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If you are windows vista user then you will be knowing the file ownership and permissions related issues and now it is extended to windows 7 too, but Windows XP users experimenting with Windows 7 might not know about this.

Windows 7 has implemented addition security mechanism to prevent accidental or intentional file or folder modification by not allowing users other then owner of file or folder to access it. Hence incase if you need to access, modify or delete such files or folder you need to take ownership first then assign rights or permission to respective users. Here is Guide on How to take Ownership and Grant Permission in Window 7.

How to Take Ownership in Windows 7

1. Locate the file or folder on which you want to take ownership in windows explorer

2. Right click on file or folder and select "Properties" from Context Menu

3. Click on Security tab

4. Click on "Advance"

5. Now click on Owner tab in Advance Security Settings for User windows

6. Click on Edit Button and select user from given Change Owner to list if user or group is not in given list then click on other users or groups. Enter name of user/group and click ok.

8. Now select User/group and click apply and ok. (Check "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects" if you have files and folder within selected folder)

9. Click ok when Windows Security Prompt is displayed

10. Now Owner name must have changed.

11. Now click Ok to exist from Properties windows

Once you have taken the ownership of file or folder next part comes is Granting Permissions to that file/folder or object.

How to Grant Permissions in Windows 7

1. Locate the file or folder on which you want to take ownership in windows explorer

2. Right click on file or folder and select "Properties" from Context Menu

3. Click on Edit button in Properties windows Click ok to confirm UAC elevation request.

4. Select user/group from permission windows or click add to add other user or group.

5. Now under Permission section check the rights which you want to grant i.e check "Full Control" under the "Allow" column to assign full access rights control permissions to Administrators group.

6. Click Ok for changes to take effect and click ok final ok to exit from Properties window.

Next time you wipe your PC's hard drive clean and reinstall Windows with that old installation disc, you don't want to connect your fresh, unpatched and vulnerable system to the internet only to download 176 new updates from Microsoft. If your XP installation CD is older than 2004, once your system is online, you'll have to wait for hefty service packs to download, chained to your mouse while pushing the Next button, watching progress bars, and rebooting multiple times. Wouldn't it be better to start your installation, head out to run errands or grab coffee, and come back to an up-to-date system before your system gets online? It's possible, using some free software and a blank disc. After the jump, I'll show you how to create an automated, customized XP installation CD or DVD, that includes Microsoft's official-but-not-released Service Pack 3 for Windows XP.

Note on the current status of Service Pack 3: As of May 2, 2008, Microsoft has released Windows XP Service Pack 3 to PC manufacturers, but due to a last minute bug discovery which has to do with software for businesses (not home users), they have delayed the "release to web." This means they are not yet pushing it to users via Windows Update, and they have not yet published a Microsoft Download Center page for it. However, the official SP3 file is available for download on Microsoft's servers. Here's the direct link to the English version. No word on when SP3 will appear on Windows Update, but no doubt it will be soon. For more on what you get with the new service pack, here's our complete field guide to SP3.

Why make a "slipstreamed" disc?

Maybe you're the type who can't fathom being absent while Windows installs, unable to prune all the unnecessary applications and features, customize the desktop, set up user accounts and install needed drivers. Well, you and I have a lot in common, but we can both enjoy what nLite, a free slipstreaming utility, can do:

• Pre-configure and tweak Windows-Nearly every power-user setting, from hidden file showing to deep registry hacks, can be set from the get-go.
• Pre-install drivers and printers-No more searching through the Nvidia, ATI, or printer manufacturers' sites for the exact package after install.
• Strip your system for speed-Adam's already showed us how nLite can help you trim Windows to its bare essentials, which not only saves disk space and frees up memory, but saves you the time of disabling and removing the superfluous stuff later (and clicking "Yes" on every "Are you sure ..." prompt).

What you'll need

• A Windows installation disc
• nLite (and .NET 2.0)
• A copy of Service Pack 3 (SP3) for XP (32-bit), downloaded from Microsoft's servers
• A working Windows system, with at least 1 GB free hard drive space
• Blank CD or DVD
• WinUpdatesList (recommended)

Note for Vista users: There's a similar utility for creating a slipstreamed Vista DVD, vLite, which got the step-by-step treatment from Digital Inspiration. That tool, however, doesn't allow for half as much customization-not yet, anyways.

Getting started

After you've installed nLite, load your installation CD into your disc drive and make sure you've got your 25-character product key handy. Launch nLite, click to the next screen, "Locating the Windows installation." Before you go further, create a new folder somewhere on your computer, at the hard drive root (as in "C:\") if possible. Click "Browse," select your CD drive, and you'll be prompted to copy your CD to a folder. Select the folder you created, then wait for the copy to finish.

NLite's next screen will ask what you want to customize on your install disc. If you only want to update to SP3, only click the "Service Pack" button. But unless you love answering questions and never touch a setting in Windows XP, you'll want to flip all the switches green and click "Next."

Now nLite will ask for slipstream files, or packages you want to integrate into the installer. You'll always want to have the latest service pack available, since, for instance, Service Pack 3 incorporates the fixes made in SP1 and SP2, so it makes them unnecessary. If you grabbed the latest beta of nLite, you'll see a Service Pack 3 already offered for integration, but it's an older release candidate. Hit the "Choose" button, select the executable file you downloaded from Microsoft with the seriously long file name, and give nLite a few minutes to implement it. When you see the version number change, hit "Next" and move on.

"Hotfixes and Update Packs" is for all the tiny little Windows Updates between service packs. If you're including SP3, you can pretty much skip this part. But in the future, and for those not jumping onto SP3, I recommend running WinUpdatesList. You'll see a list of all the updates you've installed, and sorting by date and type should show you what you've installed since the last service pack. Right-click on an update, and you'll get a link to a related Microsoft Knowledge Base article, where you should be able to download the fix directly and patch it into nLite. You can also roll executables for Windows updates-like Internet Explorer 7, which (still!) doesn't install by default-into your disc.

Click "Next," and you'll see an identical screen for drivers. If you know where to find the .INF files that connect your hardware to Windows, you can roll them into your install disc, but be warned: a small printer INF increased the final size of my ISO by at least 200 MB-I'm still trying to figure out why, but if you encounter similar problems, simply throw the driver installation files into spare space on the disc (more on that soon).

Customize your install

You start really making your XP system your own on the next screen. The "Compatibility Window" that pops up can protect you from yourself; unless you're sure you can do without an item, you'll want to leave it checked. Behind it, the "Remove Components" section is where you can pull out all the stuff you don't ever use or don't have. Most of the savings are small in hard drive size, but keep your system from clogging with services and drivers it doesn't need. Among the almost-guaranteed safe removals:"Briefcase" from Accessories; most of the non-red items in Hardware; Keyboards and Languages that you don't ever plan to use; "Tablet PC" from Multimedia; and MSN Explorer and Windows Messenger from Network.

Up next is the "Unattended" section, if you checked it, and this one requires attention to detail. If you want to set and forget your XP install, change "Unattended Mode" to "Fully automated," but then move slowly through every tab, filling in every section you'd expect to get prompted for during install. You can fill out your Product Key in advance here, and you'll also want to check "Skip OOBE" (Out Of Body Experience, or the introduction tour). Fill out all the name fields in "Users" and "Owner and Network ID," and make sure to set the time in "Regional." Once you're content you've pre-empted your installer, click "Next."

You can pretty much leave the "Options" pane alone, although I enable the "merge" option by way of hoping for a smaller package. The "Tweaks" options are up next, and while I can't tell you how to customize your desktop, I'll note that you can basically set up your desktop, Start Menu, Internet Explorer and lots of other Windows tweaks from these prompts. Check the bottom bar for descriptions, and fear not-all of these can be undone, and we've posted a good many here at Lifehacker.

Hit "Next," and you're almost done-click "Yes" to start the bundling process. Once that's finished (about 7-10 minutes on a faster computer), you can click through to make or burn an ISO file. Before doing that, gather up any files you want to keep on the disc, like that finicky printer driver or your favorite app installers, and place them in their own folder in the directory where you copied your original XP CD to. Now hit "Make ISO," choose where to save the image, and then burn it to CD or DVD using your favorite utility, like the free ISO Recorder.

You've now got a CD that's completely up to date, and installs by itself (once you get past the initial blue-and-white loading screens, that is). You might have to run through nLite a few times if your images turn out bigger than you want, but you can always create a bootable DVD if needed.

What changes, updates, or advanced features have you slipstreamed into your Windows disc? What do you still wish you could have loaded onto your Ultimate No-Touch Install CD? Let's hear 'em both in the comments.

Kevin Purdy, associate editor at Lifehacker, won't be pulling any more late-night emergency XP re-installations for himself or desperate friends. His weekly feature, Open Sourcery, appears every Friday on Lifehacker.

MAC address (Media Access Control address) is a quasi-unique identifier consists of a six byte number that attached to most network adapter card or network interface card (NIC). As such, all network cards, whether it's of Ethernet NIC, Gigabit Ethernet NIC or wireless 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi or HiperLAN adapter, should have different MAC addresses, which also known as Ethernet Hardware Address (EHA) or adapter address.

In operating system, MAC address is often represented in 12-digit hexadecimal number. For example, 1A-2B-3C-4D-5E-6F. In practical usage, layer 2 MAC address is converted from layer 3 protocol addresses such as Internet Protocol (IP address) by ARP (Address Resolution Protocol), which then allowed each host to be uniquely identified and frames to be marked for specific hosts on broadcast networks, such as Ethernet. After translated (or when a host on LAN sends its MAC address to another machine which does n ot configured not to accept unrequested ARP replies on the network for preemptive caching), MAC address is cached on source PC ARP table for later use. Content of ARP table on each computer can be viewed by typing arp -a in Windows or arp in Linux. MAC address thus forms the basis of most of the layer 2 networking upon which higher OSI Layer protocols are built to produce complex, functioning networks.

There are many reasons or possibilities that an user may want to change the MAC address or a network adapter, which also known as MAC spoofing. For example, to bypass the MAC address filtering on firewall or router. The trick can be used to get pass the network access restriction by emulating a new unrestricted MAC address, or to gain access connection by spoof an authorized MAC address after sniffing the legitimate MAC address out of the air in MAC filtering Wi-Fi network.

Beside, hackers or enthusiasts also spoofing another host's MAC address as their own in order to receive traffic packets not meant for them, although ARP poisoning technique is more commonly used. However, changing MAC address can still keep the real information from been detected and logged by various services such as IDS, firewall, DHCP server, wireless access points and etc, and is essential protect user's privacy. MAC spoofing also potentially trigger a Denial of Service (DoS) attack by causing routing problem with duplicating MAC address exists in the network, especially those similar with gateway and AP router's BSSID (Basic Service Set Identifier.)

Whatever the reason, it's pretty easy to change the MAC address or perform MAC spoofing on most of today's hardware, listed below. Actually, the original MAC address is burnt and imprinted to the network card, and cannot be changed. However, operating system can spoof as if there is different MAC address for the network interface card using tricks below.

Change the MAC address in Windows

1. Go to Start -> Control Panel. Double click on Network Connections (inside Network and Internet Connections category in Windows XP). The, right click on the active network connection with network adapter that you want to change the MAC address (normally Local Area Network or Wireless Network Connection) and click on Properties.

   Above steps work in Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003. For Windows Vista, access to NIC's properties is from Control Panel -> Network and Internet -> Network and Sharing Center -> Manage Network Connections.

   Alternatively, if you already know which network adapter that's responsible for your network or Internet connection, go to Device Manager and open the properties dialog by double click on the NIC itself.

2. In the General tab, click on the Configure button.
3. Click on Advanced tab.
4. In the Property section, select and highlight Network Address or Locally Administered Address.
5. To the right, "Not Present" radio button is by default selected as value. Change the value by clicking on radio button for Value:, and then type in a new MAC address to assign to the NIC.

   

   The MAC address consists of 6 pairs of numbers (0 - 9) and characters (A - F) combination. For example, 88-17-E8-90-E2-0A. When entering the new MAC value, omit the dash (-), for example 8817E890E20A.

6. Click OK when done.
7. To verify the change of MAC address, go to command prompt, then type in one of the following commands:

   ipconfig /all
   net config rdr

8. Reboot the computer if successful to make the change effective.

Note: To restore or reset back to original default MAC address, simply set back the option to "Not Present".

Change the MAC Address of NIC in Windows via Registry

1. Open a command prompt.
2. Type the following command and hit Enter.

   ipconfig /all

3. Record down the Description and the Physical Address (is MAC address) of the active network connection (discard those with Media Disconnected state).

   

   For example, in figure above, Description is Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN and MAC address is in the format of 00-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX.

4. In the command prompt also, type the following command and hit Enter.

   net config rdr

5. Record down the GUID for the MAC address for the active connection's NIC which MAC address to be changed. The GUID is contained within the { and } brackets right in front of the MAC address as shown in figure below.

   

6. Type regedt32 or regedit in Start -> Run box or in Start Search for Windows Vista. Note: for Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000, regedt32 must be used.
7. Navigate to the following registry key:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

8. Expand the {4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} tree, and there will be more sub-keys in the form of 0000, 0001, 0002 and so on.
9. Go through each sub-key starting from 0000, look for subkey that has DriverDesc value data that matches NIC description copied from step above, that want its MAC address to be changed. In most cases, it will be similar to the network adapter card name.

   To verify that the subkey found is indeed a correct one, check the value of the NetCfgInstanceId, which should have the same value with the NIC's GUID taken from step above.

10. Once a sub-key is matched to the network interface card that MAC address want to be spoofed, select and highlight the subkey. Right click on the sub-key (for example, 0000), then select New -> String Value. Name the new value name as NetworkAddress.

    Note: If NetworkAddress REG_SZ registry key is already existed in the right pane, skip this step.

11. The double click on NetworkAddress and enter a new MAC address as its value data.

    

    Note that the 12-digit MAC address in hexadecimal format, and should be entered without any dash (-). For example, 1A2B3C4D5E6F.

12. Reboot the system to make the new MAC address effective. Alternatively, if you don't want to restart the system, try to disable and then re-enable the network adapter in Device Manager.
13. To verify the change of MAC address, go to command prompt, then type in one of the following commands:

    ipconfig /all
    net config rdr

Note: To restore or reset back to true original hardware burned-in MAC address, remove the NetworkAddress registry key that is been added.

Alternative: Third party tools and utilities to change the MAC address in Windows operating system are plenty, for example: SMAC (direct download link to smac20_setup.ex, supports Windows Vista, XP, 2003, 2000), Macshift (direct download link to macshift.zip, for Windows XP), BMAC (almost identical SMAC MAC changer clone by moorer-software.com), Mac MakeUp (direct download link to macmakeup.zip, for Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista), MadMACs (MAC Address Spoofing And Host Name Randomizing App For Windows, directly download MadMACs.zip), EtherChange (direct download link to etherchange.exe), and Technitium MAC Address Changer (for Windows 2000 / XP / Server 2003 / Vista / Server 2008).

How to Change MAC Address (MAC Spoofing) in Linux and *nix

To change your MAC address in Linux and most Unix-like (*nix) system, run the following script commands:

ifconfig <interface> down

ifconfig <interface> hw <class> <MAC address>

ifconfig <interface> up

For example, the command looks lik "ifconfig eth0 down hw ether 1A:2B:3C:4D:5E:6F". First command brings down the network interface, second command change its MAC address while third command bring up the interface again. Note that in some cases, to bring down and bring up the network interface, the following commands have to be used:

/etc/init.d/networking stop or /etc/init.d/network stop (in the case of Fedora Core 5)

/etc/init.d/networking start or /etc/init.d/network stop (in the case of Fedora Core 5)

Alternatively, for Fedora Code 5 Linux with Iproute2 tools installed, the following commands also can change the MAC address to spoofed version:

/etc/init.d/network stop

ip link set <interface> address 1A:2B:3C:4D:5E:6F

/etc/init.d/network start

For example, "ip link set eth0 address 1A:2B:3C:4D:5E:6F". To check whether the MAC address has been spoofed, use ip link ls eth0 or ip addr ls eth0 instead of using ifconfig eth0.

