Recovering Internet Explorer Passwords: Theory and Practice

1. Introduction

2. Types of passwords stored in Internet Explorer

2.1. Internet Credentials

2.2. AutoComplete data

2.3. AutoComplete passwords

2.4. FTP passwords

2.5. Synchronization passwords

2.6. Identities passwords

2.7. AutoForms data

2.8. Content Advisor password

3. Brief overview of Internet Explorer password recovery programs

4. PIEPR – the first acquaintance

5. Three real-life examples

5.1. Recovering current user’s FTP passwords

5.2. Recovering website passwords from unloadable operating system

5.3. Recovering uncommonly stored passwords

6. Conclusion

1. Introduction

Nobody will likely dispute the fact that Internet Explorer is today’s most popular Web browser. According to the statistics, approximately 70% of online users prefer to use just this program. Arguments about its pros and cons may last forever; still, this browser is the leader of its industry, and this is a fact that requires no proof. Internet Explorer carries several built-in technologies, designed to make average user’s life easier. One of them – IntelliSense – is made for taking care of the routine tasks, like the automatic completion of visited webpage addresses, automatic filling of form fields, users’ passwords, etc.

Many of today’s websites require registration, which means, user would have to enter user name and password. If you use more than a dozen of such websites, you will likely need a password manager. All modern browsers have a built-in password manager in their arsenal, and Internet Explorer is not an odd. Indeed, why would one have to remember yet another password if it is going to be forgotten some time soon anyway? Much easier would be to have browser do the routine work of remembering and storing passwords for you. It’s convenient and comfortable.

This would be a totally perfect solution; however, if your Windows operating system crashed or reinstalled not the way it’s supposed to be reinstalled, you can easily lose the entire list of your precious passwords. That’s the toll for the comfort and convenience. It’s good just about every website has a saving ‘I forgot password’ button. However, this button will not always take your headache from you.

Each software developer solves the forgotten password recovery problem their own way. Some of them officially recommend copying a couple of important files to another folder, while other send all registered users a special utility that allows managing the migration of private data, and the third ones pretend they are not seeing the problem. Nevertheless, the demand creates the offer, and password recovery programs are currently on a great demand.

In this article, let’s try to classify types of private data stored in Internet Explorer, look at programs for the recovery of the data, and study real-life examples of recovering lost Internet passwords.

2. Types of passwords stored in Internet Explorer

- Internet Explorer may store the following types of passwords:

- Internet Credentials

- AutoComplete Data

- AutoComplete Passwords

- FTP Passwords

- Synchronization Passwords for cached websites

- Identities Passwords

- AutoForms Data

- Content Advisor Password

Let’s take a closer look at each listed item.

2.1. Internet Credentials for websites

Internet credentials mean user’s logins and passwords required for accessing certain websites, which are processed by the wininet.dll library. For example, when you try to enter the protected area of a website, you may see the following user name and password prompt.

If the option ‘Remember my password’ is selected in that prompt, the user credentials will be saved to your local computer. The older versions of Windows 9a stored that data in user’s PWL file; Windows 2000 and newer store it in the Protected Storage.

2.2. AutoComplete Data

AutoComplete data (passwords will be covered further) are also stored in the Protected Storage and appear as lists of HTML form field names and the corresponding user data. For example, if an HTML page contains an e-mail address entry dialog: once user has entered his e-mail address, the Protected Storage will have the HTML field name, the address value, and the time the record was last accessed.

The HTML page title and website address are not stored. Is that good or bad? It’s difficult to determine; more likely to be good than bad. Here are the obvious pros: it saves free space and speeds up browser’s performance. If you think the last note is insignificant, try to imagine how you would have to perform several extra checkups in a multi-thousand (this is not as rare as it may seem to be) auto-fill list.

Another obvious plus is that data for identical by name (and often by subject) HTML form fields will be stored in the same place, and the common data will be used for the automatic filling of such pages. We will see this by this example. If one HTML page contains an auto-fill field with the name ‘email’, and user entered his e-mail address in that field, IE will put in the storage, roughly, ‘email=my@email.com’. From now on, if the user opens another website, which has a page with the same field name ‘email’, the user will be suggested to auto-fill it with the value that he entered on the first page (my@email.com). Thus, the browser somewhat discovers AI capabilities within itself.

The major drawback of this data storage method comes out of its advantage that we just described. Imagine, user has entered auto-fill data on a webpage. If someone knows the HTML form field name, that person can create his own simplest HTML page with the same field name and open it from a local disk. To uncover the data entered in this field, such person will not even have to connect to the Internet and open the original WWW address.

2.3. AutoComplete Passwords

In the case with passwords data, however, as you might have guessed, the data will not be filled in automatically. Since auto-complete passwords are stored along with the Web page name, and each password is bound to only one specific HTML page.

In the new version, Internet Explorer 7, both AutoComplete passwords and data are encrypted completely different; the new encryption method is free from the shortcoming just described (if that can be classified as a shortcoming.)

It is worth noticing that Internet Explorer allows users to manage auto-fill parameters manually, through the options menu.

2.4. FTP passwords

FTP site passwords are stored pretty much the same way. It would be relevant to notice that beginning with Windows XP FTP passwords are additionally encrypted with DPAPI. This encryption method uses logon password. Naturally, this makes it much more difficult to recover such lost passwords manually, since now one would need to have the user’s Master Key, SID and the account password.

Starting with Microsoft Windows 2000, the operating system began to provide a Data Protection Application-Programming Interface (DPAPI) API. This is simply a pair of function calls that provide OS-level data protection services to user and system processes. By OS-level, we mean a service that is provided by the operating system itself and does not require any additional libraries. By data protection, we mean a service that provides confidentiality of data through encryption. Since the data protection is part of the OS, every application can now secure data without needing any specific cryptographic code other than the necessary function calls to DPAPI. These calls are two simple functions with various options to modify DPAPI behavior. Overall, DPAPI is a very easy-to-use service that will benefit developers that must provide protection for sensitive application data, such as passwords and private keys.

