The Geek Toolkit has just been updated and is ready for download. If you have previously purchased the toolkit, you’re entitled to free updates and will be receiving download instructions shortly in your email inbox. If you haven’t purchased the toolkit yet, you’re really missing out on some fantastic tools. Click here to get yours today!

This is a major update – more than 150 MB – with six exciting new
tools from Comodo added:

Under ..\Security\Antivirus\ you’ll find Comodo Internet Security, a
complete and very robust security suite.

Under ..\Security\Secure Browsers\ you’ll find the new Comodo Dragon Internet Browser that’s based on Chrome, but has enhanced security features.

Under ..\Security\Secure Email\ you’ll find Comodo SecureEmail and
Comodo AntiSpam.

Under ..\Security\Secure VPN\ you’ll find Comodo EasyVPN. This is a
very cool tool! Be sure to check out the web page.

Under ..\Useful Utilities\ you’ll find Comodo System-Cleaner to help
keep any system in perfect tune. There’s also a portable version
available on their website.

I’m sure you are going to find these new additions interesting and useful.

Cheers!

The Geek

P.S. If you send me an email with the code “June Geek” in the subject, I’ll send you a special link for $10 off the regular price of the Geek Toolkit. There, now you have no excuse not to get yours today!

The Geek Toolkit has just been updated and is ready for download. If you have previously purchased the toolkit, you’re entitled to free updates and will be receiving download instructions shortly. If you haven’t purchased the toolkit, you’re really missing out. Click here to get yours today!

The powerful security testing tool Ettercap has been added to the Security tools; dscrypt, a portable standalone file encryption utility has been added to the Encryption tools; and, Partition Wizard 5.0 has been added to the Disk Tools. I’m sure you are going to find these new additions interesting and useful.

Go ahead, get your Geek Toolkit today!

The holidays are behind us and I want to wish everyone? a
Happy and Prosperous New Year and extend my thanks once again to
everyone who made their generous donations during the Holiday
Giveaway. If you donated, your gift is on the way to you via USPS
First Class mail.

I’ve received a few inquiries from people who missed the opportunity
to take advantage of the Holiday Giveaway for various reasons. They
wanted to know if I would still give them the gift if they donated
now, even though the deadline has passed. I would love to be able to do
it, but I promised I wouldn’t make the same offer again.

However, I am making the Geek Toolkit available to my Ask the Geek readers via secure download for $37. You won’t have to wait for the mail to arrive; you can download and begin using the toolkit immediately. As soon as I receive notice of your payment, I will send you a link to download the password protected archive. Click here to get your Geek Toolkit

The Geek Toolkit is loaded with literally hundreds of security,
system maintenance and productivity tools that have been part of my Geek arsenal for more than five years. All of them are safe, proven, and
malware-free. It would literally take you hundreds of hours to research and compile this collection on your own. Here’s just a few of the categories in the kit:

-Web Servers
-Useful Utilities
-Spyware Killers
-Security
-Disk Tools
-Disaster Recovery Info
…and 11 more.

This newly updated toolkit will save you time and money and make
your life easier and more productive in several ways. Here’s that link again:? Click here to get your Geek Toolkit


Remember, you won’t have to wait for the mail to arrive. As soon as
I receive notice of your payment, I will send you a link to download the
password protected archive.

Get your Geek Toolkit today!

Cheers!

Ken “The Geek” Harthun

P.S. If you really, really want to have the Geek Toolkit on a 2GB
flash drive, click here.

P.P.S. If you’re not completely satisfied, I’ll happily refund your
money.

P.P.P.S. No affiliate links here. This is my own compilation, so you’re dealing directly with me.

Picture this: Someone tries to steal your laptop off your desk and as soon as they pull the plug from the wall, your latpop emits a screaming siren that won’t quit until your password is entered to unlock the laptop and disable the alarm.There’s another scenario: You take one of your old USB thumb drives (maybe the one you used to make an anti virus bootable scanner) attach a chain to it and secure it to your desk; if someone tries to move your laptop, unplugging the USB thumb drive in the process, the alarm goes off.

This is possible because of an interesting piece of software called “LAlarm.” It’s free for personal use and there’s a nominal fee for commercial use. Download LAlarm from this link: http://www.lalarm.com/en/index.htm.

I tested this software by installing it on my Dell laptop. It works. You simply install the software, configure the options you want and restart your laptop. To set the alarm, you just press Windows key + L to lock the workstation. If anyone pulls the plug or removes the thumb drive, the alarm sounds.

There’s much more to the software than just an alarm. You can set the software to destroy your data in selected folders in the event of a theft. You can also set zones based on IP addresses and cause an alarm to sound if the IP address changes.

The theft alarm is not affected by the system volume control setting–it’s screaming loud no matter how you have your volume set.

It’s a very cool tool.

Once again, in May 2009, I have had to revise this article because Avira’s updates no longer work (thanks, Cindy, for your help in pointing out the problem to me). This new revision supercedes all previous articles I have posted on this subject; specifically, these two:

http://askthegeek.kennyhart.com/2005/12/how-to-make-bootable-thumb-drive-virus.html

http://askthegeek.kennyhart.com/2007/03/update-how-to-make-bootable-thumb-drive_20.html

“How to make a bootable thumb drive virus scanner for NTFS” is the second most popular article on this site, outranked only by “My Computer Won’t Shut Down!” and I thank you for visiting Ask the Geek for advice on these issues. Because of the continuing popularity of the thumb drive virus scanner, I want to make sure you have up to date and relevant information. The two articles listed above are outdated.

