Secure Computer

Telnet Exposed

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 10:55:00 +0000

For years, people and myself, have offtend tried to"work telenet unto a coma"..
With no success, for the past few years, i have gathered data, and finally
know the system, its faults, capabilities, and errors.
This really should be in a text file, but. i wish this information to
be reserved for the few users on this system.

before i start, here are a few basic commands to get famialir with:

Execution          syntax of command             function
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Connect            c (sp)                        Connects to a host (opt)

Status               stat                          Displays network port add

Full-Duplex       full                          network echo

Half-Duplex       half                          Termnial echo

Mail
or
Telemail           mail    telemail              telemail

set Parmaters      set (sp) 2:0,3:2              Select Pad Parameters

Read Paramaters    par?        par?(sp)2:0,3:2   display pad

Set and read
Paramaters         set?(sp)2:0,3:2

escape                                         escape from data modew

File Trasnfer       dtape                         Prepares network for bulk

continue          cont

disconnect           bye   or    d

hang up           hangup

terminial              term(sp)d1                    Set TERM

test

                     test(sp)char

                       test(sp)echo

                       test(sp)triangle

this is the end of the commands,   view next msg for useage:

Trap and pipe x.25 prot. (telenet)...

Please note this is a very difficult transaction... The following
flow chart, will only work on a machine with atleast 10 Mhz..
However, an account on a unix, with cu capabilities will also work..

Package networking, is exactly what it means..
before, i go into detail, let me give you and over view...

-------------
    Host
-------------
           !
           !
           !
           !
           -----------------
              telenet, remote
       $      divertor, and
              pacakge.
           ------------------
                             !
                             !
                   ---------------------
                   !      !    !       !
                   !      !    !       !
                   u      u    u       u
                   s      s    s       s
                   e      e    e       e
                   r      r    r       r
                   s      s    s       s

If you notice carefully, there is online to the host and 4 users. That
is how its packaged, for instance the first 100 mills. will be from user
on then two etc.. The way telenet can tell which is user is which, is
simply by the time. Time is of the essense. data is constantly been
packed, anywhere from 100 mils. to 760 mils. The trick to trap tapping
and piping, a lead off of telenet, is to have as system running four
proccewss and the same time, and have a master prgm. that switch's at
the appropriate delays... As you can see this is where a 10 Mhz +
system, is needed.

On the host end.

The host end consists of three things..

I doubt know one needs a lesson on the first two, but lets take a look
at telenets, "weakest" link..

Network Pad
----------

There are three types of network pads   a 4 pad 12 pad and 32 pad
They really do not make a diffrence, it only changes the amount
of users, capable of using on line..

example. if you have a 4 network pad. you system will be able to handle
four users from telenet   etc...

The network pad is Such a piece of"shit you have know idea..

All parameters are set remotly by a telenet eng..

This is important...

If the pad is every shutoff all parameters are lost.. and an eng. must
reload the pad.. (again, this is done remotly)

to give you a small ifea, of$the amount of programing in thms pad (which
i might add has over 2 megs of internal RAM) for an eng. to upload it ct
9600 bps.. it took approx 38 mins.

The Pad is not a computer, if ytou think about it though, if your
traveling at 1200 on telenet, your actually travling at 9600 and back to
1200.. when x.25 is unpacked..

How is the pad set remotly..

lets take an example...

c 2122

now c 2122 /(?this is an example)

ha four nodes its a siml divester to the next node. however you can
specify, the node you want

c"212.01
c 212.02
   etc....

nodes can also"be stated as 2122a is the same as "2122.01
and 2122.03 is the same as 2122c

Now that we know how to access the indiv. nodes. let me show you a small
secret...

Theres a programing node.. so an eng. can upload, to your network pad..

every address has it...
it always ends in 99

so, if i wanted to trap and tap c 2122

i would enter   c 2122.99

you would get a connected.. but is you notice nothin happens..

at this point do not touch any keys.. a wrong key stroke, will
most likely alert someone to your tampering..
(dont forget, all network pads have a direct alarm signle.. so follow my
directions to the       t...

enter in :



with out a return.. you should get    telenet


if you dont give it a min. then hit return. your actually there. but the
prompt, just didnt print.. ok..

Now type

set 15:0

when entered.. hold 15 secs.. for a time delay..

then type in     cont

to continue, with the host you brokg from.....

you will get a message:

TP3005 DEBUG PORT V5.37.03
>

your now, directly accessed the network pad..

Please note some of these have passwords:
                                            However
if your prompted for a password, of if nothing happens:
telenet has two standard passwords:
                                       superman
represeting a male tech.
         and
                                   $ wonderwomen
repre. a woman tech..
when in your prompt is always a greater than sign:
                                                           >

type the following:

                        7FDS
HIT RETURN

    youll get a responce: $ E 01

NOW TYPE IN:
                                  L7FE,L,A2,R2,D

then youll get a message:         R 00A626   8805

now enter ing:                    40588

YOUR RESPONCE WILL BE :           E   01

right now you should open at least a 640K buffer.....

now type in >           R0589

YOU'LL GET A WHOLE LIST OF DATA THAT IS CURRENTLY CROSSING THE PADS
DUPLEX.
ONE LINE WILL LOOK LIKE THIS:

R 00A625   06805FF17068703 1287100230050540 0000000000000000 FF020101000000

þ"&]%%+f! ! )19AIQYai

ÿIt seems that not many of you know that Telenet is connected to about 80
computer-networks in the world. No, I don't mean 80 nodes, but 80 networks
with thousands of unprotected computers. When you call your local Telenet-
gateway, you can only call those computers which accept reverse-charging-calls.
If you want to call computers in foreign countries or computers in USA which
do not accept R-calls, you need a Telenet-ID. Did you ever notice that you can
type ID XXXX when being connected to Telenet? You are then asked for the
password. If you have such a NUI (Network-User-ID) you can call nearly every
host connected to any computer-network in the world. Here are some examples:
026245400090184   is a VAX in Germany (Username: DATEXP and leave mail for
                  CHRIS !!!)
0311050500061     is the Los Alamos Integrated computing network (One of the
                  hosts connected to it is the DNA (Defense Nuclear Agency)!!!)
0530197000016     is a BBS in New Zealand
024050256         is the S-E-Bank in Stockholm, Sweden   (Login as GAMES !!!)
02284681140541    CERN in Geneva in Switzerland (one of the biggest nuclear
                  research centers in the world) Login as GUEST
0234212301161     A Videotex-standard system. Type OPTEL to get in and
                  use the ID 999_ with the password 9_
0242211000001     University of Oslo in Norway (Type LOGIN 17,17 to play
                  the Multi-User-Dungeon !)
0425130000215     Something like ITT Dialcom, but this one is in Israel !
                  ID HELP with password HELP works fine with security level 3
0310600584401     is the Washington Post News Service via Tymnet (Yes, Tymnet
                  is connected to Telenet, too !) ID and Password is: PETER
                  You can read the news of the next day !

The prefixes are as follows:
02624 is Datex-P in Germany
02342 is PSS in England
03110 is Telenet in USA
03106 is Tymnet in USA
02405 is Telepak in Sweden
04251 is Isranet in Israel
02080 is Transpac in France
02284 is Telepac in Switzerland
02724 is Eirpac in Ireland
02704 is Luxpac in Luxembourg
05252 is Telepac in Singapore
04408 is Venus-P in Japan
...and so on... Some of the countries have more than one packet-switching-
network (USA has 11, Canada has 3, etc).

OK. That should be enough for the moment. As you see most of the passwords
are very simple. This is because they must not have any fear of hackers. Only
a few German hackers use these networks. Most of the computers are absolutely
easy to hack !!!
So, try to find out some Telenet-ID's and leave them here. If you need more
numbers, leave e-mail.
I'm calling from Germany via the German Datex-P network, which is similar to
Telenet. We have a lot of those NUI's for the German network, but none for
a special Tymnet-outdial-computer in USA, which connects me to any phone #.

CUL8R, Mad Max

PS: Call 026245621040000 and type ID INF300 with password DATACOM to get more
Informations on packet-switching-networks !

PS2: The new password for the Washington Post is KING !!!!

Hard Drive Problem

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 14:12:00 +0000

The most common problems originate
from corruption of the master boot record, FAT, or directory.
Those are soft problems which can usually be taken care of
with a combination of tools like Fdisk /mbr to refresh the
master boot record followed by a reboot and Norton disk doctor
or Spinneret.

The most common hardware problems are a bad controller, a bad
drive motor, or a bad head mechanism.

1. Can the BIOS see and identify the hard drive correctly? If
it can't, then the hard drives onboard controller is bad.

2. Does the drive spin and maintain a constant velocity? If it
does, that's good news. The motor is functioning.

3. If the drive surges and dies, the most likely cause is a
bad controller (assuming the drive is cool). A gate allowing
the current to drive the motor may not be staying open. The
drive needs a new controller.

4. Do you hear a lot of head clatter when the machine is
turned on and initialized (but before the system attempts to
access the hard drive). Head clatter would indicate that the
spindle bearings are sloppy or worn badly. Maybe even lose and
flopping around inside.

