Archive for the ‘Others’ category

3 Best Free Password Managers

June 12th, 2012 by Admin

Most of us end up having so many different passwords for different websites, that sometimes it becomes really hard to remember them. Writing them anywhere would defeat the whole purpose of having a password. A very simple solution is a Password Manager. Password Manager is a software that securely stores all your passwords, and you are provided with one master password to access all your passwords. This means that you need to remember just one password.

We have reviewed many free password managers. Here is a list of the best 3 free password managers that we have come across. All of these are extremely easy to use, very secure, and completely free. Some have more features than others. So, go through the list, and see which one fits your needs.

Note:  Almost all available password manger utilities use some kinds of irreversible encryption algorithms to secure your password. So if you forgot the password to log in to your password manager software, it’s unable to recover all logins and passwords saved by the application. But you can still give a try with Password Recovery Bundle, it can help you reset forgotten Windows login password, unlock MS Office / PDF document, recover passwords from email clients and instant messengers, etc.

1. KeePass

KeppPass Password Manager is my favorite Password Manager. It is extremely secure, and uses advanced algorithms for encrypting your information. Apart from passwords, it stores website URL, login name, and password. So, if you want to open a website, and add login information to that, just double click on that in KeePass Safe, and it will take care of that for you. This makes it extremely useful. Apart from that, you can carry it in your Flash drive so you can use it on any system. It works on almost all OS, including, Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and FreeBSD.

2. iPassMan

iPassMan is another useful password manager. It works a lot like KeePass. You can store name of website, and the corresponding login information. You can also add some notes for your login information. To run a website, you can directly click on it in iPassMan, and it will open the website for you, and also fill in the login information. It works only on Windows.

3. MyPadlock

MyPadlock Password Manager is a secure and simple password manager that allows the user to keep all the password under “lock and key” on their PC and is only accessible if they know a master password that is created by the user on initial configuration. This master password will be the only password which needs to be created.

MyPadlock has using 128-bit AES encryption to encrypt all the password into an encrypted file and keep into hard drive. The file is also encrypted with password and will automatically logged off in a few minutes to ensure that the users don’t leave the password open to anyone while they were away from their desk.

So which password manager is right for you? Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide what features you want. If these free password manager utilities can’t meet your needs, you can also consider purchasing commercial software such as LastPass, RoboForm, 1Password, etc.

Create a Windows System Repair Disc for Emergency Use

June 11th, 2012 by Admin

When faced with a computer that won’t start most people tend to panic, worried that all the data on their PC is gone forever. There are many reasons why a computer won’t boot up, it may be due to a blue screen, virus infect or some critical system files are missing or damaged. I don’t know when you are going to have your next computer disaster but I’m sure you are going to have one. So it is always a good idea to prepare a Windows System Repair Disc for emergency use.

Windows System Repair Disc allows users to boot the computer and load Windows Recovery Environment. Windows Recovery Environment offers users a set of recovery tools to help diagnose the problems, recover serious technical errors and restore the computer from a system image. Users can create this repair disc and bring along with their computer/laptop for any emergency use.

Let’s go through the steps you need to do to create a system repair disc that you can use to repair your system.

Part 1: Creating A System Repair Disc

Before you proceed, insert a blank CD/DVD into your CDROM in order to create a system repair disk.

Press Windows + R key combination to bring up the Run box. Type recdisc and press Enter. Another option is to click Start > All Programs > Maintenance > Create a System Repair Disc.

The dialog box opens where you select the right drive and click Create disc.

Windows system will start to prepare the necessary files.

And proceed to create the disc.

After a while, a System Repair Disc will be fine. It only takes up 142MB of space.

Part 2: How To Use A System Repair Disc

If you are having problems with your machine  or the system is failed to boot, just pop in the System Repair Disc and boot from it and enter into Windows Setup [EMS Enabled].

 After it boots up you can access recovery tools or restore the computer back to a system image.

Now you can choose from different recovery options to help you get your machine back up and running.

You never know when an operating system disaster might occur, but having a System Repair Disc is advisable in case it does. Even though this repair disc doesn’t allow users to reinstall the whole Windows OS, it can be a pretty useful tool to boot up Windows and allow users to backup some important data without much delay.

