Thought I'd turn things around a bit..you know give some of us numbskulls a chance to talk about probably our least favourite subject on the planet,ELECTRIC SHEDS!!

All these I.T. bods are filling up the threads talking about mega bites and googen hymers, selluprimes and phoo phoo dongles...come on lads..give us humpty dumpty's a chance...let's talk simple ey!

Got mine 11 months ago, and it still baffles me. I mean what the hell is the point of all these ruddy keys on this typewriter thing F1, F2, F3,.....F. OFF I say!

Got this other box here..tried to put a dvd in it to watch on this very handsome telly. No it won't play it...and I thought computers could do anything.

Still, I console myself with the fact that if I get stuck using it, I can always ask one of you for help...home visits too..Thanks Alex.

I get lessons from my 8 yr old, spellings too

Setev

I'm beginning to understand Colin that the term "electric shed" is in fact your pc case?

Until now, I thought you meant your PC was in a shed, at the back of the garden. More comprehensible things like lawn-mowers get a place in the spare bedroom, but nooooooo, not the mysterious box of electronics

The scary thing is when you try and take control of it and define for once who the daddy is with regards to kids and all. For example, install some internet monitoring application to stop the lil'uns visiting innapropriate websites. Then you realise you can't get on the net at all 'cos the lil'un in question has hacked into the software, changed the password and then visits all his favourite sites but blocks your most essential briskoda litterature. I mean, what's the world come to Little cyber-terrorist-ten-year-olds

Same here lads, my nippers leave me standing looking aghast :eek: at what they can do on this 'thing'

Yea Xav,the 'electric shed' is a new anti technical term that I've come up with...working on a few others too. Should write a book really.

Computers for tosspots!

I like computers even more fun when they decide to die on you for no reason. Russian Horny Beasts eh CJ :naughty:

I like computers even more fun when they decide to die on you for no reason. Russian Horny Beasts eh CJ :naughty:

bet thats all CJ really got his electric shed for in the first place

And yes CJ i've seen you're website address :eek: :sofahide:

Jonno.

bet thats all CJ really got his electric shed for in the first place

And yes CJ i've seen you're website address :eek: :sofahide:

Jonno.

Have'nt seen those girls for quite a while now just junky stuff trying to install games, sell me ringing tones ,casinos, make a million overnight type stuff. Jams this thing up..can be merrily typing away for 5 mins then look up and found the cursor hasn't moved!

It's going to be re formated...is that the right word..very soon, just need the courage to put the disc in and press go! :eek:

C.J....never to be seen again!

Find instructions to instal stuff quite difficult to understand, and navigating your way around the basics is a total nightmare..knowing which damned button to press next. Asking for a basic guide book for dickheads for Crimbo.

I WON'T BE DEFEATED!

Find instructions to instal stuff quite difficult to understand, and navigating your way around the basics is a total nightmare..knowing which damned button to press next.

That, unfortunately, is something which only really comes with practice...

The "...for Dummies" books are pretty good, though you need to make sure you get the right one for what you need - one specialising in XP might be better for you than a generic PC one...

The other alternative is a training course, but they're not especially cheap. Although, being self-employed, and this government keen to get everyone computer literate, you might find there's some business development grants you could apply for... :rubchin:

Rob.

The scary thing is when you try and take control of it and define for once who the daddy is with regards to kids and all. For example, install some internet monitoring application to stop the lil'uns visiting innapropriate websites. Then you realise you can't get on the net at all 'cos the lil'un in question has hacked into the software, changed the password and then visits all his favourite sites but blocks your most essential briskoda litterature. I mean, what's the world come to Little cyber-terrorist-ten-year-olds

I often have to set up computers for children to use at home on behalf of LEAs and the best way to stop them hacking it is to make the password really nasty (I can't say what we use but it doesn't exactly rattle off the tongue!!) The best password tip I can give is to put a punctuation mark in it and to make it longer than 10 characters as most hacking tools only go for letters and numbers and if they do look for other characters they tend to be limited to ten characters. Also think about swapping i for 1 and 3 for e in words as this is easier to remember than a nonsense password.

Sorry if I've hijacked this thread.

No you haven't Neil, you've tried to explain part of the problem of hacking in simple terms, and I appreciate that.

I know poor old Marc seemed to have his computer hijacked/hacked/whatevered this week and all the distress it caused him must be awful.

Suppose it's good that I haven't got much important info stored on here,as I really wouldn't know what to do apart from panic, if it happened to me.

How's this 'hacking' work then? Does some kid just sit behind a monitor all day typing in every word from the english dictionary? :eek:

How's this 'hacking' work then? Does some kid just sit behind a monitor all day typing in every word from the english dictionary? :eek:

There's quite a few ways of hacking, and it depends what your target is...for guessing passwords though, one of the methods used is called "brute force", and is much like you describe, but it uses a programme to try every word from a dictionary file. Actually quite effective, as people like "plain English" passwords (especially "Password" ).

Rob.

Suppose I must have some I.T. common sense then after all...for my initial signing on I use a combination of letters and numbers lwr and higher case and more than 1 word too. Hack that ***t!

Safe?

Don't dissapoint me...please! :(

Rob, you mean you can actually buy a programme to hack for you!!! :eek:

Rob, you mean you can actually buy a programme to hack for you!!! :eek:

I doubt it's for sale, as there's some legal issues with what the software does...

However, it's a relatively simple programme to write, so a decent hacker could probably knock one up themselves easily enough!

Rob.

I doubt it's for sale' date=' as there's some legal issues with what the software does...

However, it's a relatively simple programme to write, so a decent hacker could probably knock one up themselves easily enough!

Rob.[/quote']

A colleague at work downloaded a program when we needed to unlock a password protected file from a former member of staff. It used all the combinations of letters and numbers up to ten characters long until it managed to unlock the file.

I believe it now sits in a hidden part of the network in case we ever need to call on it again. :eek:

I developed a password hacking program for sorting out our dickhead mobile workers who forget all one of their passwords they have to remember.

We'll get your shed sorted C.J.

Reading all this makes me very worried.It seems, and correct me if I'm wrong please, that anyone with a bit of nowse about them, can simply shove a disc into this monster, press go, wait a bit and then hey flamin presto your into anyones computer, passwords, on line banking details, and in fact full access to all their personal files! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

So much for privacy ey!

I started this thread mainly as a direct result of hearing about Marc's tales of woe this week...and he knows more about these things than me.

It really is a worry, and very scary for a numptie like me. :(

Now where's me quill, ink pot and paper?

Reading all this makes me very worried.It seems' date=' and correct me if I'm wrong please, that anyone with a bit of nowse about them, can simply shove a disc into this monster, press go, wait a bit and then hey flamin presto your into anyones computer, passwords, on line banking details, and in fact full access to all their personal files! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

So much for privacy ey!

I started this thread mainly as a direct result of hearing about Marc's tales of woe this week...and he knows more about these things than me.

It really is a worry, and very scary for a numptie like me. :(

Now where's me quill, ink pot and paper? [/quote']

If only it was so simple - I'd be a millionaire:D

If only what was so simple, you old dinasour? :confused:

ps..strut brace on, and paint detailing nearly finished Andy.

can simply shove a disc into this monster, press go, wait a bit and then hey flamin presto your into anyones computer, passwords, on line banking details, and in fact full access to all their personal files!

Well...their first problem would be gaining physical access to the machine to do this...decent locks on the room with the computer are the first line of defence...

Then they have to guess your password...if you include punctuation, etc. then it makes things tougher - IIRC, the standard character set comprises 256 characters. So each one of these need to be tried. If you then have a 10 character password, you're looking at trying each of these 256 characters in each of the places (every single combination).

