Getting started with Linux for nOObs!

I. What is Linux?
II. Trying it out
III. Installing
IV. What to do now
V. The Console

Intro:
This tutorial is written with the total Linux n00b in mind.
I've seen too many n00bs get totally left in the dark by asking what
the best distro is. They seem to only get flooded with too many
answers in so short a time. I'm a little bit of a n00b too, so I know
how it feels. I will cover a grand total of two basic distros. You may
learn to strongly prefer other ones (I do!) but this is just to get
you started. I touch on a number of topics that would be impossible to
go into in depth in one tutorial, so I encourage you to actively seek
out more about the concepts I make reference to.


I. What is Linux?

Linux is basically an operating system (OS for short). The Windows
machine you're (probably) using now uses the Mcft Windows
operating system.

Ok, so what's so different about Linux?

Linux is part of a revolutionary movement called the open-source
movement. The history and intricacies of that movement are well beyond
the scope of this tutorial, but I'll try and explain it simply. Open
source means that the developers release the source code for all their
customers to view and alter to fit what they need the software to do,
what they want the software to do, and what they feel software should
do. Linux is a programmer?s dream come true, it has the best compilers,
libraries, and tools in addition to its being open-source. A
programmer's only limit then, is his knowledge, skill, time, and
resolve.

What is a distro?

A distro is short for a distribution. It's someone's personal
modification or recreation of Linux.

What do you mean by distros? I just want Linux!

Since Linux is open source, every developer can write his own version.
Most of those developers release their modifications, or entire
creations as free and open source. A few don't and try to profit from
their product, which is a topic of moral debate in the Linux world.
The actual Linux is just a kernel that serves as a node of
communication between various points of the system (such as the CPU,
the mouse, the hard drive etc.). In order to use this kernel, we must
find a way to communicate with it. The way we communicate is with a
shell. Shells will let us enter commands in ways that make sense to
us, and send those commands to the kernel in ways that makes sense to
it. The shell most Linux's use it the BASH shell (Bourne Again SHell).
The kernel by itself will not do, and just a shell on top of the kernel
won?t either for most users; we are then forced to use a distribution.

What distro is best?

This is not the question you want to ask a large number of people at
one time. This is very much like asking what kind of shoe is best,
you'll get answers anywhere from running shoes, hiking boots, cleats,
to wingtips. You need to be specific about what you plan on using
Linux for, what system you want to use it on, and many other things. I
will cover two that are quick and easy to get running. They may not be
the best, or the quickest, or the easiest, or the most powerful, but
this is a guide for getting started, and everyone has to start
somewhere.

How much does it cost?

computer + electricity + internet + CD burner and CDs = Linux
I'll let you do your own math.
Note however that a few do charge for their distros, but they aren't
all that common, and can be worked around. Also, if you lack internet
access or a CD burner or CDs or you just want to, you can normally
order CDs of the distro for a few dollars apiece.



II. Trying it out.

Wouldn't it stink if you decide to wipe out your hard drive and install
Linux as the sole operating system only to learn that you don't know
how to do anything and hate it? Wouldn?t it be better to take a test
drive? 95 out of a 100 of you know where I'm heading with this section
and can therefore skip it. For those of you who don't know, read on.

There are many distros, and most distros try to have something that
makes them stand out. Knoppix was the first live-CD distro. Although
most of the other main distros have formed their own live-CDs, Knoppix
is still the most famous and I will be covering how to acquire it.

A live-CD distro is a distribution of Linux in which the entire OS can
be run off of the CD-ROM and your RAM. This means that no installation
is required and the distro will not touch your hard disk or current OS
(unless you tell it to). On bootup, the CD will automatically detect
your hardware and launch you into Linux. To get back to Windows, just
reboot and take the CD out.

Go to the Knoppix website (www.knoppix.com). Look around some to get
more of an idea on what Knoppix is. When you're ready, click Download.
You'll be presented with a large amount of mirrors, some of which have
ftp and some of which have http also.

note: the speed of the mirrors vary greatly, and you may want to
change mirrors should your download be significantly slow.

Choose a mirror. Read the agreement and choose accept. You'll probably
want to download the newest version and in your native language (I'll
assume English in this tutorial). So choose the newest file ending in
-EN.iso

note: you might want to also verify the md5 checksums after the
download, if you don't understand this, don't worry too much. You just
might have to download it again should the file get corrupted (you'll
have to anyway with the md5). Also, a lot of times a burn can be
botched for who-knows what reason. If the disk doesn?t work at all,
try a reburn.

Once the .iso file is done downloading, fire up your favorite
CD-burning software. Find the option to burn a CD image (for Nero, this
is under copy and backup) and burn it to a disk. Make sure you don't
just copy the .iso, you have to burn the image, which will unpack all
the files onto the CD.

Once the disk is done, put it in the CD-ROM drive and reboot the
computer. While your computer is booting, enter CMOS (how to get to
CMOS varies for each computer, some get to it by F1 or F2 or F3, etc.)
Go to the bootup configuration and place CD-ROM above hard disk. Save
changes and exit. Now, Knoppix will automatically start. You will be
presented with a boot prompt. Here you can input specific boot
parameters (called cheatcodes), or just wait and let it boot up using
the default.

note: Sometimes USB keyboards do not work until the OS has somewhat
booted up. Once you?re actually in Knoppix, your USB keyboard should
work, but you may not be able to use cheatcodes. If you need to,
attach a PS/2 keyboard temporarily. Also, if a particular aspect of
hardware detection does not work, look for a cheatcode to disable it.
Cheatcodes can be found on the Knoppix website in text format (or in
HTML at www.knoppix.net/docs/index.php/CheatCodes).

Upon entering the KDE desktop environment, spend some time exploring
around. Surf the web, get on IM, play some games, explore the
filesystem, and whatever else seems interesting. When your done, open
up the console (also called terminal, xterm, konsole, or even shell)
and get ready for the real Linux. See section V for what to do from
here.

note: to function as root (or the superuser) type su.


It's not entirely necessary that you are a console wizard at this point
(although you will need to be sooner or later), but a little messing
around wont hurt.

Just as there are many Linux distros, so there are also many types of
Knoppix. I won?t go into using any of them, but they should all be
somewhat similar. Some of them include: Gnoppix, Knoppix STD, Morphix,
and PHLAK. Other distros also have live-CDs.

III. Installing

I will guide you through the installation of Fedora Core 2. The reason
I chose Fedora is because it contains the Anaconda installer, which is
a very easy installer.

Download the discs from here:
http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedo...ore/2/i386/iso/
If the link doesn?t work, then go to www.redhat.com and navigate your
way to downloading Fedora (odds are your architecture is i386).
You will want to download the FC2-i386-disc1.iso and burn it using the
method for Knoppix. Do the same for all the discs.

Note: do NOT download the FC2-i386-SRPMS-disc1.iso files.

Now, once you?re ready, insert disc 1 into the drive and reboot.

The installer should come up automatically (if not, then see the
Knoppix section on CMOS).

Note: installer may vary depending on version. Follow directions best
you can using your best judgement.

1. Language: choose English and hit enter
2. Keyboard: choose us (probably) and hit enter
3. Installation media: choose local CDROM (probably) and hit enter
4. CD test: you can choose to test or skip
5. Intro: click next
6. Monitor: choose your monitor to the best of your ability, if you?re unsure, choose on of the generic ones
7. Installation type: choose which ever you want (default should be fine)
8. Partition: choose to automatically partition (unless you know what you?re doing)
9. Partition: the default partitions should suffice
10. Boot loader: choose your boot loader (grub for default)
11. Network settings: choose the correct settings for your network (generally, don?t mess with anything unless you know what you?re doing)
12. Firewall: you can choose a firewall if you want to
13. Language support: choose any additional language support you want
14. Time zone: pick your time zone
15. Root password: set your root password (root is the admin, or superuser; you want it to be very secure)
16. Packages: choose which packages you want to install. For hard drives over 10 gigs, you can go ahead and choose all
packages (depending on how much disk space you plan on taking up later, note that most everything you?ll need is a package: the exception
being large media files). You will generally want to install all the packages you think you?ll ever need. Two desktop environments aren?t necessary.
Make sure you have at least one and the X window system! (if you want a GUI that is). I suggest you get all the servers too.

Note: Knoppix uses the KDE Desktop environment

17. Make sure everything is all right, and install
18. You can create a boot disk if you want

Note: Desktop environments might have a set-up once you enter them

IV What to do now

Now that you have a Linux set-up and running, there are many paths you
can head down. First, you should explore your GUI and menus. Browse
the web with Mozilla, get on IM with GAIM, play games, add/delete
users, check out OpenOffice, and anything else that might be part of
your daily use. Also, set up a few servers on your computer to play
around with, specifically SMTP (*wink*wink*), FTP (vsftp is a good
one), and either telnet or SSH (OpenSSH is a good one). The setup and
use of these are beyond the scope of this tutorial, but researching
them could prove to be very educational.

