Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

Vista Tricks – Open Command Prompt here

October 25th, 2006
by Krishna Mohan

Microsoft Vista is the new operating system which is going to released early next year. It is going to succeed Windows XP. I have been testing all the Beta versions. Recently Microsoft released Release Candidate 2 of this new OS. As RC 2 reflects almost the final form of what Vista will look like when it comes out, I thought of sharing few secrets of Vista. In windows we always look for few tweaks and shortcuts to make our life easier. There are thousands of such tweaks, hacks and secrets for Windows XP. I am going to explain few sectrets I found when trying out Windows Vista in subsequent blogs.

Let me start with my favorite one. Open Command Prompt here. Even though I use mouse a lot, I do switch from explorer to Command Shell. Previously Microsoft Powertoy which used to do the work of Opening Command Prompt from your folder location is now incorporated into Vista.

Right Click Menu on FolderHere’s a trick that I don’t think many people are aware of. Right-click on any folder on your Windows Vista machine while holding down the shift key. You’ll see an extra context-sensitive menu item there: Open Command Prompt here. Just click on this menu and a command window will open with the current working directory set to the folder’s actual location.

Shift + Right Click Menu on FolderWhat’s really cool about this is that if the target folder is a network location, Windows Vista silently maps a network drive to that location before opening the folder (so that your command prompt has a valid path containing a drive letter) and then deletes the network drive once the command prompt is closed.

However this only works on folders in the listview (right-side). It does not work for volumes (drives) or any folders in “Folders” (left-side).

If you want to have the Command Prompt in all the folder context menu copy the following text to notepad and save it as cmdprompt.reg file. Right click and Merge this file into Windows Registry. Make sure you have a valid system restore point before editing the registry.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\Command Prompt Here]
@="Command Prompt Here"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\Command Prompt Here\command]
@="cmd.exe /k \"cd /D %L\""

Command Prompt Here Menu on right ClickAfter Merging this info with the Registry you will have a permanent Right Click menu ” Command Prompt Here” which helps to switch easily from Explorer to Command Shell.

Posted in Vista | Comments (1)

First IE7 / Outlook Express flaw detected in less than 24 hours

October 20th, 2006
by Krishna Mohan

It is not even a day since the launch of Internet Explorer 7, security researchers are already poking holes in the new browser.

Danish security company Secunia reported today that IE7 contains an information disclosure vulnerability, the same one it reported in IE6 in April. The vulnerability affects the final version of IE7 running on Windows XP with Service Pack 2.

If a surfer uses IE7 to visit a maliciously crafted Web site, that site could exploit the security flaw to read information from a separate, secure site to which the surfer is logged in. That could enable an attacker to read banking details, or messages from a Web-mail account, said Thomas Kristensen, Secunia’s chief technology officer.

“A phishing attack would be a good place to exploit this,” he said. One of the security features Microsoft touts for the new browser is the protection it offers users from phishing attacks.

Secunia rates the security flaw as “less critical,” its second-lowest rating, and suggests disabling active scripting support to protect the computer. The flaw could result in the exposure of sensitive information and can be exploited by a remote system, Secunia said in a security advisory posted on its Web site..

Problem does not seems to be from IE7. Instead, the problem lies in a component of Microsoft’s Outlook Express e-mail client, which can be triggered by the browser according to Christopher Budd from Microsoft Security Response Center Blog!

The flaw could be used in phishing attacks to read sensitive information from the IE browser, Secunia said. The Danish security firm first reported the problem with the IE 6 browser in April and found that it could be reproduced on IE 7 as well

Posted in Browsers | Comments (1)

The final release of Internet Explorer 7 available today

October 19th, 2006
by Krishna Mohan

Microsoft has released the final build of IE7 today to customers, with the company expected to push the build by automatic updates on 1st November. With Firefox 2.0 in the horizon (RC3 is out) browser landscape is hotting up.
Internet Explorer 7 can only run on these operating systems:

  • Windows XP Service Pack 2
  • Windows XP Professional x64
  • Windows Server 2003 SP1

You can download IE7 final from

Posted in Browsers | Comments (2)

Page 28 of 28« First...1020...2425262728