Archive for the ‘Free Software’ category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

5 Simple Ways to Start Firefox in Safe Mode

September 28th, 2017 by Admin

Firefox keeps crashing at startup? Firefox uses too much memory and it starts to become sluggish? Do you suspect an add-on is causing Firefox to be slow? If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension. In this tutorial we’ll show you 4 simple ways to start Firefox in Safe Mode.

Method 1: Start Firefox in Safe Mode from Help Menu

Click the three-line icon in the upper right corner of your Firefox window, and then click the Help icon (question mark) at the bottom.

Select the “Restart with Add-ons Disabled” option from the help menu.

Click the Start in Safe Mode button in the pop-up window that appears. Firefox will restart into safe mode with all add-ons disabled.

Method 2: Start Firefox in Safe Mode from Run

Press the Windows key + R shortcut to open the Run box. Type firefox -safe-mode and press Enter.

In the Firefox Safe Mode window that appears, click on the Start in Safe Mode button.

Method 3: Start Firefox in Safe Mode by Holding SHIFT

Hold down the SHIFT key, and then double-click the Firefox shortcut on your desktop.

When the Firefox Safe Mode window opens, click on the Start in Safe Mode option.

Method 4: Start Firefox in Safe Mode from Command Line

Open the Command Prompt. Type the following command and press Enter.
start firefox -safe-mode

This will open Firefox Safe Mode pop-up and you can select the Start in Safe Mode button.

Method 5: Create Shortcut to Start Firefox in Safe Mode

If you need to start Firefox in safe mode frequently, right-click the Firefox shortcut in desktop and select Properties. Click the Shortcut tab. At the end of the Target field, add this outside of the quotes:
-safe-mode

Click Apply. Whenever you double-click the Firefox shortcut, you will see the Firefox Safe Mode popup and select the Start in Safe Mode button.

Comments Off on 5 Simple Ways to Start Firefox in Safe Mode »

Posted in Free Software, Others, Tips & Tricks

Tags:

Best Tools to Create a Bootable USB Drive on Ubuntu

September 12th, 2017 by Admin

How can I make a bootable Linux/Windows USB disk on Ubuntu? In this tutorial we’ll show you how to use the best free tools (UNetBootin and WoeUSB) to create a bootable USB drive from any CD image on Ubuntu.

Option 1: Create a Bootable USB Using UNetBootin

  1. Right-click on your desktop and select Open Terminal.
  2. Unetbootin is available under the ppa:gezakovacs/ppa repository. Use the following command to add repository:
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gezakovacs/ppa

  3. Run this command to check the repositories for available updates.
    sudo apt-get update

  4. To install Unetbootin, type the following command:
    sudo apt-get install unetbootin

  5. Once installed, open UNetbootin from Ubuntu Dash or Terminal.
  6. Specify the path of your live CD image, select the USB drive which you want to make as a bootable USB. Click OK to begin creating a bootable USB drive.

Option 2: Create a Bootable USB Using WoeUSB

  1. Open a Terminal window from the Dash. Run this command to add PPA repositories of Ubuntu:
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8

  2. After having added the source above, you’ll update your system. In terminal, type:
    sudo apt-get update
  3. Next, type this command to install WoeUSB on Ubuntu:
    sudo apt install woeusb

  4. Once WoeUSB is installed, insert your USB flash drive and Start WoeUSB.
  5. Choose the “From a disk image(iso)” option, browse to the ISO Image you would like WoeUSB to put on USB. Make sure the correct USB drive is selected and click Install.

Comments Off on Best Tools to Create a Bootable USB Drive on Ubuntu »

Posted in Free Software, Others, Tips & Tricks

Tags:

Import Chrome / Firefox / IE Bookmarks and Passwords into Microsoft Edge

July 10th, 2017 by Admin

Is there any way to export favorites, bookmarks and passwords from Chrome to Edge in Windows 10? Since the public release of the Windows 10 Creators Update (version 1703), this is now possible. This tutorial will show you how to import bookmarks and passwords from Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer to Microsoft Edge in Windows 10, without using third-party software.

How to Import Chrome/Firefox/IE Bookmarks and Passwords to Edge?

  1. To get started, open Microsoft Edge and click the More button (three dots icon) near the top right-hand corner of the browser window, and then choose Settings.

    edge-settings

  2. Then select the Import from another browser button.

    import-favorites -into-edge

  3. Under the “Import your info” section, you can see the browsers that have already been installed on your local PC. Choose the browser you want to import bookmarks/passwords from, and click Import.

    import-bookmarks-passwords-into-edge

    You can alternatively use the Import from file button to import a bookmarks file you previously saved with another browser.

  4. After a while, you’ll find the imported bookmarks appear in a newly-created folder named “Imported from browser name” under the Favorites section.

