How to Secure Your Facebook Account from Hackers

Since Facebook is the most popular social networking site used by millions of users all over the world, hackers see this as an opportunity to hack as many accounts they can to extract some personal or professional content. They keep trying to get to the account of those whose profile are not secured and hack into their accounts.

But as a user you have certain privilege that enables you to prevent such action on your account by keeping it secured and safe from third party access.

Tips to secure your Facebook account

Follow below steps to secure your Facebook account and make it harder for the bad guys to get access to your account.

1. Use Facebook in https mode

Users get an option of secure browsing in their Facebook account by altering the http mode to https mode.

To make this change you must visit account setting option from the drop down list and then click on the security section present on the left side of your window. There enable the secure browsing option so as to make your account secured from other access or hacking.

2. Use strong passwords

While creating an account, users are asked to specify a strong password as to keep their accounts safe. The reason behind is that more the password is strong, less are the chances of hackers getting into your account. It leads to a secured base.

However, users generally being lazy and difficulty of remembering long passwords get them to use weak level passwords which get them to face the consequences later.

So it is recommended to provide strong passwords which includes a mix of numerals, characters, special symbols etc so that you can avoid the future harm into your accounts.

Another important thing to know regarding password security is not to use same passwords for two different online accounts. It increases the chances of hacking.

3. Enable Login Notifications

The next step to keep in mind while securing your account is enabling text and email notification whenever a login is made into your account. Through enabling this, the user who is the owner of the account is notified about the logs in to his/her account made from any other PC or mobile which hasn’t been used earlier.

This is possible by sending an SMS over the registered mobile or email-id that the user has added into the Facebook account.

You must have seen this while logging in to your account. Facebook makes a confirmation of the device and then you can authorize that device or PC by just saving it by the name as that of home computer or mobile. In such cases if the hackers hack into your account you will be notified immediately.

This is done just by enabling both text and email option present in the secure browsing option in the security tab.

4. Get rid of Unnecessary Applications

There are various SPAM applications prevailing on your Facebook sites. People have gone crazy behind those but the reality is these apps are not authenticates applications. Facebook has no concern with those and if Facebook launches its own app it makes it authenticated for the users.

The other apps are spam application that steals your private data or details and then use that in certain kind of survey programs etc. hackers in this way can easily hack your personal info or email id by over the request through apps.

So it recommended to get rid of all the unnecessary applications by going to the account settings>Apps tabs. There click on ‘X’ button and remove the apps that is not at all needed.

5. Facebook Privacy

Facebook provides the privacy guidelines to make sure that your accounts are secured. So users must read the guidelines and on the basis of that reading, adjust the privacy setting of your account. This not only provides you a secured Facebook account but also prevents from online thefts.

Here the users can view and check how their profile will be visible to public or their friends. This enables them to know any omissions that they made during adjusting the privacy setting and can make the changes accordingly.

6. External links

Never click on the external links that are sent to you through any source. It may be in the form of attractive offers, links etc that may require you to login through your id to continue surfing over the site.

These are the suspicious links that gets in your Facebook account and are considered to be spam, so it is recommended to ignore such links and never click on for further surfing.

7. Friend requests

Users must think before adding someone to their friend list. The reason behind is that, may be they are interested to know the personal details which is actually hidden from public but visible to your friends. Hence make the privacy setting adjustments accordingly and also don’t add any person whose profile seems to be suspicious or odd.

8. Spam links

Users must remove the spam links as soon as possible from the Facebook profile. There are some times when your friend keep posting spammed links on your profile, but actually the reality is that they never post those links manually but its gets posted automatically, as they must be a victim by clicking over spam kinks. So make sure that you remove those links as soon as possible from your and other profiles too.

9. Make sure that you are logging in to the correct site

Always users must make sure that they are logging into a correct Facebook site with the Facebook.com domain and also that it starts from https mode. Many times it happens that the hackers create site same as that of Facebook in order to grab the info.

10. Don’t show your email id on your profile

Don’t show your Facebook email id on your profile which you use to login because it can be easily hacked and spammers then can easily send spam mails to your id. So it is better to not to show your id on the Facebook account, at least never make it public so that everyone can see it.

11. Sign out properly when you are done

There are times when due to some reason or mistake you forget to sign out from your account. In such cases go to account setting > security tab > recognized device > remove the device from where you forgot to sign out. This actually helps in automatic sign out from the account on that device.