How to Make the Spoofed MAC Address Permanently Even After Reboot in Linux

Edit the ifcfg-eth0 file (or other similar file if you're changing different interface), add the following variable line to the file:

MACADDR=12:34:56:78:90:ab

Then run service network restart to make the change effective immediately.

How to Make the Spoofed MAC Address Permanently on Restart in Debian

Edit the /etc/network/interfaces file and add in the following variable line to the appropriate section so that the MAC address is set when the network device is started.

hwaddress <interface> 02:01:02:03:04:08

For example, "hwaddress ether 02:01:02:03:04:08″.

Alternative: GNU Mac Changer (for Debian, Slackware, ArchLinux, Mandrake, Crux and other RPM-based distributions such as Fedora, Red Hat, CentOS, ASPLinux, SUSE Linux, OpenSUSE and etc.

How to Change MAC Address (MAC Spoofing) in BSD or FreeBSD

Issue the following commands in shell:

ifconfig <interface> down

ifconfig <interface> <class> <MAC address>

ifconfig <interface> up

First command brings down the network interface (optional), second command change its MAC address while third command bring up the interface again (optional). For example, the command looks lik "ifconfig xl0 link 1A:2B:3C:4D:5E:6F" or "ifconfig fxp0 ether 1A:2B:3C:4D:5E:6F"

How to Change MAC address in Solaris

The shell command to change the MAC address in Sun Solaris is as below:

ifconfig <interface> <class> <address>

For example, the command looks like "ifconfig hme0 ether 1A:2B:3C:4D:5E:6F". Note that the change is temporary that does not persist after a reboot. To make this change permanent, the command can be placed in a runtime control script (/sbin/sh).

How to Spoof MAC Address in HP-UX

It's possible to change MAC address using HP-UX SAM. Select Networking and Communications, then selecting the interface, then click on Action -> Modify -> Advanced Options. Finally, change the value of station address, which is MAC address name in HP-UX.

How to Spoof and Change MAC Address in OpenBSD

Use the following command to change MAC Address to spoofed MAC in OpenBSD (after version 3.8):

ifconfig <interface> lladdr <MAC address>

For example, "ifconfig bge3 lladdr 1A:2B:3C:4D:5E:6F".

How to Change to Spoofed MAC Address Permanently in OpenBSD

To make the MAC address changed at boot before network connection is established, and even before parsing of hostname.* file, edit the /etc/netstart file to add in the following lines before the line of "# Now parse the hostname.* file":

if [ "$if" = "INTERFACE" ]; then
ifconfig <interface> lladdr <MAC address in format of 00:00:00:00:00:00>
fi

# Now parse the hostname.* file
....

How to Change MAC Address in Mac OS X

Since Mac OS X 10.4.x (Darwin 8.x) onwards, the MAC address of wired Ethernet interface can be altered in Apple Mac OS X in a fashion similar to the Linux and FreeBSD methods. To do so, type the following command in Terminal.app:

sudo ifconfig en0 ether aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff

or

sudo ifconfig en0 lladdr aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff (for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard)

where en0 is the network interface (numbered from en0, en1, en2 …) and aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff is the desired MAC address in hex notation.

Alternative: MacDaddy (download MacDaddyX.dmg, support Airport wireless adapter)

To ensure security of the Oracle database system and prevent unauthorized access to the Oracle database, it's important for Oracle users to not only using strong and long Oracle passwords to avoid brute force or dictionary attacks, but also to change the Oracle user password regularly. Oracle users also have to change the password when the password has or going to expire, if database system administrator implements and enforces strict password control with PASSWORD_LIFE_TIME option for user profiles which limits the number of days the password can be used for authentication to login to the system.

To change the Oracle password, users can use SQL*Plus or Oracle SQL and PL/SQL language interface administration tool such as Toad for Oracle. No matter what SQL apps you use, the commands and SQL query languages used to change the password are similar.

There are two SQL command syntaxes that can be used to change Oracle database user password:

ALTER USER user_name IDENTIFIED BY new_password;

or (from Oracle8 and above):

PASSWORD

For above SQL query, if you need to change another user's password, use the following command:

PASSWORD user_name

For PASSWORD command, after you press Enter, you will be prompted to input the old password and new password interactively. For example:

SQL> password
Changing password for DAVID
Old password:
New password:
Retype new password:

Note: You need to have enough privileges to change other Oracle user's password.

As the variable in italic implied by name, user_name is the user whose password wishes to be changed, and new_password is the new password to assign.

As ALTER USER SQL syntax will send the new password to the Oracle database server unencrypted if use without Advanced Security Option, and thus expose to security risk, Oracle users should always use the PASSWORD command to change the Oracle user password.

Everybody knows, including hackers and attackers that all Linux and UNIX flavored systems come with a all powerful root user account, which once get compromised, mean all hell breaks loose. So it's a good security practice to disable the ability for root user to able to login and gain access to the server system via SSH directly (of course, the system must have disabled FTP access). After disabling direct root SSH remote login, the chance for the brute force hacking to success is greatly reduced.

To turn off and disable direct root SSH login, follow this simple tutorial:

IMPORTANT: Make sure you have another account (preferably belongs to wheel user group too) which is able to login via SSH remotely, and able to SU to root user account. Else you risk been locked out from your server.

1. SSH into server and login as root.
2. In command shell, use pico or vi to edit sshd_config file by typing one of the following commands:

   pico /etc/ssh/sshd_config
   vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config

3. Scroll down the SSH server configuration file and locate a line like below:

   #PermitRootLogin yes

4. Uncomment the line by removing the hash symbol (#), and then change the "yes" to "no". The final line should look like below:

   PermitRootLogin no

5. Save the config file. In pico, press Ctrl-o, follow by Ctrl-x. In vi, type :wq and press Enter.
6. Restart SSH server by typing the following command in command line, and press Enter:

   /etc/rc.d/init.d/sshd restart

Logout from SSH connection. Try to login as root, it should fail with Access denied error. To access root account, login with your own user name and password, and then SU to root.

Other then the ways specified here to reset and change the root password for mySQL database in the case that the password is forgotten or lost, the following instructions explain in details the alternative way at the last part of the guide, where no additional file needs to be created:

1. Login as root to the Windows or Unix-like (Unix, Linux or BSD) machine with the MySQL server.
2. Stop the MySQL server by using either of the following command:

   Linux: /etc/rc.d/init.d/mysql stop
   FreeBSD: /usr/local/etc/rc.d/mysql-server.sh stop

3. Open the mysql server startup script (i.e. mysql-server.sh - the file executed to start or stop MySQL server.
4. Add -skip-grant-tables to the end of the line that contains the mysqld_safe command as its parameter.
5. Start MySQL server with the following command:

   Linux: /etc/rc.d/init.d/mysql start
   FreeBSD: /usr/local/etc/rc.d/mysql-server.sh start

6. Alternatively, start the MySQL server directly and skip the editing with the following command:

   mysqld_safe -skip-grant-tables &

   Depending on your path environment, you may need to point to the correct directory where mysqld_safe is instead.

7. Run the following commands to login as the mysql user and connect to mysql user/permission database:

   # mysql -u root mysql

8. Run the update queries to change the MySQL password:

   mysql> UPDATE user SET Password=PASSWORD('newrootpassword') WHERE User='root';
   mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

   Note: Replace newrootpassword with the new root password for MySQL server. Flush Privileges is needed to making the password change effect immediately.

9. Exit mysql database client by typing exit.
10. Stop MySQL server with commands listed at step 2.
11. Open the mysql server startup script edit in step 3 again and remove the -skip-grant-tables parameter that has been added.
12. Start MySQL server by using command from step 5 or 6.

