Raymond.CC Blog

I only have a couple of add-ons or extensions installed because Firefox is already a memory hogger. They are Google Toolbar, LastPass and Lazarus. The features that I find very useful in the Google Toolbar is Translate. It enables me to easily translate words or even the whole webpage from a foreign language to English. Other than that I can easily access my Gmail by clicking on the Gmail icon and also to view pagerank of a site. There are also many other useful features such as the spell checker and bookmarks. So far whenever I update Firefox to the latest version, the Google Toolbar is definitely compatible with it.

However, since the Mozilla Firefox team is following the Google Chrome footsteps in releasing major version number updates much faster, for the first time the Google Toolbar is unable to keep up the compatibility with Firefox 5.0. If you click on the Update Firefox button at the Firefox Software Update window, the next thing you will see is the notification of Incompatible Add-ons Found with Google Toolbar for Firefox listed there. Clicking the OK button will proceed with downloading Firefox 5.0. During the update process, Firefox again will show that the Google Toolbar is incompatible.

Clicking the Check Now button is pretty much useless for now because Firefox will tell you that it is unable to find updates to your incompatible add-ons.

Go to the Add-ons Manager and you will find that there is no way to force Firefox to enable the Google Toolbar.

If you have read my post on best practices in using LastPass, one the of the safe practice is to use a second factor authentication that is either the Grid (printable card), Sesame (USB flash drive), YubiKey, Fingerprint and SmartCard authentication instead of just relying on the master password. The good thing about using a second factor authentication is even if your master password somehow got stolen, the hacker still won’t be able to access your LastPass Vault because the physical authentication is in your hands.

I wanted to test how YubiKey works so I ordered one from Yubico. It cost $25 for one YubiKey and an additional $19.00 for shipping to Malaysia with tracking code. After a week of waiting, I received my YubiKey in a letter envelope. At first I didn’t know what was it until I opened it because I didn’t expect that the YubiKey is going to be that small and slim. It is made to easily fit on a key ring because normally people carry keys (car or house) with them.

The word “anti keylogger” today seems to be a universal meaning of keeping you safe against Keyloggers and not necessarily mean that it can detect and block keyloggers. Detecting, blocking and neutralizing keyloggers is one method normally used by traditional antivirus/antimalware but there a couple of ways that can also protect you against keyloggers such as using KeyScrambler to encrypt keystrokes so that keyloggers only captures random letters. Another method is to detect the keylogger “activities” such as taking screenshots, webcam logging, keyboard logging by using application such as Zemana AntiLogger. Each has their own unique way in keeping you safe against keyloggers and cannot be compared.

Ever since I started testing a few security applications against keyloggers, Lunarwolf has been bugging me to test Neo’s SafeKeys v3. Moreover there are also some of you would prefer a portable software that could keep you safe against keyloggers. The official Neo’s SafeKeys v3 website claims that “Neo’s SafeKeys v3 provides 100% keylogger protection” and let us see if that is true…

The time I spend on my computer daily is probably more than any other activity and I have come to realized the importance of ergonomics. Having a combination of good computer chair, a proper computer table with keyboard tray, and of course an ergonomic keyboard and mouse is very important. I have been using the wired Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 for many years and it allows me to rest my wrists against the plush palm rest in a relaxed, natural angle with this keyboard’s curved key bed, ergonomic arc, and reversed slope. As for the mouse, I use a simple USB Microsoft optical wheel mouse that is also wired.

I have to admit that I didn’t like all the wires going around my table because it looks messy and untidy. So I searched for alternative and found that Microsoft has another model called Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 which features the same keyboard as the 4000 without the wires and it comes together with a Wireless Laser Mouse 7000 which is very similar to the Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 sold individually. Unfortunately I couldn’t find anyone selling the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 in Malaysia, so I searched in eBay. Found a seller from UK, paid for it but after 2 months I was refunded because they wasn’t able to send it to Malaysia. Then this time I ordered from US and I just received it after waited for nearly 2 weeks. For your information, there is no custom import tax when you buy computer parts from overseas.

Please bear with me if I shared with you too much about keystroke encryption with you and I assure you that this is probably the last since I have covered nearly all of them. I am personally looking for the best keystroke encryption software because last week I realized how important it is to keep my password safe as there are too many undetectable malwares out there which only a handful good antivirus can only start detecting it after a couple of days. By then it’s too late when my password falls into the wrong hands…

After tested KeyScrambler and NextGen AntiKeylogger, KeyScrambler wins the competition by preventing 10 different types of keyloggers from capturing keystrokes and also more stable because some of the NextGen AntiKeylogger features doesn’t work. Looking to review more alternatives, I found GuardedID, created by StrikeForce Technologies, Inc which also claims to provide keylogger protection by encryption keystrokes.

I have been feeling safe for a while because of using LastPass which auto fills my username and password on web forms and also using KeyScrambler when I needed to type password into applications such as Windows Live Messenger, PuTTy, CuteFTP and etc… KeyScrambler seems light with very little memory usage but it does make me feel that there’s a little lag especially during typing because it needs to encrypt and decrypt the keystrokes. From my KeyScrambler review post, there is a commenter from Poland suggesting NextGen AntiKeylogger, a KeyScrambler alternative.

I checked out the official website of NextGen AntiKeylogger and the features are quite similar to KeyScrambler with also 3 version (free, pro and ultimate). Fortunately MaxSecurity Lab, the company that creates NextGen AntiKeylogger offers fully functional 15 days trial. I downloaded NextGen AntiKeylogger 3.3 Ultimate and installed on my test computer to see if it can prevent keyloggers from logging my keystrokes.

Maybank is the largest bank and financial group in Malaysia and it has a pretty good and complete online banking system. I have been using it for many years to conveniently pay my bills online and to transfer funds without even going to an ATM machine or to the bank. Recently there has been many fake Maybank2u websites created by phishers to steal the username and password. I don’t know why they even do it because transferring funds to a third party account that is not saved into the favorites requires to key in the random unique TAC code that is sent to the mobile phone and that number can ONLY be changed in the ATM machine. So there is no point in stealing an unknown user’s maybank2u login information.

Here is one that I’ve recently received on my personal Hotmail account. It is claimed to be sent by servicenotify@maybank2u.com with the subject Important Alert. The body the of email says the following:

Dear Customer,
During our last security update, we noticed problems with the security image on your account. You are therefore required to verify your account and select a new securuty image. As an additional security verification, you will be required to verify your security question and answers.

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