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Who would have thought… but the new Microsoft Web Platform Installer is designed to help get you get up and running with the most widely used Web Applications freely available for Windows Server. The new installer (which is beta currently) will install popular open source and .NET solutions. Included in the beta release will include DotNetNuke, Drupal, Gallery, Graffiti, osCommerce, PHPBB, and Wordpress. My first thought was… “seriously?” IIS is an awesome platform, and it’s nice to see Microsoft embracing that it can serve up more than just Microsoft languages (yes in fact it could for a long time, but it wasn’t easy or direct to do so).

What will be interesting, in regards to Wordpress, is how IIS will handle permalinks and having to use index.php in the url (sometimes, not always). Only time will tell, still exciting that Microsoft is moving in this direction.

Wubi is an officially supported Ubuntu installer for Windows users that can bring you to the Linux world with a single click. Wubi allows you to install and uninstall Ubuntu as any other Windows application, in a simple and safe way. Are you curious about Linux and Ubuntu? Trying them out has never been easier! With Wubi you have a safe and easy way to give Linux a shot without damaging your Windows installation. No terminal commands, disk partitioning or disk formatting is needed. The best part is that the installation itself takes about one hour. So why try Wubi?

• No need to burn a CD. Just run the installer, enter a password for the new account, and click “Install”, go grab a coffee, and when you are back, Ubuntu will be ready for you.
• You keep Windows as it is, Wubi only adds an extra option to boot into Ubuntu. Wubi does not require you to modify the partitions of your PC, or to use a different bootloader, and does not install special drivers. It works just like any other application. Wubi is spyware and malware free, and being open source, anyone can verify that.
• Wubi keeps most of the files in one folder, and if you do not like it, you can simply uninstall it as any other application.
• Wubi and Ubuntu cost absolutely nothing (free as in beer), but yet provide a state of the art, fully functional, operating system that does not require any activation and does not impose any restriction on its use (free as in freedom).

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Google announced it will release a brand new open source web browser called Google Chrome. Yesterday a site went up, and has subsequently been taken down at http://gears.google.com/chrome/?hl=en (as of this morning clicking this link take you back to regular old Google).

According to Crunchbase the features include:

• Tabbed browsing where each tab gets its own process, leading to faster and more stable browsing. If one tab crashes, the whole browser doesn’t go down with it
• A distinct user interface that places tabs on top of the browser window instead of right below the address bar
• An “incognito” mode that lets you browse the web in complete privacy because it doesn’t record any of your activity
• A new JavaScript engine built from the ground up for speed
• Malware and phishing lists that automatically update themselves and warn you of bad websites
• A default homepage that displays your most commonly used sites and other personalized information

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Wired How-To Wiki shows you how to basically turn a $50 router into a $300 professional grade router using open source firmware.

High-end commercial routers offer features that just don’t come with your basic home package cheaper routers. We’re talking features like quality of service (QoS) management, adjustable transmission power, and support for IPv6.  Not everybody needs these features, but if you are somebody who does then you can get those features on the cheap using open source firmware.

What You’ll Need

• A compatible wireless router

• An Ethernet cable

Customize Your Router

This process involves replacing the manufacturer’s firmware that comes installed on the machine. There are quite a few open-source projects developing alternative firmwares for home routers. Each offers a variety of features and advantages.

DD-WRT is one of the most mature such projects, based on a Linux kernel and offering a wealth of options. Tomato is another firmware choice. Though not quite as feature-rich as DD-WRT, it is significantly easier to work with.

Find a Compatible Router

Linksys’s WRT54GL, shown above, is a good choice. It runs about $40- $60. Older models in the WRT54G series, without the L suffix, work: the WRT54G and WRT54GS versions 1 through 4 work without modification, and the version 5-6 work with ‘micro’ firmwares like DD-WRT micro thanks to the hack that can be found here. Look at the serial number on the underside of the router to check its version. Other routers that use Broadcom chipsets, made by Buffalo, Asus, and others, work as well.

There are numerous firmwares available for this platform. OpenWrt [1] provides a base for most of these firmwares, which extend it through a web based management console. Popular projects include X-Wrt [2], DD-WRT [3], and Tomato [4].

DD-WRT is compatible with a somewhat wider range of routers than Tomato is. Consult Wikipedia or the DD-WRT site for a complete reference.

Get the Firmware

Download the latest firmware, whether it be OpenWrt, X-Wrt, DD-WRT, or Tomato.

