How To Block Failed Login Attempts In Windows 7

Even if you put a password on your computer, that doesn’t stop someone from breaking in by using a brute force password guessing technique.  Although more of a problem for Laptops than your home desktop, I’m going to show you a trick used by almost all corporations who run Windows.  Essentially what were going to do is run a command that will lock your login account for a specified amount of time after a specified number of bad login attempts (wrong password).  By doing this an attacker won’t be able to use an application to try a few million passwords per minute against your computer to break in since every 10, 20, 30 etc. attempts will lock the account for a few minutes thus killing any attempt to break in.  Here, let me show ya.

Step 1 – Launch CMD as an administrator

Click the Start Menu Orb and Type cmd into the search box.  Under the programs list that appearsRight-Click cmd.exe and Select Run as administrator from the context menu.

Step 2

In the command line, Type in the following command:

net accounts /lockoutthreshold:10

You can replace the number 10 with any number you like, this will determine how many incorrect password attempts can occur before a lockout is initiated.  Personally, 20 or even 30 should be fine but 10 is a good number for most people even if you commonly fat finger your password….

Step 3 – Set the account lockout duration

By default, when your account is locked due to the X failed attempts you set above, your account will be locked out for 30 minutes.   I personally think that’s a bit excessive.  My recommendation is you change it to something like 3 or 5 minutes so even if you fat finger your password, you only need to wait a few minutes to try your password again.  You can change this using the following command:

net accounts /lockoutduration:30

The lockout duration can be set to any value between 1 and 99,999 minutes.*  If you set it to 0, the account will be locked until an Admin unlocks it… Don’t do that.

*This range varies depending upon which version of Windows 7 you are running.

Done!

Now whenever someone attempts to break into your computer by guessing your password Windows will lock them out!

Facebook Spam – “See who has been stalking you / See who is visiting your profile ”

As more and more people are getting online on the popular social networking websites like the Facebook , spammers are creating new bait to spread spam . Some times it is the links like “Verify your account to prevent Spam” or “You have been tagged ”  and recently the “Watch the OSAMA shoot down video”  . The spam links points to fake videos or spammy websites or Facebook spam spreading apps .

Today I saw the “see who has been stalking you” (pic above) link posted by a friend of mine on my Facebook wall . She had actually curiously clicked on the same link when she saw it on her Facebook wall .And after the click , it got posted on all of her friends wall . Of-course everyone is interested in knowing “who has viewed my Facebook profile” but many of us do not know that it is not possible on Facebook (Yes , it is possible on Orkut) . Read the below faq from the Facebook :

How to block access to certain drives in Windows 7 ultimate/premium

I usually store all my important files and documents in one separate drive on my laptop and I always wish that no one else could touch them without my permission. And when I give my laptop to other people I always fear that the person using my lappy might access my personal files. If your computer is accessed by many people then you may want to restrict access to certain drives on your computer for other users.
To block access to drive go to Computer and right click on the drive and select properties. In the properties window click on ‘Security’ tab. Select the user account you want to restrict and click on edit.

Change the permissions according to your need for user groups or a particular user and click Apply and then OK.  It will not work for users with admin account as even they have the same rights as you so they can revert all permissions. You will need an admin account to perform this task.This trick is for Windows 7 ultimate and premium edition users.

How to install windows 7 from USB drive/Pen drive.

REQUIREMENTS:

• 1GB RAM and 16GB Hard disk space
• 1GHZ processor.
• Windows 7 iso file.
• Pen drive/ usb drive with 4GB space.

You can download windows 7 iso file from the direct download links given below.


Windows 7 beta (32 bit version)

7000.0.081212-1400_client_en-us_Ultimate-GB1CULXFRE_EN_DVD.ISO

Windows 7 beta (64 bit version)

7000.0.081212-1400_client_en-us_Ultimate-GB1CULXFRE_EN_DVD.ISO

Or just get a windows 7 DVD from somewhere if you can.

I assume that you have managed to get the Windows 7 DVD somehow by now. If you have the Windows 7 DVD in your hand then read on.

Follow the steps given below to install Windows 7 from USB drive.

1. Insert your USB thumb drive.
2. Open command prompt. If you are using vista open it with admin rights.
3. Type diskpart and press enter.
4. Type list disk.
5. You will see all the disks connected to your system. If you don’t have any other disk than your Hard disk and pen drive then your pen drive will be Disk . You can guess your pen drive by it’s size also.
6. If it’s disk 1 then type Select disk 1.
7. Now before moving ahead take backup of your important data from pen drive as we will have to format the pen drive.
8. Now go back to CMD and type CLEAN.This will remove partition or volume formatting from the 

   

   current in-focus disk by zeroing sectors
9. Type CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY and press Enter. This will create a primary partition of length size and a starting address offset on the current drive.
10. Type SELECT PARTITION 1 and press Enter.
    
11. Type ACTIVE. this will mark the currently selected device as active.
12. Now type FORMAT FS=NTFS and press Enter.This process may take some time. Wait for this process to end.This will format your USB drive.
13. Type ASSIGN and press Enter. Then type EXIT .
14. Now insert your Windows 7 DVD in the DVD drive. I will assume that your DVD drive is at D and USB drive is G. Look in your MY computer to know the drive letters for your PC.
15. Now open new windows of CMD and navigate to your dvd drive using cmd. If your drive name is d then type D:
16. Now type CD boot and press enter. Then type bootsect /nt60 H: (H is your usb drive letter).
17. Now copy all files to your pen drive.
18. Now the most important step: Reboot your PC and press F2 when the system restarts. This will take you in to BIOS Menu. Under the advanced bios options set the Primary boot device to your Pen drive. Now you are all set to install Windows 7 from USB drive.