For Redhat Linux users, use the following instructions as the root user of Redhat Linux machine:

1. Stop MySQL process by using command:

   # killall mysqld

2. Start the MySQL server with following options:

   # /usr/libexec/mysqld -Sg -user=root &

3. Start the MySQL client:

   # mysql

   You should see the following message:

   Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or g.
   Your MySQL connection id is 1 to server version: 3.xx.xx

   Type 'help;' or 'h' for help. Type 'c' to clear the buffer.

   mysql>

4. Use mysql database:

   mysql> USE mysql

   You should see the following message:

   Reading table information for completion of table and column names
   You can turn off this feature to get a quicker startup with -A

   Database changed

5. Then, update the password for the root user with the following command:

   UPDATE user SET password=password("newpassword") WHERE user="root";

   Replace newpassword with your desired password. You should see the following message:

   Query OK, 2 rows affected (0.03 sec)
   Rows matched: 2 Changed: 2 Warnings: 0

   Rows affected may be different, but the Query OK should be there.

6. Flush the database privileges to reload it in order to make the changes effective:

   mysql> flush privileges;

   You should get the following result:

   Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.02 sec)

7. Exit the MySQL client by typing exit.
8. Kill the MySQL server process by typing killall mysqld.
9. Then start MySQL again:

   /etc/init.d/mysqld start

Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP users who have forgotten the administrator account password has many ways to hack, crack, recover or reset the administrator password. Another way to break into a Windows PC which locks with forgotten or unknown password is to use chntpw, a Linux based program to change and reset the password of a Windows administrator account.

Chntpw is a program designed to overwrite and set Windows NT or Windows 2000 SAM password of any user that has a valid (local) account by modifying the encrypted password in the registry's SAM file. User of chntpw does not need to know the old password to set a new password. Actually, chntpw is now available in the form of bootdisk or LiveCD which includes necessary stuff to access NTFS partitions and scripts to glue the whole thing together.

Chntpw works on NT system which is offline (turned off), and can only be used on local machine and cannot be used on a remote machine. However, chntpw can be installed on a Linux system such as Ubuntu, and then used to recover by resetting Windows user account password by mounting the Windows drive, connected via physical IDE/SATA/SCSI interface or USB portable disk.

Chntpw can be installed using aptitude for user using Debian based system,

It is pretty easy to use and can be found and installed using aptitude if your using debian based system, or can be downloaded and installed in Ubuntu with a simple "sudo apt-get install chntpw" command. Chntpw is likely to be contained in other distributions package manager too, or the source code can be downloaded from http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/editor.html.

Chntpw Usage Guide

1. Mount the Windows NTFS, FAT or FAT32 partition to the Linux system, allowing read and write access support.
2. Locate the SAM file for Windows 2000, Windows NT or Windows XP, which is normally located at the either \Windows\System32\config or \Winnt\System32\config folder. Change directory to inside the folder, there are a number of files such as SAM, SYSTEM and SECURITY.

   Inside the folder, issue the following command to automatically change the administrator password:

   chntpw SAM

   Issue the following command (replace USERNAME with actual user name on the computer) to change the password for a normal restricted user account:

   chntpw -u USERNAME SAM

   Tip: To list all the users in the SAM file, use the chntpw -l SAM command.

3. Chntpw will display some information on screen, and then prompt for new password to reset the existing password. Enter a new password for the administrator or user account.

   Tip: To reset the password to blank (no) password, enter * (asterisk).

4. Unmount the drive, and then restart the Windows computer. The password for the administrator or user account reseted should be changed accordingly.

There are other options for chntpw, which can be displayed with the following command:

chntpw -h

# chntpw help and usage

chntpw version 0.99.3 040818, (c) Petter N Hagen
chntpw: change password of a user in a NT SAM file, or invoke registry editor.
chntpw [OPTIONS] 
 [systemfile] [securityfile] [otherreghive] [...]
 -h          This message
 -u 
   Username to change, Administrator is default
 -l          list all users in SAM file
 -i          Interactive. List users (as -l) then ask for username to change
 -e          Registry editor. Now with full write support!
 -d          Enter buffer debugger instead (hex editor),
 -t          Trace. Show hexdump of structs/segments. (deprecated debug function)
 -v          Be a little more verbose (for debuging)
 -L          Write names of changed files to /tmp/changed
 -N          No allocation mode. Only (old style) same length overwrites possible
See readme file on how to extract/read/write the NT's SAM file
if it's on an NTFS partition!
Source/binary freely distributable. See README/COPYING for details
NOTE: This program is somewhat hackish! You are on your own!

Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) has Remote Desktop (RDP) service that allows the computer to be remotely connected, accessed and controlled from another computer or host. However, Windows XP machine only allows one concurrent remote desktop connection from a single user been connected to it with no multiple remote desktop sessions or connections support.

Whenever there is a remote user who user Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) client to connect to a Windows XP host, the local user is disconnected with the local console screen locked, with or without his or her permission. Remote Desktop, unlike Terminal Server Services in Windows 2000, Server 2003 and Server 2008, is designed for single user use only, no matter it's local or remote user.

Here's a hack to unlock the single user limitation and enable multiple concurrent remote desktop connection sessions support in Windows XP Professional and Media Center Edition, using a either a patched termserv.dll or old patched cracked termserv.dll build version version 5.1.2600.2055, so that unlimited users can simultaneously connect to a computer via Remote Desktop.

1. Download a copy of patched termsrv.dll (in ZIP file) which has the Remote Desktop connection limitation deactivated for your version of Windows XP:

   Windows XP RTM, SP1 and SP2: termsrv.dll (version 5.1.2600.2055)
   Windows XP SP2: termsrv.dll (version 5.1.2600.2180)
   Windows XP SP3: termsrv.dll (version 5.1.2600.5512)

   For information, the termsrv.dll patch normally has the following HEX code bits overwritten with following value:

   00022A17: 74 75
   00022A69: 7F 90
   00022A6A: 16 90

2. Restart the computer and boot info Safe Mode by pressing F8 during initial boot up and select Safe Mode. This step is only required if you're currently running Windows Terminal Services or Remote Desktop service, and System File Protection has to be skipped and bypassed, else it will prompt the following error message to restore the original termsrv.dll.

   

3. Go to %windir%\System32 and make a backup copy (or rename) the termsrv.dll.
4. Rename or delete the termserv.dll in the %windir%\System32\dllcache folder.
5. Copy the downloaded termsrv.dll into %windir%\System32, %windir%\ServicePackFiles\i386 (if exist) and %windir%\System32\dllcache.
6. Then download and run the ts_multiple_sessions.bat (in ZIP file) to merge the registry value into registery, or you can run Registry Editor to manually add the following registry value:

   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Terminal Server\Licensing Core]
   "EnableConcurrentSessions"=dword:00000001

   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
   "EnableConcurrentSessions"=dword:00000001

   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
   "AllowMultipleTSSessions"=dword:00000001

7. Click on Start Menu -> Run command and type gpedit.msc, follow by Enter to open up the Group Policy Editor.
8. Navigate to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Terminal Services.
9. Enable Limit Number of Connections and set the number of connections to 3 (or more). The setting allows more than one users to use the computer and logged on at the same time.
10. Ensure the Remote Desktop is enabled in System Properties' Remote tab by selecting the radio button for Allow users to connect remotely to this computer.
11. Enable and turn on Fast User Switching in Control Panel -> User Accounts -> Change the way users log on or off.
12. Restart the computer normally.

Note that if you cannot replace or overwrite termserv.dll with access denied or file in use error, turn off the "Termine Services" in "Services" control panel of "Administrator Tools". Besides, each connecting physical connections must have their own user account in the target host, and must authenticate with corresponding own user name and password credential.

To uninstall and revert back to original termsrv.dll, simply delete the patched version, and rename the backup copy back to "termsrv.dll". You probably have to do it in Safe Mode if the Terminal Services is enabled and running.

If the Windows XP computer is connected to a domain on local networks, Windows will set the value of the regkey "AllowMultipleTSSessions" to "0″ every time the computer is restarted. To ensure that multiple or unlimited Remote Desktop connection sessions is allowed in AD domain environment, the value data for "AllowMultipleTSSessions" has to be set to "1″ on each system startup. To change the value, simply rerun the ts_multiple_sessions.bat every time the computer is started. Alternatively, put the ts_multiple_sessions.bat at C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup folder so that it will be automatically run on first user with administrative privileges that logs on to the desktop. Another workaround is to install additional service or define a sub-key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run registry branch that run the registry batch file automatically on boot up, and this is useful if the computer won't be logged on by anybody, but still requires the hack to allow unlimited Remote Desktop users to work.

Another issue is that if user closes the remote connection instead of logging off, when he or she tries to log back in, an error message related to TCP/IP event ID 4226 may occur. To resolve the issue, download and apply the Windows XP TCP/IP connection limit and Event ID 4226 patch, and set the connections to at least 50.

When attempting to connect or establish Remote Desktop connection to a remote Windows XP or Windows Vista computer in order to remotely logon to the machine, the log on may be rejected with Remote Desktop client returns one of the following error messages.

Your credentials did not work.

or,

Unable to log you on because of an account restriction.

or,

An authentication error has occurred.
The Local Security Authority cannot be contacted

Remote Computer: xxxxx

By default, Windows XP and Windows Vista does not allow nor permit user account without password set or user name with blank (null) password to connect and log in remotely via Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

The obvious resolution is definitely to create and set a password for the user account that requires to logon remotely to a computer via Remote Desktop, and it's recommended for security reason too. However, user who for some reason such as for the purpose of convenient, and thus unable or cannot assign a password to the user account, can use the following workaround to allow user to login remotely via Remote Desktop Connection (RDP) client to Windows XP and Windows Vista PC.

How to Enable Remote Login via Blank Passwords using Local Security Policy or Group Policy Editor

The configuration to enable null (blank) passwords logon must be done on the host computer, i.e. the remote computer to remotely controlled. To configure the Remote Desktop host computer to accept user name with blank password, go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools (Under System and Maintenance in Windows Vista) -> Local Security Policy. Alternatively, run GPEdit.msc (Group Policy Editor).

Then, expand Security Policies -> Local Securities -> Security Options (for user using Group Policy Editor or GPEdit.msc, expand Local Computer Policy -> Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options). Locate Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to console logon only policy, and set its value to Disabled.

Once disabled, user account with blank or null passwords can now login remotely instead of just able to do so via local console.

How to Configure Blank Passwords Allowed for Remote Log On via Registry

Windows XP and Windows Vista stores the value of the policy set above in a registry key named "LimitBlankPasswordUse". To unlock the limitation of cannot establish Remote Desktop logon with user account without a password, simply set the value data for LimitBlankPasswordUse to 0 (so that there is no limit on blank or null password use), as according to the code below. Alternatively, copy and paste the following text to a text file, and save with a .reg extension. Then run the .reg file to merge the value to registry.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Lsa]
"LimitBlankPasswordUse"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa]
"LimitBlankPasswordUse"=dword:00000000

For convenient, two registry files have been created and available for free download, which will enable or disable usage of blank password (or absent of password) to login remotely. Download BlankPasswords.zip and run EnableBlankPasswords.reg to enable or DisableBlankPasswords.reg to disable remote login via blank password.

The trick works on both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems.

Remote Desktop or RDP service is a free yet useful tool to remotely log on to remote computer and gain full access and privileges as if user is in front of local console. Remote Desktop is also known as Terminal Services. It's useful if the server, or PC is located miles away in remote location, and frequent trip to the site to troubleshoot, configure or manage the system is not a viable option.

Although most versions of Windows operating system such as Windows 2000, 2003, 2008, XP and Vista does come packaged with Remote Desktop, however it's disabled by default. Turning on and enabling the Remote Desktop via local console is easy, where Microsoft provides similar GUI (graphical user interface) in all editions of Windows (refer to guide on enable Remote Desktop in Vista).

However, if an off-site server needs to be access via Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) client immediately, yet the Remote Desktop is not enabled on the server, then it will be a headache. Luckily it's possible to remotely enable and turn of the Remote Desktop service on a remote PC or server by remotely editing its registry.

To remotely enable Remote Desktop on another computer, follow these steps:

1. Login to the workstation with administrator credentials.
2. Run Registry Editor (regedit).
3. Click on File menu.
4. Select the Connect Network Registry in the pull down menu.

   

5. A "Select Computer" dialog search box is opened. Type the host name of the remote computer in the text box, or browse Active Directory to locate the remote server, or click on "Advanced" button to search for the remote computer.

   

6. Click OK after the remote computer is selected. A node for the remote computer network registry will be displayed in the Registry Editor with HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (HKLM) and HKEY_USERS (HKU) hives.

   

7. Navigate to the following registry key for the remote computer:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server

8. In the right pane, locate a REG_DWORD value named fDenyTSConnection. Double-click on fDenyTSConnection and change the value data from 1 (Remote Desktop disabled) to 0 (Remote Desktop enabled).

   

9. Reboot the remote machine by issuing the following command in Command Prompt:

   shutdown -m \\hostname -r

   Replace hostname with the actual computer name of the remote host.

10. Remote Desktop for the remote computer has been enabled, and listening on default Remote Desktop port for any incoming Remote Desktop Connection. For security reason, you may want to consider changing the Remote Desktop listening port.

.

All Windows operating system, from as early as Windows 3.x has equipped with a registry editing tool, known as "Registration Info Editor" or "Registration Editor" at that time, which evolves to regedit.exe or regedt32.exe since Windows 9x and Windows NT. Messing and editing the registry is always dangerous, as any erroneous or careless registry editing may cause irrecoverable or irreversible system damage, worst may come to the extent the computer cannot be boot up properly anymore.

For user who doesn't want to run or use Registry Editor at all, or for people who is using a shared computer and want to disable and stop all or some users from using Registry Editor, Windows operating system such as Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003 and 2008 allows administrator to use group policy to disable the Registry Editor.

To disable the Registry Editor for currently logged on user:

1. Click Start -> Run, and then type regedit (type in Start Search for Windows Vista and 7), and press Enter.
2. Navigate to the following registry key:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies

3. Create a New -> Key named System.
4. At the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System registry branch, create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value (REG_DWORD) named as DisableRegistryTools.
5. Set the value data for DisableRegistryTools to 1 to disable the Registry Editor.

   Warning: Before enable to blocking of Registry Editor, think careful as once the setting is enabled, user will lock himself or herself out of the registry, and will not be able to use Regedit to undo the change. However, there are workarounds to re-enable the Registry Editor after disabling.

Note: It's also possible to disable the Registry Editor for all user accounts on the PC by creating and changing the value of DisableRegistryTools to 1 in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System registry key.

Alternatively, users using operating system with Local Group Policy Editor (GPedit.msc) can navigate to User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System and locate Prevent access to registry editing tools option to disable the Registry Editor access.

The user interface of User Account Control (UAC) settings in Windows 7 has changed to reflect the move to make UAC less annoying, more user control and more user friendlier approach. In Windows 7, the UAC has a slider bar which allows users to configure and select which level of notification (and hence protection against unauthorized and malicious access) they want. With the fine-tuning of UAC, the wording 'disable' or 'turn off' is no longer available. So how can you disable UAC? Or at least, how can you turn off the notification prompt or pop-up so that they appear less regularly?

In fact, the steps to disable UAC is Windows 7 is similar to steps to disable UAC in Windows Vista, only with slight user interface change, and there is plenty of methods to turn off UAC too.

Method 1: Disable or Turn Off UAC (User Account Control) in Control Panel

1. To user Control Panel to disable UAC in Windows 7, there are several methods to access the User Account Control settings page:
   1. Go to Start Menu -> Control Panel -> User Accounts and Family Safety -> User Account.
   2. Go to Start Menu -> Control Panel -> System and Security -> Action Center.
   3. Click or right click on Flag icon in notification area (system tray), and then Open Action Center.
   4. Type "MsConfig" in Start Search to start System Configuration, then go to Tools tab, select Change UAC Settings, then click on Launch button.
2. Click on User Account Control settings link.

   

3. Slide the slider bar to the lowest value (towards Never Notify), with description showing Never notify me.

   

4. Click OK to make the change effective.
5. Restart the computer to turn off User Access Control.

Method 2: Disable UAC with Registry Editor (RegEdit)

1. Run Registry Editor (RegEdit).
2. Navigate to the following registry key:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

3. Locate the following REG_DWORD value:

   EnableLUA

4. Set the value of EnableLUA to 0.
5. Optional step to suppress UAC consent prompt dialog, locate the following REG_DWORD value:

   ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin

6. Set the value of ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin to 0 (optional).
7. Exit from Registry Editor and restart the computer to turn off UAC.

Method 3: Turn Off UAC Using Group Policy

For Windows 7 Ultimate, Business or Enterprise edition which has Local Group Policy, or computer joined to domain and has Active Directory-based GPO, the group policy can be used to disable UAC for local computer or many computer across large networks at once.

1. Enter GPedit.msc in Start Search to run Local Group Policy editor. (Or gpmc.msc to run Group Policy Management Console for AD-based domain GPO editor).
2. Navigate to the following tree branch:

   Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options

   In GPMC, browse to the required GPO which is linked to the domain or OU where the policy wants to apply.

3. Locate the following policy in the right pane:

   User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode

   Set its value to Elevate without prompt.

4. Locate the following policy in the right pane:

   User Account Control: Detect application installations and prompt for elevation

   Set its value to Disabled.

5. Locate the following policy in the right pane:

   User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode

   Set its value to Disabled.

6. Locate the following policy in the right pane:

   User Account Control: Only elevate UIAccess applications that are installed in secure locations

   Set its value to Disabled.

7. 

   Restart the computer when done.

Method 4: Using Command Prompt to Disable User Account Control

The command line option can also be used in batch script command file, i.e. .bat and .cmd files, providing greater convenient to advanced technical user. In actual, the commands,, which are also used to disable or enable UAC in Vista, are just doing the same thing as directly modifying the registry.

1. Open an elevated command prompt as administrator.
2. To disable the UAC, run the following commands:

   %windir%\System32\cmd.exe /k %windir%\System32\reg.exe ADD HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v EnableLUA /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

   and optionally, the following comand to suppress all elevation consent request and notification:

   %windir%\System32\cmd.exe /k %windir%\System32\reg.exe ADD HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

   Tip: To re-enable UAC, the command is:

   %windir%\System32\cmd.exe /k %windir%\System32\reg.exe ADD HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v EnableLUA /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

   and to turn on prompt for consent UI:

   %windir%\System32\cmd.exe /k %windir%\System32\reg.exe ADD HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin /t REG_DWORD /d 2 /f

Disable UAC may cause gadget not working in Windows 7. User who facing the issue can use another workaround to suppress User Account Control.

There are many possible way to turn off or turn on User Access Control (UAC) in Windows Vista, which frequently pop up a confirmation dialog window to asking for permissions to continue a task which requires elevated administrator rights. Normally UAC cannot be enabled or disabled by using GUI-based Control Panel. For programmers or developers, it may be useful to be able to enable or disable UAC by using CLI (command line interface) commands, which can be used to automate tasks in batch script.

The ability to enable or disable UAC from command prompt is actually using a trick to turn off or on UAC by using registry key. Simply open command prompt window and run the following command:

To Disable UAC

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k %windir%\System32\reg.exe ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v EnableLUA /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

To Enable UAC

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k %windir%\System32\reg.exe ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v EnableLUA /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

After the command, computer needs to be restarted to the change to be effective.

User Account Control (UAC) is a new security feature in Windows Vista that requires all users to log on and run in standard user privileges mode instead of as administrator with full administrative rights, thus prevent unauthorized or accidental changes that could destabilize the computers or allows virus and malware to exploit the system-level privileges provided to the local administrator to attack the network security, compromise computer safety and privacy, and damage files and settings in the network. However, in a lot of cases, administrator rights are needed by end-users to perform certain tasks such as install or update programs and perform typical system-level task. Beside, many software applications also need administrator privileges to run properly without conflicts, as they are designed to write to system locations during normal operation, and computer in locked-down state in which users operate in standard user mode severely limits user productivity.

In Windows Vista, as and when standard end-user requires administrator privileges to perform certain tasks such as attempting to install an application or write to registry, Windows Vista will prompt a UAC credential prompt to notify the user that a credential of administrator user account is needed for authorization or permission, thus reduce the chance user can accidentally make modifications to vista system files or settings and eliminate the ability for virus or malware to invoke administrator privileges without a user's knowledge. Even for domain or local administrator, with UAC turns on and enable, most applications, components and processes will run with a limited privilege, but have "elevation potential" or Administrator Approval Mode where administrators must give consent through a User Account Control consent prompt.

User Account Control Administrator Credential Prompt

User Account Control Consent Prompt

However, these security clearance and prompting processes may felt by a lot of users as too troublesome, and sometime annoying especially when you're the only single user who uses the computer, and has all the latest anti-virus and anti-spyware utilities installed and updated. User Account Control is enabled by default in Windows Vista, so you will have to turn off and disable the User Account Control. However, Microsoft recommends that users do not turn off UAC for security reason.

There are a few ways that you can use to turn off the UAC, but most home and personal users should find method to disable UAC via Control Panel easiest to do.

Method 1 - Using Control Panel

1. Click Start and then open Control Panel.
2. In the Control Panel, click User Accounts and Family Safety.
3. Click User Accounts.
4. Click Turn User Account Control on or off.

   

5. Clear the tick or check mark on the box beside the Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer option.

   

6. Click OK.
7. When prompted, restart the computer. Note that the changes will affect all users on the computer.
8. To enable the UAC, simply tick or select the checkbox again.

Method 2 - Using Control Panel on Single User

A similar method with method 1, but access to UAC via a user account.

1. Click Start and then open Control Panel.
2. In the Control Panel, click User Accounts and Family Safety.
3. Click on Add or remove user account option.

   

4. Click to select any user account.
5. Click Go to the main User Account page.
6. Click Change security settings under "Make changes to your user account" section.

   

7. Clear the tick or check mark on the box beside the Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer option.

   

8. Click OK.
9. When prompted, restart the computer. Note that the changes will affect all users on the computer.
10. To enable the UAC, simply tick or select the checkbox again.

Method 3 - Using Registry Editor

1. Run Registry Editor by typing "regedit" in Start Search or command prompt.
2. In Registry Editor, navigate to the following registry key:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
   CurrentVersion\Policies\System

3. Locate the following DWORD registry subkey in the right pane:

   EnableLUA

4. Right click and choose modify or double click on EnableLUA to modify the setting. On valud prompt, set the new value to 0.
5. Exit from Registry Editor.
6. Restart the computer.
7. To enable the UAC again, simply change back the value of EnableLUA to 1.

Method 4 - Using MsConfig System Configuration

1. Run MsConfig from Run option.
2. In System Configuration window, click on the Tools tab.
3. Scroll down and locate "Disable UAP" or "Disable UAC" option item. Click on that line.

   

4. Click the Launch button.
5. A command prompt window will open and automatically execute and run certain process to disable UAC.
6. Close CMD window when done.
7. Close Msconfig.
8. Restart computer for changes to apply and effective.
9. To re-enable UAC, simply select "Enable UAP" or "Enable UAC" instead of "Disable UAP" or "Disable UAC", and then click on Launch button.

Method 5 - Using Group Policy

If you're an IT administrator or system administrator that manages many Windows Vista computers or clients across your computer, group policy can be an effective and easy to mass enable or disable a group of computers. To disable UAC, both Local Group Policy or Active Directory GPO can be used.

1. Click Start -> Run.
2. Type gpedit.msc and click OK to open the Group Policy Editor.

   Note: If you're using Active Directory Domain GPO which controls many computers, open Group Policy Management Console by click on Start -> Run, then type gpmc.msc and click OK from a Windows Vista computer that is a member of the AD domain. In the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) window, browse to the respective GPO which is linked and enabled to the OU (organization unit) or domain where the Vista computers are located, then edit it.

