Basically you should take care of two things first.
a) you can still access your hard drive, and everything is ok with your operating system or
b) your computer froze and doesn't boot up, and possibly weird noises come from the hard drive.
1. After data loss, never write to the hard drive.
When data is lost on a hard drive, the first rule you should follow is a simple rule of common sense: don't write anything to that hard drive, until you recover what you have lost.
There is a very simple reason for this: when you delete something from your hard drive, the operating system (windows, mac os and linux for example) does not permanently delete that information. Instead, it only tells you that there is more free space that space is still occupied by your deleted information, but it changes it state, from occupied to free.
One thing is true when it comes to data on your hard drive what you see is not all you have on your hard drive.
This is true for lost files, but also for lost partitions. If you delete a partition, just leave it blank. You cannot see it, but data recovery software can. Same thing with formatted hard drives you can still recover from a full format.
How do I delete files forever? If you want to erase files for security and/or privacy reasons you should use commercial software that does that job or contact a specialized data recovery company.
2. Restore your backups
If you did your homework, you should have up-to-date backups of all your vital information. This is the time to check on those backups, and eventually restore them, in order to retrieve the lost data.
In the unlikely event that you don't have up-to-date backups of your data, you must start the process of data recovery, as explain in the following steps. But remember that in the future backups are your best chance of protecting vital and irreplaceable information. So back up often and store your backups in a safe location.
3. Don't install data recovery software on the same hard drive where the data loss occurred
Remember
step 1. If you install any software to the same hard drive where you lost data, you could overwrite that lost data forever.
4. Turn of your computer
To play it safe, right after your data loss, you should turn off the computer. Even the routine operation of the operating system depends on reads and writes from and to the hard drive, and your lost data can be overwritten in one of those.
5. Protect the hard drive
Remove the hard drive from the computer and connect another one, even an old one, as long as it had an operating system installed, so you can boot up your computer and later on analyse the hard drive where data loss happened. As an alternative, you can install your hard drive in another working computer, as a secondary drive, so you can access it without writing to it directly.
If your data loss happened because of a virus attack, be sure to have anti-virus software installed on the new hard drive.
Rescue disks to the rescue: If you are afraid of taking your computer apart, and you have a pre-prepared disk, you can boot your computer from a bootable floppy disk, CD or DVD and go from there.
6. Chose your data recovery software
There are several freeware choices on the Internet, as well as many demos of well known commercial software programs.
You can try, at your own risk experimenting with these programs. In any case, if you have any questions, doubts, or don't have the technical expertise to recover the lost data by yourself, you can always consult a data recovery company in your area.
What happens when hard drive failure occurs.
A hard disk failure occurs when it becomes impossible to access the hard drive, due to internal or external factors. The factors vary, but the most common one if known as ahead crashes. The head that reads the magnetic surface of the disk touches the metal surface, grinding against it and making normal reads impossible.
What makes up a hard drive? Platters, a motor, reading/writing heads and head actuators. The platters rotate using the motor and the heads read and write information in the place they are moved to by the actuator arm.
1. Shut off the computer and don't try to restart it
When a physical error occurs in a hard drive, the best thing to do is not to try to restart the computer system. Further damage can be done to the hard drive if you try a restart.
2. Secure the hard drive
If your hard drive failed because of an external problem, you should preserve the hard drive as-is. This means that, for instance if you had a flood and the hard drive came in contact with water, you should preserve the hard drive in water, and never try to open or dry it by yourself.
My computer was underwater! In this case, the best thing to do is to take your hard drive out and store it in a plastic container full of water. You will send that container to the data recovery company.
2. Choosing a data recovery company
When a physical error occurs you shouldn't try to fix it by yourself. Many times components must be repaired or even replaced and that can only happen in a clean room environment.
To maximize your chances of recovery, you should quickly find a data recovery company near you.
There are four main things you should consider when choosing a data recovery company:
a) The right equipment. The company you choose should have the right means to analyze and recover your lost data. Ask directly if they have at least one class 100 clean room.
b) A partnership opportunity. Will that company forge a partnership with your company? Do they offer training and long-term advices on how to better protect your data?
c) Expertise. Does that company specialize in the media you are trying to recover?
d) List of clients. Check out their website and the list of past clients. Does that list include big names, and a wide array of different industries? That is always a plus.
3. Send the hard drive for analysis
Most data recovery companies don't charge you anything if they cannot recover your data. They will probably give you an estimate on how much you are going to spend before you have to pay anything, so take advantage of that.
Shop around for better prices, but remember
step 2. Sometimes it's worth it to pay something extra, if you get better equipment and a better track record working for you.
When you decide, send your hard drive in for an estimate. Use preferably the wrapping material that came with your hard drive. If you bought the hard drive along with your computer, use a soft wrapping material, such as an anti-static electrostatic discharge (ESD) bag. Use foam to secure the hard drive inside and prevent sudden movements.
How to Search for Rapidshare Files using Google
RapidShare is a free and unlimited file hosting and file storage service that been used frequently to share big files such as music, mp3, video and software to other users in the world. With search technology of Google, we can search for uploaded and shared files in RapidShare.
To search for all RapidShare download links that been posted on the Internet, blogs and forums, use the following search string (including quote):
“rapidshare.de/files”
Alternatively, the following search term can be used to search for all URLs from rapidshare.de domain which, of course, includes all the download links (the search results will be lesser, as not all download URLs are been crawled and indexed):
site:rapidshare.de
You can refine the search by adding the keywords (file format or singer name or etc) that you want to search specifically. As the file name of the uploaded file in RapidShare is actually contained in the download links, so there’re several ways to search for just the file you want by narrowing down the search results.
To search for mp3 audio files only:
“rapidshare.de/files” mp3
site:rapidshare.de mp3
+inurl:mp3 site:rapidshare.de
Note: inurl will search for the URLs that contains the specified keywords only, while the other searches will search for the keywords beyond the URLs, as long as it fulfills the search criteria.
To search for files related to Jessica Simpson only:
“rapidshare.de/files” jessica simpson
site:rapidshare.de jessica simpson
+inurl:jessica|simpson site:rapidshare.de
To search for multiple file format, such as audio and music:
“rapidshare.de/files” mp3 OR wma OR ogg
site:rapidshare.de mp3 OR wma OR ogg
+inurl:mp3|wma|ogg site:rapidshare.de
Modify the above search string to search for the file type you want, such as avi, mpg, rm and wmv for video files or pdf, exe, doc, rar and zip for documents and software programs.
Note: Google will group together related and similar search results. Click on “repeat the search with the omitted results included” to expand the search results to get all RapidShare links.
To search for all RapidShare download links that been posted on the Internet, blogs and forums, use the following search string (including quote):
“rapidshare.de/files”
Alternatively, the following search term can be used to search for all URLs from rapidshare.de domain which, of course, includes all the download links (the search results will be lesser, as not all download URLs are been crawled and indexed):
site:rapidshare.de
You can refine the search by adding the keywords (file format or singer name or etc) that you want to search specifically. As the file name of the uploaded file in RapidShare is actually contained in the download links, so there’re several ways to search for just the file you want by narrowing down the search results.
To search for mp3 audio files only:
“rapidshare.de/files” mp3
site:rapidshare.de mp3
+inurl:mp3 site:rapidshare.de
Note: inurl will search for the URLs that contains the specified keywords only, while the other searches will search for the keywords beyond the URLs, as long as it fulfills the search criteria.
To search for files related to Jessica Simpson only:
“rapidshare.de/files” jessica simpson
site:rapidshare.de jessica simpson
+inurl:jessica|simpson site:rapidshare.de
To search for multiple file format, such as audio and music:
“rapidshare.de/files” mp3 OR wma OR ogg
site:rapidshare.de mp3 OR wma OR ogg
+inurl:mp3|wma|ogg site:rapidshare.de
Modify the above search string to search for the file type you want, such as avi, mpg, rm and wmv for video files or pdf, exe, doc, rar and zip for documents and software programs.
Note: Google will group together related and similar search results. Click on “repeat the search with the omitted results included” to expand the search results to get all RapidShare links.
Labels:
Internet
Know What are rootkits and get protected from them
Introduction
RootkitRevealer is an advanced rootkit detection utility. It runs on Windows NT 4 and higher and its output lists Registry and file system API discrepancies that may indicate the presence of a user-mode or kernel-mode rootkit. RootkitRevealer successfully detects many persistent rootkits including AFX, Vanquish and HackerDefender (note: RootkitRevealer is not intended to detect rootkits like Fu that don't attempt to hide their files or registry keys). If you use it to identify the presence of a rootkit please let us know!
The reason that there is no longer a command-line version is that malware authors have started targetting RootkitRevealer's scan by using its executable name. We've therefore updated RootkitRevealer to execute its scan from a randomly named copy of itself that runs as a Windows service. This type of execution is not conducive to a command-line interface. Note that you can use command-line options to execute an automatic scan with results logged to a file, which is the equivalent of the command-line version's behavior.
What is a Rootkit?
The term rootkit is used to describe the mechanisms and techniques whereby malware, including viruses, spyware, and trojans, attempt to hide their presence from spyware blockers, antivirus, and system management utilities. There are several rootkit classifications depending on whether the malware survives reboot and whether it executes in user mode or kernel mode.
Types of Rootkit
The Windows native API serves as the interface between user-mode clients and kernel-mode services and more sophisticated user-mode rootkits intercept file system, Registry, and process enumeration functions of the Native API. This prevents their detection by scanners that compare the results of a Windows API enumeration with that returned by a native API enumeration.
Some Rootkit removal tools:
Unhackme
The rootkit installs a backdoor giving the hacker a full control of the computer. It hides their files, registry keys, and process names, and network connections from your eyes. Your antivirus could not detect such programs because they use compression and encryption of its files. UnHackMe allows you to detect and remove Rootkits.
License: Shareware
Language: English, Japanese, Russian
Release: 2006-12-20
Size: 1 Mb
Free: No
RootKit Hook Analyzer
RootKit Hook Analyzer is a security tool which checks if there are any rootkits installed on your computer which hook the kernel system services. Kernel RootKit Hooks are installed modules which intercept the principal system services that all programs and the operating system rely on. This program will display all kernel services and the responsible modules for handling them, along with company and product information.
License: Freeware
Language: English
Release: 2006-10-24
Size: 771 Kb
Free: Yes
RootkitRevealer is an advanced rootkit detection utility. It runs on Windows NT 4 and higher and its output lists Registry and file system API discrepancies that may indicate the presence of a user-mode or kernel-mode rootkit. RootkitRevealer successfully detects many persistent rootkits including AFX, Vanquish and HackerDefender (note: RootkitRevealer is not intended to detect rootkits like Fu that don't attempt to hide their files or registry keys). If you use it to identify the presence of a rootkit please let us know!
The reason that there is no longer a command-line version is that malware authors have started targetting RootkitRevealer's scan by using its executable name. We've therefore updated RootkitRevealer to execute its scan from a randomly named copy of itself that runs as a Windows service. This type of execution is not conducive to a command-line interface. Note that you can use command-line options to execute an automatic scan with results logged to a file, which is the equivalent of the command-line version's behavior.
What is a Rootkit?
The term rootkit is used to describe the mechanisms and techniques whereby malware, including viruses, spyware, and trojans, attempt to hide their presence from spyware blockers, antivirus, and system management utilities. There are several rootkit classifications depending on whether the malware survives reboot and whether it executes in user mode or kernel mode.
Types of Rootkit
- Persistent Rootkits
- Memory-Based Rootkits
- User-mode Rootkits
The Windows native API serves as the interface between user-mode clients and kernel-mode services and more sophisticated user-mode rootkits intercept file system, Registry, and process enumeration functions of the Native API. This prevents their detection by scanners that compare the results of a Windows API enumeration with that returned by a native API enumeration.
- Kernel-mode Rootkits
Some Rootkit removal tools:
Unhackme
The rootkit installs a backdoor giving the hacker a full control of the computer. It hides their files, registry keys, and process names, and network connections from your eyes. Your antivirus could not detect such programs because they use compression and encryption of its files. UnHackMe allows you to detect and remove Rootkits.
License: Shareware
Language: English, Japanese, Russian
Release: 2006-12-20
Size: 1 Mb
Free: No
RootKit Hook Analyzer
RootKit Hook Analyzer is a security tool which checks if there are any rootkits installed on your computer which hook the kernel system services. Kernel RootKit Hooks are installed modules which intercept the principal system services that all programs and the operating system rely on. This program will display all kernel services and the responsible modules for handling them, along with company and product information.
License: Freeware
Language: English
Release: 2006-10-24
Size: 771 Kb
Free: Yes
Labels:
Antispyware
Symbian tips and tricks
Tips & Tricks for Symbians!
Tip 1 : Do u know how to use the edit button (abc or pencil button)?
Heres how... in the inbox for example; u wanna delete multiple sms, simply hold the edit button, scroll down, and then, press c to delete the marked sms. The edit button can also b used to copy and past text in sms, simply hold it and scroll across, choose copy. pretty good for placing song names in ngages.
Tip 2 : **** happens, on a smartphone, its inevitable u do something wrong, and tis calls for a format of fone. to format the fone, press *#7370#, then enter the lock code, which is the sec code of the fone. NOTE: batt must b full, else if format is disrupted by low batt, consequences will b disastrous
I heard the code *#7780# works too, pretty much the same i tink.
for 6600 users, to format the phone, there's an alternative way. Press and hold <3>, <*>, and the buttons, then power on phone, keep holding on the 3 buttons, till u come to a format screen. tis method ONLY works on 6600, and need not enter the sec code. BUT sec code wun be reset to default 12345.
Tip 3 : TO NGAGE USERS; Did u know u can install .sis files simply using the cable given? Juz plug it in, place the .sis file anywhere on e: (the mmc), not in any folders, root of e:, disconnect, then look for it in manager.
Tip 4: Save on battery and system memory being used by regularly checking the task manager which can be accessed by holding down the menu button!!
Tip 5: Type *#06# to display your IMEI serial number, very valuable for the unlocking your phone to other sim cards
Tip 6: Type *#0000# to view which firmware version you are running
Tip 4a: Set the screen saver to a short time out period to prolong battery life.
Tip 4b: Avoid restarting the phone, or repeatedly turning it on and off. This helps increase battery life.
Tip 7: If you would like to avoid being "blue jacked", keep bluetooth turned off, or set your phone's visibility to hidden.
Tip 8: Don't want to carry a watch and a phone? Set the screen saver to show date and time, then you can ditch the watch.
Tip 9: Save memory when installing apps, by installing over bluetooth. This can be done using the nokia phone suite and a bluetooth serial connection. Only works with .SIS files, so java still has to be sent to the phone, but will save space when using .SIS files.
Tip 10: Operator logos
Use a file manager like FExplorer or SeleQ to add the folders: "c:/system/Apps/phone/oplogo". Add a .bmp picture to folder "oplogo" and restart your phone! The .bmp picture size needs to be: 97 x 25 pixels
Tip 11: Check if the recipients phone is on
Delivery reports
or
Type *0# your message in the message composer window space then write your message, the recipient will not see the star zero hash bit - just the message When they read it it will relay a message back to your fone showing the time they received it. (haven't yet tried it myself though)
Tip 12: BlueJacking
First up, you need to know what Bluetooth is. There are lots of types of modern devices that incorporate Bluetooth as one of their many features. PDAs, mobile phones and laptops are a few of these modern devices. Bluetooth means that Bluetooth enabled devices can send things like phonebook/address book contacts, pictures & notes to other Bluetooth enabled devices wirelessly over a range of about 10 metres. So, we've got past the boring part. Now, using a phone with Bluetooth, you can create a phonebook contact and write a message, eg. 'Hello, you've been bluejacked', in the 'Name' field. Then you can search for other phones with Bluetooth and send that phonebook contact to them. On their phone, a message will popup saying "'Hello, you've been bluejacked' has just been received by Bluetooth" or something along those lines. For most 'victims' they will have no idea as to how the message appeared on their phone.
