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Date: 2005.07.27 14:10:25 +03'00'
Windows vulnerable to
DoS attack
A recently discovered defect in
Windows has made the software
susceptible to a remotely
accessed denial of service attack.
The vulnerability has not yet been
exploited, Microsoft claims. But
security experts at the SANS
Institute reported an increase in
scanning for port 3389, the one
used by RDP. This may imply that
hackers are looking for
defenceless systems.

The defect in the Remote Desktop

Protocol could affect Windows XP
SP2 users, as well as those using
Windows 2000, Windows XP SP1,
Windows XP Professional x64,
Windows Server 2003, Windows
Server 2003 SP1, and Windows
Server x64.

A patch will eventually be issued,

but for now Microsoft advises
users to block the port used by
RDP (TCP 3389), or disable
Terminal Services or Remote
Desktop.

Microsoft issued a security

advisory on Saturday
downplaying the risk. "Our initial
investigation has revealed that a
denial of service vulnerability
exists that could allow an attacker
to send a specially crafted Remote
Desktop Protocol (RDP) request to
an affected system", the company
said, which would cause affected
computers to crash over and over
again.
Email virus hoaxers, The email contains the following
text, users are urged to ignore it.
cold as Ice Like all hoaxes, poor spelling is a
good sign it's a sham.

You know the email that's gone

round saying put ICE then a
contact number in case of
emergency? Well don't do it cos....

Be very careful with this one -

although the intention is great it is
unfortunately phase one of a
phone based virus that is laying a
Mobile phone viruses are being path for propagating very quickly.
used as an excuse to send a hoax Passing it on is part of the virus
email that, ironically, does not interestingly, such is the
actually contain a virus. deviousness of the people who
write these things.
In the wake of the London
bombings many organizations
have been suggesting that users
should put a contact under the
name of "Ice" on their phone. The
acronym stands for "In Case of
Emergency," and is becoming
increasingly popular.

But email hoaxers are claiming

the entry will provide a port for a
new mobile phone virus that We have already seen the "second
specifically searches for the entry phase" where a program is sent
"Ice." Virus experts have as part of a ring-tone download
dismissed the emails. that goes into your address book
and looks for something it
"Brain-dead pranksters have recognises - you've guessed it, an
started a chain-letter email address book entry marked "ICE
warning against such practices, or I.C.E." or whatever. It then
because a mobile phone virus sends itself to the "ICE list",
might exploit it. This is charging you for the privilege.
nonsense," said Mikko Hyponnen,
director of antivirus research at
Finnish company F-Secure. "No
viruses to exploit the "Ice"
number exists or are likely to
exist."
Company porn creates
regulatory nightmare
that detect porn banned by their
policies, we were alarmed to find
the relatively low awareness of the
risk of legal ramifications and
potential exposure among those
responsible for the company's
Acceptable Computer Usage
policy."

IT directors are putting

businesses at financial risk by not
enforcing regulation linked to
porn prevention in the workplace.
Two surveys of U.S. and U.K.
businesses found that over half of
those who responded were not
aware lawyers use company
internet records for evidence of
sexual harassment, workplace
harassment and hostile work
environments.
The surveys also highlighted large
discrepancies in how many staff
were disciplined for unacceptable
usage in U.S. and the U.K.
Whereas 70 percent of U.K. firms
had taken action against staff for
violating policy only 40 percent of
U.S. companies have done the
same.

Almost two thirds were unaware

that child porn, its distribution and
consumption, is high on the FBI's
list of priorities over the next two
years, possibly resulting in
investigations into company
records.

"We were not surprised to see that

almost all leading organizations
surveyed have a computer usage
policy in place," said Alain
Recaborde, principal of Delta
Consulting, which conducted the
surveys of the largest 500 U.S.
and U.K. firms. "But given the
high percentage of organizations

Google turns into ugly
security risk monster
"Clearly anybody using Google
needs to be aware of its policies,"
said Graham Titterington,
principal analyst at analyst
company Ovum. "For example,
people assume email is more
secure than it actually is. You
should think about what data you
want to go to Google and what to
keep."

Google's email policy and rapid

growth is making it the security
risk of the century, an expert is
warning.

Chris Hoofnagle, senior counsel

at influential lobbyist group the
Electronic Privacy Information
Center (Epic) said that protecting
personal information is going to
become increasingly difficult as
Google expands its search and
email operations.
Titterington suggested that
anyone concerned after reading
Google's policies should opt for a
paid, more private, service
instead.

"This is a lot of personal

information in one basket," said
Hoofnagle in an interview with
Associated Press. "Google is
becoming one of the largest
privacy risks on the internet."

Hoofnagle was keen not to

criticise Google's security policy
but suggested that due to the fact
it harvests far more information
than perhaps any other single
organisation, it will become a
major target for criminals.
Black Hat puts hacker
on mock trial
LAS VEGAS--A raucous conference
crowd heard real-life attorneys battle
over a hacker's guilt in a mock trial
held to illustrate how slippery
electronic evidence can be in
computer crime cases.
administrators reasons for why they
should report intrusions to law
enforcement. Justice Department
officials have complained that
relatively few intrusions--almost all of
which would violate federal law--are
reported to police.

The mock trial, staged Wednesday

at the Black Hat Briefings security
conference here, centered on
whether a video game designer had
violated federal criminal laws by
helping someone to break into U.S.
Air Force computers.

In the government's evidence were

purported e-mail messages without
headers, and representations of
Internet Relay Chat conversations--
both of which can be altered without
leaving a trace.

Richard Salgado, a computer crime

prosecutor with the U.S. Justice
Department in Washington, D.C.,
said that he participated in the mock
trial to demonstrate to the
conference audience what types of
records should be kept to aid in
possible criminal prosecutions of
electronic intruders.
"It shouldn't be scary," Salgado said.
"A lot of people in the audience are
going to be the first responders,
collecting the evidence...They really
need to think of us."
Salgado co-authored the Justice
Department's 2002 cybercrime
manual. He also wrote a Justice
Department bulletin in March 2001
that offered network and system
In the mock trial's scenario, a
disgruntled employee of GetA
Entertainment helped a teenage boy
to enter an Air Force computer and
use it to attack GetA's servers and
modify character information.
In evidence, the teenager admitted
to the intrusions, but said a designer
at GetA Entertainment nicknamed
"Weasel" had provided him with the
undocumented commands and the
unpublished Internet addresses that
made the break-in possible.
"It's an area where we see a few
cases, but obviously as technology
blossoms and the potential for civil
and criminal litigation increases, we'll
see more," said U.S. District Judge
Philip Pro, the chief judge for the Microsoft.co.uk
Nevada district.
defaced in hacking
Pro said that he has participated in attack
mock trials convened by economists
and forensics scientists before, but
Microsoft.co.uk was defaced late on
that a computer security theme
Tuesday night with a message in
before a boisterous audience of
support of Venezuelan hacker Rafa.
hundreds was a novelty for him. In
Apocalypse hacked into Microsoft's
any kind of complex technology
UK web site (microsoft.co.uk) and
cases, Pro said, the key was for
uploaded a picture with the message
attorneys and technical experts to
"FREE RAFA - HACK IS NOT A
"use knowledge that the average
CRIME".
person can understand."
According to Microsoft spokes man
the pic has been removed as told to
theregister.co.uk . But the pic is still
there .

Salgado acknowledged that the facts

of the hypothetical case were
fanciful--such as what happened to a
virtual Pfizer's Rod of Endurance, a
piece of evidence--but the underlying
legal lessons were not.

The scenario was "based on

recurring patterns," Salgado said. "It
was intentionally designed to keep
the audience's interest."

The mock trial, which lasted three

hours, ended with a hung jury. Jury
members were chosen randomly
from conference attendees. Jennifer
Granick, director of Stanford
University's Center for Internet and
Society and mock defense counsel,
applauded the verdict, saying "any
hung jury is a win for the defense."
Hackers leak NASA
directory
Hackers have released the phone,
email, and address directory for
NASA online. The directory contains
over 1000 associates, affiliates,
engineeers, scientists, and friends of
NASA. NASA has yet to comment on
the situation. The directory was
released by SheepByte of the hacker
zine 'TIZ'.
Visa, Amex cut ties
with processing firm
hit by security breach.
After October,
CardSystems won't be
allowed to process
their transactions
Visa U.S.A. Inc. and American
Express Co. are terminating their
contracts with a credit card
transaction processing company that
was hit by hacker attacks, potentially
exposing 40 million card numbers to
online intruders.
In separate announcements, Visa
and American Express said they are
ending their relationships with
CardSystems Solutions Inc. in
Atlanta because the company didn't
meet its contractual requirements in
providing processing services for
merchants that accept the credit
cards. The companies will no longer
allow CardSystems to process their
transactions after October.
Rosetta Jones, a spokeswoman for
San Francisco-based Visa, said in a
statement that the action against
CardSystems comes "after an
internal and forensics review of its
processing practices demonstrated
that -- in violation of Visa's rules -- it
did not have the appropriate controls
in place to protect cardholder
information."
"Despite some remediation actions
taken by the processor since the
initial reporting of the data
compromise, Visa cannot overlook
the significant harm the data
compromise and CardSystems'
failure to maintain the required
security protections has had on Visa
member financial institutions and
merchants, as well as the significant
concerns it has raised for
cardholders," Jones said.
"CardSystems has not corrected,
and cannot at this point correct, the
failure to provide proper data
security for Visa accounts."
intruders who apparently infiltrated
CardSystems' network (see Security
breach may have exposed 40M
credit cards). A MasterCard
spokeswoman said the credit card
company's fraud-detection system
first became aware of the infiltration
in May and the company promptly
launched an investigation into the
breach.

In a statement yesterday, Purchase,

N.Y.-based MasterCard said it will
continue to allow CardSystems to
provide transaction processing
CardSystems apparently kept credit
services because the company has
cardholder data on file after the
worked to improve its security and
transactions were processed, in
procedures since the earlier
violation of its agreement with Visa,
incidents.
she said. Because the data was still
on file, it could be accessed by
"MasterCard has required
intruders. "Visa's security
CardSystems Solutions to develop a
requirements were adopted precisely
detailed plan to bring its systems into
for the purpose of protecting
compliance with MasterCard security
cardholder information and guarding
requirements by August 31, 2005,"
against the type of data compromise
the statement said. "MasterCard is
recently experienced by
holding weekly meetings with them
CardSystems," Jones said.
to monitor progress, and as of today,
we are not aware of any deficiencies
in its systems that are incapable of
being remediated. They have
Judy Tenzer, a spokeswoman for
already ceased storing sensitive data
New York-based American Express,
in accordance with MasterCard
would not comment on the direct
rules.
cause for the termination of the
processing arrangements with
CardSystems.

A spokesman for CardSystems didn't

respond to numerous messages left
by a reporter today.

Last month, MasterCard

International Inc. announced that
13.9 million of its credit card
numbers were among the 40 million
that may have been accessed by
"However, if CardSystems cannot
demonstrate that they are in
compliance by that date, their ability
to provide services to MasterCard
members will be at risk," the
statement said.
Transaction processing companies
such as CardSystems process
transactions for merchants that
accept credit cards from retail
purchasers. The credit card
companies certify the processing
companies to provide the services.
Merchants that have used
CardSystems as their provider will
be able to choose another
processing company to provide the
services once the agreements with
Visa and American Express are
ended, said Tenzer of American
Express.
SyS64738's comment: this is a very
good example on how a security
breach can compromise the financial
status of a company leading to
bankrupcy. Any doubt CardSystem is
not yet filing the bankrupcy
procedure? We are sorry for its
employees though, who are the first
direct victims of such cyber attack...
High-tech deception
helps workers
SAN FRANCISCO, California
(Reuters) -- High-technology tricks
once seen as the purview of
hackers are now in the hands of
ordinary office workers.
Gadgets these days are full of
surprises with growing powers to
manipulate or deceive in the
workplace.
Simple tricks allow one to appear to
be hard at work in the office while
actually forwarding calls, e-mails and
instant messages to your mobile
phone.
One can backdate e-mails through
rolling back a computer's built-in
clock or use background phone
noises to concoct convincing
excuses not to go to work.
"Instead of being a slave to
technology, you can master it, you
can make it look like you are working
when and where you are not," said
Marc Saltzman, 35, the author of
"White Collar Slacker's Handbook"
published in June.
Saltzman says computer trickery has
become mainstream as the not-
super-tech savvy people seek ways
of coping with a 24/7 work culture
and the increasing inability of people
to dodge uncomfortable questions in
an era of always-on broadband,
mobile phone and instant messaging
connections.
"Just because you can be reached
everywhere does not mean you have
to be in touch all the time," Saltzman
said in a phone interview. "The
question is how do you turn the
tables?"
The book, published by technical
publisher Que, provides a how-to
manual for computer users to tell
little white lies to deceive friends and
colleagues.
But the ease with which technology
can be used to bend the truth can
just as easily be used for criminal
activity such as identity theft and
other crimes.
"Technology and computers have
given dishonest people an ability to
pretend that they're someone they're
not," said Martin Reynolds, an
analyst at technology research firm
Gartner Group. "Now, if you have a
minute amount of technical savvy
you can wreak a lot of havoc."
He cited a recent case of nine-year-
olds who scanned dollar bills into a
computer, printed out the fakes and
used them to buy snacks at their
school's cafeteria.
"With an inkjet printer you can create
virtually any document that you want
to these days," Reynolds said.
Reversing time
Missed a deadline? No problem.
One simple trick to "reverse" time is
to backdate the clock settings on
your computer. E-mails will then
appear to have been sent earlier. Of
course, workers need to remember
to reset their clock to the correct time
afterward.
"It will certainly prove that you sent
the e-mail when you said you did,"
Saltzman said. "You can just blame
the delay on the network."
In Japan, the land of a thousand
face-saving apologies, consumers
can invent convincing sounding
excuses for bosses or spouses by
using a small keychain device with
pre-recorded sounds that allows
users to pretend to be where they
are not.
"Alibi Intersection," as the device is
known, comes with six buttons that
generate noises such as driving a
car, standing in a train station or
hearing a front-door chime. A
software version for mobile phones
that goes by the name of
SoundCover in Europe and
Soundster in the United States is
available.
The noises lend aural authenticity to
excuses when played in the
background of a mobile phone
conversation.
Users of Microsoft Outlook, the most
popular e-mail management
program, can make their bosses
think they are burning the midnight
oil by composing e-mails that they
set up to be sent out far later, say at
one in the morning.
In Outlook, under options, the user
can check the box for "Do Not
Deliver before" option. Then choose
the time and each subsequent
message will be held in your Outbox
until the appointed hour.
Another trick is to sign onto instant
messaging systems from home to
make it look you are already at work.
If your boss isn't in the same office
as you, it appears as if you are at
work early. You can also decide
whether to disable the away feature
on your buddy list.
If you are really worried your boss
may try to contact you, have Instant
Messenger (IM) messages
forwarded as a test message -- a
separate mobile phone technology
that works in similar ways to IM on
computers -- Saltzman suggests.
Analyst Tim Bajarin of research firm
Creative Strategies said that while
computer trickery has become a fact
of life, it is concentrated among
younger workers who are more
comfortable with new technologies.
"The older computer user pretty
much lets the computer lie. They
won't tinker because they are
worried they are going to screw the
machine up," Bajarin said. "Most of
this group hasn't figured out how to
set their videocassette clock yet."
USC says database
hacked
LOS ANGELES, California
(Reuters) -- A University of
Southern California database
containing about 270,000 records
of past applicants including their
names and Social Security
numbers was hacked last month,
officials said Tuesday.
The breach of the university's online
application database exposed
"dozens" of records to unauthorized
individuals, said Katharine
Harrington, USC dean of admissions
and financial aid.
She could not be more specific about
the number of people whose
personal data may have been
viewed by the hacker or hackers or
what their motivation was for the
computer break-in.
"There was not a sufficiently precise
tracking capability," Harrington said,
but added that the hackers had not
been able to access multiple records
at once. Records were also only able
to be viewed at random, she said.
"We are quite confident that there
was no massive downloading of
data," Harrington said.
USC learned of the breach June 20
when it was tipped off by a journalist,
Harrington said. It has since shut
down the Web site and has notified
people whose names and Social
Security numbers were in the
database of the security breach.
The university was not able to
identify exactly which records may
have been exposed.
The site will be back up once new
security measures are taken, the
university said in a written statement.
A California law that took effect two
years ago requires institutions to
inform those affected when their
personal information has been stolen
or accidentally released.
A number of states are considering
similar legislation, and a bill is
pending in the U.S. Senate that
would also require institutions to tell
people when the privacy of their
personal information has been
compromised.
Consumer advocates say such
notification is important because it
provides an opportunity for
consumers to put a fraud alert on
their credit file.
Identity theft is the top consumer
fraud complaint, according to the
Federal Trade Commission, which
estimates that some 10 million
people are affected each year.
Sasser author gets
suspended term
If U remember last months issue of
WareZ News Magazine, you should
remember that we talked about the
returning of the Sasser Virus. Well,
the author had been caught….
BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- A
German court has convicted the
teenager who created the Sasser
worm that snarled tens of
thousands of computers last year
and sentenced him to 21 months'
probation.
Sven Jaschan, 19, from the
northwest town of Waffensen, could
have faced five years in prison as an
adult but was tried as a minor
because the court determined he
created the virus when he was 17,
said Katharina Kreutzfeldt,
spokeswoman for the Verden State
Court outside Bremen.
As part of the sentence, Jaschan will
have to perform 30 hours of
community work, either at a hospital
or a retirement home, Kreutzfeldt
said.
Prosecutors say Jaschan sent the
computer worm on the Internet on
his 18th birthday, April 29, 2004.
It was blamed for shutting down
British Airways flight check-ins,
hospitals and government offices in
Hong Kong, part of Australia's rail
network, Finnish banks, British Coast
Guard stations, and millions of other
computers worldwide.
The court said it was impossible to
estimate the amount of damage. So
far, no international civil suits have
yet been filed, officials said.
Four German lawsuits were settled
for under €1,000 each, said Arend
Bosse, spokesman for the
Rotenburg-Wuemme State Court.
Jaschan was caught last year after a
tipster cashed in on a $250,000
reward offered by Microsoft, whose
Windows system was prey to the
virus.
Microsoft says the virus was part of a
growing problem: hackers profiting
from Windows vulnerabilities
revealed by patches. The virus
appeared 18 days after the company
posted a patch to fix a flaw, and it
attacked computers that hadn't
downloaded the patch.
Jaschan, who reportedly spent up to
10 hours a day on his homemade
computer, told Stern Magazine in an
interview that he created the virus,
which he called "Netsky A," to
combat two existing viruses,
Mydoom and Bagle. That led him to
develop the Netsky virus further --
and to modify it to create Sasser.
Jaschan, meanwhile, has taken a job
at a computer company that creates
anti-virus programs. After three
years, Jaschan's conviction will be
erased from public record if there are
no new offenses, Kreutzfeldt said.
Authorities who questioned Jaschan
said they believed his motive was to
become a famous programmer. He
was arrested at his computer at the
home of his mother, who runs a
computer store.
SLANGS!
I write this because I got questions…
people don’t know what these words
mean or they confuse them, so here
is a list of definitions:
Denial of service
Denial of service is an attack on a site or
service that overwhelms a Web site's
servers with requests or messages, thus
preventing users making legitimate
requests.
Hacker/cracker/script kiddie
A hacker is a skilled computer programmer
who enjoys pushing the limits of computer
systems. The term hacker has come to have
a negative connotation, implying that all
those who "hack" mean to do harm. Cracker
is the term created by the hacker community
to describe those who break the security of
a computer system -- usually with
malevolent intent. A script kiddie (also script
kitty or script bunny) is someone with little
experience who slightly alters code written
by others
Spam/phish/phishing
This is unsolicited e-mail, usually sent out in
mass or bulk to several recipients. Spam is
largely made up of advertising for various
sites and products, including pornography,
and other methods to separate unsuspecting
users from their money. The term originated
from a Monty Python skit referring to the
canned meat product of the same name.
Phishing is a method where spammers use
legitimate looking e-mails (appearing to
come from a credit card company, for
example) in attempt to get personal
information that can be used to steal a
user's identity.
Spyware/adware
These are applications that are usually
downloaded unknowingly, often included in
a "free download" of some kind. These
programs can overtake a computer's
available resources (memory, hard drive
space and Internet bandwidth), adversely
affecting its performance. Spyware is an
application designed to collect information
on a user, usually to build a marketing
profile. Adware refers to a program that will
"pop up" advertising on a users computer. A
user's surfing habits can trigger this
advertising, so that the ad better targets the
user.
Virus/worm/Trojan horse
These prorams are designed to disrupt the
use of a users machine. They are often
downloaded unknowingly from Web sites or
as attachments in e-mail. A Trojan horse is a
program that is not what it appears to be.
For example it may purport to be a program
to play a certain kind of video, and then will
do some harmful action instead. A worm is a
program designed to replicate itself and
infect as many systems as possible.
So, we came to our
second encounter with
a MASTER OF WAREZ.
This month I want you
all to meet talkintina,
the real Mistress of
WareZ. I admire her for
her dedication and for
her knowledge, but I
think it’s better to hear
it all from her….
After becoming a member of a
popular instant messenger program
on the internet, I trusted the wrong
person...He used his hacking skills to
get into my computer and plant
things that would eventually be used
against me..So he thought...When
his plan backfired, he tried to hack
into the BIOS System of my
computer and destroy it...But he
failed again. It was definitely my IP
number but not my computer..My
boyfriend had just moved in and he
had a nicer computer so I suggested
he hook his up in my bedroom,
where my had once been. The
hacker did succeed at destroying the
computer temporarily, but it the one
my boyfriend owned instead of
mine.. Turned out my new boyfriend
knew a thing or two about hackers
and warez..I started asking
questions and learning everything I
could possibly learn. It didn't take
long before I found a new
hobby...Exploring the Warez World..
That was about 9 years ago and I
must say I have learned a lot.
Free programs? Heck yes, sounds
like a plan to me..Cracks, serials?
Huh? I needed those to completely
own the program..That is never
guarantied...And sometimes it meant
going to four or more websites
before downloading or receiving the
crack or serial number..Voting and
pop ups were out of control. Then I
learned about forums..Wow a
community setting with people all
over the world..Seeme like good
down to earth people with a lot of
knowledge. I remember being on a
site just about 2 years ago and I had
a question but could not find an
answer...I had been going to that
forum for about a month and I was
observing to see who was who, who
seemed like they knew something..I
finally made my choice and looked
up that member's profile..Kewl, there
was an email address so I sent him
my question via email. Let's call him
Mike...He was very patient and helful
and we just seemed to
connect..Mind you, it is hard for me
to trust anyone in warez because of
my prior experiences.Mike kind of
took me under his wing and taught
me a lot of things.. Before you knew
it we were talking on the phone and
became very close..Or did we? I
always remembered my so called
friend who tried so hard to destroy
me..Well, Mike lives in the same
place as the jerk that tied so hard to
get me..But I trusted Mike
anyway...From their I had a mentor,
sort of speak..He stuck by me and
continued to teach me..And he sure
was smart..I spread my wings and
started venturing to new warez
sites.. I made lots of friends...Mike
had to go away..He asked a friend to
watch over me while he was away..I
had lost my job and became very and feel I have learned some
involved in the warez world..So valuable lessons in life..
much so that this friend of Mikes
asked me to work with him building a written by TalkinTina
new site..Graphics was the start of it 7/02/05
for me..We became good
friends..We opened the site which
was very successful.. Each day we
worked and while working discussed
what was happening in our lives..
Before long we knew everything
about each other.. I was so happy
being a part of the Admin of this
site..I found people who I became
friends with..Or did I? Mike returned
to find we had opened the site which
was kicking butt...Jealousy? You
bet...Life is no different when you are
in cyber world than it is on the
streets. I tried to stay nutral between
the two long time friends but
eventually found myslef being
treated as the bad guy by
both..Others became involved and
them there were tests, or games as I
say...My loyalty to whom was at
stake.. I did learn at that point that
your computer is nothing more than
a box..You cannot see or feel the
emotions of who ever you speak
to..You have no clue as to who they
are, what they look like, etc...It was a
valuable lesson to learn.
I did not find many females that were
involved in the Warez World...I did
learn a valuable lesson or
two...Always remember that it is only
a box and you do not have any idea
who the person on the other side
might be.. As far as being a female
in the warez world....It has been an
experience I can never regret, but
only learn from..Today I can build a
These are some samples I wanted
computer from scratch, I have my you to see from tina’s works. Me and
own website, spend several hours tina are waiting for your opinions.
each day making graphics for others
We decided to take some
interviews these month of
both old and new
members to our forums.
So I want you to meet
peegee and
klair_di_sardari
Ccucu: First: please tell us who U are:
Name(nick), age and location
peegee : Name:Freddo
peegee : Age: 52 - Location East
Coast of Australia
Ccucu: When did U register to Ccucu's
WareZ? And what made U register? Or
where did U hear about us?
peegee : Bouncing around the
hacking library I picked up a link to a
warez site and ccucu's had a post on
this site, that's how I found you. Then
I hung around for about a month to
see how things worked so I would
not make a fool of myself when first
staring to post
Ccucu: And you managed to make a
great job! you are part of the team there
and hope to keep it this way for long
time from now
peegee :Thank you for the
compliment, ccucu's is my home, I
like the way we all get on we're a
cool group with the same idea in
mind & that is too make this forum
the best
Ccucu: So, with warez where did U
start?
peegee : I started in the free warez
sites because I do not believe in
paying for anything but I love to
share, it's the ukrainian in me.
Ccucu: yes, that's right... that's the
warez philosophy, as I see it
Ccucu: So, when U post, how do U find
the progs?
peegee :If you notice I mainly
specialise in XXX because I have
been surfing for 5 years now and I
have joined a lot of forums over the
years and have found some
wonderful places
Ccucu: that's nice. And what makes you
post more and more? What is your
goal?
peegee :My theory is to post
regularly so the forum does not go
stale and I have noticed lately that
our new members are not posting,
so we must lead by example. I also
enjoy the porn cult following that I
seem have picked up.
peegee : My goals are simply to be a
part of a great team and maybe one
day get into the top posters list
Ccucu: and how do U select the
posts? You take everything or you
have a search criteria?
Number 1 criteria is Variety, 2.
Quality, 3. Size
peegee : Not now only here
Ccucu: Are U part of the team on other
forums?
peegee : I used to be a moderator at
novawarez & Administrator at h-
warez but both are now shut down
Ccucu: that's sad
peegee : I used to get a lot of good
post from them as well as new
members
Ccucu: so, beside warez what are your
hobbies?
peegee : Car racing, Rugby Leauge,
Fishing and kinky sex
Ccucu: lol, that's nice
Ccucu: you have a race car?
peegee : I used to race cars but too
expensive had to give it up
Ccucu: yes, and rugby? you play?
peegee : Used to play, too old now
Ccucu: so, now fishing and kinky sex is
good :P
peegee : YES :D
Ccucu: first question: name, age,
location
klair_di_sardari: Nick name:-
PINKU
klair_di_sardari : Age:- 16
Location:- India
Ccucu: when did U registered on
Ccucu's WareZ?
klair_di_sardari : from 3 weeks
Ccucu: ok, so in 3 weeks you made
yourself a name there and got some
posts. So, why did U register and why
do U post?
klair_di_sardari : I registered here
becouse to share stuff, and I post
here because this is my hobby
Ccucu: how much time are U spending
on the site(average/day)?
klair_di_sardari : I spend about 5-6
Hourz/day
Ccucu: and in this time, how many
posts you make?
klair_di_sardari : i make about 30-
40 posts and sometimez more than
40
Ccucu: that's good. Where do U find the
links? Or is it a secret?
klair_di_sardari : i find links from
other sites, like other forumz
Ccucu: and how do U select the posts?
You take everything or you have a
search criteria?
klair_di_sardari : I search for best
posts, so users can easily
understand it.
Ccucu: Are U part of the team on other
forums?
klair_di_sardari : I am Moderator on
other two sites and i am Super
Member on 3-4 sites
Ccucu: That's good, so you have
experience :D
Ccucu: Where did U start? Some call
the place where they start the net
home... for instance mine is WiZzWorld
klair_di_sardari : I start everthing
from forum.gsmhosting.com
Ccucu: so, you are a ceel-phones guy
Ccucu: I presume this is your main
hobby, right?
klair_di_sardari : Yes, This is my
hobby, I am in this field from 1 Year
Ccucu: so beside phones, you have
any other hobbies?
klair_di_sardari : Humm, I hav
hobby of Mobilez, Computer and
Forumz
Ccucu: and this takes all your time
Ccucu: I guess you are a student, right?
klair_di_sardari : Yeah, I am
student
klair_di_sardari : i am in school
Ccucu: What do U study?
klair_di_sardari : I study Science, I
am in 11th class
Ccucu: Any thing you want to mention
or add?
klair_di_sardari : I want to say a big
thanks to CCUCU
Ccucu: what for?
klair_di_sardari : for taking ur
priceless time for me.
Ccucu: lol, my time isn't that precious...
I am taking your time.... maybe you had
something better to do then talk to a
crazy dude
klair_di_sardari :: nono, i am feeling
lucky to talk with U.
Ccucu: don't have too, feel lucky if U
get the chance to talk with WiZz, not
with me, he's the great MAN
 Scaning FTP’s pretty simple, extract the zip
somewhere and run the installer and
let it do it's business. When it's done
Scanning - Getting Started you will have some brand new icons
to play with in your start menu.

