basic Reconnaissance Techniques that attackers exploit. 

Reconnaissance Methods

• IP Address Sweep

A malicious agent is sending continuous ICMP packets (echo requests) to different hosts within a defined interval (5 milliseconds is the default). The purpose of this is to have at least one host replying back, thus exposing itself to the attacker.

The easiest way to preclude an attacker from performing an IP address sweep is to disable all ICMP traffic., but this could mean that you lose network diagnostics. More advanced systems can monitor sessions and identify IP address sweeps by monitoring the rate of transmission of ICMP messages originating from a particular source.

• Port Scanning

An attacker is trying to find an active service on a remote host by sending TCP SYN segments to different ports at the same destination IP address within a defined interval.

Similar to an IP address sweep, this can be avoided by applying access control lists. Sophisticated systems (such as Cisco IPS) can monitor the number of ports scanned by a given remote source and block all further requests when the number of port scans reaches a predefined value within a defined interval.

• Network Reconnaissance Using IP Options

IP standard supports a set of options that provide special routing functionality and diagnostics. These options are rarely used and if they are, they are probably added for evil use.

Therefore, in a secure network it is advisable to drop IP packets that contain IP Options headers. Cisco Intrusion Prevention signatures can identify such packets and discard them. You can find more details about the intended use of these options in RFC 791.

• Discovering Victim’s Operating System

A great advantage for an attacker is to discover the Operating System of its potential target. Equipped with this knowledge, the attacker could launch the appropriate vulnerability. A few ways exist for identifying the os of a host:

1. SYN and FIN Flags Set

Those of you who didn’t read my article on TCP-IP, now is a good time to do so to refresh your memory about the TCP header.

Normally, in a given TCP segment, the SYN and FIN flags are not set together. A SYN flag is used when initiating a TCP connection and a FIN flag is used when terminating a TCP connection. Therefore, a TCP header with both these flags set is an up normal situation which causes various responses from the recipient host based on the operating system.

An attacker could set these Flags on, as seen in the figure below, causing the recipient party to reveal its operating system and open the way for the attacker to launch the next possible vulnerability attack.

2. Only FIN Flag is Set

Normally, TCP segments with the FIN flag set also have the ACK flag set to acknowledge reception of the last packet. Having a FIN flag without ACK flag is an up normal behavior which may lead in revealing the recipients operating system according to the response provided.

3. No Flag is Set

A normal TCP header has at least one flag set. Having a TCP segment with no Flags set is again an up normal condition leading to various responses according to the operating system.

• IP Spoofing

An old method of malicious attacks is having a source host injecting a fake IP source address pretending to be a trusted host. This is called IP Spoofing and the most common way to deal with it is to properly configure an ACL to block traffic from the untrusted network that has a source address which should reside in the trusted network.