Tip 13: While you are viewing a picture in your phone's gallery, press one of these shortcut keys (definitely works on 6600, not sure about other symbians)
1 - turn image anticlockwise
3 - turn image clockwise
* - toggle on/off of full screen
5 - zoom in
0 - zoom out
#15 u can select all files in a folder by selecting THE folder and copy it then paste it somewhere. however u need to make a new directory. Explorer run let u copy that folder together. well seleQ can mark files to copy but it really takes time!
#16: A soft and Hard reset
A Soft-reset - the process of resetting all the settings of the phone to the factory default! No applications are deleted! A Hard-reset is like formatting a drive! It does format the memory. Everything that has been installed after the first use of the phone is deleted! It will recover the memory of the phone to the state you purchased it! It is done by inputing the following code: *#7370# NOTE: The battery must be full or the charger has to be connected to the phone so that it does not run out of power and make the phone unusable.
#17: Formats of images
supported ones: JPG UPF GIF87a/89a WBMB MBM TIFF/F PNG EXIF
How to copy & paste text in your Nokia 3650:
Press and hold the pencil key and select your text using the scroll key.
Left function key will change to 'Copy'. Press it to copy the selected text to clipboard.
You can paste the clipboard contents the same way:
press and hold the pencil key and press 'Paste'. Or, press pencil key once and select 'Paste'.
Press and hold the Menu key to open the application switching window, where you can *duh* switch between applications.
If a program hangs and you can't shut it down, select the application in the
application switching window and press 'C' to kill it. It's also a faster way to exit programs.
Turn on/off the "click" sound made by the camera by selecting the 'Silent' profile or by turning warning tones on/off:
Menu > Profiles > "select your activated profile" > Personalize > Warning tones > On/Off.
(This also effects the sound of Java games and apps).
To change background image go to:
Menu > Tools > Settings > Phone > Standby mode > Background image > Yes > "choose an image".
The best size for background images is 174x132 pixels.
Only got blue, green and purple in your 3650 colour palette?
This free app adds 3 more colours: Palette Extender.
Display an image when someone's calling:
Menu > Contacts > "select a contact card" > Options > Edit > Options > Add thumbnail > "choose an image".
Add a personal ringing tone to a contact:
Menu > Contacts > "select a contact card" > Options > Open > Options > Ringing tone > "choose a ringing tone".
Delete all messages from your Inbox at once:
Menu > Messaging > Inbox > Options > Mark/Unmark > Mark all > Options > Delete.
Send or hide your caller ID: Go to: Menu > Tools > Settings > Call > Send My
Caller ID > 'Yes', 'No' or 'Set By Network' to follow the default settings of your home network.
If you often copy large files to your MultiMedia Card, I recommend a card reader.
E.g. With a card reader it takes only 12 seconds to copy a 10 MB file!
Record the sound of a phone call using the (sound) Recorder.
Menu > Extra's > Recorder > Options > Record sound clip.
Note: short beeps are audible during call registration.
But there is a 60 second limitation so if you want unlimited sound recording get this app: Extended Recorder.
While writing text, press "#" to switch between upper and lower case and Dictonary on/off (predictive text input).
Press and hold "#" to switch between Alpha mode and Number mode.
Keyboard shortcuts for zooming and rotating images in Images:
1 = zoom in, 0 = zoom out, press and hold to return to the normal view.
2 = rotate anticlockwise, 9 = rotate clockwise, * = full screen.
In standby mode, press and hold the right soft key to activate voice dialling.
To add a voice tag to a phone number, open a contact card and scroll to the phone number and select:
Options > Add voice tag.
You can customize both soft keys located below the screen (in standby mode):
Menu > Tools > Settings > Phone > Standby mode > Left/Right selection key > "select an application".
In standby mode. press scroll key center (joystick) to go directly to Contacts.
In standby mode, press and hold 0 to launch your wap home page.
In Menu or any subfolder, press numbers 1 - 9 to start the application at that location.
123
456
789
In standby mode,
45# + dials the number on your sim in memory slot 45.
50# + dials slot 50 and so on.
If you have your keylock activated just press the on/off button to turn on your backlight
to look at the time when it's dark without having to unlock the keypad.
Never, ever, in your whole life, install WildSkinz on your Nokia 3650!!! WildSkinz screws up
the whole 3650 system. It was never intended to work on the 3650, only on the 7650.
Why assigning Video Recorder in the right or left soft key does not work?
(Sound Recorder is launched instead of Video Recorder)
It's a bug with firmware version 2.50.
How to check your firmware version:
A "Firmware" is the phone's operating system stored in internal Flash memory of the device (disk Z.
Manufacturers release new firmware versions containing bug fixes, improvements and - sometimes - offering new functions.
Firmware upgrade can only be made in authorized Nokia service centre (point).
To check your current firmware version simply type *#0000# on main Phone screen.
·
How to check your IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity)?
Type *#06# on main Phone screen.
Start up in Safe Mode so no 'auto start' apps will be running:
To make sure that no memory-resident programs start when you reboot your phone,
hold down the pencil key when you turn on the phone and hold it on untill you have to enter your PIN code.
(When you have trouble booting up the phone with the MMC in it because it got corrupted for some reason, this trick will
almost always let you boot up the phone so you can remove the latest installed app which might have caused the
problem or if your phone is "unrepairable" you can still back up your important data before you do a format.)
Q: How to totally format your Nokia 3650 and remove all installed applications, user files and restore all
settings to default like it's new out of the box? (OEM apps won't be deleted like Camera and RealOne Player).
A: First Format your MMC: Menu > Extras > Memory > Options > Format mem. card > Yes.
Note: It is very important to format your MMC before you format your phone!
Then format your phone by typing *#7370# on main Phone screen.
Phone will ask: "Restore all original phone settings? Phone will restart." Press 'Yes' and enter your Lock code (default is 12345).
Tip: Formatting takes several minutes so you'd better connect your Nokia 3650
to a charger to ensure that your battery doesn't get empty in the middle of formatting.
Note: All your created access points and mailboxes will be lost so take a note of them. And all application settings will be reset.
E.g. In Camera, image quality is set back to normal and memory in use is set back to phone memory. And also in Messages,
memory in use is set back to phone memory, etc. Also backup your contacts with PC Suite or a program like Contacts Manager.
To reset your wallet, should you forget your code,
Type in:
*#7370925538#
this will reset the wallet code, the wallet contents will be deleted.
How to free more RAM on your phone >>>
>>> Method 1: Flight mode:
Put your phone in "Flight mode" with Psiloc System Tools. Install System Tools, open it and select "Flight mode". This way you can restart the phone without your SIM card so there will be no running phone tasks in the background. Now you can have up to 3,5 MB of free RAM!
Note: ironically enough, Flight mode doesn't work when Smart Launcher is installed, at least in my case.
But i've also heard several reports of people who have both apps running without any problems.
>>> Method 2: Smart Launcher trick:
Install Smart Launcher and open it. Go to Options, Settings and put Launcher ON.
Now plug in your charger and switch off your phone. Wait until the battery meter appears and short press the Menu button (don't hold).
The menu should appear and now you can have 3,5 to 4,5 MB free RAM! (Hold Menu button to check RAM).
The trick is that with the charger plugged in, the phone must get a minimum software support for charging, even when
the phone is switched off. And somehow Smart Launcher has still got it's shortcut running and that's the Menu button. So when
you press the Menu button, you go directly to the Menu without any other phone tasks running in the background so
you trick the phone and you have more free RAM!
Note: when you unplug the charger, the phone will switch off.
>>> Method 3: Menu :
This method I found it by myself, it frees a little about 100~200 KB but I guess it's useful sometime
Close your menu not by selecting the right selection key "exit", or pressing the menu key another time, they only hide the menu app but do not close it, to close it select the left selection key "option" and scroll down and select "exit"
So when you open an app needs more ram reopen menu and close it, it's useful when play low bit rate video in realplayer paradise.
Tip 1 : Do u know how to use the edit button (abc or pencil button)?
Heres how... in the inbox for example; u wanna delete multiple sms, simply hold the edit button, scroll down, and then, press c to delete the marked sms. The edit button can also b used to copy and past text in sms, simply hold it and scroll across, choose copy. pretty good for placing song names in ngages.
Tip 2 : **** happens, on a smartphone, its inevitable u do something wrong, and tis calls for a format of fone. to format the fone, press *#7370#, then enter the lock code, which is the sec code of the fone. NOTE: batt must b full, else if format is disrupted by low batt, consequences will b disastrous
I heard the code *#7780# works too, pretty much the same i tink.
for 6600 users, to format the phone, there's an alternative way. Press and hold <3>, <*>, and the buttons, then power on phone, keep holding on the 3 buttons, till u come to a format screen. tis method ONLY works on 6600, and need not enter the sec code. BUT sec code wun be reset to default 12345.
Tip 3 : TO NGAGE USERS; Did u know u can install .sis files simply using the cable given? Juz plug it in, place the .sis file anywhere on e: (the mmc), not in any folders, root of e:, disconnect, then look for it in manager.
Tip 4: Save on battery and system memory being used by regularly checking the task manager which can be accessed by holding down the menu button!!
Tip 5: Type *#06# to display your IMEI serial number, very valuable for the unlocking your phone to other sim cards
Tip 6: Type *#0000# to view which firmware version you are running
Tip 4a: Set the screen saver to a short time out period to prolong battery life.
Tip 4b: Avoid restarting the phone, or repeatedly turning it on and off. This helps increase battery life.
Tip 7: If you would like to avoid being "blue jacked", keep bluetooth turned off, or set your phone's visibility to hidden.
Tip 8: Don't want to carry a watch and a phone? Set the screen saver to show date and time, then you can ditch the watch.
Tip 9: Save memory when installing apps, by installing over bluetooth. This can be done using the nokia phone suite and a bluetooth serial connection. Only works with .SIS files, so java still has to be sent to the phone, but will save space when using .SIS files.
Tip 10: Operator logos
Use a file manager like FExplorer or SeleQ to add the folders: "c:/system/Apps/phone/oplogo". Add a .bmp picture to folder "oplogo" and restart your phone! The .bmp picture size needs to be: 97 x 25 pixels
Tip 11: Check if the recipients phone is on
Delivery reports
or
Type *0# your message in the message composer window space then write your message, the recipient will not see the star zero hash bit - just the message When they read it it will relay a message back to your fone showing the time they received it. (haven't yet tried it myself though)
Tip 12: BlueJacking
First up, you need to know what Bluetooth is. There are lots of types of modern devices that incorporate Bluetooth as one of their many features. PDAs, mobile phones and laptops are a few of these modern devices. Bluetooth means that Bluetooth enabled devices can send things like phonebook/address book contacts, pictures & notes to other Bluetooth enabled devices wirelessly over a range of about 10 metres. So, we've got past the boring part. Now, using a phone with Bluetooth, you can create a phonebook contact and write a message, eg. 'Hello, you've been bluejacked', in the 'Name' field. Then you can search for other phones with Bluetooth and send that phonebook contact to them. On their phone, a message will popup saying "'Hello, you've been bluejacked' has just been received by Bluetooth" or something along those lines. For most 'victims' they will have no idea as to how the message appeared on their phone.
Tip 13: While you are viewing a picture in your phone's gallery, press one of these shortcut keys (definitely works on 6600, not sure about other symbians)
1 - turn image anticlockwise
3 - turn image clockwise
* - toggle on/off of full screen
5 - zoom in
0 - zoom out
#15 u can select all files in a folder by selecting THE folder and copy it then paste it somewhere. however u need to make a new directory. Explorer run let u copy that folder together. well seleQ can mark files to copy but it really takes time!
#16: A soft and Hard reset
A Soft-reset - the process of resetting all the settings of the phone to the factory default! No applications are deleted! A Hard-reset is like formatting a drive! It does format the memory. Everything that has been installed after the first use of the phone is deleted! It will recover the memory of the phone to the state you purchased it! It is done by inputing the following code: *#7370# NOTE: The battery must be full or the charger has to be connected to the phone so that it does not run out of power and make the phone unusable.
#17: Formats of images
supported ones: JPG UPF GIF87a/89a WBMB MBM TIFF/F PNG EXIF
How to copy & paste text in your Nokia 3650:
Press and hold the pencil key and select your text using the scroll key.
Left function key will change to 'Copy'. Press it to copy the selected text to clipboard.
You can paste the clipboard contents the same way:
press and hold the pencil key and press 'Paste'. Or, press pencil key once and select 'Paste'.
Press and hold the Menu key to open the application switching window, where you can *duh* switch between applications.
If a program hangs and you can't shut it down, select the application in the
application switching window and press 'C' to kill it. It's also a faster way to exit programs.
Turn on/off the "click" sound made by the camera by selecting the 'Silent' profile or by turning warning tones on/off:
Menu > Profiles > "select your activated profile" > Personalize > Warning tones > On/Off.
(This also effects the sound of Java games and apps).
To change background image go to:
Menu > Tools > Settings > Phone > Standby mode > Background image > Yes > "choose an image".
The best size for background images is 174x132 pixels.
Only got blue, green and purple in your 3650 colour palette?
This free app adds 3 more colours: Palette Extender.
Display an image when someone's calling:
Menu > Contacts > "select a contact card" > Options > Edit > Options > Add thumbnail > "choose an image".
Add a personal ringing tone to a contact:
Menu > Contacts > "select a contact card" > Options > Open > Options > Ringing tone > "choose a ringing tone".
Delete all messages from your Inbox at once:
Menu > Messaging > Inbox > Options > Mark/Unmark > Mark all > Options > Delete.
Send or hide your caller ID: Go to: Menu > Tools > Settings > Call > Send My
Caller ID > 'Yes', 'No' or 'Set By Network' to follow the default settings of your home network.
If you often copy large files to your MultiMedia Card, I recommend a card reader.
E.g. With a card reader it takes only 12 seconds to copy a 10 MB file!
Record the sound of a phone call using the (sound) Recorder.
Menu > Extra's > Recorder > Options > Record sound clip.
Note: short beeps are audible during call registration.
But there is a 60 second limitation so if you want unlimited sound recording get this app: Extended Recorder.
While writing text, press "#" to switch between upper and lower case and Dictonary on/off (predictive text input).
Press and hold "#" to switch between Alpha mode and Number mode.
Keyboard shortcuts for zooming and rotating images in Images:
1 = zoom in, 0 = zoom out, press and hold to return to the normal view.
2 = rotate anticlockwise, 9 = rotate clockwise, * = full screen.
In standby mode, press and hold the right soft key to activate voice dialling.
To add a voice tag to a phone number, open a contact card and scroll to the phone number and select:
Options > Add voice tag.
You can customize both soft keys located below the screen (in standby mode):
Menu > Tools > Settings > Phone > Standby mode > Left/Right selection key > "select an application".
In standby mode. press scroll key center (joystick) to go directly to Contacts.
In standby mode, press and hold 0 to launch your wap home page.
In Menu or any subfolder, press numbers 1 - 9 to start the application at that location.
123
456
789
In standby mode,
45# + dials the number on your sim in memory slot 45.
50# + dials slot 50 and so on.
If you have your keylock activated just press the on/off button to turn on your backlight
to look at the time when it's dark without having to unlock the keypad.
Never, ever, in your whole life, install WildSkinz on your Nokia 3650!!! WildSkinz screws up
the whole 3650 system. It was never intended to work on the 3650, only on the 7650.
Why assigning Video Recorder in the right or left soft key does not work?
(Sound Recorder is launched instead of Video Recorder)
It's a bug with firmware version 2.50.
How to check your firmware version:
A "Firmware" is the phone's operating system stored in internal Flash memory of the device (disk Z.
Manufacturers release new firmware versions containing bug fixes, improvements and - sometimes - offering new functions.
Firmware upgrade can only be made in authorized Nokia service centre (point).
