Some companies have introduced into their organization a new job: the Chief Web Officer (CWO). Others, such as General Electric (GE), have given the CIO the responsibility of looking after the synergy of IT and procurement. Either way, job requirements must be met, and these include overseeing information systems and Internet strategies, creating and running the interwoven network of extra structure, and forging flexible Internet commerce links with business partners. At GE, the CIO works closely with suppliers to get them seamlessly online and manages all links connected to GE's massive procurement program. This synergy will, in all likelihood, increase in the coming years because technology moves so fast.
The perspectives of synergies continue to expand. As computers and communications become increasingly pervasive in our work, in our daily lives, and in our transportation environment, many instances of convergence are developing in the functionality of products and processes and the accompanying communications infrastructure. For example, cell phones are starting to incorporate the functions of personal digital assistants (PDAs); PDA capability overlaps significantly with desktop and laptop computers; and cable companies that have offered multimedia Internet access are now also offering phone service.
There is no question that IT and Internet solutions are merging. Personal computers function as Web access points, phones, entertainment outlets, and home automation controllers all at the same time. Software is being designed to allow multi-purpose products, while hardware is becoming more and more flexible. Personal devices and communications infrastructure converge to provide new functionality and handle all data, including voice, video, and the Internet.
It is not difficult to see how ERP solutions fit squarely within this perspective, whether their integration into the Internet environment is the responsibility of the CIO or the CWO. But the implementation of ERP also generates a rich knowledge stream that should be preserved for further usage. The appreciation of this fact has led to the institution of knowledge management procedures by leading organizations. A Year 2000 Conference Board survey of 200 executives at 158 large multinational companies found that 80 percent had knowledge management projects in the works, and many had already appointed a chief knowledge officer (CKO) or hired knowledge management consultants.
Knowledge management projects include a corporate memory facility (CMF) into which are registered all decisions as well as their reasons and aftermath; expert systems and agents that improve productivity and replace old approaches to computer programming; and a growing array of tools for knowledge management. Among them are chaos theory, stochastic processes, chi-square analysis, test of hypothesis, and experimental design.
What kind of knowledge does one want to preserve and reuse in connection with ERP and supply chain? Here are a couple of factual answers. Danone, a French milk products company, increased inventory turnover by 30 percent and decreased order lead-time by 57 percent after three weeks of implementing an ERP system. Only 110 days after implementing ERP, IBM was able to reduce the time for checking customer credit and for responding to customer inquiries from 20 minutes to instantaneously. At the same time, pricing data entry dropped from 80 days to 5 minutes.
At Bell Atlantic, information that once took a month to retrieve now takes a few seconds. Using ERP as a catalyst, Borden sharply reduced the number of computer platforms and applications. It also reduced 26 operating systems from four to one. At Nike, supply chain applications resulted in a 40 percent increase in order fill rate and a 27 percent increase in revenues. At Warner Lambert, the order fill rate increased to 99 percent and supply chain costs were sharply reduced.
In another case, the Internet-oriented implementation of ERP grew into a cross-partner supply chain management. This provided multi-company transaction data and planning information, helping to reduce inventory by 25 percent. At the same time, on-time shipments were boosted from 85 to 95 percent, and lead-times were lowered from 80 to 27 days.
What is particularly interesting about these references and accompanying statistics is the knowledge acquired by the people who put in place the applications in reference. It is the job of the CKO to work closely with the CIO and CWO to capture the acquired experience and make it available interactively over a wider reference frame. Online database mining helps significantly in this endeavor.
The fact that knowledge is the most important asset of an organization needs no explaining. The allocation of assets and their management must be done in real-time because the CEO and his or her assistants have much less time than in the past to assess the viability of a planned course of action. While professionals in this field have long considered how to improve the speed and accuracy of the planning process, the technologies and methods available were not adequate to handle a problem of this size and complexity or they were not to be found at an affordable cost.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
The Synergy in Managing Information Technology and Procurement
Posted by CSphere at 3:45 PM 0 comments
Monday, November 3, 2008
Secret FOREX
Secret FOREX hack to 10x your deposit
First of all let me thank you buyers for buying my elite method for a huge cost of 475$. Even thought my guide is simple and precise but I am sure that it would profit you a million. It is just a simple yet very powerful idea. So make sure you don’t distribute this method. I am sure no way you get discouraged.
Let’s not waste time and get into play. Recently I discovered an forex site offering a good bonus promo. Then I thought of a solid method to invest less and trade for more on the forex site. Let me explain you in detail.
First of all visit the site here.
Download the client on the site and let is install. Next open an account under Trade for Real. Now you should make an initial deposit, minimum 50$ to get your account activated. You can do that either with your CC or with your paypal account. Here is a bonus for your first time deposits.