3. Navigate and browse to Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options.
4. In the right details pane, locate the User Access Control policies.
5. Right click each of the following policies and configure or change the value as indicated below after the dash (-):

   * User Account Control: Detect application installations and prompt for elevation - Disabled
   * User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for standard users - No prompt
   * User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode - Disabled

6. Restart the computer.

Method 6 - TweakUAC

TweakUAC allows users to easily turn on or turn off UAC with a single click, or put UAC into silent mode where all admin users will be auto escalate when needed.

This article has been updated and reposted to Tip and Trick.

Note: After disable and turn off UAC, a little red X shield icon of Windows Security Center comes out in the notification area.

Registry Editor, a main registry editing tool equipped in all versions and editions of Windows operating system, can be disabled, blocked and locked to prevent the RegEdit from been ran or executed by users in order to protect important system registry. Other possibility of Registry Editor been disabled is caused by virus or worm such as W32/Brontok-C.

When Registry Editor is disabled, user unable and cannot open or run Registry Editor anymore. Any attempt to run RegEdit.exe will return the error "Registry editing has been disabled by your administrator". Hence it's impossible to remove the restriction on Registry Editor usage by using the Registry Editor itself. However, it's possible to use various workaround to directly edit the registry to remove the policy that blocks Registry Editor usage.

Enable Registry Editor using Local Group Policy Editor

For user using Windows XP Professional, Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Server 2003 or 2008 with Local Group Policy Editor and has access to an administrative user account, user can change the registry editor options in the Local Group Policy Editor.

1. Click on Start -> Run (or Start Search in Windows Vista).
2. Enter GPEdit.msc and then press Enter.
3. Navigate to the following location:

   User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System

4. In the Settings pane, locate the Prevent access to registry editing tools option, and then double-click on it to open the settings dialog.
5. Select Disabled or Not Configured.
6. Click on OK button.
7. Try to run RegEdit.exe, and if required (still blocking yet), restart the computer.

VBS Script to Enable or Disable Registry Editor

Doug Knox has created a .vbs VB script that able to toggle between enable or disable the Registry Editor. Right click to download and save the regtools.vbs into a folder. Then double click on the VBS file to run it.

The regtools.vbs VB script file will check for the appropriate value related to disabling/enabling of Registry Editor. If the registry key is not found, the key will be created to disable Registry Editor. If the value was found, it will be toggled to its opposite state and you will be informed that you need to log off and log back on or restart your computer. All change by the script is made in HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System.

UnHookExec.inf by Symantec to Reset Registry Values to Default Settings

In many cases, disabling of Registry Editor is caused by virus, worm or Trojan, which attempts to stop user from fixing any changes to the registry, which normally affects changes to one or more of the shell\open\command keys. For example, exefile\shell\open\command key is changed, the virus, worm or Trojan threat will run each time that system run any .exe file. As such, Symantec create a .inf script tool to reset these registry values to their default settings.

WARNING: The UnHookExec.inf will reset registry keys and values related to BAT, COM, EXE, PIF, REG and SCR extensions, beside re-enabling the Registry Editor. Hence, users who just want to re-enable the Registry Editor has to manually modify the .inf file to remove the unnecessary commands.

Download the file UnHookExec.inf and save it to your Windows desktop.

Right-click the UnHookExec.inf file and click install. Action will be taken immediately. No display, nor any notice or boxes will appear before or after running. Try to run RegEdit.exe again, restart and reboot PC if it's still blocked.

Several folders in Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 98 and Windows Me that contain important system files (such as Windows, Program Files, Windows\System and Windows\System32 folders) have been hided or concealed. You won't be able to see the listing of files inside these system folders, instead a patronizing warning will be displayed to warn about modifying the contents of the folder could cause your programs to stop working correctly.

In Windows 98, this warning will only appears if you enable the "View as Web Page" option. The same to Windows 2000, warning will be shown if you select "Enable Web content in folders" option under the General tab of the Folder Options dialog box. To show the listing of contents and files of the system folder, just get pass the warning by clicking a "Show Files" link at the side pane.

In Windows Me and XP, the system folders are protected by default. To view the files listing, just click on the "Show the contents of this folder" link. The file listing contents will remain visible thereafter until you click the text in the left pane to hide or conceal the contents again. To able to hide the contents again, you need to click on "Hide the contents of this folder" link on the left pane. If your left pane of Windows Explorer is folder pane, close it. And then select Tools -> Folder Options. At the General tab, for Windows Me, select "Enable Web Content in Folders", or for Windows XP, select "Show Common Tasks in Folders".

Windows 98 and Windows 2000 will auto-hide the contents of system folders again once you close Windows Explorer. To permanently disable hiding of system folders in Windows 98 and 2000, and permanently show the contents of all system folders in Windows Me and Windows XP, use the following steps:

Windows 95

• Open My Computer.
• Select the View menu and click Options.
• Select the View Tab.
• Select the Show all files Radio Button.
• Click OK.

Windows 98

• Open My Computer.
• Select the View menu and click Folder Options.
• Select the View Tab.
• In the Hidden files section select Show all files.
• Click OK.

Windows ME

• Open My Computer.
• Select the Tools menu and click Folder Options.
• Select the View Tab.
• In the Hidden files and folders section select Show hidden files and folders.
• Uncheck the Hide protected operating system files (recommended) option.
• Click Yes to confirm.
• Click OK.
• Click Start -> Programs and Accessories and open Windows Explorer.
• Select a hard drive from the left hand side of the Windows Explorer window.
• Select View the Entire contents of this drive.

Windows 2000

• Open My Computer.
• Select the Tools menu and click Folder Options.
• Select the View Tab.
• Under the Hidden files and folders section select Show hidden files and folders.
• Uncheck the Hide protected operating system files (recommended) option.
• Click Yes to confirm.
• Click OK.

Windows XP

• Click Start.
• Open My Computer.
• Select the Tools menu and click Folder Options.
• Select the View Tab.
• Under the Hidden files and folders heading select Show hidden files and folders.
• Uncheck the Hide protected operating system files (recommended) option.
• Click Yes to confirm.
• Click OK.

The folder settings can be backup before you make any of the above changes, just in case in future, you may want to revert to display the warning message instead of directly showing the file listing contents. To backup, just create a backup of (or just simply rename) the folder.htt file that resides in each of the system folders where you want to disable the warning message. Then copy the folder.htt file from Web sub-folder of Windows (or Winnt) folder (which don't have the warning message) to the folders where you want to disable the warning message.

To restore the warning message (hide the contents) for a folder, simply delete the folder.htt file from that folder, and then restore the old folder.htt (or simply change back name of previously renamed folder.htt back).

Some viruses or Trojans is smart enough to hide themselves into a corner of the computer system, and then effectively force disable the "Show all hidden files and folders" or "Show all hidden files, folders and drives" option under "Folder Options". When it happens, hidden files, folders and drives on the PC do not been shown or displayed even though user has attempted to apply the settings to show the hidden files. The virus implements a policy such as "Shockwave.dll" that's forcing system to keep hidden files forever not visible or hidden.

If your anti-virus or anti-malware solution is unable to get rid of the malware, and you're desperately need to view the hidden files, here's the workaround to enable system to show hidden files and folders again. There are many viruses that may cause the hidden files cannot be visible error, thus the following solution may not work on some system.

• Go to Start Menu and click on Run (Windows Vista and Windows 7 uses Start Search instead).
• Type RegEdit and press Enter to run Registry Editor.
• Navigate to the following registry key:

  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
  CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL

• In the right pane, verify that the CheckedValue value data is REG_DWORD type. If it's not (such as belongs to REG_SZ), then delete the CheckedValue value data.
• If CheckedValue has been delete, create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it as CheckedValue.
• Double click on CheckedValue and change its value data to 1 (virus may change it to 0 or 2).
• Within the same registry key, verify that the Type value data is of REG_SZ type, and has the value data radio. If not, set it to radio. Virus may change it to blank.
• Set the system to reveal or show all hidden files, folders and drives, and then check if hidden files and folders are show.

