How to hide hard drive partition ?

Hi Guys, Today I shall be talking about “How to hide Hard disk partition?”

If you don’t know and you are curious about to learn, this post is perfect for you.

There are the following ways to hide your hard disk partition:-

    1)  DISKPART Command

    2)  Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc )

    3)  Disk Management

    4)  Registry Editor (regedit)

    Lets start with DISKPART command.

    DISKPART:- 

            In this demonstration i shall try to hide my D: partition.

        You have to follow the following steps:-

         Step 1) open command prompt

                        Click on the START button           à       Click on the RUN button

                                                                                    à       type cmd on run window

                                                                                                press ok

       

 

               Step 2) open DISKPART

                   

                           type DISKPART in command prompt window, then press ENTER

            Step 3) type list volume

                    list volume shows the details of the partition, like volume number , letter assign to your volume , free space etc.

                    

           Step 4) type select volume volume_number

                    Here you have to give the volume_number of the partition which you would like to hide. I want to hide my D: partition so i am choosing the corresponding volume_number.

                     select volume 0

          

          Step 5) After selecting the specific volume, type remove letter letter_name.

                    I have selected volume 0, so i shall choose the corresponding letter_name

                    remove letter d

                   

        Now take a look of my D: partition.

                If you want to make the partition visible, you should use the assign letter letter_name command.

                type assign letter d

    Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) :-

        Step 1)  Open Group Policy Editor, 
        click on START       à       RUN        à       type    gpedit.msc  and Enter

         Step 2)  Go to 
                         User Configuration  à  Administrative Templates  à Windows Components   à Windows Explorer

          Click on the Windows Explorer and check for "Hide these specified drives in My Computer" on the right hand side in setting panel 

         Step 3)  To hide a drive double click on "Hide these specified drives in My Computer". Then select Enabled, choose the Drive which you want to hide. Press Apply and OK
   

    To show a hidden drive double click on "Hide these specified drives in My Computer". Then select Disabled, press Apply and OK.

 Disk Management:-

                    Step 1)  right click on My COMPUTER then choose manage.

                    Step 2) click on the DISK MANAGEMENT that comes in Storage section.

                   Step 3) I am trying to hide a D: partition. Right click on the D: Drive Icon on the right hand side panel. Choose Change Drive Letter and Paths and click on Remove Button.

                         

                 

            If you want to show the hidden drive D:/ for that Right click on the unassigned letter drive on the right hand side panel. Choose Change Drive Letter and Paths and click on ADD Button, then assign a letter D:/

Registry Editor (regedit):-

                    Step 1)  click on START    à    RUN    à    type    regedit and Enter.

                    Step 2) Browse to 
                                HKEY_CURRENT_USER  à SOFTWARE  à MICROSOFT  à WINDOWS  à CURRENT VERSION  à POLICIES  à EXPLORER

                    Step 3) check for "NoDrives" file on the right hand panel. If it is not there then you need to create a DWORD file and name it as "NoDrives". For that you have to right click on the Explorer  à New  à DWORD Value

                Step 4) Assign a value to the NoDrives DWORD file.  

                This value is a 32 bit number, and the bits are arranged in reverse order with a value of 1 hiding that drive. For example, if we wanted to hide drives D: we would arrange it like this:

Z	Y	X	W	V	U	T	S	R	Q	P	O	N	M	L	K	J	I	H	G	F	E	D	C	B	A
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0

Converting 1000 to decimal we end up with a decimal value of 8 or a hex value of 0×8, so if you double-click on the key in the registry editor, choose Decimal and then enter 8 into the value field.

                
                Do not forgot to restart your windows after any change in the registry. Then only you can see the effect.

                 

               If you want to show the hidden drive, change the Decimal value of the NoDrives file to 0 or you can delete the NoDrives file also.

             For your reference:-

Drive Letter	Decimal	Hex
A	1	1
B	2	2
C	4	4
D	8	8
E	16	10
F	32	20
G	64	40
H	128	80

Facebook Security Tips and Tricks

Facebook is the most popular site now days. We use Facebook daily here and there. I am sure that all of you are aware of the news about Facebook Account hacking. So many Facebook Account had been hacked. 

Then the automatic question comes into mind that how we can securely use our Facebook Account. Today I am going to share you some tips and tricks about the Facebook Security.

I will be the sharing the details of the following security tips and tricks. They are: -

1. Use a Good Password
2. Do a proper logout
3. Avoid malicious script
4. Avoid Clickjacking
5. Use secure browsing
6. One-time password
7. Monitoring account activity
8. What to do if your account has been hacked
9. Precautions for Malicious script and Clickjacking

1) Use a Good Password:-

Using a good password is a first step of securing your account. Use characters, numbers, and special characters in creation of your password.

Don’t use the same password for all the accounts. If you are using the same password for all the accounts, hackers can easily access your other accounts too. If they can access your mail accounts they can access your valuable mails like net-banking related.

Change your password regularly. 

Please don’t share your passwords with your friends. 

2)  Do a proper Logout:-

Logging out your Facebook account is an effective way to protect your account. Exit a browser or close the web page not really logs you out from the Facebook. The next person who opens the Facebook automatically found him into your account. 

Suppose you forgot to logout of your active session, you can remotely close your session.

Go to Account security -> Security settings 

There you can see how many sessions are active. If you want to close any session, click on the End Activity.

3) Avoid malicious script:-

Don’t copy paste any script into your browser without knowing what it is and what it will do?  The scammer tries to trick you to pasting script into your browser. 

