Got a dial-up? Listen to internet radio

Ive got a dialup and am experiencing speeds that are right next to pathetic. Now , what do I do for entertainment? I listen to internet radio!

I had a broadband all these days, and I used to download movies, and songs during happy hours. I had a download limit of 2.5 gb per month. I recently shifted to a place where the telephone company didn't have land line connections.

I went in for a wireless telephone with a built in modem. And believe me, it was well worth the effort. For about 5.29 dollars /250 Indian rupees, I get unlimited download, and now what do I do with it? Its too slow for downloading movies, and itll probably take ages.

I hit upon this software called "boombox". Its a handy piece of software that has a listing of all major internet radio stations. There are various genres to choose from including comedy and 80's. I found the software to be very versatile. Although the software doesnt have a built in player, it can utilize your default player such as windows media player or winamp. Whats more, you can even select the bit rate to be sure you can play it with relatively fast buffering.

24 - 32 kbps radio has ought to serve the purpose.

As I do not have a download limit, this just manages to keep me entertained all day long.

One of my favorite radio stations is "Social Crime"

Im going freelance!

Finally, I found myself a means of income, that doesnt involve working for somebody, who is always breathing down your neck. Yes, Im talking about freelancing. Its the newest buzz on the internet. Maybe you should try it to supplement your income, or better yet, make it your sole means of income!

How it works :

> Firstly, you need to get yourself an account on any of the freelancing sites such as

Elance [ Pretty good, has been in the field for a while ]

workbuggy [ Extensive ! ]

freelanceswitch [ Good... ]

There are many others, that are better, but these are my favorites.

>Secondly, start trolling for projects on these sites. Generally, they offer a limited amount of "credits", or "connects" to get you started. These are the tokens that you can use to "bid" on projects. Bidding is a process wherein you, the "provider" are going to "quote" a price for a project that interests you. Make sure you quote the lowest price, so that you get the project. Once you get a hold of things, you can quote higher prices.

>Thirdly, start building projects after deciding the means of payment. And remember, the more money you spend on memberships, the better your earnings will be. The site will start listing your name in premium categories, so that customers will be able to easily get in touch with you.

It amazes me that people/companies are willing to spend upto $500 - $1000 for a simple web page project. NO dynamic pages, NO complicated flash, for just pure HTML and a couple of images, that they will provide you.

Well, Im off to freelancing, until I can find myself a suitable job. Im considering it an important career option.

The hunt for a job ...

These past few weeks have been a roller coaster ride for me, so haven't been able to get myself to write articles for this blog.

The job offer I had got from Sapient, is almost a distant dream now, as they have "postponed" the joining dates to NEXT july! This comes as a shock to me and many of my friends who were looking to get our BE degrees and go onto join companies as software developers. Our previous batches which had got placed in other companies have been asked to go "home", thanks to the US Dollar recession.

We've been waiting at the tips of our toes to join the companies and what do the seniors tell us?..That they have been kicked out of the companies for no reason whatsoever. The companies are quick to ascertain that their companies arent the only ones doing it... Its like the whole industry has come crashing down!

I got a call 2 weeks earlier from Sapient informing me of this "unfortunate" situation. I asked the HR person to honestly tell me whether or not I would really get a job as promised by them. She said in a confident manner that my employment with them was valid for life, unless I was caught for bad behavior, or ill performance, both of which cannot occur since I havent yet joined their company!

Weeks, After getting a satisfactory answer from them, I got a letter which said, all the things I mentioned above, and went on to drop a bomb at the end :

"......

But your employment with Sapient cannot be guaranteed. Thank you. ..."

Now, I have decided to bring into action my contingency plans. I had almost completed a GNIIT course which guaranteed me a developers job. It was a 3 year course and Ive already completed the 2 years. The third year is supposed to be an industry orientation, in which we'll be sent to a company for onsite projects, and if lady luck shines, we'll get placed in the same company. Im just waiting for my degree, after which I can do this...The results ought to come out by the next month...

How to Move from Windows to Linux

1. Choose a Linux Distro. Research is key.
   Look into what distribution of GNU/Linux would be best for you.
   Everyone is different, and all Linux distributions are different,
   but there will probably be one (or two) that appeals to the most.
   If you're new to the operating system, it's probably best to go for
   something PCLinuxOS,
   Mandriva or Ubuntu - these
   distributions of Linux are aimed at inexperienced users and will
   help you along the way. The Ubuntu distribution will send you a set
   of CDs free of charge, there are other sites on the internet which
   charge a small fee for postage.
2. Try the "Live CD" versions first, assuming your computer will
   boot from the CD drive; most will. Most distributions offer Live CD
   ISOs on their website, which you can burn to CD. A Live CD means
   that Linux will run entirely from a CD and will not touch your
   Windows installation - this allows you to test out some of the
   functionality Linux offers without wiping your existing Windows
   install.
3. Use Linux applications that have been ported over to Windows.
   Fine example are Inkscape and the
   GIMP. Using these will get you used to the kind of applications
   available on Linux (Although there is a school of thought to the
   effect that the GIMP is a bad piece of software). Using open source
   applications will be a real boost when you actually switch over, as
   it will be relatively painless for, say, an XChat user to use XChat
   on his new system, rather than a mIRC (Or other Windows-only IRC client) user having
   to learn an entirely new program.
4. Back up your important data before you do anything else. If you
   make a mistake while installing Linux, it's possible you'll have to
   format your hard drive to put things right. In which case, you will
   lose all data on it. It is very important you back up if you need
   to.
5. Get hold of a Linux install CD - when you boot from this, it
   will take you through the steps required to install Linux. Some
   distributions, like Ubuntu, actually install from the Live CD, so
   you do not need to download an additional CD image.
6. Partition your hard drive into two partitions, one containing
   your existing Windows install, the other containing the Linux
   installation. Under Windows, this can be easily done with various
   partitioning tools (Partition Magic, Paragon Partition Manager and
   others) preserving both Windows installation and existing data.
   Note that Windows Vista comes with a partition tool.
7. Choose which operating system to boot into when once the Linux
   installation has finished. This is called dual-booting. It is wise
   to do this before completely converting to Linux to give you
   something to fall back on if something goes wrong.
8. Get comfortable with Linux. As time goes on you will find you
   need to boot into Windows less and less. Using Linux is a learning
   experience, make sure you make the most of the "community" help
   which is available from most distributions of Linux. There is
   usually a wide community which you can ask questions and there will
   be people more than willing to help you out with any problems
   you've got. Make sure you use Google and the "search" functions on
   community websites because people may get irate at answering the
   same questions all the time in forums and on irc. Visit your
   distribution's support page or FAQ.
9. Wipe your Windows partition (devote your entire hard disk to
   Linux) once you're comfortable with Linux. You'll probably never
   look back!

Ever dreamt of becoming a graffiti artist?

Did you ever felt within yourself when you saw some graffiti, the
desire to spray one by yourself? But you don’t want to spray something
at other people buildings, or you don’t have the money to do so. Or you
even want to stop to do it, then here is the website for you.

The Website Vandalsquad.com

I just found today this cool website, VandalSquad
,by accident. It have been around quite awhile, since 2002 to be
correct. On their website you have the possibility to spray graffiti.
The site is made like a Blacklist of Graffiti sprayers which are
searched by the LRPD, you can view at their website also 2 million
graffiti(as they tell) created by other sprayers, the graffiti can also
be voted. The more popular you’re the more you’re searched…

Spray the hell out of yours

You have two possibilities to spray, the first one is online and the
other one is as application which you have to download before.

Spraying Online

The online Graffiti spraying somehow didn’t work, but as much as I
have read it should be the same as the download version, just with one
limitation that you don’t have that much graffiti backgrounds.

Spraying Offline

After you downloaded and installed the Software, you can start
spraying. You have just one graffiti Background, which should be enough
for the beginning to see if you like to spray graffiti. If you want to
make more graffiti after the first one you can go online and grab
around 20 different surfaces for it. Most of them shows trains or
buses, but you have also a helicopter, tank, and a so called wallman
available for download.

You can have the choice out of around 50 colors, which can be
sprayed in different thickness as well as distance. And you can use a
pen to make more filigree jobs. If you sprayed something wrong, that’s
not worse you can simply undo it.

At any time you can preview your work to see how it will look as a
whole, as most graffiti Surfaces are too big to fit in as whole.

When you’re finish with your work you can Save it, which will just keep
it local on your hard drive but not as jpg or so. It’s stored within
the surface file or so in some format you can’t use. You also have the
possibility to upload your graffiti it to vandalsquad.com so other
sprayer can view your masterpiece, and maybe you get the most wanted
graffiti sprayer once?

BOOMBox rocks!!

I got my hands on the BOOMBox software today. Im stuck with a dialup connection, and felt I had a broadband when presented with what BOOMBox had to offer!! Man...This thing ROCKS!!! Take it from me...I dont give that rating just to any software I come across.

Though, the software doesnt have a bundled player, it does a good job of indexing various radio stations throughout the internet. Whats more? It allows you to search according to the genre you're interested in!

It indexed radio stations that winamp, and real player missed out on!.This is the real deal.

Check their site here.

Iam recommending this software to all my friends and to you! Until the next article, chao!

Ford Offroad Racing??

I recently got my hands on Fords Offroad racing game. This isnt a new title, but I thought of picking it up anyway...

The gameplay is good, though the AI doesnt give up much of a competition. I found the handling pretty smooth. The responsiveness is good too.

There isnt anything more to say about this game...Its just your typical offroad racing game, in which all the cars were Fords Land Rovers!!

The game gets a 2 out of 5..

Registry error loading key 'Warcraft III\InstallPath'

1) Retrieving the cd-key

So u lost the game manual with the cd-key on it... There are a non-legit programs to retrieve lost cd-keys from the game.

So u still have v1.18.

For the cd-key grabber: http://www.securegamers.com/shadowfr...abber11800.exe

Of course u can get another key from Blizzard the Legit Way.

2) Just move the game back to C:\Program Files\

3) To have it where ever u want:

So ur game is still on the other partition/harddisk.

U can config a lot o stuff with regedit, especially in Windows itself, by the way.


When u move the game to an other directory the registry files remain unchanged.

The v1.19 patch at least needs to know where the game is located(from InstallPath).

So u need to use the Registry Editor and just rename those registry files' directories.


But if u don't know how to do this stuff ... well ...

Guide:

Start -> Run Type: regedit
My Computer -> HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Software -> Blizzard Entertainment -> Warcraft III

Warcraft III:

InstallPath = from C:\Program Files\Warcraft III in D:\Warcraft III for example.

Program = from C:\Program Files\Warcraft III\Warcraft III.exe in D:\Warcraft III\Warcraft III.exe for example.

War3CD = E:\ no change needed.

Warcraft III -> DelOpt0(Savegames)

Path0 = C:\Program Files\Warcraft III\save

Path1 = C:\Program Files\Warcraft III\save

Path2 = C:\Program Files\Warcraft III\save
Warcraft III -> DelOpt1(Replays)

Path0 = ...
Warcraft III -> DelOpt2(Logs)

Path0 = ...

Path1 = ...

Path2 = ...

Path3 = ...
Warcraft III -> DelOpt3(Errors)

Path0 = ...


The rest of those registry files u see there are fine.

Slave hack??

I just ran into this online game when browsing online. I was fascinated by the name itself. I ran a search on google and found out, it was a terminal based hacking game within a web browser!

This game runs within a web page, and installs no spyware on your pc, as no software download is required at all! I have played many other terminal based hacking games before, and have found the genre interesting. I decided to give this a try.

Im still a n00b at this, and will update this blog, as and when I reach advanced levels on this game, meanwhile, I would reccomend you signup for this game at here.

Until next time!

Using your Flash memory as RAM in XP

People have been fascinated by Microsofts idea of using a flash memory as a RAM in its Vista OS. Id say Im not surprised at all! Thats because Ive been doing the same thing with XP for about 2 years now!!! Yes, Ive been using my pen drive as RAM ! I would suggest backing up your XP installation before trying this out. Create a restore point if you can.

Heres how its done:

1. Insert your flash memory, and wait until you can see the icon for it in My Computer.

2. Right Click on My Computer, goto properties.


3. Goto Advanced.

4. Click the first settings button.

5. Select the advanced tab.

6. Click the change button

7. select the flash memory and type in the new size for the paging file (Yes, the amount of RAM you want added), take care this must not exceed the size of the drive.

8. Click the set Button, then the OK button. When asked to restart, do so...and VOILA, your XP got much MUCH faster...you wont find a difference in the amount of RAM displayed, but you'll find a performance gain for sure!

CAUTION: You will have to disable the paging file on the flash memory, before removing the flash memory, failing which, your Windows installation will fail to startup and you'll get the dreaded BSOD!!

Open Source alternatives to MS OFFICE?? Are you kidding me?

	Writer	A word processor similar in look and feel to Microsoft Word and offering a comparable range of functions and tools. It also includes the ability to export Portable Document Format (PDF) files with no additional software, and can also function as a WYSIWYG editor for creating and editing web pages.
	Calc	A spreadsheet similar to Microsoft Excel with a roughly equivalent range of features. Calc provides a number of features not present in Excel, including a system which automatically defines series for graphing, based on the layout of the user’s data. Calc is also capable of writing spreadsheets directly as a PDF file.
	Impress	A presentation program similar to Microsoft PowerPoint. It can export presentations to Adobe Flash (SWF) files allowing them to be played on any computer with the Flash player installed. It also includes the ability to create PDF files, and the ability to read Microsoft PowerPoint's .ppt format. Impress suffers from a lack of ready-made presentation designs. However, templates are readily available on the Internet.[12][13][14]
	Base	A database program similar to Microsoft Access. Base allows the creation and manipulation of databases, and the building of forms and reports to provide easy access to data for end-users. As with Access, Base may be used as a front-end to a number of different database systems, including Access databases (JET), ODBC data sources and MySQL/PostgreSQL. Base became part of the suite starting with version 2.0. Native to the OpenOffice.org suite is an adaptation of HSQL. While ooBase can be a front-end for any of the databases listed, there is no need for any of them to be installed.
	Draw	A vector graphics editor comparable in features to early versions of CorelDRAW. It features versatile "connectors" between shapes, which are available in a range of line styles and facilitate building drawings such as flowcharts. It has similar features to Desktop publishing software such as Scribus and Microsoft Publisher.
	Math	A tool for creating and editing mathematical formulae, similar to Microsoft Equation Editor. Formulae can be embedded inside other OpenOffice.org documents, such as those created by Writer. It supports multiple fonts and can exp

Procedure used to recover data from a quick-erased CD-RW disc

1. Make a file of exactly the size of the cdrw disc's capacity (650MB in my case).
(this step may not be needed)

2. With Nero I created a new project and added the file to it so that I have the disc filled. I gues you can also fill up the disc with other files.
The reason why I fill the disc is because I want Nero to make a session that uses the entire disc. Like I wrote earlier in this thread I experienced that my CD-Drive refuses to read off the disc beyond the session's boundaries. When you quick-erase a disc there is no session anymore so the drive will not read at all. Burning a new session will overwrite the data and burning only a small session will NOT make the drive read the other data that is still on the disc.
The reason why I used the one big file is so that I could later on recognize which part of the disc was overwritten by this file because this file contained all zeros (0x00).

3. I pressed burn and selected disc-at-once. Then while Nero was burning the leadin I pressed cancel. My CD-Drive finished writing the lead-in and Nero reported an error.
This is what was accomplished however: Now the disc contains a session that says that the used disc size is the complete disc. Nero did not get to writing file because I cancelled it. Good thing because I don't want Nero to write any files because my old data will get overwritten!
I gues it works the same with different writing software. Another method that I used during a test was simply press the reset button of the computer when the burning software was done with writing the lead-in and started with the files.

4. I had to restart the computer after cancelling burning.
With the cdrw disc inserted I saw in "my computer" that windows recognized that the disc was 650MB, clicking on it gave an error. Good so far!

Now with IsoBuster you can extract the sectors from a disc to a file. This is what I did.
I gues that if you have data-recovery software at this point it will be usefull because now (if all went well;)) the CD-Drive WILL read data from the entire disc. Anyway, I used ISO-Buster because the files that I needed to recover where a bit odd for nowadays (.XM, .S3M, .MP3):
In IsoBuster I had to do several steps:

Step 1: Find out from and to which sector the drive will read
By choosing "Sector View" you can look at any given sector.
Here I found out what the first and the last sectors where that are readable. (Hint I used the method for the old game: "Gues a number below 100, I'll tell if it is higher or lower than what you gues")
Step 2: Extract the actual sectors
By choosing "Extract From-To" you can extract any given range of sectors to a file. My disc was a data-disc so I choose the first extraction type "User data, 2048 bytes/block...".

In the end I got a .tao file which was about 650MB. I ran several programs on it to look for files inside a file by searching for file-header-paterns:
1. Multi Ripper 2.80 (for DOS, for the .XM files. It does many other file formats as well (jpg,png, bmp,wav,etc,etc +100). Try google with this query: Multi Ripper 2.80. I still had the file from good old days but I saw several good search results)

2. Winamp for mp3.
Winamp will scan any file when you give it the extension .mp3 and play it as one big song (so I renamed the .tao file to .mp3). I used the discwriter to get a .wav and the Adobe Audition to manually cut and save my songs. I looked at the MP3 file format and it is hard to find an mp3 file in a big file because it has no clear header just a bunch of mpeg-frames in most cases for me . A lot of my files had no ID3v2 or ID3v1 tags... But after a couple of hours I recovered everything.

Finally a list of used stuff:

Software:
- IsoBuster v1.5
- Nero 6.3.0.3
- Multi Ripper 2.80
- WinAmp v5.02
- Windows XP Pro NL (patched up)

Hardware:
- NEC DVDRW ND1300A 1.06

Disc:
- some old 4 speed cdrw

Convert Stubborn Webpage To .pdf

I have come across some websites that i wanted to save the page for later review. I found that i was having some problems with certain sites. I found a way around it.

what you need:adobe acrobat 6 pro or better
popupcop

there may be a simpler way to do this but i found that this works:

when at a webpage that you want to copy (YOU MUST BE USING IE AND HAVE BOTH POPUPCOP INSTALLED AND ADOBE ACROBAT 6 PRO OR HIGHER, ACROBAT ICON MUST BE IN IE TOOLBAR TO CONVERT TO .PDF), slide popupcops popup intensity bar to the far left, now click on adobe acrobat icon to convert webpage to .pdf document. I have yet to find a webpage where this trick does not work.

Outsmarting System File Protection

Tested in Windows 2000 sp2, Windows 2000 sp3 with and without IE6 sp1. Should work fine in XP and XPsp1

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

A lot of people are having troubles with System File Protection (SFP for short). This can be a major pain in the butt unless you know the tricks to it. Having only tweaked Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 I figured out a few things about SFP and replacing files:

1) TaskManger is your best friend when replacing files in 2k/XP.
When you open task manager you can do just about as much as you can do with Explorer just by going File>NewTask(Run..). From here you can either use the Run Dialog to launch programs one at a time, or select 'Browse' and explore. Using right click menu commands to do the bulk of your work (Copy, Paste, Rename). Problem is often times you can't replace items do to the fact that your browse is making calls to things you want to delete.

2) CommandLine or Cmd.exe is like that other friend you have that likes to help out.
One plus this has over TaskMan is you don't use the file you are trying to replace. A minus is that it can be a pain if you aren't an experienced DOS user.

3) Backups are your ace in the hole.
Always back your files up prior to doing anything (sometimes I don't bother and wish I did.). Keep It Simple Stupid applies here. Save yourself a few keystrokes and place your backups in something like C:\back\

4) SafeMode is the rest of the hand.
Windows2000 and XP (I believe) can both be booted into SafeMode. When your computer is first booting up, after your bios screen but before the Windows is Starting screen (I could be slightly wrong here seeing how I don't know the timing for sure.) you hit F4 or F8 to get the SafeMode menu. Select 'SafeMode with CommandPrompt'. Welcome to "DOS" on 2k/XP. Anything that can't be replaced while Windows is running can be replaced here. (url.dll) Syntax would be Copy c:\url.dll "c:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\" quotations allow you to put spaces in the path (I didn't know this)

...

Here we go. System File Protection, of Sytem File Checker is a neato feature of Windows meant to protect Joe Computeruser's PC from being ruined. When a needed System file is being replaced your File Checker says "Wait a minute this isn't mine." While this can be great in the long run, it's not a positive thing in Windows Hacking. The trick is to replace the files it uses to replace files.

...

1) First up you need to find the file you want to hack and then replace. Start>Search>Files and Folders>dllname. It's good to actually search for the file so you can find out all of the locations of all copies. Let the search finish just in case. If you have installed any service packs you will have probably have copies of the file in:

\winnt\servicepackfiles\i386\ (Win2k)
\windows\servicepackfiles\i386\ (XP)

As well as:

\winnt\system32\dllcache\ (hidden folder in Win2k)
\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache\ (hidden folder in XP)
\winnt\system32\ (win2k)
\windows\system32\ (XP)

2) Now that you have all of the locations, write them down on paper or your forehead just to be safe (backwards so it shows up in the mirror).

3) Make a backup (remember K.I.S.S.)

4) Hack your file and save it c:\ for simplicity.

5) Open TaskManger (Right click on your taskbar and select TaskManger)

6) Go to the 'Processes' Tab and find 'Explorer.exe' highlight it and push the 'End Process' button. Say Yeah to the popup.

7) Go to the first tab in TaskManger and select 'File>NewTask>Run>Browse' from this Window navigate to c:\ and higlight your hacked file. Right clic on it and select 'Copy' (don't Cut it.)

8) Nagivate to your Windows directory, open the \servicepackfiles\i386\ folder. Paste your hacked file and replace the copy that is in that folder.

9) Navigate to your respective dllcache folder, paste the file there too.

10) Replace the normail copy in system32 finally (or wherever it might be).

11) Reboot. Don't LogOff , Reboot.

Now chances are this won't go that smoothly. Either the file you want to replace is in use, or your pal and mine SFP will pop-up. It can mess with you in odd ways. I've replaced the servicepackfiles version and the dllcache files, then had SFP grab the normal and replace the other two with it. This can be frustrating. Or maybe the file is in use. This is where the Command Prompt comes into play. If you already replaced the files and rebooted to no change, launch TaskMan again, kill explorer.exe, then go 'File>NewTask>Run>Cmd.exe' Use the DOS commands to try to replace all of the copies of the file in that order using your hacked version in C:\

This is usually where you get the message from SFP telling you it's alive and kicking. You will get a rather urgent looking pop-up telling you that a file that Windows needs is being replaced by a different file. It will then ask you if you want keep the modified files. Say 'yes'. Next it will prompt you to insert your Windows cd to retrieve a copy of the file it needs. Click 'Cancel'. As a good rule of thumb, when you get this message replace what you need then reboot!

If your file still isn't changing, boot into SafeMode with CommandLine. Wait for Windows to take it's sweet time loading. Then just type copy c:\file.dll c:\winnt\servicepackfiles\i386\. Rinse and Repeat. Then reboot. This has worked for me 100% of the time, if followed it will work for you as well.

http://pixelarmy.org

Cracking Fiiles tihe easiy way

1) Don't try to modify a prog by editing his source in a dissasembler.Why?
Couse that's for programmers and assembly experts only. If any of you dumb kids
try to view it in hex you'll only get tons of crap you don't understand.
First off, you need Resource Hacker(last version).It's a resource editor-
very easy to use.

Resource Hacker Version 3.4.0
CODE
http://delphi.icm.edu.pl/ftp/tools/ResHack.zip/

Help File
CODE
http://www.users.on.net/johnson/resourceha...eshack_hlp.zip/



2)Unzip the archive, and run ResHacker.exe. You can check out the help file too,
if you want to be a guru.

3)You will see that the interface is simple and clean. Go to the menu File\Open or
press Ctrl+O to open a file. Browse your way to the file you would like to edit.
You can edit *.exe, *.dll, *.ocx, *.scr and *.cpl files, but this tutorial is ment
to teach you how to edit *.exe files, so open one.

4)In the left side of the screen a list of sections will appear.
The most common sections are: -Icon;
-String table;
-RCData;
-Dialog;
-Cursor group;
-Bitmap;
-WAV.
*Icon: You can wiew and change the icon(s) of the program by double-clicking the icon section,chossing the icon, right-clicking on it an pressing "replace resource". After that you can choose the icon you want to replace the original with.
*String table: a bunch of crap, useful sometimes, basic programming knowladge needed.
*RCData: Here the real hacking begins. Modify window titles, buttons, text, and lots more!
*Dialog:Here you can modify the messages or dialogs that appear in a program. Don't forget
to press "Compile" when you're done!
*Cursor group: Change the mouse cursors used in the program just like you would change the icon.
*Bitmap: View or change images in the programs easy!
*WAV:Change the sounds in the prog. with your own.


5) In the RCData,Dialog,Menu and String table sections you can do a lot of changes. You can
modify or translate the text change links, change buttons, etc.


TIP: To change a window title, search for something like: CAPTION "edit this".
TIP: After all operations press the "Compile Script" button, and when you're done editing save
your work @ File\Save(Save as).
TIP: When you save a file,the original file will be backed up by default and renamed to Name_original and the saved
file will have the normal name of the changed prog.
TIP: Sometimes you may get a message like: "This program has a non-standard resource layout... it has probably been compressed with an .EXE compressor." That means that Resource Hacker can't modify it becouse of it's structure.

Remember! This is only a small example of what you can do to executables with Resource Hacker.

Advanced Shell Coding Techniques

Introduction

This paper assumes a working knowledge of basic shellcoding techniques, and x86 assembly, I will not rehash these in this paper. I hope to teach you some of the lesser known shellcoding techniques that I have picked up, which will allow you to write smaller and better shellcodes. I do not claim to have invented any of these techniques, except for the one that uses the div instruction.



The multiplicity of mul

This technique was originally developed by Sorbo of darkircop.net. The mul instruction may, on the surface, seem mundane, and it's purpose obvious. However, when faced with the difficult challenge of shrinking your shellcode, it proves to be quite useful. First some background information on the mul instruction itself.

mul performs an unsigned multiply of two integers. It takes only one operand, the other is implicitly specified by the %eax register. So, a common mul instruction might look something like this:

movl $0x0a,%eax
mul $0x0a

This would multiply the value stored in %eax by the operand of mul, which in this case would be 10*10. The result is then implicitly stored in EDX:EAX. The result is stored over a span of two registers because it has the potential to be considerably larger than the previous value, possibly exceeding the capacity of a single register(this is also how floating points are stored in some cases, as an interesting sidenote).

So, now comes the ever-important question. How can we use these attributes to our advantage when writing shellcode? Well, let's think for a second, the instruction takes only one operand, therefore, since it is a very common instruction, it will generate only two bytes in our final shellcode. It multiplies whatever is passed to it by the value stored in %eax, and stores the value in both %edx and %eax, completely overwriting the contents of both registers, regardless of whether it is necessary to do so, in order to store the result of the multiplication. Let's put on our mathematician hats for a second, and consider this, what is the only possible result of a multiplication by 0? The answer, as you may have guessed, is 0. I think it's about time for some example code, so here it is:

xorl %ecx,%ecx
mul %ecx

What is this shellcode doing? Well, it 0's out the %ecx register using the xor instruction, so we now know that %ecx is 0. Then it does a mul %ecx, which as we just learned, multiplies it's operand by the value in %eax, and then proceeds to store the result of this multiplication in EDX:EAX. So, regardless of %eax's previous contents, %eax must now be 0. However that's not all, %edx is 0'd now too, because, even though no overflow occurs, it still overwrites the %edx register with the sign bit(left-most bit) of %eax. Using this technique we can zero out three registers in only three bytes, whereas by any other method(that I know of) it would have taken at least six.


The div instruction

Div is very similar to mul, in that it takes only one operand and implicitly divides the operand by the value in %eax. Also like, mul it stores the result of the divide in %eax. Again, we will require the mathematical side of our brains to figure out how we can take advantage of this instruction. But first, let's think about what is normally stored in the %eax register. The %eax register holds the return value of functions and/or syscalls. Most syscalls that are used in shellcoding will return -1(on failure) or a positive value of some kind, only rarely will they return 0(though it does occur). So, if we know that after a syscall is performed, %eax will have a non-zero value, and that the instruction divl %eax will divide %eax by itself, and then store the result in %eax, we can say that executing the divl %eax instruction after a syscall will put the value 1 into %eax. So...how is this applicable to shellcoding? Well, their is another important thing that %eax is used for, and that is to pass the specific syscall that you would like to call to int $0x80. It just so happens that the syscall that corresponds to the value 1 is exit(). Now for an example:


xorl %ebx,%ebx
mul %ebx
push %edx
pushl $0x3268732f
pushl $0x6e69622f
mov %esp, %ebx
push %edx
push %ebx
mov %esp,%ecx
movb $0xb, %al #execve() syscall, doesn't return at all unless it fails, in which case it returns -1
int $0x80

divl %eax # -1 / -1 = 1
int $0x80

Now, we have a 3 byte exit function, where as before it was 5 bytes. However, there is a catch, what if a syscall does return 0? Well in the odd situation in which that could happen, you could do many different things, like inc %eax, dec %eax, not %eax anything that will make %eax non-zero. Some people say that exit's are not important in shellcode, because your code gets executed regardless of whether or not it exits cleanly. They are right too, if you really need to save 3 bytes to fit your shellcode in somewhere, the exit() isn't worth keeping. However, when your code does finish, it will try to execute whatever was after your last instruction, which will most likely produce a SIG ILL(illegal instruction) which is a rather odd error, and will be logged by the system. So, an exit() simply adds an extra layer of stealth to your exploit, so that even if it fails or you can't wipe all the logs, at least this part of your presence will be clear.



Unlocking the power of leal

The leal instruction is an often neglected instruction in shellcode, even though it is quite useful. Consider this short piece of shellcode.

xorl %ecx,%ecx
leal 0x10(%ecx),%eax

This will load the value 17 into eax, and clear all of the extraneous bits of eax. This occurs because the leal instruction loads a variable of the type long into it's desitination operand. In it's normal usage, this would load the address of a variable into a register, thus creating a pointer of sorts. However, since ecx is 0'd and 0+17=17, we load the value 17 into eax instead of any kind of actual address. In a normal shellcode we would do something like this, to accomplish the same thing:

xorl %eax,%eax
movb $0x10,%eax

I can hear you saying, but that shellcode is a byte shorter than the leal one, and you're quite right. However, in a real shellcode you may already have to 0 out a register like ecx(or any other register), so the xorl instruction in the leal shellcode isn't counted. Here's an example:

xorl %eax,%eax
xorl %ebx,%ebx
movb $0x17,%al
int $0x80

xorl %ebx,%ebx
leal 0x17(%ebx),%al
int $0x80

Both of these shellcodes call setuid(0), but one does it in 7 bytes while the other does it in 8. Again, I hear you saying but that's only one byte it doesn't make that much of a difference, and you're right, here it doesn't make much of a difference(except for in shellcode-size pissing contests =p), but when applied to much larger shellcodes, which have many function calls and need to do things like this frequently, it can save quite a bit of space.



Conclusion

I hope you all learned something, and will go out and apply your knowledge to create smaller and better shellcodes. If you know who invented the leal technique, please tell me and I will credit him/her.

10 Fast and Free Security Enhancements

Before you spend a dime on security, there are many precautions you can take that will protect you against the most common threats.

1. Check Windows Update and Office Update regularly (_http://office.microsoft.com/productupdates); have your Office CD ready. Windows Me, 2000, and XP users can configure automatic updates. Click on the Automatic Updates tab in the System control panel and choose the appropriate options.

2. Install a personal firewall. Both SyGate (_www.sygate.com) and ZoneAlarm (_www.zonelabs.com) offer free versions.


3. Install a free spyware blocker. Our Editors' Choice ("Spyware," April 22) was SpyBot Search & Destroy (_http://security.kolla.de). SpyBot is also paranoid and ruthless in hunting out tracking cookies.

4. Block pop-up spam messages in Windows NT, 2000, or XP by disabling the Windows Messenger service (this is unrelated to the instant messaging program). Open Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services and you'll see Messenger. Right-click and go to Properties. Set Start-up Type to Disabled and press the Stop button. Bye-bye, spam pop-ups! Any good firewall will also stop them.

5. Use strong passwords and change them periodically. Passwords should have at least seven characters; use letters and numbers and have at least one symbol. A decent example would be f8izKro@l. This will make it much harder for anyone to gain access to your accounts.

6. If you're using Outlook or Outlook Express, use the current version or one with the Outlook Security Update installed. The update and current versions patch numerous vulnerabilities.

7. Buy antivirus software and keep it up to date. If you're not willing to pay, try Grisoft AVG Free Edition (Grisoft Inc., w*w.grisoft.com). And doublecheck your AV with the free, online-only scanners available at w*w.pandasoftware.com/activescan and _http://housecall.trendmicro.com.

8. If you have a wireless network, turn on the security features: Use MAC filtering, turn off SSID broadcast, and even use WEP with the biggest key you can get. For more, check out our wireless section or see the expanded coverage in Your Unwired World in our next issue.

9. Join a respectable e-mail security list, such as the one found at our own Security Supersite at _http://security.ziffdavis.com, so that you learn about emerging threats quickly and can take proper precautions.

10. Be skeptical of things on the Internet. Don't assume that e-mail "From:" a particular person is actually from that person until you have further reason to believe it's that person. Don't assume that an attachment is what it says it is. Don't give out your password to anyone, even if that person claims to be from "support."

Open Windows Explorer to a Different Default Directory

When you open Windows Explorer (by choosing the Window key and "E" simultaneously or by choosing Start, all Programs, Accessories, Windows Explorer), you can change the directory that appears by default. If you choose Start, all Programs, Accessories, and then right-click on Windows Explorer and choose Properties, you can modify the "Target" directory. To go to your C: drive, type simply C:\ in the Target box and choose OK. You can also enter a shortcut key on this screen, telling Windows the character or combination of characters you want to type to automatically open Windows Explorer. You can even change the icon or specify that you always want Explorer to open up in full-screen mode.

List Of Sites Not To Go To

Misspellings or misrepresentation Tactics
----------------------------------------------

http://www.aresgalaxy.com

http://www.edonkey-software.com

http://www.edonkey-mp3.com

http://www.emule-software.com

http://www.poilet.com

http://www.kaaza.com

http://www.kazza.com

http://www.kaza.com

http://www.kazaalite.com

http://www.kazaa-lite.tk

http://www.k-lite.tk

http://www.kazaalite.nl

http://www.kazaa-download.de

http://www.kazaagold.com

http://k-litetk.com

http://www.kazaalite.de - Beware, links on the page prompt for download of star dialer.

http://www.kazaa.de - Same as kazaalite.de. Again, beware of star dialer.

http://www328.ws1.internetservice.com - Same as kazaa.de and kazaalite.de.

http://www.kazaa-file-sharing-downloads.com - Fishy executable present here.

http://www.klitesite.com

http://www.klite.tk

http://freewebhosting.hostdepartment.com/k/kazaalitetk - Redirects to klitesite.com.

http://kazaa.freakin.nl

http://www.kazaa-gold.com - I discovered this site while reading Sharmans copyright infringment complaint to google.com.

http://www.kazaamedia.com

http://www.kazaaplatinum.com

http://www.kazaa-plus.net

http://www.kl-kpp.net

http://www.kazaa.co.kr

http://www.ikazaa.net

http://www.supernova.org

http://www.suprnova.com

http://www.slsk.org - Old soulseek domain, that now links to a mainpeen dialer (scumware).

http://www.sharaza.com

http://www.winmx-download-winmx.com - WinMX based scam.

http://www.musicdonkey.net/

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

Regular P2P scam type sites

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

http://www.fileminer.com

http://www2.music-download-network.com

http://filmgimp.org

http://www.filesharingfriends.com

http://www.mp3ebook.com

http://www.symynet.com/educational_software/kazaa_light.htm - Looks to me to be just a cheap plug for an amazon.com product (an MP3 CD player).

http://www.bolton-heaton.freeserve.co.uk/kazaa.htm - Not only do they link to yet another scam site, they also link to many forms of adware and spyware including
gator and aluriaaffiliates.

http://www.emp3downloadhq.com

http://www.unlimitedshock.com

http://www.songs4free.com

http://www.mp3u.com

http://download-central.mp3u.com

http://www.americamp3network.com

http://www.mp3university.com

http://www.downloads-unlimited.com

http://www.download-mp3-now.com

http://www.imusicshare.com

http://www.musicdownloadcentral.com

http://www.downloadsociety.com

http://www.mp3musiczone.com

http://www.mp3rocks.net

http://www.247downloads.com

http://www.mymusicinc.com

http://www.mp3advance.com

http://www.songfly.com

http://www.mp3musicworld.com

http://www.charliespiano.com/downloadable_music.php - Links to an existing scam site.

http://www.freeality.com/emusic.htm

http://www.free-mp3-music-player-downloads.com

http://www.mp3yes.com

http://www.mp3.abandonware.nu

http://www.mp3high.com

http://www.mp3shock.net

http://www.mp3advance.com - This one was being displayed on BeatKing through the Google ads

http://www.my-free-music.com

http://www.findanymusic.com - Claims it's legal; obviously a scam.

http://www.xvidmovies.com/ - The main culprit is (http://www.xvidmovies.com/movies/)

http://www.moviedownloadcity.com

http://www.hqmovies.net

http://www.gettingmovies.com/Movies.html

http://www.compareshopsave.com/moviesites

http://k-lite-legal.com - Another claim of legality.

http://www.imovieshare.com

http://www.easymusicdownload.com

http://www.flicksunlimited.com

http://www.completemovies.com/index2.html

http://www.download-mp3-music.com

http://www.freemovieserver.com

http://www.mp3perfect.com

http://www.mp3downloadcity.com

http://www.downloadshield.com

http://www.legacymp3.net

http://www.crazymp3s.org

http://www.21-century-mp3.nu

http://www.greekmusicmp3s.com

http://www.filesharingcenter.com

http://www.unlimitedshock.com

http://www.mp333.com

http://www.mp3madeeasy.com

http://www.mp3grandcentral.net

http://www.mp3-network.com

http://www.morpheusultra.com

http://www.flixs.net

http://www.charliespiano.com/downloadable_music.php

http://www.compareshopsave.com/moviesites

http://www.completemovies.com/index2.html

http://www.ondemandmp3.com

Border And Text Effects In Psp8, For use with PSP8

Do you want to jazz up your graphics? Want to add a bit of pazazz to your art? Well, this guide features some knowledge, border effects, and even directions to make your own swirlie brushes!

Now, open PSP and get ready to learn! Let's start off with the basics.

-------------------------------------------------
-Border Effects

There are two main types of borders, solid borders, and decorative borders. A solid border is like a colored line that raps around the outside of your image and separates graphics from the rest of the page. You can have borders inside the outside borders to make awesome layer effects. Decorative borders are almost the same, except they are not completely connected. (Example - Dashed Borders)
-------------------------------------------------
Dashed Borders
Open PSP and create an image about 380 x 100 pixels with a white background.

Draw a bit with your paintbrush, just add some color. Now maximize your image.

It should take up the whole page. Now go up to the toolbar on the very top and click "Selections" and go down right below that and click "Select All" There should be a dotted line going around the outside of your image.

We're almost done! YAY! Ok, now look on your keyboard. Go to the very top row next to the F1, F2, F3, F4, and look to the right of the F12 button. It should say "Print Screen". Press it, and it will take a picture of everything currently open on your computer that you can see. Now go to the top toolbar once one. Go under "Edit", move down to "Paste", then move your mouse to the right and select "Paste as New Image"

Now, your image has a dashed border, but you can see all the unwanted parts of your workspace. So go to the left toolbar and click the crop tool. It is the small square with a line through it.

Now drag the segment the crop tool makes just around the image. You might want to zoom in some (Click the magnifying glass on the left toolbar on the spot you want to zoom in). Once you have it fully outlined with the crop segment, double-click to crop it. Wallah! Your image now has a dashed border. So just go to the top toolbar once again, go under "File" and click "Save As". Then, select the spot and name to save it.

-------------------------------------------------
-Font Suggestions and Styles

So you know how to make a cool border for your images. Now what about fonts? Well usually, for siggies, you would put a bigger font saying their name, and a smaller font with sub-text. Look at my signature:



See how it says "Anonymous" in a large font that matches the background; then under it, it says "SOD's coolest member" (my sub-text) in a smaller font? That's the usual format for text on signatures. Of couse, this isn't the only way.

Now, for some font suggestions:

Larger Fonts
Laurenscript
Baby Kruffy (This one is awesome!)
Casual
Chick
Cheri
Walt Disney
Mullet
Dolphins (yippee!)
Jelly Belly
Flubber
Porky's
Gilligan's Island
Cheeseburger

Smaller Fonts
Redensek
Mullet
Georgia
Acknowledge
Tahoma

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

Helpful Links


http://peachie.nu
(a few popups though)

Font Places


http://www.dafont.com/en/
http://www.1001freefonts.com/
http://www.fontfreak.com/
http://www.acidfonts.com/