Using this method you can easily import bookmarks/favorites, browsing history and saved passwords from Internet Explorer and Chrome to Edge. But the current version can import only bookmarks from Firefox. If you want to export or reveal saved passwords in Firefox or other browsers, you can try the all-in-one password utility – Password Recovery Bundle. That’s it!

Comments Off on Import Chrome / Firefox / IE Bookmarks and Passwords into Microsoft Edge »

Posted in Free Software, Others, Tips & Tricks

Tags:

2 Ways to Reset Chrome to Default Settings without Reinstall

April 25th, 2017 by Admin

Have you messed up with your Chrome profile settings? Chrome is running slow and you have adware or pop-up ads problems? In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 ways to reset your Google Chrome settings and data to default without reinstall.

Method 1: Reset Chrome to default from Chrome settings

This will reset your homepage, new tab pages, and search engine, disable your extensions and unpin all tabs. It will also clear other temporary and cached data, such as cookies, content and site data. However, your saved bookmarks and passwords will not be cleared or changed.

  1. Open your Chrome browser, and then click the More icon (with three lines or dots) in the upper-right corner and select Settings.

    chrome-menu

  2. Chrome’s Settings should now be displayed in a new tab. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the Show advanced settings link.

    chrome-settings

  3. Scroll down to the Reset settings section, as shown in the screenshot below. Click on the Reset settings button.

    reset-chrome-settings

  4. A pop-up window will come up and ask for confirmation the restoration process.

    confirm-resetting-chrome

    Once you click Reset, you will get clean and default Google Chrome.

Method 2: Reset Chrome to default by deleting the user profile

Another way of resetting Chrome to default settings is to delete your Chrome profile. This will completely reset all Chrome settings to default and delete your browser profiles, themes, extensions, bookmarks, history, cache, passwords, cookies, and web form auto-fill information. Here’s how:

  1. Open your Chrome browser, and then click the More icon (with three lines or dots) in the upper-right corner and select Settings.
  2. In the People section of the Settings page, select your current profile and click the Remove button underneath. After deleting, Chrome will automatically set up a new profile with default settings.

    delete-chrome-profile

  3. All of your chrome user data, bookmarks, history, cookies and cache will be cleared, and you will get fresh Google Chrome running on your computer.

If you want to remove data and settings for all Chrome profiles, just open Windows Explorer and go to the directory C:\Users\user_name\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data, delete all files in it. That’s it!

Comments Off on 2 Ways to Reset Chrome to Default Settings without Reinstall »

Posted in Free Software, Others, Tips & Tricks

Tags:

Ophcrack No Tables Found? How to Install?

December 5th, 2016 by Admin

When I launch Ophcrack Live CD on the computer, it boots up and says “No Tables Found”. However, when I look at the contents of the CD, tables are there. Any suggestions?

Ophcrack is a free Linux Live CD that cracks Windows login passwords by using LM/NT hashes through rainbow tables. The most common issue you may experience with Ophcrack is “Tables not found” or “No tables found”. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to manually install rainbow tables into Ophcrack Live CD.

Tips: A rainbow table is just a large database of precomputed hashes for a comprehensive set of passwords. But there are no guarantees Ophcrack will find a match for your password.

Ophcrack No Tables Found? How to Install?

Before getting started, browse to the Ophcrack Live CD you created and check if the “tables” directory is empty. If it’s empty, you need to download the rainbow tables from Ophcrack website. Unzip it and copy the contents to a USB thumb drive. Follow these steps to install rainbow tables into Ophcrack:

  1. When you see the warning “No tables found“, press Enter key as the screen indicates.

    ophcrack-no-tables-found

  2. Select “Ophcrack (Run Ophcrack QT graphical interface)” from the options that come up, and press OK.

    ophcrack-launcher

  3. When Ophcrack launches, click on the Tables button in the toobar. In the popup window, you might see no tables are installed. Click the Install button at the bottom.

    install-rainbow-table

  4. Browse to the rainbow table directory located in your CD or the USB thumb drive, and then click the Choose button.

    select-rainbow-table

  5. In the Table Selection dialog, you should see your table was installed on disk. Click OK.

    ophcrack-tables-installed

  6. Now you can load the SAM hive into Ophcrack, and click the Crack button to recover your password.

    crack-windows-password-with-ophcrack

Comments Off on Ophcrack No Tables Found? How to Install? »

Posted in Free Software, Tips & Tricks

Tags:

How to Disable Any Shortcut Keys in Windows 10 / 8 /7

October 31st, 2016 by Admin

Is there a way to disable certain keyboard shortcuts in Windows? Sometimes or even frequently you might press a hotkey accidentally that can disrupt your productivity. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to use the freeware AutoHotkey to disable any certain global hotkeys (keyboard shortcuts) in Windows 10 / 8 / 7.