Send free sms up to 2,048 characters to any mobile phone in the world for free with cellity freeSMS mobile app

Yes , its really true because with cellity freeSMS installed on your Java MIDP1 and MIDP2 enabled phone you can simply send a free sms up to 2048 characters via gprs to any mobile phone number in the world.

cellity freeSMS, which is available now as a freeware! can be used to send sms to any mobile number with any network in the world.

Are you worried about the Sms Charges ?

Sending and receiving short messages results in no fees through cellity.

Your provider will not charge anything for SMS if you use cellity freeSMS tool

But the cost of data traffic (via GPRS) if any at your mobile connection.

Why it rocks ?

Because it works all over the world, with any cellphone company .so you don’t need to use No new phone number, no new SIM card, no new contract required!

Cellity Ping Free

If your receiver’s cellity freeSms tool is not open then he will immediately receive a unanswerable ping call free of charge! so he knows that a new SMS is waiting and can be directly picked up when starting his cellity freeSMS.

Installation of Cellity Free Sms Tool

• Download the messenger software from here or visit www.cellity.com
• after download it will ask you to install the application, so please do so.
• now verify your identity typing in your phone number including the international telephone prefix code for your country (i.e. +91XXXYYYZZZZ for india)
• You will then receive a traditional SMS stating your password.
• so now you can send freeSMS to all your friends now and If they do not have the freeSMS application then: The message is stored on our server and a traditional SMS is sent to reciever, informing him about the new product and offering him to download the file.
• If you are not actively using the application, then put it to “minimize“; but do not turn it off. So now you can still receive new messages, even when the application is running in the background.

Compatibility:

Works on all the Java MIDP1 and MIDP2 enabled phone, which means it also works on most of the Symbian and Windows Mobile phones

Download Cellity FreeSms Tool(midp1 high) | Download Cellity FreeSms Tool(midp1 low)

Leave your feedbacks about the cellity free sms application through your comments.

Manage your slider phone with Slide Helper ....

Slide helper as the name suggests is an application which lets you modify the functions associated with the slider. With this application you can do more with the slider than just answering calls or writing messages. This application is supported by symbian OS phones specially the symbian S60 third edition phones which are j2me enabled.

The key features of slide helper include:

1. You don’t need to press the hang up button to disconnect the call just slide up the slider to hang up the call. It’s as easy as that.

2. Slide helper saves on your battery time by switching off the background lights and the keypad lights as soon as you slide up the slider.

3. You can lock and unlock the keypad by the slide of the slider which is preferred by all the slide phone users and slide helper assists you in doing that.

4. Each time when you lock or unlock the keypad, there is a message on the screen and by using slide helper you can get rid of those notifications

5. The application is available in many languages and you can browse through the languages to select your desired language interface.

Slide helper is only available as an unsigned application which means if you don’t get its valid certificate it would show valid certificate error. Moreover there is very little support available for this slide helper and getting the valid certificate is not an easy task as far as slide helper is concerned but the easiest way that I can recommend is to crack your phone, by doing so you bypass the certificate check and the applicationworks correctly.

Supported phones: Symbian S60 3rd edition and nokia N95 and its 8gb version

Download Slide Helper

Get More Improved Battery Life On Your Mobile Phone

Today mobile phones are a necessity in one’s life. We talk much on phone and the battery of the phone gets used up. So we always find the means to save the battery of the phone so that we can talk as much as possible. To fulfill this need of user, mobile phone now come up with batteries with longer talktime backup and those which last for years if used according to some useful instruction.

Today we use many applications and programs which consume the mobile battery at a faster rate. Our bad habits of avoiding switching off the mobiles phones when not in use especially at night consume more battery. The new phones with greater megapixels also consume a lot of battery power. Here we will discuss some of the steps to increase your mobile phone battery life:

• Turn off your mobile: Turning off mobile handsets is one of the most effective measures to save the battery power. You can turn off your mobile during the time you go to bed or when you attend a meeting. Turning off your mobile phone when no connectivity is available also plays a vital role in saving your battery power.

• Turn off the connectivity means: Turning off connectivity means like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and infrared also save a major part of your battery power.
• Switch off the vibrate function: Vibrate alert function in mobile phones consumes a lot of battery power. So switch off the vibrate alert function of your phone.
• Reduce the screen brightness: More the brightness of your phone more is the power consumed, so keep the brightness level of your phone to a minimum level. Also set the display time out as low as possible.
• Avoid screensavers: To save battery power, avoid the use of screensavers on your mobile and use of simple wallpapers will be more beneficial.
• Terminate Applications: Termination of applications of your mobile phone when not in use also saves a lot of battery power
• Recharge your battery: It is good to recharge your phone properly and recharge the battery when three fourth of the battery has been used up.
• Avoid heating: Keep your mobile phone cool. Keep it off from direct exposure to sun or any heating appliance. The preferable range at which the battery works fine is 10-35 Centigrade.
• Avoid flash: Avoid flash light during photography also save a major portion of battery power. Flash light consume a lot of power, to turn off the flash in day.