Wireless SD Cards

You ever get sick of having to move around SD cards to get info off of them or get tired of finding or untangling that annoying mini USB cable?

Well the there is a solution now, Eye-Fi offers the solution of a wireless SD card. You can upload directly to your PC, Web or Both automatically. It also does Geotagging which will add location tags to your photos.

Unfortunately, they are a bit pricey starting at about $80 for a 2 GB of memory but if you have the cash or need to have top of the line technology then this would be great. Mind you I am a cheap bastard so I have not bought one myself but they seem pretty sweet, and I certainly like the idea.

If I ever came across an extra cash I didn't have to spend on anything else, I would totally buy a couple. One to put in my camera and one to put in my Wii. One downside is that they don't have any Eye-Fi Manager software for Linux.

To quote the Eye-Fi requirements page:

• Eye-Fi Card works with 802.11g, 802.11b and backwards-compatible 802.11n wireless networks
• Eye-Fi software works with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OS X (10.4 and 10.5)
• Eye-Fi software works with Internet Explorer 6 and 7 (Windows only), Firefox 2.0 (Windows and OS X) and Safari 3 ( OS X 10.4 -10.5)
• Eye-Fi card requires an Internet connection for setup and a wireless router with DHCP enabled for wireless transfers

This isn't a paid review, so if you know of a better wireless SD card, or a cheaper brand we would love to hear about it in the comments! Better yet, if you know of one that is compatible with Linux, we are all ears!

By Sundance of Free TV Shows Online

Open Source Alternative to Microsoft Exchange

The following is taken from The Slothman, who is another guest writer over at Ask The Admin. The Slothman has his own blog called The Blog-o-Sloth, so please check it out. Slothman writes about a Linux e-mail suite that can do everything Exchange can do, and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. The original post can be found here.

"I will make no bones about my disdain for Microsoft. I think their business ethics are an oxymoron. I think they make mediocre products by and large, and their focus is keeping you in the revolving door of addiction to their products, not making a quality product at a fair price.

My target today, is MS Exchange.

For the uninitiated, MS Exchange if Microsoft's mail server. It is pretty vanilla. It pretty much only does mail. And it is NOT cheap and the migration paths to newer versions are at times treacherous at best.

Exchange/Outlook makes up about 60% of the mail server/clients installed globally with Lotus/Domino taking up the vast majority of the remainder but that is changing as the Open Source Community has put a bullseye on Exchange to offer a more cost effective solution than Exchange. In fact in a recent Yankee Group Survey shows that 23% of respondents are looking to migrate away from Exchange.

You might ask, why I don't like Exchange. Here's the reasons why:

1. It is a Microsoft product
2. It is limited in functionality
3. It is expensive
4. It is notably vulnerable to attacks and viruses
5. It is a major TARGET of attacks and viruses
6. It is not as scalable as other solutions
7. It is a FAT application that requires a lot of hardware
   
8. It is a FAT application that requires a lot of manpower/time to support/maintain

But you may ask, "I don't want to have to have my end users learn a new client application" or "I like Outlook Web Access"

Great question....you don't have to and there are alternatives!

I want to introduce you all to Zimbra

Zimbra is an open source mail server. It can be free or you can purchase a more robust version with support for about $35/end user license. Compare that to Exchange!!!

What Zimbra offers you is the exact same functionality of Exchange with none of the drawbacks.

You can run Zimbra on an older, or cheaper Linux server with 1GB of RAM and that will support about 1000 users or so. It has plug ins for Outlook too which will make it seamless for you users to start using Zimbra mail, as well as it comes with a migration utility which will move your contacts, calendar, and email(including personal folders) over to Zimbra.

But there is more!!!! Zimbra is managed, very easily via a web console. So you don't have to be at your server or have SSH/VNC/RDP access to your server. Hit up a web address and you're in!

But what about OWA you ask??? Well....if they allow you to administer it via the web...then they must have a web client. If you figure that out, you're right! They have a rich AJAX based web client which gives you all the functionality of your Outlook client, but via the web and not like the 2003 OWA which is restricted as opposed to what is offered in Outlook.

Zimbra also has a built in wiki functionality and a document sharing functionality which I've read will be improved with time.

But you will ask about integration with applications such as Sharepoint and MS Office, or other apps...guess what, all those apps tie in to Outlook and don't care what is on the backend in most instances. So if you have Outlook, you're gold! While I have disdain for MS, Outlook is a great 'middleware' application as EVERYTHING hooks into it. Also Zimbra has the ability through its iCal standards compliant calendering system to be able to syndicate your calendar as well as pull in other syndicated calendars from say Google's Calendar.

I think I've bored you all enough right now, but I will leave you with a few ending thoughts.

1. Set up a test box to play with Zimbra or download a demo Zimbra appliance from VMWare
2. Check out the live demo on Zimbra's site
3. Scalix is also considered an 'exchange killer' server and is free as well(I did not like it as much as Zimbra)
4. When in doubt, check out Lotus/Domino. Platform independent and has a LOT more functionality over Exchange including native clustering, but you will miss a lot of the integration."

Brick Level Backups of Exchange Using ExMerge

Hey guys! I didn't think I would find time to write today, but low and behold I found a quick moment. If figured I would go ahead and write about something I am working on today which is developing a way to do a brick Level backup of one of our Exchange servers using the built-in ExMerge tool.

For those of you that don't speak Exchange, brick level backups are the backing up of individual mailboxes. This provides the fastest and easiest method of recovering an individual user's stuff in the even they accidentally deleted something important.

Well, we were using CA's Arcserve Brightstor to perform this backup, but it was taking up to 6 days to do a full brick backup of our main Exchange server. This is because the standard Exchange agent that comes with Brightstor only allows for one thread. With one lousy thread it was taking us 6 days to do a brick level backup on all of our mailboxes. This would cause our database backup jobs to fail, because the Brightstor agent could only handle one backup job at a time.

We have since abandoned the idea of brick backups, and have since gone to a daily full database backup because it is faster. The only problem with that is if you have to recover a set of emails for one user, you have to restore the entire database.

Now, we could pay for the premium agent from CA that will allow multiple threads, and multiple backup jobs at once, but the price is outrageous. Also, with the state of the housing market (Yes, I work in the real estate industry) we are running on a tight budget. I have been tasked with developing a way to create the brick level backups, without spending any money.

I am here to tell you it can be done, and I have done it! Exchange comes with a utility called ExMerge which allows you to export a users entire mailbox to a PST file. It is really straight forward on how to use it through the GUI, but many people don't realize that it has some command line options as well that allows you to write a script to ExMerge all of your mailboxes to individual PST files, and you can even set the number of threads (The default is 5).

What you do is go through the GUI, and set all of you options, then export those settings to an EXMERGE.INI file to a folder of your choosing (i.e. C:\brick). Then you write your batch file to point ExMerge to that ini. Here is an example of the commands I used:

EXMERGE -F C:\brick\EXMERGE.INI -B -NUMTHREADS 10 -D

The NUMTHREADS switch sets the number of threads. As you can see, I used 10 which allows for 10 mailboxes to be exported at once. You can obviously set it higher, or lower depending on your needs. The -D switch shows the GUI progress, otherwise ExMerge executes silently in the background. I wanted to monitor it so I could see how long this backup took to run. You may be happy to know that this backup ran in 32 hours, and was able to export 414 mailboxes successfully (260GB worth of email, attachments and other junk). Not bad when compared to 6 days with CA right?

If you want more detailed instructions on how to do this, follow the instructions I read through from the folks over at Petri here (ExMerge brick Instructions).

What is your current Exchange backup solution? Hit me up in the comments.

allSnap The best software ever!!

Sometimes I can be a bit of a neat freak. I like things clean and organized. It just makes life a little easier for me, and keeps my stuff easy to find.

I was talking with a friend of mine and was getting frustrated with the fact I could never get my windows to line up easily. Since I like to keep things nice and tidy, I got to thinking it would be nice to have some software that would make every window snap together like in winamp.

So after some quick searching I found allSnap. allSnap does just that, it makes every window snap to each other and to the edge of the screen. If fact, this is the description from their page:

allSnap is a small system tray app that makes all top level windows automatically align like they do in programs such as Winamp or Photoshop.

They also have a portable app of it, as well as a 64 bit version. Since finding it I have added that to my list of portable apps I keep with me at all times.

Do you like to keep things tidy? Do you know of other software like this to help tidy up the desktop? Let us know in the comments.

By Sundance of Free TV Shows Online

Windows Shortcuts and Run Commands Part 4

Creating windows shortcuts for free without the need to install software!

First I want to start off by saying I'm sorry for not posting this last part sooner, I had it written just forgot to post it. So anyway here you go...

So this isn’t really that hard but easy to overlook or forget about. Basically all you do is create a shortcut of anything you want to open with your custom windows hotkeys. Right click on the shortcut and go to Properties. Once in the Properties click on the Shortcut tab at the top. (By default it usually is on that tab after going to Properties.) In the 3rd option down is the “Shortcut key:” option. In there you can put just about any combo of characters in there.



By default if you just press a character on the keyboard it will add the Ctrl + Alt to it. Example if you just press A then it will make it Ctrl + Alt + A. Some keys you cannot use are the Windows Key, Tab, Pause/Break, Print Screen and Esc keys.

This is the final post on Windows Shortcuts and Run Commands. If you missed the last three you can catch them here, here and here!

Did we miss any? Do you have any questions? let us know in the comments.

By Sundance of Free TV Shows Online

Series on Cain and Abel?

I just finished college a few weeks ago. In on of my final classes one of my classmates did a report on doing Man in The Middle attacks using Cain and Abel from Oxid.it.

I thought his presentation was fascinating. I had only played with Cain and Abel as a local password cracker finding hidden Internet Explorer passwords, and Windows passwords. I had never used it for some serious hacking action.

Now I knew of its potential, but didn't realize just how easy it is to use this tool to break into many different things until that class. Of course I figured, If I didn't realize this, then there must be others like me.

So tell me, would you be interested in a series on Cain and Abel? Hit me up in the comments!

Video Episode 1 of Bauer-Power

Yes, we have finally did it! Sundance and I have gotten together to collaborate on creating a video segment to the blog!

In this episode we talk about the top 10 hits to the blog for the last 30 days, as well as totally drink a lot of beer and bullshit a lot. We had a lot of fun making it, and we hope you enjoy it.

Of course we are on a budget, so the video quality isn't as good as it could be, but hey! It goes along with the theme of the blog which is free software, and not spending money if you don't have to.

We are hoping to start doing this at least once a month, and perhaps more frequently if this catches on!

Without further ado, here is Episode 1 of Bauer-Power:



I think it is important to note that we totally skipped mentioning the Bauer-Power Ubuntu Stickers. That was a total accident, however it was 1:00am when we realized it and didn't feel the urgency to go back and re-shoot.

That being said, how did you like it? What kind of stuff do you want to see in a video segment? Let us know in the comments!

Awe Yeah! It's Almost Video Time!

I mentioned two days ago that tomorrow we will be featuring our very first ever VIDEO episode of Bauer-Power!

I wanted to take a quick moment to remind you to check in tomorrow for the debut of me and fellow Bauer-Power contributor Sundance on IPTV.

Of course we are very low budget, which totally speaks to the theme of the blog (and that is free and cheap resources for every day tech needs!). Having said that, please just bear through the crappy video quality, and look at it for the pure entertainment value of a couple of guys shootin' the shit about tech stuff while enjoying some beer! Who doesn't like doing that?




So crack one open with us tomorrow! We look forward to seeing you there and hearing your feedback!

Think Twice Before Playing D&D

Its a fact of life. Geeks and Nerds love fantasy and playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. Personally I never got into playing D&D or other gmaes like Magic The Gathering. Not to say that I wasn't into fantasy books though, so I can certainly see the geeky appeal.

Bauer-Power contributor Sundance however is a huge D&D nerd, which is what prompted me to post this video. I mentioned yesterday how The Onion Movie did a spoof on D&D types, and I promised you that video. Check it out:



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Have you seen The Onion Movie? What was your favorite sketch? Hit me up in the comments!

Windows Shortcuts and Run Commands Part 3

Part 3 here is about how to save time while working with MS Office. A lot of these most people know but decided to leave them in there anyway. This part isn't too interesting to most people but does go over some nice editing tips that are also a little harder to dig around and find in the menu bars.

The next segment will be more tech tips for the run box for troubleshooting MS Office including outlook and after that I will be writing up some more info on how to create your own windows hotkeys to your favorite apps or directories all with no extra software to install.

Microsoft Office Keyboard Shortcut Keys

Word
CTRL+SHIFT+A All Caps
ALT+CTRL+M Annotation
ALT+CTRL+K Auto Format
F3 or ALT+CTRL+V Auto Text
CTRL+B or CTRL+SHIFT+B Bold
CTRL+SHIFT+F5 Bookmark
CTRL+C or CTRL+INSERT Copy
CTRL+SHIFT+C Copy Format
SHIFT+F2 Copy Text
ALT+F3 Create Auto Text
ALT+SHIFT+D Date Field
CTRL+BACKSPACE Delete Back Word
CTRL+DELETE Delete Word
ALT+SHIFT+F7 Dictionary
ALT+SHIFT+F9 Do Field Click
CTRL+F10 Doc Maximize
CTRL+F7 Doc Move
CTRL+F5 Doc Restore
CTRL+F8 Doc Size
CTRL+SHIFT+. Grow Font
CTRL+]Hanging Indent CTRL+T Grow Font One Point
ALT+SHIFT+R Header Footer Link
F1 Help
CTRL+SHIFT+H Hidden
CTRL+K Hyperlink
CTRL+M Indent
CTRL+I or CTRL+SHIFT+I Italic
CTRL+J Justify Para
CTRL+L Left Para
SHIFT+UP Line Up Extend
ALT+CTRL+L List Num Field
ALT+CTRL+O Outline
ALT+SHIFT+ or ALT+SHIFT+NUM Outline Collapse
ALT+SHIFT+RIGHT Outline Demote
ALT+SHIFT+= Outline Expand
ALT+SHIFT+NUM + Outline Expand
ALT+SHIFT+DOWN Outline Move Down
ALT+SHIFT+UP Outline Move Up
ALT+SHIFT+LEFT Outline Promote
ALT+SHIFT+L Outline Show First Line
CTRL+3 or CTRL+F11 Lock Fields
ALT+LEFT Web Go Back
ALT+RIGHT Web Go Forward
CTRL+LEFT Word Left
CTRL+SHIFT+LEFT Word Left Extend
CTRL+RIGHT Word Right


Excel
Move to next cell in row Tab
Move to previous cell in row Shift + Tab
Up one screen Page Up
Down one screen Page Down
Move to next worksheet Ctrl + Page Down
Move to previous worksheet Ctrl + Page Up
Go to first cell in data region Ctrl + Home
Go to last cell in data region Ctrl + End
Bold toggle for selection Ctrl + B
Italic toggle for selection Ctrl + I
Underline toggle for selection Ctrl + U
Strikethrough for selection Ctrl + 5
Change the font Ctrl + Shift + F
Change the font size Ctrl + Shift + P
Apply outline borders Ctrl + Shift + 7
Remove all borders Ctrl + Shift + Underline
Wrap text in same cell Alt + Enter
Format cells Ctrl + 1
Select font Ctrl + Shift + F
Select point size Ctrl + Shift + P
Format as currency Ctrl + Shift + 4
Format as general Ctrl + Shift + # (hash sign)
Format as percentage Ctrl + Shift + 5
Format as number Ctrl + Shift + 1
Autosum a range of cells Alt + Equals Sign
Insert the date Ctrl + ; (semi colon)
Insert the time Ctrl + Shift + ; (semi colon)
Insert columns/rows Ctrl + Shift + + (plus sign)
Insert a new worksheet Shift + F11
Read Monitor Cell One Alt + Shift + 1
Read Monitor Cell Two Alt + Shift + 2
Read Monitor Cell Three Alt + Shift + 3
Read Monitor Cell Four Alt + Shift + 4
List Visible Cells With Data Ctrl + Shift + D
Lists Data In Current Column Ctrl + Shift + C
List Data In Current Row Ctrl + Shift + R
Select Hyperlink Ctrl + Shift + H
Move To Worksheet Listbox Ctrl + Shift + S
Move To Monitor Cell Ctrl + Shift + M
Select Worksheet Objects Ctrl + Shift + O
List Cells At Page Breaks Ctrl + Shift + B
Options Listbox Insert + V


PowerPoint
Start a slide show F5
Switch to the next pane (clockwise) F6
Subscript Formatting CTRL+EQUAL SIGN (=)
Superscript Formatting CTRL+PLUS SIGN (+)
Select all CTRL+A
Bold CTRL+B
Copy CTRL+C
Make a duplicate of the current slide CTRL+D
Find CTRL+F
View guides CTRL+G
Italicize CTRL+I
Insert a hyperlink CTRL+K
Insert a new slide CTRL+M
Open CTRL+O
Print CTRL+P
Save CTRL+S
Open the Font dialog box CTRL+T
Paste CTRL+V
Undo CTRL+Z
Capitalize SHIFT+F3
Delete a Word CTRL+BACKSPACE
Promote a paragraph ALT+SHIFT+LEFT ARROW
Demote a paragraph ALT+SHIFT+RIGHT ARROW
Repeat your last action F4 or CTRL+Y
Switch to the previous pane SHIFT+F6

Stay tuned for Part IV!

By Sundance of Free TV Shows Online

Upgrading Sucks!

I watched The Onion Movie last week and I spent a good portion of the night holding my stomach while writhing on the floor in laughter. There are so many funny little spoofs on there.

There were two funny sketches that really caught my eye, and I thought I would share them with you. I had to search high and low for these on the internet, but I found both of them. The first one I will post today, but the second one will have to wait for tomorrow. This is just too much funny goodness to post in one day.

In this sketch a poor man just wants to get a newer computer, so the associate at the store sells him "The Best" computer out there. Once he buys it though the computer company keeps upgrading faster than the man can buy it. Sound familiar at all? Check it out:



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Gil Bates huh? Nice play on the name right? Stay tuned for tomorrow when I show you The Onion's take on Dungeons and Dragons, another fave of geeks besides computers.

Make Your Own Posters With Posteriza

My man Sundance and I got together Saturday to shoot our very first video episode of Bauer-Power, and we needed something to use as a backdrop. My wife is was of town, so we decided to shoot at my apartment as it was guaranteed to be free of screaming toddlers, of which we both have.

Anyhoo, I wanted to have something up as a backdrop, but we are on a very tight budget (i.e. $0.00) so that left me with one option. That's right, I had to make my own.


I decided to look around the net and immediately found a free solution to my problem. It is called Posteriza. It lets you take an image, and blow it up by splitting it among multiple pieces of paper.

The only drawback is that it takes 1.5 bitches to piece it back together, but it is certainly do-able. Check out the cheesy backdrop I made for the show (Which will be posted Friday):



We actually didn't go with that particular poster, and opted for a smaller one for ease of taping together:



Can anybody say Ghetto? That's okay, I think that adds to the charm. Maybe when we start making some money from this little hobby we can afford something with a little more pizazz, but until then we have Posteriza!

Be sure to check back Friday for our first VIDEO episode!

Windows Shortcuts and Run Commands Part 2

So here we are at Part Two of our Windows Shortcuts and Run Commands series. This time we will focus on quick shortcut keys to accomplish some of the many things we do every day.

Yeah, some of these are very basic but I decided to leave them in here anyway because I have had people I worked with in the IT field even that didn't know they could CTRL+V to paste. They were so used to right clicking they just didn't know. There were actually a couple in here I didn't know about myself, which is rather unusual coming from one that hates to use the mouse. Without any further ado, I continue with my list of kick ass shortcuts!


Windows XP Shortcuts
ALT+ENTER View properties for the selected item
ALT+ESC Cycle through items in the order they were opened
ALT+F4 Close the active item, or quit the active program
ALT+TAB Switch between open items
CTRL+A Select all
CTRL+C Copy
CTRL+V Paste
CTRL+X Cut
CTRL+Z Undo
CTRL+F4 Close the active document
CTRL+(Drag Mouse) Copy selected item
CTRL+SHIFT+(Drag Mouse) Create shortcut to selected item
SHIFT+DELETE Delete selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin
F1 Displays Help
F2 Rename selected item
F3 Search for a file or folder
F5 Refresh the active window
SHIFT+F10 Display the Right Click menu for the selected item
CTRL+ESC Display the Start menu
SHIFT+CTRL+ESC Launches Task Manager
SHIFT when you insert a CD Prevent the CD from automatically playing
WIN Display or hide the Start menu
WIN+BREAK Display the System Properties dialog box
WIN+D Minimizes all Windows and shows the Desktop
WIN+E Open Windows Explorer
WIN+F Search for a file or folder
WIN+F+CTRL Search for computers
WIN+L Locks the desktop
WIN+M Minimize or restore all windows
WIN+R Open the Run dialog box
WIN+TAB Switch between open items





Windows Explorer Shortcuts
CTRL+(+) - Automatically resize the columns in detail view
TAB - Move forward through options
ALT+RIGHT ARROW - Move forward to a previous view
ALT+LEFT ARROW - Move backward to a previous view
BACKSPACE - View the folder one level up
ALT+ENTER - View an item’s properties
F2 - Rename selected item
F3 - Display Find application
F4 – Drops down the Address Bar
F5 - Refresh window contents
F6 – Does same thing as Tab
F10 - Activate the menu bar in programs
F11 – View window in full screen






Internet Explorer Shortcuts
CTRL+A - Select all items on the current page
CTRL+D - Add the current page to your Favorites
CTRL+E - Open the Search bar
CTRL+F - Find on this page
CTRL+H - Open the History bar
CTRL+I - Open the Favorites bar
CTRL+N - Open a new window
CTRL+O - Go to a new location
CTRL+P - Print the current page or active frame
CTRL+S - Save the current page
CTRL+W - Close current browser window
SHIFT+CLICK - Open link in new window
BACKSPACE - Go to the previous page
ALT+HOME - Go to your Home page
ALT+TAB – Adds new tab(IE 7 and later)
HOME - Move to the beginning of a document
TAB - Move forward through items on a page
END - Move to the end of a document
ESC - Stop downloading a page
F1 - Display Internet Explorer Help
F4 - Display list of typed addresses
F5 - Refresh the current page
F6 - Change Address bar and page focus
F11 - Toggle full-screen view
ALT+RIGHT ARROW - Go to the next page
SHIFT+CTRL+TAB - Move back between frames
SHIFT+F10 - Display a shortcut menu for a link
SHIFT+TAB - Move back through the items on a page
CTRL+TAB - Move forward between frames
CTRL+C - Copy selected items to the clipboard
CTRL+V - Insert contents of the clipboard
ENTER - Activate a selected link
HOME - Move to the beginning of a document
END - Move to the end of a document


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.

Okay, seriously now! That list took a long time to compile! Did I miss anything? If you know of some that I missed that I didn't cover in this or in part 1, let us know in the comments!

By Sundance of Free TV Shows Online

Windows Shortcuts and Run Commands Part 1

Here are some shortcuts for windows that can all be done with the keyboard. Now don't get me wrong there's always the use for a mouse but sometimes it's just so much faster to do things with the keyboard.

I've gone through and compiled a rather extensive list of things that can be done with only the keyboard. So much in fact that I have decided to not post the 12 pages all at once. So come back every day to find more. Some of these you will need the Microsoft Admin Pack installed but if you're reading this you probably already do.

Part 1: The Command prompt and Run Box.

Good ole DOS Commands

CONTROL: Open control panel icons from the MS-DOS prompt. This can be run from the Run Prompt.
RUNAS: Enables a user to execute a program on another computer. This can be run from the Run Prompt.
SHUTDOWN: Shutdown the computer from the MS-DOS prompt. This can be run from the Run Prompt.
TRACERT:Visually view a network packets route across a network.
TREE: View a visual tree of the hard disk drive. I don’t really see much of a use for this but it does look cool to run.
TASKKILL: It allows you to kill those unneeded or locked up applications.

Control Panel Commands to run from the Run Prompt

Accessibility Options: access.cpl
Add or Remove Programs: appwiz.cpl
Display Properties: desk.cpl
Windows Firewall: firewall.cpl
Add Hardware: hdwwiz.cpl
Internet Options: inetcpl.cpl
Regional & Language Options: intl.cpl
Java Control Panel: javacpl.cpl
Game Controllers: joy.cpl
Mouse Properties: main.cpl
Sound & Audio Device Settings: mmsys.cpl
Network Connections: ncpa.cpl
Wireless Network Setup Wizard: netsetup.cpl
User Accounts: nusrmgr.cpl
ODBC Data Source Administrator: odbccp32.cpl
Power Options: powercfg.cpl
System Properties: sysdm.cpl
Phone and Modem Options: telephon.cpl
Time and Date Options: timedate.cpl
Windows Security Center: wscui.cpl
Automatic Updates: wuaucpl.cpl

Other Run Commands

Active Directory Manager: admgmt.msc
Authorization Manager: azman.msc
Certificate Manager: certmgr.msc
Certificate Authority: certsrv.msc
Certificate Templates: certtmpl.msc
Indexing Service: ciadv.msc
Computer Management: compmgmt.msc
Device Manager: devmgmt.msc
Disk Management: diskmgmt.msc
Disk Defrag: dfrg.msc
Distributed File System: dfsgui.msc
DHCP Manager: dhcpmgmt.msc
DNS Management: dnsmgmt.msc
Active Directory Domains & Trusts: domain.msc
Active Directory Users & Computers: dsa.msc
Event viewer: eventvwr.msc
Shared folders: fsmgmt.msc
Group policies: gpedit.msc
IP Address Management: ipaddrmgmt.msc
Local users and groups: lusrmgr.msc
Removeable Storage: ntmsmgr.msc
Removeable Storage Operator Requests: ntmsoprq.msc
Performance monitor: perfmon.msc
Public Key Management: pkmgmt.msc
Remote Storage Admin: rsadmin.msc
Resultant set of policies: rsop.msc
Active Directory Schema: schmmgmt.msc
Local security settings: secpol.msc
Services: services.msc
Telephony: tapimgmt.msc
Remote Desktops: tsmmc.msc
UUDI Services Console: uddi.msc
WINS Management: winsmgmt.msc
WMI Management: wmimgmt.msc
System Configuration Utility: msconfig
Registry Editor: regedit
System Information: msinfo32
System Edit: sysedit
windows loading information: win.ini
Current version of windows: winver
Command Prompt: cmd
Calculator: calc
MS Word: winword
MS Excel: excel
MS Outlook: outlook
Character Map: charmap
Disk Cleanup: cleanmgr
Clipboard: clipbrd
DirectX Diagnostic Tool: dxdiag
Font Editor: eudcedit
File Self Extractor Creator: iexpress
Terminal Services Licensing: licmgr
Magnification Service: magnify
Microsoft Management Console: mmc
Offline File Synchronize: mobsync
Malicious Software Removal Tool:MRT
Microsoft Paint: mspaint
Remote Desktoop: mstsc
Network Load Balancing Manager: nlbmgr
Microsoft Notepad: notepad
Easy NSLookup: nslookup
Backup and Restore Wizard: ntbackup
Windows Sound Recorder: sndrec32
Windows Volume: sndvol32
Task Manager: taskmgr
Terminal Services Admin: tsadmin
Windows IP Chat: winchat
Windows Rich Text Editor: write

Whew! That was a lot to take in all at once. Because of that we I think we can all use a break, and a beer. Be sure to come back tomorrow for part deux!

By Sundance of Free TV Shows Online

Don't Panic! PST Panic That is...

Check out the latest craze that's sweeping the net where frustrated network administrators are battling their stress out with one another as they try and win some great prizes!


PST Panic allows you to upload a photo of yourself depicting the frustration that you feel when realizing that your PST files did not actually back up your data, but are corrupt and unusable! The realization of this leaves you reeling in shock because you really thought that they could be relied upon and now there are no backups!


However in situations like these there is always a silver lining, or in this case there are two. Firstly, you need to grab your camera and capture this moment, register on the site, upload your photo and be in with the chance to win. Secondly, you've now learned your lesson and know that PST files are not trusted backups without a proper archiving solution in place.



The site offers some fantastic photos that are there to be viewed and rated upon providing you with a few laughs, but it's the entrants who have the chance to win the Amazon gift vouchers. There are vouchers for those who rank in first, second and third place, but token vouchers are also being given to the first 50 people who upload their picture.

It's important that one registers first in order to be eligible for the prizes. And that's not all, because 5 randomly selected people will receive a free copy of GFI MailArchiver so that the face looking at them from their photograph will remain nothing more than a memory captured on film.

Take a look at www.pstpanic.com and see what the panic's all about!

By Jesmond

Hak5 At Toorcon

I mentioned a few weeks ago how I went to Toorcon, San Diego's premier hacker conference. I also mentioned that while I was there I ran into Darren Kitchen and Shannon Morse of one of my favorite IPTV shows, HAK5.

Their episodes are all slightly behind real time, which makes sense as they have to have time to produce their shows. Their latest episode is no different, as they finally released the footage, and interviews from this year's Toorcon.

Get ready to curl up with some popcorn, and a nice cold beer and pretend like you were 1337 enough to be at the con because direct from their Revision3 page, here is that episode:



Which interview did you like best? Which hack/exploit did you like? Hit me up in the comments.

Allow Me Introduce You To My New Favorite File Hosting Site

I have been scouring the interweb looking for a decent file hosting site that will allow me to share an ISO. Many free file hosting and sharing sites give you a ridiculous amount of space, but cap your upload or download limit at a stupidly small size like 10MB to 300MB. Sure 300MB is good for a lot of stuff, but what if you want to share your custom Linux Distro like me?

Well, that's when you need something with what I like to refer to as "a little more stank."

I finally found what I was looking for after a few days of searching for sites looking for free file hosting/sharing with an upload of 1GB. How does unlimited storage space sound? Sounds too good to be true? Well, it isn't! With this site you are unlimited in the amount of space you use for your precious files!

The site I found is called FileFront. With no sign up, and no registration they allow you to share an unlimited amount of files! Stick that in your file hosting and smoke it!

These guys even keep your file forever! Not 10 days, not 90 days, but FOREVER!

I think I finally found a replacement to Mediafire which I was using for a long time, but got tired of their puny 100MB file size limit.

What kind of stuff are you sharing that needs a boat load of space? Know of any other sites like this? Which ones do you use/recommend? Hit me up in the comments!

Bauer-Puntu: Ubuntu Linux Without The Shit Brown

NOTE: New version released! Click HERE!

Friggin' finally! A little while ago I mentioned being able to create your own custom Ubuntu based live cd that you can distribute to friends. I made links available to download the initial one I created in 100MB parts (Lame!)

Well since then I have perfected my distro, and completely customized it. Say goodbye to the Ubuntu shit brown, and say hello to the awesome goodness of Bauer-Puntu!

Just click the File Front Download Now button to get yourself a piece of Bauer-Power!



[Alternative Download Location]


As requested, here are some screen shots:

Grub Splash

Usplash

GDM Login Screen

Desktop

Installer

As soon as as the final version of Intrepid Ibex comes out, I will release a new version! Tell me how you like it in the comments!

P.S. I have pre-installed Kismet and Aircrack-ng for some wep cracking fun ;-)

Migrating Printers from One Server To Another Easily

I had the pleasure of attempting to migrate a print server this weekend. I mean I had to figure out a quick and efficient way to install the 70 some odd printers on a new server. I was not going to be doing this manually that was for shit sure! I had some junior admins standing by - just in case!

I quickly found out that Microsoft provide a tool to back up and restore your printers. Score!

It said it will back up all your printers, settings, and drivers into a .cab archive, and then it allows you to restore the cab file on a different machine.

This small app grabbed ALL my printers including the local ones, copied all their drivers and crap to a single cab file. I was able to run the PrintMig on the new server and import the printers.

In 15 minutes or so all my printers were installed and working properly except one USB guy that needed to have its port switched. All in all it went very well. And I discovered another thing while testing:

It says it is intended for server migrations, but it work fine for workstations too.

So you can copy printers from one machine to another, create cab files for different off domain laptop configurations. Or this is great if you don’t do the Active Directory thing and want to semi-automate printer installation.

The latest version of Printmig is 3.1 and is available for download here.

more details available from:
http://www.microsoft.com/printserver

A special thanks goes out to the internet on this one. Thanks for always being there for me man!

By Karl Gechlik of Ask The Admin

FINALLY! I AM OFFICIALLY BOOK LEARNED!

For many of you who follow Bauer-Power, you guys know that I have been actively pursuing my dual Bachelor degrees in Computer Networking and Network Security.

It has been a long and arduous road, that today finally came to an end. I started out working on my general ed stuff through the San Diego Community College District, then I transferred into San Diego State University, all the while pursuing a degree in Computer Information and Decision Systems.

It was in my second semester at San Diego State that I realized that the degree I was working on was not the path I wanted to take. I liked systems administration and computer networking. The degree from San Diego State was a programming major. So I decided to once again change schools, and ended up at Coleman College.

Today, I finally dawned my cap and gown, and along with my peers, picked up my two Bachelor of Science Degrees and proudly road off into the sunset (Actually it was just before noon...). Oh, did I mention I graduated Magna Cum Laude?



Not sure where the future will take me. I already work in my chosen profession, so most likely it will be to start pursuing my certifications again. For now though, I think I will just relax for a bit and take advantage of my new found free time.

Thanks to all who supported me!

Friday Humor: $240 Worth of Puddin'

How many of you guys out there remember the show, "The State" on MTV? The comedy troop that brought you "The State" went on to do "Viva Variety" on Comedy Central for a while, and can now be found on "Reno 911."

For those of you that can't remember back that far (Mid 90's), "The State" was a sketch comedy show, and was friggin' hilarious!

Well today my co-worker Zack said the phrase, "Ah the puddin" and I immediately started laughing. He is the first person to know what that phrase was from since I left Junior High. I had to go to Funny Or Die to see if I could find that clip, and guess what? I found it. Check it out:



Yeah, sure this has nothing to do with tech, but come on, this is just friggin' funny, and who doesn't need a little humor to kick the weekend off?

Do you remember "The State"? What was your favorite sketch?

Backup Media: Tape, DVD, CD....Paper?

Hello folks! You read that title correctly, paper can be used as a form of backup media. I am not talking about printing out your documents and filing them away in some nondescript binder to gather dust, no this one is a little more complicated than that.

I first want to point out that I would probably never use this as I don't really think that paper makes for a reliable backup media. The main reason for writing about it is that the particular program I am about to talk about is simply fascinating as hell.

Without further ado, on today's what the f@^k o'meter, I present PaperBack. Like it says above, this program lets you backup all your files to...PAPER. Very weird.

What it does is it converts the binary data of your files and converts them to over sized bitmaps that you print out. To restore it all you need is a local scanner. If you want to try it out, I created a paper backup of a cool new FREE anti virus software I am testing out called PC Tools Antivirus. You can download the file in PDF format, print it out and try to restore it using PaperBack to try it out. Careful though, it is 88 pages. Here is the file if you are brave enough: (Free Antivirus In PDF Form).

Another cool thing about this weird little program is it doesn't require any installation. It is a self running executable so you can run it from your USB thumb drive if you want.

So you are probably saying to yourself, "Why the hell would I want this utility El Di Pablo?" and to be honest, I asked myself the same question. Here is the answer the creators give on their website:

You may ask - why? Why, for heaven's sake, do I need to make paper backups, if there are so many alternative possibilities like CD-R's, DVD±R's, memory sticks, flash cards, hard disks, streamer tapes, ZIP drives, network storages, magnetooptical cartridges, and even 8-inch double-sided floppy disks formatted for DEC PDP-11? (I still have some). The answer is simple: you don't. However, by looking on CD or magnetic tape, you are not able to tell whether your data is readable or not. You must insert your medium into the drive (if you have one!) and try to read it.

Paper is different. Do you remember the punched cards? EBCDIC and all this stuff. For years, cards were the main storage medium for the source code. I agree that 100K+ programs were... unhandly, but hey, only real programmers dared to write applications of this size. And used cards were good as notepads, too. Punched tapes were also common. And even the most weird codings, like CDC or EBCDIC, were readable by humans (I mean, by real programmers).

Do I expect you to run out and start using this program as your primary means of data backup? Hell no! Do I want you to check it out because of its unusual nature? Hell yes! Give it a try, tell your friends about it. If it is good for anything, it is certainly good for a laugh.

Create Your Own Custom Linux Live CD

I mentioned last week about creating your LiveUSB sticks on the easy. Those of course are the default installs for each distro. What if you wanted to create a custom distro? I haven't tried it on USB, but I now know of a way to make your own custom Ubuntu-based live CD!

Imagine the possibilities! You can take all the stuff you like, and really make it your own! That is the beauty of Linux. It is so damned customizable, and now you can take those customizations, and make your own Live CD really easily too!

Live CD's are so flippin' handy. I use them all the time. They are good for file recovery, emergency backup, password cracking, and other stuff. One of my favorite live CD distro's is Backtrack because of all the hacking tools.

Well, now I can create my own pentesting Linux Live CD, or a Live CD with my common tools without hardly any work at all. How do I do this you ask? Easy! I do it with Remastersys!

There are other tools that allow you to make custom Live CD's. For instance, one that I learned of from my Teacher's blog is call UCK (Ubuntu Customization Kit). For ease of use, and the "no-think" factor I prefer Remastersys though.

What you do is install all your apps on your Ubuntu installation that you want to include in your CD, and remove any that you don't. Make your customizations as far as look and feel (I will let you do your own Googling for that) then install Remastersys, run it and select the dist option. Now go make some coffee while it does its work. Remastersys copies your Ubuntu installation's programs and settings and turns it into the Live CD!

When finished, it will output your CD in iso format in the /home/remastersys/remastersys folder.