How to Disable Any Shortcut Keys in Windows 10 / 8 /7?

In this example, we’ll demonstrate how to disable the [Windows] + [+] hotkey in Windows 10. Just make a few changes with the AutoHotkey script and you can disable other keyboard shortcuts as well.

  1. AutoHotkey is a free, open-source automation and scripting tool for Windows platform. Go to AutoHotkey’s website and download the installer.
  2. After the download is complete, double-click the installer. When you’re asked to choose the installation type, select Express Installation.

    autohotkey-install-type

  3. When the installation is complete, click Exit. Now it’s time to create your first script.

    complete-install-autohotkey

  4. Right-click any empty space on your desktop (or any directory), and then select New -> AutoHotkey Script from the context menu.

    new-autohotkey-script

  5. Name the script file whatever you like, then open it up with your favorite text editor or NotePad.

    edit-autohotkey-script

  6. Place your cursor at the end of the last sentence and press Enter. Copy and paste the following line which tells AutoHotkey to disable the [Windows] + [=] / [+] shortcut key.
    #=::Return

    disable-windows-plus-hotkey

    In this case, the # symbol represents the Windows key. Here’s an example script to disable Alt + Tab, Windows + Tab, Left/Right Windows key:

    ; Disable Alt+Tab
    !Tab::Return

    ; Disable Windows Key + Tab
    #Tab::Return

    ; Disable Left Windows Key
    LWin::Return

    ; Disable Right Windows Key
    RWin::Return

  7. Save the script file. Right-click on it and select Run Script. Now press the [Windows] + [+] keyboard shortcut and you’ll find nothing happen. This way allows you to temporarily disable your desire shortcut keys by running the script manually.

    run-autohotkey-script

If you want to permanently disable the shortcut key, you can create a scheduled task to run your AutoHotkey script when your PC starts up.

Comments Off on How to Disable Any Shortcut Keys in Windows 10 / 8 /7 »

Posted in Free Software, Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista

How to Export and Copy Local Group Policy Settings to Another PC

October 14th, 2016 by Admin

“I am editing local group policies here and would prefer not to edit each machine manually. How do I export the policy, and then import it to other machines? Please help!”

LGPO.exe (Local Group Policy Object Utility) is a small command-line utility released by Microsoft, which allows you to export and import local group policy easily. It’s really convenient if you want to make a backup of local group policy, or import it later on another computer.

This tutorial shows you how to use Microsoft’s command line tool LGPO to export / backup local group policy settings, and import them into another computer.

Download LGPO from Microsoft

Download the LGPO zip archive from Microsoft’s website. Unpack it locally and copy the resulting LGPO.exe file to C:\Windows\System32. Afterwards you can open an elevated Command Prompt for running the LGPO command to automate the management of local group policy.

LGPO

Export Local Group Policy Settings

To create a backup for local policy policy settings on your local PC, run this command at Command Prompt:
LGPO.exe /b backup_path

backup-local-group-policy-via-cmd

A new folder with GPO GUID appears in the target directory. It will contain all local policy settings for this computer. You can restore this backup to your local machine at any time you need it, or import it later into another computer.

group-policy-backup

Import GPO into Another PC

To restore Local Group Policy settings from the backup, import them by running the following command:
LGPO.exe /g backup_path

import-group-policy-via-cmd

Once imported, restart your computer for the local group policy settings to take effect.

Conclusion

This method can help you easily deploy local group policy settings to other computers. As we all know, the Local Group Policy Editor is not present in Windows Home edition so you’re unable to edit the group policy locally. The LGPO utility makes it possible to copy the group policy settings from Windows Pro/Enterprise to Windows Home.

Comments Off on How to Export and Copy Local Group Policy Settings to Another PC »

Posted in Free Software, Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Tags:

Tutorial: How to Restore iPhone from Encrypted iTunes Backup

July 12th, 2016 by Admin

Lost your iPhone notes due to accidental deletion? How can I restore SMS messages from a backup previously made by iTunes? Or you need to restore iTunes backup to a new iPhone? In this tutorial we’ll walk you through the steps of restoring iPhone from encrypted iTunes backup.

How to Restore iPhone from Encrypted iTunes Backup?

Connect your iPhone to your computer and start iTunes. Wait until the little iPhone icon appears in the toolbar of iTunes. Click the iPhone icon and it will take you to the Summary page.

