My StealthMachines Review - Part 1

When shopping for electronics of any kind, considerable time is often spent researching the various products and the companies that make them.

The critical points that inevitably make the decision to buy one product over another are:

• the reputation of the company
  
• reputation of the product line
• the quality of the parts
  
• the overall specs
  
• price of the product
  
• the warranty

I was recently going through the process of buying a new computer and had narrowed down my decision to one of five companies:

1. StealthMachines
2. Falcon Northwest
3. Puget Systems
4. Alienware (now owned by Dell)
5. Apple
   

After spending close to 6 months researching build ideas and various companies, I decided to go with StealthMachines because of the company's stellar reputation with the Better Business Bureau and past and current customers, competitive pricing, high quality parts, inexpensive 3 year warranty and free trade in program.

“StealthMachines rewards return customers and is a participate in renewable business practices. For this reason, trade-in your old StealthMachines or other electronic equipment and we'll give you credit towards a new StealthMachine.”

BBB Accreditation

“StealthMachines LLC has been a BBB Accredited business since January 2009. This means it supports BBB's services to the public and meets our BBB Accreditation standards.

Based on BBB files, StealthMachines LLC has a BBB Rating of A

Customer Complaint History for StealthMachines LLC

BBB processed a total of 0 complaints about StealthMachines LLC in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period.

BBB Program Participation

This company has agreed to use special procedures including arbitration, if necessary, to resolve disputes through their participation in the following programs: BBB Identification, BBBOnLine.” ( http://www.bbb.org/northern-colorado/business-reviews/computer-stores/stealthmachines-in-fort-collins-co-46015931 )”

I read reviews about StealthMachines on the company website, competing websites and various forums and the consensus was that the owner, Josef Kulovany, consistently goes above and beyond the call of duty in regards to customer service.

When I went to the StealthMachines website to use their system to configure a build, I played around with a few ideas and then saved a build I liked and emailed it to myself. The next day, Josef emailed me asking if I had any questions or would I like any advice on parts.

When I replied with a few questions, he emailed me back within 20 minutes and had several money saving suggestions, as well as suggesting a different case that would be easy to clean and maintain and included more options for future upgrades.

Every question I asked Josef was answered quickly and concisely, his prices are competitive with shopping at NewEgg and building it yourself. (I'm taking into account the individual shipping and handling charges for the parts that had shipping charges, as well as the cost of smaller items such as thermal paste and custom cabling.)

I'm expecting to receive my new computer Oct 2 and will post a review of the packaging, the condition it was received, the set up and my first impressions, as well as some basic benchmarks.

Netbook Security Tips

Recently, a friend asked me for advice on internet and laptop security and that got me thinking about all the security habits I've picked up over the years.

The following are some of the best products and services I've used that I can't live without because they work so well and are free or very affordable.

The first thing I did when I recently re-installed the OS on my netbook, was to set the BIOS to only boot from the hardrive and then password protect the BIOS.

Next, in the BIOS, I locked the hardrive and password protected it.

The benefit of these first two steps is that if my netbook is stolen, someone can't just turn it on and easily brows my files and other information or re-install the operating system.

Next, I used Truecrypt to encrypt the entire drive with triple layer 256 bit encryption. This ensures that if someone pulls the drive out of the machine they still won't be able to access my information.

Then, I set a user password.

To protect myself online I use ESET's Nod 32 anti-virus, which I love because it works amazingly well, is small and takes up very few resources while requiring very little hands on maintenance or tweaking.

When surfing online I will often use Sandboxie, a sandbox program, that allows me to surf in a virtual environment. This way, even if I do pick up a virus, everything stays in the sandbox and I can simply delete the sandbox when I have finished surfing. Thus, deleting any and all viruses and malware that I may have come across.

I use Firefox for browsing and have a master password enabled to protect the passwords I use online. However, I don't save important passwords in Firefox. Instead, I use a technique where I create easy to remember passwords by using ordinary English words translated into L337 or Leet, which is an underground computer language. I then have a different password for each category of online use, such as Email, forums and hardware.

When logging in using a wireless hotspot I often use a VPN. I like HotspotVPN as a paid service but as a broke student I use Logmein to remotely access my home computer or I use Logmein Hamachi free VPN.

I hope that you find these tips to be helpful and if you know a product or service that you love, please let me know so I can test it out and possibly add it to the list.

Truecrypt: http://www.truecrypt.org/

Sandboxie:http://www.sandboxie.com/

Leet Translator: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/leet

HotspotVPN: http://www.hotspotvpn.com/

Logmein: https://secure.logmein.com/

Well I'm back. Finally.

If your wondering why this blog has been sitting here inactive for so long let me explain. I had my senior thesis to write, an internship to complete and to top it off halfway through the term I wiped out on my Yamaha xvs 1100 going over wet railroad tracks in Lake Oswego.

Thankfully I'm smart enough to throw myself under the bike so the bike is fine except for a broken brake lever. I on the other hand have been limping around for the last month or so but as I said. I'm back.

In the next few weeks I plan on playing around with several new Linux distros as well as virtual machines, Backtrack 4 and who knows what else.

Stay tuned :)

How do you recover your Windows password if you forget it?

Ever wake up and decide that today you're going to beef up your digital security? Maybe you heard about all the scary crackers and identity thieves out there and decided to give your laptop a really strong password...except now you can't remember what it is and your locked out of your own computer. So, what do you do? Take it to a professional and pay $50.00 while waiting 24 hours? Not me...

All you need to do (if you're running Windows) is go to http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/ and download the ISO file for either (or both) Windows Vista or XP in the LIVE CD version.

Check the hash with Winmd5sum which can be found here http://www.nullriver.com/products/winmd5sum by right-clicking the ISO file then:

• Click Send To, then winMD5Sum.

• Wait for winMD5Sum to load and finish the checksum.

• Copy the corresponding hash from the source's website into the bottom text box.

• Click Compare.

It's important to verify the hash after downloading the file because of the possibility of errors during the download process. It is a very good idea to run an MD5 hash comparison check when you have a file like an operating system install CD that has to be 100% correct.

Cryptographic hashes such as MD5 allow you to verify that the data you have downloaded is the original file and hasn't been altered, corrupted or poisoned in any way... (as long as the hash you use for comparison comes from a trusted source) you can verify the status of a file downloaded from anywhere.

After you have checked the hash and seen that the two hash files match go to Sourceforge at http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/ophcrack/index.php?title=Frequently_Asked_Questions#How_to_installl_the_LiveCD_on_a_USB_stick.3F and download tazusb by clicking on the link about halfway down the page under the heading “How to installl the LiveCD on a USB stick?” Then connect your USB, launch tazusb.exe and follow the directions.

Tazusb will create bootable usb media with a few simple commands. It can also compress and backup the entire current file system to the media, thus preserving all modifications for future use. You will also download SliTaz which is a free operating system, working completely in RAM and booting from removable media such as a cdrom or USB key.

Once this is finished just decompress the iso file you downloaded to the root of the USB stick with your favorite decompression software (like 7-zip). There should be two directories on your USB stick (boot and ophcrack).

• Execute the script bootinst.bat that is in the boot directory.

• Reboot your computer and make sure it boots from the stick.

Easy Peasy. Now all you need to do is plunk it in your computer, turn your computer on, log into the BIOS and change the boot order to boot from your USB drive and then continue the boot process. Slitaz will load automatically and you can even have Ophcrack run automatically.

Within minutes pwdump will have given you the password hashes and Ophcrack will be cracking away. (note: Vista is much, much harder to crack so use a dictionary attack not brute force)

How to install Mac OSX on a PC without dual boot

How to install Mac OSX on a PC without dual boot

This is why I love Linux. You can find a tutorial to do almost anything and if there isn't a tutorial you just need to get creative and write a soloution yourself.

That, and that the EULA agreements and instructions in Linux are a hoot! You can tell it's going to be a difficult install when step 8 is a reminder to breathe and step 12 is your almost done and to rejoice and hump everything in sight :)

And We're Back to Windows

I love EeeBuntu. That said, I'm letting Jas borrow my lappy for AIT and he insists on Windows so we're back to Windows again. The $74.00 Chinese battery I mentioned in an earlier post lasted about 8 solid hours under linux with WiFi on and lasts around 9 1/2 on windows so not a whole lot of difference.

All in all, the reinstall disk that comes with the Eee pc is pretty good. They used Ghost and the install only took two hours to get all the updates etc. (This is why I prefer Linux, NO RE_BOOTING)

I kept it simple and only added FireFox, Netstumbler, a VPN and NOD32. I'll password protect the BIOS before I give it to him and maybe incrypt the drive with TruCrypt (or at least add a hidden encrypted drive for movie storage :)

It will be interesting to see how the lappy handles military life in Oklahoma heat...

EeeBuntu

Well, I finaly have an OS I'm happy with.

I decided that over my week long break between classes I would try out Linux on my Eee PC 1000h netbook.
First I installed Ubuntu's Jaunty Jackalope using a bootable flashdrive and an image file. I liked the distro and everything worked out of the box with the exception of my Netgear router not wanting to connect (every other wireless router I tried to connect to had no problem though).

Next, I burned an EeeBunto ISO file to disk with ImgBurn and WOW. The install took about 45 minutes including downloading all the updates and I didn't have to reboot once. (Apparently you don't re-boot with Linux, YAY) Everything works including my wireless and I've never been so damn happy :)

Next, I'm going to try out Skype and my new aftermarket battery from China. Supposedly it lasts 9-11 hours so, well see.