How to Find the IP Address of a Remote Computer

Most of you may be curious to know how to find the IP address of your friend’s computer or to find the IP address of the person with whom you are chatting in Yahoo messenger or Gtalk. In this post I’ll show you how to find the IP address of a remote computer in simple steps.
I have created a PHP script to make

it easier for you to find the IP address of the remote computer of your choice. Here is a step-by-step process to find out the IP address.
1. Download the IP Finder script (IP_Finder.ZIP) that I have created.
2. Open a new account in X10Hosting (or any free host that supports PHP).
3. Extract the IP_Finder.ZIP file and upload the two files ip.php and ip_log.txt into the root folder of your hosting account using the File Manager.
4. You can rename the ip.php to any name of your choice.
5. Set the permission to 777 on ip_log.txt.
Now you are all set to find the IP address of your friend or any remote computer of your choice. All you have to do is send the link of ip.php to your friend or the person with whom you’re chatting. Once the person click’s on the link, his/her IP address is recorded in the file ip_log.txt.
For your better understanding let’s take up the following example.
Suppose you open a new account in X10hosting.com with the subdomain as abc, then your IP Finder link would be

http://abc.x10hosting.com/ip.php

You have to send the above link to you friend via email or while chatting and ask him to visit that link. Once your friend clicks on the link, his IP address will be recorded along with the Date and Time in the ip_log.txt file. After recording the IP address, the script will redirect the person to google.com so as to avoid any suspicion.
To find the recorded IP address check the logs using the following link.

http://abc.x10hosting.com/ip_log.php

The sample log will be in the following format
79.92.144.237 Thursday 07th of May 2009 05:31:27 PM
59.45.144.237 Thursday 07th of May 2009 05:31:28 PM
123.92.144.237 Thursday 07th of May 2009 05:31:31 PM
NOTE: You have to replace abc with your subdomain name.

A Virus Program to Disable USB Ports

In this post I will show how to create a simple virus that disables/blocks the USB ports on the computer (PC). As usual I use my favorite C programming language to create this virus. Anyone with a basic knowledge of C language should be able to understand the working of this virus program.
Once this virus is executed it will immediately disable all the USB ports on the computer. As a result the you’ll will not be able to use your pen drive or any other USB peripheral on the computer. The source code for this virus is available for download. You can test this virus on your own computer without any worries since I have also given a program to re-enable all the USB ports.
1. Download the USB_Block.rar file on to your computer.
2. It contains the following 4 files.

• block_usb.c (source code)
• unblock_usb.c (source code)

3. You need to compile them before you can run it. A step-by-step procedure to compile C programs is given in my post - How to Compile C Programs.
3. Upon compilation of block_usb.c you get block_usb.exe which is a simple virus that will block (disable) all the USB ports on the computer upon execution (double click).
4. To test this virus, just run the block_usb.exe file and insert a USB pen drive (thumb drive). Now you can see that your pen drive will never get detected. To re-enable the USB ports just run the unblock_usb.exe  (you need to compile unblock_usb.c) file. Now insert the pen drive and it should get detected.
5. You can also change the icon of this file to make it look like a legitimate program. For more details on this refer my post – How to Change the ICON of an EXE file (This step is also optional).

How to Compile C Programes

In many of my previous posts especially in the VIRUS CREATION section, I have used C as the programming language. If you’re new to C programming and find it difficult to compile the C source codes then this post is for you. Here is a step-by-step procedure to install Borland C++ compiler 5.5 and compile C programs.

 

How to install Borland C++ compiler

 

1. Download Borland C++ compiler 5.5 (for Windows platform) from the following link.
http://www.codegear.com/downloads/free/cppbuilder
2. After you download, run freecommandlinetools.exe. The default installation path would be

C:\Borland\BCC55

 

How to configure Borland C++ compiler

 

1. After you install Borland C++ compier, create two new Text Documents
2. Open the first New Text Document.txt file and add the following two lines into it

-I”c:\Borland\Bcc55\include” -L”c:\Borland\Bcc55\lib”

Save changes and close the file. Now rename the file from New Text Document.txt to bcc32.cfg.
3. Open the second New Text Document (2).txt file and add the following line into it

-L”c:\Borland\Bcc55\lib”

Save changes and close the file. Now rename the file from New Text Document (2).txt to ilink32.cfg.
4. Now copy the two files bcc32.cfg and ilink32.cfg, navigate to C:\Borland\BCC55\Bin and paste them.

