Many people ask me about the location in the Registry or file system that Windows applications store the passwords. So I prepared a list of password storage locations for more than 20 popular applications and Windows components.
Be aware that even if you know the location of the saved password, it doesn’t mean that you can move it from one computer to another. many applications store the passwords in a way that prevent you from moving them to another computer or user profile.
However, you can use this information to remove unwanted saved passwords from your system.

• Windows Network Passwords (XP/Vista/2003): When you connect to the file system of another computer on your network (something like \\MyComp\MyFolder), Windows allows you to save the password. If you choose to save the password, the encrypted password is stored in a credential file.
  The credential file is stored in the following locations:
  • Windows XP/2003: [Windows Profile]\Application Data\Microsoft\Credentials\[User SID]\Credentials and [Windows Profile]\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Credentials\[User SID]\Credentials
  • Windows Vista: [Windows Profile]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Credentials\[Random ID] and [Windows Profile]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Credentials\[Random ID]

  You can use my Network Password Recovery utility to view all passwords stored in these Credentials files.

• Dialup/VPN Passwords (2000/XP/Vista/2003): Dialup/VPN passwords are stored as LSA secrets under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Security\Policy\Secrets. This key contains multiple sub-keys, and the sub-keys which store the dialup passwords contains one of the following strings: RasDefaultCredentials and RasDialParams.This key is not accessible from RegEdit and other tools by default, but you can use one of the following methods to access this key:
  1. Use at command to run RegEdit.exe as SYSTEM user: (doesn’t work under Vista)
     For Example:
     at 16:14 /interactive regedit.exe
  2. Change the permission of entire Security key. If you do that, it’s recommeneded to return the permissions back to the original after you finish.
• Internet Explorer 4.00 – 6.00: The passwords are stored in a secret location in the Registry known as the “Protected Storage”. The base key of the Protected Storage is located under the following key: “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Protected Storage System Provider”. In order to view the subkeys of this key in RegEdit, you must do the same process as explained for the LSA secrets.
  Even when you browse the above key in the Registry Editor (RegEdit), you won’t be able to watch the passwords, because they are encrypted. Also, this key cannot easily moved from one computer to another, like you do with regular Registry keys.IE PassView and Protected Storage PassView utilities allow you to recover these passwords.
• Internet Explorer 7.00 – 8.00:The new versions of Internet Explorer stores the passwords in 2 different locations. AutoComplete passwords are stored in the Registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\IntelliForms\Storage2. HTTP Authentication passwords are stored in the Credentials file under Documents and Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Credentials , together with login passwords of LAN computers and other passwords.IE PassView can be used to recover these passwords.
• Firefox: The passwords are stored in one of the following filenames: signons.txt, signons2.txt, and signons3.txt (depends on Firefox version) These password files are located inside the profile folder of Firefox, in [Windows Profile]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[Profile Name] Also, key3.db, located in the same folder, is used for encryption/decription of the passwords.
• Google Chrome Web browser: The passwords are stored in [Windows Profile]\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Web Data (This filename is SQLite database which contains encrypted passwords and other stuff)
• Opera: The passwords are stored in wand.dat filename, located under [Windows Profile]\Application Data\Opera\Opera\profile
• Outlook Express (All Versions): The POP3/SMTP/IMAP passwords Outlook Express are also stored in the Protected Storage, like the passwords of old versions of Internet Explorer.
• Outlook 98/2000: Old versions of Outlook stored the POP3/SMTP/IMAP passwords in the Protected Storage, like the passwords of old versions of Internet Explorer.
• Outlook 2002-2008: All new versions of Outlook store the passwords in the same Registry key of the account settings. The accounts are stored in the Registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles\[Profile Name]\9375CFF0413111d3B88A00104B2A6676\[Account Index] If you use Outlook to connect an account on Exchange server, the password is stored in the Credentials file, together with login passwords of LAN computers.Mail PassView can be used to recover lost passwords of Outlook 2002-2008.
• Windows Live Mail: All account settings, including the encrypted passwords, are stored in [Windows Profile]\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\[Account Name] The account filename is an xml file with .oeaccount extension.Mail PassView can be used to recover lost passwords of Windows Live Mail.
• ThunderBird: The password file is located under [Windows Profile]\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\[Profile Name] You should search a filename with .s extension.
• Google Talk: All account settings, including the encrypted passwords, are stored in the Registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Talk\Accounts\[Account Name]
• Google Desktop: Email passwords are stored in the Registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Desktop\Mailboxes\[Account Name]
• MSN/Windows Messenger version 6.x and below: The passwords are stored in one of the following locations:
  1. Registry Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MSNMessenger
  2. Registry Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MessengerService
  3. In the Credentials file, with entry named as “Passport.Net\\*”. (Only when the OS is XP or more)
• MSN Messenger version 7.x: The passwords are stored under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\IdentityCRL\Creds\[Account Name]
• Windows Live Messenger version 8.x/9.x: The passwords are stored in the Credentials file, with entry name begins with “WindowsLive:name=”. These passwords can be recovered by both Network Password Recovery and MessenPass utilities.
• Yahoo Messenger 6.x: The password is stored in the Registry, under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Yahoo\Pager (“EOptions string” value)
• Yahoo Messenger 7.5 or later: The password is stored in the Registry, under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Yahoo\Pager – “ETS” value. The value stored in “ETS” value cannot be recovered back to the original password.
• AIM Pro: The passwords are stored in the Registry, under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\AIM\AIMPRO\[Account Name]
• AIM 6.x: The passwords are stored in the Registry, under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\America Online\AIM6\Passwords
• ICQ Lite 4.x/5.x/2003: The passwords are stored in the Registry, under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Mirabilis\ICQ\NewOwners\[ICQ Number] (MainLocation value)
• ICQ 6.x: The password hash is stored in [Windows Profile]\Application Data\ICQ\[User Name]\Owner.mdb (Access Database) (The password hash cannot be recovered back to the original password)
• Digsby: The main password of Digsby is stored in [Windows Profile]\Application Data\Digsby\digsby.dat All other passwords are stored in Digsby servers.
• PaltalkScene: The passwords are stored in the Registry, under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Paltalk\[Account Name].