Introduction

Don't even know what scanning is?

Well let me tell you, without scanners
all these ftp's loaded with goodies
would never exist. Scanning is
simply using a special program to
ping tons of ftp's all at once and to
try and find active ftp's with
Start up Ping, you'll see the little
anonymous access and
splash screen and then it will load
upload/download permissions. This
the program up. This program can
tutorial is designed for people who
be used to scan for pubs or to scan
have never scanned before and want
ports, I don't know how to use the
to see what it is all about. I do not
port scanning functions so I will only
go into how to read the results or
be talking about pub scanning. First
what to do with them after a scan.
thing to do it open up the options by
This tutorial will simply give you the
going to Options -> Preferences or
basic setup and knowledge to
simply pressing F8. The first tab
perform a public ftp scan that
(Ping) you can leave alone because
generates some results. What to do
those settings are kind of advanced,
with the results when your done will
I don't even touch them. The second
be disused in other tutorials.
tab (List View) is just visual
preferences, I suggest just leaving
Necessary Tools them alone but you can mess with
them if you want.
• Grim's Ping - The only
scanning program I've ever
Ahhh the Pub Find tab, here is
used...
where the main setting are for
scanning for pubs. On the general
Installation & Setup tab in this section I have Threads set
to 130 and the timeout at 10.
Ok, if you have not downloaded the Although I recommend using
required programs yet, do it now. I something like 52 threads for
suggest making a special folder starters. Why 52 you ask? Well the
wherever you download stuff called more threads the faster a scan gets
"Scanning" or something similar to completed, but before you go
easily locate all the tools you may entering 500 it also requires more
collect. Anyway installing Ping is bandwidth and more CPU power.
The threads variable is actually how
many pubs it checks at one time so
you can see how the default of 5
does not work very quickly when
your scanning thousands of ips. The
reason for 52 specifically was that if
it's set at 50 there ends up being 4
left over and it just it much faster to
use 52. If you have a decent
computer and a normal connection
52 is my recommended setting for
starting off, using something like 130
would probably work also and get it
done in about half the time. The
timeout is best left at 10 unless you
know your response time if really
awful for ftps in which case you
should set it a little higher, the
higher the value the longer a scan
will take.
Onto the Firewall and Firewall
Backups tabs. Personally I leave
these alone, some people like to
scan with proxies (which is what grim
calls firewalls) to keep their actions
anonymous. I may add to this
section detailing on how to use this
feature at a later time.
On to the Logging, This tab has a
bunch of options so I will give a
screenshot and explain them all. For
the top two check boxes you can
either log only anonymous ftps that
ping comes across, all ftps that it
scans (would make a huge log file),
or not log any ftps. I choose not to
log any... yes I said that right. This is
just a basic log, the actual results of
the scan get put into a different file.
The next box you want checked, this
will log all Wingate Engines that it
comes across while looking for ftps,
they are useful to help FXP files
which is not a topic for here so I will
just leave it at that. These settings
will create a log of JUST Wingates
which may be useful later. The next
option is where these results are
kept... you can make this any
location you would like but I suggest
just leaving it alone and it will store in
in the main Ping directory. The last
two options should be left
unchecked... first one is self
explanatory, the second I don't even
know what it does but I like how the
logs look now so I'm not going to
change it.
Moving onto the General Tab.
These are mainly personal
preferences. You can have it auto
save your queue in case you quit
Ping on accident or something. Also
if you've been disconnected it will try
and figure out when you get
reconnected and start scanning
again. Just set all these to your
liking or just leave them alone to get
on with the scanning.
And onto the Permissions Tab. Here
you will find all the options for
logging the found pubs with good
permissions. On the General Tab
you want to have the box checked
and there should already be some
directories entered here. I have
mine rearranged to my liking (it
checks in the order they are listed)
but they are fine the way they are
defaulted too. If you would like to
add some more directories to check
the easiest way is to edit the ping.ini
file manually. I have a pre-made dir
list, HERE, you can paste right into
the ini over the current directory
information (Make sure ping is
closed). On the Logging Tab You
can again change the location of the
file but I suggest leaving it where it
is. The rest of the options should be
set up as in the picture to the right.
This will generate the most useful
perms.log. The first 4 boxes should
be checked and the last 2
unchecked.
OK that's it for setting up Grim's
Ping... all ready to find some ranges
to scan. But don't quit Grim's
because we will need it again soon.
Picking an IP Range
OK... there are many ways to go
about doing this... I will cover a few
in here. The worst thing you can do
is just punch in random ip's, this will
in general give you no results. I
suggest reading through the first
method before reading any others
because it has some basic skills that
may be needed elsewhere. Also in
the other methods I may refer back
to the first method for things that are
already explained.
The first method involves searching
for web hosts and then scanning
their ranges, usually this gets results
but sometimes they are all being use
already. First go to HostSpot which
is a web host search engine. Now
click the "View all hosts" which is
next to the navigation bar on the
main page.
From here go to random pages until
you find a web host that looks nice
and big and fast. Really there is no
way to tell, but I usually look for
hosts offering unlimited bandwidth
and lots of space. Once you find
one click on it's name and you will go
to a page with more info about
them. Then right click on the link
right under the hosts name and
select "Copy Shortcut" which puts
their webpage on the clipboard.
Now switch over to Ping and select
Tools -> Single Host Lookup (or
simply press F9). Paste the URL in
here but either pressing CTRL-V or
right clicking and selecting paste,
then press lookup. A Dialog box will
popup which shows the IP and the
Hostname. When you click on OK
your pasted URL is replaced by the
IP it found. Select this and Copy it
by pressing CTRL-C or right clicking
and hitting copy. Now press close
and go to the next section to scan
the IP you found.
The second method is along the
lines of random ip's but more
controlled. When you get good at it
this is a great method for finding
unclaimed pubs. First go to the IP
Address Index (check my links
section for mirrors) and just check
out the main page for a minute.
Most Pubs are going to be found in
the Class C Range (Click Class C),
specifically in 204, 205, 206, 207,
208, 209, 216. These are listed as
various US/Canadian Networks and
if you click on the link it gives you
more details about each range.
Pubs are also commonly found in
The Class A Range (go to Class A),
mostly in 63-66 which is InterNIC
Registration. OK go back to the
Class C section and click on one of
the ranges I talked about above.
Here you can just scroll and look for
a company that looks like it might
have a lot of FTP's and that's it. Just
copy their start range to the
clipboard and move onto the next
section.
My third method is just a
combination of methods one and
two. First you find an IP using
method one then go to the IP
Address Index and find it. From
there you can see who owns that
range and who owns everything
around it. If it looks good you can
scan that ip and all it's surroundings.
Once you find something suitable
copy the IP to the clipboard and
move to the next section.
Scan Away
First we have to get our IP into the
queue so hit the "Paste IP" button on
the top toolbar. Paste your new
found IP in here and hit OK.
To do a good scan you usually want
to scan the whole range so edit the
third box and make it a "0" like in the
picture. I also found out you can use
wildcards to paste an IP, so you can
replace the third box with a * and
skip the "Add Multiple Ranges" step.
Now make sure that "PubFind" is
selected and then press "Add to
Queue" which will add that small IP
range to the queue. Now press "Add
Multiple Ranges" and enter in 255
and press OK. This will take a
minute to complete and it will add
that full range to the queue. OK this
should be enough to work with for
now so close that box, get ready,
and hit the Go button on the toolbar
(Stoplight Picture). Watch Ping scan
away, it shows various information
on the bottom like how many servers
found and everything like that. You
can view you perms.log and
results.log while scanning, the
options to do so are located in the
File Menu. Here you can also
minimize Ping to the system tray and
then come back a few hours later to
find it done.
Scanning - Verifying Wingates
Introduction
Ok so you did a scan and now you
have this results.log file, what the
heck do you do with it? Well that's
just what I will talk about in this
tutorial. Many people think verifying
Wingates involves plugging them
into a ftp client one by one and
testing them... well I got sick of doing
this so I invented my own way to
make another program do the work
for me.
Necessary Tools
*NOTE: I have downloads restricted
to hits from my site, so if you get
"403 Forbidden" your browse or
download manager is not sending a
proper referral link. Try using IE,
hold shift (bypasses download
managers), and left click the link,
that should defiantly work.
• Proxy Hunter v3.1 B1 -
Designed to scan for
proxies, used in this
tutorial to verify
Wingates
• Text Editor - Any text
editor with find and
replace functions will
do (Notepad works)
• FlashFXP - A great ftp
client designed with the
FXP Groups in mind.
(Used in Wingate FAQ)
Installation & Setup
Ok just download Proxy Hunter
(hosted by me since the authors
webpage seems to have
disappeared) and the Settings file
into the folder you set up in the
previous tutorial. Open up the zip
and run the exe file to install. Open
the Settings zip file and extract the
contents to the install folder of Proxy
Hunter.
Start up Proxy Hunter and go to the
menu System -> Load Options and
browse to the settings file you
extracted and load it. This will load
some settings but for some reason it
doesn't save everything so the rest
needs to be set up manually.
Go to System -> Change Options, on
the first tab, Search&Verify Options,
in the "Others" section the plug-in
"FTP" should be selected.
Press the "Settings..." button and it
will pull up a box with ftp info,
Microsoft's site is the default.
Although this seems like a good
idea, I found that the first line of their
login is very long and some wingates
cut it off and this makes Proxy
Hunter mark some GOOD wingates
as Not Matching. So what I use is
ftp.adobe.com and a welcome
message of "230-ftp.adobe.com" (No
quotes of course). That's really all
you need to change... you can look
at the other options and play with
them, but the defaults work for
everything else. You can see my
current settings in the screenshot to
the left.
You can also go to the "Other
Options" tab and configure them to
your liking, they are all personal
preference options and can be
changed without any effect on the
ability of checking Wingates.
Make two new text files in a directory
you want to store various logs in.
Name them "wingate - unverified.log"
and "wingate - verified.log" as this is
an easy way to keep track of the
large list you will be collecting (mine
is over 400 long).
Verification
If you set up Ping correctly when you
started scanning you should have a
results.log in the Ping directory with
a list of only Wingates. If there is no
results.log check your Ping settings,
if you are sure they are correct you
must not have found any wingates
(very rare). Ping signifies wingates
by adding "WinGate engine" to the
end of an IP. Copy everything form
the results.log and paste it into the
unverified file you created, you can
then delete the results.log so it will
start clean on the next scan you do.
Go to the unverified log and select
"WinGate engine" somewhere in the
file, then go to the replace function of
your text editor (Edit -> Replace in
Notepad). It should automatically
enter the selected text into the "Find
What" field, and in the "Replace
With" field enter in ":21@FTP"
(without the quotes of course). Now
simply hit "Replace All" and it will do
the work. This is to get the log file
ready for Proxy Hunter to Import.
Now you'll notice that there are a lot
of space in the text still so you want
to now put a space in the Find field
and nothing in the Replace field and
do a "Replace All" again. This
should remove all the space from the
text file, I know it works so try again
if it didn't do anything.
OK now it is ready to import to Proxy
Hunter, press Ctrl-A (Select All) and
then Ctrl-C (Copy) to copy the whole
list to the clipboard. No go to Proxy
Hunter and switch it to the "Results"
tab on the main screen. If there are
any results from a previous uses
right click on them and select "Select
All" then press the delete button on
the right side. Now right clicks on
the results window again and select
"Paste" (Sometimes right click wont
work, if that is the case just select
the results area and press CTRL-V).
It will ask if you want to avoid pasting
repetitious results, just click yes.
Now it should show all the wingates
you have logged on this results tab,
if you get some error message make
sure you changed the results
correctly with the find & replace step.
Now press the verify all and it will go
to work, after a minute or two it
should be done. Press the column
where it says "Timing" until the
matches marked "Good" are on the
top, now it is sorted from the fastest
responses to the slowest (I have
found this is a good gauge of speed,
but not always accurate). The
results marked at "Non-Matching are
usually also good but the test ftp's
welcome message did not match
what proxy hunter expected. This is
usually caused by Wingate welcome
messages and proxy hunter thinks it
is the ftp welcome message.
Occasionally you get some that
come up "Non-Matching" that will not
work properly so those need to be
tested out before they are used.
Ok now open up your verified log file
and make a line something like "-
=[Good Wingates]=-" or whatever
you want to use for a section
heading. Now select all the Good
Wingates in Proxy Hunter (click the
top one hold shift and click the
bottom one) and right click on them
and select copy. Sometimes it gives
an error about "Clipboard Write
Failed" and then says it was
successful, if it does this then do the
copy again because it most likely
didn't work. Now go to the verified
log and paste the Good Wingates
into it. Do the same procedure and
paste the Non-Matching Wingates
into the log file also. You now have
a listing of good wingates to use for
messing around on pubs or FXPing.
Scanning - Verifying/Tagging Pubs
Introduction
So you did a scan and now you've
got this perms.log thing and your
wondering what the heck you should
do with it... Well you could just copy
the whole thing and paste it as a
post to a FXP board but personally I
find it lame when people can't even
spend the time to run a few tests on
the pubs they find. Most of the time
it is because they do not know how
to efficiently do this. In this tutorial I
will show several different ways to
make the pub fillers much happier
when looking for pubs.
Necessary Tools
• Ping Companion - A
great add-on program
for Ping also written by
Grim
• TagCheck -
Automatically checks
for Tags on pub using
a online database, also
written by Grim
• FlashFXP - A great ftp
client designed with the
FXP Groups in mind.
(Used for Tagging)
Installation & Setup
Installing Ping Companion (PC) and
TagCheck is simple, just extract both
zip files into the Ping directory. PC
needs a small amount of
configuration before we start using it.
Start up PC and then click the
options button. Set up the general
tab as I have in the screen shot. If
you have a fast connection you can
choose to upload the 1mb file and it
will be a good speed test, I suggest
using this only if your can upload at
least 100KBps. Also I like using
Ping style logs because I find them
nicer for posting purposes. On the
firewalls you can import your firewall
list from your ping.ini if you have any,
otherwise just leave this off. On the
FXP tab you can test a pub for
accepting FXP transfers and speed
using a dump that you may have.
Enter all the information for the dump
here and PC will try to FXP a file
from it to all the pubs that allow
uploading. This is not necessary so
if you do not have a dump you can
just leave the box unchecked on this
tab. Tag check requires no setup
and can be used as is.
Using Ping Companion
This program is quite simple, all you
do is hit go and point it to a
perms.log (NOT results.log) and then
hit ok. It will then start checking all
the pubs for upload/download, list,
HD Space, and the FXP test if it's
enabled. You can watch it go and
once it is done there will be a nice
new companion.log in the Ping
directory. If you open it up you'll
notice it looks just like the perms.log
but with some extra information in it.
The speeds next to Upload and
Download are very inaccurate when
using the 1kb file because it only
takes a second to transfer it. The
point of using that file is to make the
process go quick because it still
verifies the Upload and Download
status of the pub. Also most pubs
will get n/a for the HD Space check,
this is because it uploads a
space.asp and then tries to check it
using http. If the site is not enabled
for http or only allows viewing of html
files it will fail. It is does work you
will see the HD Space available in
the log file as well. If a pub does not
allow uploading PC does not bother
with the other tests because it is then
useless, so all you will see is
"UPLOAD: No (0.00 kbytes/s)." If
you have the FXP test enabled you
will see the transfer speed at the end
of each pub listing. If it has an error
message rather than a speed then
PC could not FXP to that pub. Even
if you have a FXPable dump to test
from some pubs specifically block
FXP transfers. Anything over 100k
for a FXP test is fairly good. OK
from here you can either skip to the
end of this and post the log as we
have it now and let the fillers check
for tags and tag the pubs
themselves. Or you can continue
with the tutorial and check for the
tags yourself. As a beginner I
suggest checking yourself as it will
really get you noticed because not a
lot of scanners check for tags.
Tag Checking
Checking pubs for tags can be a
long and frustrating process, many of
the pubs you come across will
already be tagged. Checking for
tags can either be done manually or
using TagCheck. Many people
prefer checking manually, including
me. TagCheck is the easy way to do
it, but can be very slow sometimes (if
there are a lot of directories). In this
tutorial I will explain how to check for
tags both ways. I suggest reading
through this and the tagging section
before proceeding, to same time you
can tag pubs as you go along rather
than checking them all and then
going back and tagging.
There are two ways you can use
TagCheck, either have it check the
whole list at once, or paste the IP in
one by one. The easiest way is to
have it do the whole list, to do this
put perms.log in where it wants the
address. Then all you do is hit start
and away it goes. It will show all that
it thinks could be tags, most of the
time it is junk that has the same
words as a tag would and then
sometimes it does find tags. Once it
is done you can go through the list of
pubs and mark the ones it found tags
on as "Tagged." If the tag is older
than 2 weeks the pub can be
checked manually to determine if
anyone is still using it. If it is not in
use it can be re-tagged by you.
Manually checking is a little more
tricky, you first need to start up
FlashFXP and select the remote
pane (the right side usually). Go to
your log and select the first ip and
copy it and take mental note of the
pub dir, then go back to FlashFXP.
Press F8, which is the hot key for the
quick connect dialog, and paste your
ip in and hit enter. Once it connects
browse to the pub dir and take a look
and what's inside. If it is empty your
lucky, you can tag it right there
without any further checking.
Usually there will be a mess of
folders inside, the first thing to look
for is any folders named: tag,
tagged, com, lpt, or prn. If you see
any of these check the creation date,
if there are any within the last two
weeks then mark the pub as tagged
and move to the next. If they are all
fairly old you can start checking sub
directories by double clicking them
and looking for folders with those
same names in each sub dir. If you
cannot find any tags within a few
levels deep it is usually same to
assume that there is no one there.
Any recent tags found and you
should leave the pub alone because
someone else is probably using it
already.
Tagging Pubs
The easiest way to tag pubs is to
create a directory structure on your
computer and upload it to the pub.
Here is an example of some tags I
might use:
/scanned/and/tagged/by/-
=[jtp10181]=-
/tagged/by/-=[jtp10181]=-/for/-=[jtp-
FXP]=-
All you do is create those directories
in side of each other in a temporary
folder on your computer. Once that
is done you can start up FlashFXP
and connect to one of the untagged
pubs you found. On the pub right
click and select "Make Folder" and
make a new folder named something
that shows this is a tag like simply
tag or tagged works fine. Then enter
that folder and on the local pane (left
side) browse to where you started
your uploadable tag. Drag the first
folder of the tag to the pub and it will
create all the directories just how you
did on your computer. Once it is
complete you will be back where you
started. Before you go double
clicking all the folders to get to the
new working path, you can just use
the pull-down menu and it will show
all the recently used directories. You
can simply select the longest one
and it will take you there. From here
you can either copy the directory and
paste it into your log (over the old
directory) and move to the next pub,
or you can try making some locked
folders so people wont be able to
delete your tag as easily.
If you would like to make some
locked folders you first need to go
read Dir Locking - NT Basics if you
have an NT pub. If your pub is UNIX
you can take a look at Dir Locking -
UNIX Advanced. Once you've got
that figured out you can just make
some locked folders here at the end
and then get into them and copy the
path and paste it to the log file.
You may be tempted to make a
locked folder earlier in your tag. I am
confused as to why people do this. If
the whole tag is visible it is obvious
that someone took the work to make
a tag and the pub will be used by a
group. When people make locked
com folders right away it says to me
that it could just be someone
screwing around or many other
things. I like to keep the tag visible
so others recognize it better. Also
making locked folders in the root of
the pub will more easily alert the
sysop and get your tag deleted.
Posting Pubs
We are now ready to post our log, so
find your favorite FXP board and get
to the scans section. Read any rules
they may have, some boards have
specific posting instructions. Show
your reading skills and follow them
well and the FXP board admins will
respect you. Once you read over
their rules (if they have any) you can
click the Link to create a new
thread/post. If there are no
restrictions on the thread topic I
usually do one of the following.
Currently I do: Perms xxx.xxx-
xxx.xxx, where the xxx is the range
that is being posted. I used to just
name the post with how many pubs I
was posting, something like: -=[16
Tagged and Tested]=-.
Scanning - Quick Pub Verification
Introduction
You have perms.log file generated
from a scan done using Grim?s Ping
or one posted on a FXP board. You
want to take these pubs and see if
they still work, if another group is
using them, if they allow
upload/download, can be FXPed to
and their speed.
Necessary Tools
• SmartFTP ? Very fast
directory listing and
navigation. Allows for
multiple connections.
• Personal FTP ? Only
needed if you don?t
have a good upload
rate yourself and if you
want to check whether
or not the pub can to
FXPed to.
• Text Editor - Your
favorite text editor,
Notepad works.
Installation & Setup
SmartFTP is already all setup as
soon as installed. The only thing you
may want to change is the proxy
setting, the default is not to use a
proxy. If you want to use a proxy go
to "Tools", then "Settings", then
select the "Proxy" tab. Select
"SOCKS 4" or "SOCKS 5". Enter the
IP address below beside the word
"Host" and enter "1080" for the port.
Don?t check "Login to proxy" unless
you are using a private proxy that
requires a username and password.
If you can?t get access to a personal
FTP you can run your own as long
as your upload rate is at least
40KB/sec. However for this tutorial
we will assume you have access to a
someone else?s private FTP server.
Layout
If you intend to verify and tag a large
number of pubs then the layout in
which you have your programs can
considerably decrease the time it
takes to check them. Split your
screen in two halves. One side have
SmartFTP, and the other have the
list of pubs. Have Notepad open and
leave it in your taskbar so you can
record tagged pubs with their
information.
Verification
Simply copy an IP from the list of
pubs (start from the top and work
your way down so you don?t do the
same IP twice) and paste it into the
"Address" bar in SmartFTP. Repeat
until you have 3 FTP?s open in
SmartFTP. Then connect to your
personal ftp. Now you will have 4
boxes open and it is still easy to see
everything.
Order of Operations
1. Connect to the pub and
see if the pub still up.
Can you connect or do
you get an error?
2. Check if there are any
other tags on the pub.
If so are they older
than 3 weeks?
3. Tag the pub. Make a
folder containing the
word "tag", and in the
nested folders include
your boards name, the
scanners name, and
your name.
4. Test the speed of the
pub. Transfer a file
from your personal
FTP by dragging and
dropping it into the pub
window. Use 200kb,
500kb, or 1mb file to
test the speed.
5. Record the pub, your
tagged path, and the
speed of a file transfer.
Scanning – Proxies
Introduction
So you need some proxies so you
don't get the FBI knocking on your
door? The best way is to find them
yourself and you've come to the right
place to do just that.
Necessary Tools
*NOTE: I have downloads restricted
to hits from my site, so if you get
"403 Forbidden" your browse or
download manager is not sending a
proper referral link. Try using IE,
hold shift (bypasses download
managers), and left click the link,
that should defiantly work.
• Proxy Hunter v3.1 B1 -
Used to scan for
proxies of any kind.
• FlashFXP - A great ftp
client designed with the
FXP Groups in mind.
(Used in Proxy FAQ)
Installation & Setup
First thing you need to do is install
Proxy Hunter, just run the setup
program and let it do it's thing. Now
extract the settings file somewhere
so we can import it to PH (Proxy
Hunter). Start up PH and and go to
the menu System -> Load Options,
and point it to the file you just
extracted. I'm sure exactly what
options this loads but I'm pretty sure
it loads the verifying web pages and
nothing else.
Now go to System -> Change
Options and make sure it's on the
"Search&Verify Options" tab. Here
you can change the Parallel Sockets
to a suitable number depending on
your machine and connection. I
have DSL and P3 500MHz and I use
260 for Searching and 120 for
Verifying. With 56k the default
settings should be good. You can
also adjust the timeout settings
depending on how through you want
your search to be. For searching I
have my timeouts set to 10s and
20s, and for Verifying 10s and 45s.
On the "Other Options" tab you can
set it up to redial your modem if you
get disconnected, and there are also
some other options which do not
really affect scanning and can be
adjusted to your liking.
Picking an IP Range
I have found no way to find good
proxy ranges yet. I usually just scan