But I suggest you to make an initial deposit of 50 $, as money got to role out into your account as bonuses with my method. So don’t go in a hurry depositing more.
There is another friend promo which we now use to get our big bonuses.
Check it out
With this in mind we want to offer you an incredible bonus of $100 for any friend that deposits a minimum of $100 which you bring to eToro, and the same incredible bonus of $50 for your friend, on top of the first deposit bonus!
Just enter the cashier section by clicking on your account balance in eToro. Click on Invite A Friend button in the cashier and enter your friends' email.
Hope you have read the Invite your friend promo. So now send an invitation to some of your friends who are interested in Forex. Ask them to sign up with your invitation email. You let them know that he will be getting 100$ into his account with just 50$ of initial deposit. Many will be willing to do that, if not you offer them to pay that 50$ for the sign up. Don’t worry about the money you are spending, sure you will find a reason to earn more for each penny that you invested.
Say you don’t want to involve your friends into this and you wish to do everything on your own. Here is a very good method to find depositors.
Open your chat box, and look for users that do not have the “$” symbol. Start chatting with them, and tell them that they can get $50 bonus for signing up under you for a real account because those that do not have the “$” symbol are trading for fun.
Be honest, and tell them u get $100 from them for each sign up, which is true. Now, be special, offer to send them $20 to $30 extra if they sign up under you. It works, they will be interested because they get $100 while you get only $50. So they deposit, $50, they get $100 more. So u get $100 each time a person registers under you!
Okay, to pass them an invitation to receive your $100, open your Cashier’s box or “Click here to deposit”. Look to your right and you will see an icon, Invite your friends. Just key in their email address for the invitation to be sent to, once they register, $100 is yours each time! Now, keep in mind you will have to tell them to do the following steps.
1) Uninstall their etoro client
2) Clear their internet browser history, cookies and cache
3) Reconnect (for dynamic ips, ignore if static)
4) Follow the email link sent to them via invitation
5) Download and reinstall the client
6) Open real account and deposit $50.
However, if you have not yet received your bonus, email your etoro support manager who manages your account. Then all is well, you get $100 each time!
That’s so you earn 100$ easy money every time you refer someone. Don’t feel this to be some stupid method. You really can’t imagine the potential out of it. Lemme explain you with the help of some figures.
Here is present you a chart about the potential of this method. Here I take an example of referring 5 people. If there are just my friends and I need not pay them for joining under me, then with just 50$ of deposit I will have a total of 550$ in my account.
In worst cases if I should pay 30$ for every person that joins under me, then I need to keep an optional investment of 150$. This could be the worst case of the method. Even though you are have a 2.5x gain of investing 200$ and getting around 550$ in your account.
This was just a small picture of 5 referrers. What if you make them 10,15,20….Just Imagine
Best Case Worst Case
10 referrers 50$ -> 1050$ 350$ -> 1050$
15 referrers 50$ -> 1550$ 500$ -> 1550$
20 referrers 50$ -> 2050$ 650$ -> 2050$
Posted by CSphere at 7:50 AM 0 comments
Labels: forex
Sunday, November 2, 2008
20 Great Google Secrets
20 Great Google Secrets
by Ninja
Google is clearly the best general-purpose search engine on the Web (see
www.pcmag.com/searchengines
But most people don't use it to its best advantage. Do you just plug in a keyword or two and hope for the best? That may be the quickest way to search, but with more than 3 billion pages in Google's index, it's still a struggle to pare results to a manageable number.
But Google is an remarkably powerful tool that can ease and enhance your Internet exploration. Google's search options go beyond simple keywords, the Web, and even its own programmers. Let's look at some of Google's lesser-known options.
Syntax Search Tricks
Using a special syntax is a way to tell Google that you want to restrict your searches to certain elements or characteristics of Web pages. Google has a fairly complete list of its syntax elements at
www.google.com/help/operators.html
. Here are some advanced operators that can help narrow down your search results.
Intitle: at the beginning of a query word or phrase (intitle:"Three Blind Mice") restricts your search results to just the titles of Web pages.
Intext: does the opposite of intitle:, searching only the body text, ignoring titles, links, and so forth. Intext: is perfect when what you're searching for might commonly appear in URLs. If you're looking for the term HTML, for example, and you don't want to get results such as
www.mysite.com/index.html
, you can enter intext:html.
Link: lets you see which pages are linking to your Web page or to another page you're interested in. For example, try typing in
link:http://www.pcmag.com
Try using site: (which restricts results to top-level domains) with intitle: to find certain types of pages. For example, get scholarly pages about Mark Twain by searching for intitle:"Mark Twain"site:edu. Experiment with mixing various elements; you'll develop several strategies for finding the stuff you want more effectively. The site: command is very helpful as an alternative to the mediocre search engines built into many sites.
