Monday, November 28, 2016

Kajal Majhi

How to Securely Erase data from USB drive

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What is Secure Delete?
When you delete a file in Windows only the reference of from the file system table is removed but the actual file is still present in the drive and the reference can be restored and the data can be recover by using various data recovery tools out there.

Why Secure Delete?
Are you planning to sell your smartphone, tablet, laptop? Then you
 should be aware about few important things about privacy and protection of your data. What normally people do is “Factory reset” or “Format” by plugging into the computer .But beware, if you are going to hand over your device the it may not be the correct way to securely wipe your every data.  Anyone who have partial knowledge about data recovery can easily recover your deleted data by using freely available data recovery tools like windows kernel and recuva until you overwrites the data randomly. So, don’t fall in the prey of blackmailing, your privacy is in your hand .

How to Securely Erase data from your USB drive.
For tool I use CCleaner . There are many tools out there such as ERASER, FILE SHREDDER etc but CCleaner is my favorite because it is easier to use as well as I get all the system tuning tools at a single place.  You will get a portable version which you don’t have to install , just click and run.

Open CCleaner  and goto TOOLS section

Go to DRIVE WIPER

In the WIPE section Select “ENTIRE DRIVE” to  erase the entire drive else select “FREE SPACE ONLY”

Next in the security panel choose the 2nd option “Advance Overwrite”

Now from the list of drives choose your USB Drive and click on “WIPE”

Now wait for some time it make take longer depends upon the size of the USB drive as well as the configuration of your system.


I have illustrated all the steps in the video below. Check it out.

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Sunday, July 10, 2016

Kajal Majhi

How to stay safe online

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We are living in a world of technology where data is most precious than money and we are relay on them for most of our regular activities.

Just imagine how you spend your single day normally, you begin your day by texting with a lovely selfie on the social messaging app to your loved ones. Paying bills and dues with your credit card and internet banking service. At office you collaborate with your colleagues on live projects as well as supports the clients with the help of internet , you like to surprise your loved one by gifting her / him something  through online shopping , and at the end of the day you spend hours on social networking websites to chat with your friends and family. From morning to evening we are dependent upon the internet and communications gadgets like smartphone, computer ,tablets etc. to make use of the cyberspace for an easy way to life. Apparently there is a dark part of the cyberspace where malicious people are always trying to steal your confidential information that you use yourself regularly over the internet such as IDs and passwords, banking credentials, credit card details, documents and so on.

Now you might be thinking “ what will they do with all my confidential stuffs? My bank account don’t have much money to steal, my credit card has expired, I don’t have much to hide from social networking activities” and blah! Well  honestly these malicious people can do lot of things that you can have never be imagined and in between them you will be liable for all those activities that has been done by them. It is tough to write almost every things  that these malicious people can do with your confidential data but I have tried to dictate most of the common phenomenon on the present days and you can be a victim of any of these given below.  

  • Data Theft
  • Identity Theft
  • Account Takeover
  • Illegal / Unauthorized transfer of money
  • Invading Privacy
  • Stalking
  • Use your computer as virus /bots server
  • Disrupting critical infrastructure (Cyber Terrorism)
  • Data Modification
  • Cyber Pornography
  • Financial Fraud..and much more


How to stay safe on internet?
Now the question is how to stay safe online? But before this you should know how criminals and malicious persons get their dirty hands over your data and confidentiality. There are several ways by which a person can hack into your system and most of the common reasons are …

  • Low investment
  • Freely available of hacking and forensic tools
  • Lack of user awareness
  • Using of infected tools and software
  • Using of outdated / unpatched OS and software
  • Lack of basic understanding of IT security
  • Low security configuration and so on.


Let me give you a real life example, suppose someone has paid be to collect your internet banking credentials and credit card details without physically meeting you face to face then what  will I do? First of all I will go near the dumpster of your house and search if you have left any old , tampered , Xerox copy of any of government documents that resemble you identity and address proof, as well as try to collect information as much as I can. I will visit your profile in website like  facebook or twitter and collect your photo of front face . With this photo and information collected before I will make a fake identity card as well as residential proof documents. After this I will break the wifi security of your house and sniff in your network and will collect every credentials you will type during loggin. In this way I will capture your card and banking details while you will try to make online payments. Now I have your credit card and banking details but to complete any transaction  online we have to give OTP(one time password) which will be received in your cellphone.  So to receive otp I have to get access to your cellphone and for that I will lodge a FIR in local police station with the fake id I made that I have lost this SIM card. Then I will submit the copy of FIR to the telecom operator to give me a new SIM card with that number and your sim card will be deactivated. What now? Now I will receive all the SMSs and calls in the new SIM card and can do any transaction smoothly. Its your dooms day now.

How to stay safe online?
  • Use a good antivirus program and keep the database of antivirus updated to detect the signature of newly created virus quickly. Also check the firewall configuration that what is allowed and what is denied. If you don’t know how to configure firewall properly then have a quick look here 

  • Use a keyscrambler software in your system. It is very necessary because whenever anyone will try to sniff within your network he will  get the scrambled text not any plain text.

  • Do not download software from un-trusted sources and tools like cracks which may be infected with worms and malwares binded with it which it tough for any antivirus program to detect.
  • Do not put much information in social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter etc.

  • Always try to keep your Operating system updated and install the security patch-up which is release by OS manufacturer occasionally .
  • Avoid emails related to Online lottery, Nigerian refugees , RBI etc. It’s a huge email and financial scam.

  • Bank and other company will never call you and ask for your credit card details , banking credentials or one time password to tell. Malicious people will call you  by pretending themselves like a banking officers and try to lure you by various way. Don’t get lured by them and avoid such calls.

  • While surfing the internet understand the difference between a fake website and a legit website as the look alike. These legit websites are trying their best to keep their customers safe by using different methodologies such as captcha , OTP,  SSL Layer and many more. Google about  “PHISING DETECTION”

  • Use a strong combination of password with upper letters, lower letters, numbers and special characters. Make such type of password that cannot be found in any dictionary .


As the technology is getting updated , the Hacker and criminals are also finding and developing new ways to steal the confidential data.  It is better to always have present of mind while you are online. Join the boot camps and meet up organized by government and other organizations on awareness of cyber security , you will learn a lot of things. These tips are not enough to defend yourself completely but will help you with common issues faced by people every day.



You can download the PDF version of this article from here 


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Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Kajal Majhi

5 reasons why ASUS Zenfone 2 could redefine the smartphone experience

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pic credit : www.asus.com

No doubt that the new Asus ZenFone 2 is truly unbeatable by it’s powerful features, high class design and very user friendly architecture.  Asus again proved that we don’t have to spend much to buy a highly specified smartphone, because Asus ZenFone 2 is very affordable to our pocket and it has hold a standard as the most affordable smartphone in the market. I am going to state five reasons below, that why Asus ZenFone 2 will redefine the smartphone experience.

Beautiful
Asus ZenFone 2 is designed very elegantly which not only amaze our eyes with the beauty but we can also feel it’s beauty when we hold the Zenfone 2 in our hand . The body is made with high quality plastic with faux metallic coating which gives an elegant shine. It has rounded corner and the back has a curve which makes so comfortable to hold in hand and good grip. The back cover is removable by which we can access micro SD card and SIM card slots. ZenFone 2 is a mid-range smartphone but doesn't seem like, but when it comes on our hand we feel a rich experience by its’ class. In simple word the stylish design and solid built in quality express the ZenFone 2 at extreme high in class.

Powerful Performance
ZenFone 2 is fully equipped with the giant Intel Atom 64bit processor which has the processing speed of 2.3 GHz , it is heavily made for hyper threading performance which will run big programs very smoothly . It is supported with 6430 PowerVr  533MHz GPU which makes the work done very efficiently . Oh! Don’t forget ZenFone is the first smartphone which is equipped with the RAM of 4GB. The combination of 64bit 2.3ghz Intel Atom processor , 6430 PowerVr  533MHz GPU and 4GB RAM represent multi tasking and hyper threading performance . The animations, videos can be run very smoothly as well we can feel the rich gaming experience.

Capture more
Asus ZenFone 2 comes with 13mp primary camera in rear with the aperture of f/2.0 and dual tone LED flash . It is supported by Asus pixel master technology  which takes better pictures and videos even in low light conditions . The aperture of  f/2.0 helps to take more depth of the  field and with the combination of pixel Asus master technology helps to take very decent shots and represent very high quality images .  It has unrivaled low light mode which is capable of reducing the noise up to four times , and the pixel merging technology joints the adjacent pixels to form new pixels which also increase the light sensitivity up to 400% and take clear shots even without any flash. ZenFone 2 is truly great for photography as it is a handy tool for the photography addicted .

Large Display
Asus ZenFone 2 has IPS LCD display of 5.5 inch with the pixel density of 403 pixels per inch.  It is bright and sharp enough that we can see it under sunlight. The display is also protected with gorilla glass 3 to protect the screen from unwanted scratches . The touch sensitivity is incredibly fast as it is  powered with the 6430 PowerVR GPU which gives better performance while gaming and 
playing videos.

Charging and Backup
The biggest problem of an smartphone user is power backup because android drains the battery so quickly and takes hours to recharge again. But Asus ZenFone 2 is equipped with 3000 mAh   battery which will give the power backup for an entire day and never makes you down . It has quick boost technology which catalyze during recharge of the battery . The quick boost technology recharge the battery within 39 minutes , isn't is quick power backup?


 This post has been written for Asus India 
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Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Kajal Majhi

Digital India : A dream for better tomorrow

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Ten years back I use to get excited by seeing mobile phones on people’s hand and I wondered that wow! What a device that connects people to another staying at a distance without any wire and It was my dream that someday I will also own a mobile phone. But today I have a  smartphone which is much more than a simple mobile phone with which I can make calls, video calls, browse the internet , click pictures, videos and I can do much more stuffs on it. Remember the day when we use to stand in queue the entire day just to pay bills, buy tickets or to fill any government’s form but now we can do all these stuffs from our home using internet. We can now compare that how e-governance and technologies has made our life better, easier and much transparency on accountability  .
The main motive of the e-governance is to provide it’s service and make people to have access to government at each and every part of the nation so that none of us would left behind from getting the government’ service .
Bellow here are my few opinions to spread e-governance more effectively and efficiently.

IT EDUCATION
As we improve our technologies, infrastructure and we implement more with technologies such as computers and internet then it becomes necessary to spread IT education among the people of the nation . Government should focus more on IT education starting from primary schools to higher secondary and it is also necessary to organize local IT education camps within panchyat and remote areas to provide basic knowledge of computer and internet among the people who are not aware of these things so that each and every people in nation will understand how to use the services of e-governance from their home and they will not get cheated by fraud and private agencies who tend to provide government’s services by taking some fees .

AVAILABILITY OF CONNECTIVITY  
E-governance is worthless without the availability of connectivity and transmission media at every corner of the nation .There are so many villages and remote areas in India who has not seen the faces of Internet yet . The government should lay broadband cables and other media to make available of internet services among these areas so that the people can access to the government’s services from those area.  India have big problem of poor connectivity and price hikes by the privates MNC’s on internet accessibility which becomes tougher for middle class people to afford it’s costs. People believe more on government’s organization than these private companies who charges extra for these services .  If government can provide better services on accessibility the people will not rely on the private companies anymore .

GOVERNMENT IT SECTORS
Yet the day, the e-governance are working fine but sometime these services becomes poor because the government’s technical and IT sectors are poorly managed as they lacks technical staffs hence the government hand over the portals to private organization to manage the services. So it is necessary that as the government will provide e-governance then it having some specialized staffs to manages those portals so the services will never go down as well as it will also increase the employment in government  .IT sectors .

CYBER SECURITY
The e-governance is completely dependent on the internet  which includes online financial transactions, transfer of high sensitive personal and corporate data , highly valued database etc and much more, so it is more important to secure the cyber spaces and protect the public’s as well as government’s data. People enters their personal data as well as monetary information by keeping faith in the services of e-governance , If the security is breached then the people will lose trust on e-governance’s services. The government need to hire ethical hacker and security professionals who will think like the malicious hackers to safeguard the precious data and improve online security .

