Facebook Tricks

Facebook Tricks

Almost half of all the sharing that happens online is done on Facebook. This in itself is testament enough that Facebook does the job of connecting people fairly well. However, there are some tips and tricks that can allow you to get more out of Facebook and this article contains a list of some of the best such Facebook tips.


Post an Empty/ Blank Status

Are you tired of constantly thinking new and interesting status updates for your Facebook friends? Then, post an empty status and show your friends that you denounce the thinking that if your status isn't cool, you aren't either. Just go to Facebook, hold Alt and press 0, 1, 7 and 3 respectively and click Post. This will post the null character as your status which basically is an empty space. Laptop users can do this after activating the Number Lock

.
Get Text Messages and Subscribe to the RSS feed of your Notifications
Go to Facebook's notifications page and click on the RSS link to find the RSS feed containing all your recent notifications. You can then subscribe to this feed in any desktop based RSS reader to instantly know about new notifications. To get text messages, click on get Text messages link on the Notifications page.

Change Facebook's Posted via text
Have you noticed that when you update your Facebook status from a mobile, Facebook adds a "Posted via Mobile" link at the bottom of it? You can change that to say hilarious things like "via Carrier Pigeon" or "via My Bedroom." To do this, just go to PostedVia, choose a delivery option and update your status or post to a friend's wall.
Facebook Tips and Tricks
 I posted this status from the unreleased iPhone 5 ;) 

Know when friends Unfriend you
Facebook notifies you when someone adds you as a friend but Facebook does not notify you when someone unfriends you. If you wish to access this data, you can use Social Fixer Facebook extension, which will not only allow you to do this but a lot more too.
Facebook Tricks Unfriends

Use Dynamic Facebook Profile Links to Fool your Friends
This is a funny use of technology to have fun with your friends. Just say some mean things in your status and then include this link -> www.facebook.com/profile.php?=1233445566. This may look like a link to a specific person's Facebook profile but in reality, it redirects users to their own profile. This happens because of the missing 'id' parameter. You can change the numbers to anything you like.

Facebook Tricks Search
Find Exactly What you are looking for on Facebook
If you ever had trouble finding a friend or a specific post by one of your friend, you should definitely take a look at the Facebook page on searching. It will help you to get acquainted not only with how Facebook search works but also enable you to get the most out of it.

Facebook Notifications Tricks
Access Facebook Chat on Your Desktop
Have you ever wanted to chat with your Facebook friends without opening a web browser? Desktop based applications like Digsby can allow you to stay connected with all your friends even when you close your web browser. This is much similar to chatting with Yahoo! Messenger or Google Talk chat client



Make Facebook Photos & Posts Private

Do you have private pictures of yourself or your family on Facebook which you don't want the entire world to see? This guide will help you change your Facebook privacy settings to only allow your friends or people you know to see your Facebook photos (and everything else you do). You can even customize the privacy settings of individual albums to share them with a small group of people like your co-workers or relatives.

Make Facebook Photos & Posts Private
There are three ways in which you can do this. Either, you can customize each wall post's or photo's settings individually, or set the preferences for specific albums or use a general setting for all posts and photos you have.

1: Choosing an individual wall post's or photo's privacy settings

While posting your photo or post, click on the down arrow left to the post button. Select Custom from the drop-down menu. Using the pop-up, select who you wish to make a post visible to. You can select if you wish to show a post to friends, friends of friends or specific people or a specific list of people.

Make Facebook Photos Private
Select Custom Privacy Options
You can even hide a photo from specific people or a list of people. This will be especially useful in situations where you don't want your colleagues to see a certain picture that makes fun of them or something similar. Normally, when someone is tagged in a photo, every friend of that Facebook user gets to know about it. So, if you chose to make a photo visible to friends and someone is tagged in that picture, all their friends will see that image. To prevent this, uncheck the Friends of those tagged checkmark.

Facebook Pictures & Posts Private

2: Limiting the Audience for an entire album

This is much similar to setting the audience for an individual picture. Just go to your albums, click on the Settings icon on the bottom right of the album whose privacy settings you wish to customize. Then select Custom from the drop down menu. The options Facebook offers are almost the same as those for an individual photo, however there is one difference.

Private Pictures Facebook Posts

All those people who are tagged and their friends would still be able to see the photos in your album. To prevent this, you will have to change the privacy settings of each individual photo.

Facebook photos & posts privacy settings

3: Making all your Photos and Posts Private

This is the permanent solution against worrying about your Facebook content. However, it doesn't offer much customization options and should only be used if you are sure how you will use Facebook. This is a 2 step process and involves customizing the audience for your past posts as well as those you will make in future.