The filesystem
The Linux (and Unix) filesystem is different from the normal Windows
that you?re used to. In Windows, your hard drive is denoted ?C:\? (or
whatever). In Linux, it is called the root directory and is denoted
?/?. In the / directory, there are several default folders, including
dev (device drivers) mnt (mount) bin (binaries) usr (Unix System
Resources) home, etc, and others. I encourage you to explore around
the whole file system (see section V) and research more.

Once you are well situated, it?s time to get into the heart and power
of Linux: the console. The next session will guide you through it and
set you on the path to finding out how to do stuff for yourself. You
will (probably) want to start learning to rely less and less on the
GUI and figure out how to do everything through the console (try
launching all your programs from the console, for example).

V. The Console

The Console might look familiar to DOS if you?ve ever used it. The
prompt should look something like the following:

AvatharTri@localhost avathartri$

With the blinking _ following it. This can vary greatly as it is fully
customizable. Let?s get started with the commands.

First, let?s explore the file system. The command ls will "list" the
files in the current directory. Here?s an example:

AvatharTri@localhost avathartri$ ls

It should then display the contents of the current directory if there
are any. Almost all commands have options attached to them. For
example, using the -l option, which is short for "long" will display
more information about the files listed.

AvatharTri@localhost avathartri$ ls -l

We will get into how to find out the options for commands and what
they do later.

The second command to learn will be the cd command, or "change
directory". To use it, you type cd followed by a space and the
directory name you wish to go into. In Linux, the top directory is /
(as opposed to C:\ in Windows). Let?s get there by using this command:

AvatharTri@localhost avathartri$ cd /
AvatharTri@localhost /$

Now, we are in the top directory. Use the ls command you learned
earlier to see everything that?s here. You should see several items,
which are directories. Now, let?s go into the home directory:

AvatharTri@localhost /$ cd home
AvatharTri@localhost home$

And you can now ls and see what?s around. In Linux there are some
special symbol shortcuts for specific folders. You can use these
symbols with cd, ls, or several other commands. The symbol ~ stands
for your home folder. One period . represents the directory your
currently in. Two periods .. represent the directory immediately above
your own. Here?s an example of the commands:

AvatharTri@localhost home$ cd ~
AvatharTri@localhost avathartri$

This moved us to our user?s personal directory.

AvatharTri@localhost avathartri$ cd .
AvatharTri@localhost avathartri$ cd ..
AvatharTri@localhost home$

The cd .. moved us up to the home directory.
As you?ve probably noticed by now, the section behind the prompt
changes as you change folders, although it might not always be the
case as it?s up to the personal configuration.

You can use these symbols with the ls command also to view what is in
different folders:

AvatharTri@localhost home$ ls ~
AvatharTri@localhost home$ ls ..

And you can view what is in a folder by specifying its path:

AvatharTri@localhost home$ ls /
AvatharTri@localhost home$ ls /home

The last command we will cover as far as finding your way around the
filesystem is the cat command. The cat command will show the contents
of a file. Find a file by using the cd and ls commands and then view
its contents with the cat command.

AvatharTri@localhost home$ cd [directory]
AvatharTri@localhost [directory]$ ls
AvatharTri@localhost [directory]$ cat [filename]

Where [directory] is the directory you want to view and [filename] is
the name of the file you want to view. Omit the brackets. Now, if the
file you viewed was a text file, you should see text, but if it wasn?t,
you might just see jumbled garbage, but this is ok. If the file goes
by too fast and goes off the screen, don?t worry, we will get to how
to scroll through it later.

One of the most useful commands is the man command, which displays the
"manual" for the command you want to know more about. To learn more
about the ls command:

AvatharTri@localhost home$ man ls

And you will see the manual page for ls. It displays the syntax, a
description, options, and other useful tidbits of information. Use the
up and down arrows to scroll and press q to exit. You can view the
manual pages for any command that has one (most commands do). Try this
out with all the commands that you know so far:

AvatharTri@localhost home$ man cd
AvatharTri@localhost home$ man cat
AvatharTri@localhost home$ man man

One very crucial option to the man command is the -k option. This will
search the descriptions of manual pages for the word you specify. You
can use this to find out what command to do what you need to do. For
example, let?s say we want to use a text editor:

AvatharTri@localhost home$ man -k editor

And you should see a list of apps with a short description and the
word "editor" in the description.

With a blank prompt, you can hit tab twice for Linux to display all
the possible commands. For Linux to display all the commands beginning
with a certain letter or series of letters, type those letters and hit
tab twice.

Note: This is actually a function of BASH and not Linux, but BASH is
the default Linux shell.

Now that you know a little about moving around the filesystem and
viewing manual pages, there is one more trick that we will cover to
help you out. Remember how the man pages were scrollable as in you
could use the arrow keys to scroll up and down? That is because the
man pages use something called the less pager. We?re not going to go
into what this does exactly and how it works, but that?s definitely
something that you will want to look up. Here?s how to use the less
pager with a file:

AvatharTri@localhost home$ cat [filename] | less

That uses something called a pipe. The line is the vertical line above
enter on your keyboard. Briefly, what this does is take the output
from the cat command, and stick it in the less pager. By doing this,
you can view files that would normally run off the screen and scroll
up and down.

Some final commands to check out:

mkdir - make directories
cp - copy file
mv - move file
rm - remove file
rmdir - remove directory
grep - search a file for a keyword
pwd - display current working directory
top - display system resources usage (kill the program with control + c)

Getting movies, mp3,games using google

okay lets keep this tutorial short. you want movies and games/mp3 / games and dont' know where to get them, thank god there is google.com
goto www.google.com

put this string in

Get unlimited bandwidth from your host for free

Get unlimited bandwidth from your host for free


NOTE: This applies only to specific hosting companies, due to the
specific setup needed and does have its drawbacks.

While setting up hosting space with a specific company I often deal
with, I noticed that they used a shared IP. (IP shared by two or more
websites/domains.) Well, the rates for unlimited bandwidth were
around $50+ per month, which I found unreasonable. I didnt require
much space, and didnt want to be limited to a mere 3 gig of traffic
per month.

Back on track... When setting up the acct, the hosting company needs
to know the domain name so that they can direct it accordingly.
(example: 'http://www.123.4.567.890/~user1/ ,
'http://www.123.4.567.890/~user2/ etc)

At this point you can give a url that doesnt belong to you at all. As
long as the nameservers dont change, that should have absolutly no
negative effects on you or your site whatsoever.

How it works is this:
The host propogates you a certain amount space on its servers, and
monitors the traffic that enters their space through the domain its
registered under. Being that the domain isn't connected to the site
at all, it registers ZERO traffic.

Zero traffic registered = can't possibly go over bandwidth
restrictions
can't possibly go over bandwidth restrictions = free unlimited
bandwidth

Now the problems with this (besides the ethical ones) is that your
host may offer X amount of mail addys with the acct
(you@y...) and these will not work, as the name isnt on their
DNS. However, some domain companies allow you to set it up
regardless. Another problem seems to be strictly cosmetic, but can be
highly problematic... Once you attach the domain you want onto the
site, each page comes up/w the ip/UN the host propagated to your
acct. Its at this point where you have to have a phenominal 10-15
character alphanumerical or better (#, &, etc) pw, or your site will
be vulnerable to attack since the attacker already has your UN. This
only gives attackers a slight advantage as the amount of time it
would take to brute force a 10 character pw @ a rate of 1,000,000 per
second is 10 years. Add numbers and case sensitivity to that and it
becomes approx 26,980 years.

While I'm on it, I may as well add that if you use this method,
obviously you are going to be using the lowest cost hosting plan
available, which in turn will offer the least amount of space. Thats
why free hosts were invented.

Free hosts suck as a general rule. Who wants a site smothered in ads?
However, if you upload all your programs, graphics and other large
files (have a backup of course) to a reliable free host and target
them accordingly from your site you have just freed up a signifigant
amount of space. The only setback/w this is having to keep an index
card or file around/w your pws, as you should never use the same one
twice, and want to use complicated ones.

Get In Windows 2000 As Administrator

Get in windows 2000 as Administrator.
>
> NOTE: Requires a boot disk.
>
> Get the command prompt and go to C:\winnt\sytem32\config\ and do
the following commands:
> attrib -a -r -h
> copy sam.* a:\
> del Sam.*
>
> reboot the computer. there should be no administrator password.
just put in administrator and hit enter. replace the sam files to
restore the password to hide intrusion.

Lots Of Windows Xp Tips, Take A Look !

Lots Of Windows Xp Tips, Take A Look !

Lock XP Workstation (#1)

You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a right mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation' in the location field. Give the shortcut a name you like. That's it -- just double click on it and your computer will be locked. And if that's not easy enough, Windows key + L will do the same.

Remove Windows XP system software (#2)

XP hides some system software you might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can tickle it and make it disgorge everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf, search for the word 'hide' and remove it. You can then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Windows Components and there will be your prey, exposed and vulnerable.

New commands (#3)

For those skilled in the art of DOS batch files, XP has a number of interesting new commands. These include 'eventcreate' and 'eventtriggers' for creating and watching system events, 'typeperf' for monitoring performance of various subsystems, and 'schtasks' for handling scheduled tasks. As usual, typing the command name followed by /? will give a list of options -- they're all far too baroque to go into here.