 

How to compile the C source code (.C files)

 

1. You need to place the .C (example.c) file to be compiled in the following location

C:\Borland\BCC55\Bin

2. Now goto command prompt (Start->Run->type cmd->Enter)
3. Make the following path as the present working directory (use CD command)

C:\Borland\BCC55\Bin

4. To compile the file (example.c) use the following command

Command to Compile C Program

bcc32 example.c

5. Now if there exists no error in the source code you’ll get an executable file (example.exe) in the same location (C:\Borland\BCC55\Bin).
6. Now you have successfully compiled the source code into an executable file(.exe file).

NOTE: The above tutorial assumes that you’ve installed the compiler onto the C: drive (by default).

How To Make A Trojan Hourse

Most of you may be curious to know about how to make a Trojan or Virus on your own. Here is an answer for your curiosity. In this post I’ll show you how to make a simple Trojan on your own using C programming language. This Trojan when executed will eat up the hard disk space on the root drive (The drive on which Windows is installed, usually C: Drive) of the computer on which it is run. Also this Trojan works pretty quickly and is capable of eating up approximately 1 GB of hard disk space for every minute it is run. So, I’ll call this as Space Eater Trojan. Since this Trojan is written using a high level programming language it is often undetected by antivirus. The source code for this Trojan is available for download at the end of this post. Let’s see how this Trojan works…
Before I move to explain the features of this Trojan you need to know what exactly is a Trojan horse and how it works. As most of us think a Trojan or a Trojan horse is not a virus. In simple words a Trojan horse is a program that appears to perform a desirable function but in fact performs undisclosed malicious functions that allow unauthorized access to the host machine or create a damage to the computer.

Now lets move to the working of our Trojan
The Trojan horse which I have made appears itself as an antivirus program that scans the computer and removes the threats. But in reality it does nothing but occupy the hard disk space on the root drive by just filling it up with a huge junk file. The rate at which it fills up the hard disk space it too high. As a result the the disk gets filled up to 100% with in minutes of running this Trojan. Once the disk space is full, the Trojan reports that the scan is complete. The victim will not be able to clean up the hard disk space using any cleanup program. This is because the Trojan intelligently creates a huge file in the Windows\System32 folder with the .dll extension. Since the junk file has the .dll extention it is often ignored by disk cleanup softwares. So for the victim, there is now way to recover the hard disk space unless reformatting his drive.
The algorithm of the Trojan is as follows
1. Search for the root drive
2. Navigate to WindowsSystem32 on the root drive
3. Create the file named “spceshot.dll”
4. Start dumping the junk data onto the above file and keep increasing it’s size until the drive is full
5. Once the drive is full, stop the process.
You can download the Trojan source code HERE. Please note that I have not included the executabe for security reasons. You need to compile it to obtain the executable.

How to compile, test and remove the damage?

Compilation:
For step-by-step compilation guide, refer my post How to compile C Programs.
Testing:
To test the Trojan,  just run the SpaceEater.exe file on your computer. It’ll generate a warning message at the beginning. Once you accept it, the Trojan runs and eats up hard disk space.

NOTE: To remove the warning message you’ve to edit the source code and then re-compile it.

How to remove the Damage and free up the space?
To remove the damage and free up the space, just type the following in the “run” dialog box.

%systemroot%\system32

Now search for the file “spceshot.dll“. Just delete it and you’re done. No need to re-format the hard disk.

 NOTE: You can also change the ICON of the virus to make it look like a legitimate program. This method is described in the post: How to Change the ICON of an EXE file ?

Please pass your comments and tell me your opinion. I am just waiting for your comments…

How To Speedup Your XP

Services You Can Disable

There are quite a few services you can disable from starting automatically.

This would be to speed up your boot time and free resources.

They are only suggestions so I suggestion you read the description of each one when you run Services

and that you turn them off one at a time.

Some possibilities are:

Alerter

Application Management

Clipbook

Fast UserSwitching

Human Interface Devices

Indexing Service

Messenger

Net Logon

NetMeeting

QOS RSVP

Remote Desktop Help Session Manager

Remote Registry

Routing & Remote Access

SSDP Discovery Service

Universal Plug and Play Device Host

Web Client

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Cleaning the Prefetch Directory

WindowsXP has a new feature called Prefetch. This keeps a shortcut to recently used programs.

However it can fill up with old and obsolete programs.

To clean this periodically go to:

Star / Run / Prefetch

Press Ctrl-A to highlight all the shorcuts

Delete them

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not Displaying Logon, Logoff, Startup and Shutdown Status Messages

To turn these off:

Start Regedit

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionpoliciessystem

If it is not already there, create a DWORD value named DisableStatusMessages

Give it a value of 1

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Clearing the Page File on Shutdown

Click on the Start button

Go to the Control Panel

Administrative Tools

Local Security Policy

Local Policies

Click on Security Options

Right hand menu - right click on "Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile"

Select "Enable"

Reboot

For regedit users.....