To check your current firmware version simply type *#0000# on main Phone screen.
·
How to check your IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity)?
Type *#06# on main Phone screen.
Start up in Safe Mode so no 'auto start' apps will be running:
To make sure that no memory-resident programs start when you reboot your phone,
hold down the pencil key when you turn on the phone and hold it on untill you have to enter your PIN code.
(When you have trouble booting up the phone with the MMC in it because it got corrupted for some reason, this trick will
almost always let you boot up the phone so you can remove the latest installed app which might have caused the
problem or if your phone is "unrepairable" you can still back up your important data before you do a format.)
Q: How to totally format your Nokia 3650 and remove all installed applications, user files and restore all
settings to default like it's new out of the box? (OEM apps won't be deleted like Camera and RealOne Player).
A: First Format your MMC: Menu > Extras > Memory > Options > Format mem. card > Yes.
Note: It is very important to format your MMC before you format your phone!
Then format your phone by typing *#7370# on main Phone screen.
Phone will ask: "Restore all original phone settings? Phone will restart." Press 'Yes' and enter your Lock code (default is 12345).
Tip: Formatting takes several minutes so you'd better connect your Nokia 3650
to a charger to ensure that your battery doesn't get empty in the middle of formatting.
Note: All your created access points and mailboxes will be lost so take a note of them. And all application settings will be reset.
E.g. In Camera, image quality is set back to normal and memory in use is set back to phone memory. And also in Messages,
memory in use is set back to phone memory, etc. Also backup your contacts with PC Suite or a program like Contacts Manager.
To reset your wallet, should you forget your code,
Type in:
*#7370925538#
this will reset the wallet code, the wallet contents will be deleted.
How to free more RAM on your phone >>>
>>> Method 1: Flight mode:
Put your phone in "Flight mode" with Psiloc System Tools. Install System Tools, open it and select "Flight mode". This way you can restart the phone without your SIM card so there will be no running phone tasks in the background. Now you can have up to 3,5 MB of free RAM!
Note: ironically enough, Flight mode doesn't work when Smart Launcher is installed, at least in my case.
But i've also heard several reports of people who have both apps running without any problems.
>>> Method 2: Smart Launcher trick:
Install Smart Launcher and open it. Go to Options, Settings and put Launcher ON.
Now plug in your charger and switch off your phone. Wait until the battery meter appears and short press the Menu button (don't hold).
The menu should appear and now you can have 3,5 to 4,5 MB free RAM! (Hold Menu button to check RAM).
The trick is that with the charger plugged in, the phone must get a minimum software support for charging, even when
the phone is switched off. And somehow Smart Launcher has still got it's shortcut running and that's the Menu button. So when
you press the Menu button, you go directly to the Menu without any other phone tasks running in the background so
you trick the phone and you have more free RAM!
Note: when you unplug the charger, the phone will switch off.
>>> Method 3: Menu :
This method I found it by myself, it frees a little about 100~200 KB but I guess it's useful sometime
Close your menu not by selecting the right selection key "exit", or pressing the menu key another time, they only hide the menu app but do not close it, to close it select the left selection key "option" and scroll down and select "exit"
So when you open an app needs more ram reopen menu and close it, it's useful when play low bit rate video in realplayer paradise.
Labels:
Mobile
Samsung Mobile Secrets
Here are some tips for your Samsung Mobile Phones
1] While playing a video, press '1' to switch between full screen/normal.
2] While viewing a photo (from My Photos) press # to switch from full screen to normal and vice-versa.
3] To see the time and date in standby (keypad locked) press and hold the side (volume) key. The signal strength, number of new messages and missed calls also will be displayed.
4] In camera mode, press '*' to switch between different flash modes.
5] While reading a text message or in the browser, use volume keys to scroll page wise, instead of line by line.
6] Press # to read next message and * to read previous message, without going 'back' to the inbox each time.
7] When viewing calendar, press volume keys to view next/previous month.
8] When you press the volume key 4 times, an emergency message is sent to 10 preset numbers. If any of these numbers calls back, the phone automatically connects without waiting for you to press the green key and all the operations are done silently with vibration.
9] To block incoming calls from certain numbers go to call log and From options, find 'Reject List' and add the numbers you want. You can add up to ten numbers at a time.
10] To hear music while multitasking, start the music player, go to Options> Settings and change the 'music overrides other sounds' to 'ON'.
11] To change wallpaper every time you come to the main screen from menu, go to Settings> Display Settings> Wallpaper, and change 'theme' to 'normal', then from the wallpaper list, select 'Random'.
12] Tor remove operator name/number from the main screen, go to DisplaySettings> Text Display and change text
position to 'off'.
13] To fast forward or rewind music or video while playing, press and hold left/right navigation keys,
14] When the call starts, type #*22671 # to record. Press 'c' to exit the white info screen and to stop recording type #*22672#.
15] Type *#8999*8378# to enter the hardware/software test mode, and *2767*3855# to do a full reset.
1] While playing a video, press '1' to switch between full screen/normal.
2] While viewing a photo (from My Photos) press # to switch from full screen to normal and vice-versa.
3] To see the time and date in standby (keypad locked) press and hold the side (volume) key. The signal strength, number of new messages and missed calls also will be displayed.
4] In camera mode, press '*' to switch between different flash modes.
5] While reading a text message or in the browser, use volume keys to scroll page wise, instead of line by line.
6] Press # to read next message and * to read previous message, without going 'back' to the inbox each time.
7] When viewing calendar, press volume keys to view next/previous month.
8] When you press the volume key 4 times, an emergency message is sent to 10 preset numbers. If any of these numbers calls back, the phone automatically connects without waiting for you to press the green key and all the operations are done silently with vibration.
9] To block incoming calls from certain numbers go to call log and From options, find 'Reject List' and add the numbers you want. You can add up to ten numbers at a time.
10] To hear music while multitasking, start the music player, go to Options> Settings and change the 'music overrides other sounds' to 'ON'.
11] To change wallpaper every time you come to the main screen from menu, go to Settings> Display Settings> Wallpaper, and change 'theme' to 'normal', then from the wallpaper list, select 'Random'.
12] Tor remove operator name/number from the main screen, go to DisplaySettings> Text Display and change text
position to 'off'.
13] To fast forward or rewind music or video while playing, press and hold left/right navigation keys,
14] When the call starts, type #*22671 # to record. Press 'c' to exit the white info screen and to stop recording type #*22672#.
15] Type *#8999*8378# to enter the hardware/software test mode, and *2767*3855# to do a full reset.
Labels:
Mobile
Solve Windows Vista Acticvation Problems
VOATK Tools v2.2 is a collection of handy Windows Vista activation and license tools to helps users to activate Vista operating system or solve problems related to activation of the Vista OS. You have all the rights to believe that this freeware utility supposedly provided by Microsoft itself, but it’s not. Instead, it’s not but wrote from underground hacker named Extra300. Thus, it incorporates some “not so legitimate” features such as ability to remove and uninstall various Vista activation cracks applied by activators such as Softmode1, VistaLoader, VistaBoot, TimeStop (same with TimerLock) and Paradox, although by itself VOATK Tools is not a crack.
VOATK Tools 2.2 Features
1. Vista License and Vista Key Tools - used for general licensing purpose
* display Vista license information
* display your Vista product key
* display expiration date for current license
* clear product key from the registry (prevents disclosure attacks)
* reinstall system license file
* check a Vista product Key
* uninstall Vista product key
2. Change Vista Edition, OEM or Retail - used for Vista crack recovery
Some Vista cracks change the installed Vista edition in order to work, with this application you can change it back to your original Vista Edition. You can also easily upgrade or downgrade your Vista edition, ie. from upgrade from Vista Home Premium to Ultimate, by replacing the tokens.dat with selected version and input appropriate key. But remember that you will need a functioning valid product key for validation. Feature supporting:
* Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, Ultimate edition (See Vista features comparison)
* Retail and OEM version
* Repair the tokens.dat file
3. Uninstall Vista Crack -used to remove old or unwanted Vista cracks
You probably had crack Vista with really old method, or expired method, or have found out and moved on to more fail-safe method. Best of all, you may decided to buy genuine Vista, but don’t want to reinstall the OS again. In this case, VOATK Tools version 2.2 can deinstall damage done by following Vista activators:
* SoftMode1
* SoftMode2 aka VistaLoader
* VistaBoot
* Paradox
* TimeStop32 and TimeStop64, applied also by TimerLock.
* Frankenbuild, see VOATK TOOLS V2.2 HELP AND FAQ (item h)
4. Change or Remove OEM Info Values in the System Properties folder - used for Vista touch up
The following values can be changed or added:
* Manufacturer, Model, Support Website, Support Hours, Support Phone Number
5. Vista Activation Report
The report created will give you detailed information about:
* Vista Activation Status
* Vista Product Key
* Vista Build Number
* Vista Product ID
* Vista License Status
* Vista Platform
* Vista Description
* Installed Vista Edition
* Installed Vista Activators
6. Rearm Vista - used to get another 30 days time for activating Vista, useful for disaster recovery especially when you are unable to boot up / start Vista or stuck in Reduced Functionality Mode (Guide: how to recover from RFM).
7. Ready to Use - Stand Alone
* no installation required on your hard disk
* runs from an USB stick
* runs from the Vista Recovery Console
* runs from the Reduced Functionality Mode
VOATK Tools Installation and Usage Instructions
1. Turn off UAC (you will be prompted if needed).
2. Log in as Administrator. (Guide: how to activate Administrator account)
3. Turn off firewall, antivirus, antispyware or any other application who could interfere with the installation (optional).
4. Run VOATKToolsV2.2 as administrator (right click on the voatktoolsv.2.2_stand_alone.exe and click “Run as Administrator”).
VOATK Tools 2.2 Features
1. Vista License and Vista Key Tools - used for general licensing purpose
* display Vista license information
* display your Vista product key
* display expiration date for current license
* clear product key from the registry (prevents disclosure attacks)
* reinstall system license file
* check a Vista product Key
* uninstall Vista product key
2. Change Vista Edition, OEM or Retail - used for Vista crack recovery
Some Vista cracks change the installed Vista edition in order to work, with this application you can change it back to your original Vista Edition. You can also easily upgrade or downgrade your Vista edition, ie. from upgrade from Vista Home Premium to Ultimate, by replacing the tokens.dat with selected version and input appropriate key. But remember that you will need a functioning valid product key for validation. Feature supporting:
* Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, Ultimate edition (See Vista features comparison)
* Retail and OEM version
* Repair the tokens.dat file
3. Uninstall Vista Crack -used to remove old or unwanted Vista cracks
You probably had crack Vista with really old method, or expired method, or have found out and moved on to more fail-safe method. Best of all, you may decided to buy genuine Vista, but don’t want to reinstall the OS again. In this case, VOATK Tools version 2.2 can deinstall damage done by following Vista activators:
* SoftMode1
* SoftMode2 aka VistaLoader
* VistaBoot
* Paradox
* TimeStop32 and TimeStop64, applied also by TimerLock.
* Frankenbuild, see VOATK TOOLS V2.2 HELP AND FAQ (item h)
4. Change or Remove OEM Info Values in the System Properties folder - used for Vista touch up
The following values can be changed or added:
* Manufacturer, Model, Support Website, Support Hours, Support Phone Number
5. Vista Activation Report
The report created will give you detailed information about:
* Vista Activation Status
* Vista Product Key
* Vista Build Number
* Vista Product ID
* Vista License Status
* Vista Platform
* Vista Description
* Installed Vista Edition
* Installed Vista Activators
6. Rearm Vista - used to get another 30 days time for activating Vista, useful for disaster recovery especially when you are unable to boot up / start Vista or stuck in Reduced Functionality Mode (Guide: how to recover from RFM).
7. Ready to Use - Stand Alone
* no installation required on your hard disk
* runs from an USB stick
* runs from the Vista Recovery Console
* runs from the Reduced Functionality Mode
VOATK Tools Installation and Usage Instructions
1. Turn off UAC (you will be prompted if needed).
2. Log in as Administrator. (Guide: how to activate Administrator account)
3. Turn off firewall, antivirus, antispyware or any other application who could interfere with the installation (optional).
4. Run VOATKToolsV2.2 as administrator (right click on the voatktoolsv.2.2_stand_alone.exe and click “Run as Administrator”).
Labels:
Windows
How to improve wireless coverage
Having wireless coverage problem at home? The wireless signal is weak? No wireless signal at certain area? I faced these problems also before, and I did some investigations and readings..
The problems might be caused by following factors:
- Interference by other electronic devices that using 2.4 GHz radio frequency
- Wireless signal is blocked by thick wall, metal door, ceiling and other obstacles
- Exceed the effective coverage range of wireless router and access point (AP)
So, here are some tips you can use to resolve coverage problem in your wireless network:
Repositioning Wireless Device
You should reposition wireless router or access point at a clearer area and minimize the blocking from thick wall and other obstacles. Usually the effective wireless range would be 100 feet (30 meters), however be aware that each wall and ceiling could reduce the coverage from 3-90 feet (1-30 meters) or total blocking depending on the thickness.
I usually place my access point as high as possible, so that can reduce the signal blocking. After repositioning the device, you should check the signal strength by connecting to it. If the signal is not good, reposition it again and test the signal strength again.
Reducing Interference
Don’t place your wireless device near to cordless phones, microwave ovens, bluetooth cell phone and other devices that using 2.4 GHz radio frequency if possible. This is because it will create interference and affect the wireless signal strength.
If you want to know how it happens, have a look on Wispy from Metageek. This tool will make your notebook as a simple spectrum analyzer. You can walk around in your house with this tool to locate the interference and detect wireless channel that is full of noise.
Indoor Wireless Antenna
If you complaint the wireless coverage of existing wireless router/access point is not wide enough, lets get additional indoor wireless antenna! Usually the indoor antenna is built with better wireless technology.
Remove the default antenna of wireless device and hook in this new antenna, that it goes!! It would extend the wireless coverage of your wireless network!
Wireless Repeater (Wireless Range Extender)
Using wireless repeater is another way to expand wireless coverage. The setup is usually simple!! Simply connect the repeater to the wireless router or access point and do some basic configuration, it will then start to operate.
The problems might be caused by following factors:
- Interference by other electronic devices that using 2.4 GHz radio frequency
- Wireless signal is blocked by thick wall, metal door, ceiling and other obstacles
- Exceed the effective coverage range of wireless router and access point (AP)
So, here are some tips you can use to resolve coverage problem in your wireless network:
Repositioning Wireless Device
You should reposition wireless router or access point at a clearer area and minimize the blocking from thick wall and other obstacles. Usually the effective wireless range would be 100 feet (30 meters), however be aware that each wall and ceiling could reduce the coverage from 3-90 feet (1-30 meters) or total blocking depending on the thickness.
I usually place my access point as high as possible, so that can reduce the signal blocking. After repositioning the device, you should check the signal strength by connecting to it. If the signal is not good, reposition it again and test the signal strength again.
Reducing Interference
Don’t place your wireless device near to cordless phones, microwave ovens, bluetooth cell phone and other devices that using 2.4 GHz radio frequency if possible. This is because it will create interference and affect the wireless signal strength.
If you want to know how it happens, have a look on Wispy from Metageek. This tool will make your notebook as a simple spectrum analyzer. You can walk around in your house with this tool to locate the interference and detect wireless channel that is full of noise.
Indoor Wireless Antenna
If you complaint the wireless coverage of existing wireless router/access point is not wide enough, lets get additional indoor wireless antenna! Usually the indoor antenna is built with better wireless technology.
Remove the default antenna of wireless device and hook in this new antenna, that it goes!! It would extend the wireless coverage of your wireless network!
Wireless Repeater (Wireless Range Extender)
Using wireless repeater is another way to expand wireless coverage. The setup is usually simple!! Simply connect the repeater to the wireless router or access point and do some basic configuration, it will then start to operate.