12. Update your PC

Always keep updating your system along with the antivirus. Drivers, browser etc need to be update from time to time. You can make these update manually once a week as it reduces the bandwidth of internet and keeps checking the updates.

13. Security questions

Users must know to never share their security question with anyone as Facebook allows to update them only once during sign up process. These are needed when an account gets hacked just to verify the ownership of the account. So it is better recommended to not to share such info with anyone.

14. Updating security information

Update your security info which serves to helpful at times when you lose access to your account. Hence users must visit the update security information, continue with the password, and enter two email id and a mobile no. if you haven’t done it yet. In case you have done it review the info is correct or not and whether the mail id is accessible or not. If not then user must update a different email id.

So these were some cool tips that are very useful to keep your facebook profile safe and secured from unauthorized access. If you have anything to add, feel free to tell us in comments.

How to Share Directions from Google Maps in Android

Version 9.3 of Google Maps allows you to share point to point driving directions with others. Find out below how you can share your Google Maps driving directions using Android.

This is a great new feature that lets you share your Google Maps driving directions with anyone – regardless of if they are using Android or not or even if they don’t have Google Maps.

Guide to Share Driving Directions from Google Maps

In order to share the driving directions, follow this simple process.

First of all, open Google Maps and put the start point and end point as you usually do in Maps. Choose the transportation mode and select the route.

Next, you don’t have to touch the navigation button. Instead, go to the menu button which is located on top right corner. In that menu, you will find “Share Directions” option. Press that.

Once you hit the Share Directions button, you will see that Google Maps is allowing you to share the directions in text form. So you can use any app on your Smartphone. For example, if you would like to send it as email, then choose your email app. If you want to share it on Whatsapp, then you can do that as well. Sending as text sms is also an option for you.

So, by choosing the desired app, you will be able to easily share the directions with anyone. The driving directions will be sent to your desired recipient in text form. It’s basically a list of directions right from the start point to end point.

It also includes the distance and the expected time it will take to cover that distance. After that, the individual steps of driving directions are mentioned. At the end, there will be a short link of the directions that one can open as a webpage to see.

That’s all! This was the simple process how to share driving directions with others using Google Maps in Android.

How to Fix Blue Screen Memory Dump Error in Windows?

What is blue screen memory dump error and how to fix it?

The blue screen memory dump is an error that pops up on screen before system trying to reboot, changing its color to blue because of multiple reasons due to which operating system stops working properly.

Due to this all the content of the RAM is automatically dumped in a file containing data. This error screen mainly arises in Windows operating system randomly as system restarts and starts dumping physical memory and for those entire familiar with it call it as Blue Screen of Death.

Identifying this error is quite easy, as the name depicts it changing screen color to blue and your system restarts again and again. There are various reasons due to which the operating system stops functioning the way it should be:

The most common reason for physical memory dump error is the lack of compatibility between software and hardware components.

Usually Windows operating system is capable of performing multitasking at the same time but sometimes when many processes are running with similar priority level, this error arises.

The major reason due to which this error occurs is Windows registry problem. The other two above mentioned error may be easy to tackle but this must be handled properly with step by step procedure in order to let system start working normal again. Genuine version of Windows to be function properly, these registry files are very prominent and if found missing can cause blue screen error.

How to fix Blue Screen Memory Dump Error?

There are various ways through which one can resolve this dump memory issue in no time. Sometimes there is only one error that is the reason for blue screen which must be prompted or pops up on your screen with the blue screen but if not error can be found by sorting these following issues:

1. Check device manager

There is a huge chance that due to compatibility issues between new hardware or software drivers and already installed drivers, blue screen error occurs.

In such cases, there is only one solution is to uninstall the previous version of the hardware or software which is the reason of error and replace it with the new version by installing it.

While installing the new version always make sure that these drivers are compatible with the operating system you are using in your computer to avoid further error. Various third-party software are available online which help track all those drivers which are recently installed and they check if they are still making any problem or not.

Apart from the drivers’ issue, there are also chances that the device driver you are using have problem in itself which is causing operating system not to work properly. Hence, blue screen of death.

2. Windows registry repairing

For any operating system to work normally, it is essential to have all the files properly installed and verified. Registry file of the operating system is very important file that must be present in your system files.

There are times when registry file of the operating system includes various invalid entries that are not even present in the system or the registry file is corrupted period. This results in the memory dump error that cause blue screen.