Windows XP supports IPv6 (#4)

XP has IP version 6 support -- the next generation of IP. Unfortunately this is more than your ISP has, so you can only experiment with this on your LAN. Type 'ipv6 install' into Run... (it's OK, it won't ruin your existing network setup) and then 'ipv6 /?' at the command line to find out more. If you don't know what IPv6 is, don't worry and don't bother.

Kill tasks from the command line (#5)

You can at last get rid of tasks on the computer from the command line by using 'taskkill /pid' and the task number, or just 'tskill' and the process number. Find that out by typing 'tasklist', which will also tell you a lot about what's going on in your system.

Enable ClearType by default (#6)

XP has ClearType -- Microsoft's anti-aliasing font display technology-- but doesn't have it enabled by default. It's well worth trying, especially if you were there for DOS and all those years of staring at a screen have given you the eyes of an astigmatic bat. To enable ClearType, right click on the desktop, select Properties, Appearance, Effects, select ClearType from the second drop-down menu and enable the selection. Expect best results on laptop displays. If you want to use ClearType on the Welcome login screen as well, set the registry entry

HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/ControlPanel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType to 2.

Run program as different user (#7)

You can run a program as a different user without logging out and back in again. Right click the icon, select Run As... and enter the user name and password you want to use. This only applies for that run. The trick is particularly useful if you need to have administrative permissions to install a program, which many require. Note that you can have some fun by running programs multiple times on the same system as different users, but this can have unforeseen effects.

Speed up the Start Menu (#8)

The Start Menu can be leisurely when it decides to appear, but you can speed things along by changing the registry entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop/MenuShowDelay from the default 400 to something a little snappier. Like 0.

Rename multiple files at once (#9)

You can rename loads of files at once in Windows Explorer. Highlight a set of files in a window, then right click on one and rename it. All the other files will be renamed to that name, with individual numbers in brackets to distinguish them. Also, in a folder you can arrange icons in alphabetized groups by View, Arrange Icon By... Show In-Groups.

Show cover art in Media Player (#10)

Windows Media Player will display the cover art for albums as it plays the tracks -- if it found the picture on the Internet when you copied the tracks from the CD. If it didn't, or if you have lots of pre-WMP music files, you can put your own copy of the cover art in the same directory as the tracks. Just call it folder.jpg and Windows Media Player will pick it up and display it.

Display Hibernate Option on the Shut Down dialog (#11)

For some reason, Hibernate isn't available from the default Shut Down dialog. But you can enable it simply enough, by holding down the SHIFT key while the dialog is visible. Now you see it, now you don't!

Enable ClearType on the Welcome Screen! (#12)

As laptop users and other LCD owners are quickly realizing, Microsoft's ClearType technology in Windows XP really makes a big difference for readability. But the this feature is enabled on a per-user basis in Windows XP, so you can't see the effect on the Welcome screen; it only appears after you logon.

But you can fix that. Fire up the Registry Editor and look for the following keys:

(default user) HKEY_USERS \ .Default \ Control Panel \ Desktop \
FontSmoothing (String Value)
HKEY_USERS \ .Default \ Control Panel \ Desktop \
FontSmoothingType (Hexadecimal DWORD Value)

Make sure both of these values are set to 2 and you'll have ClearType enabled on the Welcome screen and on each new user by default.

Change User Picture (#13)

Click on the Icon at the top of the start menu. Select desired picture from resulting screen Windows 2000 style logon. To revert back to the Win2k style logon so you can log on as the administrator and other options, press ctrl+alt+delete twice at the logon screen. Change the location of the My Music or My Pictures folders:

In Windows 2000, Microsoft added the ability to right-click the My Documents folder and choose a new location for that folder in the shell. With Windows XP, Microsoft has elevated the My Music and My Pictures folders to the same "special shell folder" status of My Documents, but they never added a similar (and simple) method for changing those folder's locations. However, it is actually pretty easy to change the location of these folders, using the following method.

Open a My Computer window and navigate to the location where you'd like My Music (or My Pictures) to reside. Then, open the My Documents folder in a different window. Drag the My Music (or My Pictures) folder to the other window, and Windows XP will update all of the references to that folder to the new location, including the Start menu.

Protect Your Files From Unauthorized Users (#14)

Other users with permission to delete a file (users with Modify or Full Control permission) can't use your encrypted files-but they can make them difficult for you to use. Any such user can rename your files, which can make them difficult to find, and can also delete your files. (Even if the user merely deletes them to the Recycle Bin and doesn't remove them altogether, the deleted files are unavailable to you because you don't have access to any other user's Recycle Bin.) Therefore, if you're concerned about protecting your files from other authorized users as well as from a thief who steals your computer, you should modify the NTFS permissions to prevent any type of modification by other users.

Shutdown Your System in a Hurry (#15)

If you need to shut down in a hurry-or if a frozen application prevents you from shutting down in the normal ways-you can use the following procedure. Be aware, however, that you won't get an opportunity to save open documents. To perform an emergency shutdown, press Ctrl+Alt+Del to display Task Manager. Open the Shut down menu and hold down the Ctrl key as you click the Turn Off command. Poof! If your computer is part of a domain, the procedure is similar. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del and then hold down Ctrl when you click Shut Down. In this situation, you'll get a warning message pointing out-quite correctly-that this should be used only as a last resort.

Provide Personal Support (#16)

It never fails: when friends, co-workers, or family members discover that you're a Windows expert, you get pressed into service as an unpaid support technician. If the party asking for help is running any edition of Windows XP and has an active Internet connection, your job is much easier. Have the other person send you a Remote Assistance request; when you accept the request, you connect directly to their computer and can edit Registry settings, fix file associations, set System options, and perform just about any other troubleshooting or repair task, just as if you were sitting at the other person's desk.

Quickly Fix Connectivity Problems (#17)

Are you having trouble connecting to other computers on your local area network? If your network uses a hardware firewall that assigns IP addresses to each machine and you're certain you've configured all other components correctly, check to see whether the Internet Connection Firewall is enabled. That component can effectively block communication between PCs on the network.

Hack IE Title Bar (#18)

This can be an impressive bit of personalization. Use your name or moniker to brand Internet Explorer. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\ and left-click on Main to change the string "Window Title" to whatever you wish.

Unload DLLs (#19)

To prevent Windows from caching DLLs after the program using them has closed, follow this procedure: Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ then left-click on Explorer. Right-click (as above) and create the DWORD

AlwaysUnloadDLL with a value of 1. This requires a reboot to take effect. This will allow memory to be used more efficiently.

Registry Hacks (#20)

Editing the Windows Registry, while much more common now than in years past, is still not to be entered into lightly. You can break Windows, cause boot failure. I know you're gonna do it anyway; why else would you be reading this. Just be careful, OK?

These are few because, for the most part WinXP can be customized through the interlace or with third-party freeware (as above).

All of the tips below require running regedit. To do so, hit 'Start/Run' then type 'regedit' and follow the instructions.

Naturally, I take no responsibility for any damage or loss of data incurred in the remote possibility that something goes terribly wrong.

The Ultimate Appearance Tweak (#21)

Microsoft said: "You can connect up to 10 monitors to your Windows XP-based computer and display numerous programs or windows at one time. You can use your mouse to move items from one monitor to another. You can open a different file on each monitor. Or several. Or you can stretch one item across several monitors; so for example, you can see more columns in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, or the entire layout of a Web page, without scrolling." Consider it. Monitors and PCI video cards are pretty cheap now. Windows recognizes the addition & allows easy adjustments on the 'Display Properties/Settings' menu.

Save Streaming Media (#22)

It's cool to listen to MP3s (or watch movies) over the Internet. Often, saving this media, however, seems impossible. Hey, if it plays on your computer, it's on your hard drive. Once the file is fully loaded and with folder view set to show hidden and systems folders, searches for the media (.mp3 or .mpg). There it is!

Securing the Paging File (#23)

If you're truly concerned about the possibility of your computer falling into the wrong hands, you should be sure that you don't leave any tracks in the paging file. By default, when you shut down your system, the paging file remains intact. People who've access to your computer could conceivably look through the unencrypted paging file to find information they shouldn't have.

Assign a Keyboard Shortcut (#24)

Click in the Shortcut Key field and press a keyboard combination that you want to use for launching or switching to this program. The shortcut key you assign must consist of one character key (a letter, number, or symbol) plus at least two of the following three keys: Ctrl, Alt, and Shift. (If you press a character key only, Windows automatically adds Ctrl+Alt.)

Shortcut keys work only when assigned to a program shortcut on the Start menu, the Programs menu, or the Desktop. The shortcuts you define will not work if it conflicts with a combination used in the program whose window has the focus.

Please remember, we cannot accept responsibility with what you decide to do with these tips. These tips act as a guide to tweaking and changing Windows XP from the default settings. If you are unsure about how to make these changes then don't meddle !

