a4apphack

AdBlock is one of the most popular browser extension that prevents ads or annoying page elements those are usually displayed in any webpage. It works by matching the pattern of unwanted elements in the page with what is available in its database and filters them.

Adblock can be made more efficient by adding custom patterns for the elements to be filtered.. This feature of AdBlock can be extended to block not only the ads but also the malicious content those are injected in seemingly genuine sites. This is done by adding MalwareDomains subscription to our Adblock preferences. MalwareDomain contains a list of domains that are known to be used to propagate malware and spyware. Adblock verifies whether there are any cross domain content loaded from any of malicious websites present in that list and if there is, then it blocks those elements.

Note: Subscribing to this list can increase the load time of the site. Increase in security at the cost of slight reduction in performance.

Here, we illustrate the steps to add the MalwareDomain list to our Adblock addon available for Chrome and Firefox browsers.

I. Adding MalwareDomain Subscription in Chrome

Download Adblock for Chrome here.

1. Access the AdBlock Options from the Chrome Extensions page and add MalwareDomains URL (http://malwaredomains.lanik.us/malwaredomains_full.txt)

2. Entered URL will now display in the subscriptions list. Make sure that its checked.

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It is the revolution of web browsers; they rule internet now. Browsers have evolved so much from what we had seen during the days of IE6. Now Firefox, Chrome, Opera, IE are on war to prove who is the best. They try different ways to win the heart of users; Firefox took a great leap by introducing the ‘panaroma’ feature – focus on multitasking, chrome gets appreciation for its fluid design – focus on simplicity & ease of use, Opera and IE has browser stability on priority – focus on robustness.

During this evolution, some browsers tries to standout from others by introducing a new feature which had never been available in any of their counterparts. But the other browsers instead wait for the users comments on the new feature implemented, if appreciated, they implement the same feature in theirs, may be in a better way. The browser who introduced that feature first might even loose its credit in due course. User is forced to switch from their  favorite browser for a ‘single feature’ they found useful in the ‘other’ browser. Once they completely switch and get used to the new browser, the old one brings out the same feature plus few bonus features. This cycle never ends. Firefox introduced tabs and extensions when IE did not have in them, people were attracted to it and finally switched to firefox. Then the light weight chrome came with Tab tearing, web apps, new tab page with speed dial and many other features, made few users to make chrome as their default browser. Firefox then inherited few of chromes’ features, syncing and expose like tab candy/panaroma effects. We don’t have to switch browsers just for UI features, and if at all we do, it should be seamless.

This article tries to identify best features in each of the browser and the features we expect to be part any modern browser. Here, we try to baseline few ideas, those ideas which takes browser design to the next level.

Browser Main Screen (Mockup)

MOCKUP - Main Screen - Click over image to zoom

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This post details about the steps to add Syntax Highlighting Feature to any SharePoint site where you have access to upload files to server. This can help people who embed code snippets in the SharePoint site and share it with their team.

Download and extract SyntaxHighlighter scripts to your PC (Check the download link at the bottom of the post). Now access the SharePoint site and create a folder structure as shown in the below screenshot (i.e. to create ‘scripts’, ‘src’ and ‘styles’ folders inside syntax folder which is present in ‘Shared Documents’). Now upload the syntax highlighter files to appropriate folders.

Upload Scripts Folder Structure

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In the previous post, Secfox Part 1, we had seen how to customize the environment in FireFox to get better ease of use and more workspace. Now its time to fill in the addons.

This post has two sections, the first explains how to obtain details of any website (Information Gathering) and the second deals with analysis and understanding of HTTP raw header information.

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SecFox is nothing but a customized version of Firefox which is intended for performing web application security tests and audits. Using SecFox reduces time and effort we would have put if we had used any other browser along with tons of free + commercial tools used for testing the apps.

Firefox is an amazing browser whose features can be extended by installing addons or tweaking the browser itself. This feature of it is utilized to the max for building a powerful hacking/testing tool, SecFox.

This articles(split into sections) details the process of creating SecFox and also includes the usage of various security related firefox addons with relevant examples and screencasts.
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FileMenu tools includes a set of handy tools which can be easily accessed from the right click context menu of any file/folder. The tools can be individually customized and organized as required. We can also set filters for different types of file extensions so that the particular tool is displayed in the right click menu only for that corresponding extension.

Tools in Context Menu

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Pencil is a tool created with Mozilla Gecko engine, which is used for creating mockup screens for designing prototypes.
This is an opensource tool and works on any platform that Firefox 3 can.

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Dapper helps you to extract data from any website and create customized feeds. This is different from a normal feed since it allows you to select the data and also to modify the presentation of data. The dapps created can be used in formats like RSS, XML, Google Gadgets, Facebook application, HTML etc.

Quick look at dapper

Video 1 :

Video 2 :

You can set variable inputs to customize your feeds as shown below.

Alerts can also be set so that a specified action (like notification by email) is performed when the value in the variable input matches the value specified by us.

Dapperfox – Firefox Extension

DapperFox is a Firefox extension that sits next to the RSS icon in your browser.
Whenever you visit a website DapperFox will show you RSS feeds that other people have created, as well as allow you to create a new feed to share with the community. This is perfect when a site does not have its own RSS feed, or when the default feed settings are not convincing enough.

OpenDNS is a service which provides parental control solution by filtering the sites based on the URL entered by the user. OpenDNS can be easily setup by replacing the DNS nameserver provided by the ISP to the OpenDNS specific one. By changing the settings as in when required we can switch from direct connection/OpenDNS and vice versa. But this might be a tedious task to go and change the LAN settings when one might want to do it frequently. Let us find a work around for this.

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