For those who have fine knowledge about the operating system and have proper internet connection can update it themselves which can be risky as well. For better chance of perfection, always buy genuine software that takes care of all the registry issues.

It automatically scans the problems and fixes any issue regarding registry of the operating system.

3. Verify all the memory modules

Sometimes with blue screen some error message also pops up which usually reads “UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP”, such error usually means that the error is caused mainly due to memory issue.

For resolving memory issue of your computer, two main modules must be checked SIMMs and CMOS. SIMMs stands for Single Inline Memory Modules that handles the speed compatibility of the operating system and CMOS stands for Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor that must be set properly according to the RAM configurations.

Most of the times, by checking these two modules do the wonders and blue screen error are fixed but if not then there is only one solution left and that is replacing the whole memory setup of your operating system.

4. Repair a hard drive which is damaged

A damaged hard drive can also be the reason for blue screen memory dump error in your computer. Windows operating system is designed in a way that it have a diagnostic scanning functionality that checks whether hard drive is running properly or not and if not it checks for the error that is causing problems.

But due to some reason these diagnostic functionalities stop working and do not scan or read any hard drive. In such situations in order to tackle the error SCSI terminator which is an interface must be checked.

5. Virus check

If all the above reasons for fixing the blue screen error fail, then there must be a reason which is blocking all the possibilities and causing this memory dump error.

This reason can be virus or any other malicious program whose presence stops the operating system to function properly. There is an essential flow of data between operating system and hard drive and once the virus or any other malicious program corrupted the hard drive that flow also interrupted.

This can result in Blue screen of death that eventually starts dumping the physical memory and let your system restart again and again.

This kind of error can be tackled by downloading genuine version of antivirus into your computer but if you already have an antivirus installed, then there is only one solution left; that is to uninstall that version and download a new version of antivirus.

Once the file which is corrupts is scanned and properly removed from your system, user must check the presence of blue screen once again by restarting the computer.

How to Restore Deleted Files

If you accidentally deleted an important file, you would want know how to restore deleted files on your computer. Try to restore the deleted files as soon as possible. The more it’s delayed, harder it becomes to restore the files back.

Generally, people think that once data is deleted permanently, it can never be restored. However, that’s not the complete truth. The key here is to act quickly.

Also read: How to recover Virus infected data from Flash / Pen / Jet Drive.

How to Restore Deleted Files – The Complete Guide

Following guide will walk you through step by step instructions to restore deleted files on your computer.

Here are the steps you should follow in order to restore the deleted files back on your Windows based PC.

Check the Recycle Bin
First and basic step is to check for the file in recycle bin. If it’s present there, you can easily restore it. All you need is to right click on the file icon and select “Restore”. The file will move back to it’s original location on hard drive where it was present before deletion.

However, if the file was big, it may not be present in recycle bin. There could be other possibilities wherein the file may not be present in recycle bin. For example, if you pressed shift+delete while deleting the file, it won’t hit the recycle bin.

Stop Using Your Hard Drive
What happens when you delete a file is the operating system marks the space allocated to the file as available for use and it deletes the pointer to file. So physically the file is still present on hard drive until some new data is stored on same location.

So, the chances of restoring the deleted files is higher if you don’t use your PC after deletion of the file.

Download a Data Recovery Utility
Get an effective data recovery software. Try downloading it on a different drive, if you have one. There are some recovery software that offer a portable version. You can download the portable version on your pen drive / thumb drive and run the program directly from the USB device. However, not all software provide the portable version.

Some of the most effective software to restore deleted files are listed below:

Recuva

One of the best software for data recovery. It is very simple and easy to use. Recuva has some advanced features to recover the data. Once you download and install this software, it will ask you what type of data you are searching for and the location of that data, then it will scan your PC at speed.

Recuva can recover data from hard disk, memory card, and USB device as well. You can download and install Recuva software for free and use it whenever your data or any important file is lost. However, avoid downloading on the same drive from which your file was deleted.

Restore Deleted Files Using Recuva

PC Inspector File Recovery

PC Inspector File Recovery is another recovery tool which will help you to restore deleted files. The interface is not as simple as Recuva and while searching for deleted files, you need some patience.

To use this tool, there is a simple folder view and dialog box. In that dialog box you have to locate file by name and it will attempt to restore it on your drive.

The download size of this is 3.3MB.

Glary Undelete

Glary Undelete is another effective recovery tool which will help you to restore deleted files. It is very simple and easy to use.

