A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO TOR: HOW TO NAVIGATE THROUGH THE UNDERGROUND INTERNET

 

 

I’ll begin with a warning. Everything you’ve heard about the deep web is probably true. Yes, it’s a hub for illegal activity. Yes, cyber criminals run loose. And yes, users can find terrifying illegal behavior–including a bitcoin funded assassination market. In short, the Deep Web has a reputation for being virtual refuge for people who have something to hide. The most popular gateway into the Deep Web is Tor, a free network which allows users to anonymously browse the Web, and has been under NSA’s microscope since its inception in 2002. Countries like Russia and the US are trying to expose Tor users. Russia has issued a bounty, offering upwards of $100,000 for anyone who can successfully anonymize Tor.Generally, Tor users (even the ones who haven’t broken any laws) are treated with suspicion, as evidenced by whistleblower Edward Snowden, who leaked the list of people the NSA is targeting based off their use of Tor. Snowden’s report suggests that the NSA may even target those who are simply Tor-curious or have affiliations with targeted users, which could be just about anyone. Simply being affiliated with a targeted user is enough for the NSA to begin logging information about you too.Despite its rogue portrayals, Tor is a legal site with largely benign intentions. Beyond all the infamy, the actual software does a terrific amount of good. Anonymous browsing can be essential in some cases and Tor can be a refuge for people who are victims to stringent censorship. The service is becoming popular– recently reporting over 2.5 million users. Even regular Joes can turn to Tor for peace of mind when browsing the web.

Here’s our guide to Tor. We’ll provide everything you need to know to get started. We’ll also list some important guidelines that outline the the best ways to stay safe on Tor. And finally, we’ll explain what kind of user may benefit from Tor.

Tor: a brief history and definition

Definition: Tor is a free software that allows users to anonymously browse the Web. Unlike standard browsers “incognito” or “private” modes, Tor is virtually untraceable.

The software was originally named “The Onion Router” and was initially intended for protecting the U.S. Navy and its communications. These days, the site has been co-opted to become a free anonymizing utility. Tor works by hiding the source and destination of your internet traffic. The result that no one can see who you are or what you’re looking at.

HOW TOR WORKS

Tor works by anonymizing the transport of your data. Like an onion, Tor encrypts the data you send through the web in multiple layers. Your data is then “relayed” through other computers. Each relay sheds one layer then finally arrives at the source in full form. The software bounces users around a network of open connections run by volunteers all over the globe. This prevents people from spying on your Internet connection and discovering sites you visit. Tor scrambles information that could pinpoint your exact physical location.

WHO USES TOR?

First and foremost, the utility isn’t exclusively for cyber criminals. Tor is for everyone who is concerned about privacy. For starters, many Tor users fear their browsing history is possibly being logged. Many sites, including Facebook, sell your browsing history to advertisers. It’s likely those ads on the sides of your social network and email accounts are the product of third-parties buying and analyzing your browsing history without your approval.

It’s common for people to turn to Tor for basic security. Often times Activists and Journalists use the utility to report injustices from enemy territory without being discovered or to better protect their sources.

The ability to remain undetected by invasive marketing strategies is valuable to just about anyone especially those in a professional environment who routinely share confidential documents and need to prevent third-parties from snooping on their browsing history. Especially considering internet providers have been known to sell your browsing records and even log-in credentials to anyone willing to pay for it.

At times, anonymity is important for safely utilizing basic internet functions. The utility can be an asset for citizens of countries with stringent censorship laws. In some cases, basic information is placed behind a firewall. Tor allows users can anonymously circumvent firewalls and research, say, HIV treatment or access Facebook.

Getting Started: The Tor Browser Bundle

The easiest way to use Tor is the Tor browser bundle. The preconfigured Mozilla Firefox browser is easily downloaded from Tor’s official site. Once downloaded, a message will appear that asks if you’d like to connect or configure your browser. In most cases, you can simply connect. However, you should configure your browser if it’s possible that your connection is censored, filtered, or proxied. It’s also worth noting that Tor may violate internet browsing policies at work or over other public networks.

If you’re on a network that has firewalls and prohibits access to Tor (this could be the case in countries like Iran and China) you can also download Tor via Gmail. Send an message to “gettor@gettor.torproject.org.” In the body of the email write the word, “help.” From there, you’ll receive step-by-step instructions to download Tor.

Before you do anything, it’s best to open your Tor browser and perform a Tor check to ensure that you’re browsing anonymously.

Browsing Guidelines: How to maintain privacy on Tor

Tor’s website encourages users to read their browsing guidelines. The browser will ensure total anonymity only if the user abides by the Tor guidelines.

• Use the Tor browser. In reality, Tor does not protect all of your machine’s Internet traffic when you use it, but only computer applications that are correctly set up to send traffic through Tor.
• Forget your love for browser plugins. By default, the Tor browser has the likes of Flash, RealPlayer, and Quicktime blocked since they have been known to reveal your IP address. Having said that, installing additional plugins and add-ons onto the Tor browser is highly discouraged – it may cause Tor to malfunction and may affect your privacy settings. Although YouTube content is generally blocked as well, some videos can work on the Tor browser through an experimental opt-in feature.
• Always use HTTPS when visiting websites. It shouldn’t be a problem if you’re using the Tor browser since it already includes HTTPS Everywhere, but just to be completely sure, keep a keen eye on the URLs you visit.
• Don’t open downloaded materials while on Tor. Documents and PDF files may reveal your non-Tor IP address when you open it through external applications. Wait until you can disconnect from the Internet before opening these files.
• Do not torrent while on Tor. It’s not a safe combination.
• Use Tor bridges. Like I previously mentioned, Tor doesn’t really completely stop people watching your Internet connection from detecting your Tor use.
• Tell your friends (and neighbors) to use Tor. The more people near you that use Tor, the less susceptible you are to attacks.

Accessing Tor’s Hidden Services

Tor can help circumvent censorship regulations. For example, Russia’s newly imposed blogger law, that requires Russian bloggers to register their blog with the government. Tor has a network of “hidden” websites all with a .onion address that are designed for uncensored web publishing or instant messaging servers. They get around censorship regulations by hiding the IP address. These hidden sites can only be accessed via Tor or other utilities that anonymize your IP address. Check out how to configure your hidden website via Tor.

Risks and Limitations

Aside from the risk of being targeted by the NSA and other Security Administrations, Tor does come with some drawbacks. Tor will make your Internet connection slower, because it has to go through a bunch of relays to mask your location.

What’s more, skilled trackers will know that you’re using Tor. The fact that you’re using Tor (but not your source or destination) is easily discoverable. Though, actually obtaining your browsing history is much more difficult. Secondly, regularly used computer applications may not be protected by Tor. Applications like Flash and Quicktime have a tendency to compromise your anonymity by leaving a trace of your actual, non-Tor IP address. There is a workaround available for these issues though: you can complicate the discovery of your Tor use by using a Tor bridge relay instead of using a direct connection to the public Tor network, and you can ensure that you don’t run any external applications while connected. Finally, Tor is not completely indestructible – there are still attacks that can fall through the cracks of your Tor use, no matter how correct your configuration is. However, for any simple Internet user, Tor provides a good enough privacy and security cloak.

The Tor Project website has a comprehensive download page that houses packages for various platforms, namely Windows, iOS, and Linux. It even features an Android bundle and a downloadable source code, for the hardcore developers out there who know what they’re doing. Before you download anything, however, you need to be willing to break a few of your Internet habits and get in the Tor state of mind. Here are some tips the official website has outlined so you can maximize your experience using the software.

Why Tor is a necessity (and why anonymity online is important)

It’s not a secret that everything on the Internet is essentially available to the public, and that most certainly does not exclude your personal information. By merely visiting a slew of websites, you leave digital footprints that can easily be traced by anyone watching, especially those who only have malicious intents with your online identity and presence. Tor takes the ease by which these cyber hoodlums operate and complicates the process, giving you back some control over the data you produce. Just like in real life, everyone connected to the World Wide Web deserves to enjoy a part of their experience online free from prying eyes.

Disclaimer:- I am not responsible for any kind of trouble you get into..Discover on your own Risk!! Be safe! This is for Educational Purposes only!!

Recommended:- Last but not the least, after opening hidden wiki,(if you are curious enough) it is strongly recommended that you read an article named "How to exit the matrix"

FORGET SILK ROAD, ASSASSINATION MARKET IS THE NEW ‘DEEP WEB’ NIGHTMARE

If you think buying crystal meth online is as bad as the “deep Web” gets, think again. The latest hidden Internet marketplace could be a nightmare for world leaders, or anyone else who happens to make someone angry enough to want them dead – if it’s not just a scam.

Called Assassination Market, the Kickstarter-like website allows users to crowdfund murders through donations of Bitcoin, the anonymous digital currency. The site, which has been up for just four months and is only accessible through the Tor network, currently lists a total of six bounties, all of which target various government officials.

Both Jyrki Tapani Katainen, prime minister of Finland, and French President François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande appear on the list, with ฿1.00 bounties on their heads – or about $645, at current Bitcoin exchange rates. U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper currently has a bid of ฿1.97, while the price on NSA director Gen. Keith Alexander jumps to ฿10.49. The bounties bound to ฿40.26 for President Barack Obama. But it is outgoing Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke whom Assassination Market users have pledged the most to see killed – a bounty of ฿124.14, or about $80,000.

Speaking under the pseudonym Kuwabatake Sanjuro, Assassination Market’s alleged founder says that he believes, given enough popularity, that his site could lead to enough murdered politicians that no one would dare hold office.

“I believe it will change the world for the better,” he said.

The idea of an anonymous online murder-for-hire system has long been the talk among cypherpunks. As the Daily Dot reports, Assassination Market is only one site on the “deep Web” that markets hitmen. So far, there have been no public reports of these sites leading to anyone’s demise. In fact, many of them could easily be used to scam disgruntled people out of their Bitcoins.

In a bit of related news, Ben Bernanke sent a letter to Congress on Monday in which he says that Bitcoin “may hold long-term promise, particularly if the innovations promote a faster, more secure and more efficient payment system.” Maybe seeing his name on a hit list will change his tune.

Are You a Nomophobe?

You know that panicked feeling you get when you go to reach for your cell phone—and can’t find it anywhere?

(Until you realize it’s in your other hand…)

You just might have nomophobia: the fear of being away from your cell phone.

Coined as a part of a 2010 study on cell phone addiction, the word is a faux-Greek mashup of the phrase “no-mobile-phone phobia.”

That study found that over 50% of all people surveyed felt anxiety when separated from their cell phones—and that their anxiety was on par with going to the dentist, moving into a new home, or even pre-wedding jitters.

Some argue that nomophobia isn’t a real clinical phobia. And, like other modern afflictions such as internet addiction, it’s easy to laugh off the issue.

But just because it’s not yet in the DSM doesn’t mean there’s no cause for concern.

It wasn’t too long ago that people actually survived day-to-day without any kind of mobile devices. But since the rise of cell phones, smartphones, and apps, we’ve come to rely on our phones for more than just talking. We now use our phones for banking, checking the weather, getting directions, reading the news, shopping, and more. Then there’s the entertainment factor: There’s no longer any need to suffer silences or listen to your own thoughts when you can always listen to music or play a game on your phone.

With all they’re capable of, it’s really no wonder that we feel a bit of anxiety when we’re separated from our phones.

But if you’re constantly using your phone, it may be worth examining that reliance and how it’s affecting your mental, emotional, and physical health. You can see some of the scary effects of nomophobia researchers have found below.

You don’t need to quit using your smartphone cold turkey, or throw it in the trash. Instead, try just cutting back a bit: Leave it at home when you take a walk, or turn it off overnight.

You might be surprised at just how much you can live without it.

Transcript: Are You a Nomophobe?

Where can you find conversations, news, social networks, weather updates, and a plethora of mind numbing games? Your phone, of course. 75% of the world’s population has access to a mobile device, which is evident looking around any public place. How much is too much when it comes to being distracted by your device?

Your Health

Possible health concerns due to the use of smart devices

• There is now a name for the fear of being without a cell phone, it is called nomophobia.
• • 73% of smartphone users feel panicked when they misplace their phone.
  • • 84% of women feel panicked, while 63% of men feel panicked.
• A survey by the Vision Council found that 70% of Americans squint and strain their eyes by looking at the small font and bright screens of smartphones.
• • This has the potential to develop into computer vision syndrome, a condition that can lead to dry eyes, difficulty focusing, and double vision.
• “Text neck” is becoming common, it is a condition that arises from the stress and pressure that can be triggered by texting and browsing on your phone.
• E. coli is found on 1 in 6 cell phones, due to close to 75% of people bringing their cell phones with them to the bathroom.
• • This can lead to diarrhea, urinary tract infections, and even kidney failure.
• Research from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lighting Research Center found that a two-hour exposure to light from devices can suppress melatonin by about 22%, making it more difficult to get to sleep.
• The risk from long-term use of cellphones is still unknown, but various world health authorities are continually researching the impact they have on our health.

Smartphones & Adolescents

• According to medscape.com, in a recent survey given to 200 Korean youths, those addicted to their smartphone devices had a high risk of severe the psychopathologies.
• • These include somatic symptoms, attentional deficits, and aggression.
  • The younger they are, the more vulnerable they are to developing the tendencies.

In The Car

Distracted driving is any activity that could divert a person’s attention away from the primary task of driving. These distractions include using your navigation system, texting, watching a video, adjusting a radio, CD player or MP3 player and using your phone.

• Distracted driving by the numbers
• • 10% of all drivers under the age of 20 involved in fatal crashes were reported as distracted at the time of the crash.
  • • This age group has the largest proportion of drivers who were distracted.
  • Five seconds is the average time your eyes are off the road while texting.
  • • When traveling at 55 mph, that’s enough time to cover the length of a football field blindfolded.
  • About 25% of all car crashes involve cell phone use, including hands-free features, such as an earpiece, dashboard system, or speakerphone.
  • • 21% of these crashes occur when people are having a conversation on the phone, and 4% occur as a result of text messaging.
  • Your field of view narrows by 50% when talking on any kind of cellphone.
  • • Your brain is only able to process half of what you see when you are distracted.
  • Studies show that using the voice-to-text option is actually more distracting than typing texts by hand.

At Home

Would you rather be connected to the world, or connected to your spouse/family?

• 3 out of 5 U.S. smartphone users don’t go more than an hour without checking their gadgets.
• 3 out of 4 people report having their cell phone within five feet of them at all times.
• 12% of smartphone users use their phones while showering and 39% while on the toilet.
• 12% of respondents of a Jumio survey said their smartphone gets in the way of their relationship.
• • 20% of Americans between the ages of 18-34 use their cell phone during sex.
• According to a study by Lookout, 54% of respondents said they check their phones while in bed (before going to sleep, in the middle of the night and when they wake up in the morning).

Smartphones have diminished the thought of a 9-5 workday

With email and technology at our fingertips, many companies expect employees to stay connected at all hours of the day, taking away from precious family time.

In Public

We observe and learn to interact with those that are different from us when we are in public. However, with the distractions cause by mobile devices we lose this interaction and the potential to grow and learn.

• 33% of people use a smartphone while on a date.
• 19% of smartphone users use their phones in church/places of worship.
• 35% of people look to their smart device as a crutch in public.
• • o 33% of people have used their smartphone to look busy in a restaurant or bar, when in reality, they aren’t.
  • o 41% of people use their phones to avoid looking uneducated in front of others.
  • • Instead of debating the answer to a question, they pull it up right on their phone.

• Distracted Walking

• A study by Despina Stavrinos of the University of Alabama at Birmingham found distracted walking has become an issue.
• • Compared to when they crossed the street without any distraction, people on the phone reached the other side of the street:
  • • With less time to spare
    • Missed more opportunities to cross safely
    • Had more close calls.
  • The issue was only a problem with smartphones – not with music devices.

What Can You do About It?

Here are some tips to distract you from your phone.

• Don’t check your phone an hour before you go to bed or for an hour after you wake up.
• Read a traditional, paper book at night instead of a book on a smart device to get to sleep faster.
• Keep your phone in your pocket or in your purse while you are in the car.
• • You will be less likely to grab it out of habit if it is tucked away and out of site.
• Institute a time each night you and your partner will turn your phone on silent (or off).
• Give your children a maximum amount of time they are allowed to spend on devices each day so it is regulated.
• Consider instituting a “no device” policy at mealtimes and other family functions.

