Tag Archive for 'Power User Tips'

FireFox Add-on - ErrorZilla & Resurrect Pages

Published
by
Richard McEachin
on November 5, 2008
in Power User Tips and The Investigator's Computer
. 0 Comments

The Web browser has become one of the Investigator’s or Researcher’s most basic tools. Add-ons make this tool more complete, easier, and faster to use.

ErrorZilla: The standard “server not found” page is useless if you’re looking for a Web site that’s gone AWOL. ErrorZilla adds a series of buttons to the bottom of the standard “Firefox can’t find the server” message, providing instant access to the Wayback machine, Google Cache, Whois lookup, Ping and Trace

A similar add-on, Resurrect Pages, allows you to see dead pages, broken links by searching through five big page cache/mirrors: CoralCDN, Google Cache, Yahoo! Cache, The Internet Archive, and the MSN Cache. Unlike ErrorZilla, this doesn’t offer Whois lookup, Ping and Trace.

FireFox Addon - All-in-One Sidebar

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Richard McEachin
on November 3, 2008
in Power User Tips
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All-in-One Sidebar

The Firefox sidebar is one of the browser’s more useful tools, but least used. It allows you to browse your history and view bookmarks and many add-ons use it as well.

This add-on tool lets you quickly switch among all your sidebar panels, which gives you information about your browser use. It will let you see your entire download history in the sidebar or show all of your add-ons with details about each, or give you information on the current page you’re visiting, and more.

If you don’t use the Firefox sidebar, try this add-on and you might. If you do use it regularly,  then this one will be a keeper.

Download All-in-One Sidebar

FireFox Addon - BugMeNot

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Richard McEachin
on October 28, 2008
in Power User Tips
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BugMeNot

Registering to use a Web site is making a deal with the devil. Information such as your name, e-mail address, mailing address, phone number,etc.. This is followed by a tsunami of spam. Your name is sold for mailing lists and worse. But for many Web sites, if you don’t register, you can’t log in and use the site.

This add-on solves the problem. Go to a Web site, right-click in the user name or password field, and select BugMeNot. A valid user name and password will then be entered into the form. You can then use the site without having to register. This free add-on works in concert with the BugMeNot Web site, which has many user names and passwords for multiple sites.

Download BugMeNot

FireFox Addon - CustomizeGoogle

Published
by
Richard McEachin
on October 10, 2008
in Methods, Power User Tips, Search Engines and Search Strategies
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CustomizeGoogle

This is a must-have add-on. It customizes Google in just about any way you could imagine and it will block Google’s ads as well as Google analytic cookies that invade your privacy. And most importantly for the Investigator, it anonymizes your Google user ID.

It adds links in your Google search results to other search engines, such as Yahoo and Ask.com, among others. It filters out search results from known spammers, and it will also let you customize features such as Gmail and Google News. If you want to customize the way Google works, make sure to download this one.

My favorite feature is the ability to set my Google preferences so they don’t disappear when I clear out the cookies.

Download CustomizeGoogle

FireFox Addon - Mini Map Sidebar

Published
by
Richard McEachin
on October 1, 2008
in Power User Tips
. 1 Comment

Mini Map Sidebar

Mapping services are among the most useful sites on the Internet.  Mini Map Sidebar allows you to open it as a Firefox sidebar, then drag and drop address names or links to it, and a map of them will open right in the sidebar. You have your choice of map services, including Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, and others. You can zoom in or out, get directions and do anything you can do on the mapping site itself. 

Download Mini Map Sidebar

FireFox Addon - Secure Login

Published
by
Richard McEachin
on September 25, 2008
in Power User Tips
. 0 Comments

Secure Login

Secure Login integrates with Firefox’s password manager, and will log you into any Web site without you having to remember or look up the password. On a site that requires a login, either click the icon or use a hot-key combination to login.

The program prevents hackers from stealing your passwords by halting malicious JavaScript code. It also protects against  cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks and other password dangers.

Download Secure Login

Power User 116 - Firefox 3 Add-ons

Published
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Richard McEachin
on September 8, 2008
in Power User Tips and The Investigator's Computer
. 0 Comments

PDF Download manages the download of large PDF files. This remains necessary to handle PDF files in Firefox V.3.

Download Statusbar allows you to view and manage downloads from a tidy statusbar - without the download window getting in the way of your web browsing.

Morning Coffee allows you to bring up a whole menu of websites with a single click. MorningCoffee is particularly useful for routinely monitoring several sites simultaneously.

Ubiquity promises to become the most advanced tool for Firefox. It is in early beta now but getting better. It requires Firefox 3. Check out the video below.

Beware that this can be abused. It will allow you to alter the content of a web page then email it as part of a mash-up.  In the current version, there are well-documented ways that a command author could smuggle malicious code into your machine.

Power User 115 - The Page File

Published
by
Richard McEachin
on July 28, 2008
in Power User Tips, Privacy, Security and The Investigator's Computer
. 0 Comments

With Windows XP, to clear the page file on shutdown go to Control Panel->Administrative Tools-> Local Security Policy->Local Policies->Security Options->Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile … enable it. It is wise to enable this setting on every computer you use.

We tell people to travel with a “clean” laptop.  However, Windows creates a lot of  temporary files. The most damaging can be the Page file. Everything that went into virtual memory is there in a file on the hard drive. Of course you should also use a good file erasure programme before shutting off the laptop.