Leet Way To Get Your Ip In Windows Xp, Vista and Windows 8

 Okay you want to get your ip in windows xp and want to impress your friends.
Go start-> run -> type cmd

then type cd \

will drop you into your root dir

then type cd c:\windows\system32

then type ipconfig

now that pimp your friends will be like wow, leet

Keyboard Shortcuts, must read

Getting used to using your keyboard exclusively and leaving your mouse behind will make you much more efficient at performing any task on any Windows system. I use the following keyboard shortcuts every day:

Windows key + R = Run menu

This is usually followed by:
cmd = Command Prompt
iexplore + "web address" = Internet Explorer
compmgmt.msc = Computer Management
dhcpmgmt.msc = DHCP Management
dnsmgmt.msc = DNS Management
services.msc = Services
eventvwr = Event Viewer
dsa.msc = Active Directory Users and Computers
dssite.msc = Active Directory Sites and Services
Windows key + E = Explorer

ALT + Tab = Switch between windows

ALT, Space, X = Maximize window

CTRL + Shift + Esc = Task Manager

Windows key + Break = System properties

Windows key + F = Search

Windows key + D = Hide/Display all windows

CTRL + C = copy

CTRL + X = cut

CTRL + V = paste

Also don't forget about the "Right-click" key next to the right Windows key on your keyboard. Using the arrows and that key can get just about anything done once you've opened up any program.


Keyboard Shortcuts

[Alt] and [Esc] Switch between running applications

[Alt] and letter Select menu item by underlined letter

[Ctrl] and [Esc] Open Program Menu

[Ctrl] and [F4] Close active document or group windows (does not work with some applications)

[Alt] and [F4] Quit active application or close current window

[Alt] and [-] Open Control menu for active document

Ctrl] Lft., Rt. arrow Move cursor forward or back one word

Ctrl] Up, Down arrow Move cursor forward or back one paragraph

[F1] Open Help for active application

Windows+M Minimize all open windows

Shift+Windows+M Undo minimize all open windows

Windows+F1 Open Windows Help

Windows+Tab Cycle through the Taskbar buttons

Windows+Break Open the System Properties dialog box



acessability shortcuts

Right SHIFT for eight seconds........ Switch FilterKeys on and off.

Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN....... Switch High Contrast on and off.

Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK....... Switch MouseKeys on and off.

SHIFT....... five times Switch StickyKeys on and off.

NUM LOCK...... for five seconds Switch ToggleKeys on and off.

explorer shortcuts

END....... Display the bottom of the active window.

HOME....... Display the top of the active window.

NUM LOCK+ASTERISK....... on numeric keypad (*) Display all subfolders under the selected folder.

NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN....... on numeric keypad (+) Display the contents of the selected folder.

NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN....... on numeric keypad (-) Collapse the selected folder.

LEFT ARROW...... Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder.

RIGHT ARROW....... Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder.




Type the following commands in your Run Box (Windows Key + R) or Start Run

devmgmt.msc = Device Manager
msinfo32 = System Information
cleanmgr = Disk Cleanup
ntbackup = Backup or Restore Wizard (Windows Backup Utility)
mmc = Microsoft Management Console
excel = Microsoft Excel (If Installed)
msaccess = Microsoft Access (If Installed)
powerpnt = Microsoft PowerPoint (If Installed)
winword = Microsoft Word (If Installed)
frontpg = Microsoft FrontPage (If Installed)
notepad = Notepad
wordpad = WordPad
calc = Calculator
msmsgs = Windows Messenger
mspaint = Microsoft Paint
wmplayer = Windows Media Player
rstrui = System Restore
netscp6 = Netscape 6.x
netscp = Netscape 7.x
netscape = Netscape 4.x
waol = America Online
control = Opens the Control Panel
control printers = Opens the Printers Dialog


internetbrowser

type in u're adress "google", then press [Right CTRL] and [Enter]
add www. and .com to word and go to it
Enjoy :)

Keyboard Shortcuts Result in Excel 2000 - Movement

 F1 Key Help
F2 Key Edit current Cell
F5 Key Goto
F7 Key Spell Check
F12 Key Save file as
CTRL and A Select entire worksheet.
CTRL and B Toggle Bold Text.

3 Secrets to "Striking it Rich" in Cyberspace

In the few seconds it takes you to read this another domain
name gets registered at www.NetworkSolutions.com, the
Internet's oldest and largest domain name registrar.

Everyone from industrial giants to corner flower shops
currently wants to stake a profitable claim in cyberspace.

The lure of low startup costs compared to brick-and-mortar
operations and the promise of high rewards draws an ever-
swelling crowd of merchants to the online marketplace.

Yet despite the optimism statistics tell us that 80% of
these "e" businesses will fail within their first 12 months
of operation.

People from all over the country ask me what it takes to
succeed in the e-commerce world once they've completed the
basic steps for getting online.

The following three keys virtually *guarantee success* for
any online enterprise.


The First Key:

A Quality product or service with highly evident and readily
understood benefits for consumers.

If your product or service does not represent the highest
quality and value possible, and if consumers don't
understand exactly why they should buy from you, the speed
of the Internet will just expose your shortcomings to the
marketplace that much quicker.

In the offline world a product's benefits, not the features,
cause consumers to make buying decisions.

A man doesn't buy a car with a 5 liter engine because of the
horsepower, he buys it for the feeling of supremacy and
control he thinks it will give him.

Kids don't want a 1000mHz computer for computing power in
doing homework, they want to play the latest games.

The Internet magnifies this "what's in it for me" benefits-
driven evaluation by consumers.

Products or services presented with readily understood,
self-serving benefits for consumers sell best online (and
off).


The Second Key:

An excellent website that loads fast, provides pertinent
information to targeted consumers, and allows them to make
online purchases quickly and securely.

Your website should: · Load fast by making conservative use
of graphics. (Go to yahoo.com for an excellent example.)

· Provide exactly the information your potential customers
want and need.

· Make it extremely easy for surfers to navigate your site
and find exactly what they want.

· Look good on both the Netscape and Internet Explorer web
browsers at various screen resolutions (640x480, 800x600,
etc.).


The Third Key:

Consistent, targeted website traffic by consumers capable of
buying your product or service.

Imagine buying a 50 foot billboard and, instead of putting
it out by the highway, you hid it in your basement.

Nobody would see it!

The same thing happens if you don't actively and
continuously promote your website to attract visitors.

With its incredible speed and communications power, the
Internet acts as a magnifying glass for any organization's
strengths and weaknesses. E-commerce, e-mail, and a website
won't do the job of marketing, selling, and customer service
for any company.

They will, however, help every organization perform all of
those business functions better, faster, and less
expensively with the real and tangible result of "striking
it rich" in cyberspace!


About the author:
Jim Edwards, a.k.a. TheNetReporter.com, is a syndicated
newspaper columnist, nationally recognized speaker, author,
and web developer. Owner of nine (9) successful e-businesses
as well as a professional consulting firm, Jim's writing comes
straight off the front lines of the Internet and e-commerce.

Need MORE TRAFFIC to your website or affiliate links? "Turn Words Into Traffic" reveals the secrets for driving Thousands of NEW visitors to your website. Click Here> http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com

A Review of Refurbished Toshiba Laptops

Toshiba offers a few of their refurbished laptops in the “Clearance Store” of their official website toshibadirect.com. There you can purchase their laptops at 20-30% discounts, refurbished and as good as new. Toshiba inspects all returned and overstocked notebooks, replaces any defective parts, and resells them. You the consumer reap the benefits.

Toshiba refurbished laptops are usually available in their Satellite, Satellite Pro, Portegé, Tecra, and Qosmio lines. The Satellite series is the most commonly refurbished model. They are powerful and comparatively inexpensive. However, they are not as affordable as Dell or IBM laptops. This is in part due to the fact that Toshiba Satellite notebooks are better equipped to handle multimedia presentations. They usually include media hardware that allows you to hook the unit up to a television or projection screen. They are perfect for students and casual home users.

The Toshiba Qosmio line is one of the best laptops for multimedia and computer gaming. The Qosmio usually comes with a Pentium 4 or Pentium M processor – some of the best and fastest processors around. Their 15.4” screens run larger than most other brands – perfect for watching movies, playing video games, and viewing documents side-by-side. Their expansion capabilities are also top-notch, so you can continue to use your Toshiba laptop for years to come.

One of the laptops Toshiba offers at a discount is the Satellite A60. This is packed with all the portable technology for most of your computing needs, at only $850. It’s heavy, but a little extra weight comes along with all the multimedia features it offers.

When buying a refurbished Toshiba laptop computer, make sure you are able to find disk drivers that match the unit. It can be difficult to acquire these. Check with Toshiba Direct, or visit a trusted third-party refurbisher.

Of course, Toshiba offers the industry standard 90-day warranty on both its notebooks and batteries. When buying from a third-party distributor, ask about their particular warranty plans.

How To Get Top Ranking, Search Engines

The tutorial is all about getting your site listed on top in Search Engines i.e Search Engine Optimization

First thing you need to do is find the keywords you want to optimize for.