4) Avoid Clickjacking:-

Clickjacking is a technique used by attackers to tries users into clicking on links or buttons that are hidden from view.

Lets see the sample Clickjacking scenario, suppose you want to play a Game for that you are clicking on a PLAY button, but you are really clicking on a hidden link. 

Since you can’t see the hidden links so you have no idea what’s really happening. You could be sharing your personal information to others or downloading some malicious code into your system.

Clickjacking can be happen for LIKE or SHARE button also, what be click here and there so many times daily.

 So please don't click on LIKE or SHARE button when you found some suspicious post.

5) Use Secure Browsing:-

You can securely browse your Facebook account. For that you need to type https://www.facebook.com. When you browse with https:// the data transmission between your browser and web server happens in encrypted form. 

When you use https:// don’t forgot to check the SLL certificate. 

https:// and how to check SLL certificate I have already described in my post “How to do secure online transaction”. Please refer this post if you don’t know why and how to check SLL certificate.

If secure browsing is not enable, you can enable it.

Go to Account security -> Security Settings

Click on the Security Browsing -> Edit -> Check on the Browser Facebook on a secure connection (https) when possible.

6) One-time Password:-

You can also use the One-time Password facility provided by the Facebook. Suppose you are accessing your Facebook account from cyber-café or any public computer that time you can use this feature.

To use OTP, you need to register and verify your cell phone with Facebook. Whenever you want a OTP, you just need to send a text message “otp” (for “one-time password”) to 32665 (FBOOK). Facebook will give a OTP password, you can use it for logging instead of using your normal password.

7) Monitor your account activity:-

You can monitor your Facebook account when someone is accessing your Facebook account from another mobile device or computer. 

For that you need to enable the LOGIN NOTIFICATIONS, if you enable this Facebook will send you and email or text message to your cell in case somebody logs into your account from different computer or mobile device.

How do you enable LOGIN NOTIFICATIONS?

       Go to Account security -> Security settings 

Login Notification -> Edit -> Choose notification options

When next time you log on to your Facebook account, Facebook will ask you Name New Device. You can give the new device name if it is trusted device or click on the Don't Save.

8) What to do if your account has been hacked:-

    To recover a hacked Facebook Account, you need to go to http://www.Facebook.com/hacked.

After that you need to follow some security checks.

When you do that then either you or hacker can’t use the account. You need to follow four-step process to reclaim your account.

I am expecting one question should be arise in your mind regarding Malicious Scripts and Clickjacking. If you can’t figure it out the link is Clickjacked then how can you take the precautions?

Let’s talk about what precautions you can take for Malicious Scripts and Clickjacking.

9) Precautions for malicious scripts and Clickjacking:-

WOT (Web of Trust) is a tool which can help you to avoid Clickjacking threats. WOT maintains a database of safe sites as well as malicious sites.

NoScript Firefox plug-in allows JavaScript, Java, Flash and other plug-in to be executed only by trusted web sites. You can also select the sites from which you want to run the scripts.

WOT and NoScript are free software. Download and use.

How to do secure Online Transaction ?

When I think to do Online Transaction the first thing comes into my mind is the SECURITY of the online transaction. I used to do some checks before I go for any online transaction. 

The security checks are:-

1. Always use secure HTTP connection (HTTPS ://) 

Whenever you do an online transaction please make sure that you are using a secure http connection. Always use https:// instead of http because https:// is a secured encrypted connection.

All the communication between the browser and the web server happen in encrypted form.

2. Always check the SSL certificate of the site when you are making any online transaction.

How do you check this SSL certificate?

Let’s take an example of PayPal site. I am using the Google chrome browser. Type https://www.paypal.com

          

Green color indicates that communication between your browser and website is encrypted and that the certification authority has confirmed the website is owned or operated by a business that is legally organized.

                If the certificate is invalid, the URL bar stays white. The word “https" is shown red and stroke trough.

3. Virtual keyboards 

Always use virtual keyboards when you are doing an online transaction. Why I am suggesting is suppose you are doing a transaction from some cyber cafe or some public computer where it may the case the key logger program is running. Key logger keeps the log of the keys you press from a physical keyboard. By this they can keep track of your typed password.

        In case of virtual keyboards Key logger can't figure it out what key you are typing because you are not using the physical keys.

4. Virtual Credit Cards

        Virtual credit cards are good when you want to do shopping with your debit/credit card. 

        No need to disclose your actual credit/debit card number when you buy something. 

       You can specify the money limit how much you want to put in your Virtual Credit Card and you can also specify the expiry date of you virtual card. How cool it is.

        This feature is provided by the net banking sites. Always use Virtual Credit Card provided by your banking sites, DO NOT use any other Virtual Credit Card software.

5. Use only trusted site for online payment or shopping.

6. Keep track of your all transaction. 

7. At last what about phishing?

        Phishing scams are usually presented in the form of spam or pop-ups and are often difficult to detect. 

        They obtain your personal information; can use it for all types of identity theft.

        How you can protect yourself against phishing ?

• First and important is always use https:// and check the SSL security certificate. 
• Never use links in an email to connect to a Web site. If you do that they can take you to the phishing site which look like the real site but if you notice there is a minor difference in the web address name. So open a new browser window and type the URL directly into the address bar.
• Beware of emails asking for confidential information especially of a financial nature.
• Never submit confidential information via forms embedded within email messages.