DPAPI is a password-based data protection service: it requires a password to provide protection. The drawback, of course, is that all protection provided by DPAPI rests on the password provided. This is offset by DPAPI using proven cryptographic routines, specifically the strong Triple-DES and AES algorithms, and strong keys, which we’ll cover in more detail later. Since DPAPI is focused on providing protection for users and requires a password to provide this protection, it logically uses the user’s logon password for protection.

DPAPI is not responsible for storing the confidential information it protects. It is only responsible for encrypting and decrypting data for programs that call it, such as Windows Credential manager, the Private Key storage mechanism, or any third-party programs.

Please refer to Microsoft Web site for more information.

2.5. Synchronization Passwords for cached websites

Synchronization passwords free user from having to enter passwords for cached websites (sites set to be available offline.) Passwords of this type are also stored in IE’s Protected Storage.

2.6. Identities passwords

So are identities passwords. The identity-based access management mechanism is not widespread in Microsoft’s products, except, perhaps, Outlook Express.

2.7. AutoForms Data

A special paragraph must cover the form auto-fill method, which constitutes a hybrid way of storing data. This method stores the actual data in the Protected Storage, and the URL, which the data belong to, is stored in user’s registry. The URL written in the registry is stored not as plaintext – it is stored as hash. Here is the algorithm for reading form auto-fill data in IE 4 – 6:

===8RemoveAll();

//Check if autoform passwords are present in registry

if ( EntryPresent(cszUrl) )

{

//Read PStore autoform passwords

return PStoreReadAutoformPasswords(cszUrl,saPasswords);

}

return FALSE;

}

//Check if autoform passwords are present

BOOL CAutoformDecrypter::EntryPresent(LPCTSTR cszUrl)

{

assert(cszUrl);

DWORD dwRet, dwValue, dwSize=sizeof(dwValue);

LPCTSTR cszHash=GetHash(cszUrl);

//problems computing the hash

if ( !cszHash )

return FALSE;

//Check the registry

dwRet=SHGetValue(HKCU,_T(”SoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerIntelliFormsSPW”),cszHash,NULL,&dwValue,&dwSize);

delete((LPTSTR)cszHash);

if ( dwRet==ERROR_SUCCESS )

return TRUE;

m_dwLastError=E_NOTFOUND;

return FALSE;

}

//retrieve hash by given URL text and translate it into hex format

LPCTSTR CAutoformDecrypter::GetHash(LPCTSTR cszUrl)

{

assert(cszUrl);

BYTE buf[0x10];

LPTSTR pRet=NULL;

int i;

if ( HashData(cszUrl,buf,sizeof(buf)) )

{

//Allocate some space

pRet=new TCHAR [sizeof(buf) * sizeof(TCHAR) + sizeof(TCHAR)];

if ( pRet)

{

for ( i=0; i0 )

pHash[dw]=(BYTE)dw;

//actual hashing stuff

while ( dwDataSize–>0 )

{

for ( dw=dwHashSize; dw–>0; )

{

//m_pPermTable = permutation table

pHash[dw]=m_pPermTable[pHash[dw]^pData[dwDataSize]];

}

}

}

===8

The next, seventh generation of the browser, is most likely going to make this user’s data storage mechanism its primary data storage method, declining the good old Protected Storage. Better to say, auto-fill data and passwords, from now on, are going to be stored here.

What is so special and interesting in this mechanism that made MS decide to use it as primary? Well, first of all, it was the encryption idea, which isn’t new at all but still simple and genius, to disgrace. The idea is to quit storing encryption keys and generate them whenever that would be necessary. The raw material for such keys would be HTML page’s Web address.

Let’s see how this idea works in action. Here is IE7’s simplified algorithm for saving auto-fill data and password fields:

1 Save Web page’s address. We will use this address as the encryption key (EncryptionKey).

2 Obtain Record Key. RecordKey = SHA(EncryptionKey).

3 Calculate checksum for RecordKey to ensure the integrity of the record key (the integrity of the actual data will be guaranteed by DPAPI.) RecordKeyCrc = CRC(RecordKey).

4 Encrypt data (passwords) with the encryption key EncryptedData = DPAPI_Encrypt(Data, EncryptionKey).

5 Save RecordKeyCrc + RecordKey + EncryptedData in the registry.

6 Discard EncryptionKey.

It is very, very difficult to recover password without having the original Web page address. The decryption looks pretty much trivial:

1 When the original Web page is open, we take its address (EncryptionKey) and obtain the record key RecordKey = SHA(EncryptionKey).

2 Browse through the list of all record keys trying to locate the RecordKey.

3 If the RecordKey is found, decrypt data stored along with this key using the EncryptionKey. Data = DPAPI_Decrypt(EncryptedData, EncryptionKey).

In spite of the seeming simplicity, this Web password encryption algorithm is one of today’s strongest. However, it has a major drawback (or advantage, depending which way you look at it.) If you change or forget the original Web page address, it will be impossible to recover password for it.

2.8. Content Advisor password

And the last item on our list is Content Advisor password. Content Advisor was originally developed as a tool for restricting access to certain websites. However, for some reason it was unloved by many users (surely, you may disagree with this.) If you once turned Content Advisor on, entered a password and then forgot it, you will not be able to access the majority of websites on the Internet. Fortunately (or unfortunately), this can be easily fixed.