There is great tool by Overture (/http://inventory.overture.com/d/sea...ory/suggestion/)

But I would suggest using this free tool called GoodKeywords (/http://www.goodkeywords.com/products/gkw/)

This one does the same job as Overture does but it also supports other Search Engines (Lycos and Teoma etc..)

For example if you want to optimize for the keyword "tech news", just search for the keyword in any of the tools specified above... It would show you keywords related to that and not of the searches..

Pick the keywords which are related to your site.

For example when you search for "Tech News" you'll see the following results:

Count Search Term
11770 tech news
351 itt news tech
191 high tech news
60 news tech texas
49 computer tech news
42 bio news tech
34 in itt news tech
30 news tech virginia
29 asia news tech
25 hi tech news
25 sci tech news

Now see what other terms are related to your keyword technology news

Do couple of searches like that and note down around 15-20 keywords.
Then, keep the keywords which are searched most on the top.

Now you need Title Tag for the page.

Title tag should include top 3 keywords, like for "tech news" it can be like :

"Latest Tech News, Information Technology News and Other computer raleted news here."

Remember that characters should not be more than 95 and should not have more than 3 "," commas - some search engines might cosider more than 3 commas as spam

Now move on to Meta Tags

You need following Meta Tags in web page

<META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META name="keywords" content="keyword1,keyword2,keyword3">
<META name="description" content="brief description about the site">
<META name="robots" Content="Index,Follow">


No need to have other meta tags like abstract, re-visit and all, most people dont read it.

Now...

<META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">

This tag is tells content type is html and character set used it iso-8859-1 there are other character sets also but this is the one mosty used..

<META name="keywords" content="keyword1,keyword2,keyword3">

This one should have all your keywords inside starting from keyword with most counts...

keyword tag for our example would be something like :

<META name="keywords" content="tech news,technology news, computer technology news,information technology,software news">

Remember to put around 15-20 keywords max not more than that. Dont repeat keywords or dont put keywords like, "tech news", "info tech news", "latest tech news" and so on...

<META name="description" content="brief description about the site">

Provide short decription about your site and include all the keywords mentioned in the title tag.

Decription tag should be:

<META name="description" content="One Stop for Latest Tech News, Information Technology News, Computer Related and Software news.">

It can be upto 255 characters and avoid using more than 3 "," commas

<META name="robots" Content="Index,Follow">

This is used for search robots..following explanation will help you :

index,follow = index the page as well as follow the links
noindex,follow = dont index the page but follow the links
index,nofollow = index the page but dont follow the links
noindex,nofollow = dont index page, dont follow the links
all = same as index,follow
none = same as noindex,nofollow

Now move on to body part of the page

Include all top 3 keywords here,
I would suggest to break the keyword and use it...

For example

YourSiteName.com one stop for all kind of Latest Tech News and Computer Related information and reviews.................

Include main keywords in <h#> tags <h1><h2> etc..
and start with <h1> and then move to <h2> <h3> etc..

<h1> tag will be too big but CSS can help you there, define small font size in css for H1,H2,... tags

When done with page copy, then you need to provide title and alt tags for images and links.

Use some keywords in the tags but dont add all the keywords and if not neccessary then dont use keywords in it, basically it should explain what is image all about.

Remember to add Top keyword atleast 4 times in the body and other 2 keywords thrice and twice respectively.

Now move on to Footer Part
Try to include top keywords here and see the effect, use site keywords as links i.e.

<a href="news.php">Tech News</a> <a href="software-news.php">Software News</a> etc..

Now finally, you need to read some more stuff..may be you can all it as bottom lines...

Site Map - This is page where you need to put all the links present in your site, this is will help Search Engines to find the links easily and also provide link for site map in footer, as search engines start scanning the page from bottom.

Robots.txt - This file contains address of directories which should not be scanned by search engines.. more info can be found here : /http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/exclusion.html search engines line google, yahoo ask for robots.txt file.

Valid HTML - Your code should have valid html and doc type, Its kind of diffucult to follow all the standards but you can atleast open and close all the tags properly, you can check your page's html online here : /http://validator.w3.org/ or you can use this free software called HTML Tidy : /http://tidy.sourceforge.net/

All done now, you just need to check your site with this script, its called SEO Doctor : /http://www.instantposition.com/seo_doctor.cfm

It'll show you the report of your site with solution.

Now, correct the errors and start submitting the site :

Start with google : /http://google.com/addurl.html
then yahoo : /http://submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request
then move to altavista,alltheweb and other search engies..

Also submit your site to direcories like /http://dmoz.org , /http://jayde.com etc...
Dmoz is must, as google, yahoo and may more search engines uses same directory

And remember, dont try to SPAM with keywords in these directories, dmoz is handled by Human Editors

Submitted the sites, but still i cant see you site on top?

Wait for sometime may be a month or so but keep an eye on your search term, use /http://GoogleAlert.com - this will show whenever google updates for your keywords, it will mail you the new results.

And also check whether your site is listed on google..
use this tool called Google Monitor, it can be downloaded for free from : /http://www.cleverstat.com/google-monitor.htm

How To Find Serial Numbers On Google

ok, this is a little trick that i usually use to find cd keys with Google.


if your looking for a serial number for nero (for example) go to goggle.com and type nero 94FBR and it'll bring it up

this works great in google

HOW DOES THIS WORK?

Quite simple really. 94FBR is part of a Office 2000 Pro cd key that is widely distributed as it bypasses the activation requirements of Office 2K Pro. By searching for the product name and 94fbr, you guarantee two things.

1)The pages that are returned are pages dealing specifically with the product you're wanting a serial for.

2)Because 94FBR is part of a serial number, and only part of a serial number, you guarantee that any page being returned is a serial number list page.


I hope this trick help you finding your ccd keys easily

Enjoy :)

How To Download Movies, From IRC

 First off welcome to the wonderful world of TMD!


--------------------- SETTING UP mIRC ---------------------

First of all you need to download mIRC from /http://www.mirc.com, this program will let you connect to the server and channel to download movies. Once installed run mIRC, and you will be presented with the mIRC options. The first thing you will see is the "Connect" options. Set the options as follows:

IRC Network: Select "Criten" from the dropdown list.
Full Name: Enter what you feel comfortable with.
Email Address: Enter your email address.
Nickname: Enter the nickname you want.
Alternative: If the nickname you picked isn't available this is the one it will use.

*If Criten isn't listed in the IRC Networks, hit the "Add" button.
Description: Criten
IRC Server: irc.Criten.net
Port(s): 6667
Group: Criten
Password: Leave Blank
Hit the "Add" Button to finish

Next we will move down to "DCC". Select "Auto-get file" (this will automaticly accept the files that are sent to you), click "YES" in the window that opens. Right next to the "Auto-get file" click on the "Minimize" option. Below that select select "Resume" from the drop-down list under "If file exists:". This option sets mIRC to automaticly resume any failed sends you may get instead of overwriting them.

Continuing in the "DCC" section, go down to "Folders". In the "DCC Ignore:" box select from the drop-down list "Disabled", then untick the "Turn ignore back on in:" box.

mIRC is now setup correctly to download movies from TMD! Hit "OK" on the bottom of the Options window and move on to the next part.


--------------- CONNECTING TO #TMD-MOVIEZ ---------------

In the upper left hand corner of mIRC you will see the "Connect" button in the tool bar, click it to connet to irc.Criten.net. Once it has connected (be patient it can take a while to finally connect on some days), a window will pop-up, this is the mIRC Channels list. On the right side of the window click the "Add" button. Another window will pop up, set it as follows:

Channel: Type in "#TMD-Moviez" (without the quotes)
Password: Leave blank.
Description: Just type in "TMD Moviez" or something of the sort.
Networks: Click the "Add" button and from the drop-down list select "Criten", then click "OK".

If you wish mIRC to automaticly connect to this channel once connected to the server, check the "Join channel on connect" box in the options. You may also wish to add the channel "#TMD" (Our chat channel) by repeating these steps.

Now click "OK" and it will show the mIRC Channels List again with the channel you just added. While the new channel is still selected click "Join" on the right side.

You can also type in /join #TMD-Moviez

A new window will appear with a bunch of text scrolling by, if you see this, than you did everything correctly! You are now in #TMD-Moviez! Move on to the next section for the fun part.