Labels:
Wireless
Open Microsoft Word 2007 Faster as Notepad
To do this first you have to disable the "Update automatic links on Open" option.
When you disable the Update automatic links on Open option, documents may open faster. You can manually update links later.
To disable the Update automatic links on Open option, follow these steps:
1. Start Word 2007.
2. Click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Word Options.
3. In the Word Options dialog box, click Advanced, and then scroll down to the General section.
4. Click to clear the Update automatic links on Open check box, and then click OK.
To manually update links, follow these steps:
1. Start Word 2007.
2. Click the Microsoft Office Button, point to Finish, and then click Edit Links to Files.
3. Click the link that you want to update, and then click Update Now.
When you disable the Update automatic links on Open option, documents may open faster. You can manually update links later.
To disable the Update automatic links on Open option, follow these steps:
1. Start Word 2007.
2. Click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Word Options.
3. In the Word Options dialog box, click Advanced, and then scroll down to the General section.
4. Click to clear the Update automatic links on Open check box, and then click OK.
To manually update links, follow these steps:
1. Start Word 2007.
2. Click the Microsoft Office Button, point to Finish, and then click Edit Links to Files.
3. Click the link that you want to update, and then click Update Now.
Labels:
Windows
Make free International Phone Calls with Google Talk and Talkster (GTalk-to-VoIP)
Free international calling service is hard to come by, after all, commercial telephone companies or phone communication operators need to pay connection fee to receiving called party’s providers no matter the calls are made to land line, cell phone or satellite phone, and regardless of it’s a trunk, toll or VoIP calls. Lots of sites that offer free worldwide phone calls has now defunct, e.g. AllFreeCalls. Most established PC-to-Phone or VoIP operators such as MediaRing gives free calls to limited countries or destinations as promotion to attract users.
There is another opportunity for free international phone calls in from PC to phone style, by using Google Talk, and Talkster integration with GTalk2VoIP. The partnership, using ad-supported business model, allows callers from anywhere worldwide in every countries free international, long distance and group conference calls by leveraging on Google Talk. And callers able to call to more than 30 countries supported by Talkster’s network completely free, or partially free (caller portion) for anywhere else in the world.
The free international calls by dialing from GTalk instant messaging client is especially beneficial to areas with strictly regulated VoIP and telecom practices, such as India, Africa and Middle East countries such as United Arab Emirates, where using Talkster through GTalk2VoIP will let people communicate freely between mobile phones, landlines and PCs, even in countries not currently supported through Talkster’s ad supported free calling service.
To take advantage of free international calling via Google Talk via Talkster, follow these steps:
1. Run Google Talk desktop client. Download and install Google Talk if you haven’t.
2. Click on the Add button on Google Talk to add contacts into Google Talk, as the same usual way.
3. Type in the phone number of the person you want to call .The complete full phone number must include country code and area code.
4. A confirmation instant message will be sent by Talkster for instructions together with a local Talkster call-in number on how to place the free international calls for both calling party and called party. Typically, Talkster assigns a local Talkster number for calling party (the person you want to call) in their country, which allows he or she to incur only cheap local call charge (which may be free in some countries).
5. To place the free international call to your friend, click on friend’s number in the Google Talk Contact List.
6. Click on the Call button to start the call.
7. Talkster will dial out to the calling phone number from Google Talk.
8. When the calling party answers, there is 10 seconds for caller to check to see if he’s available to talk, and to instruct the answering party to hang up and callback using the caller’s local Taskster phone number in that country.
9. Wait while the calling party hangs up and calls back using the Talkster local number for the caller. Ensure that the calling party knows this number, else send the phone number to him or by email or IM. If the phone number is a mobile phone number, an SMS with Talkster call-in number will be sent to the cellphone too. The call recipient or the calling party must calls back in for the international call to be connected.
Note that Talkster uses Caller ID to recognize who to connect the call to, so Caller ID must not be disabled or suppressed.
10. As soon as the ‘original calling party’ calls in, Talkster and GTalk2VoIP connect both caller and called party into an international call where talkers can talk as long as you want for free.
11. When finished talking, just end the call. Users are welcome to call as often as possible.
Currently, Talkster has local numbers in more than 30 countries, including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States.
Calling fixed line, landline, mobile, cell or any phone number of supported international destinations or countries from Google Talk via Talkster and GTalk2VoIP integration is always free, and no credit card, no sign-up and no registration required, no catches, no limits, and no conditions attached, and free usage is unlimited. Users can can call as often as you like and talk as long as you like.
There is another opportunity for free international phone calls in from PC to phone style, by using Google Talk, and Talkster integration with GTalk2VoIP. The partnership, using ad-supported business model, allows callers from anywhere worldwide in every countries free international, long distance and group conference calls by leveraging on Google Talk. And callers able to call to more than 30 countries supported by Talkster’s network completely free, or partially free (caller portion) for anywhere else in the world.
The free international calls by dialing from GTalk instant messaging client is especially beneficial to areas with strictly regulated VoIP and telecom practices, such as India, Africa and Middle East countries such as United Arab Emirates, where using Talkster through GTalk2VoIP will let people communicate freely between mobile phones, landlines and PCs, even in countries not currently supported through Talkster’s ad supported free calling service.
To take advantage of free international calling via Google Talk via Talkster, follow these steps:
1. Run Google Talk desktop client. Download and install Google Talk if you haven’t.
2. Click on the Add button on Google Talk to add contacts into Google Talk, as the same usual way.
3. Type in the phone number of the person you want to call .The complete full phone number must include country code and area code.
4. A confirmation instant message will be sent by Talkster for instructions together with a local Talkster call-in number on how to place the free international calls for both calling party and called party. Typically, Talkster assigns a local Talkster number for calling party (the person you want to call) in their country, which allows he or she to incur only cheap local call charge (which may be free in some countries).
5. To place the free international call to your friend, click on friend’s number in the Google Talk Contact List.
6. Click on the Call button to start the call.
7. Talkster will dial out to the calling phone number from Google Talk.
8. When the calling party answers, there is 10 seconds for caller to check to see if he’s available to talk, and to instruct the answering party to hang up and callback using the caller’s local Taskster phone number in that country.
9. Wait while the calling party hangs up and calls back using the Talkster local number for the caller. Ensure that the calling party knows this number, else send the phone number to him or by email or IM. If the phone number is a mobile phone number, an SMS with Talkster call-in number will be sent to the cellphone too. The call recipient or the calling party must calls back in for the international call to be connected.
Note that Talkster uses Caller ID to recognize who to connect the call to, so Caller ID must not be disabled or suppressed.
10. As soon as the ‘original calling party’ calls in, Talkster and GTalk2VoIP connect both caller and called party into an international call where talkers can talk as long as you want for free.
11. When finished talking, just end the call. Users are welcome to call as often as possible.
Currently, Talkster has local numbers in more than 30 countries, including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States.
Calling fixed line, landline, mobile, cell or any phone number of supported international destinations or countries from Google Talk via Talkster and GTalk2VoIP integration is always free, and no credit card, no sign-up and no registration required, no catches, no limits, and no conditions attached, and free usage is unlimited. Users can can call as often as you like and talk as long as you like.
Labels:
Communication
How to detect a hackers attack
Most computer vulnerabilities can be exploited in a variety of ways. Hacker attacks may use a single specific exploit, several exploits at the same time, a misconfiguration in one of the system components or even a backdoor from an earlier attack.
Due to this, detecting hacker attacks is not an easy task, especially for an inexperienced user. This article gives a few basic guidelines to help you figure out either if your machine is under attack or if the security of your system has been compromised. Keep in mind just like with viruses, there is no 100% guarantee you will detect a hacker attack this way. However, there's a good chance that if your system has been hacked, it will display one or more of the following behaviors.
Windows machines:
Due to this, detecting hacker attacks is not an easy task, especially for an inexperienced user. This article gives a few basic guidelines to help you figure out either if your machine is under attack or if the security of your system has been compromised. Keep in mind just like with viruses, there is no 100% guarantee you will detect a hacker attack this way. However, there's a good chance that if your system has been hacked, it will display one or more of the following behaviors.
Windows machines:
- Suspiciously high outgoing network traffic. If you are on a dial-up account or using ADSL and notice an unusually high volume of outgoing network (traffic especially when you computer is idle or not necessarily uploading data), then it is possible that your computer has been compromised. Your computer may be being used either to send spam or by a network worm which is replicating and sending copies of itself. For cable connections, this is less relevant - it is quite common to have the same amount of outgoing traffic as incoming traffic even if you are doing nothing more than browsing sites or downloading data from the Internet.
- Increased disk activity or suspicious looking files in the root directories of any drives. After hacking into a system, many hackers run a massive scan for any interesting documents or files containing passwords or logins for bank or epayment accounts such as PayPal. Similarly, some worms search the disk for files containing email addresses to use for propagation. If you notice major disk activity even when the system is idle in conjunction with suspiciously named files in common folders, this may be an indication of a system hack or malware infection.
- Large number of packets which come from a single address being stopped by a personal firewall. After locating a target (eg. a company's IP range or a pool of home cable users) hackers usually run automated probing tools which try to use various exploits to break into the system. If you run a personal firewall (a fundamental element in protecting against hacker attacks) and notice an unusually high number of stopped packets coming from the same address then this is a good indication that your machine is under attack. The good news is that if your personal firewall is reporting these attacks, you are probably safe. However, depending on how many services you expose to the Internet, the personal firewall may fail to protect you against an attack directed at a specific FTP service running on your system which has been made accessible to all. In this case, the solution is to block the offending IP temporarily until the connection attempts stop. Many personal firewalls and IDSs have such a feature built in.
- Your resident antivirus suddenly starts reporting that backdoors or trojans have been detected, even if you have not done anything out of the ordinary. Although hacker attacks can be complex and innovative, many rely on known trojans or backdoors to gain full access to a compromised system. If the resident component of your antivirus is detecting and reporting such malware, this may be an indication that your system can be accessed from outside.
Labels:
Security
Modify Your CD-ROM to Watch DVD Movies
There are two types of CD-ROM drives we can mod:
24x to 40x
40x or higher
Drives slower than 24x are too old to be modded.
24x to 40x CD ROMs
Laser Head Adjustments:
The track pitch of CDs is 1.6 microns, and the track pitch of DVDs is only 0.8 microns. The minimum length of track pits of CDs is 0.843mm, and the minimum length of track pits of DVDs is 0.293mm. That's why DVD discs can store much more data in the size of a CD.
Pinpointing this situation, we need to adjust the laser head so it can read discs with smaller track pitchs and shorter track pits. Open up the CD-ROM drive, do you see a lens on the rail? That's the laser head. On the side of the laser head, there's a screw you can adjust.
This is the key of this mod.
This screw can adjust the size of the laser beam that lands on the disc. Referring to the above, after adjusting, the laser beam should be less than 0.293mm, to suit the needs of DVD discs. So turn that screw 2-3 times. I got this number through trial and error. Mark with a pencil, in case you forget how many times you turned that screw.
Speed adjustments:
DVD-ROM drives can play DVD movies smoothly at 4x speed. If we're modding a 32x CD-ROM drive, the rotation speed is obviously too high, increasing heat, and shortening the life of the drive.
So we need to decrease the speed of it.
Most people know that power supplies can provide 5V (red wire) and 12V (yellow wire) electricity output for Molex connectors. Find the Molex connector you'll plug into the modded CD-ROM drive, cut the yellow wire or insulate it with tape, so only 5V of electricity is transferred to the CD-ROM drive. The speed of the drive is now 32 * 5/17 = 9.41x and can now fulfill our requirements.
40x or higher CD ROMs
When 40x CD-ROM drives are released, most manufacturers are already producing DVD-ROM drives. To lower cost, they use the same core as DVD-ROM drives with DVD functions disabled. What we need to do here is to re-enable the DVD function.
Open up the CD-ROM, behind the circuit board, look for a jumper that says DVD JUMP. Find a jumper to connect this jumper. Thin metal wire also works fine.
OK, so the DVD function is unlocked, but we still need to decrease the speed. Use the instructions above on how to decrase the speed of the drive.
Notes:
Modded drives cannot be detected in POST, that means you cannot use it in DOS. But once you get into Windows, the drive works fine.
Modded drives have no region code problems.
Modded drives MIGHT NOT read DVD9 discs, that's why I said you can watch most retail DVDs in the beginning .
24x to 40x
40x or higher
Drives slower than 24x are too old to be modded.
24x to 40x CD ROMs
Laser Head Adjustments:
The track pitch of CDs is 1.6 microns, and the track pitch of DVDs is only 0.8 microns. The minimum length of track pits of CDs is 0.843mm, and the minimum length of track pits of DVDs is 0.293mm. That's why DVD discs can store much more data in the size of a CD.
Pinpointing this situation, we need to adjust the laser head so it can read discs with smaller track pitchs and shorter track pits. Open up the CD-ROM drive, do you see a lens on the rail? That's the laser head. On the side of the laser head, there's a screw you can adjust.
This is the key of this mod.
This screw can adjust the size of the laser beam that lands on the disc. Referring to the above, after adjusting, the laser beam should be less than 0.293mm, to suit the needs of DVD discs. So turn that screw 2-3 times. I got this number through trial and error. Mark with a pencil, in case you forget how many times you turned that screw.
Speed adjustments:
DVD-ROM drives can play DVD movies smoothly at 4x speed. If we're modding a 32x CD-ROM drive, the rotation speed is obviously too high, increasing heat, and shortening the life of the drive.
So we need to decrease the speed of it.
Most people know that power supplies can provide 5V (red wire) and 12V (yellow wire) electricity output for Molex connectors. Find the Molex connector you'll plug into the modded CD-ROM drive, cut the yellow wire or insulate it with tape, so only 5V of electricity is transferred to the CD-ROM drive. The speed of the drive is now 32 * 5/17 = 9.41x and can now fulfill our requirements.
40x or higher CD ROMs
When 40x CD-ROM drives are released, most manufacturers are already producing DVD-ROM drives. To lower cost, they use the same core as DVD-ROM drives with DVD functions disabled. What we need to do here is to re-enable the DVD function.
Open up the CD-ROM, behind the circuit board, look for a jumper that says DVD JUMP. Find a jumper to connect this jumper. Thin metal wire also works fine.
OK, so the DVD function is unlocked, but we still need to decrease the speed. Use the instructions above on how to decrase the speed of the drive.
Notes:
Modded drives cannot be detected in POST, that means you cannot use it in DOS. But once you get into Windows, the drive works fine.
Modded drives have no region code problems.
Modded drives MIGHT NOT read DVD9 discs, that's why I said you can watch most retail DVDs in the beginning .
Labels:
Hardware
Nokia Mobile Secret's
These are some tips for nokia mobile phones.
1)
Imagine ur cell battery is very low, u r expecting an important call and u don't have a charger.
Nokia instrument comes with a reserve battery. To
activate,
key is "*3370#"
Ur cell will restart with this reserve and ur instrument
will show a 50% increase in battery.
This reserve will get charged when u charge ur cell next time.
*3370# Activate Enhanced Full Rate Codec (EFR)-Your phone
uses the best sound quality but talk time is reduced by approx.
5%
#3370# Deactivate Enhanced Full Rate Codec( EFR)
*#4720# Activate Half Rate Codec - Your phone uses a
lower
quality sound
but you should gain approx 30% more Talk Time
*#4720# Deactivate Half Rate Codec .
2 )
*#0000# Displays your phones software version,
1st Line : Software Version,
2nd Line : Software Release Date,
3rd Line : Compression Type
3)
*#9999# Phones software version if *#0000# does not work.
4)
*#06# For checking the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI Number).
5)
#pw+1234567890+1# Provider Lock Status. (use the "*" button to obtain the "p,w" and "+" symbols).
6)
#pw+1234567890+2# Network Lock Status. (use the "*" button
to obtain the "p,w" and "+" symbols).
7)
#pw+1234567890+3# Country Lock Status. (use the "*" button
to obtain the "p,w" and "+" symbols).