Swiss Army Google
Google has a number of services that can help you accomplish tasks you may never have thought to use Google for. For example, the new calculator feature
(www.google.com/help/features.html#calculator)
lets you do both math and a variety of conversions from the search box. For extra fun, try the query "Answer to life the universe and everything."
Let Google help you figure out whether you've got the right spelling—and the right word—for your search. Enter a misspelled word or phrase into the query box (try "thre blund mise") and Google may suggest a proper spelling. This doesn't always succeed; it works best when the word you're searching for can be found in a dictionary. Once you search for a properly spelled word, look at the results page, which repeats your query. (If you're searching for "three blind mice," underneath the search window will appear a statement such as Searched the web for "three blind mice.") You'll discover that you can click on each word in your search phrase and get a definition from a dictionary.
Suppose you want to contact someone and don't have his phone number handy. Google can help you with that, too. Just enter a name, city, and state. (The city is optional, but you must enter a state.) If a phone number matches the listing, you'll see it at the top of the search results along with a map link to the address. If you'd rather restrict your results, use rphonebook: for residential listings or bphonebook: for business listings. If you'd rather use a search form for business phone listings, try Yellow Search
(www.buzztoolbox.com/google/yellowsearch.shtml).
Extended Googling
Google offers several services that give you a head start in focusing your search. Google Groups
(http://groups.google.com)
indexes literally millions of messages from decades of discussion on Usenet. Google even helps you with your shopping via two tools: Froogle
CODE
(http://froogle.google.com),
which indexes products from online stores, and Google Catalogs
CODE
(http://catalogs.google.com),
which features products from more 6,000 paper catalogs in a searchable index. And this only scratches the surface. You can get a complete list of Google's tools and services at
www.google.com/options/index.html
You're probably used to using Google in your browser. But have you ever thought of using Google outside your browser?
Google Alert
(www.googlealert.com)
monitors your search terms and e-mails you information about new additions to Google's Web index. (Google Alert is not affiliated with Google; it uses Google's Web services API to perform its searches.) If you're more interested in news stories than general Web content, check out the beta version of Google News Alerts
(www.google.com/newsalerts).
This service (which is affiliated with Google) will monitor up to 50 news queries per e-mail address and send you information about news stories that match your query. (Hint: Use the intitle: and source: syntax elements with Google News to limit the number of alerts you get.)
Google on the telephone? Yup. This service is brought to you by the folks at Google Labs
(http://labs.google.com),
a place for experimental Google ideas and features (which may come and go, so what's there at this writing might not be there when you decide to check it out). With Google Voice Search
(http://labs1.google.com/gvs.html),
you dial the Voice Search phone number, speak your keywords, and then click on the indicated link. Every time you say a new search term, the results page will refresh with your new query (you must have JavaScript enabled for this to work). Remember, this service is still in an experimental phase, so don't expect 100 percent success.
In 2002, Google released the Google API (application programming interface), a way for programmers to access Google's search engine results without violating the Google Terms of Service. A lot of people have created useful (and occasionally not-so-useful but interesting) applications not available from Google itself, such as Google Alert. For many applications, you'll need an API key, which is available free from
CODE
www.google.com/apis
. See the figures for two more examples, and visit
www.pcmag.com/solutions
for more.
Thanks to its many different search properties, Google goes far beyond a regular search engine. Give the tricks in this article a try. You'll be amazed at how many different ways Google can improve your Internet searching.
Online Extra: More Google Tips
Here are a few more clever ways to tweak your Google searches.
Search Within a Timeframe
Daterange: (start date–end date). You can restrict your searches to pages that were indexed within a certain time period. Daterange: searches by when Google indexed a page, not when the page itself was created. This operator can help you ensure that results will have fresh content (by using recent dates), or you can use it to avoid a topic's current-news blizzard and concentrate only on older results. Daterange: is actually more useful if you go elsewhere to take advantage of it, because daterange: requires Julian dates, not standard Gregorian dates. You can find converters on the Web (such as
CODE
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/JulianDate.html
excl.gif No Active Links, Read the Rules - Edit by Ninja excl.gif
), but an easier way is to do a Google daterange: search by filling in a form at
www.researchbuzz.com/toolbox/goofresh.shtml or www.faganfinder.com/engines/google.shtml
. If one special syntax element is good, two must be better, right? Sometimes. Though some operators can't be mixed (you can't use the link: operator with anything else) many can be, quickly narrowing your results to a less overwhelming number.