the ranges I have found a lot of pubs
on and that seems to work. If you
don't pub scan yourself check out
some scan posts and see what ip's
they are scanning. Once you find
something that looks good move
onto the next section.
Scan Away
First thing we need to do is get the ip
that was picked into the queue, this
is fairly tricky as there are many
options and types of proxies you can
scan for. On the "Tasks" pane on the
main window click the "Add Task"
button at the bottom of the program.
Select "searching Task" and click
next. On this screen press the "Add"
button on the right and it will bring up
another dialog box. I personally like
to scan whole ranges at a time
(216.5.0.0-216.5.255.255) and PH
gives us an easy way to enter this. If
you want to scan just specific gaps
of ips use the "Start&End Range"
option. Otherwise to use my method
select "Start + Subnet Size" and plug
your ip into the "Start addr:" blank.
Change the last two number to zero
and then enter "1B" in the "Subnet
size:" blank. If you want to scan
more that one range in a row change
the value 1B accordingly (2B, 3B,
4B, etc.). Once you have this ready
press ok and it will enter into the box
as a start and end range for you.
Click Next again and go to the next
section, here you pick what ports you
want to scan and what types of
proxies your looking for. I only scan
for SOCKS proxies because they are
the most useful for pubbing and
scanning for pubs. Click the
"Defined" button and a box should
load that is blank. Press the "open"
button here and load the Default
settings for this box (only needs to
be done once). This now shows
pretty much all the different types of
proxies you can scan for. For now
just select the one listed as Protocol
"SOCKS" and then click use. It will
ask you "Must Try?" and what this
means is if the connection fails to the
IP should it try this one anyway (only
useful when scanning multiple
ports). Just press yes saying it
should always check for SOCKS on
Port 1080.
Now you can press finish and it will
add your ip to the queue. You can
queue up as much as you'd like and
once your ready press the blue play
button in the upper right corner of the
program. This will start the search
for SOCKS proxies. During the scan
you can switch over to the "Results"
tab to see what it is finding. I'll
explain what all this means in the
next section.
Results
On the "Results" you can see exactly
what is being found with your scan,
don't be discouraged if nothing is
there, it takes a while before any are
found sometimes. Once it does find
some it will immediately test them
out for you and list the Status in that
column. Here is what some of the
status messages mean:
• GOOD! - Duh... a good
working proxy
• Not Matching - The
proxy can be
connected to but the
data received does not
match what is expected
(This is rare for
SOCKS proxies)
• Undecidable - Based
on the information
returned PH cannot
decide if this proxy
should be marked
"GOOD!" or "Not
Matching"
• Unknown - PH cannot
tell what the heck this
is
• Protocol Error - The
port scanned is open
but when trying to use
the protocol being
tested an error was
received
• Need Authentication -
This proxy server
needs a username and
password
• Connection Failed -
The ip being tested is
rejecting your
connection to that port
• Connection Timeout -
The proxy is not
responding to the
connection request
• Verification Timeout - It
connected to the proxy
but cannot verify due to
a timeout.
Once it is done scanning I like to sort
it by "Timing" by pressing the title of
that column until the GOOD proxies
are on top. This sorts it with the
quickest to respond proxies on the
top, using these will give you faster
connection times.
(DpXpc)
Complete guide for
newbies to spoof
one's identity on IRC
Lots of people have always
wondered how to go IRC totally
anonymously, meaning how to
fake their IP or how to get kewl
address like
"gates.is.owned.a0l.hax0rz.com
". In this small text I try to
explain how this spoofing can
be done in practice.
The easiest way to fake your
real IP is connecting to an IRC
server throught Wingate or
Proxy server. This can be done
by inputting the proxy's or
wingate's address and port to
your mIRC client's firewall part
(goto Options -> Connect ->
Firewall). Make sure you are
using proxy server and you
have checked the "Proxy"
protocol, if using Socks4
firewall you must check the
"Socks4" protocol and so on.
You may be now asking where
do I find these proxys and
wingates, it's easy to find
working proxies but working
wingates can be fairly rare.
Take a look of Cyberarmy's
proxy-list page first
http://www.cyberarmy.com/lists/
proxy, next you may want to go
to a normal search-engine,
such as google.com and look
for words "proxy list". NOTE,
not all proxys/wingates allow
you to use them, so go throught
a list and test what ones can be
used to bounce you into IRC.
Next i'll explain how u may go
to an irc server with a kewl
address such as
(op.me.so.i.can.mass.deop.co
m). In order to be able to use
that kind of kewl addresses you
have to buy a shell account
with vhost support (or obtain
the information of a shell
account by asking a friend etc.).
There are lots of Shell
providers out there and buying
an basic bouncer account is not
that expensive, my shell
account from strategical.net
was $5 a month, so it's not that
expensive isn't it? (Bouncer
take a note: Strategical.net
seems to be an ultimate shell
provider 'cause I have paid for
only one month and now I'm
using it 4th month, and I have
never had any problems with
their services, vhosts are fast
and always up). However you
have to be at least 18 years old
to buy a shell account, so you
may have to ask your mother,
father etc. to buy it for you (I
wouldn't suggest credit card
payment, but instead look for
providers that accepts cheques
or money orders). When you
have an account up, you open
up a mIRC client and connect
to the shell provider (/server
strategical.net 37612), in that
example you shell providers
address is strategical.net and
the port where their BNC
daemon is listening on is
37612. Next it will ask for a
password, you would type
following: /quote pass mypass.
Then you choose a vhost to
bounce throught, and then
when you know what one to
use you type /quote vip
vhost.ya.chose.here. Now you
can connect to an IRC server,
type following: /quote conn
irc.server.here 6667. Now if
your vhost isn't banned from
that server/network you can
chat there just as normal.
I don't have a shell account and
I don't want to pay for having
one, is there any other way to
connect to IRC except
wingates/proxys?
yes, I first explain WinBNC and
how you can bounce throught
your friends address who is
running a WinBNC daemon for
you. WinBNC daemon is similar
to BNC daemons that shell
account providers are running
on their servers, offering
password protection, vhost
support etc. So, you have to
have a friend who is willing to
let you bounce throught their
address to the IRC server.
Obviously they need to have
WinBNC daemon software (if
they are on an other operating
system than Windows they
need BNC, ezBNC etc. daemon
what is made for other
platforms) so you could connect
throught their computer and
address. Just go for some web
search-engine and look for
winbnc etc. Before your friend
runs the daemon for you he
have to specify listening port,
password and admin password,
it may be recommended to
specify the list of IP/DNS's that
can use the BNC (this list must
of course include your IP so
you can connect to you friends
BNC). This configuration can
be done modifying bnc.cfg file
that comes with WinBNC
package using notepad or
some other text-editor. Setting
the correct values is very easy
and it is well explained in the
bnc.cfg file (just read the
instruction on bnc.cfg file and
you'll be fine). Now, when
correct values is set your friend
opens hes MS-DOS prompt
and goes to directory where the
WinBNC was unzipped and
runs the bnc.exe file. Then they
give their IP address, their
WinBNCs password and port to
you and now you fill these
values to your IRC client for ex.
/server 144.64.24.100 porthere
passwordhere. When
connected to your friends
WinBNC you simply type /quote
conn irc.server.here
ircserversport password (note
that your friend for pretty sure
doesn't have vhosts so you can
connect using hes address
only).
Take a note that there are other
bouncers that can be used to
do the same job, but usually
they have features for spying
and other non-wanted activities
so I recommend you don't
bounce throught these kind of
bouncers even if someone
offers you their 'lame' bouncer
to use.
If you don't have a friend who
would run a BNC for you, there
are still methods for
anonymous IRC'ing, lets take a
look of one useful feature that
SubSeven trojan offers. The
feature we are after for is port
redirect, it can be used to
redirect all data to its
destination (for ex. to IRC
server) throught the SubSeven
victim, meaning the destination
host is not communicating with
you, instead it's
communicationg only with the
SubSeven victim, so there will
be no traces of you on the
destination host (the SubSeven
victim is running a kinda BNC
for you without knowing about
it).
Once you have a SubSeven
victim you must connect to it
with your SubSeven client and
set up the port redirect. It asks
input port, output port and
output host, input port is the
port where you connect with
you IRC client, output port is
the port of IRC server and the
output host is the destination
IRC server where we want to
connect. Now, you should input
something like 2000 to the input
port field, 6667 or what ever
port where the IRC server is
listening on to the output port
field and the IRC servers
address to the output host field,
for ex. irc.pdq.net.
Now when you have done that
you can close you SubSeven
client and open up your IRC
client. There in IRC client type
following: /server sub7victimsip
inputportyouspecified (for ex.
/server 212.213.100.2 2000).
Now it connects you to the
specified IRC server with your
victims IP address (you can
check it by doing a /whois on
yourself).
You may have heard about
Freedom project
(http://www.freedom.net), it's
made to give their clients
(customers) full anonymity over
the Internet. It works good on
IRC, web browsing, mail, telnet
etc. but I heard they are not
giving free trials anymore, so
you have to pay for having their
services. Go check their page,
maybe you are interested in
their offers, but I wouldn't pay
to them 'cause basically you
can get the same anonymity by
other (free)methods.
Also, you may have heard
Blackangel project by The
Hackology Network
(http://www.hackology.com),
this Blackangel sounds
fascinating and hopefully they
in Hackology have strength to
finish that project and get it
done soon.
WINDOWS 9x/ME
SECURITY AND
SYSTEM
RESTRICTIONS
You can control the way your
Win95/98/ME system restricts
access to certain areas or features
(especially useful on multiuser
machines) without having to mess
with Poledit.exe (Policy Editor), the
default Windows administrative
control tool.
All you have to do is modify the
Registry values listed below.
You can either make these changes
manually using the Registry Editor
(Regedit.exe), or save them in a
.REG file for future use (name it for
example RESTRICT.REG). Start
Regedit and go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWA
RE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersi
on\Policies
Look in the left hand pane for these
subkeys:
1. Explorer
2. System
3. Network
4. WinOldApp
If they are not present, create them:
right-click... New... Key... Name it to
one of the values listed above.
Now you need to create (or modify if
it already exist) the following
 DWORD values listed further below NoFind
enable/disable the
under the subkeys above. To create find/search command
a new DWORD value: right-click... enable/disable the
NoInternetIcon Internet icon on
New... DWORD... name it to one of desktop
the values listed further below. To enable/disable
modify one of these DWORD values: NoNetHood
Network Neighborhood
right-click... Modify... check the enable/disable recent
Decimal box... enter a value of 1 to documents in the Start
disable access to a certain feature, NoRecentDocsHistory Menu
(Win98/ME/IE4/IE5/IE6
or a value of 0 to enable access to a
only)
certain feature). These are the valid enable/disable the run
DWORD values (if not specified NoRun
command
otherwise) you can change under the enable/disable save
NoSaveSettings
following subkeys: settings upon exit
enable/disable folders
1. Explorer subkey: NoSetFolders in Start Menu...
Settings
enable/disable taskbar
Keyname Description
NoSetTaskbar in Start Menu...
enable/disable clear of Settings
ClearRecentDocsOnExit recent documents
enable/disable My
upon exit
NoSMMyDocs Documents folder in
DisableRegistryTools enable/disable registry Start Menu
editing tools
NoSMMyPictures enable/disable My
WARNING: If you
Pictures folder in Start
disable the Registry
Menu
Editor, you will NOT be
["NoSMMyDocs" and
able to modify ANY
"NoSMMyPictures"
Registry settings
courtesy of David
anymore, and the
Poole]
ONLY way to disable
system restrictions is enable/disable the
NoWindowsUpdate
to run/merge/register a Win98/ME web update
.REG/.INF/.VBS file!
NoAddPrinter
enable/disable addition 2. System subkey:
of new printers
enable/disable system Key Name Description
NoClose
shutdown NoAdminPage enable/disable
enable/disable existent the remote
NoDeletePrinter
printers deletion administration
enable/disable ALL tab
desktop items and NoConfigPage enable/disable
NoDesktop
desktop right-click the hardware
menu profiles tab
enable/disable NoControlPanel [hex] enable/disable
NoDevMgrUpdate Windows 98/ME web the control
update manager panel
NoDrives [hex] enable/disable ANY NoDevMgrPage enable/disable
drives in My the device
Computer/Explorer/IE manager tab
See "Hide Win9x NoDispAppearancePage enable/disable
Drives" for details the
 appearance the network
display tab access tab
NoDispBackgroundPage enable/disable NoFileSharing enable/disable
the the network
background file sharing
display tab button
NoDispCPL enable/disable MinPwdLen set the
the display minimum
properties password
applet length (integer
NoDispScrSavPage enable/disable number: 0 -
the 99)
screensaver NoPrintSharing enable/disable
display tab the network
NoDispSettingsPage enable/disable print sharing
the settings button
display tab NoWorkgroupContents enable/disable
NoFileSysPage enable/disable network
the file system workgroup
button
NoPwdPage enable/disable 4. WinOldApp subkey:
the password
change tab
NoProfilePage enable/disable Key Name Description
the user Disabled enable/disable
profiles tab Ms-Dos Prompt
NoSecCPL enable/disable NoRealMode enable/disable
the password
applet real Ms-Dos
NoVirtMemPage enable/disable mode reboot
the virtual option
memory (Win95/98 only)
button
Similar settings for Explorer, Network
3. Network subkey: and System can be also found under
these Registry keys:
Key Name Description
DisablePwdCaching enable/disable HKEY_USERS\.Default\Software\Mi
password
caching crosoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Poli
HideSharePwds [hex] enable/disable cies
shared
passwords and:
NoEntireNetwork enable/disable
entire network HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\
NoNetSetup enable/disable
Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\P
the network
applet olicies
NoNetSetupIDPage enable/disable
the network If there is only one user, the
identification ".Default" key above contains all
tab global system settings. If more than
NoNetSetupSecurityPage enable/disable
 one user, each user has its own EnforceShellExtensionSecurity self explanatory :)
subkey here, named after the LinkResolveIgnoreLinkInfo display/don't display
link info
username(s) found in Control NoActiveDesktop enable/disable active
Panel... Users, and the registry desktop
settings located under a user's NoActiveDesktopChanges enable/disable
subkey are valid only for that specific changes to active
desktop
user. If you double-click on any of NoAddPrinter enable/disable addition
these keys, you'll see 3 subkeys in of new printers
the left hand pane: Explorer, NoChangeStartMenu enable/disable
Network and System. changes to the Start
Menu
Create (or modify if already present) NoClose enable/disable closing
the following Binary [hex] values IE GUI
listed below under the subkeys NoDeletePrinter enable/disable existent
printers deletion
above. To create a new Binary
NoDeskTop enable/disable ALL
value: right-click... New... Binary... desktop items and
Name it to one of the values listed desktop right-click
below. menu
NoDevMgrUpdate enable/disable the
To modify one of these Binary [hex] Win98/ME web update
values: double-click on it... give it a manager
value of 01 00 00 00 to disable NoDrives [hex] enable/disable ALL
access to a certain system feature, drives in My
Computer/Explorer/IE
or a value of 00 00 00 00 to enable See "Hide Win9x
access to a certain system feature. Drives" for details.
Don't type the spaces, they will be NoDriveTypeAutoRun [hex] enable/disable the cd-
rom autorun command
inserted automatically.
NoEditMenu edit/don't edit the Start
Menu
Explorer subkey valid DWORD NoFavoritesMenu enable/disable
values (if not specified otherwise) favorites folder display
NoFileMenu enable/disable
that can be changed (some are valid Explorer/IE file menu
ONLY for Win98/ME and MS IE NoFind enable/disable the find
3/4/5/6): command
NoFolderOptions show/don't show
Folder Options menu
Key Name Description in explorer
CDRAutoRun [hex] enable/disable CD- NoHelp show/don't show Help
R/CD-RW/DVD- menu
R/DVD-RW drive(s) NoInternetIcon show/don't show the
autoRun Internet icon on
NOTE: This setting desktop
needs specific
CDR(W)/DVDR(W) NoLogOff show/don't show the
software installed, like Logoff menu in the
Roxio (Adaptec) Easy Start menu
CD Creator, DirectCD, NoNetConnectDisconnect enable/disable dial-up
CD Copier etc. networking
ClassicShell [hex] enable/disable the connect/disconnect
active desktop shell NoNetHood enable/disable network
ClearRecentDocsOnExit clear/don't clear recent neighborhood
docsuments upon exit NoRecentDocsHistory enable/disable recent
EditLevel edit security level documents in Start
(integer number: 0 - 4) Menu
(Win98/ME/IE4/IE5/IE6
 ONLY) versions 3, 4, 5 and 6, and CAN be
NoRecentDocsMenu show/don't show the changed separately in the
recent documents
menu in the Start "CURRENT_USER" key, without
menu influencing the overall system
NoRun enable/disable the run operation.
command
ANY changes to these settings
NoSaveSettings [hex] enable/disable save
settings upon exit under ANY of these Registry keys
NoSetActiveDesktop enable/disable active require a Windows restart to take
desktop effect.
NoSetFolders enable/disable folder
settings
NoSetTaskbar enable/disable taskbar The MS Internet Explorer
settings 4.0x/5.xx/6.xx restrictions are found
NoStartBanner [hex] enable/disable the under these Registry keys:
splash screen upon IE
start
NoStartMenuSubFolders show/don't show HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\
subfolders in the Start Policies\Microsoft\Internet
Menu Explorer\Restrictions
NoTrayContextMenu show/don't show
context menu for tray
items and:
NoViewContextMenu show/don't show
context menu HKEY_USERS\.Default\Software\Pol
NoWindowsUpdate enable/disable
Win98/ME web update icies\Microsoft\Internet
NoWinKeys enable/disable Win9x Explorer\Restrictions
keys on 104+
keyboards
if there is only one user. If more than
RestrictRun enable/disable the run
menu one user, the ".Default" key above is
replaced with each "username" key.
Some of these values are also found All values are in DWORD format.
under: Type in the decimal box for the
desired value: 1 to disable or 0 to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ enable the respective function/key
Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\P combo:
olicies\Explorer
Key Name Description
Example: NoFileOpen enable/disable
NoControlPanel [hex] = open command in
enable/disable Control Panel File menu, Ctrl+O
and Ctrl+L
Most of the "CURRENT_USER" NoFileNew enable/disable
settings, especially the ones that Ctrl+N for
affect the entire system, change creating a new
automatically when you modify the window
similar values under the NoBrowserSaveAs enable/disable
"LOCAL_MACHINE" registry key the save and
(see above). Most of these values save as in the file
affect ONLY Internet Explorer menu
NoBrowserOptions enable/disable enable the respective
the Internet tab/setting/button.
options/properties Changing ANY of these settings
in the view menu does NOT require restarting
NoFavorites enable/disable Windows:
the favorites
Key Name Description
menu, adding to, Accessibility enable/disable
organizing accessibility settings
favorites Advanced enable/disable advanced
settings
NoSelectDownloadDir enable/disable AdvancedTab enable/disable the
the save as advanced tab
Autoconfig enable/disable autoconfig
dialog box upon settings
file download Cache enable/disable cache
settings
NoBrowserContextMenu enable/disable CalendarContact enable/disable contact
html context settings
menu Check_If_Default enable/disable check if IE
default browser setting
NoBrowserClose enable/disable Connection enable/disable
the close menuSettings connection settings
Certificates enable/disable certificates
and alt+F4 keys settings
to close a windoCertifPers
w enable/disable personal
certificates settings
NoFindFiles enable/disable CertifSite enable/disable certificates
the find menu publishers settings
and the F3 key Colors enable/disable color
settings
NoTheaterMode enable/disable Connection Wizard self explanatory =)
fullscreen (kioskConnectionsTab enable/disable
connections tab
mode) and the Connwiz Admin enable/disable
F11 key Lock connection wizard
administrative lockout
ContentTab enable/disable content
Internet Explorer Restrictions tab
Fonts enable/disable fonts
settings
The Internet Properties restrictions FormSuggest FormSuggest enable/disable
for MS Internet Explorer enable/disable forms Passwords passwords
4.0x/5.xx/6.xx (also found as a suggest setting suggest
setting
Control Panel applet) are located
under this Registry key: GeneralTab enable/disable General
tab
History enable/disable history
HKEY_USERS\.Default\Software\Pol settings
icies\Microsoft\Internet HomePage enable/disable homepage
settings
Explorer\Control Panel Languages enable/disable
Languages settings
Links enable/disable links
if there is only one user. If more than settings
one user, the ".Default" key above is Messaging enable/disable MS
replaced with each "username" key. messaging settings
Profiles enable/disable profiles
All values are in DWORD format. settings
Type in the Decimal box for the ProgramsTab enable/disable programs
tab
desired value: 1 to disable or 0 to
Proxy enable/disable proxy 3. Go to the Explorer Key
server settings
Ratings enable/disable ratings (Additional keys that can be
settings created under Policies are
ResetWebSettings enable/disable Reset web System, Explorer, Network
settings
SecAddSites enable/disable Security and WinOldApp)
Add sites settings 4. You can then add DWORD or
SecChangeSettings enable/disable security
changes binary values set to 1 in the
SecurityTab enable/disable security appropriate keys for ON and 0
tab for off.
Settings enable/disable settings
boxes
Wallet enable/disable MS wallet The following keys are valid:
settings (MS IE 5.xx and
newer ONLY)
Key Name Description
Change/Add Restrictions And NoDeletePrinter disables
Features deletion of
printers
If you want to make restrictions to NoAddPrinter disables
what users can do or use on there addition of
computer without having to run printers
poledit.exe, you can edit the registry. NoRun disables run
You can add and delete Windows command
features by editing the registry. In NoSetFolders removes
this key the value 0 is ON and the folders from
value 1 is Off. settings on
Start menu
Example: to Save Windows setting
NoSetTaskbar removes
add or modify the value name
taskbar from
NoSaveSettings to 0, if set to 1
settings on
Windows will not save settings. And
Start menu
NoDeletePrinter set to 1 will not
allow the user to delete a printer. NoFind removes the
find
command
The same key shows up at:
NoDrives hides drives
HKEY_USERS\(yourprofilename)\So in My
ftware\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVe Computer
rsion\Policies\Explorer NoNetHood hides the
network
so change it there also if you are neighborhood
using different profiles. NoDesktop hides all
icons on the
1. Open RegEdit desktop
2. Go to NoClose disables
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Sof shutdown
tware\Microsoft\CurrentVersio NoSaveSettings don't save
n\Policies settings on
 exit exept for
DisableRegistryTools disable those listed in
registry the
editing tools RestrictRun
NoRecentDocsMenu hides the subkey
documents
shortcut at POLICY EDITOR
the Start
button Tips/Info
NoRecentDocsHistory clears history
of documents INDEX
NoFileMenu hides the file
menu in 1. Customize your system with
explorer the System Policy Editor
2. Don't want someone else
NoActiveDesktop no active
changing your Windows?
desktop
3. Restrictions without running
NoActiveDesktopChanges no changes Poledit
allowed to 4. Poledit Tips
active
desktop 1. Power users: Customize your
NoInternetIcon no internet system with the System Policy Editor
explorer icon
on the The policy editor comes free on the
desktop Win9x CD. Here's how to install it:
NoFavoritesMenu hides the Open the Control Panel and double-
favorite menu click on the Add/Remove Programs
NoChangeStartMenu disables icon. Select the Windows Setup tab,
changes to then click on the Have Disk button.
the Start Click on the Browse button and find
memu the ADMIN\APPTOOLS\POLEDIT
NoFolderOptions hides the folder on your Win9x installation CD.
folder options Click on OK twice. Select both
in the System Policy Editor and Group
explorer Policies and click on the Install
ClearRecentDocsOnExit empty the button.
recent
documents 2. Don't want someone else
folder on changing your Windows
reboot environment?
NoLogoff hides the log
off option in Use the System Policy Editor,
the Start located on the Win 95 installation
menu CD-ROM. Don't put the Policy Editor
RestrictRun disables all on your own hard drive or you'll
exe programs make it too easy for others to change
your configuration. When you need Settings on
it, pop in the CD-ROM, select Start... Start Menu
Run, and run the command NoSetTaskbar Removes
d:\admin\apptools\poledit\poledit.exe Taskbar from
, where d is your CD-ROM drive. Settings on
Start Menu
3. Restrictions without running NoFind Removes the
Poledit: Find
Command
If you want to make restrictions to NoDrives Hides Drives
what users can do without having to in My
running Poledit, changes can be Computer
made directly to the Registry.
NoNetHood Hides the
Network
This will allow you to make a .reg file
Neighborhood
with the specific restrictions you want
and importing them all at once. NoDesktop Hides all
items on the
1. Start Regedit Desktop
2. Go to NoClose Disables
HKEY_Current_User\Softwar Shutdown
e\Microsoft\CurrentVersion\Po NoSaveSettings Don't save
licies settings on
3. There should already be at exit
least a Explorer key DisableRegistryTools disable
4. Additional keys that can be registry
created under Policies are editing tools
System, Network and NOTE:
WinOldApp remember to
5. You can then add DWORD be careful of
values set to 1 in the this one!
appropriate keys
6. In the Explorer key you can 7.
add: 8. In the System key you can
add:
Key Name Description
NoDeletePrinter Disables Key Name Description
Deletion of NoDispCPL Disable
Printers Display
NoAddPrinter Disables Control Panel
Addition of NoDispBackgroundPage Hide
Printers Background
NoRun Disables Run Page
Command NoDispScrSavPage Hide Screen
NoSetFolders Removes Saver Page
Folders from NoDispAppearancePage Hide
 Appearance Controls
Page NoPrintSharing Disable
NoDispSettingsPage Hide Settings Print
Page Sharing
NoSecCPL Disable Controls
Password
Control Panel 11.
NoPwdPage Hide 12. In the WinOldApp key you can
Password enter:
Change Page
NoAdminPage Hide Remote Key Name Description
Administration Disabled Disable MS-
Page DOS Prompt
NoProfilePage Hide User NoRealMode Disables
Profiles Page Single-Mode
NoDevMgrPage Hide Device MS-DOS
Manager
Page 4. Poledit Tips
NoConfigPage Hide
Hardware The policy editor will allow you to
Profiles Page remove the Run command from the
NoFileSysPage Hide File Start menu. You can also specify
System only certain apps that 95 can run
Button using a policy. Unfortunatly, booting
NoVirtMemPage Hide Virtual in safe mode will allow someone to
Memory run poledit, and undo all your
Button changes.