8)
#pw+1234567890+4# SIM Card Lock Status.(use the "*" button
to obtain the "p,w" and "+" symbols).
9)
*#147# (vodafone) this lets you know who called you last
*#1471# Last call (Only vodafone).
10)
*#21# Allows you to check the number that "All Calls" are
diverted to.
11)
*#2640# Displays security code in use.
12)
*#30# Lets you see the private number.
13)
*#43# Allows you to check the "Call Waiting" status of your phone.
14)
*#61# Allows you to check the number that "On No Reply" calls are diverted to.
15)
*#62# Allows you to check the number that "Divert If Unreachable(no service)" calls are diverted to.
16)
*#67# Allows you to check the number that "On Busy Calls" are diverted to.
17)
*#67705646#Removes operator logo on 3310 & 3330
18)
*#73# Reset phone timers and game scores.
19)
*#746025625# Displays the SIM Clock status, if your phone supports this power saving feature "SIM Clock Stop Allowed", it means you will get the best standby time possible.
20)
*#7760# Manufactures code.
21)
*#7780# Restore factory settings.
22)
*#8110# Software version for the nokia 8110.
23)
*#92702689# (to remember *#WARRANTY#)
Displays -
1.Serial Number,
2.Date Made
3.Purchase Date,
4.Date of last repair (0000 for no
repairs),
5.Transfer User Data.
To exit this mode -you need to
switch
your phone off then on again
24)
*#94870345123456789# Deactivate the PWM-Mem.
25)
**21*number# Turn on "All Calls" diverting to the phone
number entered.
26)
**61*number# Turn on "No Reply" diverting to the phone
number entered.
27)
**67*number# Turn on "On Busy" diverting to the phone number entered.
28)
12345 This is the default security code press and hold #.
1)
Imagine ur cell battery is very low, u r expecting an important call and u don't have a charger.
Nokia instrument comes with a reserve battery. To
activate,
key is "*3370#"
Ur cell will restart with this reserve and ur instrument
will show a 50% increase in battery.
This reserve will get charged when u charge ur cell next time.
*3370# Activate Enhanced Full Rate Codec (EFR)-Your phone
uses the best sound quality but talk time is reduced by approx.
5%
#3370# Deactivate Enhanced Full Rate Codec( EFR)
*#4720# Activate Half Rate Codec - Your phone uses a
lower
quality sound
but you should gain approx 30% more Talk Time
*#4720# Deactivate Half Rate Codec .
2 )
*#0000# Displays your phones software version,
1st Line : Software Version,
2nd Line : Software Release Date,
3rd Line : Compression Type
3)
*#9999# Phones software version if *#0000# does not work.
4)
*#06# For checking the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI Number).
5)
#pw+1234567890+1# Provider Lock Status. (use the "*" button to obtain the "p,w" and "+" symbols).
6)
#pw+1234567890+2# Network Lock Status. (use the "*" button
to obtain the "p,w" and "+" symbols).
7)
#pw+1234567890+3# Country Lock Status. (use the "*" button
to obtain the "p,w" and "+" symbols).
8)
#pw+1234567890+4# SIM Card Lock Status.(use the "*" button
to obtain the "p,w" and "+" symbols).
9)
*#147# (vodafone) this lets you know who called you last
*#1471# Last call (Only vodafone).
10)
*#21# Allows you to check the number that "All Calls" are
diverted to.
11)
*#2640# Displays security code in use.
12)
*#30# Lets you see the private number.
13)
*#43# Allows you to check the "Call Waiting" status of your phone.
14)
*#61# Allows you to check the number that "On No Reply" calls are diverted to.
15)
*#62# Allows you to check the number that "Divert If Unreachable(no service)" calls are diverted to.
16)
*#67# Allows you to check the number that "On Busy Calls" are diverted to.
17)
*#67705646#Removes operator logo on 3310 & 3330
18)
*#73# Reset phone timers and game scores.
19)
*#746025625# Displays the SIM Clock status, if your phone supports this power saving feature "SIM Clock Stop Allowed", it means you will get the best standby time possible.
20)
*#7760# Manufactures code.
21)
*#7780# Restore factory settings.
22)
*#8110# Software version for the nokia 8110.
23)
*#92702689# (to remember *#WARRANTY#)
Displays -
1.Serial Number,
2.Date Made
3.Purchase Date,
4.Date of last repair (0000 for no
repairs),
5.Transfer User Data.
To exit this mode -you need to
switch
your phone off then on again
24)
*#94870345123456789# Deactivate the PWM-Mem.
25)
**21*number# Turn on "All Calls" diverting to the phone
number entered.
26)
**61*number# Turn on "No Reply" diverting to the phone
number entered.
27)
**67*number# Turn on "On Busy" diverting to the phone number entered.
28)
12345 This is the default security code press and hold #.
Labels:
Mobile
Free GPRS for HUTCH users using Sony Ericsson
It is easy to get free gprs for hutch users using sony ericsson phones.To get it follow the steps below.
1.Make a new profile with name HUTCH_GPRS.
2.click on more then go to settings.
3.connect using HUTCH_GPRS.
4.Internet Mode: HTTP
5.use proxy: yes
6.proxy address: 010.010.001.100
7.port number: 9401
leave username and password empty.Then press save button.Then again press more button and go to advanced then to change homepage in 8.name: HUTCH_GPRS
9.address: http://www.hutchworld.co.in
press save restart the phone now you can access web sites on your hutch phone also.
1.Make a new profile with name HUTCH_GPRS.
2.click on more then go to settings.
3.connect using HUTCH_GPRS.
4.Internet Mode: HTTP
5.use proxy: yes
6.proxy address: 010.010.001.100
7.port number: 9401
leave username and password empty.Then press save button.Then again press more button and go to advanced then to change homepage in 8.name: HUTCH_GPRS
9.address: http://www.hutchworld.co.in
press save restart the phone now you can access web sites on your hutch phone also.
Labels:
Mobile
Nokia N95 Secret codes
Here are some secret codes for Nokia N95 Phones
*#06#
IMEI number (International Mobile Equipment Identity)
*#0000#
Firmware version and date, Phone Model and Operator Variant
*#92702689#
Life timer (W A R 0 A N T Y) - The amount of time your phone has spent sending and receiving calls.
*#62209526#
Wireless MAC Address (M A C _ W L A N)
*#2820#
Bluetooth MAC address (B T A 0?)
*#7370#
Format phone (R E S 0 ?)
*#7780#
Factory Reset (R S T 0 ?)
Note:
Format phone restores phone to as if it was out of the box. Retains firmware version and operator Variant changes but wipes all applications you have installed. Does not format the memory card so any apps on there may reinstall once powered back up again.
Another way to format some symbian phones: Power off phone. Press and hold Green, * and 3 and keep them held whilst powering on and for a few seconds after.
Factory Reset resets all settings to defaults but keeps any applications you have installed and photos etc. Both need the Security code, which, by default, is 12345.
N95 picture viewer:
2 – Scroll up (when zoomed)
4 – Scroll left (when zoomed)
5 – Zoom in (12.5%/25%/50%)
6 – Scroll right (when zoomed)
8 – Scroll down (when zoomed)
0 – Zoom out
Press and hold (in Standby):
Right selection key: Voice commands
Multimedia Key: Now Playing
1: Voicemail
2-9: shortcuts to address book you need to set up first
0: Web
#: Switches between General and Silent modes - not supported by all Operator Variants (when composing messages will switch between character and number input when held down)
12# (etc) in standby will dial the number held in location 12 on your SIM address book.
*#06#
IMEI number (International Mobile Equipment Identity)
*#0000#
Firmware version and date, Phone Model and Operator Variant
*#92702689#
Life timer (W A R 0 A N T Y) - The amount of time your phone has spent sending and receiving calls.
*#62209526#
Wireless MAC Address (M A C _ W L A N)
*#2820#
Bluetooth MAC address (B T A 0?)
*#7370#
Format phone (R E S 0 ?)
*#7780#
Factory Reset (R S T 0 ?)
Note:
Format phone restores phone to as if it was out of the box. Retains firmware version and operator Variant changes but wipes all applications you have installed. Does not format the memory card so any apps on there may reinstall once powered back up again.
Another way to format some symbian phones: Power off phone. Press and hold Green, * and 3 and keep them held whilst powering on and for a few seconds after.
Factory Reset resets all settings to defaults but keeps any applications you have installed and photos etc. Both need the Security code, which, by default, is 12345.
N95 picture viewer:
2 – Scroll up (when zoomed)
4 – Scroll left (when zoomed)
5 – Zoom in (12.5%/25%/50%)
6 – Scroll right (when zoomed)
8 – Scroll down (when zoomed)
0 – Zoom out
Press and hold (in Standby):
Right selection key: Voice commands
Multimedia Key: Now Playing
1: Voicemail
2-9: shortcuts to address book you need to set up first
0: Web
#: Switches between General and Silent modes - not supported by all Operator Variants (when composing messages will switch between character and number input when held down)
12# (etc) in standby will dial the number held in location 12 on your SIM address book.
Labels:
Mobile
Clean /Recover Scratched CD's
These days many of the newly brought cd's become unusable.Most often we throw it away worrying about our important data.But there is a hope .Follow the tips below.
Home Remedy :
here's an easy home remedy, which might give you the desired results. Rub a small amount of toothpaste on the scratch and polish the CD with a soft cloth and any petroleum-based polishing solution (like clear shoe polish). Squirt a drop of Brasso and wipe it with a clean cloth.
Technology to the rescue
There are many softwares available on the net, which enable the recovery of the CD data. BadCopy Pro is one such software, which can be used to recover destroyed data and files from a range of media.
Just a few clicks is all it requires to recover the disc from almost all kind of damage situation; be it corrupted, lost data, unreadable or defective.
General Tips:
* Always wipe the CD from the center outward with stratight spoke-like strokes. Wiping CDs in circles will create more scratches.
* Do not scratch the graphics layer as you cannot repair the disc. HINT: Hold the disc up to a light with the graphics layer facing the light source. If you can see light thru the scratches at any point then the disc may be irreparable and or exhibit loading or playing errors.
* Clean your Disc players lens regularly with a suitable product to ensure optimal viewing pleasure.
* Make sure to use a soft, lint-free cloth to clean both sides of the disc. Wipe in a straight line from the centre of the disc to the outer edge.
* If wiping with a cloth does not remove a fingerprint or smudge, use a specialized DVD disc polishing spray to clean the disc.
* Only handle the disc by its outer edge and the empty hole in the middle. This will help prevent fingerprints, smudges or scratches.
Statistics:
*Fingermarks/prints cause 43% of disc problems!
* General wear & tear causes 25% of disc problems!
* Player-related issues cause 15% of disc problems!
* User-related issues cause 12% of disc problems!
* PlayStation 2 machine scratches cause 3% of disc problems!
* Laser rot (a manufacturer error) causes 2% of disc problems!
Home Remedy :
here's an easy home remedy, which might give you the desired results. Rub a small amount of toothpaste on the scratch and polish the CD with a soft cloth and any petroleum-based polishing solution (like clear shoe polish). Squirt a drop of Brasso and wipe it with a clean cloth.
Technology to the rescue
There are many softwares available on the net, which enable the recovery of the CD data. BadCopy Pro is one such software, which can be used to recover destroyed data and files from a range of media.
Just a few clicks is all it requires to recover the disc from almost all kind of damage situation; be it corrupted, lost data, unreadable or defective.
General Tips:
* Always wipe the CD from the center outward with stratight spoke-like strokes. Wiping CDs in circles will create more scratches.
* Do not scratch the graphics layer as you cannot repair the disc. HINT: Hold the disc up to a light with the graphics layer facing the light source. If you can see light thru the scratches at any point then the disc may be irreparable and or exhibit loading or playing errors.
* Clean your Disc players lens regularly with a suitable product to ensure optimal viewing pleasure.
* Make sure to use a soft, lint-free cloth to clean both sides of the disc. Wipe in a straight line from the centre of the disc to the outer edge.
* If wiping with a cloth does not remove a fingerprint or smudge, use a specialized DVD disc polishing spray to clean the disc.
* Only handle the disc by its outer edge and the empty hole in the middle. This will help prevent fingerprints, smudges or scratches.
Statistics:
*Fingermarks/prints cause 43% of disc problems!
* General wear & tear causes 25% of disc problems!
* Player-related issues cause 15% of disc problems!
* User-related issues cause 12% of disc problems!
* PlayStation 2 machine scratches cause 3% of disc problems!
* Laser rot (a manufacturer error) causes 2% of disc problems!
Labels:
Data Recovery,
Hardware
Show hidden Passwords masked Behind Asterisks or Stars
There is a way to see the real password instead of seeing asterisk symbol.
Here’s a list of asterisk password revealer or asterisk password viewer tools and utilities that are able to read, reveal and display the actual real password that is hidden and masked with asterisks. Only working freeware which available for free download is listed here.
Asterisk Key
Asterisk Key from PassWare (lostpassword.com) shows passwords hidden under asterisks. Best of all, it’s totally free. Asterisk Key features include uncovers hidden passwords on password dialog boxes and web pages on web pages or Windows apps, state of the art password recovery engine that able to recover all passwords instantly, multilingual passwords supported and full install/uninstall support.
Download Asterisk Key (current version 7.9): ariskkey.exe
In Windows Vista, run Asterisk Key as administrator, or else it won’t find any password edit boxes on window nor web page.
IE Asterisk Password Uncover
IE Asterisk Password Uncover from NSAuditor (password-recovery-software.com) allows you to view passwords hidden with asterisks in password fields in web pages and ActiveX controls. Comes in handy when you have forgotten your passwords. When you login into a web site with user name and password, you sometimes have the option to store the password in your computer. This freeware utility reveals the passwords stored behind the asterisks (****) in the web pages of Internet Explorer.
IE Asterisk Password Uncover (current version 1.2) only works with Internet Explorer 5.0 and above on Windows platform.
Download IE Asterisk Password Uncover 1.2: IEAstRecover.exe
Password Spectator
Password Spectator lets user “see” what is behind the asterisks, so you can see your actual password when you need it. Password Spectator works both with Internet sites and with software applications that require entering passwords. This software works with the overwhelming majority of applications. For example, password fields present in ISPs in dial-up dialog boxes, in CuteFTP or Outlook Express. The only exception are the programs that actually “store” asterisks behind the asterisks. Windows NT User Manager does not hide actual passwords “under” the asterisks, and thus won’t work.

Download Password Spectator (current version 3.2): passpectpro.exe
SC-PassUnleash
Most applications under Windows allow you to store their passwords. Examples are the passwords of ISP’s, the password of your email client or FTP tool. Once the password is stored, it is hidden under a row of “***” asterisks and cannot be read again. The nifty SC-PassUnleash asterisk password reader utility from Soft-Central allows you to read any of your passwords that are covered by the asterisks by simply dragging a cursor over such a password field. Once the cursor is on top of a “***” password field, SC-PassUnleash instantly displays the password in readable text on screen.
SC-PassUnleash only works on certain FTP clients and email clients. It doesn’t support most web browsers and user account manager.
Download SS-PassUnleash: SC-PassUnleash.exe
Asterisk Logger
Asterisk Logger from NirSoft is a successor of AsterWin utility. It reveals the asterisk typed passwords in standard password text box in many applications, like CuteFTP, CoffeeCup Free FTP, VNC, IncrediMail, Outlook Express, and others, that the real password is not displayed on the screen, and instead been replaced with a sequence of asterisk (’****’) characters.
Asterisk Logger supports Windows 9x, Windows NT, Windows ME, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. But it doesn’t work on Internet Explorer. Just run the executable, no installation required. Don’t support Netscape 6.x (passwords in the Web page), dialup and network passwords in Windows 2000 and Windows NT/2000/XP user management tools.
