nothing like lowering the tone.......

Cheers Brian,

I might be able to sleep tonight now

foxecks,

from memory that seems to be a display error. Have you tried the same CD on different hardware?

Try booting Backtrack in safemode, can't remember the exact cheat code but I believe BT3 has an option in the boot menu for this by default. If this boots successfully you can then work backwards by adding back in hardware modules until you locate the module causing issues.

If this doesn't help I'd suggest posting your problem on the backtrack forums as the guys are usually fairly helpful.

Good luck and welcome to EH-net
RR

Rob,

I'll second that as I seem to have a similar experience of Vista to you. Not great/not terrible. As you state Vista is Microsoft's flagship OS and it's market share within the end-user space is increasing.

I started using Vista specifically so I would encounter all the bugs and issues that end users will face. It's the only way to know how to fix or bypass them. Plus I am impressed by some of the security enhancements Vista offers (over XP, I don't want to get into the OS holy wars). I sleep better at night knowing my grandparents aren't running everything as an administrative user and they need to read any pop-ups before blindling handing over the keys to the kingdom.

(As a side note any of my 'clients' [friends/family etc.] know that they will get no support if they cannot tell me what a pop-up box said and why they decided to click through anyway. Number of incidents has reduced since I've introduced this system)

BillV,

'Where's the IT angle?'

really hoping that's a hoax....

P.S. it could make a good subject matter for spam/malware distribution, so I guess there is a tedious link there somewhere

I agree, and have similar setups as standard.

In similar discussions others have suggested taking a blank install and collecting all data via a VPN once passed the border. Whilst this and similar precautions can help protect data, it doesn't do much good if you're hardware gets seized for an 'unspecified time period'.

Unfortunately I don't currently get paid enough to buy a new machine every time I cross the border

As a result I am now seriously considering leave my machine at home for my upcoming tour of the States, glad to see we are beating the terrorists...

Sounds like you've got some good war stories there Kev. We'll have to swap stories over a beer sometime...

BillV,

I'd read the article earlier (can't remember where I found the link) and I really don't like this development. From what I've read and understand the change (or confirmation) seems very broad and fairly open to abuse.

I'm travelling to the states later this year, as a result of this I am no considering both leaving my laptop at home but also having a fairly long and boring flight as I leave both iPod and handlheld consoles either home or in my luggage in the hold.

Personally I can't see how this is going to improve safety. Surely any 'terrorist' (seems to describe everyone at the moment...) is not going to walk through customs with a laptop full of call-signs and building schematics? Or anyone that does probably doesn't have the intelligence to do any real damage anyway (like the muppets that succeeded in setting themselvs alight whilst trying to attack Glasgow (Scotland, UK) airport a while back.... (Wikipedia article)

I'd agree with Kev, those that don't complain about these developments deserve everything they get from an Orwellian (or worse) government, unfortunately we seem to be sleep-walking into 1984.

Kev,

great post, I've played with the De-ICE tools in the past have had some success and fun. From a learning perspective there are few things better than being thrown in at the deep-end to put the theory into practice.

Teamer,

that sounds like a good candidate for famouslastwords.com.

From reading your posts  I'm under the impression that you are fairly new to this? I'd suggest one of the reasons that you may not get caught is that you may not succeed. Also the admin may know more than you give him credit for.

Finally, as you're on ethicalhacker.net, I'd suggest that this action isn't ethical (or more importantly legal) therefore your time would be better spent on studying rather than 'pimping' your grades.

Just because you can do something doesn't always mean that you should...

Teamer,

I'll echo Don's comments, if you are unsure whether this action is ethical you may want to try a career as a lawyer ... Whilst I agree your friend may have mitigating circumstances these should be addressed through the correct channels.

As Don stated if either of you get caught the repecussions are going to be exponentially higher than just re-taking a semester. From your friends perspective I'd also suggest that if he hasn't learnt any of the material from the missed semester slipping through and up to the next level may pose a challenge without the foundation knowledge.

RR

Congrats BillV, enjoy it

(p.s. was expecting a completely different thread when I read the title )

I just hope he likes it hot, I've heard you can get a serious tan where he's going....

Try this EH Thread (dive into python)

Read the rest of the programming board threads for some great resources.

And remember, the search box and google are your friend......

Senss,

if this is a criminal matter the best advice is to report it too the authorities. Even if your actions are 'justified' you may end up on the wrong side of the law. Hiring third party investigators probably isn't the way to go.

Failing this contact the providers of the domain to attempt to have the site taken down. Additionally you could try contacting the Internet Storm Centre (ISC)

RR