If you are on a network, the best way

9.
is to put the policy there, and
10. In the Network key you can
configure it so they must log in to
enter:
use the computer. Any changes
made with policy editor in safe mode
Key Name Description
will be reset after the user
NoNetSetup Disable the authenticates to the network, unless,
Network of course, they kill the network
Control configuration. But if that happens,
Panel they're now screwed.
NoNetSetupIDPage Hide
Identification Bottom line: If you have such a
Page problem with users hacking your
NoNetSetupSecurityPage Hide Access system and reasonable measures
Control taken with policy editor cannot stop
Page them, those people should not be
NoFileSharingControl Disable File allowed to use the computer in the
Sharing first place!
Don't forget, you can always use a
bios password and lock the case, so
it can't be reset without a hammer
and screwdriver. You can also edit
the msdos.sys file and change the
bootmulti line to 0 so they can't enter
safe mode without a boot disk.
Disabling boot from floppy in the bios
will afford you another level of
protection. There are also 3rd party
utils which will handle these chores
for you.
SECURITY
INDEX
1. Creating Secure User Profiles
under Win9x
2. Disabling the Right-Click on
the Start Button
3. Disabling My Computer
4. For Your Eyes Only
5. Hidden Creator
6. Boot Keys - Locking Out
7. Restrictions without running
Poledit
8. Hmmm?
9. Useful Links
1. Creating Secure User Profiles
under Win9x:
The following is the text of a letter by
Richard Turner of Augusta, Georgia.
It was published in PC Magazine,
and is undoubtedly copyrighted by
them. I'm including it because it
addresses a common question about
how to create secure user profiles in
Win9x. This was a Stumper question
at one point - many people
responded that the answer was to
use the Policy Editor, but no one
explained the exact, best procedure.
This letter does a very good job of
that.
Once again, the following is directly
from PC Magazine, and was written
by Richard Turner.
Publicly accessible computers, such
as those in schools, require a
significant degree of security to
prevent abuse. The Windows 95 CD-
ROM provides the tool you need to
implement restrictive policies on
such machines in the form of the
Policy Editor (POLEDIT) application.
Unfortunately, the Windows 95
Resource Kit doesn't tell you how to
use POLEDIT for standalone
computers, so I developed a method
of my own:
1.Prepare the System.
Use Explorer to make backup copies
of USER.DAT and SYSTEM.DAT, in
case of emergency. Make sure you
have at least 10MB free on the
Windows drive to hold user profile
information.
2.Enable User Profiles.
Launch the Password applet in
Control Panel. Click the User Profiles
tab, click the option Users Can
Customize, and check the two
boxes. Click OK; Windows will
restart.
3.Create Profiles.
When Windows restarts, log on as
User and allow Windows to create
folders to hold your profile
information. Shut down and log on
again as Administrator, with a
suitably obscure password, and
again allow Windows to create
profile folders. Don't forget this
password!
4.Restrict User Access to Programs.
While logged on as Adminstrator,
use Explorer to navigate to
C:\WINDOWS\PROFILES\USER\ST
ARTMENU. In this folder and those
below it, delete any shortcuts to
programs the user shouldn't be
allowed to run, including every
shortcut to the Recent folder. Be
sure to delete the shortcuts to
POLEDIT, Regedit, and Explorer.
5.Install Policy Editor.
Launch the Add/Remove Software
applet in Control Panel, click the
Windows Setup tab, and press the
Have button. Navigate to the
ADMIN\APPTOOLS\POLEDIT folder
of the Windows 95 CD-ROM and
install POLEDIT.INF. This will install
POLEDIT and put it on the
Accessories\System Tools submenu
of the Programs menu. It will also
place the critical policy template file
ADMIN.ADM in the
C:\WINDOWS\INF directory. If you
don't have the CD, you can
download POLEDIT from
somewhere on [www.microsoft.com]
or CIS MSWIN.
6.Define Default User Policy.
Launch POLEDIT, create a new file,
and add new users named User and
Administrator. Double-click the
Default User icon, select
System|Restrictions, and check all
four boxes. Select Shell |Restrictions
and check the four boxes whose
captions begin with Remove, plus
the two that say Hide All Items on
Desktop and Don't Save Settings on
Exit. Do not check the Disable
Shutdown command. Use Explorer
to create a folder named
C:\WINDOWS\PROFILE\DUMMY.
Back in POLEDIT, select
Shell|Custom Folders and check all
the boxes, filling in the dummy folder
name you just created for those that
require paths. Click OK and save the
file as CONFIG.POL.
7.Define User Policy.
Load the example policy file
MAXIMUM.POL, click on the Default
User icon, and chose Copy from the
Edit menu. Reload CONFIG.POL,
click on the User icon, and select
Paste from the Edit menu. Double-
click the User icon and choose
Shell|Custom Folders. Click on the
text of each check box in turn and, if
an edit box appears below, replace
C:\WINDOWS with
C:\WINDOWS\PROFILES\USER.
Make sure all boxes remain
checked. Select Control Panel |
Passwords and check the Restrict
box; then check the other four boxes
that appear below. Under Shell |
Restrictions, check the Remove Run
command, Remove Find command,
Hide Drives in My Computer, and
Don't Save Settings on Exit. Consult
the Windows Resource Kit Help to
determine what other restrictions you
may wish to add, but be sure not to
check Disable ShutDown Command.
Now go to the Shell | Restrictions
and System | Restrictions and
change any gray check boxes to
blank.
8.Define Adminstrator Policy.
Double-click the Administrator icon
and go through the entire list of
restrictions, setting every check box
to blank, not gray. This protects the
Administrator policy from being
affected by the Default User policy.
9.Define "no user" Policy.
Log on again, but press ESC to
close the log-on prompt. Run
POLEDIT, select Open Registry from
the File menu, and double-click
Local User. Apply all the same
restrictions you applied to Default
User. Then log on as Adminstrator
again.
10.Enable Policy Loading.
Load CONFIG.POL in POLEDIT,
open the Default Computer icon,
select System, and check Enable
User Profiles. Under
Network\Update, check Remote
Update. Select Manual for the
Update Mode, and enter
C:\WIINDOWS\CONFIG.POL as
your path. Save CONFIG.POL. Now
select Open Registry from the File
menu, double-click Local Computer,
and make the same change to the
network update mode. Save
changes and exit POLEDIT.
11.Test Policies.
Log on as User; check to see that
the policy restrictions you specified
are in place. Log on as Administrator
and check that there are no
restrictions. Now shut down and log
on again, but use a new name and
password. There should be no icons
on the desktop and no programs
available from the Start menu
(nothing to do but log on again). This
time press ESC at the log-on prompt
to bypass entering a user name.
Again you should have no option but
to shut down and log on again.
12.Protect Policies.
Log on as User and confirm there is
no way to run POLEDIT. For greater
safety, change the file named
ADMIN.ADM (in the
C:\WINDOWS\INF folder) to
something else. Use the DOS
command ATTRIB to remove the
read-only, hidden, and system
attributes from the file
C:\MSDOS.SYS, and load it into
your favorite editor. Find the heading
[Options] and change the bootkeys=
key to bootkeys=0. If this key is not
present under [Options], simply add
it. Save the file and restore its read-
only, hidden, and system attributes.
This change prevents the user from
breaking out of Windows 95's startup
process. Finally, if the system BIOS
permits, use its SETUP program to
disable booting from a floppy disk.
2. Disabling the Right-Click on the
Start Button:
Normally, when you right button click
on the Start button, it allows you to
open your programs folder, the
Explorer and run Find. In situations
where you don't want to allow users
to be able to do this in order to
secure your computer.
1. Start Regedit
2. Search for Desktop
 3. This should bring you to
HKEY_Classes_Root\Director
y
4. Expand this section
5. Under Shell is Find
6. Delete Find
7. Move down a little in the
Registry to Folder
8. Expand this section and
remove Explore and Open
Now when you right click on the Start
button, nothing should happen. You
can delete only those items that you
need.
Note: - On Microsoft keyboards, this
also disables the Window-E (for
Explorer) and Window-F (for Find)
keys.
See the section on Installation to see
how to do this automatically during
an install.
3. Disabling My Computer:
In areas where you are trying to
restrict what users can do on the
computer, it might be beneficial to
disable the ability to click on My
Computer and have access to the
drives, control panel etc.
To disable this:
1. Start Regedit
2. Search for 20D04FE0-3AEA-
1069-A2D8-08002B30309D
3. This should bring you to the
HKEY_Classes_Root\CLSID
section
4. Delete the entire section
Now when you click on My
Computer, nothing will happen. You
might want to export this section to a
registry file before deleting it just in
case you want to enable it again.
See the section on Installation to see
how to do this automatically during
an install.
4. For your eyes only:
Don't want your nosy neighbors
peeking at what you've got on your
computer when you step away from
your desk? Your screen saver's
certainly not going to stop them --
unless you password protect it.
Choose any password you want and
once that screen saver kicks in, you
can't get back into what you were
doing unless you enter the right
password. So snoopers are locked
out. Nyaa-nyaa! To set a screen
saver password, click the desktop
with the right mouse button and
choose Properties to open the
Display Properties dialog box. Now
click the Screen Saver tab, click the
Password protected box, then click
the Change button and enter a
password -- twice. Click OK and
breathe easy. While you're at it (2
tips in one!), now might be a good
time to set that screen saver to kick
in a little faster. Just use the up and
down arrows next to Wait to adjust
how long it takes to kick in.
5. Hidden Creator:
Platform: all windows platforms
When creating a directory in ms-dos,
name directory and press ALT255.
Directory can be seen in directory
but can not be opened without
pressing ALT255 at end of directory
name. Great security feature to keep
people out of your private directory Drive Letter Value
or directories. A: 01 00 00 00
B: 02 00 00 00
6. Boot keys - Locking out C: 04 00 00 00
D: 08 00 00 00
Open a command prompt (from start
menu select RUN, then type E: 10 00 00 00
COMMAND), switch to the root F: 20 00 00 00
directory and issue the following G: 40 00 00 00
command: H: 80 00 00 00
I: 00 01 00 00
ATTRIB -H -R -S MSDOS.SYS J: 00 02 00 00
K: 00 04 00 00
This will remove the hidden, read L: 00 08 00 00
only and system attributes so you
M: 00 10 00 00
may edit it.
N: 00 20 00 00
BootKeys=1 Enables the special O: 00 40 00 00
startup option keys (F5, F6, and F8). P: 00 80 00 00
Setting this value to 0 prevents any Q: 00 00 01 00
startup keys from functioning. If R: 00 00 02 00
you're a systems administrator, this S: 00 00 04 00
setting lets you configure a more T: 00 00 08 00
secure system. U: 00 00 10 00
V: 00 00 20 00
BE SURE TO RE-ENABLE THE
W: 00 00 40 00
HIDDEN, READ ONLY, and
SYSTEM PROPERTIES after you X: 00 00 80 00
edit the MSDOS.SYS by typing: Y: 00 00 00 01
Z: 00 00 00 02
ATTRIB +H +R +S MSDOS.SYS
Where (for eg) you want to hide
7. Hiding Any Combination of Drives Drives {C,E,J,O,R,U,Y,Z} you would
give 'NoDrives' the value 14 42 12
If you want to stop a drive or any 03
combination of drives appearing in
Explorer/My Computer, add the Where C+E = 14, J+O = 42, R+U=12
Binary Value of 'NoDrives' in the and Y+Z = 03
registry at Please NOTE: The Numbers are to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ be added in HEXadecimal ie: ABCD
Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\P = 0F, not 15 All Drives Visible is 00
olicies\Explorer 00 00 00 All Drives Hidden is FF FF
FF 03
Give it a value from a combination of
the table below: 8. Hmmm? =)
I won't get into the fact that your MS-DOS Hacking
boss "probably" has the legal right to
do whatever he/she wants. Its
How to Use Telnet on a Windows
his/her computer and his/her
Computer
salary.... That being said: TweakUI
Telnet is great little program for
will automatically clear out things like
doing a couple of interesting things.
the Doc, Run, Find etc. In fact in
In fact, if you want to call yourself a
tweakui its under the tab
hacker, you absolutely MUST be
Paranoia.(which is kind of fitting) You
able to telnet! In this lesson you will
might also del everything in the
find out a few of the cool things a
\\windows\temp internet file folder.
hacker can do with telnet.
Disable file sharing so he can't sit at
If you are using Win95, you can find
his desk and look at your hard drive.
telnet in the c:\windows directory,
Last but not least, go to find and look
and on NT, in the c:\winnt\system32
for *.pwl . This will tell you if anyone
directory. There isn't a lot of online
is logging onto your pc with their
help concerning the usage of the
password.
program, so my goal is to provide
some information for new users.
First off, telnet isn't so much an
application as it is a protocol. Telnet
is protocol that runs over TCP/IP,
and was used for connecting to
remote computers. It provides a login
interface, and you can run
command-line programs by typing
the commands on your keyboard,
and the programs use the resources
of the remote machine. The results
are displayed in the terminal window
on your machine, but the memory
and CPU cycles consumed by the
program are located on the remote
machine. Therefore, telnet functions
as a terminal emulation program,
emulating a terminal on the remote
machine.
Now, telnet runs on your Win95 box
as a GUI application...that is to say
that you can type "telnet" at the
command prompt (in Windows 95
this is the MS-DOS prompt), and
assuming that your PATH is set
correctly, a window titled "telnet" will
open. This differs from your ftp
program in that all commands are
entered in the DOS window.
Let's begin by opening telnet. Simply
open a DOS window by clicking
"start", then "programs", then "MS-
DOS", and at the command prompt,
type:
c:\telnet
The window for telnet will open, and
you can browse the features of the
program from the menu bar.
NEWBIE NOTE: In this text file, I am
referring only to the telnet
program that ships with Win95/NT. If
you type "telnet" at the
command prompt and you don't get
the telnet window, make sure
that the program is on your hard
drive using the Start -> Find ->
Files or Folders command. Also
make sure that your path statement
includes the Windows directory.
There are many other programs
available that provide similar
functionality, with a lot of other bells
and whistles, from any number of
software sites.
To learn a bit more about telnet,
choose Help -> Contents, or
Help -> Search for help on... from the
menu bar. Read through
the files in order to find more detailed
explanations of things
you may wish to do. For example, in
this explanation, I will
primarily be covering how to use the
application and what it can
be used for, but now how to
customize the colors for the
application.
Now, if you choose Connect ->
Remote System, you will be
presented with a dialog window that
will ask you for the remote host, the
port and the terminal type.
NEWBIE NOTE: For most purposes,
you can leave the terminal type on
VT100.
In the Connect dialog box, you can
enter in the host to which
you wish to connect, and there is a
list box of several ports
you can connect to:
daytime: May give you the current
time on the server.
echo: May echo back whatever you
type in, and will tell you that the
computer you have connected to is
alive nd running on the Internet.
qotd: May provide you with a quote
of the day.
chargen: May display a continuous
stream of characters, useful for
spotting network problems, but may
crash your telnet program.
telnet: May present you with a login
screen.
These will only work if the server to
which you are trying to connect is
running these services. However,
you are not limited to just those
ports...you can type in any port
number you wish. (For more on fun
ports, see the GTMHH, "Port Surf's
Up.") You will only successfully
connect to the port if the service in
question is available. What occurs
after you connect depends upon the
protocol for that particular service.
When you are using telnet to
connect to the telnet service on a
server, you will (in most cases) be
presented with a banner and a login
prompt.
[Note from Carolyn Meinel: Many
people have written saying their
telnet program fails to connect no
matter what host they try to reach.
Here's a way to fix your problem.
First -- make sure you are already
connected to the Internet. If your
telnet program still cannot connect to
anything, here's how to fix your
problem. Click "start" then "settings"
then "control panel." Then click
"Internet" then "connection." This
screen will have two boxes that may
or may not be checked. The top one
says "connect to the Internet as
needed." If that box is checked,
uncheck it -- but only uncheck it if
you already have been having
problems connecting. The bottom
box says "connect through a proxy
server." If that box is checked, you
probably are on a local area network
and your systems administrator
doesn't allow you to use telnet.]
NEWBIE NOTE: It's not a good idea
to connect to a host on which you
don't have a valid account. In your
attempts to guess a username and
password, all you will do is fill the log
files on that host. From there, you
can very easily be traced, and your
online service provider will probably
cancel your account.
Now, you can also use telnet to
connect to other ports, such as
ftp (21), smtp (25), pop3 (110), and
even http (80). When you
connect to ftp, smtp, and pop3, you
will be presented with a
banner, or a line of text that displays
some information about the
service. This will give you a clue as
to the operating system
running on the host computer, or it
may come right out and tell
you what the operating system
is...for instance, AIX, Linux,
Solaris, or NT. If you successfully
connect to port 80, you will
see a blank screen. This indicates,
again, that you have successfully
completed the TCP negotiation and
you have a connection.
Now, what you do from there is up to
you. You can simply disconnect with
the knowledge that, yes, there is a
service running on port 80, or you
can use your knowledge of the HTTP
protocol to retrieve the HTML source
for web pages on the server.
How to Download Web Pages Via
Telnet
To retrieve a web page for a server
using telnet, you need to connect to
that server on port 80, generally.
Some servers may use a different
port number, such as 8080, but most
web servers run on port 80. The first
thing you need to do is click on
Terminal -> Preferences and make
sure that there is a check in the
Local Echo box. Then, since most
web pages will generally take up
more than a single screen, enable
logging by clicking Terminal -> Start
Logging... and select a location and
filename. Keep in mind that as long
as logging is on, and the same file is
being logged to, all new information
will be appended to the file, rather
than overwriting the
original file. This is useful if you want
to record several sessions, and edit
out the extraneous information using
Notepad.
Now, connect the remote host, and if
your connection is successful, type
in:
GET / HTTP/1.0
and hit enter twice.
NEWBIE NOTE: Make sure that you
hit enter twice...this is part
of the HTTP protocol. The single /
after GET tells the server
to return the default index file, which
is generally "index.html".
However, you can enter other
filenames, as well.
You should have seen a bunch of
text scroll by on the screen. Now you
can open the log file in Notepad, and
you will see the HTML
code for the page, just as though you
had chosen the View Source
option from your web browser. You
will also get some additional
information...the headers for the file
will contain some information
about the server. For example:
HTTP/1.0 200 Document follows
Date: Thu, 04 Jun 1998 14:46:46
GMT
Server: NCSA/1.5.2
Last-modified: Thu, 19 Feb 1998
17:44:13 GMT
Content-type: text/html
Content-length: 3196
One particularly interesting piece of
information is the server
name. This refers to the web server
software that is running
and serving web pages. You may
see other names in this field,
such as versions of Microsoft IIS,
Purveyor, WebSite, etc.
This will give you a clue as to the
underlying operating system
running on the server.
SYSADMIN NOTE: This technique,
used in conjunction with a
database of exploits on web servers,
can be particularly annoying.
Make sure you keep up on exploits
and the appropriate security
patches from your web server and
operating system vendors.
NEWBIE NOTE: This technique of
gathering web pages is perfectly
legal. You aren't attempting to
compromise the target system, you
are simply doing by hand what your
web browser does for you
automatically. Of course, this
technique will not load images and
Java applets for you.
Getting Finger Information Via Telnet
By now, you've probably heard or
read a lot about finger. It doesn't
seem like a very useful service, and
many sysadmins disable the service
because it provides information on a
particular user, information an evil
hacker can take advantage of.
Win95 doesn't ship with a finger
client, but NT does. You can
download finger clients for Win95
from any number of software sites.
But why do that when you have a
readily available client in telnet?
The finger daemon or server runs on
port 79, so connect to a remote host
on that port. If the service is running,
you will be presented with a blank
screen.
NEWBIE NOTE: NT doesn't ship
with a finger daemon (A daemon is a
program on the remote computer
which waits for people like you to
connect to it), so generally speaking,
and server that you find running
finger will be a Unix box. I say
"generally" because there are third-
party finger daemons available and
someone may want to run one on
their NT computer.
The blank screen indicates that the
finger daemon is waiting for input. If
you have a particular user that you
are interested in, type in the
username and hit enter. A response
will be provided, and the daemon will
disconnect the client. If you don't
know a particular username, you can
start by simply hitting enter. In some
cases, you may get a response such
as "No one logged on." Or you may
get information of all currently logged
on users. It all depends on whether
or not the sysadmin has chosen to
enable certain features of the
daemon. You can also try other
names, such as "root", "daemon",
"ftp", "bin", etc.
Another neat trick to try out is
something that I have seen referred
to as "finger forwarding". To try this
out, you need two hosts that run
finger. Connect to the first host,
host1.com, and enter the username
that you are interested in. Then go to
the second host, and enter:
user@host1.com
You should see the same
information! Again, this all depends
upon
the configuration of the finger
daemon.
Using Telnet from the Command
Line
Now, if you want to show your
friends that you a "real man"
because "real men don't need no
stinkin' GUIs", well just open up a
DOS window and type:
c:\>telnet <host> <port>
and the program will automatically
attempt to connect to the host
on the designated port for you.
Using Netcat
Let me start by giving a mighty big
thanks to Weld Pond from L0pht for
producing the netcat program for
Windows NT. To get a copy of this
program, which comes with source
code, simply go to:
http://www.l0pht.com/~weld
NOTE: The first character of "l0pht:
is the letter "l". The second character
is a zero, not an "o".
I know that the program is supposed
to run on NT, but I have
seen it run on Win95. It's a great little
program that can be used
to do some of the same things as
telnet. However, there are
advantages to using netcat...for one,
it's a command-line program,
and it can be included in a batch file.
In fact, you can automate
multiple calls to netcat in a batch file,
saving the results to
a text file.
NEWBIE NOTE: For more
information on batch files, see
previous versions of the Guide To
(mostly) Harmless Hacking, Getting
Serious with Windows series ...one
of them dealt with basic batch file
programming.
Before using netcat, take a look at
the readme.txt file provided in
the zipped archive you downloaded.
It goes over the instructions
on how to download web pages
using netcat, similar to what I
described earlier using telnet.
There are two ways to go about
getting finger information using
netcat. The first is in interactive
mode. Simply type:
c:\>nc <host> 79
If the daemon is running, you won't
get a command prompt back. If this
is the case, type in the username
and hit enter. Or use the automatic
mode by first creating a text file
containing the username of interest.
For example, I typed:
c:\>edit root
and entered the username "root",
without the quotes. Then from
the command prompt, type:
c:\>nc <host> 79 < root
and the response will appear on your
screen. You can save the
output to a file by adding the
appropriate redirection operator
to the end of the file:
c:\>nc <host> 79 < root > nc.log
to create the file nc.log, or:
c:\>nc <host> 79 < root >> nc.log
to append the response to the end of
nc.log. NOTE: Make sure
that you use spaces between the
redirection operators.
How to Break into a Windows 95
machine Connected to the Internet
Disclaimer
The intent of this file is NOT to
provide a step-by-step guide to
accessing a Win95 computer while it
is connected to the Internet. The
intent is show you how to protect
yourself.
There are no special tools needed to
access a remote Win95
machine...everything you need is
right there on your Win95 system!
Two methods will be described...the
command-line approach and the GUI
approach.
Protecting Yourself
First, the method of protecting
yourself needs to be made perfectly
clear. DON'T SHARE FILES!! I can't
stress that enough. If you are a
home user, and you are connecting
a Win95 computer to the Internet via
some dial-up method, disable
sharing. If you must share, use a
strong password...8 characters
minimum, a mix of upper and lower
case letters and numbers, change
the password every now and again.
If you need to transmit the
password to someone, do so over
the phone or by written letter. To
disable sharing, click on My
Computer -> Control Panel ->
Network -> File and Print Sharing. In
the dialog box that appears, uncheck
both boxes. It's that easy.
What Can They Do?
What can someone do? Well, lots of
stuff, but it largely depends on what
shares are available. If someone is
able to share a printer from your
machine, they can send you
annoying letters and messages. This
consumes time, your printer
ink/toner, and your paper. If they are
able to share a disk share, what they
can do largely depends upon what's
in that share. The share appears as
another directory on the attacker's
machine, so any programs they run
will be consuming their own
resources...memory, cpu cycles, etc.
But if the attacker has read and write
access to those disk shares, then
you're in trouble. If you take work
home, your files may be vulnerable.
Initialization and configuration files
can be searched for passwords.
Files can be modified and deleted. A
particularly nasty thing to do is
adding a line to your autoexec.bat
file so that the next time your
computer is booted, the hard drive is
formatted without any prompting
from the user. Bad ju-ju, indeed.
** The command-line approach **
Okay, now for the part that should
probably be titled "How they do it".
All that is needed is the IP address
of the remote machine. Now open up
a DOS window, and at the command
prompt, type:
c:\>nbtstat -A [ip_addr]
If the remote machine is connected
to the Internet and the ports used for
sharing are not blocked, you should
see something like:
NetBIOS Remote Machine Name
Table
Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
NAME <00> UNIQUE Registered
DOMAIN <00> GROUP Registered
NAME <03> UNIQUE Registered
USERNAME <03> UNIQUE
Registered
MAC Address = 00-00-00-00-00-00
This machine name table shows the
machine and domain names, a
logged-on username, and the
address of the Ethernet adapter (the
information has been obfuscated for
instructional purposes).
**Note: This machine, if unpatched
and not protected with a firewall or
packet-filter router, may be
vulnerable to a range of denial of
service attacks, which seem to be
fairly popular, largely because they
require no skill or knowledge to
perpetrate.
The key piece of information that you
are looking for is in the Type column.
A machine that has sharing enabled
will have a hex code of "<20>".
**Note: With the right tools, it is fairly
simple for a sysadmin to write a
batch file that combs a subnet or her
entire network, looking for client
machines with sharing enabled. This
batch file can then be run at specific
times...every day at 2:00 am, only on
Friday evenings or weekends, etc.
If you find a machine with sharing
enabled, the next thing to do is type
the following command:
c:\>net view \\[ip_addr]
Now, your response may be varied.
You may find that there are no
shares on the list, or that there are
several shares available. Choose
which share you would like to
connect to, and type the command:
c:\>net use g:
\\[ip_addr]\[share_name]
You will likely get a response that the
command was completed
successfully. If that is the case, type:
c:\>cd g:
or which ever device name you
decided to use. You can now view
what exists on that share using the
dir commands, etc.
Now, you may be presented with a
password prompt when you ssue the
above command. If that is the case,
typical "hacker" (I shudder at that
term) methods may be used.
** The GUI approach **
After issuing the nbtstat command,
you can opt for the GUI approach to
accessing the shares on that
machine. To do so, make sure that
you leave the DOS window open, or
minimized...don't close it. Now, use
Notepad to open this file:
c:\windows\lmhosts.sam
Read over the file, and then open
create another file in Notepad, called
simply "Lmhosts", without an
extension. The file should contain
the IP address of the host, the
NetBIOS name of the host (from the
nbtstat command), and #PRE,
separated by tabs. Once you have
added this information, save it, and
minimize the window. In the DOS
command window, type:
c:\>nbtstat -R
This command reloads the cache
from the Lmhosts file you just
created.
Now, click on Start -> Find ->
Computer, and type in the NetBIOS
name of the computer...the same
one you added to the lmhosts file. If
your attempt to connect to the
machine is successful, you should
be presented with a window
containing the available shares. You
may be presented with a password
prompt window, but again, typical
"hacker" (again, that term grates on
me like fingernails on a chalk board,
but today, it seems that it's all folks
understand) techniques may be used
to break the password.
Note from Carolyn Meinel: Want to
try this stuff without winding up in jail
or getting expelled from school? Get
a friend to give you permission to try
to break in.
First, you will need his or her IP
address. Usually this will be different
every time your friend logs on. You
friend can learn his or her IP address
by going to the DOS prompt while
online and giving the command
"netstat -r". Something like this
should show up:
C:\WINDOWS>netstat -r
Route Table
Active Routes:
Network Address Netmask Gateway
Address Interface Metric
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 198.999.176.84
198.999.176.84 1
127.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 127.0.0.1
127.0.0.1 1
198.999.176.0 255.255.255.0
198.999.176.84 198.999.176.84 1
198.999.176.84 255.255.255.255
127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
198.999.176.255 255.255.255.255
198.999.176.84 198.999.176.84 1
224.0.0.0 224.0.0.0 198.999.176.84
198.999.176.84 1
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255
198.999.176.84 0.0.0.0 1
Your friend's IP address should be
under "Gateway Address." Ignore the
127.0.0.1 as this will show up for
everyone and simply means
"locahost" or "my own computer." If
in doubt, break the Internet
connection and then get online
again. The number that changes is
the IP address of your friend's
computer.
Evil Genius tip: Here is something
really scary. In your shell account
give the "netstat" command. If your
ISP allows you to use it, you might
be able to get the dynamically
assigned IP addresses of people
from all over the world -- everyone
who is browsing a Web site hosted
by your ISP, everyone using ftp,
spammers you might catch red-
handed in the act of forging email on
your ISP, guys up at 2AM playing on
multiuser dungeons, IRC users, in
fact you will see everyone who is
connected to your ISP!
YOU CAN GO TO JAIL WARNING:
If you find a Windows 95 box on the
Internet with file sharing enabled and
no password protection, you can still
get in big trouble for exploiting it. It's
just like finding a house whose
owner forgot to lock the door -- you
still are in trouble if someone catches
you inside. Tell temptation to take a
hike!
Final Words
Please remember that this Guide is
for instructional purposes only and is
meant to educate the sysadmin and
user alike. If someone uses this
information to gain access to a
system which they have no
permission or business messing
with, I (keydet) cannot be
responsible for the outcome. If you
are intending to try this information
out, do so with the consent and
permission of a friend.
Making Windows XP
Boot 60% Faster
Making Windows XP Boot 60%
Faster
Whenever you start your computer,
you are faced with a few moments of
thumb twiddling while Windows XP
boots and prompts you to log on.
Although you should expect to wait
for a few moments, sometimes
Windows XP seems to boot rather
slowly. In fact, you may notice that
over a period of time the PC that
used to roar to life seems a bit
sluggish instead. Fortunately, you
can perform several techniques that
help Windows XP get the bootup
speed you want. This chapter
explores how to put these
techniques to work.
Stopping Unneeded Startup
Services
Along with the core operating system
and programs that Windows XP runs
when it starts, there is also a host of
services involved. Many of these
services are necessary for Windows
XP to operate correctly. However,
many of them are for features in
Windows XP that you may not use at
all. You can peruse the services and
disable any service that you do not
want to run. The fewer services that
run, the more quickly Windows XP
will boot.
Caution:
Exercise caution when stopping
services. If you do not know what a
service does or are unsure of the
ramifications of stopping the service,
leave it alone. Some services are
critical to Windows XP's operations,
so make sure you understand what
the service is before you disable it.
To reduce the number of services
that start on bootup, you can access
two different areas of Windows XP.
The first is the System Configuration
Utility. The Services tab shows you
the services that start when the
computer boots.
You can stop a service from starting
by simply clearing the check box
next to the service and clicking OK.
However, before you do so, there is
another way to disable services that
you may prefer because the
interface gives you more information
about the service in question.
Open Control Panel/Administrative
ToolsServices or else select
Start/Run, type services.msc, and
click OK. Either way, you see the
Services console.
I prefer to use the Services console
instead of the System Configuration
Utility because it describes what the
service does. Additionally, you can
double-click a service and examine
its properties.
Notice the Startup Type column in
Figure 4-2. This information lists
whether the service is automatic or
manual. Manual services are only
started in Windows XP when you
start a process that requires the
service. Some other process may
require the service that has a
"dependency" relationship with it; in
this case, the dependency service
will start, as well. Because these
services do not start automatically
when you boot Windows XP, you do
not need to do anything with manual
services.
However, all services listed as
automatic start when Windows XP
boots. These are the services that
increase boot time. As I have
mentioned, many of them are
necessary and important, so you
should not stop automatic services
from booting unless you are sure of
the ramifications. You can get this
information by looking at the
Description column. Here's a quick
look at common services you may
want to live without:
Automatic Updates: This service
enables Windows XP to check the
Web automatically for updates. If you
don't want to use Automatic
Updates, you can disable the
service. You can always check for
updates manually at the Windows
Update Web site.
Computer Browser: If your computer
is not on a network, you don't need
this service. If you are on a network,
leave it alone.
DHCP Client: If you are not on a
network, you do not need this
service. If you are on a small
workgroup, you can still increase
boot time by configuring manual IP
addresses (which I explore later in
this chapter).
DNS Client: If you are not on a
network, you do not need this
service. If you are, leave it alone.
Error Reporting and Event Log: You
don't have to use these services but
they can be very helpful, so I would
leave them configured as automatic.
Fax: If you don't use your computer
for fax services, you can disable this
one.
Help and Support: If you never use
the Windows XP Help and Support
Center (found on the Start menu),
you can disable this service.
IMAPI CD-Burning COM: This
service enables you to burn CDs on
your computer. If you never burn
CDs, you can disable the service.
Indexing Service: Your computer
keeps an index of files but if you
rarely search for files, the service is
just a resource hog. You can stop it
and turn the service to manual.
Windows Firewall/Internet
Connection Sharing: If you do not
use these features, you can disable
them.
Infrared Monitor: If you do not use
infrared devices, you can disable this
service.

