Disable USB ports on Windows PC via Registry

With this trick, you can disable access to your USB(Universal Serial Bus) ports on your Windows based PC to prevent people from taking out data without permission or spreading viruses through the use of USB (pen and flash) drives.

To use this trick to disable USB ports, follow the steps given below:-

1. Click on Start.
2. Click on Run. If you cannot find RUN, type it in the search box.
3. Type "regedit" without quotes. This will launch the Registry Editor.
4. Navigate to  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\usbstor.
5. In the work area, double click on Start.
6. In the Value Data box, enter 4.
7. Click on OK.
8. Close Registry Editor and refresh your desktop.
9. To re-enable access to your USB ports, enter 3 in the Value Data box in Step 6.

Try it yourself to make your PC invulnerable from data theft and malware which spread through USB ports. This works on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Note: This trick also disables access to your USB connected peripheral devices. So, do not use it if you have USB connected keyboard and mouse.

Recover Deleted files in Windows with Free Tools

Have you ever deleted a file that you did not wish to and wanted to recover it but did not find it in the recycle bin? You probably deleted it permanently with Shift+Delete or emptied the Recycle Bin. Now what? Don't worry, you may still have a chance to get it back. This article lists some free software that can recover deleted files from your hard drive or any other storage device instantly.

But how do the software mentioned below undelete deleted files?

When files are deleted, Windows does not delete them from your hard disk. It marks the storage space as empty for new data to be written and deletes the index entry that tells the location of those files. Unless, new files are written on that space, the deleted files are still recoverable. That's what allows these software to recover deleted files.

There are many free software that allow users to do this. Some of them are given below:-

1) Pandora Recovery

Pandora Recovery is a free software that offers a wizard based interface for recovering files. It allows you to browse a drive's individual folders to look for deleted files. It also allows you search for a deleted file based on its name, file size, creation date and last access time. Its deep scan allows you to recover files that other software might have missed. Although deep scan does not return a file's original name and location, it still is effective to recover data from drives with corrupted file tables and drives that were recently formatted. It can even recover data from CDs and DVDs.

2) TOKIWA DataRecovery

At just over 200KB, TOKIWA DataRecovery is the smallest file recovery program in the market. It supports undeletion from FAT 12, FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS file systems. It also supports recovering NTFS compressed and EFS encrypted files. This software supports Windows and is portable as well. It also has a file shredder that allows you to wipe out files in a manner that they cannot be recovered again.

3) Recuva

Another great freeware, Recuva offers a wizard based interface to unerase files. Recuva offers scanning deleted files based on their type (music, pictures, videos etc.). It also allows deep scanning in case a file you deleted is unrecoverable via normal search. Like TOKIWA DataRecovery, Recuva also offers securely deleting files. Recuva also has a portable version that you can keep in your flash drive.

All of these recovery software support recovery from memory sticks, digital camera cards and MP3 players. They support undeleting all types of pictures, software, movies and documents from both FAT and NTFS formatted drives. They work on Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP.

Some important tips to increase the chances of getting your deleted files back:-

1) When a file is deleted accidentally on a storage device, make sure that you don't do anything on it as doing that would increase the chances of new data being written over your deleted files; which would make file recovery impossible.

2) If you have deleted files on your main computer (the one you are using right now), do not browse the internet, download new software or shut it down. Keep it running and go to another computer, download one of the software mentioned above that is portable and save it on a flash drive. Then plugin the flash drive in your current system and perform file recovery. Regardless of whether you accidentally delete files a lot or not, make sure to always have that software in your flash drive in case you accidentally delete important files.

3) If one software fails to recover your deleted file, it does not mean that another one wouldn't recover it too.

Lock a Folder With Password Using Free Folder Protector

All of us have some files and folders that we consider private. They can be anything from our business documents to pictures of friends and family. These are files that we don't want other people using our computer to know about. As Windows offers no way to protect our private information, most of us get in awkward situations when these files are discovered by unwanted people.

Surely, you can store this information in a hidden folder. The only problem is that anyone can easily search the contents of a hidden folder using Windows Search itself.

The only viable solution is storing this content in a password protected folder so that only those people knowing the password of the folder can access it. There are many folder locking programs available online but the problem is that most of the good ones are paid. Even if you do manage to get a good free one, you will be looked at suspiciously when people see a folder locker in the list of your installed programs.

If you too find yourself in a similar situation, you can try Folder Protector, a password protector for Windows folders that is not only free but is also portable meaning that it does not need to be installed. Just click on the exe file and the program will start running. I have created this program based on suggestions and feature requests that I have received by email over the last two years.