Download Asterisk Logger (current version 1.04): astlog.zip
AsterWin (Been replace with Asterisk Logger and no longer in development)
This utility reveals the passwords stored behind the asterisks (’***’) in standard password text-boxes. It supports the following operating systems: Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Don’t support Netscape 6.x (passwords in the Web page), dialup and network passwords in Windows 2000 and Windows NT/2000/XP user management tools.
Download AsterWin v1.20: asterwin120.zip
AsterWin IE
When you login into a web site with user name and password, you sometimes have the option to store the password in your computer. If you choose to save the password, in the next time that we’ll visit this site, the password field will be automatically filled with your password, but you won’t be able to view it, because the password-box shows the password as sequence of asterisks (****). Some asterisk revealer cannot process Internet Explorer Web pages, because the password is stored in different way than in other applications. However, AsterWin IE utility reveals the passwords stored behind the asterisks in the web pages of Internet Explorer 5.0 and above. You can use it for recovering a lost web site password, if it’s stored on your computer.
AsterWin IE supports Windows 95/98/ME or Windows NT/2000/XP with Internet Explorer 5.0 or above. It also requires VB6 Runtime files.
Download AsterWin IE (current version 1.03): asterie.zip
ShowPassword
ShowPassword allows to view the passwords which are hidden by asteriks on some program where user defines a password such as mail accounts, personal code to private folder, login in network or Window login. Supports mostly Windows apps.
Download ShowPassword (current version 2.1): showpw.zip
Password Revealer
Password Revealer by rekenwonder is a utility for Windows 95/98/Me/NT that can show you most passwords that are typed in a password edit box (those that hide the password and show asterisks instead). If you’re using Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista and Server 2008, or IE5 and above, forget about this and try alternative asterisk password readers above.
Download Password Revealer: revealer.exe
These free programs listed above able to reveal and show the actual password characters hidden beneath the asterisks because the password is still stored in the window control although it’s shown as asterisks and real value is not displaying.
Note that the asterisk password recovery revealing tools is meant for password recovery purpose. They won’t be able to decrypt and show Windows logon password (and password in User Account Manager in Control Panel). To safeguard from this kind of hack, physical security control is required.
Here’s a list of asterisk password revealer or asterisk password viewer tools and utilities that are able to read, reveal and display the actual real password that is hidden and masked with asterisks. Only working freeware which available for free download is listed here.
Asterisk Key
Asterisk Key from PassWare (lostpassword.com) shows passwords hidden under asterisks. Best of all, it’s totally free. Asterisk Key features include uncovers hidden passwords on password dialog boxes and web pages on web pages or Windows apps, state of the art password recovery engine that able to recover all passwords instantly, multilingual passwords supported and full install/uninstall support.
Download Asterisk Key (current version 7.9): ariskkey.exe
In Windows Vista, run Asterisk Key as administrator, or else it won’t find any password edit boxes on window nor web page.
IE Asterisk Password Uncover
IE Asterisk Password Uncover from NSAuditor (password-recovery-software.com) allows you to view passwords hidden with asterisks in password fields in web pages and ActiveX controls. Comes in handy when you have forgotten your passwords. When you login into a web site with user name and password, you sometimes have the option to store the password in your computer. This freeware utility reveals the passwords stored behind the asterisks (****) in the web pages of Internet Explorer.
IE Asterisk Password Uncover (current version 1.2) only works with Internet Explorer 5.0 and above on Windows platform.
Download IE Asterisk Password Uncover 1.2: IEAstRecover.exe
Password Spectator
Password Spectator lets user “see” what is behind the asterisks, so you can see your actual password when you need it. Password Spectator works both with Internet sites and with software applications that require entering passwords. This software works with the overwhelming majority of applications. For example, password fields present in ISPs in dial-up dialog boxes, in CuteFTP or Outlook Express. The only exception are the programs that actually “store” asterisks behind the asterisks. Windows NT User Manager does not hide actual passwords “under” the asterisks, and thus won’t work.

Download Password Spectator (current version 3.2): passpectpro.exe
SC-PassUnleash
Most applications under Windows allow you to store their passwords. Examples are the passwords of ISP’s, the password of your email client or FTP tool. Once the password is stored, it is hidden under a row of “***” asterisks and cannot be read again. The nifty SC-PassUnleash asterisk password reader utility from Soft-Central allows you to read any of your passwords that are covered by the asterisks by simply dragging a cursor over such a password field. Once the cursor is on top of a “***” password field, SC-PassUnleash instantly displays the password in readable text on screen.
SC-PassUnleash only works on certain FTP clients and email clients. It doesn’t support most web browsers and user account manager.
Download SS-PassUnleash: SC-PassUnleash.exe
Asterisk Logger
Asterisk Logger from NirSoft is a successor of AsterWin utility. It reveals the asterisk typed passwords in standard password text box in many applications, like CuteFTP, CoffeeCup Free FTP, VNC, IncrediMail, Outlook Express, and others, that the real password is not displayed on the screen, and instead been replaced with a sequence of asterisk (’****’) characters.
Asterisk Logger supports Windows 9x, Windows NT, Windows ME, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. But it doesn’t work on Internet Explorer. Just run the executable, no installation required. Don’t support Netscape 6.x (passwords in the Web page), dialup and network passwords in Windows 2000 and Windows NT/2000/XP user management tools.
Download Asterisk Logger (current version 1.04): astlog.zip
AsterWin (Been replace with Asterisk Logger and no longer in development)
This utility reveals the passwords stored behind the asterisks (’***’) in standard password text-boxes. It supports the following operating systems: Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Don’t support Netscape 6.x (passwords in the Web page), dialup and network passwords in Windows 2000 and Windows NT/2000/XP user management tools.
Download AsterWin v1.20: asterwin120.zip
AsterWin IE
When you login into a web site with user name and password, you sometimes have the option to store the password in your computer. If you choose to save the password, in the next time that we’ll visit this site, the password field will be automatically filled with your password, but you won’t be able to view it, because the password-box shows the password as sequence of asterisks (****). Some asterisk revealer cannot process Internet Explorer Web pages, because the password is stored in different way than in other applications. However, AsterWin IE utility reveals the passwords stored behind the asterisks in the web pages of Internet Explorer 5.0 and above. You can use it for recovering a lost web site password, if it’s stored on your computer.
AsterWin IE supports Windows 95/98/ME or Windows NT/2000/XP with Internet Explorer 5.0 or above. It also requires VB6 Runtime files.
Download AsterWin IE (current version 1.03): asterie.zip
ShowPassword
ShowPassword allows to view the passwords which are hidden by asteriks on some program where user defines a password such as mail accounts, personal code to private folder, login in network or Window login. Supports mostly Windows apps.
Download ShowPassword (current version 2.1): showpw.zip
Password Revealer
Password Revealer by rekenwonder is a utility for Windows 95/98/Me/NT that can show you most passwords that are typed in a password edit box (those that hide the password and show asterisks instead). If you’re using Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista and Server 2008, or IE5 and above, forget about this and try alternative asterisk password readers above.
Download Password Revealer: revealer.exe
These free programs listed above able to reveal and show the actual password characters hidden beneath the asterisks because the password is still stored in the window control although it’s shown as asterisks and real value is not displaying.
Note that the asterisk password recovery revealing tools is meant for password recovery purpose. They won’t be able to decrypt and show Windows logon password (and password in User Account Manager in Control Panel). To safeguard from this kind of hack, physical security control is required.
Labels:
Windows
Speed up Internet Explorer
If you use internet explorer read the following.
Why you cannot use Internet Explorer (including all versions of IE, such as IE7 and IE8) to actively download more than 2 files (or 4 files in the case of HTTP 1.0 connection) from a web server via HTTP protocol? Or when already downloading 2 files from a same web server simultaneously, user unable to browse and cannot load the web pages on the website in the same server anymore.
The issue is due to the default behavior in Windows settings which limits the number of simultaneous Internet connections to a single web server using HTTP 1.0 and 1.1 protocols. The behavior affects both web browsing using Internet Explorer browser and downloading file with IE, where only two or four active connections can be connected and established at the same time respectively for HTTP 1.1 and HTTP 1.0 server. Note that it’s different issue with security limit imposed on the number of concurrent TCP connect attempts in Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista.
The limit for HTTP 1.1 is imposed by the HTTP 1.1 specification (RFC2068) that mandates the two connection limit while the four connection limit for HTTP 1.0 is a self-imposed restriction which coincides with the standard used by a number of popular Web browsers. However, the maximum simultaneous connection limit can be unlocked and changed by changing system registry as shown in procedures below.
Why you cannot use Internet Explorer (including all versions of IE, such as IE7 and IE8) to actively download more than 2 files (or 4 files in the case of HTTP 1.0 connection) from a web server via HTTP protocol? Or when already downloading 2 files from a same web server simultaneously, user unable to browse and cannot load the web pages on the website in the same server anymore.
The issue is due to the default behavior in Windows settings which limits the number of simultaneous Internet connections to a single web server using HTTP 1.0 and 1.1 protocols. The behavior affects both web browsing using Internet Explorer browser and downloading file with IE, where only two or four active connections can be connected and established at the same time respectively for HTTP 1.1 and HTTP 1.0 server. Note that it’s different issue with security limit imposed on the number of concurrent TCP connect attempts in Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista.
The limit for HTTP 1.1 is imposed by the HTTP 1.1 specification (RFC2068) that mandates the two connection limit while the four connection limit for HTTP 1.0 is a self-imposed restriction which coincides with the standard used by a number of popular Web browsers. However, the maximum simultaneous connection limit can be unlocked and changed by changing system registry as shown in procedures below.
- Run Registry Editor (regedit).
- Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Internet Settings
- Create the following two new DWORD (32-bit) Value and named them accordingly:
- MaxConnectionsPerServer
- MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server
- Set the value data for the registry entries created to an integer that equal to the number of simultaneous connection requests to a single HTTP server allowed. For example, if you want the maximum number of concurrent downloads or web page loading to a single server is 8, just enter the value as 8 (Decimal or Hexadecimal). For 10 connections, enter 10 as Decimal or 000000a as Hexadecimal. By default the values are 2 and 4 respectively.
- Reboot system or log off and login again for the change to take effect.
Labels:
Internet
Reset BIOS/CMOS password
You must make sure your system has no power otherwise you may get shocked.
After disconnecting your system from power wait for about 2 to 5 minutes because some components like capacitors on the motherboard have some stored power in it.
Open the computer case cover and find a Button Cell Battery located on the motherboard. Remove that battery for about 2 to 5 minutes. This will remove all the BIOS settings and Password information from the CMOS (As CMOS is getting power from Battery). Then put the battery back on the board.
Close your system. Connect the power. and start the system.
This time it will not ask for the password !!!
One other way is to position a BIOS configuration jumper on the motherboard to PASSWORD reset position. Not all the motherboard has this jumper setting. Check the motherboard diagram or manual if you have. This option is better to use if you think your system BIOS is configured and that is not the default settings. Like in case you have onboard RAID or SATA/SAS or some other Advanced configuration on the BIOS.
After disconnecting your system from power wait for about 2 to 5 minutes because some components like capacitors on the motherboard have some stored power in it.
Open the computer case cover and find a Button Cell Battery located on the motherboard. Remove that battery for about 2 to 5 minutes. This will remove all the BIOS settings and Password information from the CMOS (As CMOS is getting power from Battery). Then put the battery back on the board.
Close your system. Connect the power. and start the system.
This time it will not ask for the password !!!
One other way is to position a BIOS configuration jumper on the motherboard to PASSWORD reset position. Not all the motherboard has this jumper setting. Check the motherboard diagram or manual if you have. This option is better to use if you think your system BIOS is configured and that is not the default settings. Like in case you have onboard RAID or SATA/SAS or some other Advanced configuration on the BIOS.
Labels:
Security
Make firefox secure
Even though firefox say's it is secure it is not.There are some tools which can make it really secure.
NoScript: Forget about java
Firefox may not allow ActiveX -- the Microsoft Internet Explorer technology at the root of numerous vulnerabilities over the years -- but it does support other active content that can be as dangerous, like JavaScript. The bulk of Firefox-exploitable active content vulnerabilities are, in fact, JavaScript bugs. (The most recently reported was one that hit the wires in early June; TechWeb covered it here.)
Although it's possible to disable JavaScript entirely -- Tools|Options|Web Features, clear the Enable JavaScript box -- that's not such a good idea; at times you'll not only want JavaScript, you'll need it. (Some online banking sites, for instance, put log-in forms on the screen using JavaScript.)
Enter NoScript.
The extension blocks Java and JavaScript (and Flash if you tell it) on all sites but those on a user-defined whitelist. Better still, you can authorize a site to use JavaScript for that session, or add it to the whitelist.
A small icon at the bottom of Firefox indicates the NoScript status of the site; a click there lets you allow some or all scripts on the page, or turn them off on a previously-whitelisted site.
SiteAdvisor: I Spy Before They Spyware Most security strategies are reactive: like a beat cop, they don't swing into action until a crime's committed. Oops, too late: your identity's been hijacked.
To go proactive, you need something that gives you a hint of how dangerous an Internet neighborhood is before you walk into it. That's the approach of McAfee's SiteAdvisor.
The SiteAdvisor extension ( available here) slaps a green, yellow, or red safety rating next to search results on Google, Yahoo, and MSN; puts a color-coded button in the Firefox frame; and with a fast mouse-over, displays details about why the site's nasty, nice, or in-between.
SiteAdvisor scores sites on excessive use of pop-ups, how spammy the site is if you give it your e-mail address, and most importantly, prevalence of malicious downloads (including adware and spyware)
Anti-Phishing Tools: Eliminate Spoofs
While Beta 1 of Firefox 2.0 includes built-in anti-phishing tools -- based on an embryonic blacklist -- earlier editions need help from outsiders to warn you of suspicious sites.
The best-known anti-phishing toolbar for Firefox is a free-of-charge download from U.K.-based security vendor Netcraft. The community-supported toolbar -- that means users are the ones who sniff out most of the nasty sites -- blocks suspected URLs, displays a risk ranking for others, and inserts an icon to indicate the site's country of origin.
Other options exist, however, including Google's "Safe Browsing" extension, which adds an icon to the Firefox address bar when you surf to a spoofed site. (Safe Browsing is also part of the Google Toolbar for Firefox; the technology is also the basis for Firefox 2.0's anti-phishing defense.)
Clear Private Data: No Peeking
Every browser lets you cover your tracks -- an essential security step when you're working on a shared computer or one where others may peek inside (think office system) -- but Firefox's privacy retention command is the simplest to call.
Press the Ctrl-Shift-Del key combination -- or if you're more comfortable with the mouse, select Tools|Clear Private Data -- and a dialog box pops up offering to delete everything from the browsing history to saved passwords. (By unchecking the "Ask me before clearing private data" box, you'll save yourself a second click in the dialog.)
The feature, which debuted in Firefox 1.5, can be extended with the very small extension Clear Private Data; it adds a "clear data" item to the right-click menu within Firefox, and an optional icon that can be dragged and dropped to the browser's toolbar.
Password Maker: Get Passwords for me!
Security experts may nag us relentlessly to use different passwords for each Web site, but who, frankly, has that kind of brain power? Remember a dozen different passwords? Come on.
Firefox includes an integrated password manager (it's at Tools|Options|Passwords) that memorizes passwords, and if you want offers a "Master Password" to secure all the others, but a better tool is Password Maker, an extension that creates complicated, mathematically-difficult-to-break passwords automatically, but asks you to remember only one password.
Password Maker even has an online version so you can access its protected sites when you're away from your PC.
We're not cryptologists, so we really don't understand the science behind the extension -- there's more information here if you're interested -- but all you need to know is that your passwords aren't stored anywhere, so there's nothing for ID thieves to rip off.
NoScript: Forget about java
Firefox may not allow ActiveX -- the Microsoft Internet Explorer technology at the root of numerous vulnerabilities over the years -- but it does support other active content that can be as dangerous, like JavaScript. The bulk of Firefox-exploitable active content vulnerabilities are, in fact, JavaScript bugs. (The most recently reported was one that hit the wires in early June; TechWeb covered it here.)