Messenger: This service sends alert
messages on a local area network (it
is not the same as Windows
Messenger). If you are not on a
network, you can disable this
service.
Print Spooler: If you do not do any
printing from the computer, you can
disable this service. If you print,
make sure you leave it as automatic.
Remote Registry: This service allows
remote users to modify the Registry
on your computer. If you are not on a
network, you can disable this
service.
System Restore Service: This
service allows you to use System
Restore. If you have turned off
System Restore anyway, you do not
need to turn off the service. If you
do, you turn off System Restore.
Themes: If you do not use themes,
you can disable this service.
Windows Image Acquisition: If you
do not use scanners or digital
cameras, you can disable this
service.
Wireless Zero Configuration: If do
not use wireless networking devices,
you can disable this service.
You may have a number of other
automatic services, depending on
software and other configurations on
your computer. So it's a good idea to
look through the services and learn
more about them. If you double-click
a service, a Properties dialog box
appears
Notice that on the General tab, you
see a Startup Type drop-down
menu. If you want to change an
automatic service to manual, select
Manual here and click OK. As a
general rule, don't disable a service
unless you are sure you will never
use it. However, manual
configuration allows the service to be
started when you find it necessary,
thus speeding up your boot time.
However, before you change a
service to manual, look at the
Dependencies tab (see Figure 4-4).
This tab shows you which other
services depend upon the service
you are considering changing.
Keep in mind that services are
necessary for the vast functionality
you get with Windows XP. Change
only those services that you
understand and do not use. How you
use your Windows XP computer
should be the best guide in terms of
optional startup services.
Tip:
The Indexing service and the System
Restore service take up a lot of disk
space and system resources across
the board. You can live without the
Indexing service but I suggest that
you keep using System Restore. It
works great when you are in a bind solving this problem.
and this is one case where the loss
of speed may not be worth the This isn't a networking book,
ramifications of not using System however, so I won't delve into the
Restore. implications of using a manual IP
address, but if you are using a
computer that functions as a host
computer to the Internet (using
Speed Tips and Tricks Internet Connection Sharing [ICS]),
you can get into connectivity
for Windows XP problems if you change the
Startup configuration of the IP address.
However, you can still work around
this problem by starting with the ICS
Aside from startup programs,
host computer.
services, and the Prefetch folder,
there are a number of other startup
Select Start/Connect To/Show All
procedures and issues you can
Connections. Right-click your
modify to help Windows XP start
network adapter card and click
faster. The following sections explore
Properties. On the General tab,
those tips and tricks.
select TCP/IP in the list of services
and click the Properties button.
Manual IP Addressing on Small
In the TCP/IP properties, you can
Office/Home Networks
see if you use an automatic or
manual IP address. In the example
Windows XP is configured to help
in Figure 4-5, I have configured a
you take care of networking. It uses
manual IP address of 90.0.0.1 and a
the TCP/IP protocol for networking in
default subnet mask. The other
workgroups, or what you might call
computers on my office network
small office or home networks that
each use a different IP address in
do not use a dedicated server.
the same class, such as 90.0.0.2,
90.0.0.3, 90.0.0.4, and so on. This
The problem is that automatic IP
way, each computer has a
addressing can be slow. When your
permanent IP address, which helps
computer boots, it has to query the
increase boot time. Note that if you
network to see what IP addresses
change the IP addresses of your
are already in use and then assign
computers, they must all use the
itself one. If you want to speed up
same subnet mask. A default subject
the boot time a bit, consider
mask of 255.255.255.0 will keep you
manually assigning IP addresses to
in good shape.
all computers on the network. This
way, the network computers do not
Make sure you understand the
have to worry about locating an
implications of changing IP
automatic IP address. Because one
addresses on your network. If you
is manually configured, the operating
have no networking experience at
system doesn't have to spend time
all, you may be wiser to leave the
automatic IP addressing as is and try
to gain some speed using the
additional suggestions in this
chapter.
Disabling Recent Documents
History
Windows XP includes a feature that
keeps track of all recent documents
you have opened or used. The idea
is that you can select Start/Recent
Documents History and quickly
reopen any document you have
recently used. I use many
documents each day and never use
the feature myself. In my opinion, I
can keep up with what I want to use
without Windows XP doing it for me.
The bad thing about Recent
Documents History is that Windows
XP has to calculate what should be
put there each time you boot
Windows, which can slow things
down. So, if you never use the
Recent Documents History, it's a
good idea to disable it. Here's how:
1. Open the Registry Editor (select
Start/Run, type regedit, and click
OK).
2. Navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\
Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
3. Create a NoRecentDocsHistory
D_WORD key. Double-click the
value to open it once it is created.
4. Set the Data Value to 1 to enable
the restriction.
5. Click OK and close the Registry
Editor. You'll need to restart the
computer for the change to take
effect.
Disabling the Boot Logo
You can remove the boot logo that
appears when you start Windows
XP. This little tweak probably shaves
only a few seconds off your boot
time but seconds count if you are
serious about trying to get Windows
XP up and running as quickly as
possible. The only negative is that if
you remove the boot logo, you will
also not see any boot messages,
such as check disk. (But if you are
not having problems with your
computer, this isn't such a big deal.)
To remove the boot logo, follow
these steps:
1. Select Start/Run, type msconfig,
and click OK.
2. In the System Configuration Utility,
click the BOOT.INI tab.
3. On the BOOT.INI tab, click the
NOGUIBOOT check box option.
Click OK.
Removing Unwanted Fonts
One trick that increases your boot
time a bit is to lose any fonts in the
Fonts folder in Control Panel that
you never use. The more fonts you
have, the more processing Windows
XP has to do to prep all of those
fonts for use. You must be a bit
careful here to not remove fonts that
you might want, but there is a good
chance that you can live without
many of them. For instance, you may
have foreign language fonts and
other symbol fonts (such as
Wingdings) that you never use.

To delete unneeded fonts, follow
these steps:
1. Open the Fonts folder in Control
Panel.
2. Select Edit/Select All and then
Edit/Copy.
3. Create a new folder on your
desktop, open it, and select
Edit/Paste.
4. In this new folder, delete any of
the fonts you do not want.
5. Return to the Fonts folder in
Control Panel. Right-click the
selected fonts and click Delete.
6. Go back to your new desktop
folder and click Edit/Select All.
7. Return to your Fonts folder and
click Edit/Paste. You now have only
the desired fonts in the Fonts folder.
Tip:
You can directly delete fonts from
the Fonts folder without creating the
secondary folder. However, I
recommend the preceding steps to
help ensure that you do not make a
mistake in the deletion process.
Stopping Remote Assistance and
Remote Desktop Sharing
In Windows XP Professional, you
have two remote networking features
called Remote Assistance and
Remote Desktop Sharing. These
remote networking features are very
helpful in a variety of situations but if
you don't use them, it is good idea to
disable them to save boot time. You
can always enable them later if you
want to use them.
Note:
If you are interested in using Remote
Desktop or Remote Assistance, see
my book Windows XP for Power
Users: Power Pack published by
John Wiley & Sons.
1. Open the Start menu, right-click
My Computer, and choose
Properties.
2. Click the Remote Tab.
3. Clear both check boxes to disable
Remote Assistance and Remote
Desktop.
Speeding Up the Dual-Boot
Timeout
If you dual-boot your computer with
Windows XP and another operating
system, you see an operating
system selection menu on startup. If
you typically boot into Windows XP
and not the other operating system,
you can speed up the dual-boot
timeout value so that you do not wait
so long for the boot process to select
your default operating system and
continue with the boot process. The
default timeout value is 30 seconds
but you can change this setting to
10. This gives you enough time to
select the alternate operating system
if you want but also speeds up the
boot process. You can skip this
section if you do not use a dual-boot
configuration.
Follow these steps:
1. Locate the boot.ini file on your
computer. It is a hidden file by
default; mine is located in C:\boot.ini.
2. Open the file with Notepad (which
is what opens it by default).
3. Change the Timeout value to 10
(see Figure 4-11).
4. Select File/Save and close
Notepad.
Speeding Up Your PPPoE
Connection
If you use a Point-to-Point Protocol
connection over Ethernet (PPPoE),
you may notice a delay in using the
PPPoE connection after startup. By
default, there is a 120 second delay
but you can stop this behavior by
manually configuring an IP address
for the network adapter card. If you
do not use a PPPoE connection, you
can skip this section.
1. Select Start/Connect to/Show All
Connections.
2. Open the TCP/IP properties for
your LAN network interface card.
3. Manually set the IP address on
the TCP/IP properties to an
appropriate IP address and subnet
mask for your network.
Reducing the Wait Time
When you start to shut down
Windows XP, it has to quit, or "kill,"
any live applications or processes
that are currently running. So close
all applications first. However, some
applications and processes are
always running in the background.
You can reduce the amount of time
that Windows XP waits for those
applications and processes to close
before Windows XP kills them. Edit
three different Registry settings to
change this:
1. Open the Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control
Panel\Desktop. Select
WaitToKillAppTimeout and set the
value to 1000.
3. Select the HungAppTimeout value
and set it to 1000 as well.
4. Navigate to
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control
Panel\Desktop. Set the
WaitToKillAppTimeout and set the
value to 1000. Select the
HungAppTimeout \newline value and
set it to 1000 as well.
5. Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\C
urrentControlSet\Control. Select the
WaitToKillServiceTimeout value and
set it to 1000.
6. Close the Registry Editor.
Automatically Killing Tasks on
Shutdown
You know the drill. You start to shut
down the computer, you wait a few
moments, and then you see a dialog
box asking if you want to kill an
application or service that is running.
Instead of prompting you, you can
make Windows XP take care of the
kill task automatically. Here's how:
1. Open the Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control
Panel\Desktop.
3. Highlight the value AutoEndTasks
and change the value to 1.
4. Close the Registry Editor.
Well thats about it... when you done
all the steps you machine most run
faster...without ANY errors!
Removing Windows
Messenger.
What is Windows Messenger?
Windows Messenger is the Microsoft
instant messaging program built into
Windows XP. There is also a
Windows Messenger service built
into Windows XP that helps produce
pop up ads via IP addresses. The
two programs are completely
separate and do different things
even though Microsoft has
essentially named them the same.
Windows Messenger (the chat
program) is equally annoying if you
dont use instant messaging.
Microsoft has tightly integrated this
program into many of its other
programs including Outlook Express,
Outlook and Remote Assistance.
However there are ways to either
disable it from starting, remove it, or
for the most part completely get rid
of it.
How do I disable Windows
Messenger from running?
The procedures for disabling
Windows Messenger will depend on
the version of Windows Messenger
installed on your computer.
Windows Messenger 4.0 or later on
a Windows XP Professional
1) Click Start, click Run, type
gpedit.msc, and then press ENTER
2) Double-click the following items to
expand them:
* Local Computer Policy
* Computer Configuration
* Administrative Templates
* Windows Components
* Windows Messenger
3) Double-click on the option "Do not
allow Windows Messenger to run",
and then click Enabled.
4) Click OK, and then close the
window
Windows Messenger 4.0 on a
Windows XP Home Edition
1) Start Windows Messenger.
2) Click Options on the Tools menu.
3) Click the Preferences tab, click to
clear the "Run this program when
Windows starts" check box, and then
click OK.
Windows Messenger 4.5 or Later on
either Windows XP Home or
Windows XP Professional
1) Click on Start, Run
2) Type REGEDIT and press Enter
3) Click on the pluses (+) next to the
following items
* HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
* Software
* Policies
* Microsoft
4) If the folder Messenger is not
listed, click on the Edit menu, point
to New, click Key, and then type
Messenger for the name of the new
registry key
5) If the folder Client is not listed
under Messenger, click on the Edit
menu, point to New, click Key, and
then type Client for the name of the
new registry key
6) On the Edit Menu, point to New,
click DWORD Value, and then type
PreventRun for the name of the new
DWORD value. Remember all of this
is case sensitive.
7) Right-click the PreventRun value
that you created, click Modify, type 1
in the Value data box, and then click
OK.
8) Quit Registry Editor.
How to stop Outlook or Outlook
Express from running Windows
Messenger when they are opened
Outlook
1) Open Outlook
2) Click on Tools, Options
3) Click "Other" tab
4) Uncheck the box for Enable
Instant Messaging in Microsoft
Outlook
5) Click OK
Outlook Express
1) Open Outlook Express
2) Click Tools, Options
3) Click General tab
4) Uncheck the box for Automatically
log on to Windows Messenger
5) Click OK
What about removing Messenger or
uninstalling Windows Messenger
from Windows XP
The procedure for removing
Windows Messenger depends on
whether your system has Windows
XP Service Pack 1 installed. To
determine whether Service Pack 1 is
installed follow these directions:
1) Click on Start
2) Right click on My Computer
3) Click on Properties
4) On the General tab, under System
if the words "Service Pack 1" are
listed you have the service pack.
Removing Messenger from
computers WITHOUT Service Pack
1 installed
Make sure your Internet Explorer,
Outlook Express, Windows
Messenger and other programs are
closed before doing this.
1) Click on Start, Run
2) Type the following (or cut and
paste it) into the Run line
RunDll32
advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection
%windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Rem
ove
3) Click on OK
Removing Messenger from
computers WITH Service Pack 1
installed
1) Click on Start, Control Panel
2) Double click on Add or Remove
Programs
3) Select Add/Remove Windows
Components
4) Uncheck Windows Messenger
5) Click Next
6) Click Finish
7) Restart your computer
How to remove Windows Messenger
from Outlook Express
1) Click on Start, Run
2) Type REGEDIT and Press Enter
3) Click on the Pluses (+) next to the
following items
* HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
* Software
* Microsoft
* Outlook Express
4) Right click on the Outlook Express
folder, click on New, click on
DWORD value, and then type Hide
Messenger for the name of the new
registry key
5) Right-click the Hide Messenger
value that you created, click Modify,
type 2 in the Value data box, and
then click OK.
8) Quit Registry Editor.
What about MSN Messenger ?
MSN Messenger is another chat
program from Microsoft that can run
simultaneously with Windows
Messenger. Follow the instructions
below to remove it.
1) Click on Start, Control Panel
2) Double click on Add or Remove
Programs
3) Find MSN Messenger in the list
and click on it
4) Click on Remove
LAN TIPS
Please note that there are several
methods available to configure your
personal network. This document
has been provided for your
convenience and is by no means
exhaustive. Also note that PCNET.ca
does try to provide technical support
for LAN
configuration/troubleshooting issues.
But with the great amount of different
configurations that are possible we
will strive to point you in the correct
direction.
Different methods for configuring a
Local Area Network (LAN) include:
• Using a network hub to connect
computers to the ADSL modem
• Installing additional network cards in
one computer and connect another
computer and the ADSL modem to
that computer
• Purchasing a router/firewall to
connect multiple computers to it and
the ADSL connection
To Configure Your LAN Using a
Network Hub or Router:
The following materials are required:
• 1 10/100 multi-port Ethernet hub or
Router
• 10/100 Ethernet card and driver
disks for each computer
• Category 5 RJ-45 Ethernet cables
• 1 category 5, crossover cable (If hub
does not have an up-link port)
If one computer is already connected
to the Internet, install and configure
the network card in your second
computer. Follow all of the directions
provided by the network card
manufacturer, using the driver
diskettes supplied with the card.
• Connect the adsl modem,
computers, and network hub or
Router, as illustrated in figure one
• If your hub has a built in up-link port
or your Router has a WAN(Wide
Area Network)port, use a regular,
straight through RJ-45 cable to
connect the ADSL Modem from the
hub
• Hubs without an up-link port require
a special crossover cable to connect
the ADSL Modem to the hub's first
port
• Connect the primary and secondary
computers to individual ports on the
hub using standard, Category 5, RJ-
45 Ethernet cable Do not plug into
the number one port on the hub.
• Once you obtain a solid ADSL
status green light ,and a solid link
light(s) on the hub and the adsl
modem, the network connection is
established
Configure the second computer
using the same steps performed on
your primary system. Windows
95/98, NT and Macintosh computers
all require an installed and
configured TCP/IP stack, using
DHCP.
Security Note
If you enable File and Print Sharing
on your network, drives and printers
must be password protected, in
order to maintain network security.
We suggest that you install a firewall
if you are going to want to use File
and printer sharing on your internal
network. Use the troubleshooting
guide at the end of this document if
you find there is no network
connection.
Figure 1
new network card, as per Microsoft
recommendations.
Install the network card into
subsequent computers using the
manufacturer's driver diskettes.
Again, use standard DHCP settings
for the network card.