More Google API Applications
Staggernation.com offers three tools based on the Google API. The Google API Web Search by Host (GAWSH) lists the Web hosts of the results for a given query
(www.staggernation.com/gawsh/).
When you click on the triangle next to each host, you get a list of results for that host. The Google API Relation Browsing Outliner (GARBO) is a little more complicated: You enter a URL and choose whether you want pages that related to the URL or linked to the URL
(www.staggernation.com/garbo/).
Click on the triangle next to an URL to get a list of pages linked or related to that particular URL. CapeMail is an e-mail search application that allows you to send an e-mail to google@capeclear.com with the text of your query in the subject line and get the first ten results for that query back. Maybe it's not something you'd do every day, but if your cell phone does e-mail and doesn't do Web browsing, this is a very handy address to know.
Posted by CSphere at 8:40 AM 0 comments
Labels: computer-articles, google secret, internet
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Best Keyboard Shortcuts
Best4 Keyboard Shortcuts
Getting used to using your keyboard exclusively and leaving your mouse behind will make you much more efficient at performing any task on any Windows system. I use the following keyboard shortcuts every day:
Windows key + R = Run menu
This is usually followed by:
cmd = Command Prompt
iexplore + "web address" = Internet Explorer
compmgmt.msc = Computer Management
dhcpmgmt.msc = DHCP Management
dnsmgmt.msc = DNS Management
services.msc = Services
eventvwr = Event Viewer
dsa.msc = Active Directory Users and Computers
dssite.msc = Active Directory Sites and Services
Windows key + E = Explorer
ALT + Tab = Switch between windows
ALT, Space, X = Maximize window
CTRL + Shift + Esc = Task Manager
Windows key + Break = System properties
Windows key + F = Search
Windows key + D = Hide/Display all windows
CTRL + C = copy
CTRL + X = cut
CTRL + V = paste
Also don't forget about the "Right-click" key next to the right Windows key on your keyboard. Using the arrows and that key can get just about anything done once you've opened up any program.
Keyboard Shortcuts
[Alt] and [Esc] Switch between running applications
[Alt] and letter Select menu item by underlined letter
[Ctrl] and [Esc] Open Program Menu
[Ctrl] and [F4] Close active document or group windows (does not work with some applications)
[Alt] and [F4] Quit active application or close current window
[Alt] and [-] Open Control menu for active document
Ctrl] Lft., Rt. arrow Move cursor forward or back one word
Ctrl] Up, Down arrow Move cursor forward or back one paragraph
[F1] Open Help for active application
Windows+M Minimize all open windows
Shift+Windows+M Undo minimize all open windows
Windows+F1 Open Windows Help
Windows+Tab Cycle through the Taskbar buttons
Windows+Break Open the System Properties dialog box
acessability shortcuts
Right SHIFT for eight seconds........ Switch FilterKeys on and off.
Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN....... Switch High Contrast on and off.
Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK....... Switch MouseKeys on and off.
SHIFT....... five times Switch StickyKeys on and off.
NUM LOCK...... for five seconds Switch ToggleKeys on and off.
explorer shortcuts
END....... Display the bottom of the active window.
HOME....... Display the top of the active window.
NUM LOCK+ASTERISK....... on numeric keypad (*) Display all subfolders under the selected folder.
NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN....... on numeric keypad (+) Display the contents of the selected folder.
NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN....... on numeric keypad (-) Collapse the selected folder.
LEFT ARROW...... Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder.
RIGHT ARROW....... Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder.
Type the following commands in your Run Box (Windows Key + R) or Start Run
devmgmt.msc = Device Manager
msinfo32 = System Information
cleanmgr = Disk Cleanup
ntbackup = Backup or Restore Wizard (Windows Backup Utility)
mmc = Microsoft Management Console
excel = Microsoft Excel (If Installed)
msaccess = Microsoft Access (If Installed)
powerpnt = Microsoft PowerPoint (If Installed)
winword = Microsoft Word (If Installed)
frontpg = Microsoft FrontPage (If Installed)
notepad = Notepad
wordpad = WordPad
calc = Calculator
msmsgs = Windows Messenger
mspaint = Microsoft Paint
wmplayer = Windows Media Player
rstrui = System Restore
netscp6 = Netscape 6.x
netscp = Netscape 7.x
netscape = Netscape 4.x
waol = America Online
control = Opens the Control Panel
control printers = Opens the Printers Dialog
internetbrowser
type in u're adress "google", then press [Right CTRL] and [Enter]
add www. and .com to word and go to it
For Windows XP:
Copy. CTRL+C
Cut. CTRL+X
Paste. CTRL+V
Undo. CTRL+Z
Delete. DELETE
Delete selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin. SHIFT+DELETE
Copy selected item. CTRL while dragging an item
Create shortcut to selected item. CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item
Rename selected item. F2
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word. CTRL+RIGHT ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word. CTRL+LEFT ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph. CTRL+DOWN ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph. CTRL+UP ARROW
Highlight a block of text. CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text within a document. SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
Select all. CTRL+A
Search for a file or folder. F3
View properties for the selected item. ALT+ENTER
Close the active item, or quit the active program. ALT+F4
Opens the shortcut menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR
Close the active document in programs that allow you to have multiple documents open simultaneously. CTRL+F4
Switch between open items. ALT+TAB
Cycle through items in the order they were opened. ALT+ESC
Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop. F6
Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer. F4
Display the shortcut menu for the selected item. SHIFT+F10
Display the System menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR
Display the Start menu. CTRL+ESC
Display the corresponding menu. ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name
Carry out the corresponding command. Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu
Activate the menu bar in the active program. F10
Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu. RIGHT ARROW
Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu. LEFT ARROW
Refresh the active window. F5
View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer. BACKSPACE
Cancel the current task. ESC
SHIFT when you insert a CD into the CD-ROM drive Prevent the CD from automatically playing.