5. There is always the possibility that the controller you are
using in the machine has gone south.
1. If the drive spins, try booting to the A> prompt, run Fdisk
and check to see if Fdisk can see a partition on the hard
drive. If Fdisk can see the partition, that means that it can
access the drive and that the controller electronics are
functioning correctly. If there is no head clatter, it may be
just a matter of disk corruption which commonly occurs when a
surge hits you machine and overwhelms the power supply voltage
regulator. It commonly over whelms the system electronics
allowing an EM pulse to wipe out the master boot record, file
allocations table, and primary directory. Fdisk can fix the
master boot record and Norton Disk Doctor can restore the FAT
and Directory from the secondaries.
2. The drive spins but Fdisk can't see it. Try the drive in
another system and repeat the test to confirm that Fdisk can't
read through the drives onboard controller. If it sees it in
another system, then your machines hard drive interface is
bad. You can try an upgraded or replacement controller card
like a Promise or CMD Technologies (there are others) in you
machine after disabling the integrated controller in the BIOS,
but if the integrated controller went south, it may just be
symptomatic of further failures and you'd be wise to replace
the motherboard. Trying the drive in another machine also
eliminates the variable that your machines 12 volt power
output being bad

3. If you get head clatter but a constant velocity on the
drive motor (no surging), you might try sticking the hard
drive in the freezer for about 12 hours. This is an old trick
from back in the days of the MFM/ESDI driver era. This can
cause the drive components to shrink enough to make the track
marker align with the tracks. We don't see that kind of
platter spindle wear much anymore, but back in the old days,
the balancing and bearings weren't as good. Still, under the
right circumstances, it might help. It would depend on how old
the drive is and how many hours of wear have occurred. You
have to be quick to get your info off the drive when it works.
Back then, the drives were much smaller, so there wasn't so
much to copy. So, go after the important data first.

4. The drive doesn't spin. Either the onboard controller is
bad or the motor is bad (assuming you did try the drive in
another machine). It's time to hit the net and local
independent shops to see if you can locate another drive of
the same make and model that's good. Since the drive is
probably an older drive and no longer in distribution, your
best bet is to find an identical used drive. If you know
someone with the same make and model, you might be wise to try
and persuade them to sell you their drive with an offer of
providing them with a free upgraded drive. If you can locate
an identical drive, start with the controller replacement ...
this is the simplest and least invasive. If swapping the
controller doesn't produce the desire result, you can tear
into the drive and swap the motors. While you have both drive
opened up to accomplish this, scrutinize the platters, heads
and armatures. You might even hook the drive up and power it
from a system with both drives attached. This way, you could
see anything that deviates between the actions of both drives
when they are initialized. Swapping patters is unlikely to
produce any positive result. They are a balanced system like
the tires on your car and I suspect that the balance will be
different for each drive as will other variables.

5. There's always Ontrack Corp. who will attempt to recoup
your info starting at $500 and going up from there. They don't
fix and return the drive either.

If the info is all that important to you, I would seek some
professional and experience technician in your locality who
makes his living from servicing and building computer systems
... not just selling them. If you have had much experience
salvaging information from bad hard drives, your likelihood of
success is low. In the case of soft corruption, all utilities
have their eccentricities. Often times, Norton Disk Doctor
will go too far (if you let it). It's wise to just let those
utilities small steps and then have a look at the drive and
see if you can copy it off. Norton will go so far as to rename
directories and files, and even delete them or break them up
into fragments which are useless.

Hard Drive Problem

Secure Computer: How To Lan Computers

Secure Computer: Convert A File System

how to Create Config.sys and autoexec.bat

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 13:44:00 +0000

This is a simple but most forgotton command to create
files like config.sys and autoexec.bat files, well heres it...
Even if u dont have a dos boot disk u can work ur way
to some extent.

At c:\ prompt
type
copy con config.sys
devicehigh=c:\dos\himem.sys
device=c:\dos\setver.exe
devicehigh=c:\dos\emm386.exe ram
dos=high,umb
last drive=z
then press CTRL + z
press enter
Config.sys file will be created.

Similarly u can create autoexec.bat
@echo off
prompt=$P$G
path=c:\dos;c:\
lh mouse
lh doskey
Press CTRL + Z

What is DVD Regions

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:10:00 +0000

DVD Regions Code

Xbox 360 HD Dvd Player

Full HD Player 1080p

The DVD region code identifies a DVD's compatibility with the players typically sold in a particular region.

The following graphic shows the approximate location of each region.

Region 0 (or "region free") is compatible with DVD players from any region.

The majority of all current titles play only in one specific region unless otherwise noted. DVDs sold by Amazon.co.uk are encoded for Region 2 or Region 0. Region 2 DVDs may not work on DVD players in other countries.

Region 1 DVDs sold by Marketplace sellers

Region 1 discs are intended for use with standard DVD players in North America (Canada and the USA). In most instances they can also be played on compatible "multi-region" DVD players (also known as "chipped" or "region-free" players).

They also require an NTSC-compatible television. NTSC is the standard picture format in North America, and differs from the PAL format adopted in Britain and Europe. Region 1 DVDs are usually presented in NTSC format, so you should ensure that your TV is capable of reading the NTSC signal before purchasing Region 1 DVDs.

Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE)

Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE) has been added by some film studios (specifically Warner and Columbia) to selected Region 1 DVDs, with the intention of preventing these discs from playing on some multi-region DVD players. We are therefore unable to guarantee that all Region 1 discs will be compatible with all multi-region players.

Global DVD region countries

This is not a definitive list and is intended only as a guide.

Region 1 - US, US Territories and Canada

      American Samoa, Canada, Guam, Palau, Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands, Puerto Rico, Micronesia, United States, U.S. Virgin Islands

Region 2 - UK, Europe, Japan, South Africa and Middle East

      Albania, Andorra, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Vatican City, Yemen, Yugoslavia

Region 3 - Southeast and East Asia

      Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Phillipines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam

Region 4 - Australia, New Zealand, Central and South America

      Antigua, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Barbuda, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Falkland Islands, French Guiana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, New Guinea, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad, Tobago, Uruguay

Region 5 - Former Soviet Union, Indian sub-continent, Africa, North Korea and Mongolia

      Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, India, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Lithuania, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka, St. Helena, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Copy XBOX Games

Connect PlayStation To Computer

Region 6 - China

China

Region 7 - Reserved for future use

Region 8 - International Territories (ships, planes, etc)

How to do a high Quality DivX rip

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 17:32:00 +0000

DivX Player

First and foremost, go to

http://www.doom9.org

and go to their downloads section.
get the following files:
under Audio:
Besweet
Besweet GUI

Under Codecs:
DivX 5.2.1 Pro

Under Divx/Mpeg-4 encoders:
Nandub 1.0RC2

then get this:
http://www.dvd-digest.tv/downloads/files/virtualdub/vdub_pack-145.exe
alternatively, get any version of virtualdub that includes mp3 support.

these are all the required tools, there are ways with fewer items, but they produce very inferior outputs. Besides, after you get used to it, the whole process is really easy.

Okay, first and foremost, pull out Nandub. This is the step that takes the longest, as well as where you will make most of your decisions. I am going to assume that you are making a 1 cd rip. If you do what is in this faq, there won't be much reason to do anything else. Twisted Evil

First of all, run Nandub . It will pop up a dialogue box, and want to know if you are making a new project or resuming an old. New, of course. Give it a name and tell fairuse where you want it to store its data. Fairuse is about to rip the entire movie to your harddrive(nice if you want to go rent a movie and return it the next day).

Then it will ask for your DVD drive with a dvd in it. give it. Then, select which video stream you want. This is usually pretty obvious as the movie stream is the one that is an hour or so long. If there are two of these, check out the other tags. which languages and so on. worst case senario is that you have to trial and error. but that is rare. choose the long stream and hit next.

This is where Nandub rips everything to your hard drive. depending on the speed of various components in your computer, and the length of the movie, this could take a while. let it finish. and then move on.

Once all that is done, the really important screen pops up. this is where you set resolutions and video length. first, cut off the ending credits with the slider, but DO NOT mess with the beginning, as the sound and video frames need to start at the same point for sync. Then hit auto set for the cropping region, this is usually just fine. Then decide whether or not you want subtitles, which would be the subpicture stream. When you're done, hit next.

Set the field mode to IVTC. This will give you better quality for size, as it runs at 24 frames instead of 30, due to the nature of divx, there won't be any noticeable difference in quality, but 6 less frames to deal with each second(and to store data for) really add up. Besides this is the correct mode for all movies anyway. NExt.

This is where you set FINAL file size, including audio, for 1 cd rip, set to 690, for 2, set to double that. Then follow the directions they give you and choose a final resolution that has between a 120:1 and 150:1 (if possible, sometimes the movie is compression ratio. NEXT!

This screen is where you determine quality. The autoadd button is usefull, and will give you decent quality, with 4 encodings. What this does is encode the movie 4 times, and then mix the frames to creat the final encoding, with the most efficient possible encoding for each frame. which is how we get bad ass quality for a single cd. I usually go for 8 encodings, as on my athlon 1600+ this rarely takes more than 8 hours to do, so I just go to sleep, wake up, and its done.

Then add the audio encoding that you want.

Hit next.
And let the bastard fly. Depending on what you set, and your computer, this could take from a few hours to a few days. CPU's of 1.2Ghz+ are nice right about here. You can do stuff while this is going on, but it makes things take much longer.