Figure 2

To Configure Your LAN with two

Network Cards in one Computer

The following materials are required;

• A second network card and drivers

for your primary computer
• A network card and drivers for you
second computer
• Category 5 RJ-45 Ethernet

In this scenario, your primary

computer requires a second network
card configured according to the
manufacturer's specifications. The
original DHCP settings for the
primary computer remain the same.
Install a separate TCP/IP stack for
the second network card.

Figure 2 demonstrates what you see

when all components for two (2)
network cards are properly installed.
The Computer Name remains
unchanged. NT Service Packs must
be reinstalled after you configure the
Security Note
If you enable File and Print Sharing
on your network, drives and printers
must be password protected, in
order to maintain network security.
Use the troubleshooting guide at the
end of this document if you find there
is no network connection.
Connect the primary computer,
secondary computer and ADSL
Modem, as shown in Figure 3. You
are now ready to install the software
on the second computer. Follow the
troubleshooting guide at the end of
this document if there is no network
connection.
Get the Most Out of
Your DVD Recorder
Whether you're recording TV shows or
converting your VHS tapes to disc, these
tips will help.
I admit it: I'm a former tape-a-holic. When I
began using a VCR some 20 years ago (I
ended up teaching Mom and Dad how to
program the darn thing back then), I got
hooked on the idea of creating my own
video library, replete with everything from
Star Trek episodes to gymnastics
competitions.

LAN Trouble Shooting Guide

After checking all hardware

connections and installing software,
your primary computer will obtain an
internet address (IP) and connect to
the Internet using either network
configuration. The secondary
computer will obtain an IP address
providing you have correctly entered
the computer name (CS#) and
configured the TCP/IP stack.

Verify both computers have a valid

IP address. Windows 95/98 & ME
systems use the winipcfg utility,
while Windows NT uses ipconfig. Go
to the command prompt on the
primary computer and Ping the IP
address of the secondary computer,
and vice versa. If you have a working
connection, you'll see a reply from
the other computer, indicating the
speed of data transfers from one IP
to the other.
Recently, however, I stopped recording
video on tape and switched to DVD--and I
haven't looked back. But after using several
DVD recorders, I've identified some quirks
and frustrations that are specific to frequent
users like myself. Recording to DVD is very
different from recording to tape; you
encounter new types of hassles ranging
from pesky so-called disc preparation times
to annoying delays in ejecting discs and the
challenge of creating visually appealing
menus. The tips that follow are geared
towards hardcore videophiles (you know
who you are), but they're also applicable to
the most casual user.

1. Choosing the Best Recorder for TV
If you've already bought your DVD recorder,
skip to tip 2. But if you haven't, be prepared
to be confused by a torrent of acronyms and
options. DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-
RW, DVD-RAM, EPGs ... and you thought
buying an HDTV would be confusing.
When you walk into a store, chances are
you won't be able to tell the differences
between the slim DVD recorders gracing the
shelves--at least, not at a glance. On the
outside, they look virtually identical. And the
only additional information you might get
from the price tag or label is what format the
recorder supports and whether it has a hard
drive.
Don't stress so much about the formats. No
single manufacturer supports all of the
formats available; a couple of makers come
close (Lite-On, Sony), supporting all but
DVD-RAM. The - and + formats are quite
similar, and either will get the recording job
done.
I've personally observed that the - format
discs tend to take longer to initialize and
finalize. By longer, I'm talking about
anywhere from 5 to 120 seconds, depending
upon the unit--enough to be incredibly
annoying when you're sitting in front of the
TV, your finger eagerly hovering over the
record button to start a recording, or the
eject button so you can swap discs without
missing any action.
If your goal is to record a lot of TV shows,
then I can't recommend highly enough a
DVD recorder with integrated TiVo service.
Humax, Pioneer, and Toshiba all offer such
recorders, which combine a hard drive of
80GB or greater with a DVD burner, and, of
course, the TiVo service. The full-blown
TiVo service costs extra ($299 for the
lifetime of the unit, on top of the cost of the
recorder) and adds two-week's worth of
program guides, a season-pass feature that
records all episodes of a show so you never
miss your favorites, and artificial intelligence
that finds and records programs you might
enjoy. (A free limited version of TiVo's
software that downloads electronic
programming information for the next three
days is integrated into these units at no
added cost.)
I don't make this recommendation just
because of TiVo's personalized recording
features and friendly graphical interface. The
reason I suggest going this route is that
these recorders have an amazing capacity
to automatically create navigational menus.
All of the program data in TiVo's electronic
program guide--as well as TiVo's visual
menu navigation structure--conveniently
transfers over to any disc you burn.
DVD recorders are typically limited in what
they can do to label menus. When you
record a disc, you end up with a generically
labeled index, with thumbnails for each
recording or "title" on the disc, and boring
and uninformative labels like "Title 01" (with,
perhaps, the time and date added for good
measure). TiVo-enabled recorders, in
contrast, provide disc menus with the series
name, episode title, and even a program
summary as well as the date and time of the
recording. If you're recording to cheap write-
once media, this feature is invaluable. If
you're recording to rewritable media--which
means you could conceivably edit the menu
titles at some point--this capability is still a
huge time-saver.
Avid videophiles who don't want to spring for
TiVo should look for a DVD set-top unit with
a high-capacity hard drive of 80GB or more
and high-speed dubbing of at least 8X. So
far, I've seen only one recorder with both
high-speed dubbing capability and a high-
capacity hard drive, but I imagine that more
such units will be forthcoming--eventually.
Beware of units that bill themselves as
having "high-speed" dubbing: In most cases,
the manufacturer is using the term to denote
recording speeds of 2X or 4X from the hard
drive to DVD. Furthermore, some vendors
are coming up with absurd-sounding
dubbing speeds--for example, 32X, a
number they derive based on how many
hours' worth of recordings you can fit on a
disc (8 hours at the lowest-quality recording
mode), and the speed of the burner (4X in
my example).

2. Allow Extra Time
If you're preparing to record a program,
budget a few extra minutes to get the unit
ready. Believe me, the seconds add up--as I
learned during my recording marathon of the
Athens Olympiad. You need to factor in up
to 30 seconds for the recorder to boot, about
10 to 20 seconds for the disc to spin up, and
at least another 30 to 45 seconds for the
recorder to prepare the disc for recording
(your unit might say "initialize" or "format").
That's all before you can hit Record.
And when you're through recording, expect
to wait 30 to 60 seconds to regain control of
the recorder after you hit Stop. With some
models, the delay occurs after you hit Eject.
Either way, that delay could mean you'll
miss the beginning of the next gymnast's
routine--and none of this takes into account
disc finalization, which can take another 30
seconds to 3 minutes, depending upon the
disc's format and how much of it you've
used.
3. Finalize, Finalize, Finalize
Disc finalization is the process that closes
the disc so it can be read in other devices,
such as a DVD player, DVD recorder, or
DVD-ROM drive. It's also a process that
bites. There, I've said it.
Finalization is the dirty little secret of DVD
recorders: It's a time-consuming extra step
that users of the venerable VCR don't
expect. And it requires more effort than it
should, due to poor menu design on DVD
recorders. I've yet to see a recorder that
makes this step truly easy--all of them bury it
under a setup or menu item, and all of them
require far too many clicks and layers
considering this is a N-E-C-E-S-S-A-R-Y
step for every write-once DVD-R or DVD+R
you burn.
I recommend finalizing your disc as soon
you're through recording. Due to quality
issues, you'll likely record only a maximum
of 2 hours of television per disc, which
means that no more than two weeks will
pass between finalization sessions. This
way, when you go back to a recorded disc, it
will be ready to play in any DVD player--
whether it's the $30 Costco special in your
bedroom or your laptop's DVD-ROM drive.
Caution: You might think you don't need to
finalize if you don't have more than one DVD
player or drive, and you plan on playing your
DVD on your own recorder only. But what
happens when, inevitably, you upgrade your
recorder to a swankier, newer model? Or,
even worse, when the model you're using
now isn't working five years down the line?
Then what? You'll be left with a library full of
unreadable discs. Although you might be
able to recover the raw video data from an
unfinalized disc using a program like
Infinadyne's CD/DVD Diagnostic, the
process is tedious and time-consuming.
Also, don't count on scavenging a backup
unit off EBay in a few years: As I've learned,
discs may not be interchangeable, even
between two recorder decks bearing the
same model number from the same
manufacturer.
4. Don't Abuse Your Discs
It's easy to leave discs out of their cases,
lying around or stacking up as you swap 'em
out for a new one. But avoid that temptation-
-the dust will damage your discs, and you
increase the chances of accidental
scratches and scuffs.
Also, avoid leaving your recorded DVDs
near a sunny window. The disc's dye layer is
susceptible to light and heat; if either affects
the disc, its data may become unreadable.
Finally, clean your discs carefully. Use a lint-
free cloth, compressed air, or a liquid
cleanser intended for use with DVD media.
Dust and other airborne particles can
scratch your disc, which could result in data
loss. When cleaning with a lint-free cloth,
stroke from the inside of the hub to the
outside of the disc. Never use a circular
motion from the inside out; and never use a
tissue, paper towel, or other random rag.
5. Choose Your Media--and Labels--
Wisely
A cheap spindle of media is tempting, but
then you have to buy cases separately. And
what cases to buy? Small plastic jewel
cases? DVD movie-size cases? The
combinations can be frustrating, at best.

Spindles are indeed affordable, but don't

buy them without buying cases, too--and
keep both stashed near your TV and DVD
recorder setup, so you can easily grab a
disc from the recorder and place it into its
case. Otherwise, it's way too easy for stacks
of discs to pile up--a no-no, as I note in tip 4.

Also, consider buying discs that come in

oversized movie-style plastic cases. You'll
pay a little more, but the convenience is
worth it. Plus, you'll get a cardstock insert
that you can use to create handwritten
labels. If you get a high-speed dubbing unit,
make sure you buy media that matches the
recorder's speed.

If you do buy spindle media, keep in mind

that the cases you buy in bulk may not have
an insert on which you can scribble. If the
case lack inserts, improvise with a piece of
letter-size paper, folded over or cut up to fit
accordingly. Spend a little more money, and
you can get cardstock inserts.

There are a host of labeling software options

out there to help you craft your labels. But all
of these options are going to require you to
move your labeling operation over to the
PC--something that may not work into your
recording work flow.

Other PC-based labeling options include

printable media that you can use with an
inkjet printer. I'd stay away from adhesive
labels, though: They're difficult to apply
evenly, and could cause problems if the disc
is poorly manufactured.

If you're trying to keep your labeling efforts

nearer to your TV, I'd suggest using water-
based pens to write on the discs, and on the
label inserts, too, while you're at it. Another
possibility: If your handwriting is barely
better than chicken scrawl, then it's worth
buying a battery-operated labeler, such as
those offered by Brother or Casio. Both
companies offer half-inch-wide labels that fit
well along the spine of a DVD movie case.

All About Wingates
Q: What is a Wingate?
A: A wingate is normally a program which
allows multiply computers on a network to
share one internet connection. Many users
foolishly have their wingate setup for
anonymous outside access which means we
can share their internet connection also.
Many are run from users at home with
broadband connections and can be upload
capped at anywhere from 16KBps - 24KBps,
occasionally you will stumble across a nice
and fast wingate with a really good transfer
speed.
Q: What the heck are they for?
A: Primarily Wingates are used as an aid in
FXPing files from one pub to another. Now
why do you need to use a wingate? Well
most pubs have FXP transferring disabled
and you also cannot FXP from one NT pub
to another NT pub. If you use a wingate
almost any set of pubs becomes FXPable
because the files go through the wingate.
One pub thinks it is uploading to the wingate
and the other thinks it is getting uploaded to
from the wingate. The only downside to this
method of FXP transfer is that if the wingate
is slow your transfer will go slow. Always
use the fastest wingate you have to speed
up transfers. Even with 56k you can FXP,
and transfer files and unbelievable speeds
because FXPing uses almost none of your
own bandwidth. Here is what happens when
you FXP with a wingate:
You
|
Commands
|
|
FTP <=> Files & Commands <=> Wingate
<=> Files & Commands <=> FTP
Secondly Wingates can be used to hide your
own identity when messing with pubs.
Whether that be uploading, tagging or just
browsing. I always enable my Wingate
while browsing pubs just to be safe. You will
notice a slight slowdown but it is worth it
because most Wingates do not have logging
enabled, so the sysop of a pub would have
to do a lot of work just to get your ip. Even if
logging is enabled on the wingate most
sysops will not bother to annoy the people
for their logs.
Q: How do I get Wingates?
A: You can find them in posts in the "Scans"
section of most FXP boards. You can also
learn how to find your own while doing a pub
scan in my Scanning - Getting Started
tutorial.
Q: How do I use these things?
A: I have found that this is a mystery to
many people. It can be tricky but once you
figure it out it's simple to do again.
I primarily use Wingates with FlashFXP, but
have also gotten them to work in SmartFTP
(May add info on this later). If you don't
already have FlashFXP downloaded and
installed do that now. Now all you need to
do is go into the options and to the "Proxy /
Firewall / Ident" tab and enter in the correct
information. For the type select option 10,
or if that causes error message with the
wingate option 11 can be used. *For
FlashFXP < 1.4.2 use "User with no login
(user@host port)," or (user@host:port).
Enter in your Wingates address where it
says "Host" and set the port number to 21.
If you have a port 23 wingate it will not work
properly for FXP transfers, any other port
and it is most likely not a wingate. Some You
pubs/Wingates also want to request and |
Ident so enable this and just put "@msn" for Commands
the user id. That's it, your now ready to |
connect to pubs anonymously and FXP with Socks Proxy Server
ease. / \
Commands Commands
/ \
FTP <=> Files <=> FXPable FTP