Use these keyboard shortcuts for dialog boxes:
To Press
Move forward through tabs. CTRL+TAB
Move backward through tabs. CTRL+SHIFT+TAB
Move forward through options. TAB
Move backward through options. SHIFT+TAB
Carry out the corresponding command or select the corresponding option. ALT+Underlined letter
Carry out the command for the active option or button. ENTER
Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box. SPACEBAR
Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons. Arrow keys
Display Help. F1
Display the items in the active list. F4
Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box. BACKSPACE
If you have a Microsoft Natural Keyboard, or any other compatible keyboard that includes the Windows logo key and the Application key , you can use these keyboard shortcuts:
Display or hide the Start menu. WIN Key
Display the System Properties dialog box. WIN Key+BREAK
Show the desktop. WIN Key+D
Minimize all windows. WIN Key+M
Restores minimized windows. WIN Key+Shift+M
Open My Computer. WIN Key+E
Search for a file or folder. WIN Key+F
Search for computers. CTRL+WIN Key+F
Display Windows Help. WIN Key+F1
Lock your computer if you are connected to a network domain, or switch users if you are not connected to a network domain. WIN Key+ L
Open the Run dialog box. WIN Key+R
Open Utility Manager. WIN Key+U
accessibility keyboard shortcuts:
Switch FilterKeys on and off. Right SHIFT for eight seconds
Switch High Contrast on and off. Left ALT+left SHIFT+PRINT SCREEN
Switch MouseKeys on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK
Switch StickyKeys on and off. SHIFT five times
Switch ToggleKeys on and off. NUM LOCK for five seconds
Open Utility Manager. WIN Key+U
shortcuts you can use with Windows Explorer:
Display the bottom of the active window. END
Display the top of the active window. HOME
Display all subfolders under the selected folder. NUM LOCK+ASTERISK on numeric keypad (*)
Display the contents of the selected folder. NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN on numeric keypad (+)
Collapse the selected folder. NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN on numeric keypad (-)
Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder. LEFT ARROW
Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder. RIGHT ARROW
Posted by CSphere at 8:47 AM 0 comments
Labels: computer-articles
Friday, October 31, 2008
All About Spyware
4ll About Spyware
There are a lot of PC users that know little about "Spyware", "Mal-ware", "hijackers", "Dialers" & many more. This will help you avoid pop-ups, spammers and all those baddies.
What is spy-ware?
Spy-ware is Internet jargon for Advertising Supported software (Ad-ware). It is a way for shareware authors to make money from a product, other than by selling it to the users. There are several large media companies that offer them to place banner ads in their products in exchange for a portion of the revenue from banner sales. This way, you don't have to pay for the software and the developers are still getting paid. If you find the banners annoying, there is usually an option to remove them, by paying the regular licensing fee.
Known spywares
There are thousands out there, new ones are added to the list everyday. But here are a few:
Alexa, Aureate/Radiate, BargainBuddy, ClickTillUWin, Conducent Timesink, Cydoor, Comet Cursor, eZula/KaZaa Toptext, Flashpoint/Flashtrack, Flyswat, Gator, GoHip, Hotbar, ISTbar, Lions Pride Enterprises/Blazing Logic/Trek Blue, Lop (C2Media), Mattel Brodcast, Morpheus, NewDotNet, Realplayer, Songspy, Xupiter, Web3000, WebHancer, Windows Messenger Service.
How to check if a program has spyware?
The is this Little site that keeps a database of programs that are known to install spyware.
Check Here: http://www.spywareguide.com/product_search.php
If you would like to block pop-ups (IE Pop-ups).