Windows operating system including Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP allows multiple user accounts to be created on the computer, be it administrators or standard users. When there is more than one user accounts been defined and created on the PC, Windows will display Welcome Screen, with all available user accounts listed so that user can click and login.

However, showing and displaying of user accounts on the Welcome Screen is probably a weakness in the security point of view, more so if the user account is intended to be a hidden or backup user account. In fact, there is trick to make user account or administrator account that normally been listed on the Welcome Screen to be hidden from view.

In order to hide a user account (which also means create a hidden user account) in Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7, just go to Control Panel User module and create an additional user as usually do (Control Panel -> User Accounts and Family Safety -> User Accounts in Windows 7 and Windows Vista). If you already have an existing user that wants to be made hidden, invisible or disappeared from Welcome Screen, then go straight to guide below.

1. Run Registry Editor (RegEdit.exe).
2. Navigate to the following registry key:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList

   

   Note: If SpecialAccounts and UserList is not found, create new sub-key and name them accordingly.

3. Select UserList, and in the right pane, right click on any blank space, and point to New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value.
4. Name the new DWORD registry value name as the exact same name that match the name of the user account to be hidden.

   For example, if the user ID of the user account is John, the name the registry value as John.

5. Double click on DWORD registry value, and set the value data to 0 in oder to hide the account from Welcome Screen.

   Tip: To display the user account on Welcome Screen again so that it's visible again, delete the registry entry, or set the value data to 1.

6. Exit Registry Editor.
7. Log off or restart computer to make the change effective.

Tip: In order to login into Windows using an user account that has made hidden and invisible, just press Ctrl+Alt+Del to bring up Windows Logon dialog, and then type in the user name and password manually.

Cisco Networkers 2009 - Firewall Design and Deployment | 590 MB

This session addresses Cisco firewalls and how they are used to enforce security policy around the network. It includes best practices as part of a case study that illustrates these various techniques in practice and options on how they can be implemented.

Common design scenarios are covered for both the ASA firewall appliance and the Cisco Firewall Services Module, including virtualization and transparent (Layer 2) mode. Pros and cons of each design are discussed in depth. Participants should have a working knowledge of TCP/IP and understand general networking and packet flow. This session focuses on the Cisco ASA Adaptive Security Appliance and Firewall Services Module and does not cover any Cisco IOS based firewall solutions.

Download Links

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http://hotfile.com/dl/18671133/32e3f99/Firewall_Design_n_Deployment.part2.rar.html

http://hotfile.com/dl/18671176/ec81c4d/Firewall_Design_n_Deployment.part3.rar.html

http://hotfile.com/dl/18671219/30fffe9/Firewall_Design_n_Deployment.part4.rar.html

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http://uploading.com/files/c7875e57/Firewall_Design_n_Deployment.part3.rar

ttp://uploading.com/files/c71aab2m/Firewall_Design_n_Deployment.part4.rar

http://uploading.com/files/3ee2e259/Firewall_Design_n_Deployment.part5.rar

Hacking Exposed Cisco Networks
December 2005 | English | ISBN : 0072259175 / 9780072259179 | 400 Pages | Paperback | 9.8 MB

Overview

Here is the first book to focus solely on Cisco network hacking, security auditing, and defense issues. Using the proven Hacking Exposed methodology, this book shows you how to locate and patch system vulnerabilities by looking at your Cisco network through the eyes of a hacker. The book covers device-specific and network-centered attacks and defenses and offers real-world case studies.

Biographical note

Dr. Andrew A. Vladimirov, CCNP, CCDP, CISSP, CWNA, TIA Linux+, is a co-founder of Arhont Ltd., an international IT security consultancy.

Konstantin V. Gavrilenko, co-founder of Arhont Ltd., has extensive experience working with Cisco PIX firewalls and Cisco VPN concentrators.

Janis N. Vizulus is a researcher and programmer specializing in digital forensics and penetration testing.

Andrei A. Mikhailovsky, co-founder of Arhont Ltd., is an expert in network security and penetration testing

Back cover copy Implement bulletproof Cisco security the battle-tested Hacking Exposed way Defend against the sneakiest attacks by looking at your Cisco network and devices through the eyes of the intruder. Hacking Exposed Cisco Networks shows you, step-by-step, how hackers target exposedsystems, gain access, and pilfer compromised networks. All device-specific and network-centered security issues are covered alongside real-world examples, in-depth case studies, and detailed countermeasures. It's all here--from switch, router, firewall, wireless, and VPN vulnerabilities to Layer 2 man-in-the-middle, VLAN jumping, BGP, DoS, and DDoS attacks. You'll prevent tomorrow's catastrophe by learning how new flaws in Cisco-centered networks are discovered and abused by cyber-criminals. Plus, you'll get undocumented Cisco commands, security evaluation templates, and vital security tools.

Use the tried-and-true Hacking Exposed methodology to find, exploit, and plug security holes in Cisco devices and networks

Locate vulnerable Cisco networks using Google and BGP queries, wardialing, fuzzing, host fingerprinting, and portscanning

Abuse Cisco failover protocols, punch holes in firewalls, and break into VPN tunnels

Use blackbox testing to uncover data input validation errors, hidden backdoors, HTTP, and SNMP vulnerabilities

Gain network access using password and SNMP community guessing, Telnet session hijacking, and searching for open TFTP servers

Find out how IOS exploits are written and if a Cisco router can be used as an attack platform

Block determined DoS and DDoS attacks using Cisco proprietary safeguards, CAR, and NBAR

Prevent secret keys cracking, sneaky data link attacks, routing protocol exploits, and malicious physical access

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Cisco AIO Tutorials LABS | 483.2MB

Most of them are in iso files format, Its not just a video tutorials, those are mostly. Labs, it means you open an html file inside that, and you will see 2 parts, one in flash and another in text. At each lesson you finished, you will get to challange flash where you have to practice things you have learned, its like working on real cisco device. You'll have the flash SSH shell, and you have to type in the cisco commands, and in case you make a mistake, you'll get wrong alerts and you can then either correct it or need to read and listen to the section again and see the correct answer by clicking the DEMO option, that will show you the entire solution. By the way, this is original cisco materials that you need to pay $$$$$$ for it, but for keen learners it is for freeee!!

Content:

CCNA_SEMESTER_2_V2.1.2.ISO

CCNA_SEMESTER_1_V2.1.2.ISO

CNAP Fundamentals_of_Wireless_LANS_V1.0.iso

CNAP Fundamentals_of_Wireless_Lan_V1.1.iso

CNAP Fundamentals_of_Wireless_LANs_V1.1.iso

CNAP Fundamentals_of_Java_Programming_V1.2.iso

CNAPFundamentals_of_Java_Programming_V1.1.iso

CNAP CCSP_Cisco_Secure_PIX_Firewall_Advanced_V_2.0.iso

CNAP Fundamentals_of_Network_Security_V_1.1.iso CNAP CCNA_3.0_Bridge_1.iso

CNAP CCNA_Networking_Basics_V3.0.iso

CNAP Fundamentals_of_Web_Design_V1.2.iso

CNAP Intrusion_Detection_System_V2.1.iso

CNAP IT_Essentials_I_-_PC_Hardware_and_Software_V2.0.iso

CNAP IT_Essentials_II_-_Network_Operating_Systems_V2.0.iso

CNAP Virtual_Private_Networks_V1.01.iso

CNAP Fundamentals_Of_UNIX_V2.0.iso

CNAP PIX_Firewall_Advanced_V2.0.iso

CNAP PIX_Firewal_Advanced_V1.01.iso

CNAP PIX_Firewall_Fundamentals_V1.11.iso

Cisco_Press_-_Introduction_to_Cisco_Router_Configuration.rar

Cisco_IT_Builder.rar

Download Links

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http://hotfile.com/dl/18406619/a4a6919/Cisc0_tut_AIO_2008.part3.rar.html

http://hotfile.com/dl/18406666/606e5e6/Cisc0_tut_AIO_2008.part4.rar.html

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http://uploading.com/files/94e17mf9/Cisc0_tut_AIO_2008.part5.rar