Sources

• What is Distracted Driving? – distraction.gov
• Distracted Driving Awareness Month – Shocking Stats & Tips for Staying Safe – longisland.com
• Your Smartphone May Be Powering down Your Relationship – cnn.com
• 20% Of Adults Use Smartphones During Sex: How Can Cell Phones Hurt Our Relationships? –medicaldaily.com
• Where Do You Take Your Phone? – jumio.com
• How Smartphones Could Be Ruining Your Relationship – liveboldandbloom.com
• How to Stop Tech Ruining Your Home Life – pcpro.co.uk
• Mobile Mindset Study – lookout.com
• Walking With Headphones: Only Dangerous Sometimes – theatlanticcities.com
• Smartphones Are Killing Us – and Destroying Public Life – salon.com
• Most Americans Would Use Smartphones In Public Restrooms And In Bed, Survey Shows –huffingtonpost.com
• Cell Phone Health: Your Favourite Phone May Be Harming Your Health – huffingtonpost.ca
• Your Tablet and Smartphone Could Be Ruining Your Sleep – hothardware.com
• Ban Portable Electronics Before Bed for More Restful Sleep – lifehacker.com
• Nomophobia – webopedia.com

Difference between JPG, PNG and other Image Formats

Computer files are usually stored with a file type such us most of the time music files are found in MP3 extensions and Microsoft Word Files have a DOCX at the end of their name. Images, just like music and video formats are found in various types and some of the most popular are JPG (or JPEG) PNG, GIF and BMP. To show a normal selfie you can use any of these format and all of them will work for standard photos. However not all people know that each of these image format is a lot different than the other and each of these has their own pros and cons.

Different Image Formats

Starting with the BMP format –at past used as default format for Microsoft’s really old Paint –it is the heaviest on size and does not support transparency.

Moving on to the next image format JPG (or JPEG). it is most efficient on file size, it is weaker in terms of image quality.

The PNG or Portable Network Graphics is good replacement for JPG, it also supports alpha channels, still it will cost a bit more then JPG when it comes to file size.

Getting next to GIF, the new craze in social media. It is older that what you may think and GIF supports both transparency and Frame switching.

We are here with an interesting infographic that will help you in understanding different image formats and their Plus and minus points. At the end of the day you will get to know which image format should you use to store Birthday photos of your son and which to use as logo on your website.

Source: WhoIsHostingThis.com

Everything you need to know about Chromebooks

You have heard about them, haven’t you? Chromebooks are essentially lightweight, small and [mostly] cheap laptop notebooks running Google’s Chrome OS. This is the major difference between Chromebook and other laptops.
Chrome OS is an operating system based on Linux kernel. However Chrome OS is a lot different than most of Linux Distributions and than any other version of Windows. Instead of having dozens of pre-installed Tools, Backup utilities, accessories, Text Editors and other software, Chrome OS has just a web Browser and only a few important utilities. This is what Google has thought about OS of a modern era. Google’s Chrome OS relays heavily on Internet to do tasks. The Results? Chromebooks are a lot faster on startup and shutdown times, are really easy to manage and diagnose and are a lot cheaper than other expensive Notebook PCs.

What you get with a Chromebook?
Chromebooks begin at a small price of $200 and go up to $999 and up for Premium Chromebook Pixel, the fastest (and most expensive) Chromebook on earth. After paying that price you will get a 11 inch to 15.6 inch display notebook. Running mostly ARM Processors for cheaper models. Many models come with Intel Processors. Rest of the hardware will be just like any other Notebook. All Chromebooks come with Wi-Fi connectivity and some also ship with 3G or LTE connectivity options.

Chromebooks: The Showrunner Chrome OS

The main thing differing Chromebooks with other Notebooks is Chrome OS. Chrome OS is basically a Linux Operating system with Google Chrome Web Browser. When Google first Introduced Chromebooks it was just a Google Chrome Browser running Maximized.  All the Apps and setting could be found on New Tab Page. Now Google has made some changes and OS now looks much familiar with a Taskbar on the bottom and a notification area on bottom right side Just like Microsoft Windows. This area hosts several icons such as Wi-Fi and Data management along with a clock and and a button to switch User accounts.
Chrome OS also has some apps other than Chrome Browser. It includes an Offline File Manager that is able to open and preview some Common File Formats. Chromebooks has an offline Music and Video Player too.