Folder Protector

Folder Protector offers each user a protected folder that can only be opened by entering the password in FolderProtector. Unlike most security programs, Folder Protector is small in size (nearly 58KB) and does not show the folder that it is protecting. This gives an additional advantage that people who don't know the password do not have a target to try and hack their way into. As the software is portable, you can hide it or even delete it after protecting your folder and no one will have a clue that it was used. Then whenever you need to access protected files, you can re-download the program from this page, enter the password and access your protected files.

Download Folder Protector

Download for Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista

Download for Windows XP


Important: 1) This program uses a simple method to lock files and should not be used to protect truly sensitive information. It is best to encrypt that kind of information.

2) Do not refresh your Windows when your folder is locked. Doing that will delete your files.

How to use Folder Protector?
When you run Folder Protector for the first time, the program will ask you for a password that you want to use. Enter a password that you can remember as this will be the password to your protected folder.

After entering the password, the program will open a folder named SecuredFILES. This is your protected folder. You can add all your private files in this folder. This folder is located at the Desktop. After adding all your files, you may close this folder.

Then, you can use the menu in the program to lock your folder. To lock the folder, type lock as your action. After successfully locking the folder, FolderProtector will display that the folder is locked.

Unlocking the protected folder is easy. Just type unlock as your action. Then the program will ask you to enter your password. Upon successfully entering the password, the program will display the contents of your protected folder.

Changing the Password: Just type change as your action. The program will ask you for your current password. Upon successful entry of the current password, the program will ask for your new password and change it instantly.

Acknowledgment: This software has been made possible only through the suggestions of readers of this blog, especially Ernell Albert Galido for his idea of using a menu based interface.

Windows Compatibility: This program has been successfully tested on Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP.

Compiling C Program in window 7 using Command Prompt

C language was developed by Dennis Ritchie in 1969 to 1973. In beginning, C was developed as system programming language for Linux. C language is used for Linux kernel, libraries and all of its supporting tools.

For execute C program in window 7 using command prompt we have perform some.

Required tools for system:

1. Command Prompt
2.  Turbo C

Step:-1 Install Turbo C

Install Turbo C or TC in system. ( Download TC from here and copy TC folder into C drive)

Turbo C or TC file created in C drive.

Step:-2 Setup TC for Command Prompt.

Copy Bin directory path.

Open System property.

Set Environment variable path and its value.

Then press ok to close window.

Step:-3 Creating directory for C programs

Open targeted drive and create directory in which all c program will store. Suppose we are creating directory in D drive.

Step:-4 Open notepad and create C program.

Write c program and save with .c extension.

Step:-5 Open Command Prompt

Here we use tcc command for compile C program.

Executable file name will be same as c file name.

Output

How to run C program in Linux?

C language was developed by Dennis Ritchie in 1969 to 1973. In beginning, C was developed as system programming language for Linux. C language is used for Linux kernel, libraries and all of its supporting tools.

Step:-1 Creating .c file

Open gedit and write C program.

File name:- hello.c

#include<stdio.h>

int main()

{

          printf(“Hello Tycoons!!!”);

          return 0;

}

Step:-2 Open Terminal for run C program

Open Terminal window and then locate file location of c file.

Write following command for compile c program.

gcc hello.c –o hello

Note: Here we have used –o command for creating user define name object file, whatever name given after –o command will known as our object file. By default compiler will create a.out named object file.

Write following command for run c program.

./hello

Output

Hello Tycoons!!!

Actually Compiler will perform several phases for complete compilation of c program.

There are four phases.

1. Preprocessing
2. Compilation
3. Assembly
4. Linking

Let we perform all phases manually for same code.

1)    Preprocessing

For compilation of C program preprocessing is first step. In this phase, compiler will read header file, expanding macros and insert content of header file into program text. Preprocessing directives are #define, #include etc. #include contain header file. #define is known as macro.

cpp hello.c > hello.i

Here .c extension file is translated into .i extension file. .i extension file will contain source code and expanding macros.

2)    Compilation

In this phase compilation procedure will perform. Here .i extension file will translated into .s file. This .s file will contain assembly code.

gcc -S hello.i

Note: Here –S command will translate preprocessing code into assembly code without creating object file.

3)    Assembly

In this phase, Assembly code will translate into machine code. Here machine language code is contained in object file with extension .o.

as hello.s -o hello.o

4)  Linking

The final compilation phase will links object file to produce executable file.

ld -dynamic-linker /lib/ld-linux.so.2 /usr/lib/crt1.o /usr/lib/crti.o /usr/lib/crtn.o hello.o /usr/lib/gcc/i586-suse-linux/4.8/crtbegin.o -L /usr/lib/gcc/i586-suse-linux/4.8/ -lgcc -lgcc_eh -lc -lgcc -lgcc_eh /usr/lib/gcc/i586-suse-linux/4.8/crtend.o -o hello

Write following command for run executable file.

./hello

Output:

Hello Tycoons!!!