From your email account to your iPhone, it seems that everything requires a password nowadays. With the dozens (or hundreds!) of passwords that everyone is supposed to remember, it’s only natural that many people will take the lazy way out and pick an easy to remember password like, well password!
It turns out that “password” was indeed the most commonly used password on the internet according to a report compiled by SplashData and posted by PC World. The company created the list by examining password dumps posted online by crackers, some from very notable attacks.
- password
- 123456
- 12345678
- qwerty
- abc123
- monkey
- 1234567
- letmein
- trustno1
- dragon
- baseball
- 111111
- iloveyou
- master
- sunshine
- ashley
- bailey
- passw0rd
- shadow
- 123123
- 654321
- superman
- qazwsx
- michael
- football
So what makes a secure password? Well, it should be a minimum of eight characters and should contain a mixture of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. The more characters, the harder it will be to break. You should also avoid using the same password on more than one site, although you can probably reuse passwords for websites that contain no personal information and that you don’t care about being compromised. Another tip is instead of using words, pick a phrase or song lyric and base your password on that. If you’re a Dream Theater fan, for example, maybe you could use “pmu!IamNOTa” for “Pull me under, I am not afraid.”
Another security concern to take into consideration is the fact that some installations of Windows store your password insecurely. This is because older versions of Windows use what is called a LAN Manager Hash, or LMHash for short, and this is an easy hash to break. You could have an ultra-secure 14-character password, but if Windows is not configured to ignore the LMHash it will be stored as two individual seven-character passwords in the system, making a break-in extremely easy. If you’re really paranoid, create a 15-character password because that will always avoid the LMHash vulnerability.
So how do you keep all of these passwords safe? While some may recommend an online password manager, by doing so you’re trusting that nobody on the Internet will be able to intercept your keys. Instead, rely on a desktop solution like TrueCrypt or Password Safe for your security needs.
It’s interesting to note that even a password that appears secure on the surface, such as “qazwsx” is not safe because cracking tools use keyboard patterns in their dictionary as well.
Notepad++ is a free (as in “free speech” and also as in “free beer”) source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages. Running in the MS Windows environment, its use is governed by GPL License.
Based on the powerful editing component Scintilla, Notepad++ is written in C++ and uses pure Win32 API and STL which ensures a higher execution speed and smaller program size. By optimizing as many routines as possible without losing user friendliness, Notepad++ is trying to reduce the world carbon dioxide emissions. When using less CPU power, the PC can throttle down and reduce power consumption, resulting in a greener environment.
Notepad++ 5.9.6.2 Released
11.13.2011
Whats New
• Fix a crash issue while right-clicking on the doc switcher’s column control (“Name” and “Ext.”).
• Reduce the margin of edit zone.
Download: Notepad++
Download: Notepad++ Portable 5.9
iTunes is a free application for Mac and PC. It plays all your digital music and video. It syncs content to your iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV. And it’s an entertainment superstore that stays open 24/7.
- Organize your music into playlists
- Edit file information
- Record compact discs
- Copy files to an iPod or other digital audio player
- Purchase music and videos on the Internet through the built-in iTunes store
- Run a visualizer to display graphical effects in time to the music
- Encode music into a number of different audio formats.
10.5.1 contains these new features/fixes:
– Introducing iTunes Match. Store your entire music library in iCloud, including music you’ve imported from CDs, and enjoy your collection anywhere, anytime, on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, computer, or Apple TV. Note iTunes Match is US-only.
Download: iTunes 10.5.1.42 x86 | 64-bit (Windows) ~70 MB
View: Apple iTunes Website
Mozilla Firefox is a fast, full-featured Web browser. Firefox includes pop-up blocking, tab-browsing, integrated Google search, simplified privacy controls, a streamlined browser window that shows you more of the page than any other browser and a number of additional features that work with you to help you get the most out of your time online.
The Web is all about innovation, and Firefox sets the pace with dozens of new features to deliver a faster, more secure and customizable Web browsing experience for all.
User Experience. The enhancements to Firefox provide the best possible browsing experience on the Web. The new Firefox smart location bar, affectionately known as the “Awesome Bar,” learns as people use it, adapting to user preferences and offering better fitting matches over time.
Performance. Firefox is built on top of the powerful new Gecko platform, resulting in a safer, easier to use and more personal product.
Security. Firefox raises the bar for security. The new malware and phishing protection helps protect from viruses, worms, trojans and spyware to keep people safe on the Web.
Customization. Everyone uses the Web differently, and Firefox lets users customize their browser with more than 5,000 add-ons.
Download: Firefox 8.0.1 for Windows | 14.1 MB (Freeware)
Download: Firefox 8.0.1 for Linux | 17 MB
Download: Firefox 8.0.1 for MacOS | 29 MB
View: Firefox Website | 8.0.1 Changelog | (not yet released)
Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.
One box for everything
Type in the address bar and get suggestions for both search and web pages.
Thumbnails of your top sites
Access your favorite pages instantly with lightning speed from any new tab.
Incognito mode
Don’t want pages you visit to show up in your web history? Choose incognito mode for private browsing.
Safe browsing
Google Chrome warns you if you’re about to visit a suspected phishing, malware or otherwise unsafe website.
Download: Google Chrome 15.0.874.121 | 23 MB (Freeware)
View: Google Chrome Release Blog
BurnAware Free is a full-fledged disc burning tool – fast, lightweight, feature-packed and, most importantly, 100% free. The program burns all types of CD, DVD and Blu-Ray discs containing data, digital photos, music and video. With BurnAware Free, you will be able to create bootable or multisession CDs and DVDs, high-quality audio CDs, make and burn disc images, copy and backup discs.
Features
- Burn Data, Bootable and Multisession discs
- Burn Audio, Video and MP3 discs
- Create and burn ISO/CUE/BIN images
- Copy discs to discs or to ISO images
- Erase rewritable discs
- Extract tracks from Audio CDs
- Extract data from unreadable or multisession discs
Supports
- All media types (CD/DVD/Blu-ray Disc) including Double Layer
- All current hardware interfaces (IDE/SCSI/USB/1394/SATA) including AHCI
- UDF/ISO9660/Joliet file systems (any combination)
- On-the-fly writing (no staging to hard drive first)
- Verification of written files
- Multisession DVD-RW/DVD+RW
- Unicode CD-Text (tracks and disc)
- Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7 (32 and 64 Bit), .Net framework is NOT required
Download: BurnAware 4.2 | 4.3 MB Freeware
Read: Changelog
View: BurnAware Free Website
MP3 Skype Recorder is a software that will help you keep a back-up of all your Skype conversations.
The program stores your conversations locally in files using compact and very popular MP3 format. The tool can record P2P Skype calls and SkypeOut calls as well as calls to Skype Online number. MP3 Skype Recorder remains active in the system tray and monitors your Skype calls. It starts recording automatically when you begin conversation. It can record several calls simultaneously (one active with others on hold). When doing so the recorder stores every call in separate file for later use.
Simple and intuitive interface requires almost no tuning. All you have to do is install the program and provide it with access to the Skype client.
Key features of MP3 Skype Recorder:
- Automatic or manual recording capabilities.
- Compact format of stored records (mp3 files).
- May be used to record P2P, SkypeOut calls and calls made to Online number .
- Capable to track simultaneous calls and to save them separately.
- Easy integration with Skype Conference recording.
- Intuitive easy to use interface.
MP3 Skype Recorder 3.1.3 changelog:
- Non-Latin destination folder path error.
Download: MP3 Skype Recorder 3.1.3 | 2.4 MB (Freeware)
Screenshot: >> Click Here <<
View: MP3 Skype Recorder Website