Although it's possible to disable JavaScript entirely -- Tools|Options|Web Features, clear the Enable JavaScript box -- that's not such a good idea; at times you'll not only want JavaScript, you'll need it. (Some online banking sites, for instance, put log-in forms on the screen using JavaScript.)
Enter NoScript.
The extension blocks Java and JavaScript (and Flash if you tell it) on all sites but those on a user-defined whitelist. Better still, you can authorize a site to use JavaScript for that session, or add it to the whitelist.
A small icon at the bottom of Firefox indicates the NoScript status of the site; a click there lets you allow some or all scripts on the page, or turn them off on a previously-whitelisted site.
SiteAdvisor: I Spy Before They Spyware Most security strategies are reactive: like a beat cop, they don't swing into action until a crime's committed. Oops, too late: your identity's been hijacked.
To go proactive, you need something that gives you a hint of how dangerous an Internet neighborhood is before you walk into it. That's the approach of McAfee's SiteAdvisor.
The SiteAdvisor extension ( available here) slaps a green, yellow, or red safety rating next to search results on Google, Yahoo, and MSN; puts a color-coded button in the Firefox frame; and with a fast mouse-over, displays details about why the site's nasty, nice, or in-between.
SiteAdvisor scores sites on excessive use of pop-ups, how spammy the site is if you give it your e-mail address, and most importantly, prevalence of malicious downloads (including adware and spyware)
Anti-Phishing Tools: Eliminate Spoofs
While Beta 1 of Firefox 2.0 includes built-in anti-phishing tools -- based on an embryonic blacklist -- earlier editions need help from outsiders to warn you of suspicious sites.
The best-known anti-phishing toolbar for Firefox is a free-of-charge download from U.K.-based security vendor Netcraft. The community-supported toolbar -- that means users are the ones who sniff out most of the nasty sites -- blocks suspected URLs, displays a risk ranking for others, and inserts an icon to indicate the site's country of origin.
Other options exist, however, including Google's "Safe Browsing" extension, which adds an icon to the Firefox address bar when you surf to a spoofed site. (Safe Browsing is also part of the Google Toolbar for Firefox; the technology is also the basis for Firefox 2.0's anti-phishing defense.)
Clear Private Data: No Peeking
Every browser lets you cover your tracks -- an essential security step when you're working on a shared computer or one where others may peek inside (think office system) -- but Firefox's privacy retention command is the simplest to call.
Press the Ctrl-Shift-Del key combination -- or if you're more comfortable with the mouse, select Tools|Clear Private Data -- and a dialog box pops up offering to delete everything from the browsing history to saved passwords. (By unchecking the "Ask me before clearing private data" box, you'll save yourself a second click in the dialog.)
The feature, which debuted in Firefox 1.5, can be extended with the very small extension Clear Private Data; it adds a "clear data" item to the right-click menu within Firefox, and an optional icon that can be dragged and dropped to the browser's toolbar.
Password Maker: Get Passwords for me!
Security experts may nag us relentlessly to use different passwords for each Web site, but who, frankly, has that kind of brain power? Remember a dozen different passwords? Come on.
Firefox includes an integrated password manager (it's at Tools|Options|Passwords) that memorizes passwords, and if you want offers a "Master Password" to secure all the others, but a better tool is Password Maker, an extension that creates complicated, mathematically-difficult-to-break passwords automatically, but asks you to remember only one password.
Password Maker even has an online version so you can access its protected sites when you're away from your PC.
We're not cryptologists, so we really don't understand the science behind the extension -- there's more information here if you're interested -- but all you need to know is that your passwords aren't stored anywhere, so there's nothing for ID thieves to rip off.
Labels:
Internet
Cracking WEP with Windows XP Pro SP2
How do we crack WEP:
Well cracking WEP is fairly easy to understand if you have followed what I explained above. We briefly touched on IV’s and WEP encryption and how they tie in together. To put it very simply, if you can decipher the IV algorithm you can decrypt or extract the WEP key.
As I stated before WEP very kindly transmits the IV in clear, so if we can run a mathematical equation against it we can find and decipher the RC4 stream that encrypted the whole packet in the first place.
The WEP ‘key’ is the missing value [key] from this mathematical equation. Remember the AP or the client has this key to use when decrypting the packet and is what we must find by running a complicated algorithm against the encrypted packet.
If you think about it like this it may become clearer:
You have an algorithm that is produced by concatenating a randomly generated 24 bit IV with your WEP Key – You also have an RC4 Key stream - the two are then ‘hashed’ together to encrypt the packet.
The IV is the hub of the whole process as this is they only thing that has used your WEP key. If we run a statistical anyalisis against the IV to try and decrypt the packet, we can find the key used at the begining of the process.
When you try to decrypt them, every time you crack a piece of the algorithm the corresponding plain text part of the packet is revealed, once the whole packet is decrypted you know the algorithm used to encrypt that particular packet – A crude way of describing it but as simple as I can make it.
Any attacker can passively collect encrypted data, after a while due to the limitations explained earlier; two IV’s that are the same will be collected. If two packets with the same IV are XOR’d, an XOR of the plain text data can be revealed. This XOR can then be used to infer data about the contents of the data packets.
The more identical IV’s collected the more plain text data can be revealed. Once all the plain text of a data packet is known, it will also been known for all data packets using the same IV.
So before any transmission occurs WEP combines the keystream with the payload using an XOR process, which produces ciphertext (data that has been encrypted). WEP includes the IV in clear in the first few bytes of the frame. The receiving AP / Client uses this IV along with the shared secret key (Your WEP Key) to decrypt the payload of the frame.
XOR is a mathematical algorithm which I am not even going to attempt to explain. This site explains it very well though:
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/XOR.html
So in short – the more identical IV’s we can get the more plain text data we can reveal and the closer we get to obtaining the key used to encrypt the data in the first place.
As it is not pre-determined when we are going to receive identical IV’s it is impossible to say how many IV’s need to be collected but more about that later.
Software Used:
For this attack I am going to use aircrack-ng for Windows which can be obtained from here:
http://tinyshell.be/aircrackng/wiki/index.php?title=Aircrack-ng
Whilst here download cygwin1.dll and paste it in to the same folder as Aircrack-ng. There is a copy of cygwin1.dll included already but the one available from the tinyshell site is a later version of it.
The peek.dll and peek5.sys files also need to be in the same directory as aircrack. They are available here:
If you download Winaircrack - which is a GUI version of what I cover in this paper - copy the peek.dll and peek5.sys files across to where you have aircrack stored. You will get a peek driver not found message if you dont do this.
Once it has downloaded you have to option of pasting the directory path of it in to your Command Prompt path so you can start the application straight from the command line without having to ‘CD’ to the correct directory.
For example I copied this in to my path: C:\Documents and Settings\Nokia\Desktop\aircrack-ng-0.3-win\aircrack-ng-0.3-win\bin
In the bin folder is airodump and aircrack-ng – so now I can just type airodump straight in to the command prompt to run the application.
To add something to your path:
Right click My Computer > Properties > Advanced > Environment Variables > Under System Variables highlight PATH > Edit > enter the directory path using a ; to separate it from any existing entries.
You also need to go to Wild Packets to pick up a new driver for your card. http://www.wildpackets.com/
I have found that the most common cause of stress when trying to crack WEP is incompatible hardware. The Airopeek driver from Wild Packets is not compatible with all types of hardware. There is a list of supported adaptors and the relevant driver you need to use on the web site.
For this crack I am using an Atheros based NETGEAR WAG511 DUAL BAND adaptor which you can get from HERE for £35.99.
This card works with Whax, Auditor and BackTrack pretty much straight out of the box. It is also a dual band so you don’t have to worry about sniffing traffic on a ‘g’ WLAN when you have a ‘b’ wireless adaptor. It is my preferred Wireless Adaptor and has not let me down yet.
Most cards that are Atheros based will have the Atheros logo on the side of the box, use one of these if possible.
**Some people I know have confused the NETGEAR WG511 which does not work, with the NETGEAR WG511T which does work so try not to fall in to this trap**
Cards that I can 100% say to stay away from are ones that use the PrisimGT chipset. Connexant cards are also a complete waste of time (which I found out the hardway) so please do not even think about buying one of these if you want to crack WEP.
See this list to check what chipset your card uses:
http://www.linux-wlan.org/docs/wlan_adapters.html.gz
So you should now have:
Aircrack-ng
Cygwin1.dll – in the same directory as Aircrack
Peek.dll and Peek5.sys in the same directory as Aircrack
Relevant Drivers from Wild Packets for your Adaptor
Added aircrack-ng to your PATH
Got an Adaptor that works with all of the above!
So what’s next?
Now we need to install the driver you have downloaded.
**Warning – the next procedure will overwrite your existing Windows driver, so make sure you have the disc or a backup of it before carrying on.**
The peek driver will not let you use your Wireless Adaptor in the conventional way. You won’t be able to associate to an AP with it or browse the internet etc.
99% of Windows drivers a designed to make your Wireless Adaptor reject any 802.11 traffic not destined for it. The Peek driver puts your Adaptor in to a promiscuous mode to allow it to sniff all 802.11 traffic that is compatible with your adaptor.
To install the driver open up your Device Manager and right click on your wireless adaptor > Update Driver > Install from a Specific Location > Don’t Search, I will chose the driver to install > Have Disk > Browse to where you have downloaded the driver > Double Click.
Windows may display a prompt warning you that the driver is not digitally signed, if ths happens click continue anyway.
Once the driver is installed we are ready to crack WEP.
**If you get an error message saying ‘The specified destination contains no information about your device’, you have either downloaded the wrong driver or more likely your Wireless Adaptor is not compatible with what we need it to do.**
Cracking WEP:
Cracking WEP is by now means a skilful thing to do, as all the hard work was done by Chris Devine who is the excellent coder of Aircrack, all we need to do is collect the data and start the program. If you have questions about Aircrack a good place to post them is on the Netstumbler Linux Forums as I believe the author checks here quite often. Alternatively you can email the author at devine [at] iie [dot] cnam [dot] fr – whether he will reply or not I don’t know but I wouldn’t have thought he will appreciate you emailing him with stupid questions – use the forum for these!
Airodump
So open a command prompt and type Airodump – or if you have not added it to your PATH you will need to CD to the right directory.
A new window opens now which will search for all installed wireless adaptors, give it a numerical signature and display the following:
Select the relevant ID for the card you want to use:
You are then prompted to enter the type of chipset of your card:
We are using an Atheros card so we enter 'a':
Then you are asked what channel you would like it to sniff traffic on:
The USA only uses up to channel 11 and Europe use up to channel 14. Channel 11 in the UK is the most common one that wireless AP’s default to however, so I normally start off with channel 11. If you want to scan all channels use the 0 option.
We shall use channel 11:
Now you are asked what you would like to save your capture file as:
If you specify a file name that you have already used the resulting data will be added to the file – which is an excellent feature if it becomes apparent later on that you do not have enough IV’s as you won’t have to start all over again!
Now you are asked if you only want to save the IV’s or all packets that are sniffed.
As we know to crack a WEP key we only need IV’s so we can select yes to this question. The resultant file will be saved as an .IVS file.
So now we have told it everything it needs to know, let’s see what happens:
This is the output from a successful Airodump start-up.
BSSID = The MAC address of the Wireless Access Point.
PWR = The strength of the signal being received
BEACONS = Every AP transmits around 10 beacons per second – these are not encrypted and are useless to us from a WEP cracking point of view – they basically say ‘ I’m an AP, come and associate with me’.
DATA = This is what we are interested in. DATA packets are our IV’s that we need and what we are most interested in.
ENC = Encapsulation – WEP / WPA / OPEN etc – speaks for itself
ESSID = The name of the wireless network. This is not always broadcasted by the AP but we will need it to associate with the AP later on.
The second part lists any associated clients that are talking to the AP. MAKE A NOTE OF THESE MAC ADDRESSES.
Some AP’s have MAC address filtering enabled. This is a table of MAC addresses stored on the AP – when you try to associate with the AP if MAC filtering is enabled the AP checks your MAC with the list of allowed MAC’s to see if you can associate with it. If it is not in the list, regardless of if you have the correct WEP key or not, you will not be allowed to associate with the AP. You will also leave an entry in the logs.
This is a very helpful feature of Airodump that informs us what we need to spoof our MAC to when associating with the AP.
DATA:
As I mentioned before it is impossible to give an exact number of IV’s that need to be collected to crack a WEP key. The more we can get the more chance we have of cracking the WEP key. From trial and error I have found that I can crack a 40 bit WEP key in a few seconds with around 250,000 – 400,00 IV’s. You may be able to do it with more IV’s or less IV’s, it is different every time.
For a 104 bit WEP key you will need anything up to 2000000 IV’s and maybe even more. The fewest amount of IV’s I have ever been able to use in one of my lessons for a 104 bit crack is 710,325 and this took just 4 minutes 31 seconds to crack but in other lessons I have had to collect in excess of 2 million.
This is where the very handy feature of Airodump amending to existing files is useful. If you have collected 500,000 and run a 64 bit attack on the file but are unsuccessful, simply start Airodump again and use the same file name, all the new IV’s will be added to the ones you already have, so you don’t have to start from the beginning all over again!
So now sit there and wait for the amount of IV’s that you decide on to be collected!
Aircrack-ng
So once you have decided you have enough IV’s press CTL + C to end Airodump. I have collected 413,994 IV’s for this crack.
You will still have the white command prompt open so just type Aircrack-ng at the prompt. (Or ‘CD’ to it)
You will now get a list of ‘usages’ for Aircrack that you can use.
As this paper is getting a bit long I will just cover the options we need to crack a WEP key from a file. If you want to try the other options out..try them and see what you come up with. The helpful descriptions provided speak for themselves really.
So we have collected 413,994 IV’s which is not enough for a 104 bit WEP crack so we will try a 40 bit WEP crack instead (we can always add IV’s to the file later on if it does not work)
So we issue the following command to Aircrack:
We use the –n 64 switch to tell it we think it is a 64 bit WEP key.
You can also use the –f switch, which is the fudge factor switch.
In the programmers own words:
“By default, this parameter [fudge factor] is set to 2 for 104-bit WEP and to 5 for 40-bit WEP. Specify a higher value to increase the brute force level: cracking will take more time, but with a higher likelihood of success.
So if you have no joy cracking it you can try again with the –f 5 switch.
If you forget what you called the Airodump file it is saved in the following directory by default:
C:\Documents and Settings\%User Name%
If you selected to only save the IV’s it will be an .IVS file, if you said No and wanted to save everything it will be a .cap file.
Our scan only turned up one network so Aircrack will only crack those IV’s, if you have more than one network you will need to use the –m switch to tell it the BSSID of the AP whose packets you want to use,
The result of issuing our command is:
There you have it our 40 bit WEP key is A6:22:04:09:EB.
With 413994 IV’s this key took Aircrack less than 1 second to crack. Which is an example of how good Aircrack truely is. With 250,000 ish IV's chances are it would only take a few seconds more to crack but I like to collect a few more IV's to be on the safe side.
Like I said the programmer has done all the hard work for us, we just need to tell it what to do. For an end users part WEP cracking is not a skilful hack in any way whatsoever (we just tell Aircrack what we want it to do) unless you want to write your own program for it!
Troubleshooting:
Common problems are:
Incompatible Wireless Card.
90% of my students who come to me complaining they can’t crack WEP and that Aircrack does not work are failing because they do not have a compatible Wireless Adaptor.
If you are giving the commands that I am giving here, or get an error message when installing the driver I can almost guarantee you that your card is not compatible. It is possible to flash the firmware of some Prisim2 Cards, this pages helps you do this:
http://tinyshell.be/aircrackng/wiki/index.php?title=Prism2_flashing
Can’t receive DATA / IV’s with Airodump:
To receive IV’s from an AP there has to be a client associated with it that is sending / receiving traffic. If you are not receiving IV’s the most likely causes of this are that there is no associated clients or you are too far away from the AP. As far as I know Aireplay does not work with Windows so you will have to use a Packet Injection application of your choosing. I will cover this in Part 2.