----------------- FINDING AND DOWNLOADING FILES -----------------

The things you see scrolling are ads and searches mainly. It is the ads that you may want to watch for. They consist of info about the server like this:

*********** Only an example server... Not a real one! ********

[2:29am] <TMD-Maveric> File Server Online Triggers:½/ctcp TMD-Maveric !Maveric's Moviez!╗ Min:½6.4 Kbs╗ Sends:½2/2╗ Queues:½10/10╗ Accessed:½3295 times╗ Online:½0/4╗ RCPS:½42.8 Kbs by kuki╗ Served:½95.6G in 785 files╗ Current BW:½41 Kbs╗ AQT:½1hr 15mins╗ Serving:½279 files╗ MOTD: -= :: (»`À.©©.->All the newest from distro!!<-.©©.À┤») :: =- ùI-n-v-i-s-i-o-nù

Really the only thing you need to know to get started is how to connect to the file server and get a file.
The trigger is what you type into the channel to connect to the server. The trigger above would be "/ctcp TMD-Maveric !Maveric's Moviez!" (without the quotes) as noted by the "Triggers:½ ╗" You always type what is inbetween the ½╗. You will know you are connected when a window pops up with:

Serving YourNickname
Waiting for acknowledgement...
DCC Chat connection established

Then you will see alot of text fly by which you can read if you want, but it is not needed. You will be left with something like this "[\]", that is the root directory of the server. To view the files in that directory you type "dir". At that point the directory contents will be show like this:

[2:40am] <TMD-Maveric> dir
[2:40am] <TMD-Maveric> [\*.*]
[2:40am] <TMD-Maveric> DVD RIPS
[2:40am] <TMD-Maveric> MOVIEZ
[2:41am] <TMD-Maveric> [tmd]csi.miami.s1.ep01.golden.parachute.(ftv).tvrip.(1of1).avi 121 mb
[2:41am] <TMD-Maveric> [tmd]csi.miami.s1.ep02.golden.losing.face.(ftv).tvrip.(1of1).avi 115 mb
[2:40am] <TMD-Maveric> End of list.

The ones in all caps are directories, and the others are files signified by the the name and size of the file. If you want to go to a directory you need to type "cd <directory name>". Then you need to type "dir" again to see the contents. You should see something like this:

[2:44am] <TMD-Maveric>cd moviez
[2:44am] <TMD-Maveric> [\moviez]
[2:44am] <TMD-Maveric> dir
[2:44am] <TMD-Maveric> [\moviez\*.*]
[2:44am] <TMD-Maveric> ..
[2:44am] <TMD-Maveric> A RUMOR OF ANGELS
[2:44am] <TMD-Maveric> ALI G INDAHOUSE
[2:44am] <TMD-Maveric> AVENGING ANGELO
[2:44am] <TMD-Maveric> BALLISTIC - ECKS VS SEVER
[2:44am] <TMD-Maveric> BARBERSHOP
[2:44am] <TMD-Maveric> BARBERSHOP (UNCUT)
[2:45am] <TMD-Maveric> [tmd]nailed.(evil).scr.(1of2).avi 169 mb
[2:45am] <TMD-Maveric> [tmd]nailed.(evil).scr.(2of2).avi 59.3 mb
[2:45am] <TMD-Maveric> End of list.

Now to get a file you need to type "get <filename>". At that point you will either be sent the file, placed in queue for the file, of told that there isn't a free spot in the queue for you. Looking like this:

[2:50am] <TMD-Maveric> get [tmd]nailed.(evil).scr.(1of2).avi
[2:50am] <TMD-Maveric> Sending [tmd]nailed.(evil).scr.(1of2).avi ½169MB╗.
OR [2:50am] <TMD-Maveric>The file has been queued in slot 1
OR [2:50am] <TMD-Maveric> Sorry but the Maximum Allowed Queues of 10 has been reached. Please try again later.

The window may say something like "idle connection closing in 30 seconds", when you are finished either type "exit" or let the connection close. You will still get your download!
TIP: To quicky enter the filename you should copy and paste it. mIRC automaticly copys what ever text is selected to the clipboard. So select the filename (when you let go of the mouse button the selection will disappear) then use Ctrl+V (or right click and choose paste) to paste it.

A few other things you should know is how to go back a directory ("cd .."), how to see what files are sending ("sends"), and how to see who is in the queue ("queues").

Now to find the movie you are looking for.... As you may have seen in the chat screen you can search for what file you are looking for. This is done by using "@find <moviename>". So if you were looking for "The Ring" then you would type "@find the ring". If any matching files were found new windows will open with the results. You will see these flashing red in the top bar. Clicking on them will display the results for each server the file was found in, looking a bit like this:

<Nickname-of-server> [@Find Results] -=SysReset 2.50=-
<Nickname-of-server> Found [2] files on Trigger [/ctcp Nickname-of-server !TRIGGER!] - Queues: [20/25]
<Nickname-of-server> File: [The Ring\[tmd]the.ring.(ftf).ts.(2of2).avi] - Size [149.7MB]
<Nickname-of-server> File: [The Ring\[tmd]the.ring.(ftf).ts.(1of2).avi] - Size [130.1MB]
<Nickname-of-server> End of @Find.

The things to pay attention to is the trigger and the "Queues". The "queues" tell you how many people are in line to get a file from this server. [20/25] means there are 20 people in line out of an available 25 slots. The fewer amout of people in the queue the shorter amount of time you have to wait before downloading. Once you find a good server, type in the trigger that is show and you will be connected to the file server.
TIP: To close all the windows that opened as a result of the @find type "/close -m" in the channel.


----------------- COMMON ERRORS AND PROBLEMS -----------------

Error: "You need to identify a registered nick to join..."
Solution: To register: type in (without quotes) "/msg NickServ REGISTER password youremailaddress". That will register your current nickname using the password and email specified. To identify type in (without quotes) "/msg NickServ IDENTIFY password" where password is the password you registered with.

Problem: "The video doesn't play right!"
Solution: Be sure to download and install the TMD Codec. If after you have intalled the codec the video still doesn't work, make sure you download the entire file, the file sizes are listed on our MoveBot.

Error: "No more connections allowed in your connection class"
Solution: This just means the server is full. There is nothing to do but wait till it connects. Patience is a virtue!

Problem: "I have been banned from the channel, what do I do?"
Solution: Most bans only last a minute, so try to join the channel later. If you still can not join, then private message the OP that banned you in #TMD. To send a private message type "/msg <username> <message>" in the channel substituting <username> with the username of the person that banned you, and <message> with the message you want to send.

Problem: "I downloaded a movie but the quality is bad!"
Solution: There is nothing you can do about it! TMD encodes movies that were supplied by a "ripping" group. We encoded those files to make them more compact for easy downloading, while keeping the best quality we can. Some movies we get are bad quality to begin with, and we do what we can with what we have to work with.

Problem: "How do I know what new movies have been released?"
Solution: We have a bot in #TMD-Moviez and #TMD, simply type "!newmoviez" into the channel for the last 10 releases. Type "!moviebot" for all of the bots commands.


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

It all can be quite confusing at first glance, but after a week or two it seems simple! Any other questions you may have can probably be answered by going to #TMD. I hope this helps everybody.

Google Tips & Tricks, (utilizing search engine)

==================================================
Utilizing search engines
==================================================

So much information is on the web, its mind boggling. Thankfully we have search
engines to sift through them and catagorize them for us. Unfortunatly, there is still so
much info that even with these search engines, its often a painstakingly slow process
(something comparable to death for a hacker) to find exactly what you're looking for.

Lets get right into it.

I use google.com as my primary search engine because it presently tops the charts as far as
the sites that it indexes which means more pertinent info per search.

1. Page translation.
Just because someone speaks another language doesn't mean they dont have anything useful to say. I use translation tools like the ones found at

http://babelfish.altavista.com
and

http://world.altavista.com
to translate a few key words I am searching for. Be specific and creative because these tools arent the most accurate things on the planet.

2. Directories.
These days everything is about $$$. We have to deal/w SEO (search engine optimization) which seems like a good idea on paper until you do a search for toys and get 5 pornsites in the first 10 results. Using a sites directory will eliminate that. You can narrow your search down easily by looking for the info in specific catagories. (PS google DOES have directories, they're at: directory.google.com)

3. Here are some tips that google refers to as "advanced"

A. "xxxx" / will look for the exact phrase. (google isnt case sensitive)
B. -x / will search for something excluding a certain term
C. filetype:xxx / searches for a particular file extention (exe, mp3, etc)
D. -filetype:xxx / excludes a particular file extention
E. allinurl:x / term in the url
F. allintext:x / terms in the text of the page
G. allintitle:x / terms in the html title of that page
H. allinanchor:x / terms in the links

4. OR
Self explanatory, one or the other... (ie: binder OR joiner)

5. ~X
Synonyms/similar terms (in case you can't think of any yourself)

6. Numbers in a range.
Lets say you're looking for an mp3 player but only want to spend up to $90. Why swim through all the others? MP3 player $0..$90 The 2 periods will set a numeric range to search between. This also works with dates, weights, etc

7. +
Ever type in a search and see something like this:
"The following words are very common and were not included in your search:"
Well, what if those common words are important in your search? You can force google to search through even the common terms by putting a + in front of the denied word.

8. Preferences
It amazes me when I use other peoples PCs that they dont have their google search preferences saved. When you use google as much as I do, who can afford to not have preferences? They're located on the right of the search box, and have several options, though I only find 2 applicable for myself...
A. Open results in new browser
B. Display 10-100 results per page. (I currently use 50 per page, but thats a resolution preference, and 5X's the default)

9. *
Wildcard searches. Great when applied to a previously mentioned method. If you only know the name of a prog, or are looking for ALL of a particular file (ie. you're DLing tunes) something like *.mp3 would list every mp3.