Which (and admittedly it's a long time since I've done probability) I believe gives a potential of 1208925819614629174706176 possible combinations, and it would take a while to perform all these. Admittedly statiscally speaking only half of these would need to be tried (on average) before the password was guessed. Even so, I reckon you'd be talking hours if not days to guess - it's a lot of work/hassle for the "haul" you'd get off a typical domestic PC. Much better results using them on proper systems...

Rob.

ps. Though I should point out there's an easier method to gain access to a machine running XP...

ps..strut brace on, and paint detailing nearly finished Andy.

Just the ballast boy stickers to go on the windows then

Got in to find a cheque in todays post for quite a bit of money - guess I'll be visiting Wrexham again this week

Rob...totally baffled ...yet again...does this mean that someone had to break into Marcs house to gain access to his computer files and to crack his passwords...'cus that's how your explanation reads to me.

Are you in fact saying that you couldn't discover my passwords to gain entry into this hive of activity from the comfort of your own home?

By ther way..off topic...how's Mrs Rob and Rob jnr.,?

No you haven't Neil' date=' you've tried to explain part of the problem of hacking in simple terms, and I appreciate that.

I know poor old Marc seemed to have his computer hijacked/hacked/whatevered this week and all the distress it caused him must be awful.

Suppose it's good that I haven't got much important info stored on here,as I really wouldn't know what to do apart from panic, if it happened to me.

How's this 'hacking' work then? Does some kid just sit behind a monitor all day typing in every word from the english dictionary? :eek:[/quote']

you been talking about me behind my back?

ok here we go but be warned .....this will NOT reassure you :(

I have worked out what happened.

I downloaded some software that had a "backdoor " virus attached.

The software didnot work so I deleteed it but the damage had been done.The backdoor virus opens a communication port ( door) in the computer that means that anyone can communicate with the pc.In addition to that the backdoor virus disables the antivirus / security software and send an email to the c*** that sent the virus.

The email (which is not logged so not traceable) tells the **** my computers address and the port number that is now opened.Its a bit like saying to a burgler that a window is open and at what address! :eek:

The "hacker" then contacts my computer and has open access .In this case they started changing passwords etc which would have stopped me accessing it .

If you know where to look you can find out stored information like ebay/paypal details,passwords etc.

When I eventually managed to get control again I got dozens of attempts to access the pc again withing thw first half hour so the hacker was still having a go

By putting the router/firewall system in it has changed my computer address so hopefully he/she will not find it again.In any case the new equipment should have far greater protection....i hope

the only reassurance is that itsall done through the phone lines - no breaking and entering needed

sorry its a bit of a rambling explaination but hope it makes sense

marc

Oh colin

I will be sending andy a cd with some software you will need when you both sort that pc out - although that may be news to you

I think I havegot the dummies book that Rob was talking about ,my copy is on cd so you can either print it our or read it on the pc ...I will send a copy of that as well

will take a bit longer yet as still got to finish off installing the cd burner but should be with you in a few more days

What Marc said - the hacker doesn't necessarily need to have physical access to a computer, but with a firewall in place this would probably be their best bet!

One thing that does surprise me with a lot of problems I deal with is that people are running no kind of protection on their PCs at all in terms of firewalls - yet broadband installers never seem to explain to customers just how important it is...

Generally the sort of problems you get as result of not running a firewall *aren't* some 15 year old lad sat in front of a computer hacking your machine directly, generally it's automatic port scanners which try large ranges of addresses and sees which ports it can access. A bit like walking up a street trying the all the car door handles to see if someone's left their car unlocked...

Oh, and mother and baby are doing well CJ, thanks for asking...

Rob.

So what you are saying Rob, if I'm reading this correctly,is that in fact a firewall is probably the most important protection you can have, and will in fact stop just about anything or anyone from 'getting in'?

Thanks for your patience matey, it must be very tiring and frustrating dealing with an old donkey like me...questions, questions, questions!

Anyway continuing to hijack my own thread which I believe I can do when's the family coming home?