XP Issues

[rudy-Diiriye]

works for ntfs and fat.

 

Create a Boot Floppy Disk with a Windows XP-Based Computer

Format a floppy disk by using the Windows XP format utility. For example, with the floppy disk in the floppy disk drive, type format a: at a command prompt, and then press ENTER.

Copy the Ntldr and the Ntdetect.com files from the I386 folder on the Windows XP Setup CD-ROM, Windows XP Setup floppy disk, or from a computer that is running the same version of Windows XP as the computer that you want to access with the boot floppy.

Create a Boot.ini file (or copy one from a computer that is running Windows XP), and then modify it to match the computer that you are trying to access. The following example works for a single-partition IDE drive with Windows XP installed in the Windows folder, but the exact value in the [operating systems] section depends on the configuration of the Windows XP computer that you are trying to access: [boot loader]

timeout=30

Default= multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)windows

 

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)windows="Windows XP"

 

If your computer boots from a SCSI hard drive, you may need to replace the multi(0) entry with scsi(0). If you are using scsi(x) in the Boot.ini file, copy the correct device driver for the SCSI controller in use on the computer to the root of the Setup disk, and then rename it Ntbootdd.sys. Change the disk(0) number to represent the SCSI-ID of the hard drive you want to boot to. If you are using multi(x) in the Boot.ini file, you do not need to do this.

Start your computer by using the floppy disk, and then log on to Windows XP.

[hacker1]

rudy amigo! check this out.

 

How to Make a Folder Private on a Windows XP Home Computer

 

Do you share your Windows XP Home computer with other users? If so, you might want to make a folder private so that other users on that computer can't access the contents of your folder. If you've formatted your disk using NTFS (which you should always do unless you're dual booting with another OS and want to be able to access the files with that OS), you can lock up that folder so that only you can get to it. Here's how:

 

Right click the folder that you wanted to make private.

On the Sharing tab of the folder, put a checkmark in the Make this folder private checkbox.

Click Apply. If you do not have a password on your account, you will see a Sharing dialog box that asks if you want to assign a password to your account. You must assign a password to your account if you want to make your folder private. Click Yes.

Type in your new password and then confirm it. Click the Create Password button. Close the Password window.

Click OK on the folder's Properties dialog box.

When another user logs onto the computer, that user will not be able to access the contents of your private folder.

 

I hope this helps u out if u have to share a computer with with some roommates.

[H]

:eek:

 

Exposing a weakness in Windows encryption technology, Swiss researchers have published a paper detailing how to crack Windows computers protected by alphanumeric passwords in an average of 13.6 seconds.

The paper's lead author, Philippe Oechslin, told NewsFactor that his research is not specifically about Windows software. "I'm looking for encryption systems where there is no random information for security encryption," he said. He explained that Unix, Linux and Mac OS X use an initialization vector, also known as "salt," which can have 4,096 values, making cracking much more difficult.

"On Windows, unfortunately, the two versions of password hashes (encoding technology) they use don't have salt, so we can precalcuate all of them," Oechslin said.

Cracking Twelve Times Faster

Oechslin is a senior research assistant at the Cryptography and Security Laboratory of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. His paper builds on earlier cryptanalysis work published in the early 1980s, which detailed how to crack alphanumeric passwords using precalculated data stored in look-up tables. This greatly reduces the time needed to break a password.

"As an example we have implemented an attack on Windows password hashes. Using 1.4 GB of data we can crack 99.9 percent of all alphanumerical passwords hashes in 13.6 seconds, whereas it takes 101 seconds with the current approach using distinguished points," Oechslin states.

Furthermore, "We show that the gain could be much higher depending on the parameters used," he adds.

Oechslin has not informed Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) of his research because "the theory has existed for twenty years, and everybody knows that Microsoft software doesn't have salt," he said. The paper is simply "the first time we've publicly seen such a tool."

Using Basic Tools

The system that Oechslin outlines uses a new way to organize large look-up tables to crack encryption algorithms. The larger the look-up table -- requiring ever more memory to handle -- the faster the password can be cracked.

With the advances detailed in Oechslin's paper, a hacker with even modest resources can compromise alphanumeric Windows passwords quickly. The computer the researchers used was powered by an AMD (NYSE: AMD) Athlon XP 2500+ processor with 1.5 GB of RAM. "The data we use for the cracking is actually 0.95 GB," Oechslin said.

Public Demo

To demonstrate the effectiveness of the research, the Swiss researchers have posted a Web page that allows users to demo the technique. "You are allowed to crack only the passwords of your own computer," states the site. After the site has processed a user request, it lists that user's email, hash and password on the site.

On a recent visit, there were 248 requests in queue. "It's terrible," Oechslin said, referring to the site's backlog of requests. "We now have limited the queue to 100."

To take part in the demo, users must enter the encrypted version of their password, Oechslin explained. This is stored on a user's hard drive, and a user must have administrator privileges to access it. To access this encrypted password, a user will need special applications, which the site's FAQ explains.

Allowing users to hack passwords at a public site "is not as terrible as it sounds," Oechslin said, noting that "you have to be an administrator already to find the password." The research team will not distribute the code.

Building a Tougher Password

The deficiencies of passwords are no surprise to Yankee Group security analyst Eric Ogren, who noted that there are numerous weaknesses to this oft-used authentication scheme. "Passwords are a necessary evil," Ogren told NewsFactor.

Both Ogren and Oechslin gave the same advice for beefing up password strength: Include non-alphanumeric characters in your password, such as a question mark or a plus sign. "We've been telling them that for years," Oechslin said.

Also, Windows users should not use the older type of hash technology, the LANManager, Oechslin said. "This is even easier to crack than the newer one, the NTHash."