Want to check out the one I made? I call it Bauer-Puntu! You can download it here (I had to split it into 9 parts):

Bauer-Puntu Part 1
Bauer-Puntu Part 2
Bauer-Puntu Part 3
Bauer-Puntu Part 4
Bauer-Puntu Part 5
Bauer-Puntu Part 6
Bauer-Puntu Part 7
Bauer-Puntu Part 8
Bauer-Puntu Part 9
Bauer-Puntu MD5 Hash

To re-create the ISO, download the individual files into a folder. In Windows open a command prompt and run the following:

copy /b Bauer-Puntu* Bauer-Puntu.iso

In Linux:

cat Bauer-Puntu* > Bauer-Puntu.iso

Sorry about having to split the files, but you know me. I'm a cheap bastard, and I am not about to pay for file hosting. I like Mediafire, and they cap the file size at 100MB max, so I split the files into 99MB chunks.

Mine came out rather large, so you will have to stick it on a DVD (Sorry about that). I did some customizations on it to get rid of most of the crappy Ubuntu brown ( I didn't get it all, oh well. It's my first release)... Oh yeah, and I installed Kismet, Aircrack and Wireshark on it for some wardriving/packet sniffing fun.

Did I mention, your live CD comes with an installer too? That's right, once you get your live CD the way you like it, you can give it away as your own Ubuntu based distro for your friends and family to install!

What will you put in your custom live CD? Let us know in the comments!

Get it while the gettin' is good: Bauer-Power GDM Theme!

Hey guys! I have been busily working on an upcoming article on creating your own custom live cd. In the process I decided to create my own custom GDM login screen for Ubuntu (Or any other distro that uses GDM).

I went ahead and made it available to everyone under a GPL. If you are interested I uploaded it to Gnome-Look.org.

Here is the direct link: (Bauer-Power GDM)

Here is a screenshot:



Let me know what you think! This is my first try at creating GDM themes, so be gentle.

A Beginners Guide To Formulas In Excel

One of the most useful tools in Microsoft Excel is the capability to apply formulas to the data within your spreadsheet. This tool is also one of the least understood. Just a little excel software training will help you to understand some of the basic functions available, allowing you to produce useful models and perform some complex calculations.

How does a formula work?

Formulas are equations that will perform calculations on the values you have entered into your spreadsheet. A formula in Excel will always begin with a equals sign, this tells Excel that the characters following it constitute a formula. Following the equals sign are the elements of a calculation separated by calculation operators. A formula may contain any or all of the following, functions, references, constants and operators. An example of a simple formula is given below;

=PI()*(C6+5)

The above example contains each of these elements. We will now consider the role of each of these to understand how the formula works.

Functions

Functions are predefined formulas that perform calculations by using specific values in a particular order or structure. A function begins with an equals sign followed by the function name, an opening bracket, the arguments for the function separated by commas and then a closing bracket. For example, the PI() function returns the value of pi i.e. 3.142.

Operators

An operator is a sign or symbol that specifies the type of calculation that you want to perform on the elements of the formula. Operators may be of four types, mathematical e.g. * (multiplication sign), comparison e.g. greater than, logical e.g. & (and) and reference e.g. : (colon).

References

A reference identifies a cell or range of cells in a worksheet and tells Excel where to look for the data you want to use in the formula. You can refer to cells within the worksheet, in other sheets in the same workbook and even to other workbooks. For example, the reference A2 would return the value in the cell A2.

Constants

A constant is a value that is not calculated and therefore does not change, for example the date 3/10/06 or the number 105. If you use constant values in a formula instead of references to cells the result will only change if you modify the formula yourself.

Formulas calculate values in a specific order. Excel calculates the formula from left to right. If you combine more than one operator in a formula, for example both a multiplication and plus operator, you may want to specify the order in which these operations is completed. This is done by adding brackets around the part of the formula which is to be calculated first.

An example formula

We can now return to our original formula and look again at the elements within it.

=PI()*(C6+5)

PI() = a function that will return the value of PI (3.142)
* = the mathematical operator for multiplication
C6 = a reference which will look up the value in cell C6
+ = the mathematical operator for addition
5 = a constant value

If the value in cell C6 is 10 then this formula will first add 10 to 5, and then multiply the resultant (15) by 3.142 to return the value 47.12.

The above provides just a very simple example to provide a basic overview of the way formulas work. There are numerous other functions and operators that can be applied together with many ways of referencing data. By undertaking some basic excel training you can quickly gain the knowledge to put all these functions to use and get Excel to do the hard work for you.

By Rich Talbot

Author is a trainer with a Microsoft Office training company, the UK industry leader in its sector. For more information on Excel training, visit http://www.MicrosoftTraining.net.

Article Source: Keyword Articles

I am in love! In love with web-based Linux administration!

As you all know, I recently setup a NAS using FreeNAS. Well, if you read that post, you know that it is administered through a webGUI. So I started thinking to myself, "Self, I wonder if there is a tool like that for Linux!" So I began to look around, and I'll tell you what, it didn't take long to find what I was looking for!

This little miracle is called Webmin. Webmin allows you to do full Linux administration through an SSL encrypted webGUI! It literally allows you to do every facet of administering your server from your browser! Setup for it is a snap too! Before, when I would setup an Ubuntu server, I would install the desktop minus gdm, usplash and any other apps I didn't need. Now, I just install Ubuntu server edition with apache and webmin and call it a day!

To install it, just follow these easy steps:

1. Install the prerequisites by running:
   
   sudo apt-get install apache2 perl libnet-ssleay-perl openssl libauthen-pam-perl libpam-runtime libio-pty-perl libmd5-perl
   
   
2. Next, download the deb package:
   
   wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/webadmin/webmin_1.420_all.deb
   
   
3. Install the deb package:
   
   sudo dpkg -i webmin_1.420_all.deb
   
   
4. Now you can access your server by browsing to https://servername:10000
   

I liked this thing so much, I put in a change order to install it on our production Ubuntu GSX server at the office. Now all of the Linux shy admins can move around that server with ease.

Keep "The Man" out of your Virtual Memory

I’ve mentioned different ways that “the man” can gain evidence from your computer, and ways to protect yourself. One way I mentioned was recovering deleted files from your hard drive, for that I suggested a couple of free hard drive secure wiping solutions. Another method of protection I suggested was full hard drive encryption, but if they have a warrant, you will be forced to give up your password so they can gain access.

A method that “the man”, and hackers for that matter, use that I didn’t mention was recovering data from your computer’s virtual memory. Virtual memory is a small area on the hard drive that the computer uses to temporarily place item it has in memory when it isn’t in use in order to make room for programs that are being used. When you shut down your computer, the data stays there until the next time you use it. Likewise, when your computer goes into hibernate mode, all data in memory gets dumped there while your computer turns off. That way when you turn it back on, everything opens right where you left it.

To help protect against this, you can clear your virtual memory at shutdown. This isn’t a fool proof method, and it may even increase the time it takes to shut your computer down, but it is better than a sharp stick in the eye. I actually recommend this with the use of the other methods I already posted about.

I don’t know how to do this in Linux (If you know, please leave a comment on how to do it, or where we can find directions), but in Windows it is a simple registry edit. Remember that before editing the registry; always make a backup of it first! Also, never mess with the registry unless you know what you are doing.

1) In Windows, click on Start > Run, then type in regedit (or regedt32) and click OK

2) Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

3) In the right pane, you should see a value called ClearPageFileAtShutdown, right click on it and select modify.

4) Change the data value from 0 to 1

5) If that option isn’t there, you can create it by right clicking in the right pane, and selecting New DWORD value, name it ClearPageFileAtShutdown and set the value to 1.

6) Reboot your computer to let the changes take effect.

Both “the man” and hackers have many tools at their disposal to parse through your virtual memory. Use this, along with the other methods to keep your data secure.

Twitter = Lame Sauce

Sometimes I am really slow to hop on the bandwagon. Sometimes I hop on the bandwagon to see what the fascination is about said bandwagon, then immediately hop the f$%k off. That is exactly what I am doing with Twitter.

I have been hearing Twitter this, and Twitter that. I see links on blogs all over saying "follow me on Twitter." I watch a lot of IPTV shows like Diggnation, Diggreel, and Hak5. All of the hosts on those shows seem to have a Twitter account so you can follow them.

I decided to create an account to see what the fascination is about. After poking around, and creating my account I have come to the conclusion that Twitter = Lame Sauce!

I asked a friend of mine whom I used to work with if he Twittered, and he said no. In fact he went on to say:

It's annoying...people post everything they're doing on there and I really couldn't care less that someone twittered that they just took a big shit

First of all, thanks for that mental image Dave, and second you are correct! My life is not interesting enough for me to give you a minute by minute, play by play of my life via the web and SMS. Oh, and sorry friends and family, your lives just aren't that interesting either.

Well, enough for this rant. You can now follow me on Twitter here if you want. I probably won't be updating it too often... Unless of course I am taking a shit like Dave says.

Am I being too harsh and critical about Twitter? Do you agree with me? Disagree? If you like it let me know why! Oh sweet Lord why?. If you hate it, I want to know that too. You know what to do! Post in the comments!

[Edit] - It turns out, people really do "Tweet" when they use the toilet: (http://twitter.com/ITookADump)

Free Music Online with Songza - The Music Search Engine and Internet Jukebox

So this isn't really about video (Which is my usual thing... Have you seen my blog?), but they do have a lot of music videos and almost any song you can think of. I'm talking about Songza.

For most of the newer songs they have music videos and a lot of really hard to find songs also. This includes foreign stuff well. I even found some Viking Death Metal in there (Which I know you are all craving).

You can create playlists that you can share with others. You can Embed the songs in your site, create rss feed playlists. However they do not really categorize anything and their API is a bit lacking to say the least.

All in all it is a nice free service and to find specific songs and music videos this is my first and usually last stop.

Check out my Sample Playlist

What music are you listening to? Check out Songza, create your playlist then share it with the rest of the group in the comments!

By Sundance of Free TV Shows Online

Paranoid Linux Update: Alpha-Alpha in The Works

Back in June I mentioned a possible new Linux distro on the horizon for people who are just a little too paranoid about Government. That Linux Distro is to be called Paranoid Linux.

I also mentioned that I would try to keep up to date on any information you might find useful in case you wanted to stay abreast of their progress since it hasn't actually been released yet. In fact, I'm not too sure they are really remarkably close to doing anything.

They did however, just put up an announcement saying that they are "moving in the direction of an alpha-alpha release." Like I said before though, they still don't have anything tangible yet.

This is the note from their website:

We've been working the last couple days to get the foundation laid for the Alpha-Alpha release.

This does not mean we're anywhere near an actual release; however it does mean we're finally moving in that direction. We're still working on many of the details however we're fairly certain that we will be using debian-testing as our base. We just want to make sure that everyone knows that we ARE still alive and we ARE ready to finally get to the fun part of GNU/Linux Distribution.

As always, Stay Paranoid.

Powerking out.

If you want to help out in their effort, you can check out their IRC chanel, their Wiki, and their blog.

Creating Bootable USB Stick Linux Systems On The Easy

One of the coolest things ever invented was the OS on the stick. Whoever was smart enough to think of putting an operating system on a portable USB key was simply brilliant! I mean, seriously! How convenient is that?

I use to walk around with a portable Backtrack USB stick. That is handy for pentesting, and other general hackaliciousness, but in all honesty Ubuntu is my Linux distro of choice. So what about those of you who prefer Suse, Red Hat, Fedora, Gentoo etc? Sure there are countless tutorials online about how to manually go through and install to your USB stick, but wouldn't it be better if you could just point and click a couple of times and be done with it?

That is where UNetbootin comes in. It makes creating your own Live USB thumb drive radically simple. The big selling point of this wonder-app is that it allows you to install your Linux Distro without the need for a CD. You just point the program to your ISO, and follow the prompts. Easy as pie!

The creators say that UNetbootin is really no different from a standard install except it allows the installation of your Linux/Unix distro to either USB or disk partition without a CD...Oh, and it has a really intuitive interface.



There are some system requirements though. Here they are from the website:

• Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/Vista, or Linux, or a USB Drive. If you are having trouble with the Linux version, try the Windows version, it usually works better.
• A broadband internet connection to download the distribution packages (unless installing from pre-downloaded media, see below)
• Spare hard drive space to install the OS in (varies depending on distribution)

UNetBootin comes as an install for Windows and Linux for now (Sorry Mac).

UNetBootin can also be used with the following systems utilities:

• Parted Magic, a partition manager that can resize, repair, backup, and restore partitions.
• Super Grub Disk, a boot utility that can restore and repair overwritten and misconfigured GRUB installs or directly boot various operating systems
• Backtrack, a utility used for network analysis and penetration testing.
• Ophcrack, a utility which can recover Windows passwords.
• NTPasswd, a utility which can reset Windows passwords and edit the registry.
• Gujin, a graphical bootloader that can also be used to boot various operating systems and media.
• Smart Boot Manager (SBM), which can boot off CD-ROM and floppy drives on computers with a faulty BIOS.
• FreeDOS, which can run BIOS flash and other legacy DOS utilities.

Do you smell that? That is the smell of kick-ass Linux deliciousness on your USB stick. What distro are you going to put on your stick? Do you already walk around with a Live USB key? Tell us about it in the comments!