Step 1: Limiting Past Posts & Photos
Go to your Privacy Settings, and then go to "Limit the audience for posts you've shared with friends of friends or Public?." Then click on the "Limit Old Posts" button. In the pop-up, click Confirm. This is a permanent change and cannot be undone. However, all those tagged and their friends would still be able to see your posts. To prevent this, you will have to change each post's settings individually.

Step 2: Limiting Future Posts and Photos

Facebook Content & Photos Private

While in the privacy center, click on "Who can see your future posts?" This will open a non-functional status update box. However, the privacy options that open when clicking on the down arrow right next to the post button are functional and act as global defaults for the content you post on Facebook in the future. Make sure to select friends if you only wish to share content with your friends. You can however, change this according to your needs; but for most people, friends would be the best option. You can further improve your privacy by selecting Custom and then unchecking the check box that appears next to "Friends of those tagged". This will customize your Facebook settings to show your Facebook activity only to your friends and those tagged.

You can also select who gets tagged in your content to further prevent your content from appearing in front of unwanted eyes. To do this, go to your Privacy Settings from the Settings icon located at the top right of the blue Facebook bar. Then, in Privacy Settings, click on Timeline and Tagging. Then under, "How can I manage tags people add and tagging suggestions?", select Enabled to review tags that friends add to your posts.

Facebook's privacy settings take some time to adjust but once you are done, you will never have to worry about your content ending up in front of unwanted users.

Facebook Scams and How to Tackle Them

Online scams are ever increasing. Almost in every phase of the online world, you will come across scams. Social networks are no exception for such malicious activity. Recently, millions of accounts from LinkedIn and eHarmony were compromised. Facebook seeing danger has updated its security and is advising its users regarding various scams and how to fight them back.

Facebook Scams

‘Please send money scam’
An unknown account sends a message stating that he/she has been mugged. Descriptions of events seem accurate including real names and places. Finally, the sender requests a certain sum, which will enable him/her to return home safely.

Facebook has attributed such scams as ‘Please send money scams’. The sender’s account is either fake or has been taken over by cyber criminals. On receiving ‘please send money scam’ messages, Facebook advices to report/block the account.

Phishing
Phishing is a common way to to hack account(s). Phishing links are sent within messages or through chats.

Phishing links through messages:
A message, which has scrambled words with funny fonts, is the first indication of a Phishing attack. Typo errors and misspelled words are other significant signs to look for. Such messages will be themed around offering gifts such as coins, jewels or any other artifacts. Finally, you will be asked to click on a link placed at the bottom of the message. Immediately report accounts who send such messages.

Phishing links in chats:
If any strange links appear while chatting, then beware. The account through which phished links appeared while chatting is probably compromised. Report the link immediately. However, doing so will not affect the account. Only the link will be considered for review by Facebook’s security team.

What to do if I had clicked on Phishing link accidentally?
If accidentally, a phishing link is clicked, go to password settings  in your profile and change your password immediately. This will eliminate any Phishing threat. It is important to ensure that your new password is hard to crack.

Malicious Script Scam
Often you will come across Facebook applications requesting to copy a certain script and paste it in your browser. Such scripts are malicious in nature. For instance, some applications will provide a list of your profile visitors when the script is pasted in your browser. Apart from showing recent visitors, these applications send events and messages to your friend list. These applications and scripts should be avoided. A screenshot of one such application is shown below:

Malicious Scrip Scam

Suspicious emails:
Occasionally, some emails will request to reset your password, give a warning or will be about notifications. These mails are so convincing that they appear to be from Facebook. A request to click at the link provided at the bottom of the message should alert you. To check the validity of the link, right click and copy it. Later paste it on a separate tab and make sure that the URL starts as www.facebook.com.

Note: Facebook will never request your password through emails.

Suspicious Notifications:
Never click on links within suspicious notifications. For instance, you will receive a notification stating that you had requested a password reset albeit you never had requested. Other suspicious notifications include the ones notifying you of registration of a new Facebook account. With the help of your email provider, mark these mails as spam.



Change Facebook Theme, Color & Appearance

Facebook is a social networking site which enables people to connect with friends and people around. That's how Facebook is usually introduced. However, Facebook is beyond the need of being introduced as almost everyone is on it. Despite its popularity, Facebook has one flaw; the default blue theme is really boring.

Some even consider it an annoyance while visiting Facebook. As Facebook does not allow users to change its theme like MySpace used to, users are left with no other option but to bear the theme Facebook wants them to use.

However, it is relatively easy to change the Facebook theme to a stylish one using an addon and custom themes which are available free of cost on the internet.

An example of the final outcome would be something like in the image.

Change Facebook Theme
This is the Ferrari theme. More themes are available for you to choose.


Requirement: The basic requirement for this to work is to have Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome as your browser.

Steps to achieve this: If you use Google Chrome, click here. Mozilla Firefox users should carry out the following steps to successfully change Facebook theme.

  1. Open Mozilla Firefox and install 'Stylish' addon.
  2. Follow the basic steps to install the addon.
  3. Restart Firefox after successfully installing the Stylish addon.
  4. Login to your Facebook Account and click on the small 'S' button in your Firefox status bar.
  5. Click on "Find Styles for this Site" to open a new tab with free themes to use for Facebook.
  6. Click on any theme and a preview will be shown.
  7. If everything is fine in the previewed theme, click on "Install with Stylish" button at the top right corner of the page.
  8. A dialog box will open.
  9. Click on Install in the dialog box.

Steps for Google Chrome
  1. Install Stylish for Chrome from the Chrome Web Store.
  2. Navigate to Facebook.com and click on the S button.
  3. Click on "Find Styles for this Site" to open a new tab with free themes to use for Facebook.
  4. Click on any theme and a preview will be shown.
  5. If everything is fine in the previewed theme, click on "Install with Stylish" button at the top right corner of the page.

Stylish Button


facebook theme change

Install with stylish

Installing Ferrari theme for Stylish Firefox

Now whenever you open Facebook, it will show the theme that you have installed with Stylish instead of the boring old blue theme.




How hackers hack Facebook Account & How to stop them?

Facebook is, undoubtedly, the most popular social networking website with more than 500 million active users. Due to its popularity, many hackers (or should I say crackers?) are actively involved in hacking Facebook accounts of unsuspecting users. This article outlines the many strategies that such hackers use to gain access to Facebook accounts of hundreds of users each day and how you can stop them from hacking your account.

hack facebook account
Facebook is one of the prime target of hackers!

Email Address Hack

I have always been puzzled by Facebook's leniency in this matter. All a hacker needs to do is know your email address and he will be displayed  a confirmation showing your name even if he enters the wrong password. How easily a hacker can then hack your Facebook account if he 'guesses' your password (if you use a weak password) or answers your security question! This is something I hope Facebook improves on quickly. Until Facebook does so, here are some tricks you can use to protect yourself from this vulnerability.

How to safeguard your Email Address?
Just follow these steps:-

  1. Hide your Email Address from everyone by going to Edit Profile>Contact Information>Clicking on the icon beside your email address> checking 'Only Me'.
  2. Change your primary email address to a one that is only known to you by going to Account Settings>Email> and changing your primary email to the new one (known only to you) and removing your previous email address.
  3. For additional security, when in Account Settings, check 'Secure browsing' and 'Send me an email when a new computer or mobile device logs into this account' and click Save.

hack facebook
A hacker at work!

Phishing

Phishing is one of the easiest ways to trick users into giving out their login credentials. All a hacker does is setup a webpage similar in design to that of the Facebook homepage, attach a server sided script to track the username and password entered and store it in a log. Sending people emails stating that someone tagged a photo of them on Facebook in the same format as Facebook and giving a link below to the phishing website further reduces the chances of it being detected as a fake. Sometimes, spam Facebook apps, like those promising to tell who viewed your Facebook profile, automatically post links to phishing websites. A new trend amongst phishers is creating Facebook look-a-like widgets for stealing user's login credentials.

How to prevent yourself from being phished?
At all costs, avoid clicking on suspicious links. Moreover, always check the URL in the address bar before signing in. Avoid logging in through various "Facebook widgets" offered by websites and blogs. Instead, use Facebook's homepage to sign in. Always try to use Safe Search while searching. If you do manage to get phished, report the website so that others may get a warning before visiting it.


hack facebook password

Keylogging through Keyloggers

Keylogger is a type of computer virus that tracks key strokes. Keyloggers can be installed remotely on a computer system by a cracker to record all the activity that is going on the victim's computer. Keylogging gets more easy if the hacker has physical access to the victim's computer.

How to stop keyloggers?
Install a good antivirus and update it frequently. Do not click on suspicious links and avoid downloading illegal software. Also, avoid installing free toolbars and other such spam software. Always scan third-person's flash and pen drives before using them on your computer.

Social Engineering
Social engineering involves using any trick to fool the user into making himself vulnerable to exploits. This could involve anything from sending spoof emails, pretending to be from Facebook, telling you to change your password to 12345678 to a hacker maliciously getting out the answer to your Security Question in a friendly chat or discussion.

How to prevent yourself from being socially engineered?
Stay aware during chats and discussions. Use a tough security question, preferably one whose answer you would never disclose to anyone. Moreover, Facebook, or any other company for that matter, will never ask you to change your password to 12345678 or do something as silly as asking you to send out your login details to prove that you are an active user. Always think before taking actions and your e-life on Facebook will be safe from hackers looking to hack Facebook accounts.



Cool Facebook Status, Chat Tricks and Tips

Most of us use Facebook to interact with some of our long separated friends but that does not mean we cannot have fun on Facebook. Here is a collection of tricks, tips and Easter eggs you can use to enjoy your experience on Facebook.

Facebook Easter Eggs: Pirate Language ,Turn Facebook Upside Down

Facebook is not as famous for its Easter eggs as Microsoft, but that does not mean that Facebook's Easter eggs are not entertaining. The one which I especially find interesting is the Pirate Language trick. To enable Pirate Language in Facebook, login to Facebook, click on the down arrow at the right of the top navigation bar, click on Account Settings, click on Edit at the right of the Language option, and in the Primary Language dropdown menu, select English(Pirate) located somewhere near the bottom and be the captain of your Pirate Ship.

Facebook tricks
Blabber t' yer mates

Similarly, you can also turn Facebook upside down by selecting English(Upside Down) from the Languages dropdown. This will flip the entire Facebook interface but your status updates would still be "normal".

Facebook Tips
See. Mark Zuckerberg does know how to headstand.


Chat on Facebook in your Firefox sidebar while browsing other Websites

To do this, you need to bookmark http://facebook.com/login.php. Then click on Show all Bookmarks (Manage Bookmarks in older versions) in the Bookmarks menu, then locate the newly created bookmark, single click on it, then click on more in the footer, then check Load this bookmark in Sidebar. Now, you can open that bookmark in Firefox's sidebar and keep on browsing other websites too.



Show Facebook Status Updates only to Specific People or Hide them from someone

Facebook gives you the option to show your status updates to everyone or only your friends. You can further optimize Facebook so that your status updates are shown only to people you wish. Go to Privacy Settings by clicking the Settings icon at the right of the top navigation bar and clicking Privacy Settings. Then, in the Who can see my stuff? section, click on "Who can see your future posts?". Then, customize who you wish to show your posts by clicking on the down arrow that appears next to the Post button on the non-functional status update box. You can also hide your statuses from specific people by adding their name in the Hide from These section under Custom settings. You can also individually change the audience of your posts. Go to the post whose audience you wish to change and choose a different audience by clicking on the globe icon (which denotes that the post is public).

Hide Facebook Status

Hide your past posts so that only your friends can see them

Now you can also customize your past posts so that only your friends can see your past activity. To do this, open Facebook Privacy Settings and under the "Limit the Audience for Past Posts" option, select "Limit Old Posts."

Tag people in Status Updates, Wall Posts, Comments or Text

To tag someone in text in a manner that a link is created to the person's profile, use the @ symbol. eg. If you wish to tag John Jamison in your comment write @ John Jamison without any spelling mistake. If the person is in your friend list, a link in blue will be automatically created to the person's profile and he would be "tagged".
Tag Statuses Text Comments
Facebook text tagging in action


Write Upside Down, In Bubbles or Inverted Mirror-like text on Facebook

You might have seen many people update their Facebook status saying that "this was the last time they bought a keyboard on eBay" or "they have finally learnt how to update Facebook statuses while doing a headstand" written upside down. Here is how you too can flip text like that and add much more cool effects. Just go to Upside Down Text, uncheck Backwards effect, enter your text and copy the inverted one from the inverted text column and paste it in your status update or chats. You can also write inverted mirror like text by un-checking the upside down effect. To write in bubbles, click on the Bubble Ball text in the top Navigation bar.

e.g. Mirror Effect:- !rorrim a ni deppart ma I !oN hO

e.g. Upside Down Effect:- ɯɐp ʞǝʎqoɐɹp¡

e.g Both Mirror and Upside Down Effect:- ¡poפ ǝɯ dlǝH ˙ʎzɐɹɔ ƃuıʇʇǝƃ sı uıɐɹq ʎW

e.g. Text in Bubbles:- Ⓞⓗ Ⓝⓞ! Ⓜⓞⓡⓔ ⓑⓤⓑⓑⓛⓔⓢ


No comments: