Yahoo Invisible Mode Detection...enjoy...

Buddy Spy
This software is 2 awesome..
Buddy Spy is the premier program for Yahoo! Messenger status checking. With Buddy Spy you can now bypass Yahoo! Messenger's Invisible Settings with ease. With its quick and intuitive interface Buddy Spy offers you the ability to see if your friend is truly online or if they are invisible. Not only does Buddy Spy offer you online checking, but it will also tell you whether your friend is in a Chat Room or even if their Web Cam is online!

"Buddy Spy is a User friendly , straight forward program , that I would have a hard time surviving without !! It helps Me stay in touch with Those that have to log in under invisible mode to keep from being bombarded with messages from Their Friends on Their list .

What's new?
New in Buddy Spy 2.2 is a Scan History, which keeps a log of all the users you have scanned. The log includes, the user name, online status, webcam status, chat room status, date and time, in an easy to read format. Also new in this version of Buddy Spy, is the Web Check. The web check is a new scanning method that will detect online presence, even if they are not using Yahoo! Messenger.
Download it from here
http://www.buddy-spy.com/files/BuddySpySetup.exe


Google Advanced Search Options...


ws_ftp.ini is a configuration file for a popular FTP client that stores usernames, (weakly) encoded passwords, sites and directories that the user can store for later reference. These should not be on the web!

That's some good stuff. Just copy/paste the text into your own WS FTP ini file and you're good as gold (assuming you're using the same version). Don't forget - even if they have taken the file offline, use the "cache:FULL_URL/wsftp.ini" to see the contents.
probably one of the best exploits I have seen in a long time, when I did it there were about 20 vulnerable computers, just recently there was 4 so I hope whitehats got to this before anyone else. really nice !!

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

intitle:index.of ws_ftp.ini

Frontpage.. very nice clean search results listing !! I magine with me that you can steal or know the password of any web site designed by "Frontpage". But the file containing the password might be encrypted; to decrypt the file download the program " john the ripper".

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

"# -FrontPage-" inurl:service.pwd

This searches the password for "Website Access Analyzer", a Japanese software that creates webstatistics.

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

"AutoCreate=TRUE password=*"

WS_FTP.ini is a configuration file for a popular win32 FTP client that stores usernames and weakly encoded passwords.

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

filetype:ini ws_ftp pwd

Or

"index of/" "ws_ftp.ini" "parent directory"

Not all of these pages are administrator's access databases containing usernames, passwords and other sensitive information, but many are! And much adminstrated passwords and user passwords, a lot of emails and the such too…

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

allinurl: admin mdb

DCForum's password file. This file gives a list of (crackable) passwords, usernames and email addresses for DCForum and for DCShop (a shopping cart program(!!!). Some lists are bigger than others, all are fun.

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

allinurl:auth_user_file.txt

These files contain ColdFusion source code. In some cases, the pages are examples that are found in discussion forums. However, in many cases these pages contain live sourcecode with usernames, database names or passwords in plaintext.

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

filetype:cfm "cfapplication name" password

The encryption method used in WS_FTP is _extremely_ weak. These files can be found with the "index of" keyword or by searching directly for the PWD= value inside the configuration file.

There is an easy way to decrypt the hash, use the decryptor at:


http://www.codebluehacks.com/Tools.php?ID=1

Or

http://www.hispasec.com/directorio/laboratorio/Software/ws_ftp.html

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

filetype:ini ws_ftp pwd
These files contain cleartext usernames and passwords, as well as the sites associated with those credentials. Attackers can use this information to log on to that site as that user.
To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

filetype:log inurl:"password.log"

Allows an attacker to create an account on a server running Argosoft mail server pro for windows with unlimited disk quota (but a 5mb per message limit should you use your account to send mail).

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

"adding new user" inurl:addnewuser -"there are no domains"

Google is so smart, it’s scary sometimes. I has found another interesting (to say the least) Google use.
I just ran across a pretty scary new google trick. It seems they have just recently added number span searching to their engine. Take a look at this example:

To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

visa 4356000000000000..4356999999999999

Basically, what this search does is search for the word “visa” [credit card] with any numbers that fit within your query. i.e. any Visa credit card number with the first four digits 4356.
As you can see, Google has searched the entire range against its DB. Within minutes I found some crazy sites like this one. Now please know that Google didn’t create this tool to be used like this. It’s actually quite handy when used correctly. Just an FYI for all of you.

Let's pretend you need a serial number for windows xp pro. The key is the 94FBR code.. it was included with many MS Office registration codes so this will help you dramatically reduce the amount of 'fake' porn sites that trick you.
To see results; just write in the (http://www.google.com/) search engine the code:

"Windows XP Professional" 94FBR

By the way, don't forget to change "Window sXP Professional" to any product you need its serial number.


How To Change The Name Of The START Button


change start menu name

the steps r v simple.
follow the steps carefully..

download RESOURCE HACKER




1. Run Resource Hacker, and open \windows\explorer.exe

2. Click String Table > 37 > 1033 (XP-style button)

3. Replace "start" with whatever you want ("hello", in the picture above)

4. Click the Compile Script button.

5. Save as explorer no space the compile name like eg: explorer123.exe
then save it

Repeat steps 3 and 4 for String table > 38 > 1033 (Classic-style button)



go to run
type regedit
go toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/windows NT/currentVersion/winlog
ther change the shell value by double clicking on it
the value will be explorer no space your given name ex:explorersoham.exe
exit
then restart


IMPORTANT:DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK AS YOU MAY END UP CRASHING YOUR WINDOWS OR WINDOWS WITH ONLY WALLPAPER & NO TASKBAR & ICONS


IF THIS HAPPENS OPEN TASKMANAGER IN NEW TASK TYPE REGEDIT
& UNDO THE CHANGES U MADE BEFORE (RENAME EXPLORER1 TO EXPLORER AGAIN)


How to Change the Name of the Start Menu Button


change start menu name

the steps r v simple.
follow the steps carefully..

download RESOURCE HACKER




1. Run Resource Hacker, and open \windows\explorer.exe

2. Click String Table > 37 > 1033 (XP-style button)

3. Replace "start" with whatever you want ("hello", in the picture above)

4. Click the Compile Script button.

5. Save as explorer no space the compile name like eg: explorer123.exe
then save it

Repeat steps 3 and 4 for String table > 38 > 1033 (Classic-style button)



go to run
type regedit
go toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/windows NT/currentVersion/winlog
ther change the shell value by double clicking on it
the value will be explorer no space your given name ex:explorersoham.exe
exit
then restart


IMPORTANT:DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK AS YOU MAY END UP CRASHING YOUR WINDOWS OR WINDOWS WITH ONLY WALLPAPER & NO TASKBAR & ICONS


IF THIS HAPPENS OPEN TASKMANAGER IN NEW TASK TYPE REGEDIT
& UNDO THE CHANGES U MADE BEFORE (RENAME EXPLORER1 TO EXPLORER AGAIN)


All About FIREWALL

What is a Firewall?

A firewall is a piece of software or hardware that helps screen out hackers, viruses, and worms that try to reach your computer over the Internet. If you are a home user or small-business user, using a firewall is the most effective and important first step you can take to help protect your computer.

Different Types of Firewalls

Different firewalls use different techniques. Most firewalls use two or more of the following techniques:

Packet Filters:

A packet filter looks at each packet that enters or leaves the network and accepts or rejects the packet based on user-defined rules. Packet filtering is fairly effective and transparent, but it is difficult to configure. In addition, it is susceptible to IP spoofing.

Application Gateway:

An application gateway applies security mechanisms to specific programs, such as FTP and Telnet. This technique is very effective, but it can cause performance degradation.

Circuit-layer Gateway:

This technique applies security mechanisms when a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or User Datagram Protocol (UDP) connection is established. After the connection has been established, packets can flow between the hosts without any further checking.

Proxy Server:

A proxy server intercepts all messages that enter and leave the network. The proxy server effectively hides the true network addresses.

Application Proxies:

Application proxies have access to the whole range of information in the network stack. This permits the proxies to make decisions based on basic authorization (the source, the destination and the protocol) and also to filter offensive or disallowed commands in the data stream. Application proxies are "stateful," meaning they keep the "state" of connections inherently. The Internet Connection Firewall feature that is included in Windows XP is a "stateful" firewall, as well as, the Windows Firewall. The Windows Firewall is included with Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2).

What does a firewall do?

A firewall examines all traffic routed between the two networks to see if it meets certain criteria. If it does, it is routed between the networks, otherwise it is stopped. A firewall filters both inbound and outbound traffic. It can also manage public access to private networked resources such as host applications. It can be used to log all attempts to enter the private network and trigger alarms when hostile or unauthorized entry is attempted. Firewalls can filter packets based on their source and destination addresses and port numbers. This is known as address filtering. Firewalls can also filter specific types of network traffic. This is also known as protocol filtering because the decision to forward or reject traffic is dependant upon the protocol used, for example HTTP, ftp or telnet. Firewalls can also filter traffic by packet attribute or state.

What can't a firewall do?

A firewall cannot prevent individual users with modems from dialling into or out of the network, bypassing the firewall altogether. Employee misconduct or carelessness cannot be controlled by firewalls. Policies involving the use and misuse of passwords and user accounts must be strictly enforced. These are management issues that should be raised during the planning of any security policy but that cannot be solved with firewalls alone.

The arrest of the Phonemasters cracker ring brought these security issues to light. Although they were accused of breaking into information systems run by AT&T Corp., British Telecommunications Inc., GTE Corp., MCI WorldCom, Southwestern Bell, and Sprint Corp, the group did not use any high tech methods such as IP spoofing (see question 10). They used a combination of social engineering and dumpster diving. Social engineering involves skills not unlike those of a confidence trickster. People are tricked into revealing sensitive information. Dumpster diving or garbology, as the name suggests, is just plain old looking through company trash. Firewalls cannot be effective against either of these techniques.

Who needs a firewall?

Anyone who is responsible for a private network that is connected to a public network needs firewall protection. Furthermore, anyone who connects so much as a single computer to the Internet via modem should have personal firewall software. Many dial-up Internet users believe that anonymity will protect them. They feel that no malicious intruder would be motivated to break into their computer. Dial up users who have been victims of malicious attacks and who have lost entire days of work, perhaps having to reinstall their operating system, know that this is not true. Irresponsible pranksters can use automated robots to scan random IP addresses and attack whenever the opportunity presents itself.

How does a firewall work?

There are two access denial methodologies used by firewalls. A firewall may allow all traffic through unless it meets certain criteria, or it may deny all traffic unless it meets certain criteria. The type of criteria used to determine whether traffic should be allowed through varies from one type of firewall to another. Firewalls may be concerned with the type of traffic, or with source or destination addresses and ports. They may also use complex rule bases that analyse the application data to determine if the traffic should be allowed through. How a firewall determines what traffic to let through depends on which network layer it operates at. A discussion on network layers and architecture follows.

Desktop Firewall

Any software installed on an operating system to protect a single computer, like the one included with Windows XP, is called a desktop or personal firewall. This type of firewall is designed to protect a single desktop computer. This is a great protection mechanism if the network firewall is compromised.

Software Firewall

This type of firewall is a software package installed on a server operating system which turns the server into a full fledged firewall. Many people do not consider this the most secure type of firewall as you have the inherit security issues of the underlying operating system. This type of firewall is often used as an application firewall. This means the firewall is optimized to protect applications such as web application and email servers. Software firewalls have complex filters to inspect the content of the network traffic to insure that type of traffic is properly formatted. This type of firewall is usually (but not always) behind hardware firewalls (explanation to follow).

Hardware Firewall

A hardware firewall is a dedicated hardware device with a proprietary operating system or a stripped down operating system core. These firewalls include network routers with additional firewall capabilities. These firewalls are designed to handle large amounts of network traffic. Hardware firewalls are often placed on the perimeter of the network to filter the internet noise and only allow pre-determined traffic into the network. Sometimes hardware firewalls are used in conjunction with software firewalls so the hardware firewall filters out the traffic and the software firewall inspects the network traffic. When hardware firewalls are bombarded with bogus network traffic they drop the unwanted traffic only letting in the right traffic. This not only protects the software firewall but allows the software firewall only has to inspect proper network traffic thus the combination optimizes the network throughput.

Network-Level Firewalls

The first generation of firewalls (c. 1988) worked at the network level by inspecting packet headers and filtering traffic based on the IP address of the source and the destination, the port and the service. Some of these primeval security applications could also filter packets based on protocols, the domain name of the source and a few other attributes.

Network-level firewalls are fast, and today you'll find them built into most network appliances, particularly routers. These firewalls, however, don't support sophisticated rule-based models. They don’t understand languages like HTML and XML, and they are capable of decoding SSL-encrypted packets to examine their content. As a result, they can’t validate user inputs or detect maliciously modified parameters in an URL request. This leaves your network vulnerable to a number of serious threats.

Circuit-Level Firewalls

These applications, which represent the second-generation of firewall technology, monitor TCP handshaking between packets to make sure a session is legitimate. Traffic is filtered based on specified session rules and may be restricted to recognized computers only. Circuit-level firewalls hide the network itself from the outside, which is useful for denying access to intruders. But they don't filter individual packets.

Application-Level Firewalls

Recently, application-level firewalls (sometimes called proxies) have been looking more deeply into the application data going through their filters. By considering the context of client requests and application responses, these firewalls attempt to enforce correct application behavior, block malicious activity and help organizations ensure the safety of sensitive information and systems. They can log user activity too. Application-level filtering may include protection against spam and viruses as well, and be able to block undesirable Web sites based on content rather than just their IP address.

If that sounds too good to be true, it is. The downside to deep packet inspection is that the more closely a firewall examines network data flow, the longer it takes, and the heavier hit your network performance will sustain. This is why the highest-end security appliances include lots of RAM to speed packet processing. And of course you'll pay for the added chips.

Stateful Multi-level Firewalls

SML vendors claim that their products deploy the best features of the other three firewall types. They filter packets at the network level and they recognize and process application-level data, but since they don't employ proxies, they deliver reasonably good performance in spite of the deep packet analysis. On the downside, they are not cheap, and they can be difficult to configure and administer.



What is RAID?


In 1987, Patterson, Gibson and Katz at the University of California Berkeley, published a paper entitled "A Case for Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)" . This paper described various types of disk arrays, referred to by the acronym RAID. The basic idea of RAID was to combine multiple small, inexpensive disk drives into an array of disk drives which yields performance exceeding that of a Single Large Expensive Drive (SLED). Additionally, this array of drives appears to the computer as a single logical storage unit or drive.

RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks and it basically involves
combining two or more drives together to improve the performance and the fault tolerance.
Combining two or more drives together also offers improved reliability and larger data volume sizes.A RAID distributes the data across several disks and the operating system considers this array as a single disk.
Using Multiple Hard Drives for Performance and Reliability.

Types of RAID :

RAID 0 - Striping:
It is the Stripped Disk Array with no fault tolerance and it requires at least 2 drives to be implemented. Due to no redundancy feature, RAID 0 is considered to be the lowest ranked RAID level. Striped data mapping technique is implemented for high performance at low cost.
The I/O performance is also improved as it is loaded across many channels. Regeneration, Rebuilding and functional redundancy are some salient features of RAID 0.

Raid1: Disk mirroring is the basic function occurs.
1. It creats exact copy of one physical harddisk to another.
2. It uses one controller
3. If one drive fails system will boot with other drive.
4. slow performance.
5. Increased cost every mirror must be seperate physical device thus you must purchase twice the storage capacity.
6. no protection from controller failure.: if controller failure , the mirrored drives as just inaccessible.

RAID 0+1:
It is the RAID array providing high data transference performance with at least 4 disks needed to implement the RAID 0+1 level.
It's a unique combination of stripping and mirroring with all the best features of RAID 0 and RAID 1 included such as fast data access and fault tolerance at single drive level. The multiple stripe segments have added high I/O rates to the RAID performance and it is the best solution for maximum reliability.

RAID 2 (ECC):
It is the combination of Inherently Parallel Mapping and Protection RAID array. It's also known as ECC RAID because each data word bit is written to data disk which is verified for correct data or correct disk error when the RAID disk is read. Due to special disk features required, RAID 2 is not very popular among the corporate data storage masses, despite the extremely high data transference rates.

RAID 3:
RAID 3 works on the Parallel Transfer with Parity technique. The least number of disks required to implement the RAID array is 3 disks.
In the RAID 3, data blocks are striped and written on data drives and then the stripe parity is generated, saved and afterwards used to verify the disk reads. Read and write data transfer rate is very high in RAID 3 array and disk failure causes insignificant effects on the overall performance of the RAID.

RAID 4:
RAID 4 requires a minimum of 3 drives to be implemented. It is composed of independent disks with shared parity to protect the data. Data transaction rate for Read is exceptionally high and highly aggregated. Similarly, the low ratio of parity disks to data disks indicates
high efficiency.

RAID 5:
RAIDS 5 is Independent Distributed parity block of data disks with a minimum requirement of at least 3 drives to be implemented and N-1 array capacity. It helps in reducing the write inherence found in RAID 4. RAID 5 array offers highest data transaction Read rate, medium data transaction Write rate and good cumulative transfer rate.

Raid 5: Disk stripping with parity.It is completely Software based and higly secured technology.
1. Raid 5 is in-expensive, but very convinient.
2.The parity information is stored distributed in different disk .
3.If one of the disk fails , it is hot swappable.
4.Parity information is stored in other Harddisk is automatically
updated to failed one.
5.If more than one disk fails, it should be restored from backup.


RAID 6:
RAIDS 6 is Independent Data Disk array with Independent Distributed parity. It is known to be an extension of RAID level 5 with extra fault tolerance and distributed parity scheme added. RAID 6 is the best available RAID array for mission critical applications and data storage needs, though the controller design is very complex and overheads are extremely high.

RAID 7:
RAID 7 is the Optimized Asynchrony array for high I/O and data transfer rates and is considered to be the most manageable RAID controller available. The overall write performance is also known to be 50% to 90% better and improved than the single spindle
array levels with no extra data transference required for parity handling. RAID 7 is registered as a standard trademark of Storage Computer Corporation.

RAID 10:
RAID 10 is classified as the futuristic RAID controller with extremely high Reliability and performance embedded in a single RAID controller.
The minimum requirement to form a RAID level 10 controller is 4 data disks. The implementation of RAID 10 is based on a striped array of RAID 1 array segments, with almost the same fault tolerance level as RAID 1. RAID 10 controllers and arrays are suitable for
uncompromising availability and extremely high throughput required systems an environment.

With all the significant RAID levels discussed here briefly, another important point to add is that whichever level of RAID is used regular and consistent data backup maintenance using tape storage is must as the regular tape storage is best media to recover from lost data scene.


RAID 1:
RAID 1 uses mirroring to write the data to the drives. It also offers fault tolerance from the disk errors and the array continues to operate efficiently as long as at least one drive is functioning properly.

The trade-off associated with the RAID 1 level is the cost required to purchase the additional disks to store data.

RAID 2:
It uses Hamming Codes for error correction. In RAID 2, the disks are synchronized and they're striped in very small stripes. It requires multiple parity disks.

RAID 3:
This level uses a dedicated parity disk instead of rotated parity stripes and offers improved performance and fault tolerance.
The benefit of the dedicated parity disk is that the operation continues without parity if the parity drive stops working during the operation.

RAID 4:
It is similar to RAID 3 but it does block-level stripping instead of the byte-level stripping and as a result, a single file can be stored in blocks. RAID 4 allows multiple I/O requests in parallel but the data transfer speed will be less.
Block level parity is used to perform the error detection.

RAID 5:
RAID 5 uses block-level stripping with distributed parity and it requires all drives but one to be present to operate correctly.
The reads are calculated from the distributed parity upon the drive failure and the entire array is not destroyed by a single drive failure.
However, the array will lose some data in the event of the second drive failure.

The above standard RAID levels can be combined together in different ways to create Nested RAID Levels which offer improved performance.
Some of the known Nested RAID Levels are -

RAID 0+1
RAID 1+0
RAID 3+0
RAID 0+3
RAID 10+0
RAID 5+0
RAID 6+0

Hardware RAID
  • A conventional Hardware RAID consists of a RAID controller that is installed into the PC or server, and the array drives are connected to it.
  • In high end external intelligent RAID controllers, the RAID controller is removed completely from the system to a separate box. Within the box the RAID controller manages the drives in the array, typically using SCSI, and then presents the logical drives of the array over a standard interface (again, typically a variant of SCSI) to the server using the array.

Software RAID:

In software RAID a software does the work of RAID controller in place of a hardware. Instead of using dedicated hardware controllers or intelligent boxes, we use a particular software that manages and implements RAID array with a system software routine.

Comparing Hardware RAID & Software RAID

Portability

  • OS Portability

    Software RAID is not usable across operating systems. So you cannot, for example, use two RAID disks configured in Linux with Windows XP and vice versa. This is big issue for dual booting systems where you will either have to provide a non-RAID disk for data sharing between the two operating system or use hardware RAID instead.

    As you know, dual booting is mostly obsolete these days as you can run multiple operating systems on the same machine using virtualization software like vmware & xen.

  • Hardware Portability

    Software RAID
    In Linux you can mirror two disks using RAID-1, including the boot partition. If for any reason the hardware goes bad, you can simply take the harddisk to a different machine and it will just run fine on the new hardware. Also with a RAID-1 array, each of the harddisk will have full copy of the operating system and data, effectively providing you with two backups, each of which can be run from a different hardware.

    Unfortunately in Windows it is not so easy to switch a operating systrem from one hardware to another, but that is the story of priprietary licenses and we will keep it for another day.

    Hardware RAID

    Hardware RAID is not so portable. You cannot just swap the hardware to a different machine and hope it will work. You have to find a Motherboard which is compatible with your RAID controller card; otherwise you can kiss your data goodbye. Also there is a bigger issue of problem with the RAID controller itself. If it fails and you cannot get the same controller from the market (and it has probably become obsolete by then), then again you can kiss your data goodbye.

Easy & Speedy Recovery

It may seem trivial but trust me, for a busy and loaded server, an easy and speedy recovery, that too inside the operating system without having to reboot is what one can dream of. Imagine if during the peak hours, your RAID system crashes and you are forced to reboot the machine to make changes to it to restore your data! Software RAID's like in Linux, not only continues working even when the hardware has failed, but also starts restoring the RAID array, should any spare disk be available. All of these happens in the background and without affecting your users. This is where software RAID shines brilliantly.

System Performance

Software RAID uses the CPU to do the work of the RAID controller. This is why high-end hardware RAID controller outperforms software RAID, especially for RAID-5, because it has a high powered dedicated processor. However for low end hardware RAID, the difference may be neglible to non-existent. In fact it is possible for the software RAID perform better than low end hardware RAID controller simply because today's desktop's and workstations are powered by very powerful processors and the task is trivial to them.

Support for RAID Standards

High-end Hardware RAID may be slightly more versatile than Software RAID in support for various RAID levels. Software RAID is normally support levels 0, 1, 5 and 10 (which is a combination of RAID 0 and RAID 1) whereas many Hardware RAID controller can also support esoteric RAID levels such as RAID 3 or RAID 1+0. But frankly who uses them?

Cost

This is where software RAID again scores over hardware RAID. Software RAID is free. Hardware RAID is moderate to high priced and can put a strain on your budget if deployed widely.

But over the years the cost of hardware RAID has come down exponentially. So it may not be too far when more affordable RAID-5 cards will be built-in on newer motherboards.

Future Proof

Gone are the days when we could associate software RAIDs with bugs and OS problems. Nowadays software RAIDs are almost flawless. We are using software RAID in linux operating system for several years and haven't experienced any problem whatsoever. On the contrary, hardware RAID has a single point of failure and that is its hardware controller. If it crashes then your only option is to find another equivalent RAID controller from the market; by this time the model may become obsolete and you may not even find anything compatible. You are as such faced with the haunting prospect of losing all your data, should the RAID controller fail. Software RAID will never become obsolete and will continue to get updated with updated versions of your operating system.

Why Use RAID? Benefits and Costs, Tradeoffs and Limitations

RAID offers many advantages over the use of single hard disks, but it is clearly not for everyone. The potential for increased capacity, performance and reliability are attractive, but they come with real costs. Nothing in life is free. In this section I take an overview look at RAID, to help explain its benefits, costs, tradeoffs and limitations. This should give you a better idea if RAID is for you, and help you to understand what RAID can do--and what it can't do.

As you read on, it's essential to keep in mind that with RAID, it's definitely the case that "the devil is in the details". Most common blanket statements made about RAID like "RAID improves availability" or "RAID is for companies that need fast database service" or "RAID level 5 is better than RAID level 0" are only true at best part of the time. In almost every case, it depends. Usually, what RAID is and what it does for you depends on what type you choose and how you implement and manage it. For example, for some applications RAID 5 is better than RAID 0; for others, RAID 0 is vastly superior to RAID 5! There are situations where a RAID design, hardware and software that would normally result in high reliability could result instead in disaster if they are not properly controlled.

RAID Benefits

Alright, let's take a look at the good stuff first. :^) RAID really does offer a wealth of significant advantages that would be attractive to almost any serious PC user . (Unfortunately, there are still those pesky costs ,tradeoffs and limitations to be dealt with... :^) ) The degree that you realize the various benefits below does depend on the exact type of RAID that is set up and how you do it, but you are always going to get some combination of the following:

Higher Data Security: Through the use of redundancy, most RAID levels provide protection for the data stored on the array. This means that the data on the array can withstand even the complete failure of one hard disk (or sometimes more) without any data loss, and without requiring any data to be restored from backup. This security feature is a key benefit of RAID and probably the aspect that drives the creation of more RAID arrays than any other. All RAID levels provide some degree of data protection , depending on the exact implementation, except RAID level 0 .

Fault Tolerance: RAID implementations that include redundancy provide
a much more reliable overall storage subsystem than can be achieved by a single disk.
This means there is a lower chance of the storage subsystem as a whole failing
due to hardware failures. (At the same time though, the added hardware used in
RAID means the chances of having a hardware problem of some sort
with an individual component, even if it doesn't take down the storage subsystem, is increased

Improved Availability: Availability refers to access to data. Good RAID systems improve availability both by providing fault tolerance and by providing special features that allow for recovery from hardware faults without disruption.

Increased, Integrated Capacity: By turning a number of smaller drives into a larger array,
you add their capacity together (though a percentage of total capacity is lost to overhead or
redundancy in most implementations). This facilitates applications that require large
amounts of contiguous disk space, and also makes disk space management simpler.
Let's suppose you need 300 GB of space for a large database. Unfortunately, no hard disk
manufacturer makes a drive nearly that large. You could put five 72 GB drives into the system,
but then you'd have to find some way to split the database into five pieces, and you'd be
stuck with trying to remember what was were. Instead, you could set up a RAID 0 array
containing those five 72 GB hard disks; this will appear to the operating system as a single,
360 GB hard disk! All RAID implementations provide this "combining" benefit, though the
ones that include redundancy of course "waste" some of the space on that redundant information.

Improved Performance: Last, but certainly not least, RAID systems improve performance by allowing the controller to exploit the capabilities of multiple hard disks to get around performance-limiting mechanical issues that plague individual hard disks. Different RAID implementations improve performance in different ways and to different degrees, but all improve it in some way.


10 Coolest Gmail Features


For some time I had been looking for new stuffs for a hotter Gmail experience. By now Gmail labs have the mouse gestures, keyboard shortcuts, games and more to explore. There's a new labeling system on the blocks and there are lot more to probe.

I got across loads of those labels. Here are the top one's that I could pick for good reasons.

1. Labels: auto-complete

Gmail has been labeling system for managing emails instead of folders. At the right top of the my inbox I caught a new Labels button. Great stuff for labeling messages. For this you can start by turning on the keyboard shortcuts. Click the L to bring up your labels. The auto complete will take it from there. Just as you do with the folders you can now use the Move to button to label and archive in one step.

2. Gmail stickers


This one seems a Valentine's day gift. What you need to do is send an self-addressed stamped envelope to get free Gmail stickers. Send your envelope postmarked by February 14th, 2009, to: Send me some Gmail stickers already, P.O. Box 391420, Mountain View, CA 94039-1420



3. Better Gmail experience on iPhone
Now you can sync your inbox with you iPhone and other compatible devices instantly and automatically. An easy way to use Gmail on your iPhone would be through the browser. Go to the m.gmail.com and you'll be able to enjoy a full Gmail experience. You can could access coversation view, search and much more.

4. Faster PDF previews

This time you can preview PDFs right in your browser just by clicking the View link next to the .pdf attachment. You can also open it in any other application. Now you see the pdf without having to download it.

5. New in Labs: send SMS from Gmail

I was waiting for this long. So now you can send SMS test messages right from Gmail. Sitting on my machine I could chat with my friends even when they are travelling. For this you need to turn on the SMS text messaging and more from the Labs tab under Settings.

6. New Labs feature to experiment with
There's lot to explore from the Labs tab in the Gmail Setting. Look for the Docs gadgets, advanced IMAP controls, a forgotten attachment detector and Google calender to name a few.

7. Add your signature
How about adding a personalized text at bottom of every message you send. Let your contact information or put a quote like I suggest
If you want what you never had, you have to do what you have never done.

8. New Emoticons in Gmail
These are not the ones you have just for chatting. Not just smiley faces you have food and drinks, broken hearts and more. Use them when composing a message in Rich formatting mode. Look for the new emotications tab in chat.

9. Vacation auto-responder
Planning for a vacation on the remotest corners? Gmail will let your friends know that you are on a vacation and can't get back to them right away.

10. Increased attachment limit to 20 MB!
So Gmail has grown biggger. Now you can share home videos, large presentations and files. The new attachment size has been doubled to 20 MB to allow you more Gmail space.


All About Spyware


There are a lot of PC users that know little about "Spyware", "Mal-ware", "hijackers", "Dialers" & many more. This will help you avoid pop-ups, spammers and all those baddies.

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

Known spywares
There are thousands out there, new ones are added to the list everyday. But here are a few:
Alexa, Aureate/Radiate, BargainBuddy, ClickTillUWin, Conducent Timesink, Cydoor, Comet Cursor, eZula/KaZaa Toptext, Flashpoint/Flashtrack, Flyswat, Gator, GoHip, Hotbar, ISTbar, Lions Pride Enterprises/Blazing Logic/Trek Blue, Lop (C2Media), Mattel Brodcast, Morpheus, NewDotNet, Realplayer, Songspy, Xupiter, Web3000, WebHancer, Windows Messenger Service.

How to check if a program has spyware?
The is this Little site that keeps a database of programs that are known to install spyware.

Check Here: http://www.spywareguide.com/product_search.php

If you would like to block pop-ups (IE Pop-ups).
There tons of different types out there, but these are the 2 best, i think.

Try: Google Toolbar (http://toolbar.google.com/) This program is Free
Try: AdMuncher (http://www.admuncher.com) This program is Shareware

If you want to remove the "spyware" try these.
Try: Lavasoft Ad-Aware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/) This program is Free
Info: Ad-aware is a multi spyware removal utility, that scans your memory, registry and hard drives for known spyware components and lets you remove them. The included backup-manager lets you reinstall a backup, offers and multi language support.

Try: Spybot-S&D (http://www.safer-networking.org/) This program is Free
Info: Detects and removes spyware of different kinds (dialers, loggers, trojans, user tracks) from your computer. Blocks ActiveX downloads, tracking cookies and other threats. Over 10,000 detection files and entries. Provides detailed information about found problems.

Try: BPS Spyware and Adware Remover (http://www.bulletproofsoft.com/spyware-remover.html) This program is Shareware
Info: Adware, spyware, trackware and big brotherware removal utility with multi-language support. It scans your memory, registry and drives for known spyware and lets you remove them. Displays a list and lets you select the items you'd like to remove.

Try: Spy Sweeper v2.2 (http://www.webroot.com/wb/products/spysweeper/index.php) This program is Shareware
Info: Detects and removes spyware of different kinds (dialers, loggers, trojans, user tracks) from your computer.
The best scanner out there, and updated all the time.

Try: HijackThis 1.97.7 (http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html) This program is Freeware
Info: HijackThis is a tool, that lists all installed browser add-on, buttons, startup items and allows you to inspect them, and optionally remove selected items.


If you would like to prevent "spyware" being install.
Try: SpywareBlaster 2.6.1 (http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareblaster.html) This program is Free
Info: SpywareBlaster doesn`t scan and clean for so-called spyware, but prevents it from being installed in the first place. It achieves this by disabling the CLSIDs of popular spyware ActiveX controls, and also prevents the installation of any of them via a webpage.

Try: SpywareGuard 2.2 (http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareguard.html) This program is Free
Info: SpywareGuard provides a real-time protection solution against so-called spyware. It works similar to an anti-virus program, by scanning EXE and CAB files on access and alerting you if known spyware is detected.

Try: XP-AntiSpy (http://www.xp-antispy.org/) This program is Free
Info: XP-AntiSpy is a small utility to quickly disable some built-in update and authentication features in WindowsXP that may rise security or privacy concerns in some people.

Try: SpySites (http://camtech2000.net/Pages/SpySites_Prog...ml#SpySitesFree) This program is Free
Info: SpySites allows you to manage the Internet Explorer Restricted Zone settings and easily add entries from a database of 1500+ sites that are known to use advertising tracking methods or attempt to install third party software.

If you would like more Information about "spyware".
Check these sites.

http://www.spychecker.com/
http://www.spywareguide.com/
http://www.cexx.org/adware.htm
http://www.theinfomaniac.net/infomaniac/co...rsSpyware.shtml
http://www.thiefware.com/links/
http://simplythebest.net/info/spyware.html

Usefull tools...
Try: Stop Windows Messenger Spam 1.10 (http://www.jester2k.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/j...r2ksoftware.htm) This program is Free
Info: "Stop Windows Messenger Spam" stops this Service from running and halts the spammers ability to send you these messages.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
All these softwares will help remove and prevent evil spammers and spywares attacking your PC. I myself recommend getting "spyblaster" "s&d spybot" "spy sweeper" & "admuncher" to protect your PC. A weekly scan is also recommended

Free Virus Scan
Scan for spyware, malware and keyloggers in addition to viruses, worms and trojans. New threats and annoyances are created faster than any individual can keep up with.
http://defender.veloz.com// - 15k


Finding . is a Click Away at 2020Search.com
Having trouble finding what you re looking for on: .? 2020Search will instantly provide you with the result you re looking for by drawing on some of the best search engines the Internet has to offer. Your result is a click away!
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Download the BrowserVillage Toolbar.
Customize your Browser! Eliminate Pop-up ads before they start, Quick and easy access to the Web, and much more. Click Here to Install Now!
http://www.browservillage.com/


Windows Shortcut Keys

General Windows Keystrokes

Get Help – F1

Open the Start Menu – WINDOWS LOGO KEY or CTRL+ESC

Switch between Open Applications – ALT+TAB

Open the Shortcut Menu – APPLICATIONS KEY or SHIFT+F10

Minimize all Applications – WINDOWS LOGO KEY+M

Find a File or Folder from Desktop – F3

Move to First Item on the Taskbar – WINDOWS LOGO KEY+TAB

Open Windows Explorer – WINDOWS LOGO KEY+E

Open Run Dialog – WINDOWS LOGO KEY+R

Application Keystrokes

Exit the Active Application – ALT+F4

Open the Application Control Menu – ALT+SPACEBAR

Move to the Menu Bar – ALT

Move between Menus – ALT, ARROW KEYS

Choose a Menu Item – ENTER

Open a child Window Control Menu – ALT+DASH

Cancel or close a Menu – ESC or ALT

Working in Dialog Boxes

Move through Dialog Controls – TAB

Move Backward through Dialog Controls – SHIFT+TAB

Move to Another Page – CTRL+TAB

Reverse Direction through Pages – CTRL+SHIFT+TAB

Select/Deselect in List View – SPACEBAR or CTRL+SPACEBAR

Toggle a Check Box ON/OFF – SPACEBAR

Working with Text

Move One Character Left – LEFT ARROW

Move One Character Right – RIGHT ARROW

Move One Word Left – CTRL+LEFT ARROW

Move One Word Right – CTRL+RIGHT ARROW

Move to Beginning of Line – HOME

Move to End of Line – END

Move One Paragraph Up – CTRL+UP ARROW

Move One Paragraph Down – CTRL+DOWN ARROW

Move to Beginning of Document – CTRL+HOME

Move to End of Document – CTRL+END

Scroll Up or Down One Screen – PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN

Select One Character Left – SHIFT+LEFT ARROW

Select One Character Right – SHIFT+RIGHT ARROW

Select One Word Left – CTRL+SHIFT+LEFF ARROW

Select One Word Right – CTRL+SHIFT+RIGHT ARROW

Select to Beginning of Line – SHIFT+HOME

Select to End of Line – SHIFT+END

Select to Beginning of Document – CTRL+SHIFT+HOME

Select to End of Document – CTRL+SHIFT+END

Select All – CTRL+A

Undo – CTRL+Z

Delete Current Character – DELETE

Delete Prior Character – BACKSPACE

Working in Windows Explorer

Delete Selected File or Folder – DELETE

Rename Selected File or Folder – F2

Refresh Window – F5

Switch Between Tree View and List View – F6 or TAB

Go Up One Folder Level – BACKSPACE

Open File or Folder Properties – ALT+ENTER

Untruncate Columns in List View – CTRL+NUM PAD PLUS

Using the Clipboard

Copy Selected File or Text to Clipboard – CTRL+C

Cut Selected File or Text to Clipboard – CTRL+X

Paste Contents of Clipboard – CTRL+V

Windows System Key Combinations

CTRL+ESC - Open Start menu

ALT+TAB - Switch between open programs

ALT+F4 - Quit program

SHIFT+DELETE - Delete items permanently

Windows Program Key Combinations

CTRL+C - Copy

CTRL+X - Cut

CTRL+V - Paste

CTRL+Z - Undo

CTRL+B - Bold

CTRL+U - Underline

CTRL+I - Italic

Mouse Click/Keyboard Modifier Combinations for Shell Objects

SHIFT+RIGHT CLICK - Displays a context menu containing alternative verbs.

SHIFT+DOUBLE CLICK - Runs the alternate default command (the second item on the menu).

ALT+DOUBLE CLICK - Displays properties.

SHIFT+DELETE - Deletes an item immediately without placing it in the Recycle Bin.

General Keyboard-Only Commands

F1 - Starts Windows Help.

F10 - Activates menu bar options.

SHIFT+F10 - Opens a context menu for the selected item. This is the same as right-clicking anobject.

CTRL+ESC - Opens the Start menu. Use the ARROW keys to select an item.

CTRL+ESC, ESC - Selects the Start button. (Press TAB to select quick launch, the taskbar, system tray)

ALT+DOWN ARROW - Opens a drop-down list box.

ALT+TAB - Switch to another running application. Hold down the ALT key and then press the TAB key to view the task-switching window.

Press down and hold the SHIFT key while you insert a CD-ROM to bypass the auto-run feature.

ALT+SPACE - Displays the main window's System menu. From the System menu, you can restore, move, resize, minimize, maximize, or close the window.

ALT+- (ALT+hyphen) - Displays the Multiple Document Interface (MDI) child window's System menu. From the MDI child window's System menu, you can restore, move, resize, minimize, maximize, or close the child window.

CTRL+TAB - Switch to the next child window of a Multiple Document Interface (MDI) application.

ALT+ - Opens the corresponding menu.

ALT+F4 - Closes the current window.

ALT+DOWN ARROW - Opens a drop-down list box.

CTRL+F4 - Closes the current Multiple Document Interface (MDI) window.

ALT+F6 - Switch between multiple windows in the same program. For example, when the Notepad Find dialog box is displayed, ALT+F6 switches between the Find dialog box and the main Notepad window.

Shell Objects and General Folder/Windows Explorer Shortcuts

F2 - Rename object

F3 - Find: All Files

CTRL+X - Cut

CTRL+C - Copy

CTRL+V - Paste

SHIFT+DEL - Delete selection immediately, without moving the item to the Recycle Bin.

ALT+ENTER - Open the property sheet for the selected object.

To Copy a File - Press down and hold the CTRL key while you drag the file to another folder.

To Create a Shortcut - Press down and hold CTRL+SHIFT while you drag a file to the desktop or a folder.

General Folder/Shortcut Control

F4 - Selects the Go To A Different Folder box and moves down the entries in the box (if the toolbar is active in Windows Explorer).

F5 - Refreshes the current window.

F6 - Moves among panes in Windows Explorer.

CTRL+G - Opens the Go To Folder tool (in Windows 95 Windows Explorer only).

CTRL+Z - Undo the last command.

CTRL+A - Select all the items in the current window.

BACKSPACE - Switch to the parent folder.

SHIFT+CLICK - Close Button For folders, close the current folder plus all parent folders.

Windows Explorer Tree Control

Numeric Keypad * - Expands everything under the current selection.

Numeric Keypad + - Expands the current selection.

Numeric Keypad - - Collapses the current selection.

RIGHT ARROW - Expands the current selection if it is not expanded, otherwise goes to the first child.

LEFT ARROW - Collapses the current selection if it is expanded, otherwise goes to the parent.

Property Sheet Control

CTRL+TAB/CTRL+SHIFT+TAB - Move through the property tabs.

Accessibility Shortcuts

Tap SHIFT 5 times - Toggles StickyKeys on and off.

Press down and hold the right SHIFT key for 8 seconds - Toggles FilterKeys on and off.

Press down and hold the NUM LOCK key for 5 seconds - Toggles ToggleKeys on and off.

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

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

Microsoft Natural Keyboard Keys

WINDOWS - Start Menu

WINDOWS+R - Run dialog box

WINDOWS+M - Minimize All

SHIFT+WINDOWS+M - Undo Minimize All

WINDOWS+F1 - Help

WINDOWS+E - Windows Explorer

WINDOWS+F - Find Files or Folders

WINDOWS+D - Minimizes all open windows and displays the desktop

CTRL+WINDOWS+F - Find Computer

CTRL+WINDOWS+TAB - Moves focus from Start, to Quick Launch bar, to System Tray. Use RIGHT ARROW or LEFT ARROW to move focus to items on Quick Launch bar and System Tray

WINDOWS+TAB - Cycle through taskbar buttons

WINDOWS+BREAK - System Properties dialog box

Application key - Displays a context menu for the selected item

Microsoft Natural Keyboard with IntelliType Software Installed

WINDOWS+L - Log off Windows

WINDOWS+P - Opens Print Manager

WINDOWS+C - Opens Control Panel

WINDOWS+V - Opens Clipboard

WINDOWS+K - Opens Keyboard Properties dialog box

WINDOWS+I - Opens Mouse Properties dialog box

WINDOWS+A - Opens Accessibility Options(if installed)

WINDOWS+SPACEBAR - Displays the list of IntelliType Hotkeys

WINDOWS+S - Toggles the CAP LOCK key on and off

Dialog Box Keyboard Commands

TAB - Move to the next control in the dialog box.

SHIFT+TAB - Move to the previous control in the dialog box.

SPACEBAR - If the current control is a button, this clicks the button. If the current control is a check box, this toggles the check box. If the current control is an option button, this selects the option button.

ENTER - Equivalent to clicking the selected button (the button with the outline).

ESC - Equivalent to clicking the Cancel button.

ALT+ - Select menu item.