I have been watching series like “House of Cards” and “Mr.Robot” recently and the mention of “Deep web” in them caught my attention. I have heard of it earlier and I knew that it was something to do with secret websites, but never researched to know what it exactly was and how to access it. So I quickly googled Deep web, sometimes also referred to as “Dark web” or “Black web”, and what I learned was very interesting.

So, what exactly is it?

Wikipedia defines Deep web/Deep Internet as “The Deep Web, Deep Net, Invisible Web, or Hidden Web are search terms referring to the content on the World Wide Web that is not indexed by standard search engines. ” These websites can be accessed using proxy applications like “Tor” which relay the traffic through various networks to keep your identity anonymous. Since the identity of users in the Deep web is anonymous, anyone can post about anything or sell anything without revealing their identity.

How to access the Deep web?

Just Google or Bing for “Tor” browser and download it for free from their official website. Connect to the “Tor” network using the browser and make sure that you check your IP address after you are connected to the Tor network to make sure that you actual IP is not visible. Once that is done, you can now just perform a search for the “Hidden Wiki” which contains a list websites that you can access in the Deep web.Since the web address of this Wiki is frequently changed, you can perform a quick search from the Tor homepage itself to get to the current updated web address.

What is in it?

Once you are in the Invisible Wiki, cautiously browse through various links provided, particularly any links that offer paid services. If you carelessly enter any of your credentials to make any purchase, that could be used to track you. There are many hackers in the Deep web who can use your information or even sell your information in the web. There are also many websites that show illegal adult content and you have to be very careful to make sure that you don't visit these sites. You might find various websites that offer recreational drugs, hacker services, fake identities and everything you could possibly think of.

Like every other thing, Deep web can be used for both good and bad. As mentioned above, most of the users use it to do what they can't do publicly. On the other hand, if you look at the good side, there are few countries where the government has made certain websites inaccessible to the public. The people residing in these countries can use Deep web to access these websites that are available for the rest of the world. It has been also used by journalists from various countries to keep their identity safe while looking for and sharing information. Many whistle-blowers who wants to share about conspiracies use the dark web.

So what do you think about the Deep web? Do you think it is good or bad? Have you ever accessed it? If yes what weird things did you find? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.

Yes, CloudU is offering a free online course on Cloud computing with a free certificate too. The curriculum is mainly designed for Technology professionals who wants to increase their knowledge on Cloud computing. Keep reading to find out more about the course and how to sign up and earn the free certification.

How to sign up?

Wanna sign up? Just go to cloudu.rackspace.com and create a free account for yourself. Now head over to the CloudU certification page and click on the launch button to launch the course and get enrolled in the course automatically.

 What’s covered in this course?

The course is made of ten units, starts off with basics and gets and gets more advanced as it progresses. Each unit has a quiz to test your knowledge on that particular unit and a final Exam. The course starts with the basics of Cloud computing, understanding main concepts like SaaS, PaaS, Iaas, and also about planning and running a business on cloud.

Looks like an easy course to me, so will update you guys about how the course was once I finish the course and get the certificate.

Other courses offered by CloudU:

Check out the below screenshot from the CloudU website about the other they offer.

I upgraded my PC to Windows 10 and have been using it for the last couple of days without any major issues. However, looking into the web, it seems that many users are facing installation issues and other problems with Windows 10. So, here is a list of the known issues in Windows 10:

UPDATE: Microsoft has released a Cumulative update which contains patched for most of the known issues. So if you are facing any issues with Windows 10, I would highly recommend installing all latest updates and then check. Check out this article for more information:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3081424

Windows 10 failed to install with error code 80240020.

Many users who have tried to upgrade to Windows 10 through the reservation process have reported that is an error 80240020 when they check the Windows update section. The Microsoft Support Engineers have mentioned that this error is normal and it doesn’t mean that something went wrong with your upgrade. It looks like the installation files are downloaded but the installation prompt hasn’t been shown as Windows 10 is being released in waves. So in areas where Windows 10 is not yet available through Windows update, few users might see this error if their PC has already downloaded the files but haven’t displayed the notification to begin installation. Check out this announcement in the Answers website:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-windows_install/windows-update-installation-failure-80240020/d695e827-9774-4e10-8972-df8d51a7bb51

In this case, you can either wait to get the notification or install Windows 10 using an ISO like I did. Check out this post: http://www.the-super-geek.com/2015/07/my-thoughts-on-new-windows-10.html

Activation errors:

You can also check out this article for Activation errors and what they mean:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-10/activation-errors-windows-10

Start button/Menu not working.

If the start button or menu is not working, then you can try the suggestions provided in this post. Few users have mentioned that this has fixed their issue.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/forum/insider_wintp-insider_desktop/start-button-is-not-working-in-windows-10/af20e8c8-1783-463f-8fd1-1cbfd8a80d63

Office error: The File is corrupt and cannot be opened

For office users who are unable to open Office documents after upgrading to Windows 10. Microsoft has published a KB article to fix the issue:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3086786

That’s it for now Geeks. Will update this post if I come across any more issues for which a fix is available.

If you are reading this article, then most probably you are seeing the infamous "ACESS DENIED" error when trying to access a file or folder. You can try taking ownership of the item and then check. Follow these steps to take ownership of an item:

• ·         First things first, make sure that you are logged into an Administrator user account. 

•           Right click on the File/Folder/Drive and select Properties.

• ·       In the Properties window, click on the Security tab and click on the option Advanced at the bottom.

• ·       In the Advanced options, check if your username is populated again the Owner field.

• ·      If not, click on the option ‘Change’ near the owner field.

• ·     Type your username in the text box Enter the Object name to select and click on Check names.

                    

• ·   Once your name is selected, click on OK and check if you still get any errors.

Additional Resources:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-in/windows7/how-do-i-open-a-file-if-i-get-an-access-denied-message

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2623670