DEVELOPMENT OF APPS
Now a days smartphones are being widely used more than computers to get accessibility and stay in touch with each other via internet  and it is said that India has more smartphones than computers , so no doubt that each and every people have not their own computers to access the services of e-governance but they have smartphones on almost every house and people are so familiar using the apps , so the government needs to implement e-governance via mobile phone’s apps so that each and every common people can get the services of e-governance .

ALL IDENTITY WITH ONE NUMBER
Mobile phones has become most necessary in our daily life , a mobile number is indeed an identity of a person but we can use this number as more than identity to bring portability and flexibility in our daily life activities . Suppose we go at some places where we need a bunch of identity cards and other documents to prove who we are where do we stay which becomes very rigid process at some moment and situations . So let the government use our mobile number with a unique code which will retrieve all our details , so whenever we need to verify our identity then we just need to enter our mobile phone number with an unique code . We can use this method at many places such as at banking transactions where we will not need any card, in purchase or sales and at many other places where we need to prove ourselves in a quick .

INFRASTRUCTURE
Infrastructure is the root of nation’s development , and a nation cannot be said as developed or improved without an improved infrastructure. Let it be the development of information technology , then the nation need some of the required resources to carry out the activities for the aimed target of development . It is 2015 but  there are many places in India where there is no electricity and required transport which are the basic needs for development of any sectors of a nation. People need to draw government’s attention towards these places where people are very needy for these  basic amenities and when they will see the flexible services of e-governance then no one would leave behind from using the services of e-governance .


Final words…
Every people in this country need the services of government but it becomes hard to reach all government’s service up to them because  of many reasons behind it but e-governance is one unique platform which can make the reach of government’s service  to public and vice verse smoothly efficiently and effectively . But for this the government need to aware people  and make them familiar about  the e-governance , how does it works via different mean and methods .  It should be not only to provide the pre-implemented services but it should have a great option to interact with general public to get their opinions , feedback and their requests to make a better governance that will build a developed nation.

This post has been written for Digital India campaign held by Intel India at Indiblogger.in  
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Friday, February 27, 2015

Kajal Majhi

What is Virus

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You know what is antivirus , you know to scan your pen drive and you feel safe with it isn't it? But do you know what is virus actually?

In simple definition, virus is a computer program which has been created by using malicious codes to infect other computer . Let’s make it more simple, a virus  is a harmful computer which has been written with programming languages in motive to harm other computer and data.

How viruses are created
As I told above , viruses are created by using malicious programming codes.  Lets take an example of a simple virus which can infect a system and open/close the disk tray randomly . It’s a simple virus just to irritate other . see the batch codes below.


So generally viruses are normally written computer programming languages  but these programs are written for unethical purpose . Suppose you have written a program to delete all your pdf files in a one go and latter you planned to do a little prank with your friends and you told them to use this program it will help them to speed up the internet, when they will click  they will lost all the pdf files, then it can also be called as virus .

Why viruses are created ?
Its an important question that why people create virus or virus are created ?  there are many reasons behind it.  Suppose if you have a business then your competitors might create virus and infect your systems to disturb your services.  Some people create virus and sell them in black market for financial benefits. Some create to spread some messages or cyber terrorism . Some people also create virus are their research and people like me create virus just to play pranks (Just Kidding)

How to prevent virus and other malicious program

Do not download software from unknown sources , because most of the software present there are pirated and may contain malicious program binded along with them.

Don’t use unusual apps and games on social networking sites

Do check the options correctly before installing any software .
Get  updates for your Operating System periodically to receive patches for bugs

Be sure your antivirus is getting updates periodically because everyday people create millions of virus and if the database of your antivirus is not updated then it will not recognize any newly created malicious program .





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Sunday, February 15, 2015

Kajal Majhi

Asus Zenphone a perfect valentine

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In this period of valentine there is a sweet fragrance of love spreading all around us , and this valentine I would like to gift a perfect token of love to myself , which will be full of love, experiencing  and perfect partner , so I would like to gift myself a asus zenphone which is my unconditional love, and a perfect partner of this valentine season .