Favicons are those tiny little icons that are displayed in front of every bookmark and tab in the Mozilla Firefox web browser. They can be used to identify a website next to the website title that is also always shown. There are two main reasons why someone would want to remove favicons in the Firefox web browser. The first reason is size. Bookmarks with favicons can take up to 10 times as much space on the computer hard drive than those without. While a difference between 3 Megabytes and 300 Kilobytes does not look like much it can make a difference especially in very large bookmark collections. The second concern is privacy related as new favicons are requested by the web browser from the website itself.

The following article outlines a two-step process to remove existing Firefox favicons and block new ones from being created. It is recommended to backup all files that are mentioned in this article prior to making the necessary changes.

1. Firefox settings

The first step is to change settings in the about:config dialog of the Firefox web browser. Simply enter [about:config] in the Firefox address bar and filter the list for the term [browser.chrome]. Change the following three parameters to the following values:

• browser.chrome.favicons – False
• browser.chrome.image_icons.max_size – 0
• browser.chrome.site_icon – False

This step does not get rid of already existing bookmark favicons.

2. Removing existing favicons

Press [Ctrl Shift B], select Import and Backup from the toolbar and pick Export HTML. This will save a copy of the bookmarks as a html file to the local desktop. Open that html file in the web browser and run the following bookmarklet to remove all Firefox favicons from it.

You can drag and drop the bookmarklet to the favorites or copy and paste it into the Firefox address bar to execute it.

