Windows provides a handful of means to control the way console sessions start and function. For example, you can click a console’s Control menu, select Properties, and configure properties such as cursor size, display options, font, and layout.

Besides configuring properties, you might also want to execute commands automatically when you open a console. For example, you might want to load a device driver, switch to a particular directory, set the command prompt, or execute a batch file.

Adding a command string to the registry is one simple solution. Open the Registry Editor to the following key and enter a command string as its value:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\Autorun

Cmd.exe executes this command string at startup for all command console sessions.

You can include a command string for a specific console session by starting the session with the /K switch. For example, the following example would start a console session and change to the Documents and Settings folder:

Cmd.exe /K “CD Documents and Settings”

Netcraft has released an Internet Explorer plug-in that could help people avoid becoming victims of online fraud.

The Internet security company heralded the plug-in toolbar, which displays information about the Web sites a surfer is visiting, as a strong weapon against phishing attacks.

“The Netcraft Toolbar provides you with constantly updated information about the sites you visit as well as blocking dangerous sites,” the company, best known for providing statistics on what software Web sites are running, stated in a posting. “This information will help you make an informed choice about the integrity of those sites.”

Netcraft Toolbar (source)

The toolbar displays information about the popularity of a site, the country in which the site is hosted and the Internet address of the site. It also indicates whether other toolbar users have flagged the site as a possible phishing scam, which uses fake Web sites that look like they belong to a trusted provider, such as a bank, to fool people into handing over sensitive personal information.

The effectiveness of the toolbar will largely depend on how widely the software is adopted, Netcraft Director Mike Prettejohn said.

“If the big banks go for branded versions to give to their customers, then (it will be) very effective,” he said. “It’s only been public for two days, and there is already an effective community of people blocking phishing sites.”

The software is available as a plug-in for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Web browser and can be downloaded from Netcraft. A version of the program that runs on the Firefox browser from the Mozilla Foundation is also under development, the company said.

Source: News.com

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. said on Thursday that eBay Inc. will soon drop support for its Passport service, originally intended to make the world’s biggest software maker the gatekeeper of Web identities.

But Microsoft said it will keep Passport up and running, despite the loss of one of its earliest and most important partners.

EBay said in a message to users on Wednesday that in late January it will stop allowing them to sign on to its Web marketplace through Passport.

Passport allows users to store such things as passwords and credit card information for use across the Web. With its launch in 1999, Microsoft aimed to insert itself in a key position in e-commerce transactions.

But the service has since fallen short of that goal due to several significant hurdles — including security and privacy concerns.

The move by eBay, far and away the most popular U.S. shopping Web site, ends a partnership forged in 2001 and underscores consumers’ unwillingness to embrace Passport outside Microsoft’s own MSN Internet network.

“A very small percentage of eBay users regularly signed in using Passport,” said eBay spokesman Hani Durzy, who added that the company also has provided alternatives to users who receive eBay alerts through Microsoft’s .Net service.

Source: Reuters