For some reason, Tomato is packaged as a 7z archive, one of the less-common file formats. You’ll need to unzip it with a tool such as 7-Zip for Windows, 7zx for Macs, or p7zip for Linux.

Unpack the downloaded firmware into a directory on your computer. It includes several different .bin files for different routers.

Install the Firmware

Follow these steps:

1. Plug your router into a power socket. Do not connect it to the Internet.

2. Use an Ethernet cable to connect your computer to one of the router’s LAN ports. Do not use a wireless connection for this, since if the connection dies while you’re installing the firmware, your router may become unusable.

3. Go to the administration page of your router. In a default setup, this is probably accessible at http://192.168.1.1/ . You’ll need to log in. The default Linksys username and password is admin/admin.

Changing the Linksys router’s firmware

4. Go to the Administration tab, and choose Firmware Upgrade. (This is standard for a Linksys router; other routers may offer this option in a different place.) It offers a slot to choose a firmware file from your computer, which will be installed on the router. Browse to the Tomato directory you created and choose the appropriate .bin file for your router. For a Linksys WRT54GL, for instance, choose WRT54G_WRT54GL.bin. Click the Upgrade button and do not interrupt the connection until the process completes! When it’s done, your router will reboot itself. When it returns, it’ll be running Tomato.

Use the Firmware

Monitoring network traffic in real time is just one of the tricks Tomato’s open firmware can do

First, change the administrator password to something that’s not the default, so random internet people can’t log in and change your settings. Tomato’s options are all laid out in a sidebar: click Administration and then Admin Access to get to the password page.

Now connect the router to the Internet and play around.

• One popular thing to do is to boost the transmission power: you can crank it all the way up to 251 mW. But this is unneighborly. It interferes with other signals in the area. It’s also somewhat useless — laptops will be able to find the router’s signal from farther away, but they won’t be powerful enough to transmit back to it at that distance, so the connection won’t work. Be smart and bump it up to 70mW.

• Set up some QoS rules. That way, you can make sure that your high-priority tasks (web browsing, gaming or VoIP) get all the throughput they need, while lower-priority tasks like BitTorrent downloads don’t eat up the bulk of your bandwidth.

• If you have kids (or leeching housemates of another sort), you can gain finer control over their access to the internet. Block P2P file transfers or ActiveX traffic at the router. You can also turn off wireless access during certain times of the day.

• Use your new firmware to run Dynamic DNS, which is essential if you want to set up a mail server, run a BBS or share your music collection through a web interface.

See the Tomato website for more about these (and far geekier) options. video poquer lineaonline slotmaschineslotmaschinen online spielenslotmachine online spielenonline casino spielparty casino bonuscasinospiele mit echtem geldechtes casinocasino on net deroulette gratis downloadkasino comamerikanisches rouletteonline casino softwareslots spieleninternet kasinoglucks spiellotto am samstagonline casino pokerbest casino onlineblack jack online spielegratis casino spielenonline casino deutschwww rouletteblack jackhoyle casino games 2006play video poker online,video poker,online video poker spielenkasino roulettecasino im internetcasino online softwarebicycle casino gamesslots gamesonline roulette wiesbadenrealistisches online kasinoblackjack spieleblack jack online spielenjack black online spieleneigenes online casinorealistische online spielbankonline spiel kasinoslot machines spielencasino online gameswww casino netcasino club roulettekasino spielenroulette gewinneslotmachine spielenonline video poker spielencasino comglucksspiel onlineinternet casino,internet casino poker,internet casino niedersachsen

The DemocraKey was created in May of 2006. Within two days, over 60,000 people had read about the DemocraKey and built their own. It was featured on MSN, Digg, Lifehacker, and hundreds of other pages. Now, it’s entering version 2.0, where it becomes a complete, portable privacy suite. DemocraKey helps scan and surf securely from computer to computer. You can install it on a portable thumbdrive and now even on an iPod. Visit a friends house, surf from a kiosk, or just need some privacy? Pop it in and off you go. DemocraKey has built in TOR support in the browser, which can hide your internet activity. Sounds sweet, portable too!

Features

• Protect your computer from viruses with a security enhanced version of Firefox
• Visit sites that are blocked by your school/employer/government
• Hide your internet actions with Tor
• Encrypt personal emails with GPG
• Scan your computer with portable built in Antivirus software
• Runs from any portable media - iPod, USB key, Digital Camera…
• It’s FREE and Open Source!

Get DemocraKey!