The actual Content Advisor password is not stored as plaintext. Instead, the system calculates its MD5 hash and stores it in Windows registry. On an attempt to access the restricted area, the password entered by user is also hashed, and the obtained hash is compared with the one stored in the registry. Take a look at PIEPR source code checking Content Advisor password:

===8

void CContentAdvisorDlg::CheckPassword()

{

CRegistry registry;

//read the registry

registry.SetKey(HKLM, “SOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionpoliciesRatings”);

BYTE pKey[MD5_DIGESTSIZE], pCheck[MD5_DIGESTSIZE];

if ( !registry.GetBinaryData(”Key”,pKey,MD5_DIGESTSIZE) )

{

MessageBox(MB_ERR,”Can’t read the password.”);

return;

}

//Get one set by user

CString cs;

m_wndEditPassword.GetWindowText(cs);

MD5Init();

MD5Update((LPBYTE)(LPCTSTR)cs,cs.GetLength()+1);

MD5Final(pCheck);

//Check hashes

if ( memcmp(pKey,pCheck,MD5_DIGESTSIZE)==0 )

MessageBox(MB_OK,”The password is correct!”);

else

MessageBox(MB_OK,”Wrong password.”);

}

===8

The first thing you may think about is to try to pick the password by using the brute force or dictionary attack. However, there is a more elegant way to that. You can simply remove the hash from the registry. That’s it; so simple… Well, it’s better to rename it instead, so that if you ever need it, you can restore it back. Some programs also let users check Content Advisor password, “drag out” password hint, toggle password on/off, etc.

3. Brief Overview of Internet Explorer Password Recovery Programs

It’s worth noticing that not all password recovery programs suspect there are so many ways to recover passwords. Most likely, this is related to the fact that some passwords (e.g., synchronization passwords) are not often used in the real life, and FTP passwords are not so simple to be ‘dragged out’. Here is a brief overview of the most popular commercial products for recovering passwords for the most popular browser on earth

Advanced Internet Explorer Password Recovery from the not unknown company, ElcomSoft – does not recognize AutoForm passwords and encrypted FTP passwords. Not to be excluded, the last version of the program may have learnt to do that. Simple, convenient user interface. The program can be upgraded online automatically.

Internet Explorer Key from PassWare – similarly, does not recognize certain types of passwords. Sometimes the program halts with a critical error when reading some uncommon types of IE’s URLs. Displays first two characters of passwords being recovered. The advantages worth noticing are the Spartan user interface and operating convenience.

Internet Explorer Password from Thegrideon Software – not bad, but can recover just three types of Internet Explorer passwords (this is enough for the majority of cases.) Deals with FTP passwords properly. Version 1.1 has problems recovering AutoForm passwords. Has convenient user interface, which in some way reminds one from AIEPR. One can be totally overwhelmed with the beauty and helpfulness of the company’s website.

Internet Password Recovery Toolbox from Rixler Software – offers some greater functionality than the previously covered competitors. It can recover encrypted FTP passwords and delete selected resources. However, it has some programming errors. For example, some types of IE records cannot be deleted. The program comes with a great, detailed help file.

ABF Password Recovery from ABF software – quite a good program with friendly user interface. The list of IE record types supported by the program is not long. Nevertheless, it deals with all of them properly. The program can be classified as a multi-functional one, since it can restore passwords for other programs also.

The major drawback of all programs named here is the capability to recover passwords only for user currently logged on.

As it was said above, the general body of stored Internet Explorer resources is kept in a special storage called Protected Storage. Protected Storage was developed specially for storing personal data. Therefore the functions for working with it (called PS API) are not documented. Protected Storage was first introduced with the release of the version 4 of Internet Explorer, which, by the way, unlike the third version, was written from scratch.

Protected Storage provides applications with an interface to store user data that must be kept secure or free from modification. Units of data stored are called Items. The structure and content of the stored data is opaque to the Protected Storage system. Access to Items is subject to confirmation according to a user-defined Security Style, which specifies what confirmation is required to access the data, such as whether a password is required. In addition, access to Items is subject to an Access rule set. There is an Access rule for each Access Mode: for example, read/write. Access rule sets are composed of Access Clauses. Typically at application setup time, a mechanism is provided to allow a new application to request from the user access to Items that may have been created previously by another application.

Items are uniquely identified by the combination of a Key, Type, Subtype, and Name. The Key is a constant that specifies whether the Item is global to this computer or associated only with this user. The Name is a string, generally chosen by the user. Type and Subtype are GUIDs, generally specified by the application. Additional information about Types and Subtypes is kept in the system registry and include attributes such as Display Name and UI hints. For Subtypes, the parent Type is fixed and included in the system registry as an attribute. The Type group Items is used for a common purpose: for example, Payment or Identification. The Subtype group Items share a common data format.

So, until very recent time, all programs for recovering Internet Explorer passwords used those undocumented API. That’s the reason why one significant restriction was applied to the recovery work: PS API can only work with passwords for user that is currently logged on. When the system encrypts data stored in Protected Storage, besides everything else it uses user’s SID, without which it is literally impossible (taking into account the current level of computers’ calculating performance) to recover stored passwords.

Protected Storage uses a very well thought through data encryption method, which uses master keys and strong algorithms, such as des, sha, and shahmac. Similar data encryption methods are now used in the majority of modern browsers; e.g. in Opera or FireFox. Microsoft, meanwhile, quietly but surely develops and tests new ones. When this article is written, in the pre-Beta version of Internet Explorer 7 Protected Storage was only used for storing FTP passwords.

The analysis of this preliminary version suggests that Microsoft is preparing another ’surprise’ in the form of new, interesting encryption algorithms. It is not known for sure, but most likely the new company’s data protection technology InfoCard will be involved in the encryption of private data.

Thus, with a great deal of confidence one can assert that with the release of Windows Vista and the 7th version of Internet Explorer passwords will be stored and encrypted with fundamentally new algorithms, and the Protected Storage interface, to all appearances, will become open for third-party developers.

It is somewhat sad, for we think the true potential of Protected Storage was still not uncovered. And this is why we think so:

- First, Protected Storage is based on module structure, which allows plugging other storage providers to it. However, for the last 10 years while Protected Storage exists, not a single new storage provider was created. System Protected Storage is the only storage provider in the operating system, which is used by default.

