Freeware programs which may enhance your security.

[hr]A place to discuss freeware programs (including off the beaten path freeware programs) you have tried, or wish to know something more about... which can augment pc security.

not the same thread as your favorite freeware software which can be found here:

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=5970 [hr]

Has anyone tried a small program called Process Viewer by Igor Nys?

http://www.xmlsp.com/pview/prcview.htm

If so any thoughts positive or negative would be appreciated.

 

Hello peakaboo

We have tried Process Viewer and it works alright but it has limited usefulness. Here is a screenshot:

 

Here is a similar program but having more features that you may find interesting called Process Explorer. The website for Sysinternals has some additionally interesting tools as well. Here is a screenshot of Process Explorer for your viewing pleasure:

 

Hi All,

I agree with Q-Section regarding the usefulness of Process Explorer overall but I also find the commandline 'pv' that comes with PrcView handy when I need to get someone to list me the modules loaded in a certain process (especially in explorer.exe).

Some other freebies that I like...

Bintext by Foundstone (GUI tool)

http://www.foundstone.com/resources/termsofuse.htm?file=bintext.zip

parses out text strings from binary files

Openports by DCS (free for personal use; for NT and above only; command-line tool)

http://www.diamondcs.com.au/openports/index.php?page=download

Allows you to associate which processes have which ports open and what addresses are on the "remote" end

Autostart Viewer by DCS (GUI and command-line)

http://www.diamondcs.com.au/downloads/asviewer.zip

Allows you to view/delete any programs auto-launching from any of over 50 auto-start locations

 

Q DP,

thanks for the info.

I thought about using pv to kill processes... think I'll pass now and move on to ....

soon looking at Frontgate MX 1.0 - for previewing pop3 email & spam control

bellgamin rates PE very high too

 

I could not get Frontgate to run on WinME machine so I installed an old beta of mailwasher which works great as a previewer for pop3.

note: the free version of mailwasher only allows 1 pop3 account. paid version allows multiple pop3 & hotmail account

note: hoping to get another peak at Frontgate soon since the developers say it should work with Opera M2 & Thunderbird.

 

Anyone try a little file checking util called hashcalc?

any comments positive or negative would be appreciated.

screenie below

links to the program:

http://www.slavasoft.com/

http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/3000-2383-10130771.html?tag=lst-0-1

description:

An easy-to-use calculator that allows to compute message digests, checksums and HMACs for files, as well as for text and hex strings. It offers a choice of 11 most popular hash and checksum algorithms for calculations.

Version: 2.0

Released: 06/30/2003

OS: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP
File Size: 440 KB
License: Freewar

Major features:

+Support of 12 well-known and documented hash and checksum algorithms: MD2, MD4, MD5, SHA-1, SHA-2( 256, 384, 512), RIPEMD-160, PANAMA, TIGER, ADLER32, CRC32.
+ Support of a custom hash algorithm (MD4-based) used in eDonkey and eMule applications. (New in Version 2.0)
+ Support of 2 modes of calculations: HASH/CHECKSUM and HMAC.
+ Support of 3 input data formats: files, text strings and hex strings.
+ Work with large size files. (Tested on files with size up to 15 GB.).
+ Support of files drag-and-drop functionality.
+ Quick and simple installation.

[hr]

I guess another alternative if your looking for md5 checksum would be javacool's filechecker (offers more than just checksums)

I have not tried yet.

 

Hashcalc - nice light program (576,457 bytes) quick and accurate does everything it says it can do so I don't need anything else at this point.

Obvious security benefit is that most thoughtful software developers are including md5 hash calc for their dl's

armed with this info and using a hash calculator user can insure completeness of download and authenticity.

also if you know the md5 of your most charised .exe's you can manually monitor over time for any changes

eg:

from Hashcalc

MD5 for FileChecker setup - b938ff0baa1275da1596eba5eab73888



I will continue to monitor filechecker updates, I like the concept.

[hr]

note: Hashcalc latest version is 2.0 and has an installer and adds software version reg keys, start file and uninstall references.

hashcalc version 1.8 can still be found and is also free, and is standalone calc with no installation needed

other hash calcs you may want to try:

DAMN hash calculator

 

HashCalc just paid off big time for me (free program tee hee).

I dl'd Port Explorer demo on 1/10/04 (MD5 for this dl = 18bd0b7945571cc48ee993e58fb14473 ). I was thinking of loading it tonight but decided to check the MD5 for grins and guess what...

you guessed it... the MD5 did not match up as of the date of this post to what is on

http://www.diamondcs.com.au/portexplorer/index.php?page=download

A1B62421C448779BE15BE52BD6FB0180

file size was different also...

I'm usually pretty good at double checking my download size when they finish so I suspect that a new DL was put up on that site in the interim............ sweet

thanks HashCalc

I dl'd the latest version.

 

knowing your .exe's & download/install file MD5 is important

possibly another good example here:

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=20729

hashcalc or other free hash calculator baby...

 

Another good process viewer/controller which includes autostart review and a windows viewer among other tools is

Faber Toys currently version 2.5

http://www.faberbox.com/fabertoys.asp

One thing that makes this program stand out (at least for me) is the responsiveness of its author. A casual question attached to my newsletter subscription request a couple of years ago, resulted in a personal response with answer in about 2 hours, with follow-ups almost real-time.
He has some other tools on his site, but I have not yet tried any.

oh - yes its freeware!