My five reasons why Asus Zenphone is my ideal valentine

The power of Intel
Asus Zenphone is powered with Intel Atom powerful processor for hyper threading performance. I am in love with its fast incredible performance specially when I do big activities on phone such as gaming, playing video etc. It is supported by intelligent user interface to make the complex task easy and work smartly. The intelligent user interface exempt the user from complexity to easy and organized life style .  The processor is designed in such way that it will work efficiently, effectively without compromising the battery.

Perfect Camera
Asus Zenphone comes with incredibly smart five element optical formula lenses supported by Intel Atom processor which can click high quality pictures. The processor is smartly designed with Intel inside for compelling smart performance,  gaming and high graphics. It is also supported by pixel master technology which will give photographs of professional quality  Photography is one of my hobby as well as a blogger I need a camera always to express my creativity and things that I see randomly in the view of photographer,  but it is not possible to carry a camera everywhere but I can carry a phone everywhere and Asus Zenphone will fulfill my this needs with its’ optical formula lens.

Elegant Design
Its’ stylish design express the class with high , light weight and extremely slim which is easy to carry inside my pockets . I am really fan of Asus Zenphone’s cool look .

Powerful battery
A smart device needs a smart and enough power to run, Asus Zenphone comes with giant 2110mAH  battery gives uninterrupted power to the phone by which I can use the internet, play movies , games music for entire day. Earlier I was frustrated with my previous phone when I had to carry a power bank and charge it after every 3 hours , but Asus Zenphone is truly incredible with its battery which never let me feel down with my entertainment as well as in the situation when I have call my dear ones in emergency .

Internal memory
It comes with internal memory  of 16GB at this affordable price and It can be extended up to 64gb via memory card . When it comes for storing my documents, videos, photos and my favorite tracks  then the space is enough for me to carry my world in my pocket.
This is why Asus Zenphone is an ideal valentine for me, it gives me all that I need to rejoice and celebrate this season of love, so why not I gift myself this perfect combination of valentine ?

Don't wait, Grab a Asus Zenphone from flipkart 

This post has been written for Happy Hours held at Indiblogger . 


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Sunday, February 1, 2015

Kajal Majhi

Three reason why Live Chat is better than phone calls

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The way how we are using the social media where we engage our self-more in online chat than phone call. Now a days we prefer more on texts , online chat over phone call to connect with each other , even now a days we prefer online chat when we try to contact with customer care as consumer , because chat is more convenience  and disturbance free .

We lead a very busy life where phone call can be a disturbance sometime, as we are not always in the situation to call someone or the person whom we are calling is free to receive our call, we may be at office , meeting,  hospital or any other place where phone calls are strictly not allowed  or we may not be in the mood to talk with anyone so at that time online chat can be much beneficial .
Below I have mentioned my opinion why chat is better option than phone calls…

It Reduce The Cost
Phone calls can be expensive mode of communication specially for a talk of long duration such as customer care support , discussion on any matter and more if we contact between two nations then it will really hurt our pocket. But online chat is inexpensive we can connect with people whether from our locality or people from another nation with the same cost .

Company who do telemarketing or sales and services over phone can bring which volume to its operation costs if the volume of the calls is so much , the same company can minimize the cost by using online chat support which is also more preferable by the consumers .

Disturbance Free
As told above ,  chat is a disturbance-free mode of interaction, we don’t know the person what he is doing, where he is whom we are calling , our call can be a disturbance for him/her at the moment or someone who is trying to call us may don’t know what we are doing right now, we may be at our work place , talking with boss on some serious topic or whatever at that time phone call can be a disturbance .  But If we seek a better interactive option then there is nothing better than online chat . we can interact with the people without any disturbance , chat is more expressive and people are more comfortable with chat than phone call .

People love live chat
If you ask me both as consumer or seller which option do I prefer to connect with consumer or seller? I will say its live chat , as a consumer I prefer live chat to connect with seller or customer care because I cannot be much expressive over phone call as I can be on live chat , as well as I can use live chat from any place anytime without disturbing other. As a seller I prefer live chat because to keep my number private as well as it is more convincible than phone calls .


This post has been written for Happy Hours  at indiblogger held by www.quikr.com
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