How to Change SA Password in SQL Server 2005

June 11th, 2012 by Admin

Forgot SQL Server password and unable to login using the SA account? If you happen to forget your SQL Server password for sa account, then here’s a simple query to help you reset it:

GO
ALTER LOGIN sa WITH DEFAULT_DATABASE=master
GO
USE master
GO
ALTER LOGIN sa WITH PASSWORD=N'MyNewPassword' MUST_CHANGE
GO

In case you remember your old password and want to change the sa password, use this query:

ALTER LOGIN sa WITH PASSWORD = N'MyNewPassword' OLD_PASSWORD = 'MyOldPassword';
GO

You aslo can get a third-party tool to change SQL password. SQL Server Password Changer is one of the best MS SQL password reset tools which can help you change SQL Server password in a few seconds. It allows you to change SQL sa password on SQL Server and Express 2000/2005/2008.

How to Recover MDB Password of MS Access Database

June 10th, 2012 by Admin

MS Access MDB files are used to save data in database form. We can protect MS Access database with password for the security reasons. Sometimes you may forget the password of those files. In some cases we have to search for sample databases or project source databases on the internet or copying from friend’s computer. After the downloading, the Ms Access files encrypt with password by provider. If there is no hint or password from the uploader, what will you do? There is always a way to recover or unlock MDB password of MS Access database.

Access Password Recovery
is a small yet powerful software to recover MDB password from protected MS Access database.  Instantly unlock MS Access database, if you don’t know the original password. This software recovers the password-protected MDB files created with Microsoft Access 95/97/2000/Xp/2003.

How to Recover MDB Password of MS Access Database?

  1. Launch the Access Password Recovery program.
  2. Click the Start Recovery button, the File Open dialog box will appear. Select your password-protected MS Access database, then click the Openbutton.Access Password Recovery
  3. The program will decrypt and recover your MS Access password instantly.Access Password Recovery

MS Access uses a very weak encryption algorithm to encode the password, so you can recover MDB file password easily and quickly, no matter how strong the password is set.

Cisco Router Password Recovery Tutorial

June 7th, 2012 by Admin

If you work with Cisco routers I guarantee you will at some stage attempt to login to a router only to discover you can’t remember the password. When this happens you will be forced to execute the Cisco router password recovery process. Please note this specific process is primarily for Cisco 3600 and 3800 routers although may work on other models. Please check the Cisco website for more details.

1. Connect a standard rollover cable (console cable) to the router using the console port. Open a terminal emulation application (such as Hyper Terminal on Windows) and connect with the following settings:

  • 9600 baud rate
  • No parity
  • 8 data bits
  • 1 stop bit
  • No flow control

2. Power on the router and execute the break sequence in the first 90 seconds. Each terminal emulation application has its own break sequence, for example in Hyper Terminal on Windows simply click the “Break” key.

3. The router will now enter ROMMON. Enter “config-register 0x2142” and press return. This step bypasses the startup configuration where the existing passwords are stored. Next type “reset”, which reboots the router but ignores the saved configuration.

4. Once the router has rebooted answer “No” to all the initial setup procedure questions. Next enter enable mode by typing “en” and copy the start-up configuration to the running configuration by typing “copy startup-config running-config”.

5. Type “conf t” and then “enable secret <password>” in order to change the enable password.

6. Finally type “config-register 0x2102” and “write mem” to save the running-configuration to the startup configuration.

When the router re-boots, you will be able to access it using the new password you previously configured.

How to Change Directory Service Restore Mode (DSRM) Password

June 7th, 2012 by Admin

Directory Service Restore Mode (DSRM) password is set during the installation of Active Directory on a server. This password will be required when you boot up your domain controller in Directory Service Restore Mode by pressing F8. DSRM is required to restore the Active Directory database. Since, DSRM is used very rarely, there are chances that administrators might forget the password. This post explains an easy method to reset your DSRM password without knowing the old one.

Resetting DSRM password is possible on Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 domain controller using NTDSUTIL command.

Follow below simple steps to reset DSRM passoword:

  1. Open the command prompt in administrative mode.
  2. Type NTDSUTIL and hit enter
  3. Type SET DSRM PASSWORD and hit enter
  4. Type RESET PASSWORD ON SERVER NULL and hit enter
  5. Now you type the password that you wish to configure and hit enter
  6. Retype the password and again hit enter
  7. Type QUIT and exit NTDSUTIL

Here NULL denotes the server that you are logged in. If you want reset DSRM password on a remote computer, type the computer name instead of NULL.

If you forgot DSRM password or domain administrator password, you can always reset the password using Reset Windows Password – A professional password recovery software which enables you to create a Windows password reset disk and reset lost local administrator, domain administrator and DSRM passwords easily.