Strength and weakness of Chromebooks

Strengths:

• Easy to use and configure.
• Low cost and lightweight.
• Longer Battery life than other haviour laptops.
• Less risk of Malware and other nasty, No need to install antivirus.

Weaknesses:

• Chromebooks are running a different OS and because of that app library is really smaller than the competition.
• Granted that they can work offline but it is really limited at some task, Internet connectivity is needed to perform most of the stuff.
• Google Chrome is the only web browser in Chromebooks, you don’t have any alternatives to use.

Chromebooks are good for

People who are most of the time online, who just need a computer to check emails, use social media, do lightweight productivity tasks and who use laptops for entertainment. You can do many things online and this is where promise of google with Chromebooks seems to be true. Due to their simplicity, you can think of them as an excellent choice for older – or not so tech savvy – people.

Chromebooks are not so good for

Granted that most of the work people do on computers nowadays can be done under the tabs of a web browser, still we do need some heavyweight application who sadly run only on full-blown Windows or Mac OS X systems. Chromebooks are good for many day-to-day tasks. If you are into editing heavyweight Video Clips, making complex vector graphics or running professional desktop applications, you will feel trapped with the limitations of chromebooks. Simply put For power users who are happy about maintaining their systems, backing them up and are able to deal with Malware, Windows, Mac or Linux are better options.

If you have already bought a Chromebook and you are feeling bad about the limitations here is what you can do: Install Linux on it.

Linux can easily be installed on Intel Processor based Chromebooks. How to Geek has a good guide to do that. 

What do you think about Chromebooks? share with us in comments…

How to Improve Gaming Performance of Computer

People joke that  Video Games don’t make gamers violent; Instead lag and Poor frame rate make them. PC gaming comes with freedom of having different configurations than Gaming Consoles, still due to too many types and architectures of Computers game for PCs are not optimized as Games for consoles are. Windows is not perfect either, There are lots of things happening in the background while you are playing a game and there are many other factors affecting your computer’s gaming performance. Bleeding edge games also want bleeding edge hardware performance. But hardware comes at a price.

In this article we will discuss various thing you can do to improve Gaming performance and suck a few more FPS from your graphics card.

Update your Graphic Drivers

Either NVIDEA or AMD all graphics cards do need drivers. NVidia and AMD regularly update their GPU drivers and optimize them for best gaming performance. To improve Gaming Performance of Computer you should always have them updated.

But sometimes you may find that earlier version of driver gave more performance than newer ones for some games, so if any game lags just after you updated your Driver then you can rollback the update.

How – Head to your AMD catalyst / NVidia  driver suite and check for update preferences and make sure that automatic updates are on.

Defrag your Hard drive

Games are very large in size, even downloading and installing gets your data fragmented. More the fragmentation, the more time it will take to load the game. If your PC has a SSD than you should install the game into SSD partition, if not be sure to defrag your Hard drive periodically for best performance.

How- Head to start menu and search for Drive Optimizer.

Turn off unwanted background activities

Many process run in the background while you are playing games. These can be stopped to increase in-Game performance. Many game optimizers are available on the internet that. Razer game booster ( or Razer Cortex) can do the job for you.

Turning of windows Animations

The Shiny windows aero and other animation effects may reduce gaming performance a little bit. To get some more FPS you can change it to a non aero theme.

Tip- To get highest performance Search for “Performance options ” in start menu

Click on “Adjust for Best performance” radio button and Hit “Apply”.

By hitting “apply” all unnecessary animations and effects will be turned of. After your gaming session you can always select other options to get earlier effects back.

Tweak games Graphics Options

In game settings affect the gameplay performance. lowering the texture quality and decreasing draw distance increase frame rates very much.

Stop unnecessary network activities

During multiplayer sessions internet speed plays important role in game experience if you don’t have a Lightning fast internet plan , you can pause unnecessary syncs, updates and your downloads.

How – Head to resource monitor to see which process is using your bandwidth, disable or kill any useless network hog app.

Use NVidia experience or AMD Gaming Evolved

NVidia and AMD work effortlessly to increase in-game performance these applications are intended to tweak graphics settings automatically for performance.

Overclock it to improve Gaming Performance of Computer 

if all the above options do not work this is the surest way to increasing game play performance, well earlier times there was risk of burning and frying CPUs but once implemented smartly you can get free performance.