Save the page again by pressing [Ctrl S]. Save it under the same name. Now close the Firefox web browser. We need to remove the old bookmark files from the Firefox profile folder. Here is the location of the Firefox profile folder on various operating systems:

Linux: ~/.mozilla/firefox/xxxxxxxx.default/
Mac OS: ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/xxxxxxxx.default/
Windows 98 / ME: C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default\
Windows Vista / XP: %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default\

Locate the active Firefox profile. Remember to backup places.sqlite. Now delete places.sqlite and all .json files in the bookmarkbackups subfolder. Restart Firefox. You will notice that all bookmarks are gone. Use [Ctrl Shift B] again to load the library. Select Import and Backup again. This time pick Import HTML and load the previously edited html file.

The bookmarks will be loaded into Firefox. You might need to arrange them again but all favicons should be gone for good.

Source.

Recently Microsoft has came up with updates that caused many users to get an error message says “Microsoft Office Word has not been installed for the current user. Please run setup to install the application.” when you try to run it. After clicking the OK button, Microsoft Word closes. You’ll be getting the same error message if you try to run any of the other office components such as Excel, Publisher, Access, Outlook and etc… The worst part is uninstalling and reinstalling wouldn’t help to fix this problem.

There’s a Microsoft KnowledgeBase on this issue and the solution is to give EVERYONE full control of the Opa11.dat file. Unfortunately this solution would only help to fix the problem when the non-administrative user accounts on the computer do not have permission to modify specific files that are used by the Office 2003 Setup program or the Office XP Setup program.

Another reason why this problem occur is you have using a pirated version of Microsoft Office and you’ve recently installed the latest updates. Some people are able to resolve this issue by using system restore but here’s a simpler way to fix this problem.

The file that is causing this error is MSO.DLL located at C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE11 for Office 2003 and C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE12 for Office 2007. Somehow Microsoft has updated this file to give you this error message when it detects a pirated copy of Office that is installed on your computer. When you try to run a repair or even uninstallation, the setup wouldn’t touch the MSO.DLL file at all. That is why after repairing / uninstallation, you’ll still get the same error.

The simple solution is to search for the file MSO.DLL in your computer and copy the older MSO.DLL file replacing the current one in Program Files. I found two versions of MSO.DLL in C:\WINDOWS\Installer\$PatchCache$\Managed\…..

If you can’t find the other backed up MSO.DLL file in your computer, you can simple delete the current MSO.DLL file from Program Files and then do a repair or reinstallation of Microsoft Office 2003 or 2007. That would restore the older version of MSL.DLL from the installation CD.

Pirating a software is bad, but I wonder since when Microsoft started to teach pirates a lesson by giving such annoyance to some users who may not even realize that they have a pirated version of Office installed by a computer shop?

Source.

Many users tend to set their Windows XP Automatic Updates on so that the OS will routinely check the Windows Updates Web site for new high-priority Windows security patches, critical updates, hot fixes, service packs, etc to protect the computer from the latest security threats. Leaving the Automatic Updates feature in activated mode is convenient for users so that the updates can be done automatically. However, many users with updates installed sometimes might have software compatibility or other random technical problems. If this happens, the easiest way to resolve it is to remove the newly installed updates and revert the system to its prior state.

To remove the updates installed, users can go to control panel and use the remove program feature to remove/uninstall the newly installed file. Alternately, a free tiny utility, Windows XP Update Remover, will be useful.

Windows XP Update Remover is a free Windows application which allows users to quickly and completely remove or uninstall the updates installed in the computer. Windows XP Update remover will remove $NtUninstall backup folders and associated uninstalled information from the computer. Users can download the free Windows XP Update Remover via the link here. Once the program is installed, users will see a complete list of Windows updates installed in the computer. Users can thence choose the updates to be removed.

Source.

If you are a Windows user you most likely know where to get software. You can either go to your local software retailer or you can go to a place like downloads.com. But what if you are searching for Linux software? Where do you go? Is there a one stop shop for all of your software needs? Yes and no. Even though that answer is not a resounding YES! there is a plus side – there are tons of software titles to have with Linux. But without knowing where to look, the downside is you might not even know that software exists.

With that in mind I am going to point out some of the best ways (and places) to find software for the Linux operating system. Some of these might be all too obvious. Some may not. We’ll start with the obvious.

Read the rest of this entry »