Can't Right Click A Site?

Are you ever frustrated that when you want to copy something from a website, you can not do it because the webmaster turned off the ability to right-click(1)? This is true to content rich sites and other financial online pages like banks that deploy codes to protect their contents from unauthorized copying or to make certain data like account numbers and balances harder to copy, edit and reproduce in digital form. This easy tactic would be enough for regular users to leave the site's contents alone. But of course there are ways of getting round to this problem.

Taking a snapshot using print screen is a straightforward no fuss solution but  you will not be able to edit the screen captured text  in a word document as it is in a photo format, unless you have an optical character recognition program installed. But before going complicated, here are two  a simple solutions for this problem.

Use keyboard shortcut.

By using the ctrl+c in your keyboard, the copy function overrides the java code that disables the ability to right-click. To do this, highlight the contents you want to copy by left clicking and dragging the cursor through the end of the target content,  then press ctrl + c on your keyboard(2).

The highlighted content will be saved on the clipboard.  If you are just after the text content, open up notepad and click paste(4) from the edit(2) menu.

Use sequence keyboard clicks.

Another way to do this is to follow a sequence of keyboard clicks that works the same as the first. Here's how.

• Whilst on the "non right clickable site", highlight the content you want to copy by left clicking and dragging the cursor,  then hold and press the right mouse button continuously, at this point the site's warning appears(5),

• With a finger of your other hand, click enter, the warning sign will disappear(6)

• Then let go of the right mouse button , the right click(7) menu or copy button appears! Press the copy button and the highlighted portion will be available from the clipboard to paste in a document or text program!

How To Uninstall Fake Privacy Guard

Just a few moments ago, my mobile antivirus (Avast) has been detecting a trojan infection on my mobile. I was not aware of installing any unusual application other than the cleaning tool to reclaim more space to my already depleted microsd card. In the process, I think I have chosen the wrong application and in the process had encountered a trojan, a program that looks harmless until it bites later on.

The cleaning app is not a problem at all, but the bundled  "privacy guard app". I can say that it was bundled because I did not remember downloading it.  This app mimicked the legit app LEO Privacy Guard and it copied it's logo as well.

The problem begins

Avast antivirus keeps on detecting it and flashing a notice to uninstall it. What makes it real annoying is I have uninstalled it many times then after 2 to 3 minutes on every uninstallation, it reinstalls itself. Avast antivirus detects it and tells me to uninstall again. I was thinking a false positive and installed AVG but the same result and warning persisted.

Can't find a solution even on google

I have googled for a solution on how to uninstall it but all it is showing was the legit application LEO Privacy Guard. It seems like this infection is new as I have not encountered anyone with the same problem as I have.

Temporary solution

At the time of this post, I am not yet  not able to get rid of it, but I managed to stop it from installing itself by disabling USB debugging. Access this going to Settings>General>Developer Options>Untick USB Debugging. This feature is off by default, I just let it on because I usually connect and transfer files to my laptop. It proved that this is not really a  good idea to always  set to on.

If you do have a tip on how to remove this, then it would be much appreciated!

Update: 14.May.2015

The fake Privacy Guard application stopped to automatically install itself after 3 days. I did not do anything special but I have added another internet security in my system. Although Kaspersky did not detect anything suspicious after the first scan, the rogue application did not manage to appear in the scan results even after using AVG and Avast with the USB debugging on!

How To Hack Hidden Friends On Facebook

If you noticed that some of your friends on facebook are only showing mutual friends when you click their friend's list, then this is because they set this not to show to the public.This is easily set by clicking the pen icon and editing privacy(1) to show just for the account holder(only me  option) (2). I myself use this security feature because I do not want any of my friends to be bothered by anyone from my list of friends. This is one way of showing respect to their privacy.

Until yesterday, I was very confident that this feature is well secured, considering the seriousness of FB on privacy. But by using an extension for Chrome, the hidden friends can be revealed. Here's how.

Facebook Friend Mapper

How to install it

Obviously, you need to have chrome browser to start with. If you have it already go to Google Chrome Web Store and search for facebook friend mapper or click directly below.

 https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/dacebook%20friend%20mapper

• Scroll down to the "extensions" and click "+ Free" button(3) to add(4) it as an extension.

• Check if the new extension is enabled by clicking the menu  >settings>extensions and making sure enabled(5) is ticked.

• Close chrome and restart it.

How to use it 

• Go to facebook and you will notice an additional feature at the friends button, reveal friends(6). 

• Click the friends button and select a friend (7) that only shows mutual friends. 

• Click reveal friends (8) and the magic begins as the software (9) maps the hidden friends.

(Trouble shooting)

If at this point the "reveal friends" extension does not appear, refresh your browser until it shows. You may need to wait 3 seconds for every refresh to let the extension integrate inself to the FB interface.

• The revealed  hidden list.

Last Words.

If you are concerned about your friend's privacy and already using the only me feature on your friend's list to hide them, then there's nothing you can do at the moment until FB finds a way of patching the hole of "mutual friend's" access to interconnected FB profiles. So whilst the extension is still working, better make use of it!

How Can A Friend Hack You?