If you want to clear the page file on each shutdown:

Start Regedit

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerMemory ManagementClearPageFileAtShutdown

Set the value to 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No GUI Boot

If you don't need to see the XP boot logo,

Run MSCONFIG

Click on the BOOT.INI tab

Check the box for /NOGUIBOOT

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Speeding the Startup of Some CD Burner Programs

If you use program other than the native WindowsXP CD Burner software,

you might be able to increase the speed that it loads.

Go to Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Services

Double-click on IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service

For the Startup Type, select Disabled

Click on the OK button and then close the Services window

If you dont You should notice

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Getting Rid of Unread Email Messages

To remove the Unread Email message by user's login names:

Start Regedit

For a single user: Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionUnreadMail

For all users: Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionUnreadMail

Create a DWORD key called MessageExpiryDays

Give it a value of 0

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Decreasing Boot Time

Microsoft has made available a program to analyze and decrease the time it takes to boot to WindowsXP

The program is called BootVis

Uncompress the file.

Run BOOTVIS.EXE

For a starting point, run Trace / Next Boot + Driver Delays

This will reboot your computer and provide a benchmark

After the reboot, BootVis will take a minute or two to show graphs of your system startup.

Note how much time it takes for your system to load (click on the red vertical line)

Then run Trace / Optimize System

Re-Run the Next Boot + Drive Delays

Note how much the time has decreased

Mine went from approximately 33 to 25 seconds.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Increasing Graphics Performance

By default, WindowsXP turns on a lot of shadows, fades, slides etc to menu items.

Most simply slow down their display.

To turn these off selectively:

Right click on the My Computer icon

Select Properties

Click on the Advanced tab

Under Performance, click on the Settings button

To turn them all of, select Adjust for best performance

My preference is to leave them all off except for Show shadows under mouse pointer and Show window contents while dragging

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Increasing System Performance

If you have 512 megs or more of memory, you can increase system performance

by having the core system kept in memory.

Start Regedit

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerMemory ManagementDisablePagingExecutive

Set the value to be 1

Reboot the computer

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Increasing File System Caching

To increase the amount of memory Windows will locked for I/O operations:

Start Regedit

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerMemory Management

Edit the key IoPageLockLimit

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Resolving Inability to Add or Remove Programs

If a particular user cannot add or remove programs, there might be a simple registry edit neeed.

Go to HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesUninstall

Change the DWORD NoAddRemovePrograms to 0 disable it

4096 - 32megs of memory or less

8192 - 32+ megs of memory

16384 - 64+ megs of memory

32768 - 128+ megs of memory

65536 - 256+ megs of memory

Unblock or Bypass Orkut Restrictions

Hi friends, since I am getting a lot of comments on how to unblock or to bypass orkut restrictions, I have been on the look out for new proxies. Bennet at circumventor has a great list of proxy sites. I had subscribed to his newsletter  and got these proxies. I have not tried them out, since Orkut is no longer blocked in my college.
You can reply to comments using these proxies by using reply option.
Please send in your valuable comments.
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How To Change Windows 7 Logon Screen Easily

Finally Microsoft has incorporated a new feature in the latest build (7057) of Windows 7 which supports the end user to change the logon screen background without using any hacks or third-party tools.

In previous version of Windows, user had to use third-parry tools like Tune-Up-Utilities to change the logon screen background easily. Windows 7 now supports customization of Windows 7 logon screen officially. Replacing the old logon screen is just another task like changing wallpaper (Desktop background). Thanks to withinwindows for finding out this excellent feature.
Follow the procedure below to change the Windows 7 logon screen.
1. Download the registry file from here. Extract the file and double-click on the file to enable this feature (Alternative method: right-click, select Merge).
2. Now, head over to the following folder:
C:\Windows\System32\oobe (“C” is your Windows Seven Installation drive)
3. Here, create a new folder named Info. Again, create a new folder inside the Info folder and rename it as backgrounds.
4. Copy your favorite image file to this folder and rename it as backgroundDefault. Note that the image must be in JPG format and the size should be less than 256 KB.
5. You are done. Reboot your system and see the change.
The following files (sorted by width-to-height ratio) are supported in  C:\Windows\System32\oobe\Info\Backgrounds folder:
* backgroundDefault.jpg
* background768×1280.jpg  (0.6)
* background900×1440.jpg  (0.625)
* background960×1280.jpg  (0.75)
* background1024×1280.jpg (0.8)
* background1280×1024.jpg (1.25)
* background1024×768.jpg  (1.33-)
* background1280×960.jpg  (1.33-)
* background1600×1200.jpg (1.33-)
* background1440×900.jpg  (1.6)
* background1920×1200.jpg (1.6)
* background1280×768.jpg  (1.66-)
* background1360×768.jpg  (1.770833-)