10. Ever see this?
"In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the X already displayed. If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included." The answer is YES. yes yes yes. Did I mention yes? I meant to.

11. Search EVERYWHERE
Use the engine to its fullest. If you dont find your answer in the web section, try the group section. Hell, try a whole different search engine. Dont limit yourself, because sometimes engines seem to intentionally leave results out.
ex. use google, yahoo, and altavista. search the same terms... pretty close, right? Now search for disney death. Funny, altavista has plenty of disney, but no death...hmmm.

If you've read this far into this tutorial without saying, "Great, a guy that copied a few google help pages and thinks its useful info" then I will show you WHY (besides accuracy, speed, and consistancy finding info on ANYTHING) its nice to know how a search engine works. You combine it/w your knowledge of other protocol.

Example:
Want free music? Free games? Free software? Free movies? God bless FTP! Try this search:
intitle:"Index of music" "rolling stones" mp3
Substitute rolling stones/w your favorite band. No? Try the song name, or another file format. Play with it. Assuming SOMEONE made an FTP and uploaded it, you'll find it.

For example....I wanted to find some Sepultura. If you never heard them before, they're a Brazilian heavy metal band that kicks ass. I started with this:
intitle:"Index of music" "Sepultura" mp3 <-- nothing
intitle:"Index of música" "Sepultura" mp3 <-- nothing
intitle:"Index of musica" "Sepultura" mp3 <-- not good enough
intitle:"Index of music" "Sepultura" * <-- found great stuff, but not enough Sepultura

At this point it occurs to me that I may be missing something, so I try:
intitle:"index of *" "sepultura" mp3 <-- BANG!
(and thats without searching for spelling errors)
Also try inurl:ftp

I find that * works better for me than trying to guess other peoples mis-spellings.

The same method applies for ebooks, games, movies, SW, anything that may be on an FTP site.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and I saw that recently a book and an article was written on the very same topic. I havn't read them as of yet, but check em out, and get back to me if you feel I missed something important and should include anything else.

intitle:"index of" "google hacks" ebook


Ps. I've said it before, I'll say it again... BE CREATIVE.
You'll be surprised what you can find.