Hacking one's account is not as easy as those portrayed in the movies like tapping away on a keyboard and viola, the username and password is cracked. It needs more than the hacker's keystrokes. It also needs the victim's participation.

If  any of our online accounts is compromised, we blame it to a virus that managed to sneak into our device and revealed our user name and  password to hackers. And usually, this problem is brought about by downloading programs that are bundled with malwares that exploit backdoors for viruses to gain access in the computer undetected by antivirus.

Or a socially engineered post where the hacker set loose usually into the social media, specially FB, that can persuade a user to reveal his user name and password by making him log in again just  to see the controversial post's content.

But little did we know that we can also be hacked by a friend.  Yes, any of our friends can hack us under this three minimum conditions.

1. You let the computer save your credentials when you log in.
2. Your friend has borrowed or used  your laptop, with or without your knowledge.
3. Your widows profile doesn't have a password or you let him use your he your windows password.

How can a friend easily do this?

If you have saved your user name and password when the browser asked you to, then this is a possibility. Because the saved detail is not hidden from the world. Although it is substituted by asterisk or cloaking characters when it is accessed, the value can still be revealed in a single click. 

Chrome

For chrome users, he just need to type  chrome://settings/passwords in the search bar, highlight and click the saved website, then click show(1).

Gle chromeoog would ask him to enter the user's windows password. If  this user has a password and he doesn't know then he can not access it, but if it doesn't, then clicking OK(2) will reveal (3)it.

The same with other browsers, there is an access button on all saved passwords. although some of them do not ask for the windows profile password which is not a good thing. Here's how to extract passwords from other browsers.

 Firefox

Clicking the menu button  will bring you to the menu window, click options(4) to get to security(5). The saved passwords button(6) will show the user names(7) and the websites it is used.

The show password (8) will add another column for passwords and reveals the hidden item (9)without another challenge or another layer of security like asking for windows password. This is a security concern when using this browser.

Opera

The same with chrome, this browser will ask you for a windows password when you want to reveal the password. In it's address bar type opera://settings/passwords (10) to get you to the relevant page. Click Privacy and Security(11)>Manage saved password(12), the saved username and the sites that is used are listed(13). Highlight the website you want to know the password(14) and click show. A security feature calls for the windows user password to be entered(15), and if there's no user password, clicking the OK button will show the cloaked password just the same.

Last Words.

Now you know where your saved passwords go when you let your computer "remember" your log in. Sometimes we do not realize the importance of a windows user password specially when we create it as a regular profile. In reality, that password could be a life saver againsts naughty friends or anybody who wants to play trick on your passwords and logins. Also keep in mind that not all browsers are equal in terms of security and in how they handle sensitive data like passwords.

How To Check If Antivirus Is Working

Internet threats are always there. They evolve through time and get more sophisticated each day. Thanks to the coders of internet securities that these threats are contained or at least controlled to further do more damage. We know what antivirus is and what it does, but how do we know if it is doing it's job properly or not? How can we test them?

EICAR Anti-VIrus Test File.

The European Expert Group for IT-Security (EICAR) has produced a test file that anti-virus products react to as a real virus, although it is not real and not harmful. It consists of 68 characters, all in upper cases.

X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*

Here's two ways to do it.

1. Create and scan EICAR virus.

This test shows how vigilant your antivirus to malicious files that could be downloaded as a bundle with other legitimate programs or  and installs itself.

Open up notepad(1), highlight(2) and copy(3) the 68 characters above then paste(4) it to notepad. Click file and save it as EICAR.exe(5).

Once saved on the desktop(6), restart you computer and your anti-virus should detect this as a threat(7). This means your anti-virus is protecting you. If it does not then re-install your antivirus or download another one.

2. Download, unzip and run EICAR virus file

The browser should be the first line of defense against internet threats, as it is the portal for the outside world of getting into the computer. Therefore, a secure browser should already be giving the red signal on not to proceed when it encounters this as a downloadable link.

Here's how to do it.

Open your favourite browser and click the link below.

http://www.eicar.org/download/eicar_com.zip

Your browser should already be flagging this download.I tested it on Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari for Windows(I used Windows 7 during the test), and Vivaldi.

The result was Chrome, Firefox and Vivaldi blocked this file, although you need to see the download folder for firefox to know that it is blocked.

On the other hand Internet Explorer , Opera and the un updated Safari for Windows proceeded with the download.

With the 3 browsers failing to stop the download of a "malicious" file, it is now up to the anti-virus to give your computer a protection when running the downloaded file.

Go to the downloaded file and click on it to unzip it. If you do not have a zip file archiever download winrar at http://www.download-free-soft.net/listing/122596/winrar?find=winrar&cols=15&mode=2

Click (8)on the program(.com extension) to run it, and a working  anti-virus (9)should not let this happen!

Last Words.

Sometimes, like all softwares, antivirus could become temperamental that it needs to be re-installed and tested in order to be sure that it is giving us the most security we need from internet threats. Not to mention that it also needs updating to the latest version and data base definitions. The same with browsers, whatever we choose to use, we need to make sure they are the latest versions.