The original DOS-based version of the thumb drive virus scanner used F-Prot Antivirus for DOS, one of the best and most popular DOS-based? scanners for nearly 20 years. Unfortunately, F-Secure is no longer updating the virus definitions for that version. In fact, the F-Prot virus signatures are now almost two years old, making them virtually useless. Other vendors are following suit. I’ve had quite a bit of feedback asking me if I could solve this problem and provide an updated method of offline virus scanning.

The good news is that, yes, I’ve solved the problem, thanks to the fact that several vendors offer free bootable rescue CDs for download. Most of these run under some flavor of Linux and after a bit of hacking, I found it’s a simple matter to make a bootable thumb drive from the images.

Note: Avira has changed the ISO image *again* since this article was first posted. I have had comments from some people that the new ISOs just don’t work right on the thumb drive. As of May 2009, the VDF updates cause the old version to fail. I have revised the steps below and updated the BLTDVS toolkit. Because of? the popularity of this toolkit, I am getting bills for excess bandwidth useage. If you find this toolkit useful, please consider making a donation by clicking the “Donate” button. As soon as I am notified of your donation (any amount, minimum $1), I’ll send you the link to the toolkit that contains the ISO image I originally tested.

I chose the Kaspersky Rescue CD from Kaspersky Lab for my latest incarnation of the thumb drive virus scanner. Since it runs under Linux, it has native NTFS read/write support making it unnecessary to use any third party tools like NTFS4DOS (which is still available, but no longer supported by Avira).

Here’s how to be up and running with your own copy of my latest tool in just a few minutes. I’ve made it easy by providing everything you need, except the rescue CD image:

1. I no longer require that you make a donation, but would appreciate it greatly. I’ve worked hard to keep the BLTDVS toolkit up to date and will contintue to do so.
2. I do require that you sign up on my list. That is the only way to get the download link and password for the BLTDVS toolkit. Once you sign up and confirm your subscription, the welcome email will give you instructions, a link to the new toolkit, and the password.
3. If you bypassed the fade-in sign-up form when you arrived at this page, you can click here to go to another sign-up page or click on Sign Up! in the toolbar to the right.
4. Download the BLTDVS toolkit from the link I send you.
5. Extract the folder to the root of your hard drive.
6. Download the Kaspersky Rescue CD ISO image
7. Move the CD ISO image to the BLTDVS_toolkit folder?
8. Plug in your thumb drive.
9. Open the BLTDVS_toolkit folder and navigate to the DriveKey folder.
10. Run HPUSBF.EXE (command line version) or HPUSBW.EXE (windows version) and format your thumb drive using FAT or FAT32. Deselect the “Create a DOS startup disk” option.
11. Open the BLTDVS_toolkit folder and copy or move its contents to your thumb drive. Don’t move the actual folder.
12. On your thumb drive, double-click avrescd.bat. This will extract the necessary files from the ISO image to your thumb drive. Be sure you specify the right drive letter for your thumb drive.
13. Once the files have been extracted, makeboot.bat will be called automatically. See the caution in the next step!
14. CAUTION! This step is dangerous! Heed the warning message. Please verify the correct flash drive letter is being displayed before proceeding. Do not run this file on your hard drive or your current MBR will be overwritten rendering Windows unbootable. (This isn’t a complete disaster, but it takes some geeky knowledge to fix it.)? NOTE: If you are usingVista, you may see a “failure to update the MBR” error. In this case, right-click the file and specify “Run as administrator.”
15. Hit any key to exit. You now have bootable Linux thumb drive virus scanner that will handle NTFS drives as well as most other formats.

One really cool feature of the Kaspersky program is that it will allow you to update it over the Internet as long as you’re plugged into your network. It doesn’t work well with a wireless connection (which both of my laptops have), but I haven’t had a bit of trouble getting an address and updating when I’m plugged in.

Another great feature of the program is that it has a built in file manager, so you can also use it to recover files from an infected hard drive without having to boot into the native OS.

As always, feedback is welcome. I want to know how this tool is working for you.

(Thanks to PDLA ©2007 http://pendrivelinux.com and Lance ©2008? http://pendrivelinux.com. Syslinux is ©1994-2006 H. Peter Anvin http://syslinux.zytor.com for the files used in this tool.)

Cheers!
The Geek

These two new products are a Tool Geek’s dream. Since I don’t yet own either of them, I’m going to let the web sites and pictures speak for themselves. Both of these tools are powered by ultracapacitors (aka SuperCapacitors) and both recharge in 90 seconds. Check them out!

(Click on the logo above for the website)

Coleman claims 500,000 charge cycles life on the power cell.
$79.99 plus shipping

Light for Life Flashlight UC3.400

“In just 90 seconds, your Light for Life™ UC3.400 will be fully charged and ready to produce another 90 minutes of light. Flashpoint™ Power Technology system is rated for 50,000 charge/discharge cycles with virtually no degradation. That’s a charge a day for more than 135 years!”

$169.99 plus shipping (pre-order only–they’re not yet available)

Cheers!

The Geek