In the end you will have a bunch of encodings in the folder you specified at the beginning, the 4+ you chose and the final. You will also have an AC3 stream. Take the final AVI and toss it someplace to await the rest of the audio work you have to do, and you can erase the other encodings, freeing up a few gigs in the process of space.

NEXT: AUDIO

Ok, this is where Besweet comes in.

Extract BeSweet and the GUI into the same folder. Now Run the GUI.

At the top there are three fields. One for BeSweet which you should point at the besweet.exe that you should have unzipped to the same directory you are running the Gui from, A field for the AC3 stream, which is in the folder where you sent the encoded video from Fairuse, and an output mp3. The output mp3 has to be an existing file, so make a text file, rename it (yourmovie).mp3 and just say yeah, its cool to change the extension and make things weird. besweet will overwrite it so don't worry. point the third field at that file. The default values for stuff should be fine. but to make sure go to Azid 1(on the left) and select stereo, and then go to Lame 2 and select constant bit rate, and 128(assuming that is what you want). then click on besweet again, and finally, click on AC3 to MP3.

Let the bastard fly.

Now. When its done you should have an mp3 that is the entire soundtrack for the movie. This is where virtualdub comes in. run the virtualdub mp3 version. go to File:open video file and select the final encoding that you had from way back. Then go to audio and select mp3 audio. it will ask you for the file, give it the mp3. Go to audio again and make sure direct stream copy is selected. Then go to video and make sure that direct stream copy is also selected. Finally go to file again and SAVE AVI. give it a file name and let the bastard fly. This final file is your movie. Beautiful and glorious. Congratulations, its a DivX rip. Aren't you proud. burn to cd, and give copies to all your friends.

Note: These is a RIP

DVD Copying And Ripping

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 11:46:00 +0000

Dvd Copying/ripping Definitions

Rip
To take off the audio or video from a CD or DVD. Often CD Audio is "ripped" to MP3 files or DVD video ripped to VOB files.

Compression
The process of removing redundancies in digital data to reduce the amount that must be stored or transmitted. Lossless compression removes only enough redundancy so that the original data can be recreated exactly as it was. Lossy compression sacrifices additional data to achieve greater compression.

Encoding
Encoding is the process of changing data from one form into another according to a set of rules specifiec by a codec. The data is usually a file containing audio, video or still image. Often the encoding is done to make a file compatible with specific hardware (such as a DVD Player) or to compress or reduce the space the data occupies.

Common video encoding methods are DivX, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4. A common audio encoding method is MP3 although many others exist including MPEG1 audio, DTS, and Dolby Digital.

Transcoding
On this site generally another name for encoding.

A more technical term would be "The reformatting of content, without changing the source, to another type of content - most often of a different format than the original (but does not have to be)"

How To Lan Computers

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 16:44:00 +0000

You need 2 ethernet cables and a router. All you have to do is connect the eithernet cables from the back of one computer to the router and same with the other one.

once you have done this restat both computers.

Now;

Open Windows Start menu on one computer.
Open Control Panel.
Classic view: Open Network Connections
Double-click on Local Area Connection which is your Internet connection.
Click Properties.

Then under the general tab, it will say in the second box Down ' Internet Protocol TCP/IP'
Click on that and then click Properties

Then another window should apear and you need to select 'use the following IP address' after you have selected this you need to type in the following;
IP Address: 192.168.1.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gatewat: 192.168.1.1

Then click save.

One the other computer, do the exact same but instead of naming your IP Address 192.168.1.1 name it 192.168.1.2 and then fill in the same subnet mask and the same default gateway. Make sure the default gate way is 192.168.1.1

Then restart both of your computers and when it boots up they will be connected. To show that they are go to Start/ control Panel/ Network Connections/ then in the side panel it will say 'My Network Places' click on that then again in the side pannel click 'View work group computers' and both of your computers will be there allowing you to share files :D

Calculating Offset

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 17:09:00 +0000

This tutorial is more of a tip than a tutorial. It just explains how to calculate offsets for jumps and calls within the program you are patching.

Types of Jumps/Calls

Here I will just describe the different types of jumps and calls which you will come across:

Short Jumps
Short jumps be they conditional or unconditional jumps are 2 bytes long (or 1 nibble if your Californian ;-). These are relative jumps taken from the first byte after the two bytes of the jump. Using short jumps you can jump a maximum of 127 bytes forward and 128 bytes backwards.

Long Jumps
Long jumps if they are relative are 6 bytes long for conditional jumps and are 5 bytes long for unconditional jumps. For conditional jumps 2 bytes are used to identify that it is a long jump and what type of jump (je, jg, jns etc) it is. The other 4 bytes are used to show how far away the target location is relative to the first byte after the jump. In an unconditional jump only 1 byte is used to identify it as a long unconditional jump and the other 4 are used to show it's target's relative position, as with the conditional jumps.

Calls
There are two different types of calls which we will use. The normal type of call works the same as the long jumps in that it is relative to it's current position. The other type gives a reference to a memory location, register or stack position which holds the memory location it will call. The position held by the later is direct e.g. the memory location referenced may contain 401036h which would be the exact position that you would call, not relative to the position of the call. The size of these types of calls depends on any calculations involved in the call i.e. you could do: 'call dword ptr [eax * edx + 2]'. Long jumps can also be made using this method, but I didn't say that earlier as to avoid repetition.

Tables
Here is a brief list of all the different types of jumps/calls and their appropriate op-codes. Where different jumps have the same Op-Codes I have grouped them:

Jump Description Short Op-Code Long Op-Code
call procedure call E8xxxxxxxx N/A
jmp u nconditional jump EBxx E9xxxxxxxx
ja/jnbe jump if above 77xx 0F87xxxxxxxx
jae/jnb/jnc jump if above or equal 73xx 0F83xxxxxxxx
jb/jc/jnae jump if below 72xx 0F82xxxxxxxx
jbe/jna jump if below or equal 76xx 0F86xxxxxxxx
jcxz/jecxz jump if cx/ecx equals zero E3xx N/A
je/jz jump if equal/zero 74xx 0F84xxxxxxxx
jne/jnz jump if not equal/zero 75xx 0F85xxxxxxxx
jg/jnle jump if greater 7Fxx 0F8Fxxxxxxxx
jge/jnl jump if greater or equal 7Dxx 0F8Dxxxxxxxx
jl/jnge jump if less 7Cxx 0F8Cxxxxxxxx
jle/jng jump if less or equal 7Exx 0F8Exxxxxxxx
jno jump if not overflow 71xx 0F81xxxxxxxx
jnp/jpo jump if no parity/parity odd 7Bxx 0F8Bxxxxxxxx
jns jump if not signed 79xx 0F89xxxxxxxx
jo jump if overflow 70xx 0F80xxxxxxxx
jp/jpe jump if parity/parity even 7Axx 0F8Axxxxxxxx
js jump if sign 78xx 0F88xxxxxxxx

Calculating Offsets (finding in the xx's in table)

You will need to be able to calculate offsets when you add jumps and make calls within and to the code you have added. If you choose to do this by hand instead of using a tool then here are the basics:

For jumps and calls further on in memory from your current position you take the address where you want to jump/call and subtract from it the memory location of the next instruction after your call/jump i.e.:

(target mem address) - (mem location of next instruction after call/jump)

Example
If we wanted to jump to 4020d0 and the next instruction *after* the jump is at location 401093 then we would use the following calculation:

4020d0 - 401093 = 103d

We then write the jump instruction in hex as e93d100000 where e9 is the hex op-code for a long relative jump and 3d100000 is the result of our calculation expanded to dword size and reversed.

For jumps and calls to locations *before* the current location in memory you take the address you want to call/jump to and subtract it from the memory location of the next instruction after your call/jump, then subtract 1 and finally perform a logical NOT on the result i.e.

NOT(mem address of next instruction - target mem address - 1)

Example
If we wanted to call location 401184 and the address of the next instruction after the call is 402190 then we do the following calculation:

NOT(402190 - 401184 - 1 ) = ffffeff4

We can then write our call instruction in hex as e8f4efffff where e8 is the hex op-code for relative call and f4efffff is the result of the calculation in reverse order.

If you want to practice with different examples then the best way to do this is to use a disassembler like WDASM which shows you the op-codes and try and work out the results yourself. Also as an end note you don't have to perform these calculations if you have enough room to make your jump or call instruction into an absolute jump call by doing the following as represented in assembler:

mov eax, 4020d0
call eax (or jmp eax)

Final Notes

Make life easier and use a program to do this ;-)

Copy XBOX Games

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 09:47:00 +0000

BURNING X-BOX & GAMECUBE GAMES USEING CDRWIN

1) Insert your original in your CD-ROM.
2) Open CDRWin (or any other image extractor) to make an iso image of the game
on your hard disc. Click on 'Extract Disc/Tracks/Sectors'
3) Here are the settings which work for me (!):
Disc Image/Cue sheet
File-Format: Automatic
Reading-Options:
RAW, CD+G, CD-TEXT and MCN/USRC all Unchecked
Error Recovery: Ignore
Jitter Correction: Auto
Subcode Analyses: Fixed
Data-Speed: MAX
Read Retry Count: 10
Audio Speed: MAX
Subcode Threshold: 900
There are a lot of reports, that Raw reading also works, but I had problems with it enabled.
4) Click on 'Start'

RECORDING TO A DISC

1) Install Fireburner

2) Double click on the Cue File For The Game
3) Right Click And select burn To CD
That?s all there is record DAO, and you can try to burn it fast at 2X
Using PNY Black Diamond CDR'

Secure Computer: Shellcoding Techniques

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 13:44:00 +0000

Secure Computer: Shellcoding Techniques

Shellcoding Techniques

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 13:31:00 +0000

Introduction

This paper assumes a working knowledge of basic shellcoding techniques, and x86 assembly, I will not rehash these in this paper. I hope to teach you some of the lesser known shellcoding techniques that I have picked up, which will allow you to write smaller and better shellcodes. I do not claim to have invented any of these techniques, except for the one that uses the div instruction.