- Second, Protected Storage has its own, built-in access management system, which, for some reason, is not used in Internet Explorer or in other MS products.

- Third, it is not very clear why MS have decided to decline Protected Storage in storing AutoComplete data and passwords. Decline it as a tried and true data storage, and not data encryption mechanism. It would be more logically proven to keep Protected Storage at least for storing data when implementing a new encryption algorithm. Without fail, there were weighty reasons for that. Therefore, it would be interesting to hear the opinion of MS specialists concerning this subject matter.

4. PIEPR – the First Acquaintance

Passcape Internet Explorer Password Recovery was developed specifically to bypass the PS API’s restriction and make it possible to recover passwords directly, from the registry’s binary files. Besides, it has a number of additional features for advanced users.

The program’s wizard allows you to choose one of several operating modes:

- Automatic: Current user’s passwords will be recovered by accessing the closed PS API interface. All current user’s passwords currently stored in Internet Explorer will be recovered with a single click of the mouse.

- Manual: Passwords will be recovered without PS API. This method’s main advantage is the capability to recover passwords from your old Windows account. For that purpose, you will need to enter path to the user’s registry file. Registry files are normally not available for reading; however, the technology used in PIEPR allows doing that (provided you have the local administrative rights.)

User’s registry file name is ntuser.dat; its resides in the user’s profile, which is normally %SYSTEMDRIVE%:Documents and Settings%USERNAME%, where %SYSTEMDRIVE% stands for the system disk with the operating system, and %USERNAME% is normally account name. For instance, path to registry file may look like this: C:Documents and SettingsJohnntuser.dat

If you have ever been a happy owner of Windows 9x/ME, after you upgrade your operating system to Windows NT, Protected Storage will providently save a copy of your old private data. As a result of that, Protected Storage may contain several user identifiers, so PIEPR will ask you to select the right one before it gets to the decryption of the data.

One of the listed SIDs will contain data left by the old Windows 9x/ME. That data is additionally encrypted with user’s logon password, and PIEPR currently does not support the decryption of such data.

If ntuser.dat contains encrypted passwords (e.g., FTP sites passwords), the program will need additional information in order to decrypt them:

- Logon password of user whose data are to be decrypted

- Full path to the user’s MasterKey

- User’s SID

Normally, the program finds the last two items in user’s profile and fills that data automatically. However, if ntuser.dat was copied from another operating system, you will have to take care of that on your own. The easiest way to get the job done is to copy the entire folder with user’s Master Key (there may be several of them) to the folder with ntuser.dat. Master Key resides in the following folder on your local computer: %SYSTEMDRIVE%:Documents and Settings%USERNAME%Application DataMicrosoftProtect%UserSid%, where %SYSTEMDRIVE% stands for the system disk with the operating system, %USERNAME% – account name, %UserSid% – user’s SID. For example, path to the folder with a master key may look as follows: C:Documents and SettingsJohnApplication DataMicrosoftProtectS-1-5-21-1587165142-6173081522-185545743-1003. Let’s make it clear that it is recommended to copy the entire folder S-1-5-21-1587165142-6173081522-185545743-1003, for it may contain several Master Keys. Then PIEPR will select the right key automatically.

Windows marks some folders as hidden or system, so they are invisible in Windows Explorer. To make them visible, enable showing hidden and system objects in the view settings or use an alternative file manager.

Once the folder with user’s Master Key was copied to the folder with ntuser.dat, PIEPR will automatically find the required data, so you will only have to enter user’s password for recovering FTP passwords.

Content Advisor

Content Advisor passwords, as it was said already, is not kept as plain text; instead, it is stored as hash. In the Content Advisor password management dialog, it is enough to just delete (you can restore the deleted password at any time later) or change this hash to unlock sites locked with Content Advisor. PIEPR will also display your password hint if there is one.

Asterisks passwords

PIEPR’s fourth operating mode, which allows recovering Internet Explorer passwords hidden behind asterisks. To recover such password, simply drag the magnifier to the window with a **** password. This tool allows recovering passwords for other programs that use IE Frames as well; e.g., Windows Explorer, some IE-based browsers, etc.

We have reviewed the basic Internet Explorer password recovery modes. There is also a number of additional features for viewing and editing cookies, cache, visited pages history, etc. We are not going to cover them in detail; instead, we are going to look at a few password recovery examples done with PIEPR.

5.1. Three Real-Life Examples.

Example 1: Recovering current user’s FTP password

When opening an FTP site, Internet Explorer pops up the log on dialog.

If you have opened this site and set the ‘Save password’ option in the authentication dialog, the password must be saved in Protected Storage, so recovering it is a pretty trivial job. Select the automatic operating mode in PIEPR and then click ‘Next’. Locate our resource in the dialog with decrypted passwords that appears (the site name must appear in the Resource Name column.)

As we see, the decryption of current user’s password should not cause any special difficulties. Oh, if the password is not found for some reason – don’t forget to check IE’s Auto-Complete Settings. Possibly, you have simply not set the program to save passwords.

5.2. Three Real-Life Examples.

Example 2: We will need to recover Web site passwords. The operating system is unbootable.

This is a typical, but not fatal situation. The necessity to recover Internet Explorer passwords after unsuccessful Windows reinstallation occurs just as often.

In either case, we will have user’s old profile with all files within it. This set is normally enough to get the job done. In the case with the reinstallation, Windows providently saves the old profile under a different name. For example, if your account name was John, after renaming it may look like John.WORK-72C39A18.

The first and the foremost what you must do is to gain access to files in the old profile. There are two ways to doing this:

- Install a new operating system on a different hard drive; e.g., Windows XP, and hook the old hard drive to it.

- Create a Windows NT boot disk. There are many different utilities for creating boot disks and USB flash disks available online. For instance, you can use WinPE or BartPE. Or a different one. If your old profile was stored on an NTFS part of your hard drive, the boot disk will have to support NTFS.

Let’s take the first route. Once we gain access to the old profile, we will need to let the system show hidden and system files. Otherwise, the files we need will be invisible. Open Control Panel, then click on Folder Options, and then select the View tab. On this tab, find the option ‘Show hidden files and folders’ and select it. Clear the option ‘Hide protected operating system files’. When the necessary passwords are recovered, it’s better to reset these options to the way they were set before.

Open the program’s wizard in the manual mode and enter path to the old profile’s registry file. In our case, that is C:Documents And Settings John.WORK-72C39A18ntuser.dat. Where John.WORK-72C39A18 is the old account name. Click ‘Next’.

This data should normally be sufficient for recovering Internet Explorer passwords. However, if there is at least a single encrypted FTP password, the program will request additional data, without which it will not be able to recover such types of passwords:

- User’s password

- User’s Master Key

- User’s SID.

Normally, the program finds the last two items in user’s profile and fills that data automatically. However, if that didn’t happen, you can do that by hand: copy ntuser.dat and the folder with the Master Key to a separate folder. It is important to copy the entire folder, for it may contain several keys, and the program will select the right one automatically. Then enter path to file ntuser.dat that you have copied to another folder.

That’s it. Now we need to enter the old account password, and the recovery will be completed. If you don’t care for FTP password, you can skip the user’s password, Master Key, and SID entry dialog.

5.3. Three Real-Life Examples.

Example 3: Recovering uncommonly stored passwords.

When we sometimes open a website in the browser, the authentication dialog appears. However, PIEPR fails to recover it in either automatic or manual mode. The ‘Save password’ option in Internet Explorer is enabled. We will need to recover this password.

Indeed, some websites don’t let browser to save passwords in the auto-complete passwords list. Often, such websites are written in JAVA or they use alternative password storage methods; e.g., they store passwords in cookies. A cookie is a small bit of text that accompanies requests and pages as they go between the Web server and browser. The cookie contains information the Web application can read whenever the user visits the site. Cookies provide a useful means in Web applications to store user-specific information. For example, when a user visits your site, you can use cookies to store user preferences or other information. When the user visits your Web site another time, the application can retrieve the information it stored earlier. Cookies are used for all sorts of purposes, all relating to helping the Web site remember you. In essence, cookies help Web sites store information about visitors. A cookie also acts as a kind of calling card, presenting pertinent identification that helps an application know how to proceed. But often cookies criticized for weak security and inaccurate user identification.

If the password field is filled with asterisks, the solution is clear: select the ASTERISKS PASSWORDS operating mode and then open the magic magnifier dialog. Then simply drag the magnifier to the Internet Explorer window.

The password (passwords, if the Internet Explorer window has several fields with asterisks) is to appear in the PIEPR window.

But it’s not always that simple. The password field may be empty or that field may indeed contain *****. In this case, as you have guessed by now, the ASTERISKS PASSWORDS tool will be useless.

We can suppose, the password is stored in cookies. Let’s try to locate it. Choose the IE Cookie Explorer tool.

The dialog that appears will list the websites that store cookies on your computer. Click on the URL column header to order the websites list alphabetically. This will help us find the right website easier. Go through the list of websites and select the one we need. The list below will display the decrypted cookies for this website.

As the figure shows, in our case the login and password are not encrypted and are stored as plain text.

Cookies are often encrypted. In this case, you are not likely to succeed recovering the password. The only thing you can try doing in order to recover the old account is to create a new account. Then you will be able to copy the old cookies in a text editor and replace them with the new ones. However, this is only good when the worst comes to the worst; it is not recommended to use it normally.

Don’t forget also that just about all pages and forms with passwords have the ‘Forgot password’ button.

Conclusion

As this article shows, recovering Internet Explorer passwords is a pretty simple job, which does not require any special knowledge or skills. However, despite of the seeming simplicity, password encryption schemes and algorithms are very well thought through and just as well implemented. Although the Protected Storage concept is over 10 years of age, don’t forget that it has proven the very best recommendations of the experts and has been implemented through three generations of this popular browser.

With the release of the next, 7th version of IE, Microsoft is preparing fundamentally new schemes for protecting our private data, where it uses improved encryption algorithms and eliminates shortages peculiar to Protected Storage.

In particular, the analysis of the preliminary beta versions of Internet Explorer 7 has revealed that autoform password encryption keys are no longer stored along with data. They are not stored, period! This is a little know-how, which is to be estimated at its true worth by both professionals and end users, who, finally, will benefits of it anyway.

But the main thing is, the release of the new concept will eliminate the major drawback peculiar to Protected Storage, which is the possibility to recover passwords without knowing the additional information. Better to say, was enough for a potential hacker to gain physical access to the contents of a hard drive, in order to steal or damage passwords and user’s other private data. With the release of Internet Explorer 7, the situation will somewhat change.

Meanwhile, we will only have to wait impatiently for the advent of Windows Vista and IE 7 to take a closer look at new encryption mechanisms used in the next generation of this popular browser.

This document may be freely distributed or reproduced provided that the

reference to the original article is placed on each copy of this document.

(c) 2006 Passcape Software. All rights reserved.

The Xbox 360 was the first of its kind of console when it debuted in the market. After this came the Play station 3 and the Nintendo Wii. These three gaming consoles have great competition from each other.

There are already many games under the titles of this gaming console are available in the market.

There are so many gaming titles of the Xbox 360 console waiting to get launched for the coming years. We can say that the Xbox 360 console is the first choice for any of the gamers who love to play serious games.

The Xbox 360 is very popular in North America but it has not done so well in Asia and Europe.

