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When you delete a file, format your hard drive or erase any data on any type of media in the traditional manner, you might be surprised to know that the file still exists. In this way, you can think of files on a hard drive as a phone book. You can see the files in a listing (such as what is shown in My Computer or Windows Explorer). Each listing in a phone book lists the address and phone number for that person so that you can reach them, and by removing the listing from the phone book, it doesn’t mean that your friend doesn’t live there anymore.

Deletion basically removes the “directory listing” for that file, but the file still exists. So, now it’s difficult to “get in touch with”, because the listing is not there and you can’t get access to it anymore without recovering it. The file still physically exists and will until other data is written where the original file resided.

It is possible for the file or parts of the file to be recovered even after new data is written onto the same area of the hard drive where the original data resided. Though the process at this point is so difficult you have to pay for data recovery. The service is very expensive, because it requires specialized equipment and software. Only experts may be able to recover data at this point.

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It is possible to use this procedure for most versions of Windows, which includes Windows NT 3.51, NT 4, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista 32-bit (Home and Ultimate) and Windows Vista 64-bit. If you are using pre-NT versions of Windows such as Windows 98, you can try deleting your .PWL (Password List) file.

Their may be exceptions and you shouldn’t rely on having this option to fall back on. From personal experience, I have worked on computers where a user lost a password in Windows Vista and this can be a bit hard resolve. Unless you plan on losing data and starting over with a clean Windows installation, remember your password!

You will need to download the Offline NT Password & Registry Editor boot disk from http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/. Near the bottom of the site is a link to a Bootable CD Image. Download the file.

You will then need to burn the image to a CD using your CD burning software. Open the file that you downloaded and extract the contents to a folder on your computer. Do not simply burn the extracted file to a CD as this will not work. In your CD burning software you will need to find the option to burn an image to a CD.

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The HOSTS file maps IP addresses to host names. That is, it associates an IP address to an Internet address such as www.yahoo.com. Windows checks the HOSTS file before it queries any DNS server and allows it to overrride any addresses in DNS. This blocks access to sites listed in the HOSTS file by redirecting to a different address. In other words, you can cause any connections to www.yahoo.com to actually connect to an entirely different address. This effectively blocks the connection to www.yahoo.com. Though you would not want to block Yahoo. This is just an example.

For example, the following line in a HOSTS file:

127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net

This would block any connections to ad.doubleclick.net and redirects the connection to 127.0.0.1 (an IP address which is always your computer). Unless you run a webserver on your PC, this would basically cause the connection to ad.doubleclick.net to fail since there is nothing to connect to at 127.0.0.1 (your computer).

This was not the original intention of the hosts file, but this can allow you to block sites that provide ads, banners, cookies, violate your privacy, sites that provide spyware and/or adware applications or basically any site you want to block such as a pornographic website that you don’t want your kids to access.

How does this apply to the typical user? You can download maintained lists online of Internet addresses that are updated periodically and import those lists into your HOSTS file, acting as a sort of immunization against spyware, adware, viruses, privacy violation, etc.

Why use this method? It is an easy way to block websites which do or could potentially violate your privacy, infect your computer with malicious software, and track your online habits. You can also use software such as Adaware to remove bad applications once they are installed, but it does not prevent you from becoming “infected” with these issues.

You could compare using a hosts file to a flu vaccination. The doctor could give you medications to help you get over the flu, but without a vaccination you can still get it. With a vaccination or immunization you are protected from ever being bothered by the flu (or at least a specific strein of the flu).

There are many applications out there that make claims to do something you need. You’ve seen the popups and advertisements on websites that warn that you are infected or at risk and ask you to download software to fix the problems. In most cases, those applications actually act as a trojan horse like the one in Homer’s Illiad, pretending to be something nice, but in reality, not.

You don’t have the time to learn which applications are bad, which websites are not safe and private information a website gathers in the background without your approval. By using a list obtained online, you don’t have to, because someone else does it for you.

Instructions and Information @ MVPS

Free Hosts Files
MVPS List [Download Link] [Website]
Andrew Short’s List [Download List] [Website]
BadHosts [Download List] [Website]
hpHosts [Download List] [Website]

Recommended Links:
Wikipedia HOSTS File Article
Eliminate Web Advertisements
Blocking Ads on the Internet

HOSTS File Management Apps. (free):
HostsMan
HostsXpert

Note: It is possible that a hosts file obtained online may block addresses for parts of sites such as MySpace. You can remove the entry for that website in your hosts file. You can also always revert back to the original hosts file.

As always, the software and services discussed in this article are free.

A computer can be infected by malicious software from an email whether using Outlook Express, Outlook, any other email application or webmail (email which you can view online from any location). You need to be aware of the facts so that you do not become infected by a virus or malicious script contained in an email.