Found this over at mashable, I’ve used several of these sites for many years…. it’s a great list.

JavaScript is one of the most often used languages on the web, and it seems to be gaining in popularity each day. We’ve gathered 25+ tools and tutorials which will be useful to any JavaScript programmer - novice or pro.

ActiveWidgets.com - A component library that gives you AJAX-style fuctions with common visual elements.

Agile Partners Photo Resizing Tutorial - A tutorial on how to use the Prototype and script.aculo.us libraries to build an interactive photo resizer.

ByteFX - A low-level framework for simple JavaScript effects.

DevGuru - Defines all the terms of JavaScript and gives you code samples of what they do.

DojoToolkit.org - An open source DHTML toolkit built in JavaScript and based on several other tools.

Drag & Drop Sortable Lists - Tutorial for creating sortable lists with drag & drop functions.

DynamicDrive.com - A large collection of DHTML and JavaScripts for your use.

Firebug - An extension for the Firefox browser that allows you to do web development from directly inside the browser, including JavaScript.

JavaScript-reference.info - A reference site that teaches you both how to read and write JavaScript.

JavaScriptKit.com - A list of JavaScript objects, properties, and methods that include examples.

jQuery.com - A JavaScript library with a small footprint and concise coding for as few lines as possible.

Learn JavaScript in 10 Minutes - As the name implies, learn the basics of JavaScript in 10 minutes from this very straightforward tutorial.

Lightbox2 - A JavaScript for overlaying photos on the current page with a semi-transparent background.

LightWindow - Another overlay window system that allows you to do it with multiple media file types and even other websites.

MochiKit.com - A set of JavaScript libraries that takes ideas from Python and Objective-C, and uses them in JavaScript.

Moo.fx - JavaScript effects library that works with the Prototype.js and Mootools frameworks.

Mootools.net - An object-oriented JavaScript framework for intermediate to advance users.

Prototype Windows Class - Allows you to add an overlay window to your HTML.

Prototypejs.org - A JavaScript framework that is built with Web 2.0 in mind, includes Ajax integration.

QuirksMode.org - The personal site of a professional web developer who offers over a 120 tricks for defeating browser incompatibility issues of CS and JavaScript.

Reflection.js - A small JavaScript to add reflections to your image.

script.aculo.us - A JavaScript library that integrates easily with numerous frameworks.

ThickBox - Works with jQuery to provide an AJAX hybrid for image overlays.

TinyMCE JavaScript Content Editor - A content editor written completely in JavaScript and converts HTML text areas in to editor instances.

W3Schools JavaScript Tutorials - 100 Examples to learn JavaScript by.

WebTeacher.com - Takes the point of view of teaching JavaScript to a programming novice.

Walter Zorn Drag & Drop - A cross-browser JavaScript DHTML library that allows you to turn any image in to a layer that can be dragged and dropped where the user chooses.

The free, open source Ophcrack Live CD is a Windows account password cracking tool designed to help you recover lost Windows passwords.

After you download the 462mb .iso and burn it to a CD, just restart your computer and boot up the Live CD. Once the CD boots, blamo… Ophcrack automatically loads and is on its way to cracking your password.

(screenshot of ophcrack on Linux cracking Windows passwords)

Features:

• Runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X (intel).
• Cracks LM and NTLM hashes.
• Free tables available for alphanumeric LM hashes.
• Loads hashes from local SAM, remote SAM.
• Loads hashes from encrypted SAM recovered from a Windows partition, Vista included.

I’ve yet to try this live bootable version, but I used l0phtcrack (now LC5 and no longer produced since the company that made it was bought by Symantec) a few years ago and retrieved 99% of the passwords off a backup domain controller in something like 12 hours (using a not-so-powerful desktop to do the cracking).

Get ophcrack Live CD. FYI - you can still get l0phtcrack (aka LC5) from mirrors like sectools.org.

STUMBLEUPON UPDATE:

A couple people have asked if this really works. I just want to re-iterate that this DOES work. It requires physical access to the machine, but if you have physical access you can literally crack every password on a machine in a very short time. As I said above, I used it on a backup domain controller and in about 12 hours cracked every single password on the BDC.

Why crack passwords when you can just create a new Admin account?

Most people tell me they simply “lost” their password. If that’s the case you can use some free tools to create a new Administrator account. With this account you can simply change the existing accounts password, use the new Admin account, or… well… do anything you want. Read more in my article: Hack Vista - Create a new admin account