There tons of different types out there, but these are the 2 best, i think.
Try: Google Toolbar (http://toolbar.google.com/) This program is Free
Try: AdMuncher (http://www.admuncher.com) This program is Shareware
If you want to remove the "spyware" try these.
Try: Lavasoft Ad-Aware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/) This program is Free
Info: Ad-aware is a multi spyware removal utility, that scans your memory, registry and hard drives for known spyware components and lets you remove them. The included backup-manager lets you reinstall a backup, offers and multi language support.
Try: Spybot-S&D (http://www.safer-networking.org/) This program is Free
Info: Detects and removes spyware of different kinds (dialers, loggers, trojans, user tracks) from your computer. Blocks ActiveX downloads, tracking cookies and other threats. Over 10,000 detection files and entries. Provides detailed information about found problems.
Try: BPS Spyware and Adware Remover (http://www.bulletproofsoft.com/spyware-remover.html) This program is Shareware
Info: Adware, spyware, trackware and big brotherware removal utility with multi-language support. It scans your memory, registry and drives for known spyware and lets you remove them. Displays a list and lets you select the items you'd like to remove.
Try: Spy Sweeper v2.2 (http://www.webroot.com/wb/products/spysweeper/index.php) This program is Shareware
Info: Detects and removes spyware of different kinds (dialers, loggers, trojans, user tracks) from your computer.
The best scanner out there, and updated all the time.
Try: HijackThis 1.97.7 (http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html) This program is Freeware
Info: HijackThis is a tool, that lists all installed browser add-on, buttons, startup items and allows you to inspect them, and optionally remove selected items.
If you would like to prevent "spyware" being install.
Try: SpywareBlaster 2.6.1 (http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareblaster.html) This program is Free
Info: SpywareBlaster doesn`t scan and clean for so-called spyware, but prevents it from being installed in the first place. It achieves this by disabling the CLSIDs of popular spyware ActiveX controls, and also prevents the installation of any of them via a webpage.
Try: SpywareGuard 2.2 (http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareguard.html) This program is Free
Info: SpywareGuard provides a real-time protection solution against so-called spyware. It works similar to an anti-virus program, by scanning EXE and CAB files on access and alerting you if known spyware is detected.
Try: XP-AntiSpy (http://www.xp-antispy.org/) This program is Free
Info: XP-AntiSpy is a small utility to quickly disable some built-in update and authentication features in WindowsXP that may rise security or privacy concerns in some people.
Try: SpySites (http://camtech2000.net/Pages/SpySites_Prog...ml#SpySitesFree) This program is Free
Info: SpySites allows you to manage the Internet Explorer Restricted Zone settings and easily add entries from a database of 1500+ sites that are known to use advertising tracking methods or attempt to install third party software.
If you would like more Information about "spyware".
Check these sites.
http://www.spychecker.com/
http://www.spywareguide.com/
http://www.cexx.org/adware.htm
http://www.theinfomaniac.net/infomaniac/co...rsSpyware.shtml
http://www.thiefware.com/links/
http://simplythebest.net/info/spyware.html
Usefull tools...
Try: Stop Windows Messenger Spam 1.10 (http://www.jester2k.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/j...r2ksoftware.htm) This program is Free
Info: "Stop Windows Messenger Spam" stops this Service from running and halts the spammers ability to send you these messages.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
All these softwares will help remove and prevent evil spammers and spywares attacking your PC. I myself recommend getting "spyblaster" "s&d spybot" "spy sweeper" & "admuncher" to protect your PC. A weekly scan is also recommended
Free Virus Scan
Scan for spyware, malware and keyloggers in addition to viruses, worms and trojans. New threats and annoyances are created faster than any individual can keep up with.
http://defender.veloz.com// - 15k
Finding . is a Click Away at 2020Search.com
Having trouble finding what you re looking for on: .? 2020Search will instantly provide you with the result you re looking for by drawing on some of the best search engines the Internet has to offer. Your result is a click away!
http://www.2020search.com// - 43k
Download the BrowserVillage Toolbar.
Customize your Browser! Eliminate Pop-up ads before they start, Quick and easy access to the Web, and much more. Click Here to Install Now!
http://www.browservillage.com/ - 36k
Posted by CSphere at 8:45 AM 0 comments
Labels: computer virues, computer-articles
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Advanced Shellcoding Techniques
Advanced Shellcoding Techniques
by Darawk
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.
Posted by CSphere at 8:44 AM 0 comments
Labels: computer programming, computer-articles
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Internet guide
A Basic Guide to the 1nternet
The Internet is a computer network made up of thousands of networks worldwide. No one knows exactly how many computers are connected to the Internet. It is certain, however, that these number in the millions.
