How to Verify an Email Address?

How do you verify if a given email address is real or fake? Well an obvious solution is that you send a test mail to that email address and if your message doesn’t bounce, it is safe to assume* that the address is real.
[*] Some web domains may have configured a catch-all email address meaning that messages addressed to a non-existent mailbox will not be returned to the sender but in most cases, such email messages will bounce.

Ping an Email Address to Validate it!

When you send an email to someone, the message goes to an SMTP server which then looks for the MX (Mail Exchange) records of the email recipient’s domain.
For instance, when you send an email to hello@gmail.com, the mail server will try to find the MX records for the gmail.com domain. If the records exist, the next step would be to determine whether that email username (hello in our example) is present or not.
Using a similar logic, we can verify an email address from the computer without actually sending a test message. Here’s how:
Let say that we want to verify if the address billgates@gmail.com exists or not?
Step 1. Enable telnet in Windows. Or if you already have the PuTTY utility, skip this step.
Step 2. Open the command prompt and type the following command:

nslookup –type=mx gmail.com

This command will extract and list the MX records of a domain as shown below. Replace gmail.com with the domain of the email address that you are trying to verify.

gmail.com MX preference=30, exchanger = alt3.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com
gmail.com MX preference=20, exchanger = alt2.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com
gmail.com MX preference=5,  exchanger = gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com
gmail.com MX preference=10, exchanger = alt1.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com
gmail.com MX preference=40, exchanger = alt4.gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com

Step 3. As you may have noticed, it is not uncommon to have multiple MX records for a domain. Pick any one of the servers mentioned in the MX records, may be the one with the lowest preference level number (in our example, gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com), and “pretend” to send a test message to that server from you computer.
For that, go to command prompt window and type the following commands in the listed sequence:
3a: Connect to the mail server:

telnet gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com 25

3b: Say hello to the other server

HELO

3c: Identify yourself with some fictitious email address

mail from:<labnol@labnol.org>

3d: Type the recipient’s email address that you are trying to verify:

rcpt to:<billgates@gmail.com>

The server response for ‘rcpt to’ command will give you an idea whether an email address is valid or not. You’ll get an “OK” if the address exists else a 550 error like:

• abc@gmail.com -- The email account that you tried to reach does not exist.
• support@gmail.com -- The email account that you tried to reach is disabled.

That’s it! If the address is valid, you may perform reverse email search to find the person behind the address. And if you get stuck somewhere, this step-by-step video should help:

How to Make your Windows Start-up Faster

Does your Windows computer take really long to start-up?



Well, you are not alone with this problem but fortunately, with some minor tweaks, you can get your sluggish Windows to start much faster without re-installing Windows or adding any new hardware.



The logic is fairly simple. Your computer loads quite a few software programs and services during start-up (look at all the icons in your Windows System tray). If you can trim this list, your computer’s boot time will decrease.



I have been testing a free utility called Soluto and it helped reduce the start-up time of my Windows computer from 3.15 minutes to around 1.25 minutes. All this with a few easy clicks and without confusing the user with any technical jargon.







After you install Soluto, it sorts your start-up programs list into three categories:

• No-brainer – remove these programs from start-up with giving a second thought.
• Potentially removable – another list of start-up programs that may also be removed provided you know what these programs do.
• Required – Certain programs and services are required to run Windows properly and therefore should not be removed.

Depending upon the software app, you may then either choose “Pause” to completely remove that app from the start-up queue or choose “Delay” when you want the app to run automatically but not immediately at start-up. Soluto will launch the “delayed” app once the boot up is over and your system is idle.



You can also hover the mouse over any program name and Soluto will display the number of seconds that the app adds to the start-up time. And don’t bother about making mistakes because Soluto has a useful “Undo all” feature that will restore the start-up list to the original state with a click.







Once you are done classifying your start-up programs list, reboot the computer and you should notice a difference between the start-up time.



Where to download Soluto?



The official site for Soluto is soluto.com but in order to download the program, you should head over to mysoluto.com.



Alternatives to Soluto



If you are tech-savvy, you can also use a utility like Sysinternals Autoruns to manually prevent all the non-essential Windows processes and programs from running at start-up.



Just uncheck all the Autorun entries and Services that you don’t wish to load at startup and reboot your system. You’ll however need a separate program to get the “delay” feature which is so handy in Solute.

Increase DSL Speed

Increase DSL Speed

This tweak is for broad band cable connections on stand alone machines with WinXP professional version - might work on Home version also. It will probably work with networked machines as well but I haven't tried it in that configuration. This is for windows XP only, it does not work on win2000.
I use 3 Com cards so I don't know how it works on others at this point. It does not involve editing the registry. This tweak assumes that you have let WinXP create a connection on install for your cable modem/NIC combination and that your connection has tcp/ip - QoS - file and print sharing - and client for Microsoft networks , only, installed. It also assumes that WinXP will detect your NIC and has in-box drivers for it. If it doesn't do not try this.
In the "My Network Places" properties (right click on the desktop icon and choose properties), highlight the connection then at the menu bar choose "Advanced" then "Advanced Settings". Uncheck the two boxes in the lower half for the bindings for File and Printer sharing and Client for MS networks. Click OK 

1. From the windows XP cd in the support directory from the support cab, extract the file netcap.exe and place it in a directory on your hard drive or even in the root of your C:\ drive.  

2. next, open up a command prompt window and change directories to where you put netcap.exe. then type "netcap/?". It will list some commands that are available for netcap and a netmon driver will be installed. At the bottom you will see your adapters. You should see two of them if using a 3Com card. One will be for LAN and the other will be for WAN something or other. 
3. Next type "netcap/Remove". This will remove the netmon driver.

4. Open up control panel / system / dev man and look at your network adapters. You should now see two of them and one will have a yellow ! on it. Right click on the one without the yellow ! and choose uninstall. YES! you are uninstalling your network adapter, continue with the uninstall. Do not restart yet.  
5. Check your connection properties to make sure that no connection exists. If you get a wizard just cancel out of it.  
6. Now re-start the machine.
7. After re-start go to your connection properties again and you should have a new connection called "Local area connection 2". Highlight the connection then at the menu bar choose "Advanced" then "Advanced Settings". Uncheck the two boxes in the lower half for the bindings for File and Printer sharing and Client for MS networks. Click OK.  
8. Choose connection properties and uncheck the "QOS" box
9. Re-start the machine
10. After restart enjoy the increased responsiveness of IE, faster page loading, and a connection speed boost.

Why it works, it seems that windows XP, in its zeal to make sure every base is covered installs two separate versions of the NIC card. One you do not normally see in any properties. Remember the "netcap/?" command above showing two different adapters? The LAN one is the one you see. The invisible one loads everything down and its like your running two separate cards together, sharing a connection among two cards, this method breaks this "bond" and allows the NIC to run un-hindered.

Driver Rollback Feature

Windows XP instability is often caused by corrupt or out-of-date drivers. I know I like to keep my system with updated drivers whenever possible. But, there are times when updating the driver you find yourself in a blue screen. Well, this situation used to cause all kinds of problems for users until the Driver Rollback Feature came. Now, if you are faced with a driver that fails to update, or became corrupt, you can roll back to the previous driver version very easily. Here's how: Be sure to log in as Administrator. Go to Start>> Control Panel>> Administrative Tools Double click "Computer Management" Double click "Device Manager" Click the plus (+) symbol next to the device title to expose the device you were trying to update Now, right click on the device and select "Properties" Click the "Driver" tab Select the "Roll Back driver" button Follow the on-screen instructions to complete this task.

Disable certain services

Many of the services provided in Windows XP are not needed and in many cases can either slow down your system or add certain security risks. Below, is a list of services that you can disable to create a safer and faster system. You can access the listed services through the Computer management Console:

Go to Start>> Right click My Computer>> Select 'Manage' from the resulting menu. Then, open Services and Applications and click Services. Now the right pane will have all of the services listed in alphabetical order. To disable a service, right click the entry and select "Stop" from the resulting menu. If it is already disabled, then "Stop" will be greyed out.

Note: Disable only if your computer is not networked and you are the sole user.

Services:

Alerter
Clipbook
Computer Browser
Fast User Switching
Human Interface Access Devices
Indexing Service (slows the hard drive)
Messenger
Net Logon (not necessary unless networked on a domain)
Netmeeting Remote Desktop Sharing (disabled for added security)
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager (disabled for added security)
Remote Procedure Call Locator
Remote Registry (disabled for added security)
Routing & Remote Access (disabled for added security)
Server
SSDP Discovery Service (this leaves TCP Port 5000 open)
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Telnet (disabled for added security)
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Upload Manager
Windows Time
Wireless Zero Configuration (for wireless networks)
Workstation

Clearing the Page File on Shutdown

To save on Random Access Memory (RAM), Windows uses your Page File as a sort of cache. This can slow down your PC's overall performance. To remedy this situation, Windows XP has an option that allows users to clear the Page File when you shut down Windows. While this tweak tends to lengthen the shutdown time, it does have its performance benefits.

To set the computer to clear the page file without directly editing the registry is:

1. Click on the Start button
2. Go to the Control Panel
3. Administrative Tools
4. Local Security Policy
5. Local Policies
6. Click on Security Options
7. Right hand menu - right click on "Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile"
8. Select "Enable"
9. Reboot

To clear the page file using the Windows Registry:

Be sure to make a backup copy of your registry prior to making any changes to it.

1. Go to Start>> Run. Type in: regedit [Enter] or click OK.
2. Navigate to the following registry key:
   
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management
   
3. Click once on the entry titled: "Memory Management". Its contents will now appear in the right pane.
4. In the right pane. Locate an entry titled: "ClearPageFileAtShutdown". Right click this entry and select "Modify".
5. Chance the Value to "1". This will enable this feature.
6. Exit the Windows Registry and reboot your system when prompted.

Programs Running at System StartupPrograms Running at System Startup

When people write programs, most of them design their product to automatically launch at the systems startup. Is it really necessary for these programs to be running? Only key programs such as anti-virus and firewall programs need to be running at system startup. The other programs should be re-configured to start only when needed.

Having a lot of programs running at once is very taxing to your system resources and if enough of them are running can cause errors in your operating system, usually memory type errors. Another noticeable problem is a slowing in your boot process. Do you have a computer that is taking a couple of minutes to boot up?

To stop these programs from running at startup, locate the program and re-configure it to NOT run at startup. This is usually found in the programs Properties. Or alternately, you can use Microsoft's System Configuration Utility to accomplish this. Here's how:

1. Go to Start>> Run. Type in: msconfig [Enter] or Click OK.
2. Click the Startup tab.
3. Uncheck any program listed here to stop it from running.
4. Exit the Configuration Utility and reboot your system.

Note: Make sure that you do not disable your anti-virus or firewall software.

Depending on how many you had to uncheck, you could notice much better performance from your operating system.