 

How to Add a Computer to Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Domain?

June 7th, 2012 by Admin

This post is for newbies, for the people who are learning Windows Server and Active Directory administration. Follow below steps for adding a computer or a member server to Windows Server 2008 Active Directory based domain.

  1. Go to Run and type ‘NCPA.CPL’ and launch Network settings.
  2. Configure IP address, Subnet Mask, Gateway IP (if any) and DNS IP address.
  3. Ensure connectivity by pining to DNS server / Domain Controller.
  4. Right click on ‘Computer’ and click on properties. Click on ‘Change Settings’.
  5. Click on ‘Change’ button at System Properties.
  6. Select ‘Domain’ and provide domain name. In this example its ‘training’.
  7. Click OK and provide user name and password of Domain Admin  or any other authorized user name.
  8. Reboot the computer to enable the changes.

If your are getting any errors while adding the computer to domain, there seems to be connection issues with Domain Controller. Go to the AD server and check if it is functioning properly. Also check the DNS IP configuration at the client computer. It should be pointing to the correct AD / DNS server.

If you forgot domain administrator password for your Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, you can easily reset the password using Password Recovery Bundle 2012.

How to Run a Program with Administrator Rights on Windows 7/Vista/XP

June 6th, 2012 by Admin

How to run a program with administrator rights on Windows 7/Vista/XP: Typically when you launch a program that requires administrative rights in Windows 7 or Vista, you are prompted for administrator credentials to continue. Sometimes, programs that were designed for older systems such as Windows XP may not even run or could be limited in functionality if they are not launched with administrator rights. In the following tutorial, I’ll cover the process of launching a program with administrator credentials. In addition I’ll show you how to make it so that programs are automatically launched with administrator rights and how to ensure that they run compatible with Vista if the program was produced for an older version of Windows.

How to run a program with Administrator Rights on Windows 7/Vista/XP:

  1. Browse to the program you would like to launch as an administrator.
  2. Right click the program icon and select the option to “Run as administrator“.

If all works well when the program is running as administrator, you can opt to always run the program as administrator. In addition, you might want to run the program in compatibility mode for an older version of Windows.

How to set a program to always run as administrator:

  1. Locate the program you want to launch with admin rights.
  2. Right click the program icon and choose the properties option.
  3. Select the compatibility tab from the window that appears.
  4. At the bottom of the window, under privilege level, check the box to run this program as administratorNote: you may also want to run this run this program in compatibility mode if it was originally created for another version of Windows such as Windows XP. To do this simply check the box to run this program in compatibility mode for: and then select the compatible Windows environment from the drop down menu.
  5. Once finished setting your options, click Apply to accept the changes.

Enjoy!

How to Recover Windows 7 Password Using Ophcrack

June 4th, 2012 by Admin

Forgot Windows 7 password and can’t log on to your local account on the laptop or desktop? I believe that you’ve faced this issue several times. There are tons of free tools which can be used to recover Windows 7 password. One of the most popular software is Ophcrack, which can run from a CD or USB drive and enable you to recover Windows 7 password without reinstalling.

Note:  Ophcrack is only intended for computer geek, not ordinary, nontechnical folk. For average computer users, the most efficient and easiest way is to use Reset Windows Password utility.

Ophcrack is a free (open source) Windows password cracker/recovery tool based on rainbow tables. It is a very efficient implementation of rainbow tables done by the inventors of the method. It comes with a Graphical User Interface and could be used to recover Windows 7/Vista/XP password.

How to Recover Windows 7 Password Using Ophcrack?

  1. Download the Ophcrack from the official website. When you go to Ophcrack download page you will notice there are LiveCD ISO’s for Windows 7 and Windows XP. Based on the operating system of your locked computer download the ISO for that operating system (Windows 7 or XP). It won’t hurt to download both because you never know when you might need them.
  2. Burn the ISO image on to a CD. It will create a bootable CD for you. I use BurnCDCC for this. You can use anything you like.
  3. Now put the CD into the CD-ROM and make sure you set CD/DVD as the first boot device inside the computer BIOS.
  4. When it boots from the CD, you will see the list of the accounts on the computer.
  5. The machine will do its thing and just leave it. After a while, you will see password has been recovered and displayed on the screen beside the accounts those are not password-protected.
  6. After you see it – remember it just reboot the machine and you should be able to log on to Windows 7 system.