The multiplicity of mul

This technique was originally developed by Sorbo of darkircop.net. The mul instruction may, on the surface, seem mundane, and it's purpose obvious. However, when faced with the difficult challenge of shrinking your shellcode, it proves to be quite useful. First some background information on the mul instruction itself.

mul performs an unsigned multiply of two integers. It takes only one operand, the other is implicitly specified by the %eax register. So, a common mul instruction might look something like this:

movl $0x0a,%eax
mul $0x0a

This would multiply the value stored in %eax by the operand of mul, which in this case would be 10*10. The result is then implicitly stored in EDX:EAX. The result is stored over a span of two registers because it has the potential to be considerably larger than the previous value, possibly exceeding the capacity of a single register(this is also how floating points are stored in some cases, as an interesting sidenote).

So, now comes the ever-important question. How can we use these attributes to our advantage when writing shellcode? Well, let's think for a second, the instruction takes only one operand, therefore, since it is a very common instruction, it will generate only two bytes in our final shellcode. It multiplies whatever is passed to it by the value stored in %eax, and stores the value in both %edx and %eax, completely overwriting the contents of both registers, regardless of whether it is necessary to do so, in order to store the result of the multiplication. Let's put on our mathematician hats for a second, and consider this, what is the only possible result of a multiplication by 0? The answer, as you may have guessed, is 0. I think it's about time for some example code, so here it is:

xorl %ecx,%ecx
mul %ecx

What is this shellcode doing? Well, it 0's out the %ecx register using the xor instruction, so we now know that %ecx is 0. Then it does a mul %ecx, which as we just learned, multiplies it's operand by the value in %eax, and then proceeds to store the result of this multiplication in EDX:EAX. So, regardless of %eax's previous contents, %eax must now be 0. However that's not all, %edx is 0'd now too, because, even though no overflow occurs, it still overwrites the %edx register with the sign bit(left-most bit) of %eax. Using this technique we can zero out three registers in only three bytes, whereas by any other method(that I know of) it would have taken at least six.

The div instruction

Div is very similar to mul, in that it takes only one operand and implicitly divides the operand by the value in %eax. Also like, mul it stores the result of the divide in %eax. Again, we will require the mathematical side of our brains to figure out how we can take advantage of this instruction. But first, let's think about what is normally stored in the %eax register. The %eax register holds the return value of functions and/or syscalls. Most syscalls that are used in shellcoding will return -1(on failure) or a positive value of some kind, only rarely will they return 0(though it does occur). So, if we know that after a syscall is performed, %eax will have a non-zero value, and that the instruction divl %eax will divide %eax by itself, and then store the result in %eax, we can say that executing the divl %eax instruction after a syscall will put the value 1 into %eax. So...how is this applicable to shellcoding? Well, their is another important thing that %eax is used for, and that is to pass the specific syscall that you would like to call to int $0x80. It just so happens that the syscall that corresponds to the value 1 is exit(). Now for an example:


xorl %ebx,%ebx
mul %ebx
push %edx
pushl   $0x3268732f
pushl   $0x6e69622f
mov %esp, %ebx
push %edx
push %ebx
mov %esp,%ecx
movb $0xb, %al #execve() syscall, doesn't return at all unless it fails, in which case it returns -1
int $0x80

divl %eax # -1 / -1 = 1
int $0x80

Now, we have a 3 byte exit function, where as before it was 5 bytes. However, there is a catch, what if a syscall does return 0? Well in the odd situation in which that could happen, you could do many different things, like inc %eax, dec %eax, not %eax anything that will make %eax non-zero. Some people say that exit's are not important in shellcode, because your code gets executed regardless of whether or not it exits cleanly. They are right too, if you really need to save 3 bytes to fit your shellcode in somewhere, the exit() isn't worth keeping. However, when your code does finish, it will try to execute whatever was after your last instruction, which will most likely produce a SIG ILL(illegal instruction) which is a rather odd error, and will be logged by the system. So, an exit() simply adds an extra layer of stealth to your exploit, so that even if it fails or you can't wipe all the logs, at least this part of your presence will be clear.

Unlocking the power of leal

The leal instruction is an often neglected instruction in shellcode, even though it is quite useful. Consider this short piece of shellcode.

xorl %ecx,%ecx
leal 0x10(%ecx),%eax

This will load the value 17 into eax, and clear all of the extraneous bits of eax. This occurs because the leal instruction loads a variable of the type long into it's desitination operand. In it's normal usage, this would load the address of a variable into a register, thus creating a pointer of sorts. However, since ecx is 0'd and 0+17=17, we load the value 17 into eax instead of any kind of actual address. In a normal shellcode we would do something like this, to accomplish the same thing:

xorl %eax,%eax
movb $0x10,%eax

I can hear you saying, but that shellcode is a byte shorter than the leal one, and you're quite right. However, in a real shellcode you may already have to 0 out a register like ecx(or any other register), so the xorl instruction in the leal shellcode isn't counted. Here's an example:

xorl    %eax,%eax
xorl    %ebx,%ebx
movb    $0x17,%al
int    $0x80

xorl %ebx,%ebx
leal 0x17(%ebx),%al
int $0x80

Both of these shellcodes call setuid(0), but one does it in 7 bytes while the other does it in 8. Again, I hear you saying but that's only one byte it doesn't make that much of a difference, and you're right, here it doesn't make much of a difference(except for in shellcode-size pissing contests =p), but when applied to much larger shellcodes, which have many function calls and need to do things like this frequently, it can save quite a bit of space.

Secure Computer: Annonymity Of Proxy 2

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 15:25:00 +0000

Annonymity Of Proxy 2

Remove Operating System

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:59:00 +0000

http://www.installmonetizer.com?ref=Mzgy

If you have more then one operating system installed or wish
to remove an operating system from the boot menu, you can use the following information.

1.Click on Start, Control Panel, System, Advanced.
2.Under Startup and Recovery, click Settings.
3.Under Default Operating System, choose one of the following:

"Microsoft Windows XP Professional /fastdetect"
-or-
"Microsoft Windows XP Home /fasdetect"
-or-
"Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional /fastdetect"

4.Take the checkmark out of the box for "Time to display a list of Operating Systems".
5.Click Apply and Ok, and reboot the system.

*If you wish to edit the boot.ini file manually, click on the button "EDIT"

Cant See Secure Sites

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 13:52:00 +0000

Fix the problem with seeing them secrue sites (banks or online stores) i found this very usefull to me at my work.

Any way... what u need to do is make a new notepad file and write in it the followng DLL's.. just copy-paste these

regsvr32 SOFTPUB.DLL
regsvr32 WINTRUST.DLL
regsvr32 INITPKI.DLL
regsvr32 dssenh.dll
regsvr32 Rsaenh.dll
regsvr32 gpkcsp.dll
regsvr32 sccbase.dll
regsvr32 slbcsp.dll
regsvr32 Cryptdlg.dll

and save it as > all file types, and make it something like securefix.bat.

then just run the file and ur problem shuld be gone.

How to Execute CHM files in linux

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 07:00:00 +0000

download the following rpms on ur pc:-

Dag.Viewer
RPMS Find
Acme Server

and also install them in the same sequence. using the command:-

rpm -ivh <package name>

Note:- i am giving the path of packages for fedora cpre 3. if want for any other os take a look at the following sites.

chmlib:- http://dag.wieers.com/packages/chmwxGTK:- ftp://rpmfind.net/linux/dag/
xchm: - platform independent for all redhat's.............