The first rule of protecting yourself from malicious software almost always is to patch your system with the latest security patches. These patches remove the vulnerabilities and avenues used to harm your system. If you are using Microsoft Windows, you can obtain these patches from http://updates.microsoft.com. Install all service packs, critical and security updates. These patches not only protect you from email viruses, but also prevent known ways an attacker can compromise your system. In most cases attacks take advantage of vulnerabilities in services (such as those in Windows) that run by default (or have been manually enabled by you or an application) on your system.

The next step is to understand the ways that you can become infected using email, so that you can use prevention methods. One of the most common ways to become infected is by opening attachments infected with some type of virus or script. The simple solution is, don’t open attachments (or any file for that matter) from anyone that you do not trust, although even those you trust can be infected and their email software can be used to send viruses to you or others from a trusted source’s email address (the From: address can be forged entirely). So you may believe that the attachment is from a trusted source, but it is possible the sender does not know the email was sent.

Alternatively, you may also be infected by simply opening an email that contains a macro or script. Your email software may be configured to automatically run macros or scripts contained in emails. To circumvent this, you can set your email software to not automatically run scripts or macros. Emails may also contain HTML code which is normally used to change the font, font size and colors of text in an email. HTML code may also contain malicous code. You can turn HTML off in your email application. Any malicious code in an HTML email is run by opening the email or viewing it in the preview pane.

In some applications, such as Microsoft Outlook, a preview pane is used to see the contents of an email after selecting the email message. This is the same as double-clicking an email to view the contents and you can be infected this way. You can turn off this Preview Pane and only view the contents of emails from those you trust. Pay attention to the subject line and from address. If it looks suspicious, delete it or just don’t open the email or don’t select it so it will not appear in the Preview Pane.

If you are using email from work, most companies have protection in place to scan emails for this type of activity and block them from being sent to you, or sometimes remove the infected or suspicious attachments. Don’t rely on this to protect you. Be suspicious of every email that you receive. Internet service providers also scan emails (or should). You should use anti-virus software that will scan emails as you open or receieve them.

Only certain types of files can contain malicious code, but people find new ways to attach malicious code different types of files on occasion. For example, opening a text document in Notepad won’t infect you with a virus even if you view the actual code itself, because Notepad will not run that code. Be aware of any attachments with the extensions .exe, .com, .bat, .vbs or .doc for example. Any .exe, .com, or .bat file can contain code that is run by opening the file and the same applies for a .vbs file which is a Visual Basic script. A .doc file (a Word document) sometimes contain macros that can cause damage. You can disable automatic execution of macros in Microsoft Word to prevent this and view the document safely.

You probably receive a lot of forwards from friends (usually the subject line is labeled starting with FW: indicating that it is a forwarded message). These emails have made their rounds all over the world and come in contact with thousands of computers. It’s obvious that one of those computers could have placed an infected attachment or script into the email somewhere along the line.

When you look at the From: line of an email, you may see your friends email address. Email addresses can be spoofed (faked) so it does not prove that the email is from your friend or another trusted source. Along with that technique some attackers write inticing subject lines such as “You have won a free cruise!”. The first question you should ask yourself is, did I even register to win a free cruise? Probably not. Don’t open it.

If you use webmail, find out what protections your webmail provider uses. Gmail is a great free webmail service and one of the best, because Gmail is excellent at filtering SPAM. Certain types of features of your email are disabled by default when viewing the email and you have the option to enable that feature while viewing the email if you decide it is safe. This helps to prevent the problems associated with becoming infected simply by opening an email.

What types of email attachments are safe or not safe? Here is a short list of file extensions to give you an idea. A file extension is the second part of a filename such as filename.ext (the letters after the dot in the filename).

Update: I would like to add that when you do open an email, you may notice an area at the bottom that tells you that you can opt out of receiving those emails. I want to stress that you should never ever for any reason reply to an email that you suspect is SPAM or not from a legit source. The reason for this is that when you reply to spam, you are indicating that you are receiving the email and your address will be kept, possibly sold in a list to others and the spammer may decide to send even more email. The only time you should ever click these, is to opt out of email from trusted sources such as Wal-Mart or Barnes and Noble, but I wouldn’t. It is safer to log on to Barnes and Noble’s website, open your account settings and find the option to opt out of receiving email. The best bet is just to never click anything in an email you are not sure that you can trust and close it immediately.

Safe (at this time): .JPG, .GIF, .BMP., Autocad drawings, .MPG, .PDF, .WAV, .WMA, .ZIP (the contents of a .ZIP may be dangerous if you open them after extracting the contents, but the .ZIP file itself is safe).

Use caution: .ASP, .DOC (could contain macros), .HTM, .HTML

Dangerous: .PIF, .EXE, .COM, .BAT, .VBS, .REG, .JS, .SCR, .OCX, .WMF

Most importantly, use common sense. No protection is or will ever be 100% fool proof.

Recommended Article: Crabby’s Top 10 Spam-Fighting Tips
Recommended Webmail Provider: Gmail