All About Proxies

Q: What are the different kinds
of proxies?
A: (Mostly copied from Net Knowledge
Base, tweaked to my liking)
Browser Proxies - Ports 8080, 3128, 80 -
These can be use to browse the internet
anonymously if you're paranoid about
people tracking you down.
Here is a diagram to help describe what is
happening when you use a browser proxy:
Your Computer -> Internet -=> Proxy Server
(An Intranet) -=> The Internet You Visit
Socks Proxies - Port 1080 - Some need
authentication, some don't. Sometimes
people set up proxy servers, but allow
outside access to them. These are your
friends, they are kind enough to let you
connect through them, even though they
probably aren't aware. But beware, your IP
is always in the log file, and can be passed
along. To check see How do I know if my
proxy is anonymous?. But remember to
switch your browser back, don't surf with
Socks proxies. They usually disconnect you
if too many bytes are moved through them.
Here is what happens when you use a proxy
to connect to two FTP sites and transfer files
between the two:
Q: How do I know if my proxy
is anonymous?
A: The easiest way to tell is to plug it into
you're browser and go to one of the many
anonymous proxy checking websites. I'll
show you how to plug it into Internet
Explorer 6, anything else and your on your
own for now.
First load up IE and go to
Tools -> Internet
Options... then switch it
over to the "Connections"
tab. Here you will need to
click one of two buttons
dependi
ng on
whether your on Dial-Up
or a Broadband/LAN
connection. Look at the
screenshot and click the
correct button. Once in
there it looks pretty much
the same for both
buttons. Select the box in the "Proxy server"
section that says "Use a proxy server for
your...". Then press the advanced button to
right of the check box. This brings us to the
next screen shot and where you enter the
actual proxy information. If you have a
Socks proxy leave everything blank except
the "Socks" sections where you will enter
the address and the port (usually 1080).
Now get out of all of those dialogs by
pressing "OK" on each one. You're now
setup to browse the internet with a proxy.
To test it out go to one of the following web
pages: MutiProxy -or- AllNettools. If it
shows the proxy ip address and not yours
then it's not going to show it to to any pubs
you connect to either.
Q: How do I get proxies?
A: The easiest way is to check your favorite
FXP board for "SOCKS" posts, which should
contain proxies. Also if you want to find your
own head over to Scanning - Proxies.
Q: How do I use these things?
A: Many people think this is something
complicated and painful but it is so simple
you wouldn't believe it until you read this.
It's actually pretty much the same as using a
Wingate except slightly different settings. If
you don't already have FlashFXP
downloaded and installed do that now. Now
all you need to do is go into the options and
to the "Proxy / Firewall / Ident" tab and enter
in the correct information. For the type
select either "Socks 4" or "Socks 5"
depending on what type of Socks proxy
you're going to use. Enter in your proxy
address where it says "Host" and set the
port number to 1080. If you have a proxy on
any other port it is most likely not Socks and
not really what we want (and it will not work
with the Socks settings). Some pubs also
want to request and Ident so enable this and
just put "@msn" for the user id. That's it,
your now ready to connect to pubs
anonymously and upload without fear.
Wireless LAN
FAQ
1. How do I plan capacity for a
mobile network? Wireless experts
suggest that you first identify which
applications the network will support
and how much bandwidth they will
consume. Then calculate how many
users need mobility and in what
places within your organization they
will require it.
Next, apply this information in
designing a network of wireless
access points (AP). APs are the
infrastructure radios, usually ceiling-
mounted, which connect to the wired
network on one side and to users'
wireless network adapters over the
airwaves on the other. Wireless
veterans stress the importance of
site surveys and performance testing
to optimize AP placement.
"This is because variations in
firmware, antennas and physical
layout can alter the performance and
range of the very same [wireless]
chip set," says Craig Mathias, an
analyst at Farpoint Group in
Ashland, Mass.
Because it's difficult to anticipate
where walls and objects will interfere
with wireless communication, a
network staff member armed with a
wireless laptop typically walks
around, installs APs and tests
coverage—often trying out multiple
antenna options for maximum signal
strength.
This exercise will reveal how many
APs you need to meet capacity
requirements and how to position
adjacent APs to prevent coverage
holes. There are some rules of
thumb about how many users a
single AP can support. Gartner Inc.,
for example, recommends about 20
knowledge workers per 802.11b
(11Mbit/sec.) radio.
But these ratios vary. Warehouses
often need lots of APs to ensure
floorwide coverage. But warehouse
applications don't consume much
bandwidth, and utilization of these
APs is often only 2%, says Rob
Greenfield, chief scientist at SCLogic
Inc., a reseller of WLANs in
Beltsville, Md.
On the other hand, a crowded office
space will require many more APs—
not to achieve range, but to support
more users and heftier applications.
"Shoot for under 40% to 50% AP
utilization in office environments,"
Greenfield suggests. That will
compensate for not knowing how
many users will be in range at any
given time.
2. How can I avoid interference?
Having multiple devices that use the
same frequency can result in
interference with performance.
United Parcel Service Inc. learned
this when it combined short-range
Bluetooth (1Mbit/sec.) wireless
technology with 802.11b LANs in a
warehouse pilot, explains Joan
MacEachern, lead
telecommunications analyst at the
Atlanta-based worldwide package-
delivery company. Both Bluetooth
and 802.11b run in the 2.4-GHz
frequency band.
To solve the problem, UPS and its
technology vendor, Symbol
Technologies Inc. in Holtsville, N.Y.,
synchronized the Bluetooth network
with Symbol's 802.11b APs. "Time
Division Multiple Access technology
in Symbol APs has scheduled the
two networks to transmit at different
intervals to avoid overlaps," explains
MacEachern.
And don't forget to alternate use of
802.11b channels in neighboring
APs to further minimize interference,
advises John Lawson, vice president
of IT and CIO at Tulane University in
New Orleans. The university has
installed 1,200 APs from Andover,
Mass.-based Enterasys Networks
Inc. across multiple campuses.
To segregate traffic in neighboring
devices, 802.11b offers three
different channels. "I've tried
installing APs without channel
planning," says Lawson. "The result
was unacceptable interference."
3. Is my WLAN really secure? This
is a complicated question. Security
advances collectively called Wi-Fi
Protected Access (WPA), based on
emerging IEEE standards, will ship
in new products later this year. WPA
overcomes the notorious static-
encryption-key weaknesses in
802.11b's Wired Equivalent Privacy
standard. In addition, comprehensive
vendor-proprietary products and
services have long been available to
reinforce wireless privacy.
However, to optimize security in
WLANs immediately, the best
approach is to employ IPsec virtual
private networks, which use Layer 3
encryption, even on a local
enterprise campus, says Dave
Passmore, an analyst at Burton
Group in Sterling, Va.
"This requires IPsec client software
on user laptops and a device that
terminates IPsec tunnels inside the
enterprise network firewall," he
explains.
Passmore notes, however, that
forthcoming WPA-compliant
products should resolve the need for
local IPsec use in many
organizations.
4. Which technology should I
choose from the alphabet soup of
WLAN standards? Ken Dulaney, an
analyst at Gartner in San Jose, has a
simple answer: "802.11b is the only
mature, worldwide standard that can
be deployed today," he says. "For
most enterprises, 802.11b bandwidth
should suffice for most office tasks
for at least the next four years."
UPS, for example, is "building to
current requirements, which is
802.11b," both in its warehouses and
at its IT headquarters, says Fred
Hoit, UPS's radio frequency
infrastructure manager. "We
anticipate a five-year life cycle," Hoit
says.
Opinions are mixed about 802.11a,
the successor to 802.11b that runs in
the 5-GHz frequency band with
much faster speeds (54Mbit/sec.) but
a shorter coverage range. On the
plus side, you avoid interference
when running 11a and 11b in
parallel, because the two LANs use
separate frequencies. But Greenfield
says it's worth waiting a year for
802.11g-compliant products to gain
cross-compatibility with 802.11b.
The shorter transmission range of
80211a "means you'll need many
more APs for the same coverage,
which will be more expensive," he
says. Like 802.11a, 802.11g
supports aggregate 54Mbit/sec.
speeds but runs in the 2.4-GHz band
and was designed for backward
compatibility with 802.11b.
Finally, emerging dual- and
multimode products "will eventually
make upgradability a nonissue," says
Mathias. Several enterprise-class
vendors offer APs that support
802.11a and a slot for either an
802.11b or 802.11g radio.
Meanwhile, trimode 802.11 b/a/g
chip sets recently began shipping, so
client adapters and APs that support
all WLANs could be available within
a year.
5. What's the best way to manage
my radio infrastructure? A wave of
new WLAN "switch" architectures
from established companies such as
Symbol and Proxim Inc., as well as
from a bevy of start-ups, aim to ease
AP configuration and management in
large installations. The idea is to
centralize control of a dumb AP
infrastructure in a "smart" collapsed-
backbone device.
This approach purports to lower the
cost of each AP—which adds up in
large shops that might require
hundreds or thousands of them—
and to enable greater scalability and
lower operations costs.
But that doesn't mean that if you
want a smart AP, you can't get
centralized management, too—
unless this option blows your budget.
For example, Cisco Systems Inc.
offers its Wireless LAN Solutions
Engine, a data center appliance and
CiscoWorks management module
that centrally configures and
manages up to 500 APs. But Cisco
Aironet 1100 and 1200 APs are far
from dumb; they run the full
complement of Cisco Internetworking
Operating System routing software—
enabling, for example, wireless
virtual LAN (VLAN) support.
Symbol also supports wireless
VLANs, but it builds them into its
Mobius Axon wireless switch, not
into the AP. VLAN profile information
is enforced before incoming traffic
hits the wired network or outbound
traffic is distributed to wireless users.
6. Can I integrate WLANs with
other networks? Network nirvana is
when users can roam among
disparate wired and wireless
networks without having to
reconfigure settings or
reauthenticate. Multimode products
are emerging that combine several
versions of 802.11, as well as
connectivity to 2.5- and 3-generation
(2.5/3G) mobile WANs from the
licensed carriers. For example,
Texas Instruments Inc. in March
announced chip sets for PDAs that
combine 802.11b, GSM/GPRS and
Bluetooth capabilities. NetMotion
Wireless Inc. in Seattle has client
software for roaming among any
type of packet-based wired or
wireless LAN or WAN. The software
simply detects the most robust
network connection available and
transparently connects the user to it,
keeping VPN sessions intact.
Such internetwork roaming will grow
increasingly handy as WLAN-based
public services, called Wi-Fi hot
spots, continue to sprout up in
airports, hotels, malls and other
public locations. The licensed 2.5/3G
carriers have begun offering
802.11b-based hot-spot services to
complement their ubiquitous, but
slower, 2.5/3G packet data services
(see chart above).
Today's 2.5/3G services provide 20K
to 60Kbit/sec. throughput per user,
depending on the technology used.
So multimegabit-speed Wi-Fi
networks, where available, offer a
better-performing option.
DDR FAQ
What is RAM and why do I need
it?
Adding memory (RAM) to your
system is the cheapest and most
effective way to make it run faster.
You can think of RAM as an
incredibly fast hard drive that stores
information temporarily instead of
permanently. When you start a
program it is loaded from the hard
drive into RAM. When a program is
running in RAM it can run hundreds
to thousands of times faster than it
can if run directly from the hard
drive. The problem is that the
capacity of a standard hard drive is
many times the size of a computer's
RAM size, meaning it is possible to
load so many programs that the
RAM can no longer hold them. When
that happens, your computer's virtual
memory kicks in, and your system
tries to read from your hard drive
instead..
With the addition of more RAM, you'll
be able to keep more programs open
at once, speed up program
launches, and experience fewer
system crashes. Plus, it's a pretty
easy upgrade to make, requiring little
technical expertise.
So what is DDR RAM then?
DDR is the acronym for Double Data
Rate Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM).
DDR SDRAM memory technology
has evolved from mainstream PC100
and PC133. This memory technology
has enabled a new generation of
higher performance computer
systems, including desktops,
workstations, servers, portables, as
well as new communications
products such as routers and
switches. DDR memory technology
is also widely used in high-
performance graphic adapters.
DDR memory is clocked at the same
speed as normal SDRAM (ie 100,
133mhz), The big difference
between DDR and SDRAM memory
is that DDR can transport double the
amount of data it reads by utilizing
both the rising and falling edges of
the clock signal. SDRAM only carries
information on the rising edge of a
signal. Basically this allows the DDR
module to transfer data twice as fast
as SDRAM. For example, instead of
a data rate of 133MHz, DDR
memory transfers data at 266MHz.
Double data rate (DDR) SDRAM
gives you twice the bandwidth of
standard SDRAM.
What is bandwidth?
Actually, it's a pretty simple concept.
Bandwidth is the amount of data you
can use (reading, writing, etc.) during
a given time period. Bandwidth is
usually defined as the number of bits
per second that your computer can
handle.
Remember that your computer
performs read and write operations
redundantly. When you open a file,
your computer doesn't just call it
from the hard drive to your screen; it
reads to and from the processor,
RAM, cache, memory, and hard
drive every time you access a
document. Even if you're just using a
word processing program to write a
letter, you're moving a lot of data
between the various parts of your
computer that store information.
Start working on Digital video editing
or multiply this by hundreds of users
and you can see why bandwidth
becomes a much bigger deal for
servers.
A P3 processor with a 133MHz front
side bus (FSB) has a bandwidth of
about 1.06GB (gigabytes) per
second. If this was all that your
memory had to support, PC133
SDRAM would probably be just fine.
But, in addition to the supporting the
processor, the memory also has to
support the bandwidth of the
Peripheral Connect Interface (PCI)
bus as well as the newer high
performance graphics cards using an
Accelerated Graphics Port (AGPX4)
and soon AGPX8 will be demanding
a whopping 2133MB/s alone. .
Newer CPU’s have increased this
requirement even further, the AMD
Athlon XP using a 266mhz FSB
(DDR) and the P4 Northwood upto a
533mhz FSB (Quad-pumped) its not
long before your memory is a huge
bottleneck in your system and other
components are sitting around
waiting for it to catch up. This is why
a higher bandwidth memory is
required. Enter DDR SDRAM. The
266MHz DDR SDRAM (133MHz
doubled) has the bandwidth of
2.1GB/sec and is referred to
PC2100. The PC2700 2.7GB/s and
PC3200 DDR upto 3.2GB/s. Future
DDR standards aiming at upto
8.4GB/s (DDR533 Dual channel)
with Quad channel also being
worked on.
So how does it work?
As in standard SDRAM, DDR
SDRAM is tied to the front-side bus
clock in your system. The memory
and bus execute instructions at the
same time rather than one of them
having to wait for the other. As bus
speeds have increased, this has
improved system performance. DDR
modules, like their SDRAM
predecessors, are called DIMMs.
They use motherboard system
designs similar to those used by
SDRAM; however, DDR is not
backward compatible with SDRAM-
designed motherboards. DDR
memory supports both ECC (error
correction code, typically used in
servers) and non-parity (used on
desktops/laptops.)
DDR DIMMs currently support
memory bus speeds of either 100 or
133MHz, with a faster memory bus
speed of 166mhz reviewed by
JEDEC and released by many of the
leading memory manufacturers early
in 2002. Since DDR technology can
perform two data operations per
clock cycle (versus SDRAM’s single
operation per clock cycle), the
effective data throughput of a DDR
DIMM are doubled over an SDRAM
DIMM. For example, a 200MHz DDR
DIMM will support a 100MHz
memory bus and a 266MHz DDR
DIMM will support up to a 133MHz
memory bus and 166mhz supporting
333mhz. A 200 MHz (400mhz DDR)
has also been released but not yet
Jedec approved.
An additional benefit of DDR is that it
only uses 2.5 volts per signal, as
opposed to the 3.3 volts used in
current SDR SDRAM. This may not
seem like much, but the less power
required to drive the memory, the
less drain on your power source.
Less power also means longer
battery life in laptops!
JEDEC Specifications
The specifications for DDR DIMM
modules are finalized by JEDEC.
JEDEC is the semiconductor
engineering standardization body of
the Electronic Industries Alliance
(EIA) with about 300 active member
companies representing every
segment of the industry.
The naming convention Why Use DDR Technology?
recommended by JEDEC is as
follows:
DDR memory technology is an
Memory chips are referred to by their evolutionary improvement of mature
native speed: PC100 and PC133 SDRAM
technology. DDR memory chips are
200 MHz DDR SDRAM memory produced by semiconductor
chips are called DDR200 chips, and manufacturers using existing wafer
266 MHz DDR SDRAM memory fabs, processes and testers resulting
chips are called DDR266. in lower memory chip costs.

DDR DIMM modules are referred to Major technology and chipset

by their peak bandwidth, which is the companies, including, but not limited
maximum amount of data that can to, Intel® Corporation, Advanced
be delivered per second: Micro Devices, VIA Technologies,
Acer Labs (ALi), Silicon Integrated
A 200 MHz DDR DIMM is called a Systems (SIS), nVIDIA, ATI® and
PC1600 DIMM, and a 266 MHz DDR ServerWorks have supported DDR
DIMM is called a PC2100 DIMM. memory since its inception.
Motherboards and systems
To illustrate this on a 266 MHz DDR supporting DDR memory technology
DIMM module: Each module is 64 were introduced in Q4, 2000, and
bits wide, or 8 Bytes wide (each byte have ramped into high volume in
= 8 bits). To get the transfer rate, 2001. Now in 2002 its become hard
multiply the width of the DIMM to find a SDRAM based board.
module (8 Bytes) by the rated speed
of the memory module (in MHz): (8 DDR DIMMs have the same physical
Bytes) x (266 MHz/second) = 2,128 dimensions as SDRAM DIMMs, but
MB/second or about 2.1 have a different footprint that uses
Gigabytes/second. Therefore, the 184 pins compared to 168-pin
memory module is often referred to SDRAM DIMMs. Therefore, DDR
as PC2100. Similarly, a PC2700 memory technology is not backward-
DIMM module utilizes memory chips compatible with SDRAM and
rated at 333 MHz. requires motherboards and systems
especially designed for DDR.
JEDEC is already finalizing the DDR
II spec, which will double the data Add pic here
DDR - PC266 Single Notched Two operations
transfer once more, using the quad- 184 Pin DIMM (or Keyed) per hertz
pumped technology that is common VS
in AGP4x bus and the Pentium 4 Add pick here
SDRAM - PC133 Double Notched One operation
bus. Speeds of 600-800mhz for DDR 168 Pin DIMM (or Keyed) per hertz
are not far away.
DDR Question and Answer
Q. How much faster is DDR when
compared with PC133 SDRAM?
A. While many factors need to be
considered when determining
performance, applying a number of
speed tests to DDR platforms
running a 1.2 GHz CPU can show
performance improvements of 30%
over PC133 SDRAM.
Q. How much faster is DDR
when compared with PC800
RDRAM?
A. While again many factors need
to be considered when
determining performance, in some
applications we have seen a 5 -
10% improvement in speed. In
others the RDRAM has shown to
be up to 10% faster. The thing to
note is that DDR generally is less
than ½ the price of RDRAM
Q. Do I need a special
motherboard for DDR?
A. Yes, your motherboard must
support DDR. Currently all
motherboard manufacturers have
DDR motherboards. The only
question is which one and how
fast do you want to run it.
Q. Do I need a special CPU to
support DDR?
A. Yes to take advantage of the
performance benefits of DDR you
must use a CPU that can take
advantage of an increase in
memory bandwidth. The pentium3
and Celeron processors do not
show any improvement when
used with DDR. The Intel P4 and
AMD Duron / XP range have
shown a marked increase in
performance when matched with
DDR RAM.
Q. What is the Cas Latency for
DDR memory?
A. DDR specifies a CL of 2.5 or 2.
At this time 2.5 is the most
common value used in most
systems. Most quality ram we
have found runs at Cas2 and is
sold as such.
Q. Can you run PC133 on DDR
motherboards?
A. No the connector on DDR is
184 rather than the 168 pins on
the SDRAM. There are some
“transition” boards available that
have both SDRAM and DDR RAM
sockets. These allow you to use
your older SDRAM and upgrade
to the faster DDR as your budget
allows. You cannot use both at
the same time.
Q. How do you know it's time
for a memory upgrade?
A. There are several signs
indicating it may be time to
upgrade your memory. If you see
your mouse pointer turn into an
hourglass for significant periods of
time, if you hear your hard drive
working, or if your computer
seems to work more slowly than
you expect, the reason is probably
insufficient memory. When the
memory is full, your system
transfers data to the hard drive.
This is called swapping. Since the
hard drive is considerably slower
than DRAM, your system seems
slower altogether.
Q. What about static electricity?
A. Before installing your memory,
discharge any static electricity by
grounding yourself to a metal
object, such as the casing on your
computer. An anti-static wrist
strap is recommended for
additional safety.
Q. What Memory timings, Cas
Latency etc?
A. If you look in your BIOS of your
PC you will find a range of
settings that you can adjust in
relation to your memory. These
can have a huge effect on not
only system stability but also on
overall performance. I have read
many reviews that don’t take
memory timings into account
when benchmarking a system.
You can make a very quick
system very slow if these settings
are set up incorrectly. Alternately
you can make your system
perform a lot better if you learn to
tweak these settings. The most
common are CAS Latency, RAS
to CAS Delay and RAS
Precharge. Remember if you set
these to aggressively you can
make your system unstable.
CAS (Column Address Strobe)
Latency - The time from the
application of the memory
module's CAS address to the
appearance of data from the RAM
Chips on the module. CAS 2 is
therefore faster than CAS 2.5 as it
only takes 2 clock cycles in lieu of
2.5.
Active to Read or Write Delay - -
The number of clocks between
the activation of a particular row
address inside the SDRAM's on
the module and the issuance of a
read or write command to that
row.
RAS Precharge - The minimum
number of clocks between the
completion of one memory access
and the beginning of the next.
[Bookmark]ECC or (Error
Checking and Correction)
Q. What is the difference
between ECC and non-ECC
(non-parity) memory?
A. If you are unsure of which type
you have, just count the number
of small black chips on one of
your existing memory modules. If
the number of chips divides by
three evenly, then you need ECC.
If the number of chips is does
NOT divide evenly by three, you
have non-ECC or non-parity
memory.
If you plan to use your system as
a server or a similar mission
critical type machine, you may
want to take advantage of ECC. If
you plan to use your system for
regular home, office, or gaming
applications, you are better off
with non-ECC. Current technology
DRAM is very stable and memory
errors are rare, so unless you
have a need for ECC, you are
better served with un-buffered
DDR SDRAM.

Q. What is meant by Registered
memory?
A. "Registered" is a means of
"Buffering" the memory in
SDRAM. This means that the
clock signal is boosted across the
entire array of memory chips so
that the computer sees a clean
sharp clock signal instead of a
weakening clock signal as it
progresses along the length of the
memory path. Registered memory
must be supported by the system
board and cannot be mixed with
"Un-buffered" modules. You must
have only registered memory to
use registered memory. This is a
further means of eliminating the
possibility of errors when reading
the data in memory and is used
when the data returned from
memory is extremely critical, such
as in scientific or financial
calculations where the integrity of
the data is CRITICAL. It also
allows a module to be built using
more chips, allowing for larger
capacity modules to be made.
Q. What types of DDR memory
are available?
A. There are currently three types
of DDR memory available.
1. PC1600 DDR provides a
1.6GB/second throughput of data.
2. PC2100 DDR, provides a
2.1GB/second throughput of data.
3. PC2700 DDR, provides a
2.7GB/second throughput of data
4 PC3200 DDR , provides a
3.2GB/second throughput of data
Q. How Much Memory Is
Enough?
A. People will tell you that you can
never have enough memory, but
that's not necessarily always true.
Some operating systems have
issues with large amounts of RAM
and your applications may not
ever use it if you have excessive
amounts. Most motherboards
have limits on the amount of
memory that your system can
have or that the board can handle.
If you're building a new PC, be
sure to check this out with the
manufacturer before purchasing a
motherboard.
Q. What is Virtual Memory ?
A. Virtual memory is simply your
hard drive trying to act like a RAM
chip. Your operating system
creates a temporary storage area
on your Hard drive and uses it to
store some of the information it is
using at a given point in time.
Since the hard drive is so much
slower than real memory,
programs stutter and sometimes
crash when the hard drive has to
do a job it was never designed for.
If you have enough physical
memory your virtual memory is
rarely needed. There are only two
solutions to this problem: close
some programs until virtual
memory is no longer needed, or
add more physical memory. With
current memory prices are so low
and affordable it, the latter
solution is always preferable.
NBA 2K6
It's only been a few months since the
NBA wrapped up its 2004/2005
season with a thrilling NBA Finals
series between the Spurs and the
Pistons, but already we're looking
ahead to next season. Will Larry
Brown end up coaching the Knicks?
Will LeBron James find a way to lead
the Cavs into the playoffs? Heck, will
Darko Milicic finally see some
substantial playing time? Of course,
we're also curious about the next
slate of basketball games arriving
this fall, and 2K Sports' NBA 2K6 is
no exception.
Since our last look at the game at E3
in May, more details are leaking
about the seventh game in 2K's
lauded hoops series. Many of the
main features in the game will be
very familiar to fans of the series or
to 2K Sports games in general. The
two main modes--24/7 and "the
association"--return for another go-
round. In 24/7 mode, you'll be once
again living the life of an up-and-
coming NBA baller, but there will be
an added streetball twist. 2K6's 24/7
mode, subtitled "Road to the EBC,"
will find your created baller
competing at the Entertainer's
Basketball Classic (an annual street
hoops event held at Harlem's Rucker
Park) against both NBA players and
Def Jam performers, such as Red
Man, Method Man, Flavor Flav, and
others. The association is 2K Sports'
moniker for its franchise mode, and
just like last year, you'll be building
your staff from the ground up by
hiring scouts and coaches to find
and develop the talent on your team.
You'll have a good idea of where
your team is heading during each
season thanks to detailed feedback
from players, agents, coaching staff,
media, and, of course, that most
vitriolic and detail-oriented group, the
fans.
Because online play will be a big part
of the NBA 2K6 feature set, it's nice
to know the VIP system will return
once again as well. After all, there's
no better way to scout your buddy's
tendencies online than to download
his VIP profile and watch how he
does things. If you're feeling extra
froggy, you'll be able to jump into the
deep end of the competitive waters
so you can download profiles from
the top-ranked 2K6 players and then
truly put your skills to the test. After
tasting sweet victory, you'll be able to
retire to your crib, which is making its
debut in the NBA series this year.
Here's where you'll be able to cash
in credits to spiff up your digs, play
minigames, or purchase in-game
music.