Beep Codes

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 11:25:00 +0000

Standard Original IBM POST Error Codes
Code Description

1 short beep System is OK
2 short beeps POST Error - error code shown on screen No beep Power supply or system board problem Continuous beep Power supply, system board, or keyboard problem Repeating short beeps Power supply or system board problem
1 long, 1 short beep System board problem
1 long, 2 short beeps Display adapter problem (MDA, CGA)
1 long, 3 short beeps Display adapter problem (EGA)
3 long beeps 3270 keyboard card

IBM POST Diagnostic Code Descriptions
Code Description
100 - 199 System Board
200 - 299 Memory
300 - 399 Keyboard
400 - 499 Monochrome Display
500 - 599 Colour/Graphics Display
600 - 699 Floppy-disk drive and/or Adapter
700 - 799 Math Coprocessor
900 - 999 Parallel Printer Port
1000 - 1099 Alternate Printer Adapter
1100 - 1299 Asynchronous Communication Device, Adapter, or Port
1300 - 1399 Game Port
1400 - 1499 Colour/Graphics Printer
1500 - 1599 Synchronous Communication Device, Adapter, or Port
1700 - 1799 Hard Drive and/or Adapter
1800 - 1899 Expansion Unit (XT)
2000 - 2199 Bisynchronous Communication Adapter
2400 - 2599 EGA system-board Video (MCA)
3000 - 3199 LAN Adapter
4800 - 4999 Internal Modem
7000 - 7099 Phoenix BIOS Chips
7300 - 7399 3.5" Disk Drive
8900 - 8999 MIDI Adapter
11200 - 11299 SCSI Adapter
21000 - 21099 SCSI Fixed Disk and Controller
21500 - 21599 SCSI CD-ROM System

AMI BIOS Beep Codes
Code Description

Annonymity Of Proxy 2
How To Move Hard Drive To New Motherboard
How To Repair HardDrive

1 Short Beep System OK
2 Short Beeps Parity error in the first 64 KB of memory
3 Short Beeps Memory failure in the first 64 KB
4 Short Beeps Memory failure in the first 64 KB Operational of memory
or Timer 1 on the motherboard is not functioning
5 Short Beeps The CPU on the motherboard generated an error
6 Short Beeps The keyboard controller may be bad. The BIOS cannot switch to protected mode
7 Short Beeps The CPU generated an exception interrupt
8 Short Beeps The system video adapter is either missing, or its memory is faulty
9 Short Beeps The ROM checksum value does not match the value encoded in the BIOS
10 Short Beeps The shutdown register for CMOS RAM failed
11 Short Beeps The external cache is faulty
1 Long, 3 Short Beeps Memory Problems
1 Long, 8 Short Beeps Video Card Problems

Phoenix BIOS Beep Codes
Note - Phoenix BIOS emits three sets of beeps, separated by a brief pause.
Secure Computer: Bit Torrent Help
Code Description
1-1-3 CMOS read/write failure
1-1-4 ROM BIOS checksum error
1-2-1 Programmable interval timer failure
1-2-2 DMA initialisation failure
1-2-3 DMA page register read/write failure
1-3-1 RAM refresh verification failure
1-3-3 First 64k RAM chip or data line failure
1-3-4 First 64k RAM odd/even logic failure
1-4-1 Address line failure first 64k RAM
1-4-2 Parity failure first 64k RAM
2-_-_ Faulty Memory
3-1-_ Faulty Motherboard
3-2-4 Keyboard controller Test failure
3-3-4 Screen initialisation failure
3-4-1 Screen retrace test failure
3-4-2 Search for video ROM in progress
4-2-1 Timer tick interrupt in progress or failure
4-2-2 Shutdown test in progress or failure
4-2-3 Gate A20 failure
4-2-4 Unexpected interrupt in protected mode
4-3-1 RAM test in progress or failure>ffffh
4-3-2 Faulty Motherboard
4-3-3 Interval timer channel 2 test or failure
4-3-4 Time of Day clock test failure
4-4-1 Serial port test or failure
4-4-2 Parallel port test or failure
4-4-3 Math coprocessor test or failure
Low 1-1-2 System Board select failure
Low 1-1-3 Extended CMOS RAM failure

Secure Computer: Beep Codes

How to rip Dynamic Flash Template

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 06:08:00 +0000

What you need:

Sample dynamic flash template from TM website
Sothink SWF Decompiler
Macromedia Flash
Yourself

1. browse or search your favorite dynamic flash template in TM website. If you got one... click the "view" link and new window will open with dynamic flash.. loading...

2. If the movie fully loaded, click View -> Source in your browser to bring the source code of the current page and in the source code, search for "IFRAME" and you will see the iframe page. In this example were going to try the 7045 dynamic template. get the URL(ex.
http://images.templatemonster.com/screenshots/7000/7045.html) then paste it to your browser... easy eh? wait! dont be to excited... erase the .html and change it to swf then press enter then you'll see the flash movie again icon_smile.gif.

3. copy the URL and download that SWF file.. use your favorite download manager.. mine I used flashget icon_smile.gif NOTE: dont close the browser we may need that later on.

4. open your Sothink SWF decompiler... click "Quick Open" then browse where you download your SWF/movie file. Click Export FLA to export your SWF to FLA, in short, save it as FLA icon_smile.gif

5. Open your Macromedia FLash and open the saved FLA file. press Control+Enter or publish the file... then wallah! the output window will come up with "Error opening URL blah blah blah..." dont panic, that error will help you where to get the remaining files.

6. Copy the first error, example: "7045_main.html" then go back to your browser and replace the 7045.swf to 7045_main.html press enter and you'll see a lot of text... nonsense text icon_lol.gif that text are your contents...

NOTE: when you save the remaining files dont forget to save with underscore sign (_) in the front on the file without the TM item number (e.g. 7045) if it is html save it as "_main.html" and same with the image save it as "_works1.jpg" save them where you save the FLA and SWF files. Continue browsing the file inside Flash application so you can track the remaining files... do the same until you finish downloading all the remaining the files.

Annonymity Of Proxy 2

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 10:08:00 +0000

The exchange of information in Internet is made by the "client - server" model. A client sends a request (what files he needs) and a server sends a reply (required files). For close cooperation (full understanding) between a client and a server the client sends additional information about itself: a version and a name of an operating system, configuration of a browser (including its name and version) etc. This information can be necessary for the server in order to know which web-page should be given (open) to the client. There are different variants of web-pages for different configurations of browsers. However, as long as web-pages do not usually depend on browsers, it makes sense to hide this information from the web-server.

What your browser transmits to a web-server:
a name and a version of an operating system
a name and a version of a browser
configuration of a browser (display resolution, color depth, java / javascript support, ...)
IP-address of a client
Other information,

The most important part of such information (and absolutely needless for a web-server) is information about IP-address. Using your IP it is possible to know about you the following:
a country where you are from
a city
your provider?s name and e-mail
your physical address

Information, transmitted by a client to a server is available (accessible) for a server as environment variables. Every information unit is a value of some variable. If any information unit is not transmitted, then corresponding variable will be empty (its value will be undetermined).

These are some environment variables:

REMOTE_ADDR ? IP address of a client

HTTP_VIA ? if it is not empty, then a proxy is used. Value is an address (or several addresses) of a proxy server, this variable is added by a proxy server itself if you use one.

HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR ? if it is not empty, then a proxy is used. Value is a real IP address of a client (your IP), this variable is also added by a proxy server if you use one.

HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE ? what language is used in browser (what language a page should be displayed in)

HTTP_USER_AGENT ? so called "a user?s agent". For all browsers this is Mozilla. Furthermore, browser?s name and version (e.g. MSIE 5.5) and an operating system (e.g. Windows 98) is also mentioned here.

HTTP_HOST ? is a web server?s name

This is a small part of environment variables. In fact there are much more of them (DOCUMENT_ROOT, HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING, HTTP_CACHE_CONTROL, HTTP_CONNECTION, SERVER_ADDR, SERVER_SOFTWARE, SERVER_PROTOCOL, ...). Their quantity can depend on settings of both a server and a client.

These are examples of variable values:

REMOTE_ADDR = 194.85.1.1
HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE = ru
HTTP_USER_AGENT = Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0; Windows 98)
HTTP_HOST = www.webserver.ru
HTTP_VIA = 194.85.1.1 (Squid/2.4.STABLE7)
HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR = 194.115.5.5

Anonymity at work in Internet is determined by what environment variables "hide" from a web-server.

If a proxy server is not used, then environment variables look in the following way:

REMOTE_ADDR = your IP
HTTP_VIA = not determined
HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR = not determined

According to how environment variables "hided" by proxy servers, there are several types of proxies
Transparent Proxies

They do not hide information about your IP address:

REMOTE_ADDR = proxy IP
HTTP_VIA = proxy IP
HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR = your IP

The function of such proxy servers is not the improvement of your anonymity in Internet. Their purpose is information cashing, organization of joint access to Internet of several computers, etc.
Anonymous Proxies

All proxy servers, that hide a client?s IP address in any way are called anonymous proxies

Simple Anonymous Proxies

These proxy servers do not hide a fact that a proxy is used, however they replace your IP with its own:
REMOTE_ADDR = proxy IP
HTTP_VIA = proxy IP
HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR = proxy IP

These proxies are the most widespread among other anonymous proxy servers.

Distorting Proxies

As well as simple anonymous proxy servers these proxies do not hide the fact that a proxy server is used. However a client?s IP address (your IP address) is replaced with another (arbitrary, random) IP:

REMOTE_ADDR = proxy IP
HTTP_VIA = proxy IP
HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR = random IP address
High Anonymity Proxies

These proxy servers are also called "high anonymity proxy". In contrast to other types of anonymity proxy servers they hide a fact of using a proxy:

REMOTE_ADDR = proxy IP
HTTP_VIA = not determined
HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR = not determined

That means that values of variables are the same as if proxy is not used, with the exception of one very important thing ? proxy IP is used instead of your IP address.

Depending on purposes there are transparent and anonymity proxies. However, remember, using proxy servers you hide only your IP from a web-server, but other information (about browser configuration) is accessible!