COMMON FTP ERROR CODES

~~~~~~~~~COMMON FTP ERROR CODES~~~~~~~~~~

# Description

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

120 Service ready in nnn minutes.

125 Data connection already open; transfer starting.

150 File status okay; about to open data connection.

200 Command okay.

202 Command not implemented, superfluous at this site.

211 System status, or system help reply.

212 Directory status.

213 File status.

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

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

220 Service ready for new user.

221 Service closing control connection.

225 Data connection open; no transfer in progress.

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

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

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

250 Requested file action okay, completed.

257 "PATHNAME" created.

331 User name okay, need password.

332 Need account for login.

350 Requested file action pending further information

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

425 Can't open data connection.

426 Connection closed; transfer aborted.

450 Requested file action not taken.

451 Requested action aborted. Local error in processing.

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

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

501 Syntax error in parameters or arguments.

502 Command not implemented.

503 Bad sequence of commands.

504 Command not implemented for that parameter.

530 Not logged in.

532 Need account for storing files.

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

551 Requested action aborted. Page type unknown.

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

553 Requested action not taken. File name not allowed.

CMD Prompt here, add to folder context menu windows xp

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

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

CODE

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

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

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

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

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

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

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

Closing Open Holes, System Security How to close open holes

          Closing Open Holes


With the spread of Hackers and Hacking incidents, the time has come, when not only system administrators of servers of big companies, but also people who connect to the Internet by dialing up into their ISP, have to worry about securing their system. It really does not make much difference whether you have a static IP or a dynamic one, if your system is connected to the Internet, then there is every chance of it being attacked.

This manual is aimed at discussing methods of system security analysis and will shed light on as to how to secure your standalone (also a system connected to a LAN) system.

Open Ports: A Threat to Security?

In the Netstat Tutorial we had discussed how the netstat -a command showed the list of open ports on your system. Well, anyhow, before I move on, I would like to quickly recap the important part. So here goes, straight from the netstat tutorial:

Now, the ??a? option is used to display all open connections on the local machine. It also returns the remote system to which we are connected to, the port numbers of the remote system we are connected to (and the local machine) and also the type and state of connection we have with the remote system.

For Example,

C:\windows>netstat -a

Active Connections


 Proto  Local Address          Foreign Address              State
 TCP    ankit:1031             dwarf.box.sk:ftp                       ESTABLISHED
 TCP    ankit:1036             dwarf.box.sk:ftp-data                 TIME_WAIT
 TCP    ankit:1043             banners.egroups.com:80    FIN_WAIT_2
 TCP    ankit:1045             mail2.mtnl.net.in:pop3       TIME_WAIT
 TCP    ankit:1052             zztop.boxnetwork.net:80   ESTABLISHED
 TCP    ankit:1053             mail2.mtnl.net.in:pop3       TIME_WAIT
 UDP    ankit:1025             *:*
 UDP    ankit:nbdatagram       *:*


Now, let us take a single line from the above output and see what it stands for:

Proto  Local Address          Foreign Address              State
TCP    ankit:1031                dwarf.box.sk:ftp              ESTABLISHED

Now, the above can be arranged as below:

Protocol: TCP (This can be Transmission Control Protocol or TCP, User Datagram Protocol or UDP or sometimes even, IP or Internet Protocol.)

Local System Name: ankit (This is the name of the local system that you set during the Windows setup.)

Local Port opened and being used by this connection: 1031 

Remote System: dwarf.box.sk (This is the non-numerical form of the system to which we are connected.)

Remote Port: ftp (This is the port number of the remote system dwarf.box.sk to which we are connected.)

State of Connection: ESTABLISHED

?Netstat? with the ??a? argument is normally used, to get a list of open ports on your own system i.e. on the local system. This can be particularly useful to check and see whether your system has a Trojan installed or not. Yes, most good Antiviral software are able to detect the presence of Trojans, but, we are hackers, and need to software to tell us, whether we are infected or not. Besides, it is more fun to do something manually than to simply click on the ?Scan? button and let some software do it.

The following is a list of Trojans and the port numbers which they use, if you Netstat yourself and find any of the following open, then you can be pretty sure, that you are infected.



Port 12345(TCP)                   Netbus
Port 31337(UDP)                 Back Orifice

For complete list, refer to the Tutorial on Trojans at: hackingtruths.box.sk/trojans.txt
----

Now, the above tutorial resulted in a number of people raising questions like: If the 'netstat -a' command shows open ports on my system, does this mean that anyone can connect to them? Or, How can I close these open ports? How do I know if an open port is a threat to my system's security of not? Well, the answer to all these question would be clear, once you read the below paragraph:

Now, the thing to understand here is that, Port numbers are divided into three ranges:

The Well Known Ports are those from 0 through 1023. This range or ports is bound to the services running on them. By this what I mean is that each port usually has a specific service running on it. You see there is an internationally accepted Port Numbers to Services rule, (refer RFC 1700 Here) which specifies as to on what port number a particular service runs. For Example, By Default or normally FTP runs on Port 21. So if you find that Port 21 is open on a particular system, then it usually means that that particular system uses the FTP Protocol to transfer files. However, please note that some smart system administrators delibrately i.e. to fool lamers run fake services on popular ports. For Example, a system might be running a fake FTP daemon on Port 21. Although you get the same interface like the FTP daemon banner, response numbers etc, however, it actually might be a software logging your prescence and sometimes even tracing you!!!

The Registered Ports are those from 1024 through 49151. This range of port numbers is not bound to any specific service. Actually, Networking utlites like your Browser, Email Client, FTP software opens a random port within this range and starts a communication with the remote server. A port number within this range is the reason why you are able to surf the net or check your email etc.

If you find that when you give the netstat -a command, then a number of ports within this range are open, then you should probably not worry. These ports are simply opened so that you can get your software applications to do what you want them to do. These ports are opened temporarily by various applications to perform tasks. They act as a buffer transfering packets (data) received to the application and vis-a-versa. Once you close the application, then you find that these ports are closed automatically. For Example, when you type www.hotmail.com in your browser, then your browser randomly chooses a Registered Port and uses it as a buffer to communicate with the various remote servers involved.

The Dynamic and/or Private Ports are those from 49152 through 65535. This range is rarely used, and is mostly used by trojans, however some application do tend to use such high range port numbers. For Example,Sun starts their RPC ports at 32768.
So this basically brings us to what to do if you find that Netstat gives you a couple of open ports on your system:

1. Check the Trojan Port List and check if the open port matches with any of the popular ones. If it does then get a trojan Removal and remove the trojan.

2. If it doesn't or if the Trojan Remover says: No trojan found, then see if the open port lies in the registered Ports range. If yes, then you have nothing to worry, so forget about it.

***********************
HACKING TRUTH: A common technique employed by a number of system administrators, is remapping ports. For example, normally the default port for HTTP is 80. However, the system administrator could also remap it to Port 8080. Now, if that is the case, then the homepage hosted at that server would be at:

http://domain.com:8080 instead of
http://domain.com:80

The idea behind Port Remapping is that instead of running a service on a well known port, where it can easily be exploited, it would be better to run it on a not so well known port, as the hacker, would find it more difficult to find that service. He would have to port scan high range of numbers to discover port remapping.

The ports used for remapping are usually pretty easy to remember. They are choosen keeping in mind the default port number at which the service being remapped should be running. For Example, POP by default runs on Port 110. However, if you were to remap it, you would choose any of the following: 1010, 11000, 1111 etc etc

Some sysadmins also like to choose Port numbers in the following manner: 1234,2345,3456,4567 and so on... Yet another reason as to why Port Remapping is done, is that on a Unix System to be able to listen to a port under 1024, you must have root previledges.
************************


Firewalls

Use of Firewalls is no longer confined to servers or websites or commerical companies. Even if you simply dial up into your ISP or use PPP (Point to Point Protocol) to surf the net, you simply cannot do without a firewall. So what exactly is a firewall?

Well, in non-geek language, a firewall is basically a shield which protects your system from the untrusted non-reliable systems connected to the Internet. It is a software which listens to all ports on your system for any attempts to open a connection and when it detects such an attempt, then it reacts according to the predefined set of rules. So basically, a firewall is something that protects the network(or systen) from the Internet. It is derived from the concept of firewalls used in vehicles which is a barrier made of fire resistant material protecting the vehicle in case of fire.

Now, for a better 'according to the bible' defination of a firewall: A firewall is best described as a software or hardware or both Hardware and Software packet filter that allows only selected packets to pass through from the Internet to your private internal network. A firewall is a system or a group of systems which guard a trusted network( The Internal Private Network from the untrusted network (The Internet.)

NOTE: This was a very brief desciption of what a firewall is, I would not be going into the details of their working in this manual.

Anyway,the term 'Firewalls', (which were generally used by companies for commerical purposes) has evolved into a new term called 'Personal Firewalls'. Now this term is basically used to refer to firewalls installed on a standalone system which may or may not be networked i.e. It usually connects to an ISP. Or in other words a personal firewall is a firewall used for personal use.

Now that you have a basic desciption as to what a firewall is, let us move on to why exactly you need to install a Firewall? Or, how can not installing a firewall pose a threat to the security of your system?

You see, when you are connected to the Internet, then you have millions of other untrusted systems connected to it as well. If somehow someone found out your IP address, then they could do probably anything to your system. They could exploit any vulnerability existing in your system, damage your data, and even use your system to hack into other computers.

Finding out someone'e IP Address is not very difficult. Anybody can find out your IP, through various Chat Services, Instant Messengers (ICQ, MSN, AOL etc), through a common ISP and numerous other ways. Infact finding out the IP Address of a specific person is not always the priority of some hackers.

What I mean to say by that is that there are a number of Scripts and utilities available which scan all IP addresses between a certain range for predefined common vulnerabilities. For Example, Systems with File Sharing Enabled or a system running an OS which is vulnerable to the Ping of Death attack etc etc As soon as a vulnerable system is found, then they use the IP to carry out the attacks.

The most common scanners look for systems with RAT's or Remote Administration Tools installed. They send a packet to common Trojan ports and display whether the victim's system has that Trojan installed or not. The 'Scan Range of IP Addresses' that these programs accept are quite wide and one can easily find a vulnerable system in the matter of minutes or even seconds.

Trojan Horses like Back Orifice provide remote access to your system and can set up a password sniffer. The combination of a back door and a sniffer is a dangerous one: The back door provides future remote access, while the sniffer may reveal important information about you like your other Passwords, Bank Details, Credit Card Numbers, Social Security Number etc If your home system is connected to a local LAN and the attacker manages to install a backdoor on it, then you probably have given the attacker the same access level to your internal network, as you have. This wouls also mean that you will have created a back door into your network that bypasses any firewall that may be guarding the front door.

You may argue with me that as you are using a dial up link to your ISP via PPP, the attacker would be able to access your machine only when you are online. Well, yes that is true, however, not completely true. Yes, it does make access to your system when you reconnect, difficult, as you have a dynamic Internet Protocol Address. But, although this provides a faint hope of protection, routine scanning of the range of IP's in which your IP lies, will more often than not reveal your current Dynamic IP and the back door will provide access to your system.

*******************
HACKING TRUTH: Microsoft Says: War Dialer programs automatically scan for modems by trying every phone number within an exchange. If the modem can only be used for dial-out connections, a War Dialer won't discover it. However, PPP changes the equation, as it provides bidirectional transportmaking any connected system visible to scanners?and attackers.
*******************

So how do I protect myself from such Scans and unsolicitated attacks? Well, this is where Personal Firewalls come in. They just like their name suggests, protect you from unsolicitated connection probes, scans, attacks.

They listen to all ports for any connection requests received (from both legitimate and fake hosts) and sent (by applications like Browser, Email Client etc.) As soon as such an instance is recorded, it pops up a warning asking you what to do or whether to allow the connection to initiate or not. This warning message also contains the IP which is trying to initiate the connection and also the Port Number to which it is trying to connect i.e. the Port to which the packet was sent. It also protects your system from Port Scans, DOS Attacks, Vulnerability attacks etc. So basically it acts as a shield or a buffer which does not allow your system to communicate with the untrusted systems directly.

Most Personal Firewalls have extensive logging facilities which allows you to track down the attackers. Some popular firewalls are:

1.BlackICE Defender : An IDS for PC's. It's available at http://www.networkice.com.

2. ZoneAlarm: The easiest to setup and manage firewall. Get it for free at: www.zonelabs.com

Once you have installed a firewall on your system, you will often get a number of Warnings which might seem to be as if someone is trying to break into your system, however, they are actually bogus messages, which are caused by either your OS itself or due to the process called Allocation of Dynamic IP's. For a details description of these two, read on.

Many people complain that as soon as they dial into their ISP, their firewall says that such and such IP is probing Port X. What causes them?
Well, this is quite common. The cause is that somebody hung up just before you dialed in and your ISP assigned you the same IP address. You are now seeing the remains of communication with the previous person. This is most common when the person to which the IP was assigned earlier was using ICQ or chat programs, was connected to a Game Server or simply turned off his modem before his communication with remote servers was complete.

You might even get a message like: Such and Such IP is trying to initaite a Netbios Session on Port X. This again is extrememly common. The following is an explanation as to why it happens, which I picked up a couple of days ago: NetBIOS requests to UDP port 137 are the most common item you will see in your firewall reject logs. This comes about from a feature in Microsoft's Windows: when a program resolves an IP address into a name, it may send a NetBIOS query to IP address. This is part of the background radiation of the Internet, and is nothing to be concerned about.

What Causes them? On virtually all systems (UNIX, Macintosh, Windows), programs call the function 'gethostbyaddr()' with the desired address. This function will then do the appropriate lookup, and return the name. This function is part of the sockets API. The key thing to remember about gethostbyaddr() is that it is virtual. It doesn't specify how it resolves an address into a name. In practice, it will use all available mechanisms. If we look at UNIX, Windows, and Macintosh systems, we see the following techniques:

DNS in-addr.arpa PTR queries sent to the DNS server
NetBIOS NodeStatus queries sent to the IP address
lookups in the /etc/hosts file
AppleTalk over IP name query sent to the IP address
RPC query sent to the UNIX NIS server
NetBIOS lookup sent to the WINS server

Windows systems do the /etc/hosts, DNS, WINS, and NodeStatus techniques. In more excruciating detail, Microsoft has a generic system component called a naming service. All the protocol stacks in the system (NetBIOS, TCP/IP, Novel IPX, AppleTalk, Banyan, etc.) register the kinds of name resolutions they can perform. Some RPC products will likewise register an NIS naming service. When a program requests to resolve an address, this address gets passed onto the generic naming service. Windows will try each registered name resolution subsystem sequentially until it gets an answer.

(Side note: User's sometimes complained that accessing Windows servers is slow. This is caused by installing unneeded protocol stacks that must timeout first before the real protocol stack is queried for the server name.).

The order in which it performs these resolution steps for IP addresses can be configured under the Windows registry key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\ServiceProvider.

Breaking Through Firewalls

Although Firewalls are meant to provide your complete protection from Port Scan probes etc there are several holes existing in popular firewalls, waiting to be exploited. In this issue, I will discuss a hole in ZoneAlarm Version 2.1.10 to 2.0.26, which allows the attacker to port scan the target system (Although normally it should stop such scans.)

If one uses port 67 as the source port of a TCP or UDP scan, ZoneAlarm will let the packet through and will not notify the user. This means, that one can TCP or UDP port scan a ZoneAlarm protected computer as if there were no firewall there IF one uses port 67 as the source port on the packets.

Exploit:
UDP Scan:
You can use NMap to port scan the host with the following command line:

nmap -g67 -P0 -p130-140 -sU 192.168.128.88

(Notice the -g67 which specifies source port).

TCP Scan:
You can use NMap to port scan the host with the following command line:

nmap -g67 -P0 -p130-140 -sS 192.168.128.88

(Notice the -g67 which specifies source port).