No one is in charge of the Internet. There are organizations which develop technical aspects of this network and set standards for creating applications on it, but no governing body is in control. The Internet backbone, through which Internet traffic flows, is owned by private companies.
All computers on the Internet communicate with one another using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol suite, abbreviated to TCP/IP. Computers on the Internet use a client/server architecture. This means that the remote server machine provides files and services to the user's local client machine. Software can be installed on a client computer to take advantage of the latest access technology.
An Internet user has access to a wide variety of services: electronic mail, file transfer, vast information resources, interest group membership, interactive collaboration, multimedia displays, real-time broadcasting, shopping opportunities, breaking news, and much more.
The Internet consists primarily of a variety of access protocols. Many of these protocols feature programs that allow users to search for and retrieve material made available by the protocol.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMPONENTS OF THE INTERNET
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WORLD WIDE WEB
The World Wide Web (abbreviated as the Web or WWW) is a system of Internet servers that supports hypertext to access several Internet protocols on a single interface. Almost every protocol type available on the Internet is accessible on the Web. This includes e-mail, FTP, Telnet, and Usenet News. In addition to these, the World Wide Web has its own protocol: HyperText Transfer Protocol, or HTTP. These protocols will be explained later in this document.
The World Wide Web provides a single interface for accessing all these protocols. This creates a convenient and user-friendly environment. It is no longer necessary to be conversant in these protocols within separate, command-level environments. The Web gathers together these protocols into a single system. Because of this feature, and because of the Web's ability to work with multimedia and advanced programming languages, the Web is the fastest-growing component of the Internet.
The operation of the Web relies primarily on hypertext as its means of information retrieval. HyperText is a document containing words that connect to other documents. These words are called links and are selectable by the user. A single hypertext document can contain links to many documents. In the context of the Web, words or graphics may serve as links to other documents, images, video, and sound. Links may or may not follow a logical path, as each connection is programmed by the creator of the source document. Overall, the Web contains a complex virtual web of connections among a vast number of documents, graphics, videos, and sounds.
Producing hypertext for the Web is accomplished by creating documents with a language called HyperText Markup Language, or HTML. With HTML, tags are placed within the text to accomplish document formatting, visual features such as font size, italics and bold, and the creation of hypertext links. Graphics and multimedia may also be incorporated into an HTML document. HTML is an evolving language, with new tags being added as each upgrade of the language is developed and released. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), led by Web founder Tim Berners-Lee, coordinates the efforts of standardizing HTML. The W3C now calls the language XHTML and considers it to be an application of the XML language standard.
The World Wide Web consists of files, called pages or home pages, containing links to documents and resources throughout the Internet.
The Web provides a vast array of experiences including multimedia presentations, real-time collaboration, interactive pages, radio and television broadcasts, and the automatic "push" of information to a client computer. Programming languages such as Java, JavaScript, Visual Basic, Cold Fusion and XML are extending the capabilities of the Web. A growing amount of information on the Web is served dynamically from content stored in databases. The Web is therefore not a fixed entity, but one that is in a constant state of development and flux.
For more complete information about the World Wide Web, see Understanding The World Wide Web.
Electronic mail, or e-mail, allows computer users locally and worldwide to exchange messages. Each user of e-mail has a mailbox address to which messages are sent. Messages sent through e-mail can arrive within a matter of seconds.
A powerful aspect of e-mail is the option to send electronic files to a person's e-mail address. Non-ASCII files, known as binary files, may be attached to e-mail messages. These files are referred to as MIME attachments.MIME stands for Multimedia Internet Mail Extension, and was developed to help e-mail software handle a variety of file types. For example, a document created in Microsoft Word can be attached to an e-mail message and retrieved by the recipient with the appropriate e-mail program. Many e-mail programs, including Eudora, Netscape Messenger, and Microsoft Outlook, offer the ability to read files written in HTML, which is itself a MIME type.
TELNET
Telnet is a program that allows you to log into computers on the Internet and use online databases, library catalogs, chat services, and more. There are no graphics in Telnet sessions, just text. To Telnet to a computer, you must know its address. This can consist of words (locis.loc.gov) or numbers (140.147.254.3). Some services require you to connect to a specific port on the remote computer. In this case, type the port number after the Internet address. Example: telnet nri.reston.va.us 185.
Telnet is available on the World Wide Web. Probably the most common Web-based resources available through Telnet have been library catalogs, though most catalogs have since migrated to the Web. A link to a Telnet resource may look like any other link, but it will launch a Telnet session to make the connection. A Telnet program must be installed on your local computer and configured to your Web browser in order to work.
With the increasing popularity of the Web, Telnet has become less frequently used as a means of access to information on the Internet.