It has a nice interface as compared to other tools. To restore a deleted file, you have to scan the drive, then click search and wait until it’s finished.

It recovers data on both FAT and NTFS drives. The files that are found after scan are presented in a single list and in folder view option. You can search files by file type and name. It works well for data recovery.

The disadvantage of this tool is before using this tool you have to install it. However, you should download and install this on a different drive / partition.

Like other tools, Glary Undelete helps you restore files from hard disk, memory card, USB drives etc.

Restoration

Restoration is another effective software to restore deleted files. You don’t need to install this software. You can download and use it from a thumb drive or external hard drive.

Puran File Recovery

This is also a great and simple software to quickly scan your hard drive and restore deleted files. It has 3 modes to scan: Quick Scan, Deep Scan and Full Scan. The size of this tool is just 2.2 MB.

Scan Your Hard Drive Using Any of the Tools

Once you have got the data recovery software mentioned above, run it. Every software is different but the basic functionality is same. You need to run a scan to find out the list of deleted files still present on your hard drive. You can then try to restore them back to their original location on hard drive.

If you had deleted your data from a USB device, then you can scan that as well. Just specify the drive in your software before running the scan.

Most of the software tell you upfront after running the scan if the files can be restored or not. Please be informed that not all files can be restored.

How to Password Protect Files and Folders on PC

You must be having some personal data on your PC or laptop that you won’t like to share with anyone. In that case, you can password protect your files and folders. Find out how.

If your computer or laptop is being used by other people, then you definitely need to password protect your personal data that you don’t want to share.

For example, if you have written down your passwords on a text file or spreadsheet, you won’t like your sister or parents to find out your facebook password! However, I recommend you to use a password manager software to store your passwords.

Ok, that was just an example. There could be other data as well that you want to protect. It becomes more important when you have some sensitive business data stored on your PC.

Unfortunately, Windows operating system doesn’t have this feature in built to help you password protect your files or folders.

Thankfully, there are several software that help you password protect your files or folders on your PC. You set the password and only you will be able to access that data.

Make sure you remember your password though! Again, think about a password manager software.

Software to Help You Password Protect Files and Folders on PC

There are few good software available for file and folder password protection. Here are some of them:

TrueCrypt
One of the most effective utility to help you safeguard your sensitive data. TrueCrypt is open source (and hence free) utility that is supported on multiple platforms.

Though it initially requires some efforts for the set up, it’s really peace of mind once you start using it. You can rely on it. If someone hacks your PC and tries to decrypt your password protected data, they will have a really difficult time cracking it.

My LockBox
My LockBox is free and simple software which adds a password to a folder and hence put security on your sensitive data.

The folder which you had given a lock using this utility will be hidden from any user and applications from your computer system including administrator. If you had given lock to the folder, it is difficult to access it from local computer and internet.

Free Hide Folder 2.0
Another simple utility, just like My LockBox. It also helps to add a password and hide the folder that you select.

Hide Folder Ext
The folders you choose will be completely invisible, even on an external drive. Just add the documents and click on Protech and Quit and it’s done.

7-Zip
Though it’s a utility for archiving purpose, there is a feature to password protect your data. So you can add a password to the archive. However, the files and folders will not be hidden. They will be listed along with other files and folders. But anyone will require a password to open it. You can hide your archive data manually from the properties.

What is the Difference between USB 2.0 and USB 3.0

USB is an industry standard for creating connections between computers, computer peripherals and other devices supporting USB. It’s functionality includes detecting, loading and identifying the genuine and potential software drivers which suits best for particular USB devices.

USB is short for Universal Serial Bus, a data transfer device that manages power according to its versions and give efficient results.

USB 2.0 was launched earlier and due to its less compatibility with certain devices, USB 3.0 was launched with better and faster data transfer speeds.

Usually computers have both the types of ports compatible for 2.0 and 3.0 ports. Both the versions work best with their portable devices only as 2.0 always acts more compatible for 2.0 devices and same for 3.0 devices.

Also read: USB Device Not Recognized In Windows 7 or 8.

USB 2.0

Hi-Speed certified USB was released in 2000 and was known for its high speed capability with 480 megabits per second.

Specifications: It uses Half-duplex polling method in which signaling is done one sided only, either you can send data or receive data.

For 2.0 devices, USB 2.0 is best as it is less expensive and compatible as well. USB 2.0 usually requires up to 500mA power supply as it have 4 wires within its cable. Cable is usually 5 meters long.

