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Computer Forensics sounds very complicated, and in some cases it can be, but for the most part computer forensics incorporates everyday computer tools such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN search engines. This page has information that shows you how to use your computer for forensics, and how to use it to do searches. You can also find links to useful computer forensic webisites, and for finding people.
I. Using Your Computer For Searches
I. Using Your Computer for Searches
A. Web Searches: There is so much information available on the World Wide Web that sometimes it is hard to find. You will need to decide what it is you are looking for and how to go about it.
1. Semantics: It is not what you say, but how you say it that matters. You can use quotation marks to isolate a given phrase or word or words. For instance if you want to find Green Trees in New York City, will type in “Green Trees” “New York City.” If you can't find green trees in New York City try to find “Rats” in “New York City.”
(a) Part Number: You can sometimes find a part just by putting in the number.
(b) Quotation Marks, quotation marks are important to separate words or phrases. For example say you wanted to find out information about John Kerry, but wanted it to be specific to his educational background. You would type in "John Kerry" "educational background".
(c) Home Key: The home key can quickly move your cursor to the first part of your phrase thereby making it easier to add parenthesis.
(d) End Key: The end key takes our cursor to the end of the line. If you press the control key and the end key the cursor will be put at the end of the document.
2. Google Toolbar: The Google Toolbar 1can be downloaded and installed into your Web-Browser for easier web-searches. This toolbar has different sections you can use to search, such as NEWS, PICTURES and GROUPS. You can type in a telephone number and find its owner, or just an area code and find the area in which it originates from. It also corrects misspellings.
a. The Google Toolbar can be more helpful if you know some of the some the basics of searching. Google has many helpful pages of information on how to use their search engine. You can go to the Google Help Center and find the Basics of Searching. Here you can learn how to effectively word your searches to get optimal results.
b. Google also has advanced searching information on their Advanced Search Made Easy Page. You can find Advanced Operators, such as link: and define: and how to use them. And you can find a Printable Cheat Sheet.
3. A direct competitor of Google is the MSN Toolbar2.
4. Another good toolbar is the Yahoo Toolbar3.
5. Coppernic: Coppernic4 has search engine that is free with advertisements and also a pay version without advertisements.
a. Internic Whois5
d. Canadian Registry Services Inc.8 This one is for Canadian web sites.
1. Ctrl + F: Hit the Control Key and the F key at the same time. This brings up a screen that will prompt you to enter a search term. Enter the search term and it will take you to the part of the page that the term is found on.C. File Search on Computer: You can find any file or folder on your computer quickly. There have been recent developments in programs that you can download for free that search your computers files. Two of these programs can be found at MSN9 and Google.10Below is a way to use the built in Windows Search tools. If you want to find a group of files, you can use the (*) asterisk for the all function. An example of this is to type in *.dat in the search location and all of the .dat files will be found.
1. Start Menu, Search: Go to start menu, search and search for files and folders.2 Show Hidden Files: Go to Options in control panel and check show hidden files.You will need to do this in order to find any files that might be hidden.3. Inside or Named: You have a choice of finding key words inside a file or folder or ones that are named.D. Locating a person: When trying to find a person or their email address, you can use the following search engines:
1. BIGFOOT11 works well for finding email addresses.
2. SWITCHBOARD12 is one of the best sources for finding people.
3. REVERSE DIRECTORY13can be used to find reverse addresses of phone numbers.
4. AT&T Online Directory Any Who14 works well too.A. Recovery Software: If you want to find lost files or files that have been deleted this software is good for you to use. Some of the sites below offer software that can be used for forensic data recovery purposes. Check with the vendor to be sure.1. Ontrack152. Runtime16
3. ESS Data Recovery174. Guidance Software18
B. Laws Governing Discovery: Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act (UCITA). This website has a comprehensive set of links on where to find information about the new laws being created, governing computer usage.2. Try Ontrack Law Library for information on the new laws that are being created: Kroll Ontrack Legal Recources.21C. Index.DAT files: What do they mean and how to read them. Index.dat files are data files that store information that shows how a person uses his computer. There are a few different programs available to read the index.dat files, and a few different ones to delete the contents. Index.dat Suite22is one that is free. It can also be used to read the history files, and cookies that are stored on a computer.
D. Cookies: Cookies are an interesting aspect of computing. They are sometimes necessary and sometimes not. For more information on what a cookie is go to information on cookies at Microsoft23 or you can go to Cookie Central.24 These two web sites give you a pretty good idea what a cookie is, what is is used for and what it does.
- http://www.stellarinfo.com/
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