Upgrade your PC

It is guaranteed way, you can upgrade your processor and GPU, to increase your game load time you can upgrade your HDD to SSD.

BEST WINDOWS EXPLORER HACKS YOU MUST KNOW

Every Windows User is well aware of What Windows Explorer is. Windows Explorer is also known as File Explorer particularly in Windows 8. Window’s File Explorer is something we all Use on daily basis. So why not try to make it more Productive and Efficient with some Cool Hacks. 

Here in this article i have listed 5 Best Windows Explorer Hacks that you Must be aware of to make your Files management Experience more easy and efficient.

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5 BEST WINDOWS EXPLORER HACKS

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1) Edit Send to Menu: Windows By Default allows you to Send any file or folder to Desktop, or Compress it or Mail it to the Recipient of your Choice, We Can Edit this Send to Menu to display things that you want to display, you can add or delete anything from this menu Easily.

Navigate to C:\Users\*Username*\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo.
Appdata Folder is Hidden by Default, First unhide it by Clicking on View>Option>Folder option>View> Check show hidden files,folders and Drives.
OR
You Can alternatively open Send to Folder with Run Command, Press Win+R key to open up Run Dialog, and type in shell:sendto and press Enter.

There You Can see Some Similar Files That were showing you in the Send to Menu. To Remove any Option you can delete that File from Send to folder. On the other hand to add Something to Send to Menu, Just Copy the folder that you want to show up in Send to Menu and Paste it there in that Folder. Now Check the Send to menu to See the Changes. All Done !!!

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2) Add Copy to and Move to Folder options : We can add “Copy to Folder” and “Move to Folder” to your Context Menu. Windows Don’t Provide these options by default but we can add with a simple Registry hack.

To add Copy to and move to  folder Option : Click here to Download Add_Move_To_Folder.reg File,

And Click here to Download Add_Move_To_Folder.reg file. These files are  small regsitry file for windows that will help you to add Copy to folder and Move to Folder option. Once downloaded, Double click on it, Click Run when Prompted. then you may be asked to click on yes and ok Couple of times.

When Everything is done, Right Click on any folder and check if its Showing Move to and Copy to Folder options. You Can see Move to and Copy to Folders are now added to your Context menu like mine.

Bonus Noob Tip: Hold Down CTRL key , Drag and drop Source file to Destination to Copy it. And Hold down SHIFTkey, Drag and Drop Source file to Destination to Move it.

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3) Change Default Folder: Whenever you Launch Windows Explorer in windows 7/8, it opens up Library folder, but may it its not that useful for us or we need some other folder to open up when we Click on taskbar’s Windows Explorer Shortcut. So in this hack we will Change Windows Default Folder  to our Downloads Folder instead of library.

• To Start with we will Right click on the Windows Explorer or File Explorer for Win 8 Users from the task bar icon. A list will show up, Now again Click on Windows Explorer (File Explorer) and Click on Properties.

• You can see a Dialog Box appears, There you Can see target path is somewhat like AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Libraries all we have to do is change this path to your desired folder that you want to open up everytime you launch file explorer.

• As here we are going to Change it to Download Folder we will change the path to C:\Users\*Username*\Downloads. Click OK and we have successfully changed the path now.

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4) Add tabs to File manager: We will be Using a Third Party tool Which is QTTabBar (2.9 mb) to Get advantage of Tabs, just like we have tabs in our Browsers. It not only Facilitates with the tabs but also provides many other usefull features that shows up in you file explorer

You will be asked for a Reboot in order to make changes after the installation process Completes. 

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5)Better File Copying Speed: Windows have made some efforts in windows 8 to improve Copying Speed. Copying FIles is better in windows 8 as compared to older versions but yet its slow and many times it Conflicts, so We will be Using TeraCopy to Takeup this task and its Fast and Effective. What it does is, it  Eliminates windows Default File-Copy Dialog  and gives us a better one.

After Installing TeraCopy, Whenever you Will Copy and paste, TeraCopy will Come into Action and do the Task for you much Faster. it also adds itself to Context Menu as an Option if in Case you prefer to Use it only when you Want to .

With this it Concludes my List of Best Windows Explorer Hacks, Which i have Tried and have helped me. if you know any other Trick of Windows Explorer then Feel free to Add a Comment Below