USB 3.0

USB 3.0 superfast device was launched in 2008 and is approximately 10 times faster than the original USB 2.0 version.

Specifications: It provides 4.8 Giga bits per second speed. Full duplex asynchronous signaling mechanism is followed in USB 3.0 version and this way one can simultaneously send and receive data. As compared to 2.0, this is little more expensive but with the amount of fast speed it provides it is worth.

900mA power supply is used in this version which provides better efficiency. With the help of this one can connect and provide power supply to more than one device. Its cable is mainly 3 meters long and one can connect more wires with it as well.

The major difference between these two versions categorized in following pointers:

Rate of data-transfer: The transfer rate of both the devices varies almost with 10 times difference. USB 2.0 transfers data with 480Mbps speed while USB 3.0 offers 4.8Gbps speed which justifies its invention over 2.0 versions.

Increased connectors: USB 2.0 contain limited ports where only few wires can be connected but 3.0 cables have more than one wires, with almost doubled connectors.

Power required: both the cables varies in their power consumption capabilities which makes it easier for the customer to choose one over another.

Bandwidth: Half-duplex and full-duplex are two types of communication mechanisms which are followed by USB 2.0 and 3.0 respectively. Preferring 3.0 over 2.0 lets the user to have full control over data transfer and this way one can send and receive data simultaneously. This helps in better time consuming and efficient way.

Compatibility: one can use USB 3.0 cable with 2.0 devices but it is not compatible for vice versa situations.

Color difference: one can easily detect USB 2.0 and 3.0 cables just by identifying their color. 2.0 come in grey color while blue color is prominent and depicts USB 3.0 cables.

Plenty of Fish POF Dating App Review

POF dating app is one of the largest free dating app with more than fifty million users keenly looking for casual dating and serious relationships.

It is a very well-designed dating app with so many unique, interesting and remarkable features and capabilities.

Basically, people can start by providing some essential profile information such as marital status, number of kids (if any), pastime activities, religion, occupation, earnings, previous relationships (if any) etc.

Your interest list and few lines about yourself can also be given to give a personal touch to your dating profile. There is a fun questionnaire called the Relationship Chemistry Predictor which is designed to evaluate compatibility.

It gives a number of statements to make an assessment of a user’s personality. According to your responses to these questions, it matches you with other users.

Another optional interesting tool called the Relationship Needs Assessment finds your known and hidden requirements in a relationship. After the assessment, it provides you a list of questions and topics to discuss with your possible matches.

If you are already familiar with POF website, you will surely love this app as it includes all the main features and presents them in a simple and easy-to-use design.

The point to be mentioned here is that the application is actually simpler and uncomplicated than the POF website itself, so one can actually just let the website go entirely.

The navigation part of the POF application is exceptionally user-friendly; moreover users can upload their pictures directly from their devices as well. Users can easily communicate with their matches by sending and receiving messages.

The icon of the app is a blue fish which is quite different from other dating sites’ icons with some really awkward cheesy lines.

As mentioned earlier, the POF app is 100 % free to download and use which means you can create, search and communicate with your closest matches on this app without any charges.

POF also includes an exclusively feature for Android users, it allows you to make a private call to someone without giving him/her your contact number. You just need to tap the phone icon shown in your chat in order to place a voice call immediately!

However it is to be noted here that the voice call feature is still in testing phase and only available to very few users as of now. These voice calls are placed using the app, so you need to keep a check on your data limit as well.

The POF app uses the GPS feature of your device to find the matches in immediate vicinity; while the app allows you to check if a person is within 500 meters area from you, but it doesn’t display the exact location of that person due to privacy issues.

POF app is available internationally and can be used in a number of other widely spoken languages like French and Spanish etc. Existing members of POF website can use their username and password for logging-in to the application whereas new consumers of this app need to first launch the POF application and tap the “Sign Up” button on its main page and follow simple steps to create the account.

A photo can be uploaded within few moments using this application. The POF app lets you edit your dating profile and make necessary changes by following some simple instructions.

The POF app makes use of the GPS or zip code (if GPS is disabled) to find out your location. The app gives you an option to decide whether you want to receive alerts or not when you get a new message from someone.

POF app provides you access to one of the largest online dating communities in the world. With over fifty million users, this dating app seems quite promising in helping those who are actively searching for a large pool of potential matches in their close vicinity. Generally speaking, the POF app is the best online dating application available out there with tons of amazing features and options.