Finally, if you are just plain unlucky you may just not be able to crack the WEP with the IV’s you have. If this happens the only option is to start from the beginning again.
If you cant crack the 64 bit WEP collect more IV’s and try doing it as a 104 bit WEP key.
Well cracking WEP is fairly easy to understand if you have followed what I explained above. We briefly touched on IV’s and WEP encryption and how they tie in together. To put it very simply, if you can decipher the IV algorithm you can decrypt or extract the WEP key.
As I stated before WEP very kindly transmits the IV in clear, so if we can run a mathematical equation against it we can find and decipher the RC4 stream that encrypted the whole packet in the first place.
The WEP ‘key’ is the missing value [key] from this mathematical equation. Remember the AP or the client has this key to use when decrypting the packet and is what we must find by running a complicated algorithm against the encrypted packet.
If you think about it like this it may become clearer:
You have an algorithm that is produced by concatenating a randomly generated 24 bit IV with your WEP Key – You also have an RC4 Key stream - the two are then ‘hashed’ together to encrypt the packet.
The IV is the hub of the whole process as this is they only thing that has used your WEP key. If we run a statistical anyalisis against the IV to try and decrypt the packet, we can find the key used at the begining of the process.
When you try to decrypt them, every time you crack a piece of the algorithm the corresponding plain text part of the packet is revealed, once the whole packet is decrypted you know the algorithm used to encrypt that particular packet – A crude way of describing it but as simple as I can make it.
Any attacker can passively collect encrypted data, after a while due to the limitations explained earlier; two IV’s that are the same will be collected. If two packets with the same IV are XOR’d, an XOR of the plain text data can be revealed. This XOR can then be used to infer data about the contents of the data packets.
The more identical IV’s collected the more plain text data can be revealed. Once all the plain text of a data packet is known, it will also been known for all data packets using the same IV.
So before any transmission occurs WEP combines the keystream with the payload using an XOR process, which produces ciphertext (data that has been encrypted). WEP includes the IV in clear in the first few bytes of the frame. The receiving AP / Client uses this IV along with the shared secret key (Your WEP Key) to decrypt the payload of the frame.
XOR is a mathematical algorithm which I am not even going to attempt to explain. This site explains it very well though:
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/XOR.html
So in short – the more identical IV’s we can get the more plain text data we can reveal and the closer we get to obtaining the key used to encrypt the data in the first place.
As it is not pre-determined when we are going to receive identical IV’s it is impossible to say how many IV’s need to be collected but more about that later.
Software Used:
For this attack I am going to use aircrack-ng for Windows which can be obtained from here:
http://tinyshell.be/aircrackng/wiki/index.php?title=Aircrack-ng
Whilst here download cygwin1.dll and paste it in to the same folder as Aircrack-ng. There is a copy of cygwin1.dll included already but the one available from the tinyshell site is a later version of it.
The peek.dll and peek5.sys files also need to be in the same directory as aircrack. They are available here:
If you download Winaircrack - which is a GUI version of what I cover in this paper - copy the peek.dll and peek5.sys files across to where you have aircrack stored. You will get a peek driver not found message if you dont do this.
Once it has downloaded you have to option of pasting the directory path of it in to your Command Prompt path so you can start the application straight from the command line without having to ‘CD’ to the correct directory.
For example I copied this in to my path: C:\Documents and Settings\Nokia\Desktop\aircrack-ng-0.3-win\aircrack-ng-0.3-win\bin
In the bin folder is airodump and aircrack-ng – so now I can just type airodump straight in to the command prompt to run the application.
To add something to your path:
Right click My Computer > Properties > Advanced > Environment Variables > Under System Variables highlight PATH > Edit > enter the directory path using a ; to separate it from any existing entries.
You also need to go to Wild Packets to pick up a new driver for your card. http://www.wildpackets.com/
I have found that the most common cause of stress when trying to crack WEP is incompatible hardware. The Airopeek driver from Wild Packets is not compatible with all types of hardware. There is a list of supported adaptors and the relevant driver you need to use on the web site.
For this crack I am using an Atheros based NETGEAR WAG511 DUAL BAND adaptor which you can get from HERE for £35.99.
This card works with Whax, Auditor and BackTrack pretty much straight out of the box. It is also a dual band so you don’t have to worry about sniffing traffic on a ‘g’ WLAN when you have a ‘b’ wireless adaptor. It is my preferred Wireless Adaptor and has not let me down yet.
Most cards that are Atheros based will have the Atheros logo on the side of the box, use one of these if possible.
**Some people I know have confused the NETGEAR WG511 which does not work, with the NETGEAR WG511T which does work so try not to fall in to this trap**
Cards that I can 100% say to stay away from are ones that use the PrisimGT chipset. Connexant cards are also a complete waste of time (which I found out the hardway) so please do not even think about buying one of these if you want to crack WEP.
See this list to check what chipset your card uses:
http://www.linux-wlan.org/docs/wlan_adapters.html.gz
So you should now have:
Aircrack-ng
Cygwin1.dll – in the same directory as Aircrack
Peek.dll and Peek5.sys in the same directory as Aircrack
Relevant Drivers from Wild Packets for your Adaptor
Added aircrack-ng to your PATH
Got an Adaptor that works with all of the above!
So what’s next?
Now we need to install the driver you have downloaded.
**Warning – the next procedure will overwrite your existing Windows driver, so make sure you have the disc or a backup of it before carrying on.**
The peek driver will not let you use your Wireless Adaptor in the conventional way. You won’t be able to associate to an AP with it or browse the internet etc.
99% of Windows drivers a designed to make your Wireless Adaptor reject any 802.11 traffic not destined for it. The Peek driver puts your Adaptor in to a promiscuous mode to allow it to sniff all 802.11 traffic that is compatible with your adaptor.
To install the driver open up your Device Manager and right click on your wireless adaptor > Update Driver > Install from a Specific Location > Don’t Search, I will chose the driver to install > Have Disk > Browse to where you have downloaded the driver > Double Click.
Windows may display a prompt warning you that the driver is not digitally signed, if ths happens click continue anyway.
Once the driver is installed we are ready to crack WEP.
**If you get an error message saying ‘The specified destination contains no information about your device’, you have either downloaded the wrong driver or more likely your Wireless Adaptor is not compatible with what we need it to do.**
Cracking WEP:
Cracking WEP is by now means a skilful thing to do, as all the hard work was done by Chris Devine who is the excellent coder of Aircrack, all we need to do is collect the data and start the program. If you have questions about Aircrack a good place to post them is on the Netstumbler Linux Forums as I believe the author checks here quite often. Alternatively you can email the author at devine [at] iie [dot] cnam [dot] fr – whether he will reply or not I don’t know but I wouldn’t have thought he will appreciate you emailing him with stupid questions – use the forum for these!
Airodump
So open a command prompt and type Airodump – or if you have not added it to your PATH you will need to CD to the right directory.
A new window opens now which will search for all installed wireless adaptors, give it a numerical signature and display the following:
Code: |
usage: airodump |
Select the relevant ID for the card you want to use:
Code: |
Network interface index number -> 22 |
You are then prompted to enter the type of chipset of your card:
Code: |
Interface types: 'o' = HermesI/Realtek 'a' = Aironet/Atheros Network interface type (o/a) -> |
We are using an Atheros card so we enter 'a':
Code: |
Network interface type (o/a) -> a |
Then you are asked what channel you would like it to sniff traffic on:
Code: |
Channel(s): 1 to 14, 0 = all -> |
The USA only uses up to channel 11 and Europe use up to channel 14. Channel 11 in the UK is the most common one that wireless AP’s default to however, so I normally start off with channel 11. If you want to scan all channels use the 0 option.
We shall use channel 11:
Code: |
Channel(s): 1 to 14, 0 = all -> 11 |
Now you are asked what you would like to save your capture file as:
Code: |
(note: if you specify the same output prefix, airodump will resume the capture session by appending data to the existing capture file) Output filename prefix -> |
If you specify a file name that you have already used the resulting data will be added to the file – which is an excellent feature if it becomes apparent later on that you do not have enough IV’s as you won’t have to start all over again!
Code: |
Output filename prefix ->WEP1 |
Now you are asked if you only want to save the IV’s or all packets that are sniffed.
Code: |
(note: to save space and only store the captured WEP IVs, press y.The resulting capture file will only be useful for WEP cracking) Only write WEP IVs (y/n) -> |
As we know to crack a WEP key we only need IV’s so we can select yes to this question. The resultant file will be saved as an .IVS file.
Code: |
Only write WEP IVs (y/n) -> y |
So now we have told it everything it needs to know, let’s see what happens:
Code: |
BSSID PWR Beacons # Data CH MB ENC ESSID 00:09:5B:FD:C6:52 10 3 6 11 54 OPN HOMEWIRELESS 00:30:F1:F5:A1:35 60 359 1234 11 54 WEP Stuart BSSID STATION PWR Packets ESSID 00:09:5B:FD:C6:52 00:09:5B:B6:1D:2A 17 6 HOMEWIRELESS 00:30:F1:F5:A1:35 00:09:5B:84:A6:DF 87 1793 Stuart |
This is the output from a successful Airodump start-up.
BSSID = The MAC address of the Wireless Access Point.
PWR = The strength of the signal being received
BEACONS = Every AP transmits around 10 beacons per second – these are not encrypted and are useless to us from a WEP cracking point of view – they basically say ‘ I’m an AP, come and associate with me’.
DATA = This is what we are interested in. DATA packets are our IV’s that we need and what we are most interested in.
ENC = Encapsulation – WEP / WPA / OPEN etc – speaks for itself
ESSID = The name of the wireless network. This is not always broadcasted by the AP but we will need it to associate with the AP later on.
The second part lists any associated clients that are talking to the AP. MAKE A NOTE OF THESE MAC ADDRESSES.
Some AP’s have MAC address filtering enabled. This is a table of MAC addresses stored on the AP – when you try to associate with the AP if MAC filtering is enabled the AP checks your MAC with the list of allowed MAC’s to see if you can associate with it. If it is not in the list, regardless of if you have the correct WEP key or not, you will not be allowed to associate with the AP. You will also leave an entry in the logs.
This is a very helpful feature of Airodump that informs us what we need to spoof our MAC to when associating with the AP.
DATA:
As I mentioned before it is impossible to give an exact number of IV’s that need to be collected to crack a WEP key. The more we can get the more chance we have of cracking the WEP key. From trial and error I have found that I can crack a 40 bit WEP key in a few seconds with around 250,000 – 400,00 IV’s. You may be able to do it with more IV’s or less IV’s, it is different every time.
For a 104 bit WEP key you will need anything up to 2000000 IV’s and maybe even more. The fewest amount of IV’s I have ever been able to use in one of my lessons for a 104 bit crack is 710,325 and this took just 4 minutes 31 seconds to crack but in other lessons I have had to collect in excess of 2 million.
This is where the very handy feature of Airodump amending to existing files is useful. If you have collected 500,000 and run a 64 bit attack on the file but are unsuccessful, simply start Airodump again and use the same file name, all the new IV’s will be added to the ones you already have, so you don’t have to start from the beginning all over again!
So now sit there and wait for the amount of IV’s that you decide on to be collected!
Aircrack-ng
So once you have decided you have enough IV’s press CTL + C to end Airodump. I have collected 413,994 IV’s for this crack.
You will still have the white command prompt open so just type Aircrack-ng at the prompt. (Or ‘CD’ to it)
You will now get a list of ‘usages’ for Aircrack that you can use.
Code: |
Common options: -a -e -b -q : enable quiet mode (no status output) -w Static WEP cracking options: -c : search alpha-numeric characters only -t : search binary coded decimal chr only -d -m -n -i -f -k -x : do bruteforce the last two keybytes -y : experimental single bruteforce mode Aircrack-ng 0.3 - (C) 2006 Thomas d'Otreppe Original work: Christophe Devine http://www.aircrack-ng.org usage: aircrack-ng [options] <.cap / .ivs file(s)> |
As this paper is getting a bit long I will just cover the options we need to crack a WEP key from a file. If you want to try the other options out..try them and see what you come up with. The helpful descriptions provided speak for themselves really.
So we have collected 413,994 IV’s which is not enough for a 104 bit WEP crack so we will try a 40 bit WEP crack instead (we can always add IV’s to the file later on if it does not work)
So we issue the following command to Aircrack:
Code: |
C:\Docu~\nokia>aircrack-ng -n 64 WEP1.ivs |
We use the –n 64 switch to tell it we think it is a 64 bit WEP key.
You can also use the –f switch, which is the fudge factor switch.
In the programmers own words:
“By default, this parameter [fudge factor] is set to 2 for 104-bit WEP and to 5 for 40-bit WEP. Specify a higher value to increase the brute force level: cracking will take more time, but with a higher likelihood of success.
So if you have no joy cracking it you can try again with the –f 5 switch.
If you forget what you called the Airodump file it is saved in the following directory by default:
C:\Documents and Settings\%User Name%
If you selected to only save the IV’s it will be an .IVS file, if you said No and wanted to save everything it will be a .cap file.
Our scan only turned up one network so Aircrack will only crack those IV’s, if you have more than one network you will need to use the –m switch to tell it the BSSID of the AP whose packets you want to use,
The result of issuing our command is:
Code: |
Aircrack-ng 0.3 [00:00:00] Tested 1231 keys (got 413994 IVs) KB depth byte(vote) 0 0/ 4 A6( 68) 82( 40) EE( 20) E4( 15) 18( 5) 23( 5) 04( 3) 1 0/ 3 22( 75) 52( 19) 43( 15) 5A( 13) 21( 8) 8A( 5) B2( 4) 2 0/ 1 04( 76) 33( 8) 8B( 5) C8( 5) 47( 0) 62( 0) 63( 0) 3 0/ 1 09( 106) FB( 15) ED( 12) 58( 12) F0( 11) 29( 7) C8( 5) 4 0/ 1 EB( 153) 19( 27) 0E( 15) 38( 15) B8( 13) E0( 10) DC( 9) KEY FOUND! [ A6:22:04:09:EB ] |
There you have it our 40 bit WEP key is A6:22:04:09:EB.
With 413994 IV’s this key took Aircrack less than 1 second to crack. Which is an example of how good Aircrack truely is. With 250,000 ish IV's chances are it would only take a few seconds more to crack but I like to collect a few more IV's to be on the safe side.
Like I said the programmer has done all the hard work for us, we just need to tell it what to do. For an end users part WEP cracking is not a skilful hack in any way whatsoever (we just tell Aircrack what we want it to do) unless you want to write your own program for it!
Troubleshooting:
Common problems are:
Incompatible Wireless Card.
90% of my students who come to me complaining they can’t crack WEP and that Aircrack does not work are failing because they do not have a compatible Wireless Adaptor.
If you are giving the commands that I am giving here, or get an error message when installing the driver I can almost guarantee you that your card is not compatible. It is possible to flash the firmware of some Prisim2 Cards, this pages helps you do this:
http://tinyshell.be/aircrackng/wiki/index.php?title=Prism2_flashing
Can’t receive DATA / IV’s with Airodump:
To receive IV’s from an AP there has to be a client associated with it that is sending / receiving traffic. If you are not receiving IV’s the most likely causes of this are that there is no associated clients or you are too far away from the AP. As far as I know Aireplay does not work with Windows so you will have to use a Packet Injection application of your choosing. I will cover this in Part 2.
Finally, if you are just plain unlucky you may just not be able to crack the WEP with the IV’s you have. If this happens the only option is to start from the beginning again.
If you cant crack the 64 bit WEP collect more IV’s and try doing it as a 104 bit WEP key.
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