FTP
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. This is both a program and the method used to transfer files between computers. Anonymous FTP is an option that allows users to transfer files from thousands of host computers on the Internet to their personal computer account. FTP sites contain books, articles, software, games, images, sounds, multimedia, course work, data sets, and more.
If your computer is directly connected to the Internet via an Ethernet cable, you can use one of several PC software programs, such as WS_FTP for Windows, to conduct a file transfer.
FTP transfers can be performed on the World Wide Web without the need for special software. In this case, the Web browser will suffice. Whenever you download software from a Web site to your local machine, you are using FTP. You can also retrieve FTP files via search engines such as FtpFind, located at /http://www.ftpfind.com/. This option is easiest because you do not need to know FTP program commands.
E-MAIL DISCUSSION GROUPS
One of the benefits of the Internet is the opportunity it offers to people worldwide to communicate via e-mail. The Internet is home to a large community of individuals who carry out active discussions organized around topic-oriented forums distributed by e-mail. These are administered by software programs. Probably the most common program is the listserv.
A great variety of topics are covered by listservs, many of them academic in nature. When you subscribe to a listserv, messages from other subscribers are automatically sent to your electronic mailbox. You subscribe to a listserv by sending an e-mail message to a computer program called a listserver. Listservers are located on computer networks throughout the world. This program handles subscription information and distributes messages to and from subscribers. You must have a e-mail account to participate in a listserv discussion group. Visit Tile.net at /http://tile.net/ to see an example of a site that offers a searchablecollection of e-mail discussion groups.
Majordomo and Listproc are two other programs that administer e-mail discussion groups. The commands for subscribing to and managing your list memberships are similar to those of listserv.
USENET NEWS
Usenet News is a global electronic bulletin board system in which millions of computer users exchange information on a vast range of topics. The major difference between Usenet News and e-mail discussion groups is the fact that Usenet messages are stored on central computers, and users must connect to these computers to read or download the messages posted to these groups. This is distinct from e-mail distribution, in which messages arrive in the electronic mailboxes of each list member.
Usenet itself is a set of machines that exchanges messages, or articles, from Usenet discussion forums, called newsgroups. Usenet administrators control their own sites, and decide which (if any) newsgroups to sponsor and which remote newsgroups to allow into the system.
There are thousands of Usenet newsgroups in existence. While many are academic in nature, numerous newsgroups are organized around recreational topics. Much serious computer-related work takes place in Usenet discussions. A small number of e-mail discussion groups also exist as Usenet newsgroups.
The Usenet newsfeed can be read by a variety of newsreader software programs. For example, the Netscape suite comes with a newsreader program called Messenger. Newsreaders are also available as standalone products.
FAQ, RFC, FYI
FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions. These are periodic postings to Usenet newsgroups that contain a wealth of information related to the topic of the newsgroup. Many FAQs are quite extensive. FAQs are available by subscribing to individual Usenet newsgroups. A Web-based collection of FAQ resources has been collected by The Internet FAQ Consortium and is available at /http://www.faqs.org/.
RFC stands for Request for Comments. These are documents created by and distributed to the Internet community to help define the nuts and bolts of the Internet. They contain both technical specifications and general information.
FYI stands for For Your Information. These notes are a subset of RFCs and contain information of interest to new Internet users.
Links to indexes of all three of these information resources are available on the University Libraries Web site at /http://library.albany.edu/reference/faqs.html.
CHAT & INSTANT MESSENGING
Chat programs allow users on the Internet to communicate with each other by typing in real time. They are sometimes included as a feature of a Web site, where users can log into the "chat room" to exchange comments and information about the topics addressed on the site. Chat may take other, more wide-ranging forms. For example, America Online is well known for sponsoring a number of topical chat rooms.
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a service through which participants can communicate to each other on hundreds of channels. These channels are usually based on specific topics. While many topics are frivolous, substantive conversations are also taking place. To access IRC, you must use an IRC software program.
A variation of chat is the phenomenon of instant messenging. With instant messenging, a user on the Web can contact another user currently logged in and type a conversation. Most famous is America Online's Instant Messenger. ICQ, MSN and Yahoo are other commonly-used chat programs.
Other types of real-time communication are addressed in the tutorial Understanding the World Wide Web.
MUD/MUSH/MOO/MUCK/DUM/MUSE
MUD stands for Multi User Dimension. MUDs, and their variations listed above, are multi-user virtual reality games based on simulated worlds. Traditionally text based, graphical MUDs now exist. There are MUDs of all kinds on the Internet, and many can be joined free of charge. For more information, read one of the FAQs devoted to MUDs available at the FAQ site at
Posted by CSphere at 8:42 AM 0 comments
Labels: computer-articles, computer-networking, internet
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)