Under the Backups section, click the “Restore Backup…” button.

restore-backup

If you recently synced your iPhone with iTunes or performed an iPhone backup via iTunes, you will have several backup entries to choose from. Select the latest backup entry appearing under the most recent date and click Restore.

choose-itunes-backup

You’ll be prompted to enter the iTunes backup password. You are not be able to restore the encrypted backup to any device without the password. If you’ve forgotten it, you can crack the password with iTunesKey.

iphone-backup-password

Once your typed password is verified, iTunes will overwrite the iPhone contents and settings with the ones contained in the backup file. After the restore is complete, you’ll have your original iPhone data recovered.

Comments Off on Tutorial: How to Restore iPhone from Encrypted iTunes Backup »

Posted in Free Software, Tips & Tricks

Tags:

Tutorial: How to Encrypt Your iTunes Backup with Password

July 11th, 2016 by Admin

It’s a good practice to create a backup of your iPhone in iTunes in case you accidentally delete your iPhone data. One important problem with iTunes backup is that it’s not encrypted by default. If you create a local backup stored on a computer, your backup could be accessed by anyone who has physical access to your computer. To prevent data leakage or data loss, I would recommend you encrypt your iTunes backup with a password.

How to Encrypt Your iTunes Backup with Password?

  1. Connect your iPhone to a computer (or Mac) with iTunes installed. Launch iTunes and then click on the little iPhone icon in the upper toolbar. This takes you to the Summary page.

    iphone-icon

  2. Under the Summary page, you will see a section called Backups. Check This computer and also check Encrypt iPhone backup checkbox.

    encrypt-itunes-backup

  3. You will be asked to create a password that will used to encrypt your iTunes backup. Make sure you set a good password you won’t forget.

    set-itunes-backup-password

    If you’re running Mac OS X, there is an additional option lets you save the password in Keychain access, and I don’t suggest you ticking that option.

  4. Once you clicked the Set Password button, iTunes will encrypt all your local backup immediately.

    backing-up-iphone

  5. When it’s done, you can verify that your backup is encrypted. Within iTunes, click the Edit menu and select Preferences.

    itunes-preferences

  6. Once the Preferences window opens, click the Devices tab. If you spot a tiny lock icon in the row of your latest backup, it indicates your iTunes backup is encrypted successfully.

    itunes-encrypted-backup

After encrypting your iTunes backup with a password, nobody can restore a device from the backup without knowing your password. The data in the backup is encrypted too, and no need to worry about data leak even when your computer is stolen.

Comments Off on Tutorial: How to Encrypt Your iTunes Backup with Password »

Posted in Free Software, Others, Tips & Tricks

Tags:

Remove PST File Password with Freeware pst19upg

June 30th, 2016 by Admin

How to remove forgotten password from Outlook PST file? If you do not remember the password to your PST file, you lose access to mail messages in the file. In such situations, it is necessary to remove / unlock PST password.

pst-password

Many years ago, Microsoft released a free utility called pst19upg.exe which was originally designed to upgrade the PST format to version 19. One of the side effects is that it can strip out PST password. In this tutorial we’ll walk you the steps of removing PST file password using the freeware pst19upg.exe.

How to Remove PST File Password with Freeware pst19upg?

Before getting started, close your Outlook application and make a backup of your Outlook PST file in case the PST file gets damaged or corrupted. Assuming that you’re going to remove password for a PST file stored in the C:\backup directory. Follow these steps:

  1. Download these two utilities pst19upg.zip and scanpst.zip, save them to your local folder C:\backup and unzip. pst19upg.exe is the built-in tool available in Outlook 2003 or even older version, while you can access scanpst.exe from any Outlook version.

    pst19upg

  2. Run the scanpst.exe tool. Click Browse to select your PST file and click Start.

    inbox-repair-tool

  3. After the scan is complete, a dialog reports the errors found. Click on Repair button to repair the PST file.

    repair-pst

  4. When it’s done, the scanpst.exe utility will show a “Repair complete” message. Click OK.

    repair-complete

  5. Now open the Command Prompt by pressing Windows + R key combination and typing cmd. Type the following command and press Enter. This will convert your pst file to .psx format.
    C:\backup\pst19upg.exe -x C:\backup\outlook-copy.pst

    convert-pst-to-psx

  6. When complete, type the following command and press Enter. This will create a password-free pst file from the psx file.
    C:\backup\pst19upg.exe -i C:\backup\outlook-copy.psx

    convert-psx-to-pst

  7. Now you’ve successfully removed the PST password. Run the scanpst.exe file to repair the newly-created pst file. After that, copy this PST file to the original location and you can then open Outlook application without prompting you to enter PST password.

This pst19upg.exe tool will work only on MS Outlook 2003 and earlier versions and it can process ANSI formatted PST files only. If you need to remove the password of Unicode PST file, you have to use the third party software – Outlook Password Recovery, which supports all the Outlook versions.

Comments Off on Remove PST File Password with Freeware pst19upg »

Posted in Free Software, Tips & Tricks

Tags: