Raldz.Dot.Tech

The Reality About Switching to Linux

2007-02-28T13:03:00.000-08:00

The experience of moving to Linux

Alan Pope made an interesting article about his experience in using Linux, particularly Ubuntu. Being a MEPIS Linux user, I found his article applicable to the Linux community in general. With all permissions granted from Alan, I have re-written the article to make it a general Linux experience. What's your experience?

01. People will ridicule you for using Linux

It's my hobby to download CD ISOs of different Linux distributions, I always have a readily burned copy in the pocket of my laptop bag ready to give away to someone interested, but always having negative feedbacks because Linux doesn't have great commercial support. Sometimes I demonstrate using my laptop only to be laughed at. But after demonstrating 3D effects such as Compiz and Beryl, then I get their attention. That's a good start. Some accepted the challenge to try, and the respect towards Linux starts there.

02. You'll feel a part of a rapidly growing community

With the huge number of people jumping on the Linux and Open Source bandwagon, the community of people willing to support and help out with Linux grows every day.

03. People will help you for no reason

I have a lot of Linux CDs, at some point I got a lot of FREE K/Ubuntu CDs and gave it away to customers at our internet cafe in the Philippines. One guy asked "Why are you doing this?" to which I replied "Because I want you to try Free software". I am not alone in this, many people around the world give up their own time to help others learn how to use Linux and get the best from it.

04. Fewer people will try to attack you

Technically it's mostly not people that attack, but often compromised Windows computers instructed by nasty people to do their bidding. Free Linux distributions ship with no externally accessible services enabled by default, and probably one of the best free firewalls available out of the box. That is combined with regular free updates to keep my system up to date. I rarely worry about the nasty people and compromised computers out there, and wont have to install 3rd party applications to secure my machine, and certainly wont lose sleep over it.

05. You'll be able to ignore most viruses

I don't run an AntiVirus program on any of my Linux box. There I said it. Arguably, due to the lower market share of Linux on the desktop, and the robust and well thought out security model on Linux, there are almost no viruses to speak of which could successfully compromise a well maintained Linux desktop. Viruses just don't exist in the same volumes as they do for Windows.

06. You'll have some compatibility problems

There are free office applications available immediately after a Linux distribution is installed which can read and write many popular office formats such as Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and Powerpoint presentations. There may be some incompatibilities with complex documents incorporating rich content or documents which include complicated macros, but these are few and far between. Most often there may be slight formatting issues, but for the most part, documents open just fine.

07. The Internet will mostly be the same

Whether you browse the web, chat online, watch videos, download music or talk to friends the internet experience will be much the same as it is on Windows. The applications you use may have different names, and may look different or be missing some features, but for the most part, most people won't notice a difference.

08. You'll be continually amazed at the fit and finish

With projects such as Beryl and Compiz, Cairo and Tango, the look and feel of the Ubuntu desktop is getting better with every release. SimplyMEPIS has incorporated the 3D desktop on the 6.5 Beta 7 release, and is vastly more customisable in look and feel to either Windows or Mac OS X. With numerous Desktop Environments and Window Managers to choose from, many screensavers & themes and desktop tools & utilities, a Linux distribution can look every bit as good, if not better than, the competition.

09. You'll have a "damn it!" moments

Linux is not Windows or Mac OS X, things are different. Get used to that. Sometimes a hardware vendor won't ship a driver for their product, or a video card may not work as expected, or a popular application on Windows just isn't available for Linux. Things are getting better, many Linux distribution such as Ubuntu, MEPIS, and PCLOS has better hardware support out of the box than either Windows or Mac OS X, video drivers are constantly under improvement and applications are being written and ported all the time by the community. The "damn it!" moments are becoming less and less in my house.

10. You'll have some "ah-ha" moments

It's not difficult to be amazed how easy things are in Linux. For example to install an application there is often only one place one needs to go - the package manager. Generally it's a simple matter of choosing the software from a list. The package manager will download it, and any dependent packages or libraries and install it all. putting a handy icon in the menu for it. For removing packages it's just as easy as installing and can remove the dependent packages too.

11. Keyboard shortcuts will drive you nuts

Some keyboards have extra keys with pretty little pictures on them. Most work, some may not, but might in the future. For those that do work it's possible to configure them to do many common tasks like open email, start the calculator, turn the volume up and down or even put a picture of a teddy bear on the screen if that's what you want.

12. You'll regret your purchase - of Windows, but you'll get over it

Most computers these days come with Windows pre-installed, and paid for. Once Linux is installed, either by dual-booting or completely removing Windows, you will regret that money you paid for Windows. It didn't take me long to remove Windows completely from the first computer I dual-booted. Maybe you could call up your hardware vendor and try and get a refund. Maybe you could put that money towards a new toy for yourself, or even donate it to a good cause.

13. You'll be amazed at how much there is to modify

If you want to. Some people use the system as it is, out of the box. Others like to tweak their system to make it look "just so". With Linux you can do either. The system is installed, ready to go, but has many hundreds of options for tweaking this, optimizing that, tuning the other, to allow you to tailor your computer to work the way you want it to. Pretty much everything is fair game for modification in Linux, which can make Windows and Mac OS X look positively rigid in the flexibility.

14. You'll actually rarely have to reboot

With fantastic stability and tools like suspend and hibernate, I can go for very long periods without actually needing to reboot my Linux computers. Even after installing additional software or updating existing packages, it's rare that a physical reboot is required. There's almost nothing that actually requires a reboot of the computer. If an update does require a reboot of course it will notify me, but I can usually safely dismiss and ignore it for days with no adverse effects.

15. There's so much stuff for Linux

Linux has many thousands of applications and utilities available to install for free, immediately after installation. You might want to use your PC as a server, maybe as a telephony system, how about a webcam-based security system or a print server, maybe an internet kiosk or perhaps a child's first computer. Maybe you want to learn how to write programs, or research your family tree. Whatever it is you want to do with your Linux computer, chances are there is set of packages you can install and configure to do it, and chances are it's free too.

16. You'll spend less money than with Windows

Linux is free. It can be downloaded for free and burned to disc for the cost of a blank CD-R. The applictions in the repository are also free to download. Everyone has the freedom to make copies of Linux software and give away or even sell the copies to other people. You are allowed to modify the software if you want, and use it in pretty much whatever way you want. The freedom you get with Linux isn't just about money, but it certainly helps that it's free of cost.

17. You'll generally be able to re-use old hardware

Some Linux distributions like Ubuntu and MEPIS needs about 256MB of RAM and a 500MHz CPU but can run in less and runs better in more. There are alternatives for computers with slow processors or low amounts of memory. Many people don't discard old computers, but re-use them for other purposes, or hand them down to other members of the family. With Linux the useful life of a computer can be much longer than originally envisaged. Of course it's fine to wipe and reinstall Linux to sell on a computer if you want to make some cash out of your old hardware.

18. Random strangers will stop to talk about Linux

I have been stopped on more than one occasion and been asked about Linux. People come over to look at my laptop, they want to see what Linux looks like. The best bit is I can dig in my bag and give them a free CD so they can try it for themselves.

19. You'll get more things done

Linux has so much great software which is easily installable and quick to pick up that people are often amazed how quickly and easily they transition over from other platforms.

20. The hardware manufacturer is largely irrelevant

Linux can be installed on many different hardware platforms. From big-name laptop hardware like Dell and Apple, to independent store beige-boxes, to home-made desktop computers and enterprise servers, Linux can be installed on most computers around today.

21. Everyone is griping about market share

Linux works for me, it works for a lot of other people too. So it's not the number one desktop platform measured by number of installs, but for me it's the number one desktop in my house and business.

22. You'll play pretty well on a Windows network

I can print to Windows shared printers, access files on Windows file shares and of course open Microsoft Office documents under Linux.

Special thanks to Alan Pope for the reference.

How Windows Decided To Destroy My Linux Files

2007-02-18T09:45:00.000-08:00

I have been using Linux (Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and MEPIS) for my daily tasks and have Windows on a separate partition for dual boot just in case I may need it. Since I'm using a laptop 90 percent of the time I've decided that I need a USB external drive. I formatted my external drive using EXT3 (Linux File System) for reliability because I've tried using FAT32 before but for unknown reason (to me) the partition is always destroyed after a few mounts. I also tried using NTFS, but at some point I need to defrag the hard disk to improve file access. So, EXT3 would be the right file system for my drive because of its reliability and less maintenance (or none at all).

I have no problem with my external drive, been using it for months flawlessly, until I needed to use Windows. I need to access my files in the external drive using Windows, so I installed FS-Driver to access my files in the EXT3 file system. Read and write access works fine using the FS-Driver then Windows updated itself and told me that it needs to reboot. Ok, fine, it would only take a minute... so reboot it goes.

While Windows was booting, it decided that it needs to scan the Linux external drive (I did not unplug the external drive because this wasn't a problem in Linux at all). It was too late to cancel, so I let it scan the drive. It scanned so fast that I couldn't read what it was doing. After figuring it out that it could be deleting my files in the Linux drive, I turned the laptop off and unplugged the drive. After booting Windows and plugging the drive again, half of my files in the Linux drive was gone. Now this is another reason for me not to trust Windows anymore! It's a good thing that I always have backups. See the video below on how it happened.

Video: How to Install SimplyMEPIS 6.0

2006-10-06T23:10:00.000-07:00

Here is a video courtesy of "Richard" on how to install SimplyMEPIS [MEPIS 6.0]

How To Turn Your Mobile Phone into a Web Server

2006-08-31T23:38:00.000-07:00

By: Gerald Cortez

Mobile phones has come a long way, from those bulky analog car phones, to state of the art sleek multimedia enabled phones that doubles as a web browser, video cam, digital cam, and who knows what else will come. Mobile phones has become fast and powerful in terms of processing, that it is already comparable to web servers in the late 80's, but with high capacity storage of up to 4GB in multimedia phones.

Nokia has open some of its codes at Open Source Nokia to let developers produce software that will run in Symbian OS. This step has triggered lots of new concepts that may be later integrated in future models of Nokia Phones. Such concept is the Mobile Web Server.

Although the concept of a mobile phone web server has no intended use yet, this step by step guide demonstrates the capability of Apache Httpd, and 3G/GPRS technology to run a mobile web server.

What Do We Need?

> At least a Nokia 6630 (or any higher model with Symbian 60 OS) phone, I used a Nokia 6680 phone
> A network/mobile provider with GPRS or better yet, a 3G network
> Phyton for Symbian 60 OS that can be downloaded here
> Windows 2000 or XP
> Nokia PC Suite which is available here
> Data cable to connect your mobile phone to your PC
> The Racoon client bundled with the ported Apache Httpd from here
> A test account at openlaboratory.net to bypass network firewall that can be requested from here

What's next?

> Wait for an email confirmation on your requested account..
> If you already have an account, install the Phyton for Symbian 60 preferably in the memory card.
> Install the "racoon.sis" to your memory card
> Since we are using the memory card, install "httpdconf_mc.sis" (automatically to memory card).. otherwise, if phone memory is being used, then use "httpdconf_pm.sis" instead.
> Install webcontent.sis to memory card, too (location should be same as with the previous 2 sis file)

Phyton and Racoon installed

Setting Up The Web Content

You may now grab your favorite HTML editor to create your index file. You may want to create a link to a pre-made webpages named "concepts.html" (demonstrates functionalities such as webcam/remote camera capabilties), "leavemessage.html" and "sendim.html" both of which are messaging capabilties. After creating your "index.html" file, you may then save it at "E:\apache\htdocs\" folder together with the other pages. Use your Nokia PC suite to transfer files between your PC and phone. You may also use a memory card reader, just remember where the apache folder is located.

The apache folder in the memory card

After finishing your index file, you may want to configure "httpd.conf" to enable browsing the root folder, or password protecting your directories, etc. You may add a username and password by editing the "users" file. These two files are located at "E:\apache\conf\" folder.

the configuration files

Setting Up The Web Server

After all your web content are finished, you may now then configure your web server settings. Use your account that you requested from openlaboratory.net to input your indetifier and password for the gateway. After setting up the gateway, you are now ready to connect to the internet and run your web server.

configuring the web server

selecting the access point

web server running

browsing the phone's memory card from a desktop PC via internet

monitoring the server

send an instant message to phone

the website message when the server is off

SimplyMEPIS 6.0: Linux Desktop on Steroids!

2006-07-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

By: Gerald Cortez

It's been three days since I've been playing around with the final release of SimplyMEPIS 6.0, and the words that come into my mind after the oohss, and aahhs is simply: “Linux Desktop on Steroids!” Although this is a review of the much awaited release of MEPIS 6.0, I decided to give it a title that reflects my impressions of the latest release from MEPIS.

After downloading the ISO from the first FTP mirror that has it, I quickly burned it into a CD and give it a test run on VMWare Workstation as a LiveCD. I was surprised that even though it is on a virtual machine, it runs and responds fast. This pushed me to install it on one of my work machines and give it further testing before making my final impressions.

SimplyMEPIS 6.0 has made a big leap this past few months by using the Ubuntu Repositories. At first I was skeptical of this move because previously I had several hardware issues with Ubuntu and this gave me a thought that MEPIS will just be another Ubuntu flavor that might give me hardware problems if I use it. I was absolutely wrong! It is just the repositories that were used, but under the hood it still the solid MEPIS that was known to work out of the box.

MEPIS 6.0 Highlights

Live CD:

Having the Live CD functionality is a must for new users or even advanced administrators. The Live CD functionality of MEPIS is very useful to first test the hardware that you plan to install MEPIS on. On the other hand, advanced administrators may use the Live CD functionality to troubleshoot problem machines or retrieve data on faulty storage devices. If after testing your hardware and it works out fine, you may now then install MEPIS on your hard drive.

SimplyMEPIS 6.0 running from the Live CD

Installation:

In terms of installation, MEPIS is still the fastest Linux to install that I have ever used in my machines. Installation is intuitive, for after running the Live CD, you can find an “Install” icon on the desktop. Clicking on this icon will install MEPIS on your hard drive. The process took around 15 minutes in my machine and was guided very nicely by the GUI installer from partitioning, to settings and configurations in order to run MEPIS successfully after the install.

Installing MEPIS 6.0

MEPIS Utilities:

Mepis Utilities is a tool under System Configurations that helps you setup/customize your hardware settings, network interface including WiFi and Wireless LAN, mouse, and graphic drivers. It also has section for maintenance. This Mepis Utility is one strong point of MEPIS. This is the first time that a Linux distro just let me choose and click my graphics driver then after a reboot, 3D acceleration is already enabled without a glitch (I did not touch the command line =) ).

MEPIS Utilities: Choose and Click driver installation

MEPIS System Tweaks:

My first thought when I saw this tool is that it will let me tweak settings such that it will speed up boot time, speed up internet, or something similar, but I was wrong. This MEPIS tool can be found under System Configurations. Although MEPIS System Utilities is useful as it lets you customize your computer identity, locale, and recover space, I still believe that it should have been put under MEPIS Utilities. The functionalities of this MEPIS tool is very few to give it a separate entity. But nevertheless, it's useful.

MEPIS System Tweaks

Hardware Support:

As what I expected, MEPIS is known to support lots of hardware, and my expectations of a problem free setup was fulfilled. All my hardware where detected including printer, scanner, webcam, network devices, USB devices, and bluetooth. As it was always known, hardware support is one strong point of MEPIS.

Printer Wizard

Detecting USB Device from Live CD

Safely Removing USB Device

Desktop Customization:

Linux, being open source, let's you customize your machine to an unlimited extent. Desktop Customization is one of my favorite things in MEPIS and same with other Linux distros. After customizing my desktop and loading it with applications, I'm surprised that it only used little RAM and is still fast compared to other distros. I have done some customization to make it look and behave like another distro that I use, and in comparison, MEPIS uses 115MB of RAM while the other distro uses 220MB of RAM. This is probably what separates MEPIS from the others... speed and efficiency.

System Configurations

My Desktop after Customizations

MEPIS running 3D Desktop

Automatix:

As if the good isn't good enough, we can use further tweaking and additional software by running the Automatix script. Automatic lets you add additional essential drivers, codecs, and software the easy way. It's lets you choose from its list all the package the you want to add to your default installation. But even without Automatix, we can still add these packages using apt-get and synaptic, Automatix just made it easier.

Running Automatix in MEPIS

Google Earth installed by Automatix

General Impressions

Installation:

So far, installation is very easy. Recommended if you are new to Linux. Installation will just take from 10 to 30 minutes depending on your machine.

Application Installation:

Different distros use different package managers to install additional applications. Synaptic Package Manager is one of the most widely and easiest to use among package managers. MEPIS having Synaptic is a strong point as it is very intuitive, with access to over 19,000 packages, adding applications is as simple as choose, click, and apply.

Synaptic Package Manager in MEPIS

OpenOffice in MEPIS

Ease of Use:

Since I have been able to install, customize, tweak, and use MEPIS without (yet) touching the command line, I can say that even new users who just knows the basics of computers will not have a hard time getting accustomed with MEPIS. There are a lot of tasks that I do using the command line as it seems to be easier for me, however, those commands/tasks that I do can be done using the GUI of MEPIS. If you are a point and click person, MEPIS is for you.

Maintenance:

There are a lot of ways to maintain a Linux machine depending on how you use it, however, basic maintenance in MEPIS was made easier using the MEPIS Utilities and MEPIS System Tweaks. However, there are a lot of applications available from the repositories that you may want to add in case of other tasks that you want to achieve. Looking for an application is as easy as searching by entering keywords like: Task Scheduler, Back up tool, Firewall, etc..

Multimedia Capabilities:

MEPIS is known to support various multimedia format out of the box, but this release of MEPIS lacks some multimedia capabilities due to license restrictions. But this is not a problem at all, at the panel on the bottom of your desktop, you will see APT Notify, a yellow icon that tells you if an upgrade or update is available. This icon catches my attention because after the default installation, it alerted me that an update is available. Clicking the icon and doing a quick update downloads the needed multimedia packages and hence, a full multimedia support. MEPIS has live again to users' expectations.

Amarok Playing My MP3s over the network

Documentation:

For new users, this is one of the most important part of a Linux distro, looking for help should not be a burden when all you want to do is watch a DVD, play MP3s, edit documents, surf the web, and some other simple tasks that are commonly done by an ordinary user. One of the first thing that you will see when you boot to your default setup is the blue icon on the desktop that says “MEPIS Help.” This icon will open the MEPIS website wherein you may find links to the How To's, the MEPIS User Guide, and links to other Help pages. Although there maybe some advance part that needs further explanations, you could always turn to the forums for added support.

Support:

Support is not a problem at all in MEPIS, people at mepislovers.com forum are very friendly and helpful to users of MEPIS, or if you want a live help, you could always turn to the IRC channel #mepis in server “irc.freenode.net”.

Price:

Downloading the CD ISO from public mirror sites is absolutely free of charge, as in FREE. But if you want the pressed CD delivered right in to your doorsteps, the cost is around US$ 15.00.

Overall Impression:

I am totally amazed at how fast and efficient this distro is. As what I stated from the title, it's like Linux Desktop on Steroids! So far, a lot of improvements has been made since SimplyMEPIS 3.4-3, and MEPIS has live again to its slogan: “an OS for the 21^st Century”. Great job MEPIS Team!

Basic Things To Know When Switching to a Linux Desktop

SimplyMEPIS: Linux Ready for the Desktop

Free Linux CDs (not Ubuntu)

2006-07-13T23:01:00.000-07:00

TheLinuxStore.ca has started a new project. A project that will give away free Linux disks of your favorite distribution (SUSE, Fedora, Mandriva, Gentoo, Debian, Knoppix). Have a look, give feedback, donate to the cause, request a disk.

read more...

Basic Things to Know When Switching to a Linux Desktop

2006-06-09T05:42:00.000-07:00

By: Gerald Cortez

Recent releases of Linux Distributions totally amazes me. What was once an OS that is easy to use and configure, has gotten even better. For me, one of the easiest distribution that I had my hands on is MEPIS (3.4-3, with upcoming 6.0 release on mid June 2006). Of course there are other Linux distributions that are great in their own sense. Ubuntu, Kubuntu, SUSE, and Kanotix are among my favorites. As of now, I use MEPIS, Ubuntu, and SUSE on three different machines, and just couldn't make up my mind which distribution should I make my home.

I am an advocate of Open Source, and try to promote Linux to friends, colleagues, and sometimes to total strangers. But even though Linux has made its way to the mainstream and wouldn't make an intermediate computer user sweat, there are always bumps on the road. New users get stuck on their new Linux machines trying to figure out what went wrong, or as a better way to say it.. what they didn't know. From different questions that I get from new users, I have come up to a collection of the basic things that a new Linux user must know.

Distributions

Open Source is all about freedom, and when it comes to Linux Distributions, you have more than a hundred choices. This diversity in distros is due to the unlimited customizations one could do with his own Linux and Open Source applications. To play safe, as a new Linux user, you may want to limit your choice to the top 5 or even top 10 distributions listed at distowatch.com. To help you make your choice, I suggest to try first the single CD distributions before trying those 3 to 5 CD distributions. Single CD distros includes Ubuntu, Kubuntu, MEPIS, Kanotix, and PCLinuxOS.

Live CD

A Live CD is a fully operational Linux OS and Applications packed in one CD ready to use. You just have to boot to the CD and follow some instructions and you'll be up and running a Linux machine in less than 2 minutes. The Live CD runs all the applications from the CD so it doesn't touch or harm your hard drive. You have nothing to be afraid of even though you are new to Linux because no data will be lost from your computer. You may have to configure your BIOS so that the first boot device is your CD ROM. Most Live CD will require you to at least have a minimum of 128MB of RAM. Take note that running applications from a Live CD is a little slow compared to full install of a Linux distro. A popular Live CD is Knoppix, the Ubuntu and Kubuntu 6.06 version is a LiveCD and install CD in one, so is MEPIS, Kanotix, and PCLinuxOS.

Install CD

Almost all Linux install CD or live CD may be downloaded from their respective FTP sites or websites. These CD images are in ISO format and you need to burn them as ISO images. Some install CDs are also a Live CD all in one. Some popular install CDs are SUSE (5-CD plus 1 non-OSS CD), Mandriva (3-CDs), and Fedora (5-CDs). If you don't have a fast internet connection to download these large ISOs, you may opt for the single CD/LiveCD as mentioned earlier. The distributions mentioned in this article are known for their ease of use and installation and have tried it my self. Many new Linux users are quite skeptical when the command line interface is mentioned, but these distributions that I mentioned made me install and customize all my favorite stuffs without touching the command line.

Partitions

If you were born with MS Windows, you know that hard drive partitions are designated as “C” the first partition, “D” as the second, and so forth. If you have a second hard drive, the letters will just continue as “E”, “F”, and so on. But Linux has a more logical way in designating partitions. If you have a primary hard drive, it will be designated as “hda”, a second hard drive will be “hdb”, third will be “hdc” and so on. If you have two partitions in your primary drive, it will be “hda1” and “hda2”. If you have another two partitions in your secondary drive, it will be “hdb1” and “hdb2”. Another “special” partition in Linux is called the “swap” partition. This is equivalent to the “page file” of MS Windows.

Using Gparted to show how my Hard Drive is partitioned to accommodate both MS Windows and Linux.

Mount Points

In Linux, hard drive partitions are “mounted” so that it will be accessible inside Linux. Let us take for example the picture above, I have hda1 (FAT32), hda5 (FAT32), and hda6 (EXT3, some distros may have REISERFS as their format). My primary Linux partition is “hda6” this partition is mounted as the root partition or “/” when inside the Linux system. To have hda1 and hda5 accessible inside Linux, they are mounted as “/mnt/hda1” and “/mnt/hda5” respectively. But this shouldn't be a big trouble, as these drives can be seen under “Places” or “My Computer” inside a Linux desktop environment. If you wish to go full time Linux and have another partition formated as “EXT3” or “REISERFS” you may wish to mount those drives or partitions differently, like “/home/archives” or “/home/mp3s” or any other way you want. You may notice that I use “/home” as the base, this is because the /home partition is where all your documents and personal settings are located, it is equivalent to Window's “Document and Settings”. If you want to frequently upgrade your distro, you may want to put your “/home” on a separate partition, this is to preserve all your personal files when you need to reformat the root “/” partition when doing a new install of a distribution. From my previous example, if I have my root at hda6, I may want to separate my /home and create another partition, let us say hda8 and mount it as my /home.

Desktop Environments

There are two popular desktop environments in Linux, these are KDE and GNOME, although there are other desktop managers like XCFE and FLUXBOX, I recommend KDE or GNOME for a new Linux user. These desktop managers are what we call the graphical interface where you may access all your applications, tools, and configurations, so that you may not have to touch the command line when doing a task. I like the Linux desktop managers compared to MS Window's Explorer as it is more organized, fast, stable, and aesthetically pleasing. And yes, you may personalize your desktop to a great extent that it would be very uniquely yours.

My GNOME Desktop in Ubuntu 6.06

My KDE desktop in SUSE 10.1

Networking

Most new Linux users may find themselves buried in a network of Windows computers, this will not be a problem at all. There are two basic packages that you need to remember in order for your Linux computer to interact with Windows computers along a network, these are the SAMBA Server and Client. The SAMBA server lets you share your Linux files to MS Windows Clients, while the SAMBA client lets you access files from MS Windows Servers. If you have a DHCP server in your network (most small networks use routers as their DHCP server) and you have SAMBA server/client, then your settings in order for your Linux machine to be connected in the Windows network is configured automatically. After this, sharing your file will be as easy as right-clicking a folder and click “share”.

My Linux Desktop browsing the Windows Network

Printing

As of this writing, Linux supports already a vast array of printers, even though the Printer Vendor doesn't provide a Linux driver, chances are, it is already inside the Linux driver database, it is as easy as connecting your printer to your computer and just follow a few clicks and you're ready to use it. If you are still anxious if your printer is supported or not, you may want to visit LinuxPrinting.org to check if your printer model is already in the database. As for the case of printing to a Windows shared printer, all you have to do is use the SAMBA share settings for printers. It is included in the choices of type of networked printers when doing an add printer setup.

My Linux desktop prints over a Windows Shared HP-1020 printer

Package Managers

Maybe you will ask, where could I get all the extra applications that I need? Most major Linux distributions have their Package Managers pre-installed. This so called package managers can have up to 18,000 applications in their list, all you need is an internet connection or the installation CDs in order to install the applications that you need. It is as simple as searching the package manager either by name or description to find the application that you need. Let us say you searched for “image editor” and your search result may have applications like “Gimp”, “Xara”, “Krita”, and other apps that have image editing capabilities. Just cue your search result for installation and confirm the installation, then you're all set. One of the most popular package manager is Synaptic, many distributions like Ubuntu, Kubuntu, MEPIS, and PCLinuxOS uses Synaptic as the package manager. Although there are other managers like Yast for SUSE, they all play basically the same purpose.

Basic Add-Remove Program for Ubuntu 6.06

Synaptic Package Manager with over 18,800 available packages

Repositories

After installing your Linux and then you wish to add other applications, you may notice that there are only a few choices of applications to add, let us say 10,000 packages only. These packages are in the “main” repository, or the main source from the ftp or http servers that are supported by your distribution, however, you may add other repositories in order to increase your choices of applications, these repositories are what we call as supported by the “community.” Distributions like Ubuntu and MEPIS have a choice of repositories already included under the “settings” of Synaptic, all you have to do is just mark the repositories that you wish to add in order to increase your package lists. And believe me, think of a task that you wish to accomplish, and chances are, there is a corresponding package in the repositories that will suit that task. And it's free. Yes, as in free beer!

Where Do I Get Further Help?

Most new Linux users are afraid because of the notion that they don't know where to get help if ever there is a problem. That shouldn't be a problem at all, just go to the forums of your respective Linux Distribution to post your questions and you'll be surprised to have answers within minutes. You may find links to official forums from the websites of the Linux distribution of your choice. Still not satisfied? You want instant answers? Then the official IRC channel of your distro is the place to ask questions. These channels are located at the “irc.freenode.net” servers and all you have to do is join the channel of your Linux distribution. Example: #mepis, #ubuntu, and #suse. You'll be surpirsed how friendly the people are at those channels. You will get instant answers for your problem. Now, all of these, you will get.. FREE of charge! Yes, as in free beer! Cheers!

More Screenshots:

My MP3 Files Being played from a Windows Shared Folder Accros the netowrk

OpenOffice.org Writer, Word Processor

Browsing the root partition of Linux

EasyLinux Fedora Frog: Fedora Core 5 for the Desktop

2006-04-18T02:45:00.000-07:00

At last, EasyLinux has a tool that will make Fedora Core 5 up and running for the desktop. Raivis Dejus has created this tool called Fedora Frog. Fedora Frog is a GUI tool that will install all the needed applications, plugins, and codecs to make your Fedora Core 5 a power desktop computer.

Fedora Frog can do the following:

Install extra repositories [RPMForge]

Note: Not all repositories are mutually compatible.

Install GUI frontend for yum [yumex]
Install commonly needed multimedia codecs
Install DVD playback capability
Install Java JRE and its plugin for Firefox

Note: You will have to accept Sun's licence

Install Macromedia Flash plugin for Firefox

Note: You need to restart Firefox after installation

Install extra fonts (including msttcorefonts)
Install graphics drivers for nVidia and ATI cards

Note: You should restart your computer after the installation

Install Gnome Configuration Editor
Install numlockx to turn on NumLock on startup
Set up Gnome to open System Monitor every time you push Alt-Ctrl-Del
Disable CD blocking in CD-ROM
Set up Nautilus to open new folders in the same window
Install rar archiver
Install Adobe PDF reader

Note: This is not necessery to read PDF documents, you can read them using Evince too.

Install Gwenview and digiKam imageviewers
Install XMMS (analog of Winamp)
Install amaroK media player
Install stream directory browser Streamtuner
Install CD ripper Grip
Install Xine, VLC, Mplayer multimedia players
Install RealPlayer 10
Install Skype
Install Thunderbird e-mail client
Install Liferea RSS reader
Install Opera web browser
Install CD/DVD burning utility K3b
Install FTP utility gFTP
Install File share utility DC++
Install P2P BitTorrent client Azureus
Install P2P eMule Client aMule
Install P2P Gnutella Client LimeWire
Install KDE Edutainment programms
Install Photo-realistic nightsky renderer Stellarium
Install Some additional games
Install Alacarte Gnome menu editor
Install Shortcut to browse files as root
Install Some desktop backgrounds, icons, themes and screensavers

Note: Try changing your desktop background and look in Theme Details of System -> Preferences -> Theme

Install fortune and make Gnome Fish-applet to use it

Note: It is recomended to run update before you run Fedora Frog

To install Fedora Frog run these commands in terminal [Applications -> Ststem Tools -> Terminal

============================================

wget -c http://easylinux.info/uploads/frog.tar.gz

tar zxvf frog.tar.gz -C ~

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To Run Fedora Frog:

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xterm -e ~/.frog/frog.run

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If you are using Fedora Core 4 use these commands to obtain Fedora Frog

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wget -c http://easylinux.info/uploads/frog-fc4.tar.gz
tar zxvf frog-fc4.tar.gz -C ~

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To Run Fedora Frog:

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xterm -e ~/.frog/frog.run

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Some Known Issues:

If you have problems with zenity try as root (su -)

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yum install zenity

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tar: C: Not found in archive

Try

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tar zxvf frog.tar.gz

xterm -e .frog/frog.run

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SimplyMEPIS: Linux Ready for the Desktop

2006-03-19T02:13:00.000-08:00

By: Gerald Cortez

I made this article in order to encourage those who haven't tried any Linux Distribution yet to get out of their comfort zone and experience the best, easy, and secure life with Linux.

The latest release of SimplyMEPIS is 3.4-3 released last February 9, 2006. MEPIS ranks number five at Distrowatch.com and is one of the most overlooked Linux distribution. Why overlooked? Well, from my arsenal of different Linux flavors, this distribution is yet the easiest that I found. From installation to its actual use, I never saw such distribution with so much versatility and it didn't let my fingers touch the command line. Well.. almost, because I did execute one command to update the packages using apt-get. But overall, this distro didn't make me sweat.

It was one lazy Saturday evening and I have nothing to do, so I tried visiting my favorite Linux websites, and MEPIS caught my eye at Distrowatch's ranks. It made me thought for a while, and since I have computers to spare and some extra time, I guess I should give MEPIS a little spin, and besides the next day is Sunday and I have a lot of time to play around with my new Linux flavor.

After a few oohhhs and ahhhhs while playing around with MEPIS, I just couldn't help myself but write an article about it's latest release.. and here is what I found:

The LiveCD

The CD-ISO which can be downloaded here, is consisted of a Live CD, an Install CD, and a Rescue CD all in one Disc. The Live CD functionality is great for demonstration purposes or to test for hardware compatibility before a user may install the system to their hard disk. If, after testing the Live CD and you would like to install MEPIS in your hard disk, you will find an INSTALL icon on the desktop. The MEPIS CD may also function as a Rescue CD, if, after a system crashes or your hard disk crashes (Windows or Linux), and you wish to rescue your files or the whole system itself, you may just boot to the CD to access your system or files. Not all Linux distro has this functionality, and it is great to have this all in one CD.

The default LiveCD interface

Installation

The installation took just 18 minutes on my machine running AMD Duron 850MHz with 128MB of RAM. When I reached the partition section, MEPIS launched Qparted, a program similar to Partition Magic in Windows in order to allocate partitions for the Linux installation. It is important to remember to allocate a swap partition for your MEPIS and have it formatted, because the installation procedure won't warn you if there is no swap partition allocated. After installation, I just removed the aquarium which is in the task panel by default. The default icon size in Konqueror (the file explorer) is a little bit too small, so I have to resize this to my preference. Overall customization just took me 5 minutes and the desktop is all set to go.

Using Qparted to partition the hard disk for MEPIS is easy.

The installation took around 18 minutes

The new clean look

Hardware Support

All my hardware where detected properly including the option to install nVidia and ATI graphics drivers. External drives and DVD drives were detected and mounted properly on the default installation. I tried installing MEPIS on different machines and the only trouble that I encounter is that the display won't work when you run the MEPIS LiveCD on a 14 inch monitor. My printer which is HP Laserjet 1020 was finally detected. Earlier Linux distribution like Ubuntu 5.10 and SUSE 10.0 could not install my printer drivers properly. And lastly, I could now use my webcam with MEPIS 3.4-3. My webcam doesn't work on distributions that I've tried previously.

Finally, a distro that recognizes my A4Tech Webcam

Networking

Connectivity is a must these days, even homes with multiple computers have their own local network. This is also important for me, and to find this very easy in MEPIS just made me shook my head. Everything I need including file sharing and Internet connection was configured properly by MEPIS. Wireless LAN detection was also properly configured, however, this may vary depending on your Wireless LAN card. So far, networking is a breeze in MEPIS.

Multimedia

MEPIS is known for having legacy multimedia codecs installed by default, which makes this features MEPIS' strong points when it comes to desktop computing. After installation, I opened my multimedia files from my Windows machine across the network, and MEPIS' default players just played my multimedia files without a glitch. This feature is what I was looking for from earlier Linux distributions, and MEPIS just answered my request.

My mp3s playing from a Windows shared folder.

Productivity Apps

Most of the commonly needed applications for productivity is already installed by default. Things you will need for documents, finances, Internet, communications, email, instant messengers, notes, photo editing, fax, scanning, and almost anything you think of as a common user is already there at default installation. This choices of applications makes MEPIS ready out of the box for home and small office usage.

Running Firefox

Additional Packages

One thing that makes MEPIS as one of the most flexible distribution is the fact that it's Debian. After installation, I decided to add a few more extra packages. I opened synaptic package manager and found that there is 1000+ available packages on the MEPIS default repository. As a power user, I want to add more repositories and found two unselected Debian repositories. By selecting this two and updating the cache of synaptic, I was able to access 17,000+ packages ready for download and installation. I installed my usual stuffs for webpage/site editing, Apache, MySQL, PHP, and other power user stuffs. This showed how flexible MEPIS is starting as just a plain Desktop computer, to an Enterprise like environment.

Synaptic downloading additional apps.

Maintenance

Since the repositories point to “etch” or the Debian package collection for testing, you could always upgrade your default packages to your liking. However, since the packages are in testing or beta mode, you can expect instability and may crash your system. So, to make sure that you have the latest stable package, you could always change “etch” to “sarge” or the stable Debian repository.

Going Further

As most common people new to Linux would want to do, you could play with your MEPIS box, upgrade a few packages like KDE 3.5, and discover how this would work for you. If there is any trouble that you might encounter, you could always consult forums like MEPISLOVERS.org and ask questions. Linux is supported by the community, and you could get instant support if you would just visit different forums dedicated to Linux.

Overall, I can say that MEPIS is a distribution of choice for the new Linux Desktop users. However, Linux distros continously improves and there are new releases waiting this April of 2006.

Philippines is one of the top Linux Ubuntu user

2006-02-06T23:01:00.000-08:00

Ubuntu Linux is one of the easiest Linux Distro ever released, with my first time to use it eight months ago, I didn't feel any pain in setting it up and using it, as a matter of fact one of my computer is already a full time Ubuntu machine.

This ease of use has become Ubuntu's major market advantage and has captured the heart of Filipinos. According to Canonical, the Philippines is one of the top shipping destination of free Ubuntu CDs. I personally agree with this because I have ordered and have given away 100 plus Ubuntu CDs just in San Pablo City, Philippines. And from my observation as I stroll around the city, I have seen computer shops using Ubuntu in their machines. This major shift towards Ubuntu was also caused by BSA's campaign together with the Philippines' local authorities to crack down the users and distributors of pirated software primarily Microsoft products. Now Microsoft is really losing its market share in the Philippines because of the introduction of Linux, and users are now gearing towards the easy to use Ubuntu.

Because the Philippines is one of the top Ubuntu user, Mark Shuttlewort, the president of Canonical decided to conduct a seminar in Manila last February 2, 2006 focusing on the Ubuntu operating system and how home users and small companies can utilize a free and very stable version of Linux. The seminar was a success and as an open source supporter, I just can't help but smile everytime I see or hear news how Linux and Open Source is gaining market share.

Windows: How To Crack Passwords

2006-02-06T20:41:00.000-08:00

By: Darren Miller

Cracking Passwords

One of the key components in performing a security assessment is the acquisition of user account information and cracking of the account password. There are many methods and tools that can be used to crack passwords, however, you must first retrieve the information to crack. And once again, there are many ways of acquiring the account information. This article will illustrate one method of acquiring user account information using a combination of social engineering and open source tools. We will then briefly go over a particular cracking method and tool.

Handing Over The Keys To The Kingdom

On one particular occasion, we were instructed by a client to do what ever it took, within legal means, to walk out of their building with the network user account information.

We were introduced to one of the Sr. Engineering staff as a consultant working on a new Anti-Virus solution. We asked the Engineer to show us around the server room and he happily did so. While we were talking, we asked him if he would mind if we ran a specialized virus checker on one of the Windows domain controllers, and he readily provided us with console access.

The disk we were using was labeled to look like it contained anti-virus tools. In reality, it contained a modified version of a program called "pwdump". The moment we ran the script, a bunch of information came up that indicated that their systems memory was clear of any known virus. What was really happening was all domain account information and the corresponding password hashes were being dumped to a file on the disk. We rapped up our tour and walked out of the building with everything we needed.

Windows Password Cracking

When we returned to our office, we imported all the user account information in a distributed password cracking system (Multiple servers performing password cracking at the same time). Within approximately 30 minutes we had cracked 70% of account passwords. The remaining accounts took approximately two days.

An example of what this Windows account information looks like is:

jdoe:1152:A5C67174B2A219D1

The jdoe accounts password is represented by its hashed equivalent "A5C67174B2A219D1". This string of number and letters, when deciphered, is "CrackMe". You can test this with the tool I am going to introduce you tool in the next section of this article. Without going into all the technical details about how the cracking takes place, this type of deciphering is basically done by trying to match up the hashed password over time and a bunch of iterations. When you take the word "CrackMe", and hash it, it produces the string of numbers and letters (A5C67174B2A219D1). So what you are really doing is matching that string, then making the assumption that the human readable version is "CrackMe".

How To Generate Password Hashes

First and foremost I must warn you that the tool I am going to point you to is very powerful and could cause you problems if you are not careful with it. You must agree to hold me harmless if in fact you decide to download and use this tool. This tool, called Cain & Abel, is the Swiss Army knife of cracking and does a lot more than just that.

Once it is installed on your system, you can go to the "Tools" menu and choose "Hash Calculator". In the "Text to Hash" box type "CrackMe" without the ""'s and hit calculate. Look at the Type "LM" and you will see the hash from above of ":A5C67174B2A219D1".

This tool as a great password cracking program and we use it quite regularly. And as I said, it does a lot more than just cracking so be careful with it.

Conclusion

As I stated in the beginning of this article, there are many ways to obtain account information and many more ways to decipher it. In this case, we physically walked out of an office building with everything we needed. Shortly after cracking all the accounts we were able to use their remote access system to gain entry into their internal network as an administrator. There are also ways of capturing user account information using man-in-the-middle attack techniques, remote social engineering, and phishing just to name a few.

The bottom line is, make your passwords complex, and change them as often as you can.

EasyUbuntu: Make your Linux Ubuntu as easy to use as ever

2006-02-05T20:29:00.000-08:00

Ubuntu is one of my favorite Linux Distribution aside from MEPIS and SUSE. From installation to actual usage, even a novice wouldn't have any trouble at all. But somehow not everything you need is already in Ubuntu, you have to manually install legacy drivers and softwares from the repositories in order to put your Ubuntu in steriods. This manual installation may be a bit of a task for an ordinary user, that's where EasyUbuntu would help.

EasyUbuntu is an easy to use script that gives the Ubuntu user the most commonly requested apps, codecs, and tweaks that are not found in the base distribution - all with a few clicks of your mouse.

EasyUbuntu is so easy to use in fact, that even your grandma could be playing encrypted dvds, streaming Windows Media, and sporting the latest Nvidia or Ati drivers in minutes! And yes, EasyUbuntu is GPL.

Get your EasyUbuntu here.

Firefox Add-on: BitTorrent Search Engine

2006-01-29T20:39:00.000-08:00

Since I started using Linux, I download my CD ISOs using web downloads. But when I started using uTorrent, I tried looking for the best search engine for finding torrent files specially for Linux distros. While playing with Firefox, I noticed the little search box on the upper right corner which I have never used since I installed Firefox. Oh, well, I got I lot of spare time, so why not discover what else Firefox has to offer. So, I saw an "Add Engine" at the bottom of the menu and clicked it.. alas! it took me to a page of Firefox Search Engine Add-Ons! And there I found the BitTorrent search engine. So I added it to my search engines, typed in "Linux" and found a vast array of ISO torrents from all over the web. The BitTorrent search engine grabs the list from other major BitTorrent Trackers. And now Firefox has again amazed me in making my cyberlife a little more easy. =)

The Linux Information Project: 25 Reasons to Convert to Linux

2006-01-12T04:05:00.000-08:00

As a Linux and Open Source supporter, it's my everyday experience in my computer shop to explain to customers the advantages of dumping MS Windows and make the switch to Linux. I answer questions ranging from simple document format issues, virus, printer support, internet connection, to networking. After minutes to hours of explainantion, I have convinced some customers to switch to Linux, and they are happy they did.

After reading an article from The Linux Information Project , I finally found a more structured way in explaining the advantages of switching to Linux. Here are the 25 good reasons to convert to Linux:

Businesses, educational institutions, governmental agencies and other organizations around the world are converting1 their computer operating systems from Microsoft Windows to Linux at an increasing pace. They are likewise converting their application programs from commercial software to free software (also referred to as open source software). There are at least 25 reasons for this situation, including:

(1) Because it is licensed under a free software license, Linux (as well as other free software) is available at no cost. It can be downloaded from the Internet for free, and it can be purchased in disk or box form at trivial cost. One copy can be used on as many computers as desired with no restrictions. This is in sharp contrast to Microsoft Windows, which can easily cost US$100 or more per computer.

(2) Because it is free software, Linux is also free in the sense that anybody is permitted to modify it, including its source code, in any way desired. If modified versions are not redistributed (i.e., given away or sold outside of an organization), they can be kept secret. This is also in sharp contrast to Microsoft Windows, for which modification of the software is generally not permitted. Source code is the original version of a program as it is written by a programmer using a programming language and before being converted by a compiler into a form such that its instructions can be understood directly by a computer's CPU (central processing unit); it is generally necessary to have the source code in order to be able to make changes to a program. This ability to freely experiment with and modify the source code, and to do so without disclosing the modifications to outsiders, has been a very important consideration for a number of large organizations.

(3) High quality support for Linux is available for free on the Internet, including in newsgroups and other forums. Some people claim that this support is at least as good as that provided for proprietary (i.e., commercial) operating systems for a fee. Linux support can also be purchased on a commercial basis if desired. Among the types of support that can be required for operating systems are help with customization, assistance in installing new programs, patches to cope with new security threats and patches to fix newly discovered bugs (i.e., defects). Fortunately, the need for the last two types is relatively infrequent for Linux.

(4) There is little possibility that support for Linux will be discontinued at some future date due to planned obsolescence or for any other reason. This is because the source code will always be available to anyone who wants it, including individuals who provide support for free over the Internet and businesses which provide it for a fee. In contrast, with Microsoft Windows and other proprietary software for which the source code is usually kept secret, obtaining support becomes difficult (from both a technical and a legal point of view) if the developer decides to withdraw it (for example in order to try to force users to pay for upgrades to newer versions).

(5) There is little or no fear of major obsolescence, planned or otherwise, with Linux. This is because the UNIX architecture on which it is based has been exhaustively tested and refined for more than 35 years and has proven to be extremely efficient, robust and secure. Improvements continue at a rapid pace, but new versions remain basically compatible with the underlying UNIX architecture.

(6) There are no forced upgrades for Linux users. This because older versions continue to be supported (e.g., with the development of new security patches and device drivers) and because newer versions, if desired, are available for free (as is all free software) and are typically highly compatible with older versions. The developers of proprietary software, however, have strong financial incentives to engage in planned obsolescence, namely, in order to induce users of earlier versions to spend money to buy or lease new versions.

(7) Should a user decide to upgrade to a newer version of Linux, there are no licensing fees or other software costs if the user selects a free distribution (i.e., version). Moreover, the training, program modification/conversion, hardware acquisition and other costs associated with upgrading to a new version are also relatively low due to the compatibility with earlier versions.

(8) Linux has no onerous requirements for keeping track of licenses. In a company with hundreds or thousands of computers, a number of full time personnel can be required just to make sure that all of the computers in use are in compliance with the complex licensing terms of the EULAs (end user license agreements) for Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office and other proprietary software. And for Linux users there is no fear of surprise audits by the BSA (Business Software Alliance), with possible severe penalties for minor license violations.

(9) Linux features superior security, including a very low rate of infection by viruses, trojans, worms, spyware and other malware. This is because UNIX and all of its descendants (including Linux) been designed from the ground up with security in mind, rather than having attempts at security tacked on as an afterthought. For example, users do not routinely use the system as the root (i.e., administrative) user, thereby protecting key system files even in the event of a break-in by a malicious intruder. Also, a robust firewall is included in major distributions and it is enabled by default. Another important factor is the free availability of the source code, which allows thousands of people around the globe to search for security vulnerabilities in it.

(10) Linux is highly resistant to system crashes and rarely needs rebooting (i.e., restarting). This can be very important for large organizations for which even a few minutes of down time can result in a substantial cost. The reason is that Linux has been designed from the ground up to be an extremely stable and robust operating system, incorporating all that has been learned about attaining these goals from the more than 35 years of history of Unix-like operating systems.

(11) An extensive selection of high quality application programs is available for use with Linux, most of which are also free software (including nearly all of the most popular ones). Many of them have features and performance equal or superior to those of comparable applications for use with Microsoft Windows. In fact, users often find that all the applications that they want are available freely on the Internet and that it is no longer necessary to purchase any commercial software.

(12) There is a choice of numerous distributions (several hundred) of Linux, each with its own unique set of characteristics but all basically compatible with each other. This allows users to select the versions which best meet their specific requirements. It also means that if one provider of Linux were to go out of business, there would still be many others from which to choose. Moreover, it fosters a healthy competition among them, thereby contributing to the continuous improvements in Linux's quality and performance. If the choice seems overwhelming, it is usually difficult to make a mistake by selecting one of the most popular distributions, such as Red Hat or SuSE.

(13) Linux features a high degree of flexibility of configuration, and a great deal of customization can be accomplished very easily and without having to modify the source code. For example, it is a simple matter to configure Linux during installation so that it will be optimized for use as a workstation, desktop computer, notebook computer, web server, database server or a router. Likewise, the appearance and behavior of the desktop, including icons and menus, can be configured in an almost infinite number of ways, according to user tastes or requirements. They can even be made to resemble Microsoft Windows. Should this not be enough, the ability to freely access, revise and recompile the source code allows virtually unlimited flexibility of configuration.

(14) Linux and other free software uses open format file formats. These are formats for word processing, spreadsheet and other file types that conform to industry-wide standards and which can be used by any developer of software to create compatible programs, in contrast to the closed formats commonly used by some proprietary software. This eliminates the problem of lock-in to proprietary standards, with the consequent difficulty and expense of switching to other software in the future. It allows the user to have complete control of its data, particularly in the event that at some future date the developer who originally created the software goes out of business or stops supporting its earlier software.

(15) Linux is generally faster for a given set of hardware specifications. This is due to greater optimization of the source code, including far less code bloat.

(16) Linux features a high degree of compatibility with other operating systems. For example, it can read, write, copy, erase and otherwise manipulate data that resides on Microsoft Windows partitions on the same hard disk drive (HDD), act as a Windows server for a network containing Windows clients, format disks for use with Windows, and even run Windows programs directly if necessary. In contrast, the Microsoft Windows operating systems cannot access HDD partitions that contain other operating systems, cannot format disks for other operating systems, etc.

(17) Very high ethical standards are maintained for Linux and other free software, in large part due to the very openness of their development process and the free availability of the source code. Linux has never been convicted in a Federal court of violation of U.S. antitrust laws or other crimes, nor has it had to pay penalties for the unauthorized copying of technology developed by other companies.

(18) Linux reduces the need to upgrade or replace hardware when upgrading to newer versions. This is because its code is very efficient and compact, thus allowing it to work effectively on older computers that are not suitable for the newest versions of Microsoft Windows.

(19) Linux is capable of operating on a wide variety of platforms (i.e., processor and system types), rather than just being limited to Intel-compatible processors and computers. It scales well and is well suited for use on a diverse array of equipment ranging from supercomputers to industrial robots to electronic medical equipment to cell phones (and can even run on a wristwatch).

(20) Linux is a superior choice for use in academic institutions for a number of reasons. Among them is the fact that there are no secrets (in sharp contrast to proprietary software), thereby providing students the opportunity to study how computers really work rather than to just learn how to use them. Many educators are convinced that it is far more important for students to study computer science fundamentals than to practice specific applications (such as Microsoft Word or Microsoft PowerPoint). One reason is that computer science fundamentals will still be valid many years from now, whereas the specific application programs, especially the proprietary ones that do not conform to industry-wide standards, are constantly changing and those currently in use will likely become obsolete in a few years.

(21) For governmental agencies, Linux and other free software allows for transparency of data because it stores the data in formats consistent with industry-wide standards. This is in contrast to the proprietary, closed formats characteristic of commercial software. Such transparency is important for maintaining an effective democracy. Keeping non-secret data in standards-compliant formats allows anyone to access it without having to purchase expensive proprietary software. Also, storing secret data in standards-compliant formats is widely regarding as being more secure than keeping it in proprietary formats.

(22) With Linux and other free software there is little reason to fear the existence of backdoors, in large part because all of the source code is available for inspection. A backdoor is a secret method for obtaining remote access to a computer. There is a (not unjustified) concern by many foreign governments and corporations that back doors have been covertly inserted into proprietary software that could allow the software developer and agencies of other governments to snoop into their most confidential data.

(23) Using and advocating Linux helps foster a healthy diversity and increased competition throughout the software industry. Such competition can promote technological advance, improve performance and lower costs for open source software and proprietary software alike. Both economic theory and hundreds of years of real-world experience clearly show that monopolies have little incentive to innovate, tend to produce shoddy products, charge inflated prices and tend to corrupt the political system.

(24) Linux and other free software have not only caught up with, or some cases surpassed, their proprietary counterparts, but they are also developing at a faster pace8. This trend will accelerate as demand for such software continues to grow and more and more individuals and organizations become actively involved it its development.

(25) Linux and other free software provide the opportunity for users to contribute to the advance of software technology because the source code is freely available to study, improve, extend and redistribute. This has been fairly common, and the most notable corporate example has been IBM. In addition to giving back to the software community and being a virtue in itself, such contributions can have great public relations value.

There are also several situations in which businesses and other organizations might benefit from converting their operating systems from Linux to Microsoft Windows:

(1) An organization that is downsizing its operation and already has valid but unused licenses for Microsoft Windows might be able to reduce personnel costs by replacing its Linux experts with Windows administrators, as the latter can generally be hired for significantly less than Linux administrators.

(2) Were Microsoft to offer an organization an extremely low cost incentive package, including providing long-term licenses (and upgrades) at nominal cost, paying for new hardware and providing free training and support, this could be a very attractive proposition. In fact, it could be a win-win situation because of the great publicity value that could accrue to Microsoft from a company or other organization converting from Linux to Windows.

AVG: Free Anti Virus for Linux

2006-01-09T04:09:00.000-08:00

Grisoft expands its award-winning product line with AVG Free for Linux - a free version of its advanced anti-virus tool designed specifically for home use on the Linux desktop.

So now, home users of Linux OS can join millions of satisfied customers in enjoying the benefits of AVG Anti-Virus protection!

AVG Free for Linux is the first commercial-grade anti-virus product developed for free home use, providing maximum anti-virus protection for Linux computers. Read more...

openSUSE Project Says 750,000 Linux Installs

2006-01-05T18:06:00.000-08:00

WALTHAM, Mass. – Novell's openSUSE.org project, launched in August 2005, continues to generate tremendous interest and activity, recently surpassing 13 million page views and 750,000 verified installations of SUSE® Linux. SUSE Linux is installed more than 7,000 times every day, an average of one installation every 12 seconds. The openSUSE™ project features easy access to builds and releases, and will soon offer new resources and programs for open access to the development process used to create SUSE Linux, the award-winning distribution that contains everything users need to get started with Linux®. Developers have contributed thousands of suggestions, bug fixes and provided significant input which will improve Novell's leading Linux distribution for developers and customers around the globe.

In early 2006, the openSUSE project will begin to release a public development framework. This framework will provide open source contributors and third-party application developers with tools and resources to streamline code and patch contributions to SUSE Linux. The framework will include code libraries and a public build server that can be accessed and used by any registered project member. Novell will make it simple and easy to create packages and applications that will run on SUSE Linux and SUSE Linux-based distributions.

"SUSE Linux users, who number in the millions worldwide, continue to show their support by installing the software in great numbers and seeking more opportunities to collaborate with Novell," said Jeff Jaffe, executive vice president and chief technology officer for Novell. "The huge interest in the openSUSE project shows they're serious about shaping and improving the software they use. We're thrilled at the level of involvement and are stepping up our commitment to maintain SUSE Linux as one of the most popular distributions in existence."

Posted at: LinuxElectrons
==============================
OpenSUSE and Ubuntu are my Linux Distros of choice and I personally recommend these two distros to my customers in a computer shop that I manage. Out of that 750,000 confirmed installations, I'm very much happy to say that I've contributed at least 100 installations. Linux is the future, and that future is just a day away, and I'm proud that I already made a head start in using such great Operating System.

Turn the looks of your Windows XP into a Mac

2005-12-19T05:04:00.000-08:00

WinOSX 2

WinOSX is an installer which can customize your whole system very easily : windows, controls, Finder, Dock, shadows, and many other features. If you don't like some features or the complete pack, you can uninstall some components or the full software safely.

So, if you are a Mac user who recently switched to Windows, or if you just think that Macs have a far better look than Windows, WinOSX is for you ! Change easiely the interface of Windows XP into a Mac OS X one !

Download the WinOSX 2 here.

FlyakiteOSX

FlyakiteOSX is a transformation pack. It will transform the look of an ordinary Windows XP+ system to resemble the look of Mac OS X. The installer simply automates the process of replacing critical system files, setting registry tweaks, and installing extras such as cursors, sounds, visual styles, etc. FlyakiteOSX DOES NOT contain any spyware or ad-ware of any kind. All files needed for FlyakiteOSX are stored in the Windows directory in a folder named 'FlyakiteOSX' that is hidden by default. All registry values for FlyakiteOSX are written to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\FlyakiteOSX.

Download FlyakiteOSX here.

MS Windows Vista is 20 Years Behind!

2005-12-12T22:27:00.000-08:00

Just recently, Microsoft is bragging about its new feature that will be integrated in Windows Vista called the Restart Manager. The guys at Redmond think that this is a significant addition to the new version of Windows.. a big deal.

The Restart Manager is designed to update the operating system without having to do a manual or forced reboot of the machine. This feature is significantly important to servers having a lot of connected clients. With this feature, network administrators would not have to worry about telling the client computers to save your work ang log off the network because the damn server needs to reboot.

Desktop wise, a user may continue working on the machine while doing an automatic update or patch. After an update, the screen will go blank and on again with all your works still there where you left them.

So, the guys at Redmond really are right in saying that this is really an important feature of Windows Vista.. but as far as I know, this feature is already in Linux/Unix since the mid 80s. A feature enjoyed by Linux/Unix users for almost 20 years! And it is only now that Microsoft came to think that it is important!

I have an Ubuntu and SUSE machine running everyday, and I have made a lot of updates without an interruption of a single reboot. I love how this feature works in Linux machines. Will Microsoft catch up to Linux/Unix and make this feature a seamless integration to Vista? A technology perfected by Linux/Unix for almost 20 years.. its about time that Microsoft wake up.

Make Firefox run up to 30 times faster

2005-12-11T21:11:00.000-08:00

1. Type "about:config" into the address bar and hit return. Scroll
down and look for the following entries:

network.http.pipelining
network.http.proxy.pipelining
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time.
When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really
speeds up page loading.

2. Alter the entries as follows:

Set "network.http.pipelining" to "true"

Set "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to "true"

Set "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to some number like 30 (mine is set to 100..hehehe). This means it will make 30 requests at once.

3. Lastly right-click anywhere and select 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 recieves.

If you're using a brodband connection you'll load pages 2-30 times faster now.

Orignally posted at: Halomods

Ravi's Top 10 Linux Ubuntu Sites

2005-12-10T19:26:00.000-08:00

I'm a Linux SUSE user, but somehow I also use Ubuntu a lot of times on my other machines... you may ask why I haven't migrate totally to SUSE? Well, Ubuntu is such a great distribution and I myself also recommends this distro to friends. I like SUSE because of its almost perfect integration to KDE, but when it comes to GNOME, Ubuntu has done a very good job, is very easy to use and stable.. I've been visiting several help sites for Ubuntu and below is a list originally collected at All About Linux Blog. I totally agree with Ravi that these sites are great Ubuntu help sites...

1) ubuntulinux.org - This is the official site of Ubuntu Linux. All Ubuntu enthusiasts should make this the starting point of their journey towards embracing Ubuntu. On this site, you can get the latest official news related to this project, place orders for your free Ubuntu Cd's and search or browse for a particular package for your version of Ubuntu among other things.

2) help.ubuntu.com - This is the official documentation site for Ubuntu Linux developed and maintained by the Ubuntu documentation project. This is the first place any Ubuntu user must go to get his problem solved. While you are here, do not forget to visit the FAQ Section on this site.

3) wiki.ubuntu.com - This is a part of the official Ubuntu project and as you can see is a wiki. A wiki can be edited by anybody a good example of a wiki being the wikipedia project. On the Ubuntu wiki, you can get a wealth of information about configuring this distribution. First time visitors to this site may be interested in checking the Help Contents page. A section which is specially interesting is the Restricted Formats section which gives tips on getting support for proprietary file formats in Ubuntu.

4) ubuntuforums.org - This is a high traffic web forum where you can post queries you have and get your doubts clarified. You need to first register to post in this forum. But just searching this forum will throw up a wealth of information a.k.a the issues that others faced and the solutions to these issues.

5) ubuntuguide.org - This guide is not affiliated with the official Ubuntu project but claims to be an unofficial FAQ where you can find solutions to getting your problems solved in Ubuntu. This site takes a How-To approach in giving the answers. Though recently, this site has become a bit outdated as I ran into some problem while configuring Ubuntu Breezy according to their directions. Nevertheless a very good site.

6) doc.gwos.org - This is a site which hosts the documentation for all flavours of Ubuntu. This site is maintained by the ubuntuforumn.org guys themselves and contains information in a more structured format. One page which might interest the Ubuntu users while on this site could be the Hardware Compatibility Guide.

7) Ubuntu Blog - This is a very good blog maintained by a Ubuntu enthusiast and as the name of the blog indicates, exclusively caters to all things related to the Ubuntu distribution. Here you can get latest news, links to popular sites and experiences of the blog author in getting things done in Ubuntu Linux.

8) fridge.ubuntu.com - This site claims to be an information hub for the Ubuntu community bringing together news, grassroots marketing, advocacy, team collaboration, and great original content. This is a site you can enter in your watch list if you are interested in knowing about the happenings in the Ubuntu world.

Automate all the Ubuntu housekeeping tasks

The next two sites list scripts which can be downloaded and used on your system to get support for a lot of proprietary features in Ubuntu without any (or very little ) user intervention.

9) Automatix - This is a script which can be used to get mp3, wmv, quick time, encrypted DVD support and more on Ubuntu and all this as the name indicates rather automatically. All the user has to do is run the script. Unfortunately, this project is not supported any longer but the users can still download the script and use it.

10) Easy Breezy - On this site you can get another script which helps in automating the tasks of getting proprietary file support in Ubuntu Breezy v5.10. The author claims it to be a safer alternative to another well known project.

How to Share Internet Connection in Ubuntu and Debian

2005-12-07T02:22:00.000-08:00

Note: Type all the following commands in a root terminal, DO NOT use sudo.

1. Start by configuring the network card that interfaces to the other computers on you network:

# ifconfig ethX ip

where ethX is the network card and ip is your desired server ip address (Usually 192.168.0.1 is used)

2. Then configure the NAT as follows:

# iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o ethX -j MASQUERADE

where ethX is the network card that the Internet is coming from

# echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward

3. Install dnsmasq and ipmasq using apt-get:

# apt-get install dnsmasq ipmasq

4. Restart dnsmasq:

# /etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

5. Reconfigure ipmasq to start after networking has been started:

# dpkg-reconfigure ipmasq

6. Repeat steps 1 and 2.

7. Reboot. (Optional)

Scary truth about Google: And then there were four

2005-12-06T03:54:00.000-08:00

Google is one of about four search engines that matter. There are many more than four engines, but only about four have the technology to crawl much of the web on a regular basis. As of July 2003, Yahoo owned Overture, Alltheweb, AltaVista, and Inktomi, and finally dumped Google in February 2004. Everything needed to turn Yahoo into a major search engine was now under Yahoo's roof.

It is still possible that Yahoo will shoot themselves in the foot with all of this firepower -- their desire to monetize everything appears to be high on their agenda. But so far, after only a year, Yahoo has shown that their main index search results are on a par with Google's. This is true despite the fact that Yahoo has has infiltrated some pay-per-click links into the main index. One reason for Yahoo's success is that Google's main index, though free from paid results, has declined considerably since early 2003. Amazingly, there is on average only a 20 percent overlap between Yahoo's first 100 results and Google's first 100 results for the same search -- and still, Yahoo is just as good as Google. These days there is so little room at the top of the search results heap, that any combination of algorithms will produce acceptable results. The main difference now is in the depth of the crawl.

Microsoft recently developed their own engine because they found themselves squeezed between the advertising engine of Overture and the search engine Inktomi -- both of which became Yahoo property. In 2003 Microsoft began experimenting with their own crawler. Their new engine was launched in early 2005. If Microsoft puts their greed on a back burner for a few years, by doing deep crawls and presenting a clean interface, they could do to Google what they did to Netscape. There is no "secret sauce" at Google -- we now believe it was all hype from the very beginning. (To the extent that there ever was a secret sauce, the recipe is now known by countless ecommerce spammers, which makes it a liability rather than an asset.) Thousands of engineers in hundreds of companies know how to design search engines. The only real questions are whether you can commit the resources for a deep, consistent crawl of the web, and how aggressively you want to use your search engine to make money.

That gives us Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. The last one worth watching is Teoma/AskJeeves. Their search technology is good, and they seem serious about expanding their crawl. It remains to be seen how deeply and consistently they will be able to crawl websites with thousands of pages.

Google is easily top dog. They provide about 75 percent of the external referrals for most websites. There is no point in putting up a website apart from Google. It's do or die with Google. If we're all very lucky, one of the other three will soon offer some serious competition. If we're not lucky, we will be uploading our websites to Google's servers by then, much like the bloggers do at blogger.com (which was bought by Google in 2003). It would mean the end of the web as we know it.

It is worthwhile to understand the pressures that the average, independent webmaster is under. And given that Google is so dominant, it's important to understand the pressures that are being brought to bear on Google, Inc. It does not take too much imagination to recognize that there's a struggle going on for the soul of the web, and the focal point of this struggle is Google itself.

At one level, it's a struggle for advertising revenue. The pundits look at only this level, and are unanimous that the only advertising model on the web with any sort of future is one where little ads appear after being triggered by keyword searches, or by the non-ad content of a web page. For example, a search for Google Watch may show some ads on the right side of the screen for wrist watches. While the technique doesn't work for this example, often it serves its purpose. There is only so much pixeled real estate that the average user can be expected to survey for a given search. Today up to half of each screen is dedicated to paid ads on Google, as compared to the ad-free original Google. Everyone wants a piece of this new wave in web advertising, and Google is making a lot of money.

Unfortunately, early evidence suggests that Yahoo is less interested in pure search algorithms, than in acquiring market share in a pay-for-placement and/or pay-for-inclusion revenue stream. The same may be true for Microsoft. Even Google, dazzled by the sudden income from advertising, must be wondering why they go to all that trouble and expense to crawl the noncommercial sector. Those public-sector sites, such as the org, edu and gov domains, do not provide direct income, even though the web would be unattractive without them. All the excitement over a revived online ad market, pushed by pundits hoping for another dot-com gold rush, is beginning to look like the days when AltaVista decided that portals were the Next Big Thing. That notion caused AltaVista to lose interest in improving their crawling and searching -- which is how Google succeeded in the first place.

There has been almost no interest in establishing search engines that specialize in public-sector websites. Where is the Library of Congress? Where are the millions of dollars doled out by the Ford Foundation? How about the United Nations? Why can't some enlightened European entity pick up the slack? Everyone is asleep, while the Internet is getting spammed to death.

At another level, it's a struggle over who will have the predominant influence over the massive amounts of user data that Google collects. In the past, discussions about privacy issues and the web have been about consumer protection. That continues to be of interest, but since 9/11 there is a new threat to privacy -- the federal government. Google has not shown any inclination to declare for the rights of its users across the globe, as opposed to the rights of the spies in Washington who would love to have access to Google's user data.

Much of the struggle at this new level is unarticulated. For one thing, the spies in Washington don't talk about it. Congress has given them new powers, without debating the issues. Google, Inc. itself never comments about things that matter. The struggle recognized by Google Watch has to do with the clash of real forces, but right now all we can say is that potentially this struggle could manifest itself in Google's boardroom.

The privacy struggle, which includes both the old issue of consumer protection and this new issue of government surveillance, means that the question of how Google treats the data it collects from users becomes critical. Given that Google is so central to the web, whatever attitude it takes toward privacy has massive implications for the rest of the web in general, and for other search engines in particular.

Call it class warfare, if you like. Because that brings up the other major gripe that Google Watch has with Google. That's the PageRank problem -- the fact that Google's primary ranking algorithm has less to do with the quality of web pages, than it has to do with the "power popularity" of web pages. Their approach to ranking is anti-democratic, in that already-powerful pages are mathematically granted extra power to anoint other pages as powerful.

It's not that we believe Google is evil. What we believe is that Google, Inc. is at a fork in the road, and they have some big decisions to make. This Google Watch site is trying to articulate and publicize the situation at Google, and encourage more scrutiny of their operations. By doing this, we hope to play a small part in maintaining the web as an information tool that is more useful for the masses, than it is for the elites.

That's why we and over 500 others nominated Google for a Big Brother award in 2003. The nine points we raised in connection with this nomination necessarily focused on privacy issues:

1. Google's immortal cookie:
Google was the first search engine to use a cookie that expires in 2038. This was at a time when federal websites were prohibited from using persistent cookies altogether. Now it's years later, and immortal cookies are commonplace among search engines; Google set the standard because no one bothered to challenge them. This cookie places a unique ID number on your hard disk. Anytime you land on a Google page, you get a Google cookie if you don't already have one. If you have one, they read and record your unique ID number.

2. Google records everything they can:
For all searches they record the cookie ID, your Internet IP address, the time and date, your search terms, and your browser configuration. Increasingly, Google is customizing results based on your IP number. This is referred to in the industry as "IP delivery based on geolocation."

3. Google retains all data indefinitely:
Google has no data retention policies. There is evidence that they are able to easily access all the user information they collect and save.

4. Google won't say why they need this data:
Inquiries to Google about their privacy policies are ignored. When the New York Times (2002-11-28) asked Sergey Brin about whether Google ever gets subpoenaed for this information, he had no comment.

5. Google hires spooks:
Matt Cutts, a key Google engineer, used to work for the National Security Agency. Google wants to hire more people with security clearances, so that they can peddle their corporate assets to the spooks in Washington.

6. Google's toolbar is spyware:
With the advanced features enabled, Google's free toolbar for Explorer phones home with every page you surf, and yes, it reads your cookie too. Their privacy policy confesses this, but that's only because Alexa lost a class-action lawsuit when their toolbar did the same thing, and their privacy policy failed to explain this. Worse yet, Google's toolbar updates to new versions quietly, and without asking. This means that if you have the toolbar installed, Google essentially has complete access to your hard disk every time you connect to Google (which is many times a day). Most software vendors, and even Microsoft, ask if you'd like an updated version. But not Google. Any software that updates automatically presents a massive security risk.

7. Google's cache copy is illegal:
Judging from Ninth Circuit precedent on the application of U.S. copyright laws to the Internet, Google's cache copy appears to be illegal. The only way a webmaster can avoid having his site cached on Google is to put a "noarchive" meta in the header of every page on his site. Surfers like the cache, but webmasters don't. Many webmasters have deleted questionable material from their sites, only to discover later that the problem pages live merrily on in Google's cache. The cache copy should be "opt-in" for webmasters, not "opt-out."

8. Google is not your friend:
By now Google enjoys a 75 percent monopoly for all external referrals to most websites. Webmasters cannot avoid seeking Google's approval these days, assuming they want to increase traffic to their site. If they try to take advantage of some of the known weaknesses in Google's semi-secret algorithms, they may find themselves penalized by Google, and their traffic disappears. There are no detailed, published standards issued by Google, and there is no appeal process for penalized sites. Google is completely unaccountable. Most of the time Google doesn't even answer email from webmasters.

9. Google is a privacy time bomb:
With 200 million searches per day, most from outside the U.S., Google amounts to a privacy disaster waiting to happen. Those newly-commissioned data-mining bureaucrats in Washington can only dream about the sort of slick efficiency that Google has already achieved.

Originally posted at:
http://www.google-watch.org/bigbro.html

Share Windows XP Printer to Linux Machines

2005-12-01T00:04:00.000-08:00

All my machines in my network are already running Linux, Ubuntu 5.10 and OpenSUSE 10.0 are my distros of choice. Only one machine is running Windows XP because of custom Visual Basic Programs, and this Windows machine also serves as our Print Server. In this mini-How-To, I'll discuss how to share a Printer in Windows XP to Linux machines particularly Ubuntu 5.10 and OpenSUSE 10.0. We will use the graphical interface of Ubuntu (GNOME) and SUSE (KDE) to set up the printer.. no command lines.. promise.. =)

The Windows XP Machine (The Print Server)

Install your printer.
Open your Control Panel, then open your "Add or Remove Programs"
Click on "Add/Remove Windows Components" located on the left side of the dialog box
Put a check on "Other Netwrok File and Print Services" then click "Details" make sure that the "Print Services for Unix" is selected. (you may need your XP CD and a reboot)
Open "Printer and Faxes" then right click on your printer then "Share", give your printer a share name that is short and with no special characters or spaces (ex. "HP940c" quotations not inclucded). This Share Name would later be used as the Print Queue on your Linux machine.
The Windows Firewall may block Linux machines from printing, turn off your firewall for the meantime.. we will turn it back on later.
Make sure that your Windows' IP number is Static.

The Ubuntu 5.10 Machine (Print Client)

From the panel (default is on top) open System>Administration>Printing
Click on "New Printer"
Select "Network Printer" then use "Unix Printing LPD"
Type on the "Host" Field the IP number of your Windows Print Server (ex. 192.168.0.101)
Type on the "Queue" field the Share Name of the printer, in our example we used "HP940c" (quotations not included)
Click "Forward" then select the manufacturer and model of your printer from the list. Then click "Apply".
Your new printer will now appear in the dialog box. Print a test page to make sure that the paper settings and print out mode are in the right settings..
That's all... =)

The SUSE 10.0 Machine (Print Client)

Open the "YaST Control Center" (you need root access)
Select "Hardware" from the choices on the left
Under Hardware, click "Printer"
Under Printer, click "Add", if it asks you for a new Queue, just click "No" (this will happen if you have an exisiting installed printer)
Under Printer Type, select "Print Directly to a Netwrok Printer" then click next.
on the next dialog, choose "Remote LPD Queue" then click next.
Type on the "Hostname of Print Server" Field the IP number of your Windows Print Server (ex. 192.168.0.101)
Type on the "Remote Queue Name" field the Share Name of the printer, in our example we used "HP940c" (quotations not included) then click next.
For "Queue Name and Spooler Settings" put the "Queue Name" or Share Name of the printer that you used under "Name for Printing"... you may leave the other fields blank. Then click next.
Now choose the proper Manufacturer and Model of your printer. click next.
Accept all the changes, then you may try to print a test page..
That's all... =)

Back to the Firewall

At this point, you should have already succesfully installed your printer and have printed a test page. Now, we will turn back on the Firewall of your Windows XP machine (this is a necessity because Windows has very poor security).

Turn back on your personal firewall in your Windows XP.
Now, print a test page from your Linux machine... the printing would fail because it was blocked by the firewall.. but that's ok.. will fix that..
Locate your firewall log file by opening the Firewall Settings, then under Advance tab click on the Settings of Security Logging and there you will find the location and filename of your firewall log file..
Open the firewall log file using Notepad and look for the Port number to which the printing was blocked.. this port number is between 500 to 700.
After determining the port number, go back to the Firewall Settings and under the Exceptions tab, click "Add Port".
Now, just enter the port number which was blobked previously by the firewall then select "TCP", give it a nice name like "Netwrok Printing".. and you're all set..
Try again to print again a test page, you should have no more trouble printing..

Enjoy... =)

Copyright Notice:

Copyright (C) 2005 Gerald Cortez
Verbatim copying and distribution of this article is permitted in any medium, provided this copyright notice is preserved.

10 Things that make Ubuntu a Neophyte's Distribution

2005-11-27T00:02:00.000-08:00

Ubuntu is fast on its way to becoming a peoples OS. I have always wondered what is it that makes people embrace Ubuntu over other Linux distributions. After some pondering, it struck me that the USP (Unique Selling Point) of Ubuntu is its user friendliness. Ubuntu is a distribution targeted at the non-techie crowd - those that want to get their job done and not spend time tinkering with the OS. And consequently, the developers at Ubuntu have bundled simple easy to use GUI front end tools to achieve common system administration tasks. Here I have put together 10 things in Ubuntu that make a new user's life that much simple. . read the full article...

Windows Software Equivalents, Replacements, and Analogs in Linux

2005-11-10T22:51:00.000-08:00

One of the biggest difficulties in migrating from Windows to Linux is the lack of knowledge about comparable software. Newbies usually search for Linux analogs of Windows software, and advanced Linux-users cannot answer their questions since they often don't know too much about Windows :). This list of Linux equivalents / replacements / analogs of Windows software is based on our own experience and on the information obtained from the visitors of this page (thanks!).

To see the full list of software click here.

A Simple Website Hacking using Linux and Konqueror

2005-11-06T03:36:00.000-08:00

I want this article to be real simple so that new Linux users (KDE based) would have fun exploring the power of Linux and its browser Konqueror. This tutorial will show you how to access restricted websites, password protected websites, or members' only area by changing the "USER AGENT" of Konqueror into GoogleBot 2.1.

Konqueror

Konqueror is the default browser of KDE based Linux. Some Linux Distribution that uses KDE and Konqueror are SUSE, Mandriva, and Kubuntu. Konqueror is a very flexible browser and yes, very powerful too.

User Agent

Almost every internet browser has the capability to adjust the user agent. A user agent is the client application used with a particular network protocol; the phrase is most commonly used in reference to those which access the World Wide Web. Web user agents range from web browsers to search engine crawlers ("spiders"), as well as screen readers and braille browsers used by people with disabilities.

When Internet users visit a web site, a text string is generally sent to identify the user agent to the server. This forms part of the HTTP request, prefixed with User-agent: or User-Agent: and typically includes information such as the application name, version, host operating system, and language. Bots, such as web crawlers, often also include a URL and/or e-mail address so that the webmaster can contact the operator of the bot. The user-agent string is one of the criteria by which crawlers can be excluded from certain pages or parts of a website using the "Robots Exclusion Standard" (robots.txt). This allows webmasters who feel that certain parts of their website should not be included in the data gathered by a particular crawler, or that a particular crawler is using up too much bandwidth, to request that crawler not to visit those pages.

How To Change the User Agent

Simply open Konqueror, and from "TOOLS>Change Browser Identification>Other" and set it to "Googlebot 2.1".

The Application

In order for you to understand how this really works, follow this steps as an example:
1) go to http://www.windowsitpro.com/WindowsScripting/Article/ArticleID/46794/46794.html you will NOT see the FULL article because only members may read the full article.
2) Change the User Agent of Konqueror to Googlebot/2.1
3) Go back to the same page and reload/refresh it and you can read the full article.

Hacking OpenSUSE

2005-10-29T22:50:00.000-07:00

Eversince I've used my first Linux (Mandrake 9.2) I never wanted to go back to Windows. And in pursuit of finding the best Linux Distro, I find some time to install the latest OpenSUSE 10.0. I donwloaded the 5 CD ISO, burn to CD and install. Since I have many Workstations and only got 2 CD-ROMS to swap around, I tried looking for a way such that after installing OpenSUSE 10.0, I will no longer need any CDs if I want to add other packages. And here I found an article by Jem Mantzan about how to maximize your user experience in SUSE.

When you’re done installing OpenSUSE 10.0, your desktop system is not complete. You still need support for Java programs, MP3 audio files, and browser plugins for Macromedia Flash, Adobe Acrobat, RealPlayer, and Windows Media Video. You may also want to add support for playing DVD videos on your computer. Here’s how to effectively make the open source version of OpenSUSE 10.0 into SUSE Linux 10.0.

OpenSUSE is comprised entirely of free, open source software. What you will be doing in this tutorial is installing proprietary add-ons that add functionality. All of the browser plugins are proprietary and will require you to agree to software licenses. The DVD playback capabilities are in violation of the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (and similar laws in other countries), which many believe to be unconstitutional and a violation of consumer fair use rights. Click here for more information on DMCA reform. In other words, installing the DVD decoding software could be illegal where you live; therefore I’m not telling you to do it, but I’ll tell you how it’s done for educational and informational purposes.

Adding sources to YaST

First you’ll need to add some software repositories to your YaST installation sources list. Go into the YaST utility by clicking on the green Gecko menu in the lower left corner of your screen. Select System, then click on Control Center (YaST). You’ll be prompted for your root password. Go ahead and type it in, check the box next to Keep Password, and click OK.

You’re now in YaST, and the Software category is already selected by default. Click on the Installation Source icon. This will bring up a window that will allow you to add software repositories so that you can download the add-on software. You’ll notice that your CD or DVD installation media is already listed. Go ahead and disable it by clicking the Enable Or Disable button — we’re going to add an Internet address that will replace your discs. That way if you need to add software from the CDs or DVD, you can get the packages from the Internet instead of putting a disc into your computer. If you need to, you can just as easily enable the CD/DVD source later.

Click the Add button, then click on HTTP in the popup menu. Add the following Internet address to the Server Name field and then click on OK:

packman.iu-bremen.de/suse/10.0/

Now repeat this process and add the following servers to your installation sources using the FTP option instead of HTTP:

mirrors.kernel.org/opensuse/distribution/SL-10.0-OSS/inst-source-java/
mirrors.kernel.org/opensuse/distribution/SL-10.0-OSS/inst-source/
mirrors.kernel.org/suse/i386/10.0/SUSE-Linux10.0-GM-Extra/

Without adding the preceding sources, it will not be possible to follow the next three steps. You can now close the Installation Source window.

Installing Thunderbird

OpenSUSE 10.0 doesn’t come with Mozilla Thunderbird. If you’re a Thunderbird fan, rather than download it separately, why not install it properly through YaST?

Go back to YaST, then select Package Management. In the Search box, type in MozillaThunderbird and click on Search. Click on the MozillaThunderbird checkbox in the right-hand pane, then click on Accept. When it’s done, click on Finish to go back to YaST.

Java support

To add support for the Java language both for standalone applications and as a browser plugin for Web applets, go into YaST, then select Package Management. In the Search box, type in sun and click Search. A bunch of packages will show up in the right-hand pane. Click the checkbox next to the following packages:

java-1_5_0-sun
java-1_5_0-sun-alsa
java-1_5_0-sun-jdbc
java-1_5_0-sun-plugin

There is no harm in selecting all of the java-1_5_0-sun packages (you’ll notice that there are a few more that weren’t selected), but they are not necessary for running Java programs. If you’re a Java programmer, of course you’ll want at least some of the other packages. When you’re done selecting them, click on Accept. When it’s done installing, click on Finish in the popup window to go back to YaST. Your computer will now be able to run Java programs and applets.

Flash, Acrobat, Windows Media, MP3, and RealMedia support

Go back into the YaST software manager. In the Search box, type in w32codec-all and click on Search. A single package should appear in the right-hand pane. Click the checkbox next to it.

Erase your previous search term in the Search box, type in acroread and click on Search. Click the checkbox next to the acroread package in the right-hand pane. You’ll have to accept a software license agreement to continue.

Now search for flash and click Search. Select that package for installation by clicking its checkbox and agreeing to its license.

Search for realplayer and click Search. Click its checkbox. You only need the RealPlayer package itself — the other search results are not necessary.

Search for mplayer and click Search. Click its checkbox. You don’t need the other package that appears in the search results.

Search for kaffeine-mozilla and click Search. Click its checkbox.

When you’ve done all of this, click on Accept. Other packages will be dependent on some of these, so you’ll have to click Continue in the Automatic Changes screen that comes up. After that, all of the packages you just selected will be installed and your Firefox Web browser will have all of the plugins it needs. You’ll also have the ability to play MP3 music files. A popup window will appear when it’s done — just click on Finish and you’ll be brought back to YaST.

DVD playback

I couldn’t find any SUSE installation sources for the DVD decoding program, so you’ll have to download it on your own. Go to your Gecko menu, then select Internet, then Web Browser, then click on Web Browser (Konqueror). When Konqueror opens, copy and paste in this address:

http://download.videolan.org/pub/libdvdcss/1.2.9/rpm/libdvdcss2-1.2.9-1.i386.rpm

Or just click here if you want a link. Konqueror will ask you what you want to do with the file. You could save it to your Desktop, then double-click it to install it, but an easier way is to select the Open With button. That will bring up a popup window. In that window, click on System, then Configuration, then Package Manager (KPackage). (If you do not have KPackage installed, go back to the YaST software manager and install the kdeadmin3 package, then restart this process.) The KPackage program will read the DVD decoding package from the Web. Click on the Install button at the bottom of the KPackage window, then click on Install in the next window too. You will be asked for your root password; type it in and press Enter. Shortly thereafter, the DVD decoding library will be installed. Click on the Done button, then close KPackage and Konqueror.

Next you’ll have to modify the video player so that it will play DVDs. While it originally had this functionality built in, Novell has removed it to make life more difficult for people who want to watch DVDs on their computer.

Go into YaST and select Software Management. The familiar package selection screen will come up. In the Search box, type in xine and then click Search. About two dozen entries will appear in the right-hand pane. Right-click on all of the blue-colored packages (there should be at least two) and select Update from the drop-down menu. Click on Accept when you’re done, and then click on Continue in the ensuing Automatic Changes screen. The updated software will now download and install properly. When it’s finished, a popup window will ask you if you’d like to install more software. Click on Finish and you’ll be brought back to YaST’s software manager.

You now have the ability to play commercial DVD movies on your computer — put one in and try it, if it’s legal where you are. A popup message should appear when you put in a DVD movie. If it asks you if you want to play the movie with Kaffeine, click on Yes and you’ll go straight to the video player. In some instances the disc may be recognized as a data disc, and SUSE will ask you if you want to open the DVD with K3b. In that case, click on Ignore, then go to the Gecko menu, select Multimedia, then Video Player, then click on Media Player (Kaffeine). When Kaffeine starts, click on the Open DVD icon.

Using JavaScript to Rotate Google Adsense and YPN ContentMatch Ads

2005-10-18T04:10:00.001-07:00

By: Amr Awadallah

I wanted to test the performance of Adsense versus YPN-Content match on my site, so I wrote this little javascript wrapper to rotate both ad formats, 50% of the time for Google Adsense and 50% of the time for Yahoo-YPN-ContentMatch.

Feel free to use it, but note that you need to paste your ads in the correct places as demonstrated below. Just copy the javascript code for adsense and ypn ads and put them in the googlead and the yahooad variables, respectively. But make sure to make these changes to the javascript ads:

replace all " with \"
end each line with \n
replace /script with \/script

<script type="text/javascript">

var i = Math.random()

var googlead = PASTE ADSENSE AD HERE

var yahooad = PASTE YPN-CONTENTMATCH AD HERE

if (i < 0.5)

{
document.write(googlead);
}

else
{
document.write(yahooad);
}
</script>

This is an example of how to paste your ad javascripts correctly into the googlead and yahooad variables (do not use these as is, otherwise you will end up sending me money ):

var googlead = "<script type=\"text/javascript\"><!--\n
google_ad_client = \"pub-1023215734600446\";\n
google_ad_width = 728;\n
google_ad_height = 90;\n
google_ad_format = \"728x90_as\";\n
google_ad_type = \"text\";\n
google_ad_channel =\"3618420306\";\n
google_color_border = \"CCCCCC\";\n
google_color_bg = \"FFFFFF\";\n
google_color_link = \"000000\";\n
google_color_url = \"666666\";\n
google_color_text = \"333333\";\n
//--><\/script>\n
<script type=\"text/javascript\"\n
src=\"http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js\">\n
<\/script>\n"

 

var yahooad = "<script language=\"JavaScript\">\n
<!--\nctxt_ad_partner = '2432839150';\n
ctxt_ad_section = '1181';\n
ctxt_ad_bg = '';\n
ctxt_ad_width = 728;\n
ctxt_ad_height = 90;\n
ctxt_ad_bc = 'A1A5A9';\n
ctxt_ad_cc = 'FFFFFF';\n
ctxt_ad_lc = '0000DE';\n
ctxt_ad_tc = '737374';\n
ctxt_ad_uc = '439341';\n
// -->\n
<\/script>\n
<script language=\"JavaScript\"\n
src=\"http://ypn-js.overture.com/partner/js/ypn.js\">\n
<\/script>\n"

THE UBUNTU JUGGERNAUT: Resistance Is Futile

2005-10-16T20:07:00.000-07:00

By: Robert Storey

Introduction

Ubuntu has stormed the Linux distribution scene like no other project before. Although barely a year old, it has already succeeded in attracting thousands of satisfied users ranging from absolute Linux beginners to seasoned UNIX administrators. What are the secrets of this tremendous success? A quality product combined with friendly community resources and clearly stated objectives. Robert Storey, no longer able to resist the forces of humanity, set out to investigate this new king of Linux distributions.

Greatest Hits

Don't look back; something might be gaining on you.
- Satchel Paige, baseball player

The first release of Ubuntu Linux (version 4.10) occurred on 2004/10/20, and life hasn't been the same since. Unless you've been living under a rock in Antarctica, then surely you've heard of Ubuntu, which now tops the charts on the DistroWatch greatest hits list.

I must confess that I was caught off guard by the overnight success of Ubuntu, and thus neglected to review it (or even download it) when it first arrived on the servers. However, it's just as well that I didn't bother, because for the past year, not a week has gone by without somebody writing an Ubuntu review and posting it to one (or all) of the popular geek web sites. Indeed, it's become something of a joke that the only things you can't avoid in life are death, taxes and Ubuntu reviews.

The first anniversary of Ubuntu has just passed, and as of last week, the world has once again been treated to a new release (version 5.10), code-named Breezy Badger. Unable to avoid the onslaught of the Ubuntu steamroller, I have decided to at last concede defeat. I downloaded the CD, installed it, hacked it, contemplated it, meditated over it for a whole weekend, and now it's time for me to share my thoughts about this operating system with the rest of the world.

Money Talks

Ubuntu is Debian-based, a fact which warms my heart because I've been a Debian fan since the time of The Ark. There was a time when Debianistas were regarded as a small and mysterious cult, admired as "quaint" but doomed to extinction because (as everyone knew) RPM-based distros were destined to rule the universe.

Fast forward a few years, and the Linux world looks very different. Debian-based distros have experienced a renaissance which more or less began with the release of Knoppix in 2003. In the beginning Knoppix was just a live CD, but once it acquired a decent installation program, developers swiftly jumped on the bandwagon and hardly a week went by without yet another "Knoppix knock-off" being released.

Needless to say, not all of these distros have been successful - many disappeared soon after version 0.1-alpha was announced. Fortunately, some of the better ones have endured. Debian is clearly on a roll, which raises the question - why choose Ubuntu? What does it offer that the rest of the Debian family doesn't?

The answer to this mystery appears to have as much to do with marketing as technical excellence. Like some of its commercial competitors, Ubuntu is available on a two-CD set enclosed in a slick-looking cardboard case. Unlike commercial distros, Ubuntu is considerably cheaper with a price tag of US$0.00, shipping included. Furthermore, if you request one set, you'll probably receive 10 with instructions to hand out the other nine to friends and enemies alike. Of course, CDs sent by snail mail take time to arrive, so if you want Ubuntu fast the simple solution is to download it. In fact, if you can forego the sophisticated look and feel of the packaged CDs, downloading is the socially responsible thing to do since somebody does in fact pay for those CDs.

The "somebody" in this case is South African multi-millionaire, Mark Shuttleworth, who generously donated US$10 million to create the Ubuntu Foundation. The foundation's philosophy is that Ubuntu is free and will always be free. Furthermore, it is released under the GPL, meaning that if ever it somehow becomes unfree, anybody can grab the source code and morph it into a new operating system with no need to pay royalties.

Can't We Just Get Along?

For those new to the world of Debian, a little bit of background is required to understand The Big Controversy^TM that has erupted over Ubuntu's existence. Debian's great claim to fame has always been APT (Advanced Package Tool), which makes installing, removing and updating software a breeze. This is no small feat because Debian is the biggest of all distros, with over 15,000 packages in its repository. Juggling so much software is the work of about 1000 developers, most of whom are under-praised and unpaid for their monumental efforts.

To make this massive project manageable, Debian is segregated into three releases - stable (currently nicknamed Sarge), testing and unstable (nicknamed Sid for the mentally "unstable" kid in the movie Toy Story). Not surprisingly, all the latest and greatest software is found in the unstable branch. Therefore, the most up-to-date Debian-based distros tend to be based on Sid.

Despite the name, unstable does not mean that the operating system or its applications are likely to crash. However, it does mean that the package collection constantly changes. New packages are added and old ones are kicked out on a daily basis. The best way to think of unstable is that it's a moving target. This can cause problems when you go to install new software - thus, distros based on unstable can suffer from "package breakage", a serious disease that can lead to hair loss (as well as a smashed computer monitor).

To solve this problem, once every six months Ubuntu syncs with Debian's unstable package collection, but then goes its separate way. Thus, as time passes, the two distros get out of sync. This has some people concerned, among them, Ian Murdock, Debian's founder. In an interview at InternetNews.com, Ian pulled no punches:

"If anything, Ubuntu's popularity is a net negative for Debian. It's diverged so far from Sarge that packages built for Ubuntu often don't work on Sarge. And given the momentum behind Ubuntu, more and more packages are being built like this. The result is a potential compatibility nightmare."

Ian's main concern is that Ubuntu is not truly Debian compatible, and that development efforts are being sapped as everyone concentrates on Ubuntu. Contributing to the controversy is the fact that Ubuntu is not a member of the Debian Common Core (DCC) Alliance. In the true tradition of online discourse, this has generated some significant flame wars.

Going Live

As someone once said, politics is the world's second oldest profession. So let us now leave the political flame-fest behind and get down to what really matters, Ubuntu's technical prowess.

I've already mentioned that Ubuntu comes as a two-CD set, but actually that is a little misleading. There are two CDs in the spiffy cardboard package, but you don't really need both. One is a live CD which allows you to boot up and run Ubuntu without installing it to the hard drive. The other CD is for installation only.

I fired up the live CD to see what it could do. Most users will probably find it works as expected, but I found it to be a little bit awkward. Not bad, just not aesthetic. Booting the CD brings up what appears to be a text-mode installation program. You have to answer a few questions and then there is a lengthy wait while Ubuntu does hardware detection and configuration. Eventually, you will be presented with a brownish GNOME-based graphical desktop. I was slightly disappointed to see that the live CD did not automatically recognize the computer's hard drive, but I was able to mount it manually. Mounting the hard drive may not be important to you, but it would be crucial if you were trying to rescue data (one of the best uses of a live CD). Rescuers will probably be somewhat dismayed to discover that logging on as user root is not allowed (fortunately, buried in the menus is the ability to open a root window).

Aesthetics aside, the Ubuntu live CD works OK as a demo. You can use it to show off for your friends, test your hardware compatibility before installing, or to perform emergency surgery on a crippled hard drive.

Taking the Plunge

Ubuntu gets a lot more interesting when you actually install it. The installer is a slightly modified version of Debian's, and is ncurses-based (that is, text-mode with menus) rather than graphical. Although some users seem perturbed that there are no fancy graphics, the whole installation procedure is really very simple and even greenest of newbies should have little problem with it.

Although not required, you'll get far more mileage out of the installer if your computer is plugged into the Internet (preferably broadband). Ubuntu will attempt to use DHCP to find the network, but if you're not connected to a router or DHCP server you'll be given the chance to type in network parameters (necessary if you want to connect via pppoe or dial-up). Once the network is found, considerable additional software will be downloaded and installed. The only drawback to all this is that it can take quite a while, and if your network connection is slow or the servers are very busy, installing Ubuntu could occupy several hours. This is why you might consider downloading the DVD edition.

An issue that has produced much comment (and the requisite flame wars) is that Ubuntu randomly chooses a password for root, and you will have no way of knowing what it is. Therefore, unless you make an incredibly lucky guess, you will not initially be able to log on as root. This sounds disastrous, but really isn't. What actually happens is that the installer requires you to create one user, and that (first) user will automatically be given membership in the exclusive admin group. This user will then have almost as many privileges as root, including the ability to change the root password. Thus, without ever knowing the original root password, you'll be able to change it to your liking and then you can log in as root. Presumably, this convoluted process is to prevent inexperienced newbies from logging in as root and running amuck, gleefully trashing the file system with commands like "rm -fr *".

The exact procedure to change the root password: click System --> Administration --> Users and Groups, and then click Show all users and groups. Then choose root and click Properties.

As an alternative, you can open up an xterm and type:

sudo passwd root

Although not required, it might not be a bad idea to give your privileged first user a special name - I chose the name "big-cheese". You can later create at least one other user who will lack admin privileges. Although the Ubuntu FAQ assures us that it is safe to be surfing the Internet as big-cheese, I don't get a warm and fuzzy feeling doing this. One of the first laws of network security is to keep user privileges to a minimum.

Upgrading to Breezy Badger

If you've already installed a previous version of Ubuntu and now want to update to Breezy Badger, there is no need to start from scratch. In the true Debian tradition, updating is dead easy.

If you're updating from a Breezy Badger beta or release candidate, all you've to do (as root) is open an xterm and type:

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

If you're upgrading from Hoary Hedgehog to Breezy Badger, the process is just a little more complicated. First edit file /etc/apt/sources.list and change all occurrences of the word "hoary" to "breezy". If you're updating from a beta or RC version, you will probably also have to comment out the first line in /etc/apt/sources.list which refers to the cdrom - it should look something like this:

deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 5.10 _Breezy Badger_
- Release Candidate i386 (20051005)]/ breezy main restricted

Commenting out the above line means that Ubuntu will no longer nag you to insert a CD into the drive - it will go directly to the Internet in search of packages. Thus, with your /etc/apt/sources.list properly altered, you can now run these commands:

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

It should be noted that upgrading can take quite a long time. Just how long depends on the number of packages that need upgrading, and the speed of your Internet connection. It definitely helps to have broadband, but even then be prepared to let your machine run overnight.

Updating and Installing Software

Even if you've installed from scratch, don't be surprised when the very first time you log in, a message will pop up informing you that updates are available. To perform the required magic, you will need to log in as the privileged user (big-cheese?), and then run the Ubuntu Update Manager. Just follow the menus, as so:

System --> Administration --> Ubuntu Update Manager

Packages are being added and updated all the time, so you will no doubt be seeing new messages every few days admonishing you to update again. Although that may get wearisome, it is in fact a good idea to keep your package collection up-to-date for security reasons and to stamp out bugs.

Ubuntu also includes Synaptic, the famous user-friendly GUI package manager. It's so easy to install/remove software with this tool that I won't bother explaining it. Just point-and-click, and you'll know.

That having been said, one little "gotcha" is that, by default, Ubuntu limits itself to a relatively small package collection. Most users will not be satisfied with this for very long, but there is a simple little secret for fixing the problem. As the privileged user (or as root) fire up an editor and take look at the self-explanatory file /etc/apt.sources.list, which should contain (among other things) the following:

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software
## from the 'universe' repository.
## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY
## UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu team, and may not be under
## a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to your rights
## to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## universe WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the
## Ubuntu security team.

# deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hoary universe
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hoary universe

# deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hoary-security main restricted
# deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hoary-security main restricted

# deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hoary-security universe
# deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hoary-security universe

Once you've uncommented the universe and (optionally) the security repositories, run the following command:

apt-get update

You will then find that the list of available packages has greatly expanded. Despite all the dire warnings from the developers, there are few risks in using these additional repositories. However, it has already been pointed out that Ubuntu's packages are seriously out of sync with Debian's, so don't try to add additional repositories to /etc/apt/sources.list. If you fail to heed this warning, you'll almost certainly experience the dreaded package breakage.

Once you've done the above, you should find that all the KDE apps are available for installation. Ubuntu is GNOME-based, but you can certainly run KDE as your desktop. However, if you want to work in KDE most or all of the time, consider installing Ubuntu's alter-ego, Kubuntu.

If you're a little more daring, you might want to add the debian-marillat repository to /etc/apt/sources.list (use testing/main). This will allow you to install Lame, MPlayer and other software which has "problems" with software patents and the DMCA. As for just where you can find the nearest debian-marillat repositories, you'll have to do some Googling.

Swatting Bugs

I don't expect any OS to be trouble-free, but I did encounter a few more bugs with Breezy Badger than anticipated. Fortunately, Ubuntu has a nice bug reporting form. I'm pleased to say that the first bug I reported was swiftly acknowledged and fixed. The second and third bugs are still pending. The others were acknowledged but the developers didn't feel that these were bugs.

The first bug involved the hdparm command. This has already been fixed, so I needn't say anything more about it.

The second bug involved my favorite text editor, Xemacs, when running under GNOME. The problem is that it won't recognize X fonts which, among other things, prevents me from typing in non-Roman scripts. As a temporary fix, I've solved the problem by not using GNOME and instead running IceWM.

The most serious bug still on my pending list concerns the video driver. Although the installer correctly identified my video card as radeon, I noticed that performance in graphics mode was sluggish. I attempted to confirm this by running glxgears, which revealed a further surprise - if you launch glxgears in an xterm on Hoary Hedgehog, it will report frame rate, but on Breezy Badger it fails to do so. I later learned that you can force it to do so by running the command:

glxgears -printfps

That's all very nice, but I discovered to my chagrin that when (using my mouse) I attempted to drag the window with the spinning gears, Ubuntu froze. I no longer had a mouse cursor and the keyboard was dead. Only a hard reboot could restore the system to normal. I repeated this experiment several times, with the same fatal result.

I have found the fix for the problem, but this bug definitely needs to be addressed by the developers. First, I searched for (and then installed) an accelerated video driver for the Radeon card. To find out what was available for Radeon, I did this:

bob@x31:~> apt-cache search radeon
xserver-xorg-driver-ati - X.Org X server -- ATI driver
fglrx-control - Control panel for the ATI graphics accelerators
xorg-driver-fglrx - Video driver for ATI graphics accelerators
xorg-driver-fglrx-dev - Video driver for ATI graphics accelerators
(devel files)
gatos - ATI All-in-Wonder TV capture software
radeontool - utility to control ATI Radeon backlight functions
on laptops

Then I checked to see if xorg-driver-fglrx was installed (it was not):

bob@x31:~> dpkg --get-selections | grep xorg-driver-fglrx

So then I installed it:

root@x31:~> apt-get install xorg-driver-fglrx

With the new driver, my video performance has improved and glxgears no longer crashes the system. However, esoteric bugs like this could easily blow away even experienced geeks, let alone newbies. Hopefully this issue will be resolved soon.

Minor Quibbles

A minor annoyance was that the wrong kernel was installed. In this case, "wrong" was not disastrous. What happened was that a 386 kernel was installed even though I have a 686 processor. The machine ran OK, but performance clearly suffered. I initially filed a bug report, but the developers replied that the Ubuntu CD just doesn't have room for multiple kernels so they have to go with the lowest common denominator, which is 386. You can check which kernel is installed as follows:

root@x31:~> uname -r
2.6.12-9-386

The solution is to upgrade your kernel. If you're upgrading to a 686-based kernel, the command would be as follows:

apt-get install linux-686

I assume the above is a non-issue if you install Ubuntu on an AMD64 or PPC.

Though by no means a bug, Ubuntu has been criticized for not including a built-in firewall. The official response to this complaint is that - since most services are turned off by default - no firewall is needed. Personally, I find that explanation as satisfying as saying you don't need to lock the door of your house because there's nothing to steal inside. If nothing else, I'd rather have a firewall for the warm fuzzy feeling it gives me. Fortunately, you can easily add one. Probably the easiest one to install and configure is firestarter. I actually prefer guarddog, because it gives more precise control over the firewall rules, but it's also a little more complex to set up.

Another little quibble is that Ubuntu doesn't protect you from accidentally deleting or overwriting files by careless use of certain commands. In particular, rm, cp and mv can cause you grief, but even cat can be dangerous. I know I've mentioned this problem too many times before in other reviews I've written, but in Ubuntu the situation is especially severe since not even the dangerous root user is protected. As an example of how disastrous this can be, if you meant to type rm -r *.bak but instead typed rm -r * .bak, you can kiss all the files in your current directory goodbye. The way to prevent this is to enable interactive mode with the -i option. You can also prevent overwriting files with cat by using the "noclobber" option. The way to do all this is edit files .bashrc and .bash_profile in your home directory (and especially in /root) and add these lines:

alias rm='rm -i'
alias cp='cp -i'
alias mv='mv -i'
set -o noclobber

The Road Ahead

Various reviews I've seen about Ubuntu have attacked the release names (Hoary Hedgehog, Breezy Badger and upcoming Dapper Drake), or the "ugly" brown GNOME screen background (which is easily changed). I consider such "flaws" to be trivial. When push comes to shove, I want my operating system to "just work", and in this department Ubuntu delivers.

Despite a few fixable bugs, it's hard not to like this distro. I greatly appreciated the rock solid package management - never once did I have to pussyfoot around with the notorious broken packages which plague Debian unstable fans. Similarly, upgrading Ubuntu was a breeze. The default GNOME interface is very intuitive, a great relief to Linux novices as well as more jaded users. The installer might not be pretty, but it works as promised. There were lots of thoughtful little touches, such as powernowd (which keeps your processor cooler) being installed and started automatically.

Ubuntu is still not my favorite distro, but it comes very close. And I must confess that I've only been running it a few days, so I can't swear that it won't crash under worst case conditions (though my Ubuntu-loving friends assure me it's solid as the Rock of Gibraltar). There is some grumbling that Ubuntu's repository of packages is not quite as massive as Debian's, though it seems to be catching up fast.

A big plus is the helpful and friendly Ubuntu online community. When you're racking your brain with what seems like an insurmountable problem, it's good to know that assistance is just a few mouse clicks away. You probably won't be told to RTFM, but if you need an FM to R, some good references include the Unofficial Ubuntu Guide and the amazingly-detailed Debian Reference Manual.

Ubuntu started with a huge advantage by being well-funded, but ultimately a distro is judged successful only if it attracts a large and stable user base. With the number of Ubuntu converts increasing by leaps and bounds, it would seem that this is one operating system that won't go away anytime soon. Needless to say, some geeks will stubbornly refuse to test Ubuntu until the next ice age. Others will hesitate, experimenting with distro after distro, seeking the "perfect operating system" but never quite finding it. The huge collection of Linux/BSD systems listed on DistroWatch is a testimonial to how difficult it is to make a decision. However, after spending weeks trying to get XYZ distro to recognize your wireless card, it's really nice to have an OS that just works. Spending your life wandering in search of Utopia can have consequences. One might keep in mind the words of Aneurin Bevan... We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run down.

Copyright (C) 2005 Robert Storey
Verbatim copying and distribution of this article is permitted in any medium, provided this copyright notice is preserved.

Note: If you'd like to discuss this article, please do so on the DistroWatch Weekly page.

Reverse Engineering Software

2005-10-16T05:31:00.000-07:00

By g0df4th3r
--------------------------------------------------

Here is a short tutorial to explain some reverse-engineering techniques. Reverse engineering is the modifaction of data to make it do what you want to do. You MUST realise that reverse engineering can be used illegally, and doing so can lead you into trouble, and hurt our economy and developers. You can though use it legally too, for example:

Some wargames present challenges that require the modifaction of applications.

It helps understand some of the very basics of assembly.

You may develop techniques useful in finding exploits, or exploiting them.

Greated debugging skills, at lower-level, and learning about patching and similar.

This is why reverse-engineering should be learned, not to learn how crack programs illegally, as this takes away profit from the software industry, and we want better programs and games. Let's now continue on with the tutorial.

The Program and the Objective

For a start, you have to know what we are going to reverse-engineer, don't you?

Here is the short program written in C++:

QUOTE

code:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#include

int main() {
int i;
for (i=100; i <= 200; i++) {
cout << i << "\t";
}
if (i == 0) {
cout << "You won the challenge, congragulations.";
}
else {
cout << "You failed to complete the challenge. Please try again.";
}
}
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This program, written in C++ for MS-DOS, it is very simple. If I write anymore tutorials on this subject, the programs will be more compilicated and most likely win32. Anyway, the programs counts up from 100 to 200. You objective is to count down to 0. The program must be compiled in its original form. So how can we change the compiled application to display the string "You won the challenge, congragulations." instead of the string "You failed to complete the challenge. Please try again.". This, with our tools, is infact easy. By understanding how to do it, it does not take long to figure out similar challenges. You will, however, have to know some basic assembly (which I will tell you) to do these operations. By this you will not have to know how to write full blown assembly applications (I can't really) but to read assembly code, in a pseudo affect. To do this, you must learn some very basic assembly. I am listing the important ones below, do not worry if you do not understand these, as I will explain what things do throughout the tutorial.

Assembly Rundown:

Here are some basic assembly functions. The will help throughout the tutorial.
These are not designed to teach assembly, and are not explained very well.

Jumps and Calls

je destination - Jump if equal
jne destination - Jump if not equal
jmp destination - Unconditional jump, always jumps ot destination.
jl destination - Jump if not less
jle destination - Jump if less or equal
ja destination - Jump if greated (above)
jae destination - Jump if greater or equal
jnl destination - Jump if not less
jng destination - Jump if not greater
call destination - Calls a subroutine

Jumps are easy to remember. If you haven't noticed, the operators are derived from abrievated english.

Examples:

je - Jump if Equal
jae - Jump if Above or Equal

Stack operations

push src - Pushes data on the stack (memory). Used for calls, passing data to subroutines.
pop src - Takes data off the stack, puts it into a register.

Stack is last in first out (LIFO) meaning the last piece of data you push in, is the first data you pop out.

Math Operators

inc src - Increment by one (src++)
dec src - Decrement by one (src--)
add src, number - Adds the number to src. ie. src=1, number is 3 so it is 4.
sub src, number - Subtracts the number from src. ie. src=4, number is 3 so it is 1.

Comparisions

cmp src, data - For example, if src=1 and data=1, then the cmp was true.
test src, data - Another comparision operation, useful for testing is a register is zero.

Others

nop - No Operation.

Studying The Program

Programs Needed

Although you can use many tools to get the task done, I will be writing this tutorial to work with these two tools under windows.

W32Dasm

Hiew

Which can be found quite easily, and I believe are both freeware, or offer freeware packages.

If you are working under *nix, then you will have to learn how to use appropiate programs on your system (like gbd).

Finding out what to change

To change this program, we need to study it. You could pull out a hex editor, or a cheap disassembler, and go reading through the assembly, but that would mean more work for you. So, we will use W32Dasm, as it is great for studing the program. To change the program, we are using Hiew (Hacker's View) which is quite easy to use.

So, what do we need to change. In this tutorial we will be reverse-engineering this program in two different way, whose output will be similar, but a little different.

Studing the program is the most important part you do. First run the program and examine it output. It counts up from 100 to 200, and then prints a string: "You failed to complete the challenge. Please try again.". This is enough to start tracking down the operations and the desired result.

Make 2 copies of the application which you have compiled. Open up W32Dasm, and select Disassembler-> Open File to Disassemble. Locate the original application, and open it. This should start the disassembly process, which is quite quick for this application. When disassembly is done, make sure the font is of readable type. If not, change it to something more suitable by going to Disassembler -> Font -> Select Font. Now, what do you think we have to do to find out what to change. I will tell you, we have to find our string "You failed to complete the challenge. Please try again." (without quotation marks).

There is two ways we can find this out:

One way is to go to the string references by clicking on the the toolbar option Str Ref (string references) or by going to the menu option Refs and String Data References. This is all the strings used by out application. The majority of them being junk (to us) added by the compiler. You can then search down through this list, which is in alphabetical order, for our string. When you find the string, double click on it, and you should be taken to a new location in the disassmbly listing.

The other way is by going to Search -> Find Text, and searching for our string. Type in something like "You failed" without the quotation marks.

I am now assuming you are near a push instruction. Above this push instruction is our string, and some text. This looks like this:

QUOTE

code:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Referenced by a (U)nconditional or ©onditional Jump at Address:
|:00401180©
|

* Possible StringData Ref from Data Obj ->"You failed to complete the challenge. "
->"Please try again."
|
:00401196 68A2A14100 push 0041A1A2
:0040119B 685C044200 push 0042045C
:004011A0 E88F810000 call 00409334
:004011A5 83C408 add esp, 00000008
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, we are most interested in where the program decided to choose this option, instead of an other option. So, look at the second line. It has this written within it: 00401180©. The © means that it was from a conditional jump, meaning it was not a jmp statement, it had some critera to judge what to do. So now, we want to see the instruction that called this, so go to Goto -> Goto Code Location. Type in the text box, the location, which is 00401180 (may differ on your computer). We can now see this:

QUOTE

code:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:0040117E 85DB test ebx, ebx
:00401180 7514 jne 00401196

* Possible StringData Ref from Data Obj ->"You won the challenge, congragulations."
|
:00401182 687AA14100 push 0041A17A
:00401187 685C044200 push 0042045C
:0040118C E8A3810000 call 00409334
:00401191 83C408 add esp, 00000008
:00401194 EB12 jmp 004011A8
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The failed string area was called by a jne (jump if not equal) statement. Look at the statement above it, is reads test ebx, ebx. This statement test that ebx is equal to zero, ebx holds the number used for the loop. Now, we know that ebx cannot hold zero without changing the code, but in this example, we don't care. We just want the jump to never occur, because if it doesn't, the winning string is displayed, and although we didn't actually match the objective, we got the string. So how do we stop this jne statement occuring? By replacing it with a nop instruction (No Operation). This way it will continue on, and print our string. So, how do we change this. Okay, take down the offset when you are over the jne statement (when it is green/blue highlighted, green in jumps, you are over the statement), which can be seen in the status bar. For example, on my computer, the status bar reads this:

QUOTE

code:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Line:309 Pg 4 of 607 Code Data @: 00401180 @Offset 00000780h in File:crackme.exe
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So I know the offset I want to change on my computer is: 00000780. The h tells me it is a hex number. The offset may differ on your computer, so remember the one which corresponds to you, not me.

Reverse Engineering the Program

We will now use Hiew. We want to open a copy of our application (I told you to make 2 before), because W32Dasm is using the original, and we want to keep the original application. Now, you can open Hiew, and work your way through directorys to find the application, or you can do as I prefer and drag the copied exe icon into the hiew.exe icon, and it will open our application (same as issuing the command hiew file.exe in MS-DOS). You will now be presented with a hole bunch of characters on your screen. Press F4 for Mode, and select Decode (shortcut being pressing enter twice). Now, press F5 for Goto. Type in the offset, for me it is 00000780, but I can type in 780. Zeros to the left can be taken out, for example 00102101 would be 102101, but you can leave the zeros in to, if you prefer. You should be at the jne statement. Before I tell you how to change the program, I have to tell you this important note.

Every instruction in assembly is represent by a numerical instruction, called opcode. For example, JNE is 75, JE is 74, nop is 90. Statements like jne have parameters (like destination) and therefore take more bytes (our jne statement opcode is 7514). When changing a program, you must remember that when you change an instruction, you must not just leave the paremeters there, as these will turn into invalid instructions, usually causing an error. So, every 2 bytes relating to the instruction must change. For example if we wanted to change our jne statement (7514) into a nop, we must use 90 twice, so the opcode would be 9090. You do not have to remember opcodes, you can type in assembly codes, but knowing how to replace codes is important. Do not stress if you do not fully understand what I just said, as it will be demonstrated again soon.

Okay, now, lets change our jne statement. Press F3 for edit, and then press F2 for Asm (short for assembly). A box will open, with the asm instruction used. Delete this instruction, and type in "nop" without the quotation marks. Now what happens is directly related to the important note above. Our jne opcode was 7514, we typed in a nop which opcode is 90, 14 now makes an invalid instruction. So, we must replace this byte with another nop instruction, so type in nop, press enter, then escape to close the asm dialog. Press F9 for update, and then F10 for Quit. Run the application through the command line, and you will notice the end statement change from "You failed to complete the challenge. Please try again." to "You won the challenge, congragulations.". Although it still counts up. Now, we are going to reverse-engineer this application once more, to make it count down, completely fulfilling the objective, and furthering your understanding of the situation.

Reverse Engineering the Program - Part 2

What we do now is more compilicated, and requires a more deeper understanding of assembly (not too much more though). What we are going to do is make the application count down, and then display the winning string. We have already done the basic study, so we can skip that, now we want to look at the original application again (not the one we just engineered) and work out what to do. Realise that I have added comments in this readout, which are not displayed in W32Dasm (for obvious reasons), ; is the comment symbol, read these comments, it tells you what the code is doing. Here is the section we are looking at, which is the one we were looking at before, and a bit more up:

QUOTE

code:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Referenced by a (U)nconditional or ©onditional Jump at Address:
|:0040117C© ; The below jle statement jumps back to this, forming a loop.
|
:00401159 6878A14100 push 0041A178
:0040115E 53 push ebx
:0040115F 685C044200 push 0042045C
:00401164 E8EF7F0000 call 00409158
:00401169 83C408 add esp, 00000008
:0040116C 50 push eax
:0040116D E8C2810000 call 00409334
:00401172 83C408 add esp, 00000008
:00401175 43 inc ebx ; Increase ebx by one
:00401176 81FBC8000000 cmp ebx, 000000C8 ; Compare ebx with 200, used by jle
:0040117C 7EDB jle 00401159 ; Jump is less or equal than 200.
:0040117E 85DB test ebx, ebx ; test if ebx is 0, same as before.
:00401180 7514 jne 00401196 ; Jumps to failed message, like before.

* Possible StringData Ref from Data Obj ->"You won the challenge, congragulations."
|
:00401182 687AA14100 push 0041A17A
:00401187 685C044200 push 0042045C
:0040118C E8A3810000 call 00409334
:00401191 83C408 add esp, 00000008
:00401194 EB12 jmp 004011A8
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From my comments, you should see the low level structure of a for loop. The jle jumps back through the whole process if it is under 200 (hex C8, assembly uses hex). We can see the inc increases ebx by 1 each time called.

So psedu of this is:

BEGIN PSEUDO CODE
x=100
loop:
x+1
if x is less or equal to 200, goto loop
end loop
if x does not equal 0 goto the failed message, leave here, returns after back to pseudo.
if x does equal 0 print failed message
below code initialises the cleanup and exit processes
END PSEUDO CODE

Which is very easily translated to any HLL, using the provided for loops or other type of structure.

Now we have to change this code, to make it count down to zero, and display our message. So, first we have to change the inc, because we want it to decrease the number. Then we must change the cmp instruction, as we want it to compare with zero, not 200. Then, we have to change the jle (jump if less or equal) because we want it to jump if greater/above than 0 which is the instruction ja, not jae (jump if above or equal) because than it will go down to -1, and will jump to the failed message. So, lets get the offset of the first instruction we want to change (which is the following line)

QUOTE

code:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
:00401175 43 inc ebx
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The offset on my compiled program is 00000775h, as said before yours may differ.

Now, lets get to hiew. Open your 2nd copy, the copy which is unmodified. Get to the decode place (F4 -> Decode) Goto our offset (F5, type in offset) and now lets change these instructions. Please note when I say the line looks like the example, I mean under the Asm (F2) dialog. You should be at a line which reads:

QUOTE

code:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
inc ebx
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Using F2 (Asm) you should change this too:

code:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
dec ebx
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, there should be no need to add any nops here or anything, as both inc and dec use 2 digits for opcode.

Now we have to change this line (do not change until I fully explain)

QUOTE

code:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
cmp ebx, 000000C8
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

to

code:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
test ebx, ebx
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, to do this we must refer to my special note I had before. cmp ebx, 000000C8 opcode is 81FBC8000000

We spilt this into twos:
cmp ebx 200
81 FB C8 00 00 00

Now, test ebx, ebx opcode is (in groups of two)
test ebx and 0
85 DB

So we must replace the 00's and C8 with nops.

So go to asm dialog where the cmp instruction is, change it to test ebx, ebx. We must than change the remain 8 bits, which is grouped into 2. Which means 4 nops, so write nop, press enter, and repeat 3 more times. (You can change opcode directly, just don't press F2 while under edit, however it is harder to remember opcode than the asm instructions.

Did you notice how after changing these instructions, the jle statement, which had disappeared, is back. This is because once you start an invalid instruction, it will affect the whole program, nearly every statement following changes, if not all. That is why it is very important to count you bytes.

Now we must change the statement which reads:

QUOTE

code:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
jle 000000759
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

to

code:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ja 000000759
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(please note that yo do not have to use tabs, spaces are suffecient)

After doing this, you should now press F9 to update, and F10 to exit.

Now you can run the code in your DOS, and see if you completed it correcly or not, if you did, congradulations, if not, bad luck, do try again, or if having severe problems reply to this thread of PM me.

Conclusion

That concludes this tutorial. I hope you enjoy. Good Luck. God Speed. uhh I forget if there are any more expressions for "Good Luck" Well Just Enjoy.

Good Luck

Free Domain Name Registration

2005-10-09T20:03:00.000-07:00

Freebie Bombard's is a free domain registration. You may get your free domain name by simply referring others to sign up to their free domain name registration. Earn 200 points and you get a .com, .net, .org, .biz, .us domain, earn 100 points and you get .info domain free.

Click here for a genuine FREE domain name

Top Google Adsense Keywords

2005-10-07T04:58:00.000-07:00

Google Adsense has become a major money source for webmasters. By displaying Ads from Google to any webpage, the webmaster is paid per click on the ads. But before an ad could be clicked, the webmaster should find a way to drive traffic to their site, therefore, playing with keywords is a vital technique in order to drive traffic to their site. Some top Google Adsense keywords are enumerated below, with some advertisers willing to pay as much as $49.00 per click! The keywords below are grouped according to category and the numbers on the right are the amount an advertiser is willing to pay per click. Happy Googling! =)

Health and Life

peritoneal mesothelioma 48.38
mesothelioma 33.83
mesothelioma symptoms 31.41
mesothelioma info 25.79
asbestos cancer 19.34
asbestos mesothelioma 19.06
prostate cancer treatment 17.20
malignant pleural mesothelioma 16.30
asbestos 11.55
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lexapro and alcohol 10.27
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Loans

eloan 33.27
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equity line of credit 23.46
consolidate loans 21.03
home equity loans 20.98
home equity line of credit 18.65
credit repair 14.76
chase credit 14.12
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capital one credit 11.07

Insurance

cheap term life insurance 20.10
home insurance quote 16.18
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auto cheap insurance 12.90
american general life insurance 12.74
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insurances 6.70

Law

mesothelioma lawyers 48.61
vioxx attorney 37.22
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texas lemon law 19.68
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find a lawyer 14.18
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Car Hire

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Domain

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internet domain registration 13.74
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domain name 9.25

Web Hosting

dedicated hosting 15.34
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cheap hosting 11.11
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hosting reviews 8.94
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register a web site 8.12

Computer

computer rental uk 13.71
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computer based training 4.27

Software

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Anti-Spam

anti spam software 12.25
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anti virus protection 5.50
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Webmaster

affiliate marketing 12.90
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Money

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hard money lenders 6.70
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money lenders 5.71

VoIP

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voip service 6.87
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Debt

debt problems 11.69
debt consolidation services 11.44
consolidate credit card debt 11.34
debt solutions 10.43
online debt consolidation 9.19
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debt 8.48
debt management 8.38
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bad debt 4.51
debt free management 3.04

Credit Card

capital one credit card 11.42
student credit cards 11.21
low interest credit card 10.51
accept credit cards 10.46
airlines credit card 10.38
visa gift card 10.33
student credit card 9.41
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credit card applications 8.14
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Finance

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Telephone

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Technology

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fax services 5.21

Yahoo Domains Articles and Reviews

2005-10-04T21:48:00.000-07:00

Yahoo Domains are selling like hotcakes these days, here are some resource/reviews about Yahoo Domains.

Yahoo! Small Business offers Yahoo! Domains for $9.95/year. Here's a roundup of reviews and other links related to Yahoo! Domains:

PC Magazine review - Editor's Choice, thanks to ease-of-use

h100best-domain-names.com has a bad user review due to poor customer response

UpperHost gives them a 70% favorable review, saying they're a bit expensive and weak on features

Tony Cooper's Marketing Madness explains how to grab an expired Yahoo domain

MyCgiScripts offers a script to check for expires Yahoo domains

Overall, Yahoo offers an extremely reliable brand and service -- but you pay a slight premium compared to GoDaddy. Still, Yahoo Domain registration comes in lower than the overpriced Network Solutions and even Dotster.

Knoppix: A Linux or Windows User Power Tool

2005-10-04T01:34:00.000-07:00

Ever since the BSA.org began its campaign against the use of pirated software, me and my friends began using Linux. My first Linux Distro is Mandrake 9.0 way back almost 2 years ago. Now I’m using Mandriva and has also tried Ubuntu and Kubuntu. But I really fell in love with Mandriva LE 2005 because of its ease of use and of course its Linux kernel which is known for its stability and security (definitely better than Microsoft Windows). At first I used to dual boot Windows XP and Mandriva LE 2005, but since everything I need is in Mandriva, I decided to get rid of Windows permanently, and haven’t think of going back to Windows again. Imagine using Linux for almost 2 years and I have no problem with virus, worms, or Trojans… not a single encounter! It’s true that there are some occasional program crashes, but I could live with those rather than frequent OS crashing known in Windows. Then I came to encounter Knoppix, a Linux Live CD distribution. A Linux distro you could run directly from your CD ROM. After I got my copy of Knoppix 4.0.2, I have discovered a lot of useful tools for administering your system and yes, also hacking you Windows System. Below is an excerpt from an article from www.informit.com by Cyrus Peikari and Seth Fogie about useful tools in Knoppix.

KNOPPIX (The Security Tool Distribution)
In almost every line of professional work, the practitioner has a group of tools they use to perform their daily tasks. Typically, the most used tools are kept close at hand on a utility belt, in a pocket, or a toolbox/bag. This same principle applies to the security professional who is typically is able to use the standard tools available on almost any operating system to perform basic trouble shooting. However, once the job gets a bit complicated, the security professional often requires a specific program that is not locally available. This means precious time must be spent downloading the programs to a local computer, or making a trip back to the lab for the necessary equipment. For times like this, we recommend KNOPPIX.
KNOPPIX is "a bootable CD with a collection of GNU/Linux software, automatic hardware detection, and support for many graphics cards, sound cards, SCSI and USB devices and other peripherals. KNOPPIX can be used as a Linux demo, educational CD, rescue system, or adapted and used as a platform for commercial software product demos." Or in short, it is a full OS with a wide range of programs that are run straight from the CD to allow a user to turn any PC based system into an instant Linux based security Swiss Army knife, with a full kitchen sink thrown in to boot.
Download and Installation
KNOPPIX is a freely available software package available at http://www.knoppix.net, or one of its mirrors (http://www.knoppix.net/get.php). Until recently, it was possible to order a CD copy of this distribution, but thanks to greedy patent scrounging individuals and companies trying to claim ownership over "mouseclicks on online order forms", KNOPPIX is currently not available on a CD ROM. Regardless, you can still download this 700 MB file from numerous online mirrors.
Once you have obtained a copy, you simply need to burn it to a CD. Ironically, this is the most complex part of running KNOPPIX. First you need a 700MB CD, preferably a CD-RW so you can reuse the same CD when you download a KNOPPIX update. Second, you will need a CD burner with software that can create a bootable CD ROM from an ISO image. For Windows users, this includes Nero and EZCD Creator. In the case of Nero, you simply:

Open Nero (not in wizard mode)

Select File _ Burn Image

Locate KNOPPIX _V######.ISO

Click Burn!

After a few minutes waiting for the CD to burn, you are ready to install.
For the numerous GUI based operating systems I have installed, I have never experienced an easier installation than KNOPPIX. Before installing, I checked my computers (Dell 8200 Inspiron) BIOS to verify that the CD ROM was listed as an optional boot device, and then I simply placed the new CD in my computer and turned it on.
After a short pause as the PC performed its POST operations, KNOPPIX began to load. During the following few minutes, the OS will perform some automatic configuration and setup. Everything from the monitor, to the sound card, and even wireless network card are automatically detected and the appropriate drivers installed. I have tested my disc on several systems, ranging from a Gateway PII to my P4 laptop and have had equal success. In other words, KNOPPIX redefines what plug and play was meant to be.
The tools
This is only meant to be a short and non-technical intro to KNOPPIX. While this OS deserves a full 1000-page manual describing and defining the many tools and programs available, we leave the details of each tool and how they work for you to discover. We will cover the basic types of tools provided, with an example or two, and let you discover the rest. This will basically be a simplified version of the KDE program menu provided by KNOPPIX, as illustrated by the figure below. It is important to note that in each of these folders there is a RTFM link that directs you to literature on the tools included in each section. There is also a shell link in each folder that provides the user with numerous command line only tools. While there are many benefits to a GUI based environment, you will find that some of the best tools and programs are not available outside a text based command line.
Xchat for IRC, telnet, Mozilla web browser, Kmail, and even Lynks (a text based web browser) are available for your amusement and/or use.
KNOPPIX
Since KNOPPIX operates solely from the CD/RAM, there are some key components that you might want to setup before any extensive use. For example, printer configurations, SWAP file, network settings (if they are not provided by DHCP), modem settings, wireless card settings, and other pieces of an OS that are typically configured when an OS is installed are available for your management. Note that any update to these settings needs to be stored permanently if you want to save them. By default, all write access to the systems hard drives is disabled.
Utilities
This group of programs contains the typical applications that you will find in a default install of most any version of Linux. Games, system settings, text editors, office tools, etc. are all listed in this folder for your use. While these programs are most likely not the reason you would use KNOPPIX, they are some of the more common programs that would be greatly missed if they were not included.
Authentication
This grouping primarily focuses on FreeRadius, which is simply a Radius server that can be used to authenticate users to a network or service. One use for FreeRadius is to authenticate wireless users and allow them access to network resources.
Cracker
This small group of tools are all command line based programs. Their main purpose is to provide a user with a method to retrieve and then crack system passwords. For example, the infamous john is provided, which is a very common program useful for cracking DES encrypted passwords, which are found on most Unix systems.
Encryption:
If you want to protect data from intrusive elements, you need to encrypt it. This section provides the tools to get this done. From a simple ROT-13 encryption script, to cryptcat, SSL tools, and gpg, KNOPPIX provides its user with a solid set of encryption tools.
Firewall:
KNOPPIX includes two of the most commonly found firewall programs available on Linux. The first is the very well known iptables that uses a list of rules to determine if data is permitted to leave or enter the host computer. The second is Shorewall, which is much more than just a simple rules based firewall. If you are at all interested in either of these programs, then KNOPPIX is a great place to test these programs functionality.
Forensics:
While much of security focuses on detection, prevention, and penetration testing tools, forensics is equally as important. With tools such as The Sleuth Kit, a user can peer deep inside their system to see what data is hiding in unallocated space and memory. Other programs are available that can help prevent others from snooping on you, such as wipe.
Honeypot:
A honeypot is a program or system that is used to catch hackers and log their methods of operation. KNOPPIX provides two such programs. The first, LaBrea is essentially a hacker/worm tar pit. By taking advantage of the technicalities of a communication session, LaBrea will keep a worm or hacker stuck waiting for network replies, which are slowed to a crawl. The second, HoneyD is small program that emulates a whole network of computers, including services and programs. In theory, this type of program will cause an attacker to spend all their time probing the honeynet, thus keeping them away from the real network (which should not be available in the first place!).
IDS:
An Intrusion Detection System should be part of every network. While it offers no proactive protection, it can help an administrator determine if their network is under attack, and how an attacker gained access. KNOPPIX provides Snort as an IDS, with syslogd (log capturing) and Swatch (log monitoring) to help narrow in on any attack attempts. With these three programs, you can detect, log, and monitor everything from porn abuse, to IIS attacks.
Penetration Testing:
The first thing you should note about this group of tools is that they are all command line based. Ironically, there are more of these types of tools available with KNOPPIX then any other type. In the pen-test shell, you will find everything from dsniff, to sendmail attacks, ADM program, and more. Just be careful with these programs, as their use can constitute an illegal attack. The Figure below is a screen shot of the numerous command line tools available.
Servers:
If you need to setup or test a server on your network, KNOPPIX is an excellent choice. You can narrow down the appropriate configuration settings, or server tests without worrying about breaking the OS. Included are samba, VNC, apache, bind, and more.
Sniffers:
The ability to sniff network traffic is essential to any network or security administrator. KNOPPIX includes numerous sniffers, and supporting programs such as ettercap and dsniff. In addition to sniffers, this section of tools also includes packet creation/injection tools, such as IPMagic and nemesis. With these programs you can create your own custom made packets for testing purposes.
Vulnerability Testers:
Vulnerability testing programs are used to test for the existence of potential problems in computers and program. Included in this section are programs like nessus and nmap, both of which have a reputation for being able to detect open services, and problems with those services. Other programs like chrootkit (checks local system for indication of root kits), are also available to detect any existing vulnerabilities on the local system.
Wireless Tools:
This section is the reason I have a copy of KNOPPIX with me at all times. In a matter of three minutes I can turn my laptop into a fully function wireless auditing tool. Using kismet, airsnort, or wardrive, and a network card, I can detect wireless networks, capture the data on the network, and even crack the WEP encryption that is widely used. If you are interested in testing out the power of Linux with regards to WLAN analysis, KNOPPIX is definitely the place to start.
Summary
This short overview of KNOPPIX does not do it justice. However, if any of what you read interests you, please just download and burn off a copy for yourself. This is one packaged collection of software that will not fail to impress you. From the standard office programs (one of which I am using to write this overview), to the more nefarious penetration testing tools, KNOPPIX provides a powerful system in the palm of your hand. Now, if only they would make a version of KNOPPIX for my PDA!

Boost Your Windows PC and Internet

2005-08-17T00:39:00.000-07:00

Boosting up ur CPU really do affects the speed of your internet connection. You may follow these steps:

PLEASE!!! ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR SYSTEM FIRST BEFORE U CHANGE ANYTHING AND USE THE GUIDE AT YOUR OWN RISK, thanks (to do this click start and click RUN then type "regedit" w/o " " the click EXPORT then type a file name or just put regbackup) just in case u messed up, just double click the regbackup file were u saved it.

To increase system performance

Right click my computer. Click properties.
Click advanced.
Click settings (under performance).
Click Adjust for best performance.
Scroll to the bottom and check the last one “use visual styles on windows and buttons”.

These Settings will fine tune your systems memory

You need at least 256MB of ram to do this:

Go to start\run\regedit -and then to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

1.DisablePagingExecutive -double click it and in the decimal put a 1 - this allows XP to keep data in memory now instead of paging sections of ram to harddrive yeilds faster performance.

2.LargeSystemCache- double click it and change the decimal to 1 -this allows XP Kernal to Run in memory and improves system performance a lot.

3.Create a new dword and name it IOPageLockLimit - double click it and set the value in hex - 4000 if you have 128MB of ram or set it to 10000 if you have 256MB set it to 40000 if you have more than 512MB of ram -this tweak will speed up your disckcache.

Reboot

Tweak The Swap File

For Users with 256 MB RAM or more this tweak will boost their Windows- and Game-Performance.
What it does: It tells Windows not to use any Swap File until there is really no more free RAM left.

Open the System Configuration Utility by typing msconfig.exe in the RUN command. There in your System.ini you have to add "ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1" under the 386enh section.

Restart your Windows and enjoy better Game performance

Disable Services

XP Pro runs a lot of services by default that are pointless if your not on a corporate network, the following services are ones that I safely disable thereby freeing up memory but check what each one does first to make sure your not using it for something:

Go to Run and type services.msc, right click on each service, properties and choose disable.

Alerter
Application Management
Automatic Updates
Background Intelligent Transfer
Clipbook
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Distributed Transaction Coordinater
Error Reporting Service
Fast User Switching Compatibility
IMAPI CD-Burning
Indexing Service
IPSEC Services
Messenger
Net Logon
Net Meeting
Remote Desktop Sharing
Network DDE
Network DDE DSDM
Portable Media Serial Number
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Registry
Secondary Logon
Smartcard
SSDP Discovery Service
Telnet Themes
Uninterruptible Power Supply
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Upload Manager
Webclient
Wireless Zero Configuration
WMI Performance Adaptor

Speed Up The File System

NTFS is a great file system, but its feature-set comes at a slight cost in performance. You can negate this a little with the following tips:

* By default NTFS will automatically update timestamps whenever a directory is traversed. This isn't a necessary feature, and it slows down large volumes. Disable it by going to Run and type regedit:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem and set 'DisableNTFSLastAccessUpdate' to 1.

* NTFS uses disparate master file control tables to store filesystem information about your drives. Over time these core MFT files grow and become fragmented, slowing down all accesses to the drive. By setting aside a little space, MFT's can grow without becoming fragmented.

In the same key where you disabled the last access feature creat a new DWORD value called 'NtfsMftZoneReservation' and set it to 2.

Disable DLL Caching

Windows Explorer caches DLLs (Dynamic-Link Libraries) in memory for a period of time after the application using them has been closed. This can be an inefficient use of memory.

1. Find the key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer].

2. Create a new DWORD sub-key named 'AlwaysUnloadDLL' and set the default value to equal '1' to disable Windows caching the DLL in memory.

3. Restart Windows for the change to take effect.

Tweak The Prefetch

1. Run "Regedit"
2. Goto [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters\EnablePrefetcher]

3. Set the value to either 0-Disable, 1-App launch prefetch, 2-Boot Prefetch, 3-Both ("3" is recommended).

4. Reboot.

It will decrease the boot time but double and increase the performance of your XP.

SpeedUp Your Connection By 20% (Cable/DSL Users Only)
1.Log on as "Administrator".
2. Run - gpedit.msc
3. Expand the "Local Computer Policy" branch.
4. Then expand the "Administrative Templates" branch.
5. Expand the "Network" branch.
6. Highlight the "QoS Packet Scheduler" in left pane.
7. In the right window pane double-click the "Limit Reservable Bandwidth" setting.
8. On the settings tab check the "Enabled" item.
9. Change "Bandwidth limit %" to read 0.
10. Then go to your Network connections Start=>Control Panel>Network & Internet connections>Network Connections and right-click on your connection. Then under the General or the Networking tab, (where it lists your protocols) make sure QoS packet scheduler is enabled.

It may take effect immediately on some systems. To be sure, just re-boot.

Credit Card Hacking in Yahoo??

2005-06-29T21:52:00.000-07:00

I just saw this article on another site.. it says something about credit card hacking in Yahoo.. I haven't tried it though.. and perhaps I'll never will..

REAL CREDIT CARD YAHOO HACKING!

Note: Sending private information on a non-secure connection may be dangerous.

Hack Yahoo Passwords

2005-02-23T04:51:00.000-08:00

This article is no longer available or working.

You may visit other related articles:

Ophcrack: Windows Account Password Hacker

Windows: How to Crack Passwords

A Simple Website Hacking Using Linux and Konqueror

Steps to Deface a Webpage (About Defacers)

Knoppix: A Linux or Windows User Power Tool

Reverse Engineering Software

Steps To Deface A Webpage (About Defacers)

2004-12-25T19:05:00.000-08:00

by: b0iler

First of all, I do not deface, I never have (besides friends sites as jokes and all in good fun), and never will. So how do I know how to deface? I guess I just picked it up on the way, so I am no expert in this. If I get a thing or two wrong I apoligize. It is pretty simple when you think that defacing is just replacing a file on a computer. Now, finding the exploit in the first place, that takes skill, that takes knowledge, that is what real hackers are made of. I don't encourage that you deface any sites, as this can be used get credit cards, get passwords, get source code, billing info, email databases, etc.. (it is only right to put up some kind of warning. now go have fun ;)

This tutorial will be broken down into 3 main sections, they are as followed:
1. Finding Vuln Hosts.
2. Getting In.
3. Covering Your Tracks

It really is easy, and I will show you how easy it is.

1. Finding Vuln Hosts
This section needs to be further broken down into two catigories of script kiddies: ones who scan the net for a host that is vuln to a certain exploit and ones who search a certain site for any exploit. The ones you see on alldas are the first kind, they scan thousands of sites for a specific exploit. They do not care who they hack, anyone will do. They have no set target and not much of a purpose. In my opinion these people should either have a cause behind what they are doing, ie. "I make sure people keep up to date with security, I am a messanger" or "I am spreading a political message, I use defacments to get media attention". People who deface to get famous or to show off their skills need to grow up and relize there is a better way of going about this (not that I support the ones with other reasons ether). Anyways, the two kinds and what you need to know about them:

Scanning Script Kiddie: You need to know what signs of the hole are, is it a service? A certain OS? A CGI file? How can you tell if they are vuln? What version(s) are vuln? You need to know how to search the net to find targets which are running whatever is vuln. Use altavista.com or google.com for web based exploits. Using a script to scan ip ranges for a certain port that runs the vuln service. Or using netcraft.com to find out what kind of server they are running and what extras it runs (frontpage, php, etc..) nmap and other port scanners allow quick scans of thousands of ips for open ports. This is a favorate technique of those guys you see with mass hacks on alldas.

Targetted Site Script Kiddie: More respectable then the script kiddies who hack any old site. The main step here is gathering as much information about a site as possible. Find out what OS they run at netcraft or by using: telnet www.site.com 80 then GET / HTTP/1.1 Find out what services they run by doing a port scan. Find out the specifics on the services by telnetting to them. Find any cgi script, or other files which could allow access to the server if exploited by checking /cgi /cgi-bin and browsing around the site (remember to index browse)

Wasn't so hard to get the info was it? It may take awhile, but go through the site slowly and get all the information you can.

2. Getting In
Now that we got the info on the site we can find the exploit(s) we can use to get access. If you were a scanning script kiddie you would know the exploit ahead of time. A couple of great places to look for exploits are Security Focus and packetstorm. Once you get the exploit check and make sure that the exploit is for the same version as the service, OS, script, etc.. Exploits mainly come in two languages, the most used are C and perl. Perl scripts will end in .pl or .cgi, while C will end in .c To compile a C file (on *nix systems) do gcc -o exploit12 file.c then: ./exploit12 For perl just do: chmod 700 file.pl (not really needed) then: perl file.pl. If it is not a script it might be a very simple exploit, or just a theory of a possible exploit. Just do alittle research into how to use it. Another thing you need to check is weither the exploit is remote or local. If it is local you must have an account or physical access to the computer. If it is remote you can do it over a network (internet).

Don't go compiling exploits just yet, there is one more important thing you need to know

Covering Your Tracks
So by now you have gotten the info on the host inorder to find an exploit that will allow you to get access. So why not do it? The problem with covering your tracks isn't that it is hard, rather that it is unpredictable. just because you killed the sys logging doesn't mean that they don't have another logger or IDS running somewhere else. (even on another box). Since most script kiddies don't know the skill of the admin they are targetting they have no way of knowing if they have additional loggers or what. Instead the script kiddie makes it very hard (next to impossible) for the admin to track them down. Many use a stolden or second isp account to begin with, so even if they get tracked they won't get caught. If you don't have the luxery of this then you MUST use multiple wingates, shell accounts, or trojans to bounce off of. Linking them together will make it very hard for someone to track you down. Logs on the wingates and shells will most likely be erased after like 2-7 days. That is if logs are kept at all. It is hard enough to even get ahold of one admin in a week, let alone further tracking the script kiddie down to the next wingate or shell and then getting ahold of that admin all before the logs of any are erased. And it is rare for an admin to even notice an attack, even a smaller percent will actively pursue the attacker at all and will just secure their box and forget it ever happend. For the sake of arugment lets just say if you use wingates and shells, don't do anything to piss the admin off too much (which will get them to call authoritizes or try to track you down) and you deleting logs you will be safe. So how do you do it?

We will keep this very short and too the point, so we'll need to get a few wingates. Wingates by nature tend to change IPs or shutdown all the time, so you need an updated list or program to scan the net for them. You can get a list of wingates that is well updated at http://www.cyberarmy.com/lists/wingate/ and you can also get a program called winscan there. Now lets say we have 3 wingates:

212.96.195.33 port 23
202.134.244.215 port 1080
203.87.131.9 port 23

to use them we go to telnet and connect to them on port 23. we should get a responce like this:

CSM Proxy Server >

to connect to the next wingate we just type in it's ip:port

CSM Proxy Server >202.134.244.215:1080
If you get an error it is most likely to be that the proxy you are trying to connect to isn't up, or that you need to login to the proxy. If all goes well you will get the 3 chained together and have a shell account you are able to connect to. Once you are in your shell account you can link shells together by:

[j00@server j00]$ ssh 212.23.53.74

You can get free shells to work with until you get some hacked shells, here is a list of free shell accounts. And please remember to sign up with false information and from a wingate if possible.

SDF (freeshell.org) - http://sdf.lonestar.org
GREX (cyberspace.org) - http://www.grex.org
NYX - http://www.nxy.net
ShellYeah - http://www.shellyeah.org
HOBBITON.org - http://www.hobbiton.org
FreeShells - http://www.freeshells.net
DucTape - http://www.ductape.net
Free.Net.Pl (Polish server) - http://www.free.net.pl
XOX.pl (Polish server) - http://www.xox.pl
IProtection - http://www.iprotection.com
CORONUS - http://www.coronus.com
ODD.org - http://www.odd.org
MARMOSET - http://www.marmoset.net
flame.org - http://www.flame.org
freeshells - http://freeshells.net.pk
LinuxShell - http://www.linuxshell.org
takiweb - http://www.takiweb.com
FreePort - http://freeport.xenos.net
BSDSHELL - http://free.bsdshell.net
ROOTshell.be - http://www.rootshell.be
shellasylum.com - http://www.shellasylum.com
Daforest - http://www.daforest.org
FreedomShell.com - http://www.freedomshell.com
LuxAdmin - http://www.luxadmin.org
shellweb - http://shellweb.net
blekko - http://blekko.net

once you get on your last shell you can compile the exploit, and you should be safe from being tracked. But lets be even more sure and delete the evidence that we were there.

Alright, there are a few things on the server side that all script kiddies need to be aware of. Mostly these are logs that you must delete or edit. The real script kiddies might even use a rootkit to automaticly delete the logs. Although lets assume you aren't that lame. There are two main logging daemons which I will cover, klogd which is the kernel logs, and syslogd which is the system logs. First step is to kill the daemons so they don't log anymore of your actions.

[root@hacked root]# ps -def | grep syslogd
[root@hacked root]# kill -9 pid_of_syslogd

in the first line we are finding the pid of the syslogd, in the second we are killing the daemon. You can also use /etc/syslog.pid to find the pid of syslogd.

[root@hacked root]# ps -def | grep klogd
[root@hacked root]# kill -9 pid_of_klogd

Same thing happening here with klogd as we did with syslogd.

now that killed the default loggers the script kiddie needs to delete themself from the logs. To find where syslogd puts it's logs check the /etc/syslog.conf file. Of course if you don't care if the admin knows you were there you can delete the logs completely. Lets say you are the lamest of the script kiddies, a defacer, the admin would know that the box has been comprimised since the website was defaced. So there is no point in appending the logs, they would just delete them. The reason we are appending them is so that the admin will not even know a break in has accurd. I'll go over the main reasons people break into a box:

To deface the website. - this is really lame, since it has no point and just damages the system.

To sniff for other network passwords. - there are programs which allow you to sniff other passwords sent from and to the box. If this box is on an ethernet network then you can even sniff packets (which contain passwords) that are destine to any box in that segment.

To mount a DDoS attack. - another lame reason, the admin has a high chance of noticing that you comprimised him once you start sending hundreds of MBs through his connection.

To mount another attack on a box. - this and sniffing is the most commonly used, not lame, reason for exploiting something. Since you now how a rootshell you can mount your attack from this box instead of those crappy freeshells. And you now have control over the logging of the shell.

To get sensitive info. - some corperate boxes have alot of valueable info on them. Credit card databases, source code for software, user/password lists, and other top secret info that a hacker may want to have.

To learn and have fun. - many people do it for the thrill of hacking, and the knowledge you gain. I don't see this as horrible a crime as defacing. as long as you don't destroy anything I don't think this is very bad. Infact some people will even help the admin patch the hole. Still illegal though, and best not to break into anyone's box.

I'll go over the basic log files: utmp, wtmp, lastlog, and .bash_history
These files are usually in /var/log/ but I have heard of them being in /etc/ /usr/bin/ and other places. Since it is different on alot of boxes it is best to just do a find / -iname 'utmp'|find / -iname 'wtmp'|find / -iname 'lastlog'. and also search threw the /usr/ /var/ and /etc/ directories for other logs. Now for the explanation of these 3.

utmp is the log file for who is on the system, I think you can see why this log should be appended. Because you do not want to let anyone know you are in the system. wtmp logs the logins and logouts as well as other info you want to keep away from the admin. Should be appended to show that you never logged in or out. and lastlog is a file which keeps records of all logins. Your shell's history is another file that keeps a log of all the commands you issued, you should look for it in your $ HOME directory and edit it, .sh_history, .history, and .bash_history are the common names. you should only append these log files, not delete them. if you delete them it will be like holding a big sign infront of the admin saying "You've been hacked". Newbie script kiddies often deface and then rm -rf / to be safe. I would avoid this unless you are really freaking out. In this case I would suggest that you never try to exploit a box again. Another way to find log files is to run a script to check for open files (and then manually look at them to determine if they are logs) or do a find for files which have been editted, this command would be: find / -ctime 0 -print

A few popular scripts which can hide your presence from logs include: zap, clear and cloak. Zap will replace your presence in the logs with 0's, clear will clear the logs of your presence, and cloak will replace your presence with different information. acct-cleaner is the only heavily used script in deleting account logging from my experience. Most rootkits have a log cleaning script, and once you installed it logs are not kept of you anyways. If you are on NT the logs are at C:\winNT\system32\LogFiles\, just delete them, nt admins most likely don't check them or don't know what it means if they are deleted.

One final thing about covering your tracks, I won't go to into detail about this because it would require a tutorial all to itself. I am talking about rootkits. What are rootkits? They are a very widely used tool used to cover your tracks once you get into a box. They will make staying hidden painfree and very easy. What they do is replace the binaries like login, ps, and who to not show your presence, ever. They will allow you to login without a password, without being logged by wtmp or lastlog and without even being in the /etc/passwd file. They also make commands like ps not show your processes, so no one knows what programs you are running. They send out fake reports on netstat, ls, and w so that everything looks the way it normally would, except anything you do is missing. But there are some flaws in rootkits, for one some commands produce strange effects because the binary was not made correctly. They also leave fingerprints (ways to tell that the file is from a rootkit). Only smart/good admins check for rootkits, so this isn't the biggest threat, but it should be concidered. Rootkits that come with a LKM (loadable kernel module) are usually the best as they can pretty much make you totally invisible to all others and most admins wouldn't be able to tell they were comprimised.

In writting this tutorial I have mixed feelings. I do not want more script kiddies out their scanning hundreds of sites for the next exploit. And I don't want my name on any shouts. I rather would like to have people say "mmm, that defacing crap is pretty lame" especially when people with no lives scan for exploits everyday just to get their name on a site for a few minutes. I feel alot of people are learning everything but what they need to know inorder to break into boxes. Maybe this tutorial cut to the chase alittle and helps people with some knowledge see how simple it is and hopefully make them see that getting into a system is not all it's hyped up to be. It is not by any means a full guide, I did not cover alot of things. I hope admins found this tutorial helpful aswell, learning that no matter what site you run you should always keep on top of the latest exploits and patch them. Protect yourself with IDS and try finding holes on your own system (both with vuln scanners and by hand). Also setting up an external box to log is not a bad idea. Admins should have also seen alittle bit into the mind of a script kiddie and learned a few things he does.. this should help you catch one if they break into your systems.

On one final note, defacing is lame. I know many people who have defaced in the past and regret it now. You will be labeled a script kiddie and a lamer for a long, long time.

Excel Inputs

2004-10-11T01:00:00.000-07:00

Here’s how to add spinners, check boxes, and other useful controls to your worksheets.

Even if you’ve used Excel for years, you may not know about its form controls, which let you enter worksheet values using elements like sliders, spinners, list boxes, and check boxes. We’ll show you how these controls work, give you handy tips for customizing them, and look at some applications.

The Spinner Control

The spinner lets you alter the value in a cell by clicking an up or down arrow on the control. The techniques for customizing spinners also apply to scroll-bar controls, so you’re learning two controls in one, effectively.

Create a simple savings worksheet by entering the data shown in the table below. Note that row 6 is blank.

Cell Value

A1 Savings calculator

A2 Interest rate p.a.

B2 6%

A3 Number of years

B3 4

A4 Monthly deposit

B4 -200

A5 Initial balance

B5 -100

A7 Amount saved

B7 =FV(B2/12, B3*12, B4, B5, 0)

This worksheet calculates the amount saved at the end of four years if you start with $100 and save $200 a month at an interest rate of 6 percent compounded monthly. Monies paid out are expressed as negative values, so your starting deposit and the monthly payments are negative. This simple example offers plenty of options for using spinners.

Begin by creating a spinner to adjust the number of years shown in cell B3. Choose View Toolbars Forms to display the Forms toolbar and locate the Spinner control. Click the control and place it by using your mouse to draw a rectangle in cell C3. Right-click the control, choose Format Control..., and select the Control tab. Set the Current value to 4, the Maximum value to 20, and the Cell link to B3, then click OK.

Deselect the spinner by clicking away from it in the worksheet; test the spinner by clicking its up and down arrows. As you click, the value in the linked cell (B3) should increase or decrease within the specified range.

Overcoming Limitations

Spinners are limited to returning integers between 0 and 30,000, but you can get a range of real numbers (including negative numbers) by performing some simple arithmetic on the value returned by the spinner. To show how this is done, we’ll add a second spinner to adjust the interest rate in quarter-point increments.

Place the spinner in cell C2 and right-click on it. Choose Format Control..., select the Control tab, and set the Current value to 24, the Maximum value to 40, and the Cell link to E2, then click OK. Now format cell B2 to show percentage with two decimal places, and alter the cell’s contents to read: =E2/400. When you click the new spinner, you’ll see the value in cell B2 change in increments of .25 percent, from 0 to 10 percent. The new formula in B2 takes the value the spinner returns in cell E2 (a number from 0 to 40) and divides it by 400 to produce the displayed value.

You can also create a spinner to give you the negative value that represents your monthly deposit. Add a third spinner, this time in cell C4. Set the Current value to 200, the Maximum value to 30000, the Incremental change to 10, and the Cell link to E4, then click OK. In cell B4, type -E4 and test the spinner. The E4 value will change in increments of 10 within the range 0 to 30000, giving B4 values ranging from 0 to -30000. You can create a range of values by using a different formula or by modifying parameters like the maximum value.

Check Boxes

Check boxes are controls that return either true or false, depending on whether they are selected or cleared. They are useful for managing options that have only two possible settings, such as on/off, true/false, or 1/0. In our example, the last argument in the formula in cell B7 is currently set to 0, which indicates that the payment (the amount saved each month) is due at the end of every month. Changing this value to 1 alters the calculation to show the result when payments are made at the beginning of each month. This is a good use for a check box.

Click the Check Box control and add a check box into cell B6. Right-click this control and choose Format Control... Control tab. From the Value options choose Unchecked. Set the Cell link to E6 and click OK. Alter the formula in cell B7 to read: =FV(B2/12, B3*12, B4, B5, E6)

Change the check box’s text by right-clicking it and choosing Edit Text. In place of the current text, type: Payments made at beginning of period, then adjust the size of the control so the text can be clearly seen. Test the box by clicking in it; the value in cell B7 should change according to whether the check box is selected or not.

Combo Boxes

The final control we’ll look at is the combo box, which lets you choose an entry from a list. Combo boxes are handy when you have a fixed number of choices and can be used to return more than one piece of data from a table of data.

To understand more about the combo box control (and its close relative, the list box), type these values into a blank worksheet.

Cell Value

A2 J. Brown

B2 CA

C2 10%

A3 P. Smith

B3 NY

C3 12%

A4 J. Peters

B4 TX

C4 9%

A7 Sales

B7 Salesperson

C7 State

D7 Commission

A8 200000

C8 =INDEX(A2:C4,E2,2)

D8 =INDEX(A2:C4,E2,3)*A8

Ignore the errors that appear in cells C8 and D8. Click the Combo Box control and draw a combo box in cell B8. Right-click the control, choose Format Control... and the Control tab, set the Input Range to A2:A4, set the Cell link to cell E2, and click OK. You can now choose a salesperson from the combo box. When you do so, the person’s state will appear in cell C8 and the commission amount will appear in cell D8.

The combo box control returns the position of the selected item in the Input range list. The first item—J. Brown, in this example—is in position 1. In our sample worksheet, each INDEX function queries the array A2:C4 and returns the value in the row and column specified by the formula. The row number is the value returned in cell E2 by the combo box. The column number is supplied in the INDEX function itself.

Note that the data in column E is necessary but does not have to be visible. You can hide it by right-clicking the column and choosing Hide.

This covers the basics of using form controls on your worksheets. You’ll find other controls on the Forms toolbar, such as the Option Button, the List Box, and the Scroll Bar. Each of these works in a similar way to one of the controls we’ve looked at. Option buttons work like check boxes, but only one at a time can be selected. Scroll bars work like spinners, but also include sliders. List boxes work like combo boxes, but the full list can be visible. Some controls on the toolbar are grayed; these cannot be used on worksheets. See the sidebar for directions to Microsoft Knowledge Base articles that discuss these controls.

The System Boot Process Explained

2004-10-02T22:40:00.000-07:00

The typical computer system boots over and over again with no problems, starting the computer's operating system (OS) and identifying its hardware and software components that all work together to provide the user with the complete computing experience. But what happens between the time that the user powers up the computer and when the GUI icons appear on the desktop?

In order for a computer to successfully boot, its BIOS, operating system and hardware components must all be working properly; failure of any one of these three elements will likely result in a failed boot sequence.

When the computer's power is first turned on, the CPU initializes itself, which is triggered by a series of clock ticks generated by the system clock. Part of the CPU's initialization is to look to the system's ROM BIOS for its first instruction in the startup program. The ROM BIOS stores the first instruction, which is the instruction to run the power-on self test (POST), in a predetermined memory address.

POST begins by checking the BIOS chip and then tests CMOS RAM. If the POST does not detect a battery failure, it then continues to initialize the CPU, checking the inventoried hardware devices (such as the video card), secondary storage devices, such as hard drives and floppy drives, ports and other hardware devices, such as the keyboard and mouse, to ensure they are functioning properly.

Once the POST has determined that all components are functioning properly and the CPU has successfully initialized, the BIOS looks for an OS to load. The BIOS typically looks to the CMOS chip to tell it where to find the OS, and in most PCs, the OS loads from the C drive on the hard drive even though the BIOS has the capability to load the OS from a floppy disk, CD or ZIP drive. The order of drives that the CMOS looks to in order to locate the OS is called the boot sequence, which can be changed by altering the CMOS setup. Looking to the appropriate boot drive, the BIOS will first encounter the boot record, which tells it where to find the beginning of the OS and the subsequent program file that will initialize the OS.

Once the OS initializes, the BIOS copies its files into memory and the OS basically takes over control of the boot process. Now in control, the OS performs another inventory of the system's memory and memory availability (which the BIOS already checked) and loads the device drivers that it needs to control the peripheral devices, such as a printer, scanner, optical drive, mouse and keyboard. This is the final stage in the boot process, after which the user can access the system’s applications to perform tasks.

Source: http://www.webopedia.com

Formatting Nokia 6600 Phone

2004-09-17T23:47:00.000-07:00

Format Your Phone - Nokia 6600
by: Zaki

It may happen that a program corrupts the C: drive of your phone. In such case, some data can be lost of course but, more annoying, some applications may not work or work only partially,...

On a Series 60 based phone, two key sequences will allow to restore your phone to a cleaner state:

Normal Reset (*#7780#) : Restores ini files from rom but preserves user data (photos, 3rd party apps etc)

Deep Reset (*#7370#) : This reformats completely the C: drive. All applications and files stored on this drive will be lost and clean default files will be rewritten

In both case, the phone will ask you a confirmation and you will have to enter your security code (12345 by default). In all cases make sure you have at least 3/4 charge of battery power left

Files and applications stored on E: drive are not be affected by these sequences

Useful help: Full phone formatting a 6600!

Here to let everyone know how to perform a FULL phone formatting on a 6600! If you encounter situation like below on your 6600,
1. Blank screen phone unable to reboot
2. Phone only able to boot-up to "Nokia" word screen
3. Install some program but not able to uninstall it after that
4. Unable to delete unwanted files on C drive

Do a Full phone formatting on your 6600! as steps below
1. Make sure you have at least 3/4 charge of battery power left
2. Backup your contacts list and personal files to MMC memory card
3. Switch-off your 6600 phone
4. Press and hold 3 keys; Green dial key, * Star key, no. 3 key on keypad and then press the power on/off to switch on the 6600 phone

Remember, do not let go the 3 press and hold keys until you see a formatting word screen show!

5. After a few minutes when the Full phone formatting completed, your 6600 will back to original system and factory setting.

What is Spyware?

2004-09-15T05:34:00.000-07:00

Spyware is Internet jargon for Advertising Supported software (Adware). It is a way for shareware authors to make money from a product, other than by selling it to the users. There are several large media companies that offer them to place banner ads in their products in exchange for a portion of the revenue from banner sales. This way, you don't have to pay for the software and the developers are still getting paid. If you find the banners annoying, there is usually an option to remove them, by paying the regular licensing fee.

Why is it called "Spyware" ?
While this may be a great concept, the downside is that the advertising companies also install additional tracking software on your system, which is continuously "calling home", using your Internet connection and reports statistical data to the "mothership". While according to the privacy policies of the companies, there will be no sensitive or identifying data collected from your system and you shall remain anonymous, it still remains the fact, that you have a "live" server sitting on your PC that is sending information about you and your surfing habits to a remote location.....

Are all Adware products "Spyware"?
No, but the majority are. There are also products that do display advertising but do not install any tracking mechanism on your system.

Is Spyware illegal?
Even though the name may indicate so, Spyware is not an illegal type of software in any way. However there are certain issues that a privacy oriented user may object to and therefore prefer not to use the product. This usually involves the tracking and sending of data and statistics via a server installed on the user's PC and the use of your Internet connection in the background.

What's the hype about?
While legitimate adware companies will disclose the nature of data that is collected and transmitted in their privacy statement (linked from our database), there is almost no way for the user to actually control what data is being sent. The fact is that the technology is in theory capable of sending much more than just banner statistics - and this is why many people feel uncomfortable with the idea.

On the other hand...
Millions of people are using advertising supported "spyware" products and could not care less about the privacy hype..., in fact some "Spyware" programs are among the most popular downloads on the Internet.

Real spyware...
There are also many PC surveillance tools that allow a user to monitor all kinds of activity on a computer, ranging from keystroke capture, snapshots, email logging, chat logging and just about everything else. These tools are often designed for parents, businesses and similar environments, but can be easily abused if they are installed on your computer without your knowledge.

These tools are perfectly legal in most places, but, just like an ordinary tape recorder, if they are abused, they can seriously violate your privacy.

Facts about "Computer E-mail Viruses"

2004-09-15T05:22:00.000-07:00

by: Erick Gerlitz

Does this sound familiar: "Don't read or open any e-mail titled Good Times! It will destroy your computer!" Many of you have received e-mails warning you of reading a specific e-mail sent to you going by a certain name (e.g.- "Good Times," etc.). These warnings tell you your computer will face certain doom if you open these e-mails and read them. THESE WARNINGS ARE A HOAX.

The TRUTH of the matter is, *YOU CAN NOT GET A VIRUS OR ANY SYSTEM DAMAGING SOFTWARE BY READING AN E-MAIL*. E-mails (that is, the ACTUAL message) can not contain viruses. This is why:

>> A virus can not exist in an e-mail text message. They also can NOT exist in USENET (newsgroup) postings or simply "float around" the internet. Viruses must be attached to and infect an executable program (.exe, .com). Viruses and other system-destroying bugs can ONLY exist in EXECUTABLE FILES, and since e-mail is not a system file in that sense, viruses can not exist there. While reading e-mail, you are not executing any malicious code to activate! Thus, no virus can exist. HOWEVER, if you (or your computer) download a FILE attached to an e-mail or USENET posting (i.e.-binary) and RUN it, there IS a chance that file could contain a virus, since a runable file could contain a virus. It is also very important that you DO NOT, under any circumstances, allow your e-mail program to automatically execute an attached file. You risk infection by doing so!

>> Viruses are generally (almost always) OS (operating system)-specific. Meaning, viruses created for a DOS application can do no damage on a Macintosh, and vice-versa. If you take a careful look at these e-mail hoaxs, you'll notice that very few are specific about which system it "infects." There has been one exception to the OS-specific rule, which is called the Microsoft Word Macro Virus, which infects documents instead of the program. This virus can affect both Macintosh and PC computers because of the way the application was written (it contains the same source code on several OS's). In the future, we might see viruses cross OS-boundries because Java, ActiveX programming languages break the typical "rules" of how a virus is OS-specific.

>> If you carefully read these hoax letters, you can pick out strange, non-sensical technical jargon, used to confuse and scare those who aren't computer experts. This jargon usually talks about systems of a computer that don't exist or things that aren't possible.

GMAIL Tools

2004-09-03T22:09:00.000-07:00

Sites of some GMAIL tools that I found usefull:

http://toolbar.google.com/gmail-helper/

http://www.imspire.com/gsuite/index.html

http://ilia.ws/archives/15_Gmail_as_an_online_backup_system.html

http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=169789

http://www.marklyon.org/gmail/

http://sippey.com/b/2004/06/g-mailto-bookmarklet.html

http://www.tong-web.com/gmail/

1 GB Mailbox

2004-08-21T22:17:00.000-07:00

Eversince the launch of GMAIL from GOOGLE, I have craved to have a 1 GB Mailbox, but as of this writing, I haven't got any invites yet.. poor me.. The GMAIL craze has put a hype among web maniacs and free invites was being sold of up to $80 on eBay. I wish I could have an invite and see for myself the features of GMAIL that is threathening to sweep the webmail industry.

But since I want to experience 1GB Mailbox, I have here a list of 1GB email alternatives:

GAWAB (http://www.gawab.com)

Gawab.com Golden membership offers you the following features:
- 1001 MB FREE account
- NO POP/SMTP (Available only on their Silver membership w/c is 15 MB of mailbox)
- 15 Interface Themes
- 14 Different Languages
- SPAM/Virus Protection - Unlimited Number of Folders
The membership in "Gawab Golden" is granted to any Gawab.com user worldwide for FREE.

Rediffmail (http://www.rediff.com)

Rediffmail is free, fast & easy to use email. Rediffmail offers you a storage space of 1 GB. It gives you the facility to send 20 attachments at a time with the total mail size upto 10 MB. The new Rediffmail has several features that makes managing your email simpler. It has powerful spam control.

Spymac (http://www.spymac.com)

Each Spymac membership includes an e-mail account that can be accessed externally via POP3 or with Spymac Mail's web interface. Each account includes a generous 1000 MB of storage space. Spymac Mail sends and receives millions of e-mail messages every year.

Walla! (http://www.walla.com)

Walla! offers 1 GB of email service for free. To keep this service free, Walla! displays an ad banner, the ad banner isn’t obtrusive though. With Walla! you don’t get many of the fancy features found in GAWAB; you won’t get POP access or forwarding, the service is very simple with minimal features and options.

BEGINNERS "STEP BY STEP" SECURITY GUIDE, v0.1.32

2004-08-16T22:18:00.000-07:00

By Overlord, © June, 1998. The latest version of this guide is always avaliable from http://www.cyberarmy.com/. You are free to distribute this page on your site, all I ask is that you leave this notice here and place a link to www.cyberarmy.com on your site.......

http://www.hnc3k.com/stepbystephacktute.htm

Crack almost any Windows Password

2004-08-16T22:02:00.000-07:00

Cain & Abel is a password recovery tool for Microsoft Operating Systems. It allows easy recovery of various kind of passwords by sniffing the network, cracking encrypted passwords using Dictionary, Brute-Force and Cryptanalysis attacks, decoding scrambled passwords, revealing password boxes, uncovering cached passwords and analyzing routing protocols. The program comes in two versions because of the differences and limitations of some API.

http://www.oxid.it/cain.html

Computer Gender

2004-08-15T05:26:00.000-07:00

As you are aware, ships have long been characterized as being female (e.g., "Steady as she goes" or "She's listing to starboard, Captain!")

Recently, a group of computer scientists (all males) announced that computers should also be referred to as being female.

Their reasons for drawing this conclusion follow:

Five reasons to believe computers are female:

1. No one but the Creator understands their internal logic.

2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else.

3. The message "Bad command or file name" is about as informative as, "If you don't know why I'm mad at you, then I'm certainly not going to tell you."

4. Even your smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory for later retrieval.

5. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

However, another group of computer scientists, (all female) think that computers should be referred to as if they were male. Their reasons follow:

Five reasons to believe computers are male:

1. They have a lot of data, but are still clueless.

2. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem.

3. As soon as you commit to one you realize that, if you had waited a little longer, you could have obtained a better model.

4. In order to get their attention, you have to turn them on.

5. Big power surges knock them out for the rest of the night.

Is WIndows a Virus? - a joke

2004-08-15T04:57:00.000-07:00

Is Windows a Virus No? Windows is not a virus. Here's what viruses do:

1.They replicate quickly - okay, Windows does that.

2.Viruses use up valuable system resources, slowing down the system as they do so - okay, Windows does that.

3.Viruses will, from time to time, trash your hard disk - okay, Windows does that too.

4.Viruses are usually carried, unknown to the user, along with valuable programs and systems. - Sigh.. Windows does that, too.

5.Viruses will occasionally make the user suspect their system is too slow (see 2) and the user will buy new hardware. - Yup, Windows does that, too.

Until now it seems Windows is a virus but there are fundamental differences: Viruses are well supported by their authors, are running on most systems, their program code is fast, compact and efficient and they tend to become more sophisticated as they mature.

So Windows is not a virus.

It's a bug

Windows 95/98 Local Hacking

2004-08-14T21:47:00.000-07:00

Why would I want to hack windows?
Well, okay stupid question but why would you want to hack windows when there are all those lovely servers to take on? The answer is so simple, it often eludes people altogether. How exactly are you going to take out the server if your workstation is so crippled, you can't even use the run command? Most hacking programs are DOS based. If your friendly Admin has removed MS-DOS access, you're in trouble. You won't be able to run all those nice programs you've collected.

What if they Admin has placed some really horrible backdrop on your machine. You have a great replacement only the display properties aren't available. How do you get round that? Well, that's what this tutorial is all about : Removing restrictions on the local machine so that you can get a shot at the servers or so you can run programs that you otherwise wouldn't be able to.

Are there many restrictions that can be placed on me?
There are a surprising amount of things Admins can do to your computer to make it more restricted. To compromise of course, there are many ways to remove these annoying restrictions, one of which I worked out and removes all the restrictions although it temporarily screws up Internet Explorer's settings. Here is a small list :

Control Panel
Run command
Find command
Missing start menu programs
Fixed backdrop
No DOS access
Removed CDROM and floppy access

All of the above are a real pain in the ass. I'll go through removing these restrictions one by one.

Where do these restrictions come from?
Good question. There are two types of restriction, local and remote. The local restrictions are usually stored in the registry and are fairly easy to get round compared to the remote restrictions. These are restrictions placed on servers and are usually downloaded each time you login. They are VERY hard to get around and most are beyond the scope of this tutorial. However if I do show some of them, I'll point out that they are remote. Sometimes, the remote restrictions are enforced as local ones. This is handy to say the least.

What is the registry?
The registry is a database that Windows uses to store all its information. You can consider it as a directory. Most programs and files are registered here, along with user and system settings. Driver versions and start up programs are also found in here. Without the registry, Windows would be in trouble.

Where is the registry?
The registry consists of two files, user.dat and system.dat . Both are stored in the windows directory. There are backups of both files called user.da0 and system.da0 . If the main two are destroyed, the system copies the new versions over to replace them.

The user.dat file contains user settings. All the different parts of a users settings make up a user profile. It is these profiles that contain the information regarding what restrictions should be enforced. Every user is stored here along with all their access rights. I'll show you how to fool the system into giving you full access the easy way later.

The system.dat file strangely enough contains information about the system. This includes settings for Internet Explorer and other pieces of software such as DirectX, MS Office etc etc.

Can I edit it myself?
Yes you can, using a program called regedit. It is automatically installed and unless your friendly Admin has removed your ability to edit it, you can use this program to set anything in the registry that you want.

NOTE : If you remove the system.dat file ( which you usually have to ) some programs may have problems finding their default settings or refuse to load.

I can't edit the registry. How do I get around this ?
Well the easiest way is to simply remove user.dat and system.dat . When you reset the computer and login, it will come up and tell you that it needs to reset to repair the registry. Ignore this message and use ctrl+alt+del to get it to close without selecting 'ok'. You will see that all the restrictions have been removed. Quickly go to 'Run' and type 'command' without the quotes. This will open a DOS window and for some reason stabilises the system. Windows had a nasty tendency to crash if I didn't open a DOS window for some reason. When you reset the computer, the old registry will kick in and the restrictions will be active again. This isn't so bad because it means you can get a machine back to normal with the minimum of fuss.

I can't get to the registry files to delete them! What now?
Don't panic yet! I'll show you two ways of getting to the files. Normally if the 'Run' command is missing, you're going to have trouble getting to the C:\windows directory which holds those files. Second, you'll find that they are write protected. In the next few sections I'll show you how to get round this.

I have the 'Run' command. What next?
Type "c:\windows\" without the quotes. This will take you to the directory that contains the registry. You will most likely get a message saying that altering the files could be dangerous and could stop windows or other programs from working. Ignore that and select continue or click the hyper link. It will now show you the files.

The evil scum bags have nicked the 'Run' command! Now what?!?
Now you panic........only joking! Most Admins do take out the run command as standard. It stops normal people from going where they shouldn't be. However, we can out smart them here by using the shortcut trick. This trick will get us whatever we need and is just as powerful as the run command, except it is slightly more inconvenient.

So what's this magic shortcut trick then?
This trick is essential to a hackers toolkit. In Windows, you can create a shortcut to just about anything from a folder to a program or even a website! We can use this to our advantage. It also gets round the annoying "Access Denied" messages that explorer likes to give. Right click on the desktop, select new -> shortcut. When it asks what you want to make the shortcut to, type in "c:\windows\" without the quotes and press enter. Hit enter twice more and you will find a nice shortcut on your desktop. Click this twice and it will dump you in the Windows directory. Nice eh?

When I type in the directory in explorer, it returns "Access Denied". Why?
This means that the Admin has told explorer not to accept any requests to that folder, program or website. However for some reason explorer will let you straight through if you make a shortcut to that folder. Security is tight eh?

Okay, I've found the files.....only I can't delete them! Windows says that are protected!
When windows says protected, it means write protected. This is when you can't write or alter a file. This is done for safety reasons. No one wants to accidentally delete the registry. However because we're evil we want to and Windows is stopping us. Don't worry, the protection is lame. Right click on the file and hit properties. Once in, untick the little box next to write protected and click apply then okay. Now try deleting the file. You should find that it goes without any hassle. This works with both registry files.

Right, I've sabotaged the files. What next?
To prevent Windows catching on, just turn off the computer and switch it on again. If it starts up and the registry fixing program starts, you'll have to repeat the procedure. Sometimes it gets you, some times it doesn't. If it keeps coming up, see the next section.

My plans are being thwarted by this stupid registry checker! HELP!
This nasty little program kept catching me out. It is called regcheck and is usually found in the windows or windows\system directory. It is called from an ini file called regcheck.ini or regchck.ini . The name seems to vary from system to system though I can't see any reason why it should. You can alter the .ini file and remove the checking program. The script will complete and still the registry won't have been restored!! Tee hee!

The network is on the Internet but Cyber patrol won't let me access any hacking sites!
Cyber patrol is a royal pain in the ass! However, it is very easy to remove. Press ctrl+alt+del to bring up the task list. Select Cyber Patrol and press enter. Cyber Patrol will now bring up a window asking for a password. Damn, we've been beaten! Not so, press ctrl+alt+del again. This time because Cyber Patrol has ALREADY answered windows, it won't access again. Thus Windows thoughtfully lets us close the program. Bye bye stupid restrictions!

I can't access the disk drive or the CDROM yet I see the Admins doing it! How can I ?
This can be quite annoying. You have lots of stuff on disk or CD but you just can't access them. Why? Because some sod has removed their icons from 'My Computer'. *Sigh* I guess its no go then right? Wrong! Although you can't see the drives, they are still there. Load up ole faithful Internet Explorer and type "D:\" without the quotes and press Enter. It should display a list of the files on the CD. If it comes up with "Access Denied" or " Permission Denied" then simply make a shortcut to it. That way, you will see all the files.

When I try to access A: , the whole machine crashes on me! Why?
This happens when the floppy drive has been disabled in the BIOS ( Basic Input Output System). When you try to access it, Windows will hang and force you to reboot. There is a nice easy way of testing if the drive is open before you crash your machine. When you log in or out, check the light on the drive. If it flashes, the drive is available even if you can't see it in the drive list. If it doesn't flash, the drive has been disabled.

I MUST have floppy access! How do I get it?
The only way to get disk access is to enable the floppy drive in BIOS. This is almost ALWAYS passworded ( if not you're really lucky ). You will need a BIOS cracker and there are loads on the Internet. Check what BIOS the machine has when it boots up ( Award, AmiBIOS etc etc). Get a program for that. Obviously you will somehow need to get it on the Network and there is a cunning way to do that to!

Sneaking files onto a Network
This trick is so simple and yet so effective. Create a document that you could pass off as school work or something. Make sure it has an image file in it. Drag and drop the program file into your document and then place the Image file over it. Save as a .doc file and put it on a disk. Ask your friendly Admin to copy the file for you. Most will just copy it and those that check will just see a document with a piccy. They won't see your program. To get the program back, you need to open the document on your workstation. Drag the program back out and put it on your desktop. This trick works with any file of any type.

Right, I've got the program. What now ?
Run the program. It should give you a password. Write this down and reset the machine. As the machine checks its memory press the 'Del' button. It will then take you into the BIOS where it will prompt for the password. Enter the password that you got from the program. It should let you in. Go into the Basic options and look for floppy drive. Go to the first one. It probably says "Not Installed". Change it so it says "3 1/2 inch floppy". Quit the BIOS and save changes. When it boots up, the floppy drive will be active. Do the reverse to disable it again to stop Admins finding you and changing the password.

How can I get back all those nice programs that they removed from my start menu?
This is also quite easy. There is a program called groupconv.exe . By running this, you'll restore the default star menu along with all the usual programs and accessories. Useful if the Admin has removed some program that you prefer or want to use like Paint brush. You'll need paint to pull off the next trick.

How do I change this cursed background without using the display properties?
Not so useful perhaps but nice to have none the less. No one likes the default backgrounds but Admins tend to remove the ability to change them which is rather upsetting. To pull this off, you need access to paint. Normally this isn't removed. Open your bitmap of choice into paint. From the 'File' menu, select "Set as background". This will set your bitmap as the background. Normally this won't stay the same and will change back next time you login. Still, you get a decent background for the duration of your session.

The 'Net Plug' trick
This is a nice easy way of getting Admin rights. I've taken this from my other tutorial and pasted it here because I don't want to have to type it out again. It is a very useful technique which is why I'm duplicating it here.

This is an attack that I worked out myself before I was given Admin status. It always works and I've yet to see it fail. Make sure you are at a windows 95 or 98 machine. I doubt NT would be fooled by this trick but I don't have any NT machines so I can't test it for you.

Note : Most Admins, believe that they are the most knowledgeable about their system. Many also believe that no one else knows much about computers. In other words, for whatever reasons, they are not too concerned about us i.e. the idiots attacking their servers. Why? Because we aren't good enough. So why waste valuable time configuring security that won't be needed eh? I think I've made my point. They don't see us as a threat. You don't consider a house spider a threat so you don't go round putting up netting to keep them out. Why? You can't be bothered. The same rule applies here. Even if you are a computer genius, play it dumb. Admins like to lecture the uninitiated and would love to appear smarter than you. This is the way you want it. The Admins will think you're a nice guy or gal, totally harmless. This sometimes gives you more leverage because they like you, they'll be willing to help you. They also won't expect you to launch a huge assault on their servers either However sometimes there are some smart people out there who will notice your talents and pull you over to their side. This isn't a bad place to be and can be advantageous later.

First of all, login as yourself. Crash your computer and reset it . Walk over to your favourite admin (the one that hates you most is the best choice ) and apologise for being an idiot but the computer won't let you login and could s/he please come and take a look for you. Mumbling and grumbling they'll come over. The best way to test if it is the machine is for them to login. Of course, they'll log in as an admin or equivalent. They'll check your account and see that your account is fine. They'll tell you to log onto another machine and your account will be okay. They'll now log off and walk off in disgust thinking you are a computer moron. Not so my friend, we've just done them good and proper!

Turn off the computer and pull out the network lead. Turn it back on again. The computer will detect that you aren't on a network and will dump you at a desktop with restrictions of the last user. If this user is the admin then chances are that he or she will have full access to everything including DOS and drive access. Perfect for installing all those really kewl programs you have on a disk in your pocket......

But you aren't on the network now. That's no fun is it? Shove the lead back in and try to access a network drive. This is the bit where you hope the Admins are sloppy or not computer geniuses. Windows by default caches ALL passwords so unless the Admins have told it not to ( a key deep in the registry) then windows will have a nice copy of their password. Go into 'My Computer' and click on a drive. Whoop with glee as Netware logs you in as an Admin. Why does this happen? Well windows still holds the username and password last used to access the drive. You are logged into windows as Admin and windows knows what credentials you last gave to the server. So it supplies them for you. Likewise because you are now authenticated you know have full access to the NDS tree. Not only can you read but you can no write, modify delete etc etc. Much more fun!

Now, this is the bit where you have to be sneaky. You have to make a new account for yourself or upgrade your old one. There are pros and cons to each of your choices. If you alter your existing account and they check it for some reason ( maybe you got locked out? ) they'll notice you have admin rights and shoot you. If you make a new user, it might get found quicker but there is no way to point to you ( it was created by user admin after all tee hee ). The choice is yours. You can always do both.

I still need DOS access to run the programs. How can I get it?
Not all Admins actually remove the ability to run DOS programs, simply because they are needed. It is likely though that the shortcuts and the run command will have been removed. Also I doubt you will be able to shutdown into MS-DOS mode. So how do you call up the window?

Well, we can use our usual shortcut trick. The program that opens the DOS windows is called "command.exe" . To run the program, simply make a shortcut to "command" without the quotes. Double clicking on the shortcut will pull up the MS-DOS prompt.

I've done that but I get "This has been disabled by your system Administrator
If you get this, your Admin has locked out the ability for your user to run DOS programs. Windows is suprisingly tight on DOS access. There is only ONE way that I currently know of ( I'm always searching for new ones though) to bypass this whilst logged in as yourself. To do this, you need a program called "poledit.exe".

What the hell is poledit?
Poledit ( short for policy editor ) is the program used to alter user settings on any given computer. This program edits the user.dat file that we saw earlier. It might have occured to some Admins to block access but I have yet to see it done. Normally registry editing is barred but that seems to be only when using regedit.

Poledit is NOT installed by default. You will find it on the Windows 98 CD in the resource kit folder. The file itself isn't very big and it doesn't need any support files. You can sneak it onto the network by hiding it in a Word file. If you have CDROM access, you could just load it in, or burn the program to CD.

Poledit controls ALL the access rights such as control panel access, display properties, find and run commands, DOS access, shutting down to MSDOS mode etc etc. This tool can give them all back to you!

Okay, I've managed to get poledit onto the network. now what?
Right, run the program. It will bring up a list of users and their policies. There will probably be two policies stored there ( at least). One will be called Admin or similar and the other default. You will be user default. Now, alter the settings to whatever you want and save them. Quit the program and you should find that your access has been increased!

I think it worked but when I logged back onto the network, the old settings kicked in.
This is a pain because it means your settings are stored on the server too. When it logs in, it activates the settings you updated and then overlays the new ones from the server. Annoying huh? Well there isn't all that much you can do about it apart from use the Net Plug trick.

How does it help us here? Well, turn off the computer, unplug the network lead and turn it back on. It will automatically log you in as the last user, i.e yourself. However because there is no server, it will pull its restrictions from the local file ( which we edited of course). Plug the network lead back into the computer and try to access the drives. Even if it asks you to login again ( to access the network ), Windows isn't clever enough to pull off the updated policy files. You're home free!!

NetBIOS Hacking

2004-08-14T04:33:00.000-07:00

Introduction

NetBIOS stands for Network Basic Input Output System. It's an API than enables DOS BIOS to perform special functions for LAN's. Most LAN's for PCs are based on NetBIOS.

NetBIOS Hacking

This is one of the most simple methods of hacking. It will allow you to connect to a remote PC which has file and print sharing on. You only need that PCs IP.

To see if a certain PC has file and print sharing on use the nbtstat command in the DOS Prompt.

e.g nbtstat -a IP (e.g. 192.168.0.0)

If the PC doesn't have file and print sharing on you'll get:

"Host not found"

Otherwise you'll get:

NetBIOS Remote Machine Name Table

                         

   Name              Type         Status

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

Host          <20>  UNIQUE      Registered

Workgroup     <1e>  GROUP       Registered

System        <03>  UNIQUE      Registered

The only thing you get from this is the name of the host which has a code of 20. (the other codes can be diffrent, but they don't matter anyway) Now you must search for a file which is called lmhost. With win 9x/me it should be in the windir, so x:\windir\lmhost, (this file has no extension, so when you search for it make shure you have *.* set as file type.)

With Win NT/2000/XP this file is situated in the
x:\windir\system32\drivers\etc\lmhost

Once you have found the file open it in notepad.

There will be lots of text and info which isn't important at the moment. Just scroll to the end of it and type in the name of the host, press tab and type in it's IP. It should look like this:

host IP (e.g. 192.168.0.0)

Save and close the file. Now you need to seach for the PC. Do this with Find and the Computer with win 9x/ME or Search for computer or people with win 2000/XP. Type it's IP (e.g. 192.168.0.0) as the search criterium and you should get a result with the host as the PCs name. (sometimes it's just the IP instead the hosts name, this depends on windows)
Double click on it. You're on your targets pc now and can browse it as your own.

Creating and Configuring Web Sites in Windows Server 2003

2004-08-13T23:02:00.000-07:00

Creating and Configuring Web Sites in Windows Server 2003

Since broadband connection is widely used today, many small business to private users prefer to host their sites from their personal computers in their home. The above link is an article on setting up web sites using Windows Server 2003.

My Tech Page

2004-08-13T22:43:00.000-07:00

This is blog will be my page for technology related articles.