Basics

Are you interested in the Xbox 360 console? If you are thinking of buying the Xbox 360 console then you need to give a little time in thinking how you want to use it. For different systems at your home there are different choices for you in the Xbox 360 console.

If you want to play the games in a high definition television, then in that case you will have to take the component cables or the HDMI to get a higher graphics or even 720p.

You will need to go for better cables as the ordinary cables will not produce good resolutions. If you want to play the games in the multiplayer option mode then you need to get some extra controller for yourself and your friends.

You can get a charger for your Xbox 360 console if you do not want to change your batteries regularly.

To enjoy the Xbox 360 console you will need to purchase great games. You will get many games in reasonable prices, specially the games with which you can start your gaming.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is one of the beginners game. These are the classic games that you can enjoy, before going for the newer games.

There are many exclusive games available with the Xbox 360 console, these games are extremely popular and are also available with the Xbox 360.

Final Fantasy XIII, a game by Square Enix will simultaneously will be released for the Xbox 360 along with the Playstation 3. This is great news on part of the Xbox 360.

Cheats for Xbox 360 is available for those who wants to enjoy the games of the Xbox 360 in their own way. Almost all the games in the Xbox 360 support the cheat which is out of the box by some means and you get the games in your own way.

When you play the games of the Xbox 360 console you will find them extremely interesting and fun to play specially the hard core gamers.

How is Memory Guru Programme different from rote learning?

Memorizing and writing without understanding is a last ditch effort for those who cannot understand but some how they have to get marks.

 

Why should you memorize if you understand?

Understanding, writing the exam and forgetting – is what we normally do. Understanding,  applying and remembering  the knowledge forever can only make the learning complete. If the matter is not of great importance and can be forgotten without consequence then such matter need not find a place in textbooks for children.

 

Remembering  every thing in the textbooks -  will it not cause unnecessary load on the mind?

We have two kinds of memory – Conscious and Sub Conscious. Conscious memory is like the RAM in the computer. It is used for short term and can get overloaded. Subconscious memory is infinite like the hard disk. We can remember whole encyclopedias without effort -  If we can programme the information in Subconscious. It takes time to programme the Subconscious and that is only the limitation.

 

How fast can we programme the subconscious mind with a year’s textbooks?

First of all the student has to understand the new knowledge and get proper connection with his old knowledge. Then he has to make detailed mind maps. Then he has to review these mind maps several hundred times. Normally it takes about 90 days of preparation time for 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th children.

 

Rest of the year they review and work on applications and on exams. This exercises takes about 2 to 3 hours per day. Rest of the time is for other learning’s like physical development, seva activities to the community, inter school sports, drama, debate, quiz, dance, music, foreign languages, shilpa sastra, working with teracota, stone, metal etc. people can come and see this

 Memory Guru program in workshops. You can also visit: www.unlimitedmemory.co.cc

 

 

Can other Schools take-up   Memory Guru Education?

Our intention is to provide this knowledge to all schools. Many schools are coming forward to introduce this programme. We have planned  Summer camps for children starting from April 15th for 60 Days for children going to 9th, 10th, and 12th, Std. This will provide a good base even if they are not studying Memory Guru

 

When were you successful in implementing this programme?

We have been experimenting from 1960. We have been successful to train even  average students in  school .

 

What would be the difference between those who has studied by Memory Guru method and other students in their future life?.

Normal students would have forgotten almost everything within three years and they will look more and more uneducated as days pass by. Students with Memory Guru will become brighter and brighter and will be in the  fore front of research and knowledge.

 

What you have done is an unbelievable revolution in education. How could you accomplish this?

I got the clues from our Vedic Pundits who remember huge texts of Vedas forever. Similarly the Holy Quran, Ram Charit Manasa, Hanuman Chalisa, Shlokas, Ramayana, Purana, Shrutis have  been memorized by millions of people.

We have applied similar methods to all the subjects  including  Sciences and Mathematics also. The process is the well known Shravana, Manana  and  Nidhidhyasa.

 

Does it interfere with the thinking  power  of  the  child ?

It actually increases the thinking power and makes the child smart as many   Facts,Process and Methods are at his fingertips. You can remember not only facts but also procedures for solving problems.

 

Why this method has not been applied in education before?

Because many times rote memory has been equated to panditya (wisdom). Many times people have memorized without understanding and do not know its application. As a result educationist found it necessary to emphasis understanding. Now they have gone over board and totally dismantled memory. Now we are just understanding and forgetting. Now, after a few years no graduate is in a position to answer their question papers (even with reasonable extra time) for which they were awarded a degree. Our effort is to bring back genuine degrees.

 

For several years, Mozilla’s Firefox has been steadily gaining ground on its more established rival Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Despite the fact that its development is entirely open-sourced, the project has consistently introduced innovative ways to improve the safety and functionality of the browser that you use to surf the internet.

These positive changes have given Mozilla a platform to develop its browser further and its popularity continues to increase. The Firefox browser is downloaded over 500,000 times a day and the project currently enjoys around 12% of the market share. So why should you choose Mozilla Firefox over its more established rival. Quite simply, it is a better browser.

Due to the popularity of the Firefox browser, Microsoft sought to combat this in its latest version of Internet Explorer by including some of Firefox’s innovations such as tabbed browsing, an integrated search engine and a built in pop-up blocker. Nonetheless, Firefox still has many more benefits and Microsoft has as yet not built a browser that matches it.

So here are seven reasons why you should choose Firefox instead of Internet Explorer.

Firefox is a faster browser: Studies show that the internet explorer browser does not load a page quicker then Firefox. The latter uses fewer resources and can be tweaked to make the best use of the computer’s capabilities.

Firefox is a safer browser: Despite the many improvements made in the latest version of Internet Explorer (version 7), there are still many security issues related to the browser. Firefox does not use Active X, which can easily be manipulated to spread viruses and spyware. Although Firefox is not completely safe, its track record demonstrates that its developers consider browser security as paramount.

Firefox makes it easier to manage downloads: The Firefox download manager is great because not only does it organize the download information in a single place but you can also pause the download and start it again at a later convenient time.

Firefox is fully customizable: Because Firefox is open source, the browser is capable of being completely flexible. You can change the theme of the browser, design and attach plug-ins that you choose and you can block images. The plug-ins available are great. You can add spell checkers, translators and many other useful applications.

Firefox enables you to clear your data easily: Unlike Internet Explorer, the Firefox browser allows you to easily delete all of your private data by pressing one single button. Alternatively, the Internet Explorer browser requires you to manual select cookies, temporary internet files and history in order to clear the data. If you have been using the browser for a long period without clearing it then this can be a cumbersome task.

Firefox gives you comprehensive page data: There is a cool tool built in to Mozilla Firefox that allows you to bring up the data about the current website that you are visiting. You can visit the links that are present, the date the page was last modified and other interesting information. Firefox will also allow you to view the source code for the website. This is great for web developers.

Firefox allows you to block images: Should you visit a site that has lots of images on it, for example adverts then Firefox allows you to block any images specific to that site. This is great as it improves the speed that it takes for the website to load. Internet Explorer does not have this functionality.

Are you experiencing freezing up during game play and saying what is happening with the Xbox 360 console? You should know the problem can be serious for your Xbox 360. The freezing up during playing a game can be quite aggregating if you had been playing a long time without saving the game. The Xbox 360 has this problem as up to 50% of the users have reported the freezing up problems. There are many solutions to fixing this problem if you are wanting to try to fix it yourself. The main reason to the Xbox 360 freezing up is the fact that it is overheating the main board.

The one major problem the Xbox 360 has is the overheating of the console because of non-quality cooling hardware. The Xbox 360 runs a lot better when there are plenty of airflow and cooling for the gaming console. The one solution to the problem of the freezing up is to set it out in the open for more air flow or put it near a fan.

You should also know that keeping the Xbox 360 in the entertainment center can be the death of the system. There is no air flow that gives the system cooling. The System freezing up is the signs of the RROD (Red Ring of Death). The Choice to fix this problem will cost you a trip to Microsoft and they will charge you a fee of 140$ and make you wait more than 6 months. For any gamer that’s the end of the world to them. The other way is to find a store that repairs Xbox 360s cheap and on the spot.

Learning from a step-by-step Xbox360 repair guide is the best way you can do to save your time and cost to fix your Xbox 360 from freezing up. There are certain guides out there that shows you how to dismantle your Xbox 360 and repairing it, but most of them don’t include clear videos on the actual process.

Xbox 360 keeps freezing up no matter what you’ve done?

A high-definition Xbox repair guide video is exactly what you’ll need to start working on it, all by yourself without any fancy tools, all you need are simple household tool kits.

The importance of the Internet is growing fast in all work spheres including not only research and development but also marketing and entertainment. You certainly don’t want any kind of troubles in accessing your Internet. While working, slow Internet connection or waiting for programs to start or for web pages to load can be extremely frustrating, and the hardware upgrades necessary to speed your system up can get very expensive. You can get many internet problems due to this so, It is better to fix internet problem as soon as possible.

There are thousands of support resources offering cost effective internet support solutions to help you get the most out of your current Internet connection without making costly investments or paying technicians. Here, you can’t only speed up Internet connectivity but deal with every Internet problem. For people who run websites or run any online business, an effective PC and high speed Internet is must.

The success rate of online internet support vendors is pretty high. They successfully optimize their customers’ Internet to the fastest levels and stability actually improves. You can also avail their computer repair services to prevent system crash, freeze-ups, or back up your entire data.

Buying online Internet support services is the best low cost upgrade you can make to your PC and it works with all Internet connections. Over time, old searches build up, adding and removing software leaves behind a mess. All these factors reduce the efficiency of your Internet – which means you don’t get the performance you deserve. Internet support services include tweaks that will reduce your Internet start-up time, delete unwanted files and remove unnecessary background processes.

You get number of advantages by buying online Internet support. The best part is their quality services along with 24×7 availability. You can call these vendors anytime and you will find them in your service. Don’t buy the cheapest support services. They are cheap because they are junk. There is a difference in quality and performance.

How great would it be if the game consoles new or used one were actually cheap? Unfortunately, buying gaming accessories using only your left over money is only a dream.

But what if all consoles sold out because of the holiday shopping spree? What then, because buying a gift on Christmas day is out of the question?

To avoid any unpleasant situation it would be best if you visit a few game console stores and check if they have any offers regarding new or used consoles. If you’re not satisfied with the results then you might have better chances online.

One of the best site to buy cheap Xbox 360 consoles is on ebay. Ebay is just one click away helping you to find hundreds of bargains all the time. The prices there are usually very low especially for the consoles that became very popular in the last few years.

If someone will charge an exorbitant price for a gaming console then he’ll have a big problem finding a buyer. The competition influences a lot even the lowest prices because $10 can make a big difference. If a seller knows when to drop the price he’ll get rid of the product with full pockets. Items with low prices are accessed very often and the chance of finding a buyer grows considerably.

If you’re planning to buy a cheap gaming console with accessories then you should really consider Ebay and save yourself some money. it offers a great search function and you can access the pages very easily in order to read a product’s details.

Just make sure to bid for those xbox 360 consoles that are within your budget. There are thousands of Xbox 360 consoles that goes for less than $200 on ebay.

A systems’ availability, specifications, price, number and quality of games and perhaps most importantly its’ ability to provide fun and longevity are all factors that should be considered when purchasing a game console. After assessing the PS2 and Xbox on these criteria can we determine which console succeeds at obtaining higher sales?

The PS2 has the most games available as a result of its backward compatibility with Playstation. PS2 can not only play games intended for the original Playstation but it also makes them look better. It does not seem that Sony will have this advantage for very long however, as Xbox gears up to offer an extensive amount of games to a variety of gamers.

These two consoles are very similar in price however, Xbox tends to require the purchase of extra equipment for additional functions. For example, the PS2 comes ready to play DVD’s whereas the Xbox requires the purchase of the Xbox DVD playback kit. The Xbox to its credit does contain an 8GB Hard drive and is broadband ready and offers a live online gaming service. It is worth mentioning that PS2 does have extra gadgets available also for example a DVD remote, a hard disk, a mouse, a keyboard, an eye toy camera and game-specific gadgets such as a microphone for Guitar Hero.

Both systems have online capabilities, a similar amount and quality of games, cost the same amount of money and target the same market. The differences to follow put Xbox a nose ahead of the PS2. The graphics are sharper on an Xbox. Xbox loads and saves games faster since it writes the saved game data directly to the hard drive. This eliminates the need for memory cards. Also, with the purchase of 2 additional games and a controller a 50 dollar rebate was being offered on Xbox making it 50 dollars cheaper!

However, PS2 remained the leader in the industry. The year of its release the Playstation 2 showed the power of brand awareness and supplying capabilities. Sony Playstation 2 was the sales leader with a final tally of 1.4 million units sold as opposed to 934,000 Xbox consoles. With the launch of a new product by each manufacturer, Sony’s Playstation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 can we expect similar results? Is the PS3 likely to keep its lead in light of the inclusion of a blu-ray player combined with its industry clout? The most notable advantage for Microsoft is it’s one year jump on the release of the PS3 which resulted in many multi-platform developers making Xbox 360 their primary platform, which means the games will look and perform better. The PS3 versions will be ports of the 360 versions (the opposite was true for Xbox and PS2). The PS3 ($399.00) is also 100 dollars more expensive than the Xbox 360($299.00).

A systems’ availability, specifications, price, number and quality of games and perhaps most importantly its’ ability to provide fun and longevity are all factors that should be considered when purchasing a game console. An assessment of these variables for the PS2 and Xbox revealed two very similar products and a leader as a result of industry clout. Their newer versions have changed the platforms a bit and resulted in products that are more dissimilar than their predecessors. These changes are bound to shake up the results of future product analysis! Educational Computer Software and Games.

If you have a broken Xbox 360, should you buy Xbox 360 repair instructions or should you try and get them from a free source (if there is one) In this article you are going to learn more about fixing a broken Xbox 360 and why you will need to proper instructions to do so. Keep reading to learn more about instructions and tutorials for fixing broken Xbox 360 consoles.

To answer the question posed in the title of this article, you should buy Xbox 360 repair instructions. Why? Firstly and most importantly it will guarantee that you are getting good instructions with an accurate and safe repair method that won’t damage your console.

A lot of “freebie” guides contain dangerous repair information that suggests that you do things like wrap your Xbox 360 in a towel to get rid of red light error codes or other problems. This more likely to set your Xbox on fire than fix it; but a professional guide that you purchase will contain proper instructions that aren’t going to risk damage to your valuable console.

Another reason why you should buy an Xbox 360 repair guide is because of the fact it will enable you to get gaming again as quickly as possible. Wasting time searching through spammy freebie guides that are often full of viruses, or waiting for Microsoft to fix your Xbox 360 is simply no fun.

However, from personal experience most repair guides will have you gaming again in less than two hours, and many in less than one (this is due to minor differences in the repair process)

Xbox faulty and out of warranty?, before you send it to an Xbox repair center, read this article, as its guaranteed to save you time and money

Xbox faults, the most serious of which is the so-called RED RING OF DEATH (RROD) which is likely to happen in up to 7 out of every 10 Xbox 360’s. Once you get the Xbox faults RROD error, many Xbox users tend toturn to contact theMicrosoft technical support or look for an Xbox repair center on the web, however you CAN fix your Xbox 360 yourself, with the assistance of this easy to use guide .

The appearance of red rings on your Xbox 360 is a genuine nightmare, when the screen just all of a sudden freezes while you are gaming. However, now, it is effortless to correct the Xbox faults, with a Xbox 360 fix guide, without resorting to an xbox repair center.

Open the system and then take away the disk drivers. Even the fans will need to be taken out. After that,remove the RF module to get to the motherboard. After dismantling the Xclamps with the assistance a screwdriver, take out the heat sinks from the unit. Now,take away any a dust from the heat sink and apply the thermal paste. To fix the death rings, fit washers to the locks of the heat sinks. Allow the system to chill off for around 30 minutes.

Fix up the heat sink and the console and then the RED RINGS fix is complete. These steps are described in a simple demeanour in a Xbox 360 fix guide. With these guides, you can simply get the consolerepaired in one hour without making you miss on your favorite games. You won’t want to try this process but the chances are high that it will reappear once it’s not fixed seriously.

The appearance of the 3 red lights shows that there has been a hardware malfunction.

Do not try and cover the console in a blanket or place it on a towel to reach the specified fix. It can spoil your whole console making you buy novel parts.

The whole process of fixing this console is about stopping the GPU from breaking itself due to heat vented out by the motherboard. The method isn’t tricky but the placing of the spacer between the sink and the motherboard will have to be done judiciously. Moreover, with the fix, you can simply make your youngsters enjoy the games all over again that they adore so much.

An Xbox 360 correct guide will assist you to mend your system with the utmost ease and stop you having to spend time and money on an Xbox repair centers. The design issue of the drive introduced into the console due to the hurry of the hurry of Microsoft to launch it in the market is in charge of the appearance of the feared three red rings. The CD drive is sort of huge in size which made the company reduce the size of the heat sink to accommodate it in the console.

Dont suffer the pain of an xbox repair center, save yourself loads of lost gaming time and money!, click here for the best guide available on the market to fix for good, your Xbox.
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