Convert A File System

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 12:59:00 +0000

Your hard drive must be formatted with a file system such as FAT, FAT32 or NTFS so that Windows can be installed on to it. This system determines how files are named, organised and stored on the drive. If you’re not using it already, NTFS (New Technology File System) is recommended for Windows XP because of the additional functionality it offers. If your PC came with Windows XP pre-installed then there’s a chance that you’re already using NTFS. If you’ve upgraded from Windows 98 or Windows Me you may still be using FAT or FAT 32. The option to change over to NTFS would have been available during the upgrade process. Don’t worry if you skipped this as it’s possible to convert at any time from within Windows XP without losing any data.

The recommended option
There are a number of features in Windows XP that will only work if the NTFS file system is present, which is why it’s suggested you make use of it. File and folder permissions, encryption and privacy options are just some of those you’ll be able to access. In particular, those of you who have set up user accounts will find NTFS invaluable. For instance, if you continue to use FAT or FAT32 anyone with physical access to the drive will be able to access the files and folders that are stored there. However, with NTFS you’ll be able to use a level of encryption (Professional Edition only) that will enable you to protect your data.

You’ll also find NTFS more reliable in that it’s more able to recover from disk errors than its FAT or FAT32 counterparts. A log of all disk activity is kept so should a crash occur, Windows XP can use this information to repair the file system when your PC boots up again. To find out what file system you’re using, open My Computer, right-click your main hard drive and choose Properties. Take a look at the General tab to see confirmation of the file system that’s in use.

Convert now
You can use the convert tool in Windows XP to change the file system on your hard disk from FAT or FAT32 to NTFS. The whole process is safe and your existing data won’t be destroyed. To begin, click Start -> Run, type cmd and press [Return]. At the command prompt type convert c: /fs:ntfs and press [Return] (where ‘c’ is the letter of the drive you’re converting). When you try and run the convert utility, it’s likely that Windows XP will be using your paging file so the process won’t be completed immediately. Therefore, you’ll see a brief message on screen informing you that the conversion will take place instead the next time Windows starts up. Having restarted, the Check Disk utility will run, the conversion will be performed automatically and you may find that your PC will reboot twice more.

The benefits
With your drive now running NTFS, it’s time to take advantage of the new options that are available. Having created a number of different user accounts you can now control the level of access that’s granted to individual users. For example, there are going to be certain files and folders that you’ll want some users to be able to access but not others. If you have Windows XP Professional Edition you can do this immediately.

Right-click any file or folder, choose Properties and select the Security tab. A dialog will be displayed showing the names of all your users. Alongside will be two columns which enable you to select levels of access for each of them, the permissions include Full Control, Modify, Read and Write. You can then check the appropriate box to determine whether or not to Allow or Deny a particular permission. For Windows XP Home Edition users, the Security tab won’t be immediately available. To access this option you’ll need to restart your PC, pressing [F8] until a menu appears. Next select Safe Mode and wait for Windows XP to start up. You can then set your options in the same way.

Another feature is NTFS compression. It’s quick and seamless as your file or folder is decompressed automatically when you access it. (Don’t confuse this with a Zip compression utility where the files need to be extracted before they can be accessed.) Although you may have used NTFS compression on a file or folder, there’s no way of telling just by looking at it. To remedy this, open My Computer, click Tools -> Folder Options and select the View tab. Under Advanced settings, scroll down and check the option ‘Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color’, then click Apply and OK. Take a look at your compressed items in My Computer and you’ll see the text label has changed from black to blue. Something else that’s exclusive to Professional Edition users is the Encrypting File System (EFS). You can use this to protect your important data so that no one else can read it. Your encrypted files and folders will only be accessible when you have logged into your user account successfully.

Connect PlayStation To PC

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 12:55:00 +0000

If you have a PlayStation and a PC, and do not have a pad for the computer, or simply those that there are in the market seem to you too expensive or any you don't like, you have a great option here. It connects your PlayStation pad (anyone) to your PC conserving ALL its functionality thanks to the excellent driver DirectPad.

*

It enjoys the ample range of pads that exists mainly for PlayStation and, of its compared price those of PC (speaking in terms quality-price).

*

They work for all pads including the dual-shock pads. Also, with the dual-shock ones you will be able to use both analog controls and the capacity for "vibrating" (Force Feedback) in Windows games that support it (Need Speed III, Incoming, Star Wars Rogue Squadron, Flight Simulator, Forsaken, etc). If you want to see the complete list of games that support the Force Feedback, look here.

*

You will be able to use ALL the buttons of PlayStation pad in your preferred games, altogether 10 if you use digitals or 16 if you use the analog control.

*

You can connect simultaneously up to two pads.

*

With the dual-shock pads you will be able to change between the digital control to analog during any game session.

*

If you already have standard PC pad you will be able to use it simultaneously without losing functionality in either of them (if connecting two joysticks/pads by a Y connector and to the game port, you will only be able to use 2 buttons in each joystick/pad)

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The assembly is not very complicated.

*

In theory it would have to work with any control system of game for PlayStation (pad of another mark, steering wheel, etc).

Disadvantages

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You will only be able to use it in Windows games, since driver it is programmed for DirectX.

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If you want to use the dual-shock you will need an external power supply, or steal power from inside the computer.

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The connection goes to the parallel port, which means that if you are going to use the printer you change connectors... but it is worth the trouble!

Words before beginning.

Following with the preliminaries, I will going to make clear that you do not need any knowledge electronics, although knowing how to solder and know how to handle a multi-meter. If you do not have any idea, or don't want to do it get a friend who knows to help you.

Emulatronia

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS FOR MICROSOFT OFFICE WORD

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 10:51:00 +0000

KeyBoard Shortcuts For Microsoft Office Word

Dynamic And Basic Disk Storage

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:37:00 +0000

Windows XP Professional supports two types of disk storage: basic and dynamic. Basic disk storage uses partition-oriented disks. A basic disk contains basic volumes (primary partitions, extended partitions, and logical drives).

Dynamic disk storage uses volume-oriented disks, and includes features that basic disks do not, such as the ability to create volumes that span multiple disks (spanned and striped volumes).

General Notes
Before you change a basic disk to a dynamic disk, note these items:

You must have at least 1 megabyte (MB) of free space on any master boot record (MBR) disk that you want to convert. This space is automatically reserved when the partition or volume is created in Microsoft Windows 2000 or Windows XP Professional. However, it may not be available on partitions or volumes that are created in other operating systems.

When you convert to a dynamic disk, the existing partitions or logical drives on the basic disk are converted to simple volumes on the dynamic disk.

After you convert to a dynamic disk, the dynamic volumes cannot be changed back to partitions. You must first delete all dynamic volumes on the disk, and then convert the dynamic disk back to a basic disk. If you want to keep your data, you must first back up or move the data to another volume.

After you convert to a dynamic disk, local access to the dynamic disk is limited to Windows XP Professional and Windows 2000.

If your disk contains multiple installations of Windows XP Professional or Windows 2000, do not convert to a dynamic disk. The conversion operation removes partition entries for all partitions on the disk with the exception of the system and boot volumes for the current operating system.

Dynamic disks are not supported on portable computers or Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition.

Before you change a dynamic disk back to a basic disk, note that all existing volumes must be deleted from the disk before you can convert it back to a basic disk. If you want to keep your data, back up t he data, or move your data to another volume.

How to Convert a Basic Disk to a Dynamic Disk

To convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk:

1) Log on as Administrator or as a member of the Administrators group.

2) Click Start, and then click Control Panel.

3) Click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.

4) In the left pane, click Disk Management.

5) In the lower-right pane, right-click the basic disk that you want to convert, and then click Convert to Dynamic Disk.

NOTE:You must right-click the gray area that contains the disk title on the left side of the Details pane. For example, right-click Disk 0.

6) Select the check box that is next to the disk that you want to convert (if it is not already selected), and then clickOK.

7) Click Details if you want to view the list of volumes in the disk.

8) Click Convert.

9) Click Yes when you are prompted to convert, and then click OK.

How to Convert a Dynamic Disk to a Basic Disk

To change a dynamic disk back to a basic disk:

1) Back up all the data on all the volumes on the disk you want to convert to a basic disk.

2) Log on as Administrator or as a member of the Administrators group.

3) Click Start, and then click Control Panel.

4) Click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.

5) In the left pane, click Disk Management.

6) Right-click a volume on the dynamic disk that you want to change to a basic disk, and then click Delete Volume.

7) Click Yes when you are prompted to delete the volume.

8) Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each volume on the dynamic disk.

9) After you have deleted all the volumes on the dynamic disk, right-click the dynamic disk that you want to change to a basic disk, and then click Convert to Basic Disk.

NOTE:You must right-click the gray area that contains the disk title on the left side of the Details pane. For example, right-click Disk 1.

What is DirectX

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:54:00 +0000

Gaming and multimedia applications are some of the most satisfying programs you can get for your PC, but getting them to run properly isn’t always as easy as it could be. First, the PC architecture was never designed as a gaming platform. Second, the wide-ranging nature of the PC means that one person’s machine can be different from another. While games consoles all contain the same hardware, PCs don’t: the massive range of difference can make gaming a headache.

To alleviate as much of the pain as possible, Microsoft needed to introduce a common standard which all games and multimedia applications could follow – a common interface between the OS and whatever hardware is installed in the PC, if you like. This common interface is DirectX, something which can be the source of much confusion.