Power User 114 - File Wipers

Published
by
Richard McEachin
on July 23, 2008
in Power User Tips, Privacy, Security and The Investigator's Computer
. 0 Comments

Even computer ‘wipers’ leave a mark

Evidence Eliminator and similar software can kill out files and perform other tasks. But their use can raise red flags in a legal dispute.

But the wiper programs don’t ensure a clean getaway. They leave behind a kind of digital calling card.

“Not only do these programs leave a trace that they were used, they each have a distinctive fingerprint,” Kessler said. “Evidence Eliminator leaves one that’s different from Window Washer, and so on.”

I recommend the use of file erasure tools, especially when crossing international borders with computers. If you use such a programme regularly you have plausible deniability if you’re accused of erasing data to keep it from the police or the courts. If you always use it, then its “fingerprint” will always be there. If the install date matches the computer’s purchase date, then they can’t say you did this to eliminate the evidence the courts or police were seeking. Also, get a receipt for the wiper programme to show when it was purchased for the same reason.

File erasure programmes are part of prudent security practices and should not be viewed as something suspicious.

Power User 113 - Two Monitors

Published
by
Richard McEachin
on July 22, 2008
in Power User Tips and The Investigator's Computer
. 0 Comments

I don’t know how I ever lived without it — I really don’t. BIG monitors are great. Size does matter! Two big monitors are even better. I used to do real manly work, but I swear, having those two big monitors is better that driving a 200 ton dump truck or blowing-up a bridge.

When I produce a report, two monitors makes it much easier to arrange the source material, cut and paste, create citations and foot notes. This is more than a convenience. This allows me to produce a better product with less effort and to do it quicker.

To use two monitors you require a true video card. A video card built into the motherboard will not work. You will need a DVI cable for the main monitor and an analog cable for the second monitor. When you first connect the monitors it is not likely that the second monitor will work until you go into  Display Properties >Settings and check “Use this device as the primary monitor” for the DVI monitor and then select the second monitor’s icon and select “Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor”.

FireFox 3 - Incompatible Browser Add-ons

Published
by
Richard McEachin
on July 18, 2008
in Power User Tips
. 1 Comment

In Power User 110 - Browser Add-ons I recommended the following two FireFox add-ons:

Tab Mix Plus provides all sorts of Tab options that don’t exist in Firefox.

Internote allows you to create persistent sticky notes on a web page which will be there once you return. Notes are very customizable, and come with many small, useful features. A manager is available, in which you can see all of your saved notes, edit them, print them, and delete them.

Neither of these is compatible with FireFox 3 and no updates are available at this time. It looks like there may be a updated version of Tab Mix Plus at some future time.

Power User 111 - Windows Security Threat

Published
by
Richard McEachin
on March 6, 2008
in Power User Tips, Security and The Investigator's Computer
. 0 Comments

Hack into a Windows PC - no password needed

A security consultant based in New Zealand has released a tool that can unlock Windows computers in seconds without the need for a password.

To use the tool, hackers must connect a Linux-based computer to a Firewire port on the target machine. The machine is then tricked into allowing the attacking computer to have read and write access to its memory.

With full access to the memory, the tool can then modify Windows’ password protection code, which is stored there, and render it ineffective.

“If you have a Firewire port, disable it when you aren’t using it,” Ducklin said.

“That way, if someone does plug into your port unexpectedly, your side of the Firewire link is dead, so they can’t interact with your PC, legitimately or otherwise.”

The moral of this story is: don’t let unauthorised people have physical access to your computer and shut off the Firewire port unless you are actually using it.

Power-User 110 - Browser Add-ons

Published
by
Richard McEachin
on February 13, 2008
in Power User Tips and The Investigator's Computer
. 0 Comments

I do not use IE as my default browser due to security concerns. For several years I have used Firefox, first to address the security issue, then because I liked the tabs and add-ons. Here are my favorite add-ons.

NoScript  allows JavaScript, Java and other executable content to run only from trusted domains of your choice, e.g. your home-banking web site, and guards the “trust boundaries” against cross-site scripting attacks (XSS). Such a preemptive approach prevents exploitation of security vulnerabilities (known and even unknown!).

Tab Mix Plus provides all sorts of Tab options that don’t exist in Firefox.

Cooliris Previews lets you preview a web link without having to open up the whole page. You can expand the preview to a full tab/window, navigate within the preview, e-mail the site/page link to others, etc..

PDF Download solves all the problems with opening PDF files in Firefox.

Zotero is a citation manager, recommended and supported by about 100 academic institutions.

Split Pannel allows you to view two pages simultaneously for comparison or copying info from one to the other. Can be resized by dragging the bar between the main browser and new panel.

Internote allows you to create persistent sticky notes on a web page which will be there once you return. Notes are very customizable, and come with many small, useful features. A manager is available, in which you can see all of your saved notes, edit them, print them, and delete them.

Resurrect Pages 1.0.8 allows you to see dead pages, broken links by searching through five big page cache/mirrors: CoralCDN, Google Cache, Yahoo! Cache, The Internet Archive, and the MSN Cache.

The two following add-ons save time and allow access to pages that are browser specific without switching browsers to view IE only websites.

User Agent Switcher allows access to sites that might restrict your access based on which browser you are using. Since it does not render a page as another browser might and doesn’t work with every site.

IE Tab enables use of the embedded IE engine