As for what's new in 2K6, we
understand the game will feature a
good deal of original animations,
particularly those dealing with two-
and three-man situations in the post.
These include new blocks, such as
animations for blocking layups and
dunks from behind, as well as new
steal animations that should bring
some polish to the on-the-court
action. Word also has it that 2K6 will
feature a completely new control
system, including a reworked turbo
button and a new movement system.
We got a glimpse of the game's
updated mechanics, including the
slightly altered look to the free-throw
system and the directional steal
controls that are now tied to the right
analog stick, in our last peek at the
game. So now we're eager to see
how things have progressed, and
we'd like to know what new twists
have been added since then. As
soon as we know, you'll know. So
stay tuned to our continuing
coverage of the game in the coming
months.
Kingdom Under Fire:
Heroes
It's always nice to be surprised in a
good way when it comes to games.
The catch is, of course, it doesn't
happen often these days. More often
than not, it's possible to get a fair
sense of what a game has to offer
well before it ships, which takes a bit
of the fun out of trying to discover
little-known gems. The upside to this
is that when you do come across a
great game that's flown below the
radar, the experience is that much
more special. Such is the case with
last year's Kingdom Under Fire: The
Crusaders, an original game from
Phantagram for the Xbox that was
the latest entry in a fairly
underwhelming PC real-time-
strategy franchise. Nothing in the
game's past hinted at the greatness
that was to be found in the Xbox
version, which consisted of a mix of
RTS elements, light role-playing-
game mechanics, and a good old-
fashioned dose of hacking and
slashing. As a result, when KUF: The
Crusaders hit, it made big waves on
the Xbox and left fans hungering for
more.
Thankfully, fans won't have to wait
too much longer, because the
sequel, Kingdom Under Fire:
Heroes, is on the horizon. We got
our first look at the ambitious sequel
at this year's E3 and have since had
the chance to hunker down and
mess about with a fairly complete
work-in-progress version of the
promising game. The aspiring sequel
offers up most everything that was
great about the first game, as well as
attempts to fix what was busted.
Furthermore, it adds new content. So
you're basically presented with pretty
much everything you'd want from a
sequel. Does it all work, you ask?
From the looks of things so far, we'd
say yes.
Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes is again
being developed by Phantagram's
Blue Side Studios, and it takes place
on the continent of Bersia. The game
is set before the events in Kingdom
Under Fire: The Crusaders. You'll be
dropped smack-dab in the middle of
the Encablossa War, playing as one
of seven new heroes that either hails
from the good and noble human
alliance or the evil, but invariably
cooler-looking, dark legion. The war
has been kicked off, in part, by the
machinations of the kingdom of
Vellond, a nation made up of half-
vampires--led by the power-hungry
Valdemar--and dark elves that are
just looking for trouble. It seems that
Valdemar has been hard at work
destabilizing the nations around him
by stirring up trouble and leaving
everyone on edge. Unfortunately,
when a mysterious army slaughters
a small human village, the already
skittish powers spaz out. And before
you can say "Damn!", the shaky
balance of power between the dark
legion and the human alliance is
gone, and a full-scale war, complete
with a catchy name, is on.
Some of the cast of characters in
Heroes will be familiar to those who
played KUF: The Crusaders, as
many appeared in the original game
in lesser roles. The human alliance
characters will include Rupert, a
Hirondeiden messenger sent to
rustle up help; Ellen, an Ecclesian
army captain; and Walter, a soldier
on a mission from God (almost an
ancient Blues Brother). The dark
legion is represented by Cirith, a
female warrior who's a bit more
savvy than her appearance
suggests; Morene Strident, a scantily
clad half-vampire who wields bone
blades for anyone who gets fresh;
Urukbarr, a powerful chieftain who
guards the Dragon's Tomb; and
Leinhart, son of King Valdemar.
Each character will have his or her
own unique storyline that's part of
the larger tapestry of the war. As in
the original, the characters will all
interact in some ways over the
course of the game, which lends a
nice cohesive feel to the experience.
As far as the gameplay goes,
Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes seems
to be nailing the right mix of old and
new. You'll have the same basic
options as in the original game--
single-player and multiplayer--but
both have been buffed up
considerably. The single-player
game will send you through each of
the character's storylines, which
amounts to more than 50 new
missions of content. Once you've
made your way through those, you'll
also find some unlockable characters
as well, which should continue to
keep you busy. The core mechanics
have stayed basically the same. The
game will be broken up into several
different stages as you play.
Cinematics will move the story along
and tie into the briefings you'll
receive that will prep you for your
next mission. The battles themselves
will be split into tactics and action
mode as you prepare your forces
and then engage your foe.
You'll start out each mission with
both objectives to complete and your
handpicked set of troops, led by
whichever hero you've chosen. As
before, you'll be able to customize
and power up your forces in your
castle. The leveling system has been
bulked up and offers more
functionality when you're managing
your throngs of minions, of which
there are 40 different types. Once
again, you can assign leaders for
clumps of your boys, and you can
also assign different abilities to them.
Progressing through the game will
yield experience that can be used to
improve your forces, in addition to
currency that can be used to trick out
the gang with weapons, armor, and
items. Controlling your forces on the
battlefield has been improved thanks
to the inclusion of a waypoint system
that makes it easier to get your
forces in gear during a fight.
Better still, new camera angles give
you more flexibility during combat.
For those that felt the action was too
close in the previous game, a new
isometric camera angle gives you an
eagle-eyed view of the field of battle.
This will actually be pretty key,
because the game will feature more
real-time strategy mechanics than its
predecessor, and it will require you
to do some multitasking. What's
more, the environment will play a
significant role in combat, as
elevation will offer bonuses and
downgrades to your forces.
Obviously, coming at foes from a
higher elevation will give you an
attack bonus. At the same time,
trying to attack or defend yourself
from foes that are at a higher
elevation than you is problematic
because of the penalties associated
with being at a lower elevation. If this
proves to be too much of a challenge
for you, the game will feature
additional difficulty levels.
As far as the multiplayer aspect is
concerned, KUF: Heroes has really
blossomed into its own, with three
game types on offer--troop battle,
hero battle, and invasion battle--all of
which represent vast improvements
over the original's skirmish fights.
You'll be able to take on friends in
battles via system link or Xbox Live.
The presentation has been improved
over the original and features a more
polished look and feel in just about
every aspect. The interfaces have
been slicked up some and are a bit
more intuitive to use. The actual
graphics have seen subtle upgrades
that improve on detail and special
effects. Character models and
environments, which were
impressive in the first game, match
and even surpass what we've seen
before. The greater variety in the
terrain keeps the visuals interesting,
and the new units, such as the
elementals and swamp mammoths,
look especially cool. The scope of
battle is more expansive, especially
when the massive mammoths barely
fit onscreen as troops race around
the parts of the creature that are
visible.
The audio, one of the highlights of
the first game, thanks to its retro '80s
rock music, is in fine form. Blue Side
has tapped Korean metal band
Crash for some tunes that will drive
you to engage in some air guitar as
you play. Another returning perk to
the package is the vast number of
language options. The current plan
calls for seven languages to present
the spoken voice in the game. So
far, everything we've heard matches
the quality of the original, and we're
pleased by how it's coming together.
While Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes
may lack the element of surprise its
predecessor possessed, the game is
still shaping up to be a great follow-
up to one of the Xbox's best
offerings. Blue Side looks to be ably
walking the line between staying true
to the core mechanics people loved
in the original and adding new
content to enhance the experience.
The new multiplayer modes and
custom campaign features are all
icing on the already appealing cake.
If you were a fan of the original
game, it's a foregone conclusion
you're frothing at the mouth for
Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes and will
pick it up posthaste. If you're new to
the series on the Xbox, you should
absolutely check this game out...if
you're looking for something meaty
to play for a good long time.
Fantastic Four (2005)
Fantastic Four is a lot better than it
has any right to be. Going into this
expecting a complete bomb (as most
people having seen the trailers
should) will leave you surprised. It's
far from a great movie, but it's a
good superhero flick.
For those who've never read the
comic, Fantastic Four is the story of
4 people who are changed into
superheroes by an accident at a
space station. They went up there to
examine some cosmic radiation and
advance the human race and blah,
blah, blah. It's never clear exactly
what they were setting out to do. But
they go up there regardless - a
radioactive wave whacks them (that
radiation... always up to no good)
and a few days later... boom,
superheroes. Reed Richards (Mr.
Fantastic) is able to turn into rubber
and stretch himself out, Sue Storm
(Invisible Girl) can turn invisible,
Johnny Storm (Human Torch) can
light himself up and fly, and The
Thing, well he's just a rock monster.
The movie differs from the comic in
that Victor Von Doom (that's Doctor
Doom to you) was up there in the
station with them, and gets affected
too. He starts turning into metal and
is able to store and release energy
from his hand. I don't know about
you, but I liked him better when he
was just a maniac in a mask.
Anyways, he had fronted the money
for the experiment, and loses his job
thanks to them messing it up. Plus,
he's jealous because his (invisible)
girlfriend runs away from him to the
wimpy Richards. So he vows
revenge.
Meanwhile the superheroes are
forming into a team of sorts and
getting media attention for saving
some people on a bridge accident.
There's a lot of tension between
them as they adapt to their new
powers, and The Thing in particular
feels even more like an outcast in his
new state - he is the only one who
can't turn his powers on and off at
will, after all. So, will they finally team
up in the end and defeat Dr. Doom?
It's a comic book movie... you figure
it out.
So yes, it's a typical dumb old-school
comic story. The action scenes don't
disappoint though. The way they test
out their powers is very reminiscent
of the first Spider-Man. And, despite
some wonky effects work (Reed
Richards looks a little more plastic
than he should), it's pretty nifty to
see these guys in action. One big
fault of the movie is that there's not
enough of these showcase scenes.
Superheroes are supposed to
pummel bad guys, after all.
Michael Chicklis' portrayal of The
Thing makes this movie work. He's
the film's only sympathetic character.
They could just scrap the rest of the
team and put him in a solo movie
that'd be far better than the
(admittedly weak) Hulk. Ioan
Gruffudd is forgettable as Richards.
He's supposed to be the leader of
the pack, a genius - but nowhere is
this evident. Not really good casting
here. Jessica Alba as Invisible Girl
(woman?) does one thing well...
wear low-cut shirts. She's as
believable a scientist as my ass is.
Chris Evans as the Human Torch
plays his role well even if he's there
mostly for comic relief. It's obvious
he's having fun in this role, and
though he's a typical rich boy X-
games fanatic it's perfect for the
character. He gets a bunch of laughs
in the movie, and his rivalry with The
Thing is one of the few good
relationships in the whole thing.
Julian McMahon as Doctor Doom
doesn't really work, which is a shame
because he had the potential to be a
great villain. Instead of being evil
he's just petty. We need more
layered, insane characters in our
geek movies, damn it.
Despite its faults, Fantastic Four is a
fun, silly movie. It's nothing you'll
want to see multiple times, but the
kids will love it. Let's just hope they
pull a Spider-Man 2 with the
inevitable sequel and expand on the
characters (and action). The origin
story's out of the way, so now it's
time to get into the meat. I can easily
see this becoming a decent series.
Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory
Movie Review
Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore) is
a poor young boy living in a poor
small house with his poor parents
and his four poor grandparents. The
grandparents share a bed. His father
has lost his job. They eat cabbage
soup. Things are not fun in the
Bucket household. That is until
Charlie finds a rare gold ticket that
entitles him to an even rarer tour of
Willy Wonka's (Johnny Depp)
famous chocolate factory. There are
only five tickets that were available in
the entire world and five children
(and a guest of their choice) have
been the lucky recipients of the
famous tickets. Along with Charlie
and one of his poor grandfathers,
Mike Teavee, Violet Beauregarde,
Veruca Salt and Augustus Gloop will
all tour Willy Wonka's factory and
one lucky child will get the prize of a
lifetime at the end of the tour, as long
as they can survive the fateful
singing of the Oompa Loompas (all
played by Deep Roy). I'm not going
to explain that - go see the movie.
Tim Burton's Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory is a remake of the
1971 classic entitled Willy Wonka
and the Chocolate Factory. Who has
never seen Willy Wonka and the
Chocolate Factory? Whoever has
not should take their head out of
their ass and see it right now. And I
plan on doing so as soon as I get my
head out of my ass. Unfortunately, I
had a childhood comparable to that
of Charlie Bucket so I have never
seen the 1971 movie and thus, there
will be no comparisons here.
Needless to say, I went into this
movie with an open mind and an
empty head.
All kidding aside, I really had no
desire to see Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory. It just seemed
silly, wierd, childish and really not my
kind of movie. To tell you the truth,
the movie was silly, strange and
childish, just as I thought it would be.
But it was also far more enjoyable
than I initially imagined. I have to
say, I had an absolute blast watching
this movie. It's funny, it is visually
astounding, there isn't a moment that
goes by where something isn't
happening that doesn't keep you
glued to the screen. The
performances are wonderful. The
musical bits are outstanding. The
look and feel of the movie is
fabulous. Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory is a movie for one and for all,
for adults and children alike to enjoy.
The dynamic duo of Tim Burton and
Johnny Depp have hit a home run
right out of the park with this one. Or,
I suppose, as they say in Europe,
they tapped a perfect header right
into the net. Or, in the porn world,
they tapped a perfect ass right
into...oh forget it.
I have to say I have heard rumblings
about Depp's Wonka being too
Michael Jackson-ish, and yeah, I
saw that here and there with his
various nuances and phobias but he
was still stupendous as was pretty
much every single last person in the
movie. I have to admit, I wondered
how this movie would have played
out with someone like Jim Carrey
playing the chocolate connoisseur
but I suppose that was just wishful
thinking. Carrey would have been a
treat but I don't want to take anything
away from Depp either.
Overall, I really can't say enough
good things about Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory. Maybe that's
because I was expecting so little and
got so much. I had a fabulous time at
the theatre and mark my words when
I say this movie will become an
instant classic. The kiddies are going
to love this one and I am sure it is a
movie that will be on their yearly
"must-see" list for years to come.
The Island Review
What is The Island? This should be
your state of mind when seeing this
film. You should avoid all spoilers on
this one - it makes it that much better
of a film. The Island is Micheal Bay's
offering to this summer's plethora of
action blockbusters which have so
far been more than fulfilling. The
Island continues this pattern. Micheal
Bay has crafted his finest work here,
which I can assume is largely due to
Spielberg's production on this.
Micheal Bay has dropped Jerry
Bruckheimer - a wise move if I may
so say. This is definitely Micheal
Bay's most focused movie. An
emotional sci-fi drama with
adrenaline-fueled action scenes.
The Island is the hope of all the
citizens of an unnamed Utopian
society. They live in fear of an
outside world with vague memories
of a great contamination that forced
them into this sterilized underground
facility. The only redemption from
their dull existence is the chance to
win a lottery and visit the last
uncontaminated spot on earth - The
Island. But of course things are not
as they seem. When resident Lincoln
Six Echo (played earnestly by Ewan
McGregor) starts to dream terrifying
images and begins to question the
nature of their life in this facility, he
uncovers some startling revelations
about his existence. Enter Micheal
Bay action formula.
The movie from this point goes into
autopilot as McGregor and the
beautiful Scarlett Johansson are on
the run from the powers that be who
will stop at nothing to contain the
security breach, for their escape
opens a whole can of worms. This
portion of the film was really well
done. Bay really proves he can set
up an action sequence and there's a
pretty wide variety of stunts going
on. We are talking pretty spectacular
looking scenes. Think Bad Boys 2 in
the future. In particular I was wowed
by the scene where McGregor pilots
a futuristic police hover-bike through
the city. The action scenes are gritty
and hard-hitting. I really got caught
up and found myself questioning
how they could escape the situation.
The portrayal of the future in this
movie, while reminiscent of Minority
Report, was handled pretty well.
Never getting too farfetched or
overshadowing the emotional
context of the plot.

Another strong point in the movie is
the performances. Across the board,
everyone does pretty well. McGregor
handles his role perfectly, playing it
down to earth. He and Scarlett both
managed to stay above everything
that was going on. They portrayed
their characters as people you can
root for throughout the film. I wanted
to see them make it the whole time.
And that's a huge aspect of a movie
like this succeeding.
There are some pretty strong
supporting roles too. Steve Buscemi
has a small role which ends up being
pivotol to the plot. He provides some
of the funniest lines in the movie.
The comic relief is very well placed
here. Sean Bean plays the
villaneous type here like we know he
can. His performance reminded me
of Equilibrium - a similar role here.
Overall I'd have to say The Island is
a very enjoyable summer action
movie and a tier higher than anything
Micheal Bay has done. If you have
already seen Batman and War Of
The Worlds this is definitely another
sweet movie this summer to add to
the list.
The Perfect Catch
(2005)
Growing up is hard to do but the
Farrelly brothers and star Jimmy
Fallon show distinct signs of
maturity in romantic comedy The
Perfect Catch. Instead of remaking
footie flick Fever Pitch (1997), the
brothers take inspiration from the
original Nick Hornby novel and
use baseball as a backdrop for the
story of a man torn between his
passion for the game and the love
of a no-nonsense girl (Drew
Barrymore). It's not pitch perfect
but the leads make a winning
team.
In the first half hour the Farrellys
struggle to pick up the pace as Ben
tries desperately to score with
Lindsey. But just when you're ready
to throw in the towel, they end up
going one-on-one and Ben reveals
his dirty little secret: he is
pathologically obsessed with the
Boston Red Sox. At first Lindsey
plays along, but eventually grows
resentful of all the compromises
she's forced to make.
"DELIVERED WITH SUBTLETY"
It's a tenderly told love story that
retains the cheeky spirit of Hornby's
book without the gross-out excesses
we've come to expect from the
Farrellys. Admittedly there is one
gag involving a puddle of puke and a
hungry dog, but it's delivered with
subtlety and, for the most part, there
is an admirable commitment to
restraint. Likewise, Fallon avoids the
crackheaded clowning around of
Taxi and builds an honest rapport
with Barrymore as an earthy (rather
than hardnosed) career girl. After
taking a while to find their feet, the
Farrelly's don't quite knock it out of
the park, but The Perfect Catch does
hit home in the end.
Silverlit X-UFO RC Flying
Toy
SKYN Tones Laptop
Covers-Skins

This is a new creation "hovering"

around the corner: the X-UFO. This
RC/hovercraft/UFO/flying saucer has
a range of 100 yards, a charge time
of 100 minutes and an awesome fly
time of 20-25 minutes.
Batman Dark Knight TV
SKYN Tones are reusable, durable
glossy adhesive covers that are easy
to put on your laptop, and remove
cleanly. You may not like all the
colours but trust me, it is still a lot
better than those dull, dark & gloomy
grey ones on the IBM’s, Dell’s, HP-
Compaq’s & Toshiba’s. These may
just brighten up your day.

This Dark Knight-inspired 13-inch &

15-inch television from Hannspree
Global would look sharp in anyone's
“secret hideout”. It even sports a PC
input, for display resolution of up to
1024x768 (what most people are
using). It comes in black color, with a
stand & has a Batman Logo at the
back.
FlashPoint Intelligent
USB Keychain
ShareDrive
FlashPoint USB ShareDrives allow
for "computerless" copying and
sharing of files - files placed in the
"share" directory will copy to a
connected USB drive when the
share button is pressed, and simply
press the "load" button to copy files
from the "load" folder on connected
drive. It is a brilliant new way to
exchange files, business cards, and
company info at exhibitions,
meetings, and conventions.
MPEC Cinema Glasses
and MPEC Multimedia
Player - Headset Video
Review –Reader
Mobile Personal Entertainment
Centre (MPEC for short) has
launched an entertainment headset
that consists of their own MPEC
Cinema Glasses & Multimedia
Player. The MPEC Cinema glasses
connect to the MPEC Player to
project a virtual screen of 30". You
can watch your favorite movies and
video files, play MP3s, and view
photos while using a SD memory
Card for storage.
Tyco 1:6 Scale Batman
Begins "Tumbler" Bat-
mobile R/C Vehicle
"The Tumbler" from the movie
"Batman Begins" is considered by
some to be the ultimate Bat-mobile.
With this cool R/C Vehicle from
Tyco, you can remote control your
own Tumbler! This R/C car sports
turbo engine sounds, headlights that
light, as well as adjustable air brakes
and dynamic working suspension.
There is a smaller R/C version of this
car, but it isn't anywhere even close
to cool, as cool as the big one is.
iPod Alarm Clock Radio
Well this is something I have been
waiting from a long time, But thought
it would be made by Bose (well it is
good it isn’t by them, as their
products are damn expensive). The
iPod Alarm Clock Radio is a cool
product, to which you can connect
your existing iPod & wake up to your
favorite tunes, AM/FM Radio, or to
the songs in your iPod. You can
even connect your High-fi stereo
systems (they give superior sound)
and other non-iPod MP3 player via a
patch cord. It measures 9.2inches
wide x 5.5 inches. U can get it on
iHome's website. Catch it fast before
someone else does.
Mustek PVR-H140
Personal Video Recorder
With 40GB Drive
This new Mustek PVR handheld
video player/recorder offers VGA 30
fps AV recording, a 3.6" color TFT
LCD, with a 40GB internal hard
drive. You can even use it for playing
back photos, your Mp3 files, and use
it as a voice recorder. It even has an
additional SD/MMC slot allows for
importing/exporting of your files from
the device.
Kameleon Remote SimBackup
Control

Mobile phones have revolutionised

the way we conduct our everyday
business. We don’t even know any
phone numbers off the top of your
Fumbling around for the TV remote
head, everything is stored in the
is one of modern life's greatest
mobile & these days you actually
irritants. And, with the advent of so
phone people by name and not their
many other remote controlled
actual number. But what will you do
devices - VCR, DVD, CD, Satellite -
if you lose your precious mobile. It is
couch potato life gets harder all the
a total nightmare, and you can’t write
time.
down every single name and number
in anticipation of this grim scenario.
Thankfully, you can now put an end
So this new product which is so
to multiple remote miseries with the
simple to use, lets you to backup
sleek and sophisticated Kameleon 6-
your SIM card.
in-1 and its little brother, the 4-in-1.
This ingenious little box can back up
These ingenious wafers of hi-tech
any SIM card with up to 255 phone
jiggery pokery are universal remote
records, and it's small enough to
control units that can operate up to
hang on your key ring. Transferring
six - entertainment appliances at
info into Simbackup is easier than
once. From your TV and VCR to
picking up the phone. Simply pop in
your DVD, CD, Audio, satellite and
your SIM card and the info is
cable, these gorgeously svelte, touch
automatically transferred to
sensitive remotes do the lot. It is
Simbackup's memory. An easy-to-
ergonomically designed to fit snugly
read LCD screen displays all the
into all manner of mitts, the
relevant info should you require it,
Kameleon impresses the very
and a handy flip cover protects
second you pick it up. Its built-in
Simbackup's sleek fascia from the
motion sensors activate an ultra
objects in your pocket. It has loads of
cool, electro-luminescent display
extra features including World Time
panel that resembles something from
clock, Alarm, Stop Watch and more.
the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.
Universal Firearm Tactiva TouchPad
Remote
It looks like a designer’s dream come
true. Way better than a tablet, this
pad lets you interact with your
computer with both of your hands,
allowing for a truly immersive and
tactile experience. Not only can you
use multiple fingers at once to drag
and resize objects, you can also feel
unique sensations through your
fingers that help you differentiate
objects. And because of TactaPad’s
camera, you can see a translucent
overlay of your hands on the screen,
allowing for greater control.
This 9mm semi-automatic-styled
clicker slides snugly beneath elastic
waistbands for quick draw access
and features a detachable lithium-ion
magazine, posi-lock channel
changer and safety mode to prevent
dropped pistols from accidentally
going off.
Tool Kit for Girls thermostat is on a smoke break or
the kids have messed with it. It is a
rug that detects when a person is on
the nearby and modifies the rug
temperature and the room
temperature accordingly. This feat of
heat is done with little IR sensor
magic and heating components in
the rug.

Gigabyte G-X5

This is an excellent toolkit containing

a hammer, a level, some pliers, and
some other household stuff design
just for the ladies. Each one of the
tools is specially marked with the
name Barbara K (who is apparently
some woman who fixes stuff). Priced
at about $80, this would be ideal for
women to use, if they ever need to
use them for something.

Matsushita Adaptive
Gigabyte, makers of all things
Electric Carpet mother-boardish, are diving into the
plethora of mobile phone
manufacturers with the new G-X5
phone and also a PDA phone. The
G-X5 will contain all of the standard
bells and whistles of modern mobile
phones.

Thermostats, on the whole, work

pretty well. However, this rug makes
up for those times when the
FingerGear bootable Creative Zen Sleek
computer-on-a-stick USB
flash drive

FingerGear is offering a Linux-based

Computer-On-a-stick USB 2.0 Flash
drive sporting a complete bootable
operating system out of the box. It’s
running Linux 2.6.x with a Gnome
GUI, and comes in capacities from
256MB up to 8GB. It also comes with It is an audio player trying to rival the
OpenOffice and a bunch of other iPod. It features a 20GB player with
common desktop and internet FM radio, mike, MP3 and WMA,
utilities pre-installed (GAIM, Firefox, playback compatibility. And
etc.). These are starting at $149 for measures (3.9” x 2.3” x 0.6”) that
the 256MB version. guarantee it’ll live up to its name.

Fujitsu’s Lifebook P1510

Well dude if you’re looking for the
latest mini convertible tablet PC,
then check out the Fujitsu P1510. It
actually has pretty good specs for a
tablet, including an 8.9-inch display,
60GB drive, 1.2Ghz Pentium M 753,
WiFi, CF slot, and 512MB RAM
standard.
Toshiba Qosmio G20
This is an absolute beauty, it
features a cool & wide 17-inch
WXGA display, 1.73/1.86GHz
Pentium M processor, 128MB
GeForce 6600, 160/200GB HDD,
512MB RAM standard, DVD-ROM
and a TV tuner. It runs on Windows
XP Home and Toshiba’s own media
center software. Maybe they might
launch a version with MCE later, but
this is also good.
Alienware’s Area-51m
7700
This new version in the series comes
with Windows XP Media Center
Edition loaded. It features a 17-inch
widescreen display, 512MB of RAM,
3.4GHz Pentium 4 desktop
processor, 256MB NVIDIA
GeForce™ Go 6800 video card,
60GB hard drive, DVD/CD-RW
combo drive, and a mini PCI TV
tuner). It starts at $2,375.
Acer TravelMate C310
convertible tablet
This device has a 14.1-inch XGA
display, Sonoma Centrino with
Pentium M and DDR2 SDRAM,
GeForce Go 6200 graphics, 802.11
b/g, Bluetooth, Gigabit Ethernet,
dual-layer DVD burner, 80 or 100GB
hard drive, 4-in-1 card reader,
magnesium chassis, and what they
claim is an 8.5-hour battery.
Sony Librie
The Sony Librie has a beautiful and
crisp 6-inch SVGA screen. It could
just be some-thing dedicated e-book
readers maybe looking for. It allows
readers to use Sony-approved
software to convert Word, Excel,
PowerPoint, PDF, HTML and RSS
documents to the Sony BBeB format
so that it can be read on it easily.
The Librie has a resolution of 170
pixels per inch (more than twice that
of most computer monitors), enough
memory to hold up to 500 e-books,
and its four AAA batteries provide
enough power to flip through more
than 10,000 pages.
Cybook e-Book reader
It is the first e-book reader that is
totally open-standard, meaning you
can use it with any of your HTML,
PDF, PRC, or RTF documents,
which is definitely appreciate
(especially considering the weird
closed format e-books of Sony Librie
that expire after a 60 Days). The
Cybook runs on Windows CE and
comes with a 10-inch color LCD
display, gets 3 to 5 hours of battery
power, plays MP3 files, and comes
with Pocket versions of both Word
and Excel. It even comes with a 56k
modem. You can add a WiFi card or
add Compact Flash memory via its
PCMCIA slots.
HP Pavilion zd8080us
Notebook PC
This laptop is a user’s delight.
Running on Windows XP Media
Center 2005, it comes with a no-
nonsense Intel 3.4EGHz Pentium® 4
processor 550 with HT Technology,
800MHz FSB, and 1MB L2 cache, a
17" WXGA+ high-definition
BrightView widescreen display (1440
x 900) with wide viewing angle, a
100GB (4200 rpm) HDD, 1024MB
DDR2 SDRAM (2 x 512MB; dual
channel at 400MHz) and maximum
memory of 2048MB DDR2 SDRAM
(2 x 1024MB), ATI® MOBILITY™
RADEON™ X600 graphics (256MB
dedicated DDR), 6-in-1 digital media
card reader, 54g™ 802.11b/g WLAN
with 125HSM/SpeedBooster for
staying connected even when
traveling, a 8x DVD±RW/R and CD-
RW combo drive, or 8x DVD ±RW/R
drives with double layer write support
writer to capture, burn, author, and
edit DVDs with InterVideoWinDVD
Creator and InterVideo® Home
Theater, 10/100 Ethernet LAN
modem. It has four USB 2.0, one
FireWire (IEEE 1394), one Fast
Infrared (FIR), and one S-Video TV
out and one ExpressCard/54 PC
slot. A HP dual TV tuner, a PVR with
Mini-Remote Control & comes with a
12-cell Lithium-Ion battery.
It can be configured to be the
centerpiece for your digital
entertainment. It supports up to two
live TV shows or series recordings at
the same time (even as you watch a
previously recorded third show).
We decided to make some
contests beginning with this
month of WareZ News Magazine,
so prepare yourself to be a
winner!
Are U a good graphic designer?
VCVTech grands you the chance to
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Ccucu’s WareZ offers you the

chance to win a Golden Membership
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Send us your work at
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RhEAL Computers and Ccucu’s

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