DirectX is an interface designed to make certain programming tasks much easier, for both the game developer and the rest of us who just want to sit down and play the latest blockbuster. Before we can explain what DirectX is and how it works though, we need a little history lesson.

DirectX history
Any game needs to perform certain tasks again and again. It needs to watch for your input from mouse, joystick or keyboard, and it needs to be able to display screen images and play sounds or music. That’s pretty much any game at the most simplistic level.

Imagine how incredibly complex this was for programmers developing on the early pre-Windows PC architecture, then. Each programmer needed to develop their own way of reading the keyboard or detecting whether a joystick was even attached, let alone being used to play the game. Specific routines were needed even to display the simplest of images on the screen or play a simple sound.

Essentially, the game programmers were talking directly to your PC’s hardware at a fundamental level. When Microsoft introduced Windows, it was imperative for the stability and success of the PC platform that things were made easier for both the developer and the player. After all, who would bother writing games for a machine when they had to reinvent the wheel every time they began work on a new game? Microsoft’s idea was simple: stop programmers talking directly to the hardware, and build a common toolkit which they could use instead. DirectX was born.

How it works

At the most basic level, DirectX is an interface between the hardware in your PC and Windows itself, part of the Windows API or Application Programming Interface. Let’s look at a practical example. When a game developer wants to play a sound file, it’s simply a case of using the correct library function. When the game runs, this calls the DirectX API, which in turn plays the sound file. The developer doesn’t need to know what type of sound card he’s dealing with, what it’s capable of, or how to talk to it. Microsoft has provided DirectX, and the sound card manufacturer has provided a DirectX-capable driver. He asks for the sound to be played, and it is – whichever machine it runs on.

From our point of view as gamers, DirectX also makes things incredibly easy – at least in theory. You install a new sound card in place of your old one, and it comes with a DirectX driver. Next time you play your favourite game you can still hear sounds and music, and you haven’t had to make any complex configuration changes.

Originally, DirectX began life as a simple toolkit: early hardware was limited and only the most basic graphical functions were required. As hardware and software has evolved in complexity, so has DirectX. It’s now much more than a graphical toolkit, and the term has come to encompass a massive selection of routines which deal with all sorts of hardware communication. For example, the DirectInput routines can deal with all sorts of input devices, from simple two-button mice to complex flight joysticks. Other parts include DirectSound for audio devices and DirectPlay provides a toolkit for online or multiplayer gaming.

DirectX versions
The current version of DirectX at time of writing is DirectX 10.0. This runs on all versions of Windows from Windows 98 up to and including Windows Server 2003 along with every revision in between. It doesn’t run on Windows 95 though: if you have a machine with Windows 95 installed, you’re stuck with the older and less capable 8.0a. Windows NT 4 also requires a specific version – in this case, it’s DirectX 3.0a.Xp,vista,Windows 7 Direct X 10,11…

With so many versions of DirectX available over the years, it becomes difficult to keep track of which version you need. In all but the most rare cases, all versions of DirectX are backwardly compatible – games which say they require DirectX 7 will happily run with more recent versions, but not with older copies. Many current titles explicitly state that they require DirectX 9, and won’t run without the latest version installed. This is because they make use of new features introduced with this version, although it has been known for lazy developers to specify the very latest version as a requirement when the game in question doesn’t use any of the new enhancements. Generally speaking though, if a title is version locked like this, you will need to upgrade before you can play. Improvements to the core DirectX code mean you may even see improvements in many titles when you upgrade to the latest build of DirectX. Downloading and installing DirectX need not be complex, either.

Upgrading DirectX

All available versions of Windows come with DirectX in one form or another as a core system component which cannot be removed, so you should always have at least a basic implementation of the system installed on your PC. However, many new games require the very latest version before they work properly, or even at all.

Generally, the best place to install the latest version of DirectX from is the dedicated section of the Microsoft Web site, which is found at www.microsoft.com/windows/directx. As we went to press, the most recent build available for general download was DirectX 9.0b. You can download either a simple installer which will in turn download the components your system requires as it installs, or download the complete distribution package in one go for later offline installation.

Another good source for DirectX is games themselves. If a game requires a specific version, it’ll be on the installation CD and may even be installed automatically by the game’s installer itself. You won’t find it on magazine cover discs though, thanks to Microsoft’s licensing terms.

Diagnosing problems

Diagnosing problems with a DirectX installation can be problematic, especially if you don’t know which one of the many components is causing your newly purchased game to fall over. Thankfully, Microsoft provides a useful utility called the DirectX Diagnostic Tool, although this isn’t made obvious. You won’t find this tool in the Start Menu with any version of Windows, and each tends to install it in a different place.

The easiest way to use it is to open the Start Menu’s Run dialog, type in dxdiag and then click OK. When the application first loads, it takes a few seconds to interrogate your DirectX installation and find any problems. First, the DirectX Files tab displays version information on each one of the files your installation uses. The Notes section at the bottom is worth checking, as missing or corrupted files will be flagged here.

The tabs marked Display, Sound, Music, Input and Network all relate to specific areas of DirectX, and all but the Input tab provide tools to test the correct functioning on your hardware. Finally, the More Help tab provides a useful way to start the DirectX Troubleshooter, Microsoft’s simple linear problem solving tool for many common DirectX issues.

To Speed up Windows XP

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:22:00 +0000

Best of all, most of them will cost you nothing.

1.) To decrease a system's boot time and increase system performance, use the money you save by not buying defragmentation software -- the built-in Windows defragmenter works just fine -- and instead equip the computer with an Ultra-133 or Serial ATA hard drive with 8-MB cache buffer.

2.) If a PC has less than 512 MB of RAM, add more memory. This is a relatively inexpensive and easy upgrade that can dramatically improve system performance.

3.) Ensure that Windows XP is utilizing the NTFS file system. If you're not sure, here's how to check: First, double-click the My Computer icon, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Next, examine the File System type; if it says FAT32, then back-up any important data. Next, click Start, click Run, type CMD, and then click OK. At the prompt, type CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS and press the Enter key. This process may take a while; it's important that the computer be uninterrupted and virus-free. The file system used by the bootable drive will be either FAT32 or NTFS. I highly recommend NTFS for its superior security, reliability, and efficiency with larger disk drives.

4.) Disable file indexing. The indexing service extracts information from documents and other files on the hard drive and creates a "searchable keyword index." As you can imagine, this process can be quite taxing on any system.

The idea is that the user can search for a word, phrase, or property inside a document, should they have hundreds or thousands of documents and not know the file name of the document they want. Windows XP's built-in search functionality can still perform these kinds of searches without the Indexing service. It just takes longer. The OS has to open each file at the time of the request to help find what the user is looking for.

Most people never need this feature of search. Those who do are typically in a large corporate environment where thousands of documents are located on at least one server. But if you're a typical system builder, most of your clients are small and medium businesses. And if your clients have no need for this search feature, I recommend disabling it.

Here's how: First, double-click the My Computer icon. Next, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Uncheck "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching." Next, apply changes to "C: subfolders and files," and click OK. If a warning or error message appears (such as "Access is denied"), click the Ignore All button.

5.) Update the PC's video and motherboard chipset drivers. Also, update and configure the BIOS. For more information on how to configure your BIOS properly, see this article on my site.

6.) Empty the Windows Prefetch folder every three months or so. Windows XP can "prefetch" portions of data and applications that are used frequently. This makes processes appear to load faster when called upon by the user. That's fine. But over time, the prefetch folder may become overloaded with references to files and applications no longer in use. When that happens, Windows XP is wasting time, and slowing system performance, by pre-loading them. Nothing critical is in this folder, and the entire contents are safe to delete.

7.) Once a month, run a disk cleanup. Here's how: Double-click the My Computer icon. Then right-click on the C: drive and select Properties. Click the Disk Cleanup button -- it's just to the right of the Capacity pie graph -- and delete all temporary files.

8.) In your Device Manager, double-click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers device, and ensure that DMA is enabled for each drive you have connected to the Primary and Secondary controller. Do this by double-clicking on Primary IDE Channel. Then click the Advanced Settings tab. Ensure the Transfer Mode is set to "DMA if available" for both Device 0 and Device 1. Then repeat this process with the Secondary IDE Channel.

9.) Upgrade the cabling. As hard-drive technology improves, the cabling requirements to achieve these performance boosts have become more stringent. Be sure to use 80-wire Ultra-133 cables on all of your IDE devices with the connectors properly assigned to the matching Master/Slave/Motherboard sockets. A single device must be at the end of the cable; connecting a single drive to the middle connector on a ribbon cable will cause signaling problems. With Ultra DMA hard drives, these signaling problems will prevent the drive from performing at its maximum potential. Also, because these cables inherently support "cable select," the location of each drive on the cable is important. For these reasons, the cable is designed so drive positioning is explicitly clear.

10.) Remove all spyware from the computer. Use free programs such as AdAware by Lavasoft or SpyBot Search & Destroy. Once these programs are installed, be sure to check for and download any updates before starting your search. Anything either program finds can be safely removed. Any free software that requires spyware to run will no longer function once the spyware portion has been removed; if your customer really wants the program even though it contains spyware, simply reinstall it. For more information on removing Spyware visit this Web Pro News page.

11.) Remove any unnecessary programs and/or items from Windows Startup routine using the MSCONFIG utility. Here's how: First, click Start, click Run, type MSCONFIG, and click OK. Click the StartUp tab, then uncheck any items you don't want to start when Windows starts. Unsure what some items are? Visit the WinTasks Process Library. It contains known system processes, applications, as well as spyware references and explanations. Or quickly identify them by searching for the filenames using Google or another Web search engine.

12.) Remove any unnecessary or unused programs from the Add/Remove Programs section of the Control Panel.

13.) Turn off any and all unnecessary animations, and disable active desktop. In fact, for optimal performance, turn off all animations. Windows XP offers many different settings in this area. Here's how to do it: First click on the System icon in the Control Panel. Next, click on the Advanced tab. Select the Settings button located under Performance. Feel free to play around with the options offered here, as nothing you can change will alter the reliability of the computer -- only its responsiveness.

14.) If your customer is an advanced user who is comfortable editing their registry, try some of the performance registry tweaks offered at Tweak XP.

15.) Visit Microsoft's Windows update site regularly, and download all updates labeled Critical. Download any optional updates at your discretion.

16.) Update the customer's anti-virus software on a weekly, even daily, basis. Make sure they have only one anti-virus software package installed. Mixing anti-virus software is a sure way to spell disaster for performance and reliability.

17.) Make sure the customer has fewer than 500 type fonts installed on their computer. The more fonts they have, the slower the system will become. While Windows XP handles fonts much more efficiently than did the previous versions of Windows, too many fonts -- that is, anything over 500 -- will noticeably tax the system.

18.) Do not partition the hard drive. Windows XP's NTFS file system runs more efficiently on one large partition. The data is no safer on a separate partition, and a reformat is never necessary to reinstall an operating system. The same excuses people offer for using partitions apply to using a folder instead. For example, instead of putting all your data on the D: drive, put it in a folder called "D drive." You'll achieve the same organizational benefits that a separate partition offers, but without the degradation in system performance. Also, your free space won't be limited by the size of the partition; instead, it will be limited by the size of the entire hard drive. This means you won't need to resize any partitions, ever. That task can be time-consuming and also can result in lost data.

19.) Check the system's RAM to ensure it is operating properly. I recommend using a free program called MemTest86. The download will make a bootable CD or diskette (your choice), which will run 10 extensive tests on the PC's memory automatically after you boot to the disk you created. Allow all tests to run until at least three passes of the 10 tests are completed. If the program encounters any errors, turn off and unplug the computer, remove a stick of memory (assuming you have more than one), and run the test again. Remember, bad memory cannot be repaired, but only replaced.

20.) If the PC has a CD or DVD recorder, check the drive manufacturer's Web site for updated firmware. In some cases you'll be able to upgrade the recorder to a faster speed. Best of all, it's free.

21.) Disable unnecessary services. Windows XP loads a lot of services that your customer most likely does not need. To determine which services you can disable for your client, visit the Black Viper site for Windows XP configurations.

22.) If you're sick of a single Windows Explorer window crashing and then taking the rest of your OS down with it, then follow this tip: open My Computer, click on Tools, then Folder Options. Now click on the View tab. Scroll down to "Launch folder windows in a separate process," and enable this option. You'll have to reboot your machine for this option to take effect.

23.) At least once a year, open the computer's cases and blow out all the dust and debris. While you're in there, check that all the fans are turning properly. Also inspect the motherboard capacitors for bulging or leaks. For more information on this leaking-capacitor phenomena, you can read numerous articles on my site.

How Data Stored In a CD

noreply@blogger.com (Electricity) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 11:08:00 +0000

Abstract
You can fit on a S/VCD without over burning:
- approx. 735 MB of MPEG data onto a 74min/650MB disc
- approx. 795 MB of MPEG data onto an 80min/700MB disc
You can fit on a CD-ROM without over burning:
- approx. 650 MB of data onto a 74min/650MB disc
- approx. 703 MB of data onto an 80min/700MB disc

Introduction
Let us ignore for now the terms of megabyte for CD capacity and try to understand how the data is stored on a CD.
As well all know, the data is stored digitally as binary data. This means, however the actual information is actually kept on the disc, this information is in the form of "1"s and "0"s. Physically, the information on a CD is as pits on a thin sheet of metal (aluminum).
An a CD-R disc, the data is physically on an organic dye layer which simulates the metal layer on a real pressed CD.

How is the information structured
Now, on the CD, the information isn't just organized from beginning to end willy-nilly. Otherwise, it would be really hard to find a useful piece of information on the CD.
Rather, the information is organized in sectors. Consider a sector as like a page in a book. Just like you are able to quickly find something in a book if you know the page number, you can quickly find something on a CD if you know the sector number.
Now, remember that the CD was original made to hold audio data. It was decided, that the CD would would 75 sectors per second of audio. Although I cannot guess where this number comes from, it is quite appropriate for the audio CD. It means that you can "seek" an audio CD accurately to 1/75th of a second -- which is more than enough for consumer purposes.
Now, with this in mind, we can work out the total data capacity of user data for 1 sector.

The total data capacity of user data of 1 sector on a CD
CD audio uses uncompressed PCM stereo audio, 16-bit resolution sampled at 44.1 kHz.
Thus 1 second of audio contains:
16 bits/channel * 2 channels * 44100 samples/second * 1 second
= 1411200 bits
= 176400 bytes
Since there are 75 sectors per second
1 sector
= 176400 bytes / 75
= 2352 bytes
One sector on a CD contains 2352 bytes max.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The concept of different MODES and FORMS of burning
Now, audio CD was well and good, but the medium would become much more useful if you could store other data on the disc as well. This became to be know as CD-ROM of course.
Now, the audio-CD uses the ENTIRE sector for audio data.
However, for CD-ROMs this caused a problem. Simply, CDs and the CD reading mechanisms were not 100% faultless. That is, errors (indeed frequent errors) could be made during the reading. For audio CDs, this does not matter as much as you could simply interpolate from the adjacent audio samples. This will obviously NOT DO for data CDs. A single bit error could lead to a program being unexcitable or ruin an achieve file.
Thus, for CD-ROMs, part of each sector is devoted to error correction codes and error detection codes. The CD-R FAQ has the details, but in effect, only 2048 bytes out of a total of 2352 bytes in each sector is available for user data on a data CD.
This burning mode is either MODE1 or MODE2 Form1.

MODE2 Form2 sectors of VCDs and SVCDs
Now, for VCDs and SVCDs, the video tracks do not necessarily require the robust error correction as normal data on a CD-ROM. However, there is still some overhead per sector that is used for something other than video data (e.g., sync headers).
S/VCDs video tracks are burnt in what is called MODE2 Form2 sectors. In this mode, only 2324 bytes out of a total of 2352 bytes in each sector is available for user data.
This is MUCH MORE than for CD-ROMs, but still less per sector than audio CD.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The disc capacities of CD-ROMs, audio-CDs and VCDs
Now, obviously what ultimately determines the capacity of a disc is the total number of sectors it contains. This is similar to the total number of pages in a blank exercise book (if you recall the book analogy).
The secondary determinant is the burning mode of the disc.
For audio CDs, it is as if you could fill each page from top to bottom with audio data as the entire sector is used for audio data.
For CD-ROMs, it is as if you need to first rule a margin and then leave the bottom part of each page for footnotes (headers + ECC + EDC). The amount of text you can actually write per page is then less due to these other constraints.
For S/VCDs, we still need to rule a margin on the page, but we don't have to worry about the footnotes (headers). We can fit MORE text than a CD-ROM, but less than an audio-CD.
Now remember, 1 second on a CD = 75 sectors.
Thus:
- 74 min CD = 333,000 sectors
- 80 min CD = 360,000 sectors
Data capacity in Mb for an audio-CD
74 min Search Amazon.com for sony bloggie touch
= 333,000 sectors * 2352 bytes / sector
= 783216000 bytes
= 746.9 Mb
80 min
= 360,000 sectors * 2352 bytes / sector
= 846720000 bytes
= 807.5 Mb
Data capacity in Mb for a CD-ROM
74 min
= 333,000 sectors * 2048 bytes / sector
= 681984000 bytes
= 650.4 Mb
80 min
= 360,000 sectors * 2048 bytes / sector
= 737280000 bytes
= 703.1 Mb
Data capacity in Mb for a S/VCD
74 min
= 333,000 sectors * 2324 bytes / sector
= 773892000 bytes
= 738.0 Mb
80 min
= 360,000 sectors * 2324 bytes / sector
= 836640000 bytes
= 797.9 Mb

Conclusions
As you can see, the often quoted capacities of 650MB and 700MB refer to CD-ROM capacities.
Due to the fact that S/VCDs use a different burning mode where MORE of each sector is available as user data, the relatively capacities are HIGHER.
Now, since S/VCDs are not composed of PURELY video tracks and have some unavoidable overheads, the actually total capacity left for video tracks is a few Mb less for each disc (about 735 Mb for 74min discs and 795 Mb for 80min discs). This is where the often quoted capacities of 740MB and 800MB come from. They are quite accurate.
All these capacities are available BEFORE overburning. Overburning is where you burn MORE sectors than the disc is rated for. If you overburn, you can typically achieve about 1-2 minutes of additional capacity (depending on your drive and media).