Red Hat Offers Its Cloud APIs as Industry Standard

As the industry call for cloud interoperability grows more fervent, open-source enterprise software company Red Hat has submitted its cloud platform, Deltacloud, to the DMTF (Distributed Management Task Force) as a potential standard for cloud interoperability, the company said Wednesday.


"We do not want Deltacloud to be under the control of any one particular vendor, including Red Hat. If you want true interoperability and true portability, you need a third-party governance structure," said Red Hat cloud product manager Bryan Che during a webcast outlining the company's cloud-computing road map.


Lack of interoperability among different cloud providers is one of the major concerns that prevent enterprises from adopting cloud computing, noted Gary Chen, an IDC research manager covering enterprise virtualization software, during a presentation that accompanied Red Hat's announcement. 


Beyond Red Hat, a number of other cloud service providers are also tackling the problem. In July, Rackspace and U.S. government space agency NASA launched an open-source collection of cloud enabling software called OpenStack. And earlier this week, Eucalyptus Systems released version 2.0 of its cloud platform, which uses the AWS (Amazon Web Services) API. The company argues that, due to its popularity, AWS has become a de facto standard. 


Red Hat launched Deltacloud in September 2009 as a set of open-source APIs (application programming interfaces) that could be used to move cloud-based workloads among different IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) providers, such as Amazon and Rackspace. 


In order to move workloads among different cloud providers, customers need "an architecture that is compatible, and a stack that is compatible with what they are running on the inside," said Paul Cormier, Red Hat's president for products and technologies.


To encourage external contributions to Deltacloud, Red Hat relinquished the Deltacloud code base to the Apache Incubator, a repository for programs that may eventually be overseen by the Apache Foundation. The company also started a site, called APIwanted.org, where external parties can submit suggestions for additional APIs and other desired functionality for Deltacloud.


In addition to Red Hat itself, other companies participating in the development of Deltacloud, or using it in some way, include Cisco, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Ingres and Intel, the company asserted.


DMTF's Cloud Management Working Group will consider adopting Deltacloud as a standard. DMTF oversees existing standards such as CDM (the Common Diagnostic Model), DASH (the Desktop and Mobile Architecture For System Hardware) and OVF (the Open Virtualization Format).


Red Hat also said Wednesday that it would be assembling a Platform-as-a-Service package built around its JBoss middleware software stack.

Double Your Netbook Power with New Dual-Core Atoms

Intel has launched the Atom N550 .Its first dual-core Atom processor. The next-generation Atom processor boosts the power and capabilities of smaller mobile computers--providing businesses with even more cost effective options for portable computing.


The Atom N550 processors is available on the shelf as of today in a dozen or so different netbook models. The manufacturers that are already on the dual-core Atom bandwagon include Acer, ASUS, Fujitsu, Lenovo, LG, Samsung, MSI, and Toshiba.


The Atom was designed by Intel to provide a more energy-efficient alternative to the Celeron-M processors that were being used in netbooks at the time. The launch of the Atom made the netbook a more powerful mobile computing platform and basically ignited the explosion of the netbook market.


"In their short history, the netbook category has experienced impressive growth," said Erik Reid, director of marketing for mobile platforms at Intel. "Having shipped about 70 million Intel Atom chips for netbooks since our launch of the category in 2008, there is obviously a great market for these devices around the world."


As the high end of notebooks--the larger and more powerful cousins of the netbook--evolve from dual-core to the more powerful quad-core processors, the Atom N550 moves the diminutive netbook platform into the dual-core era. The Atom N550 processor runs at 1.5GHz, and includes support for DDR3 memory as well.


Netbooks are the first out of the gate with the new Atoms--and the netbook market represents the most obvious benefactor of the transition to dual-core processing--but there are wider applications for the new Intel processors as well. The more powerful processor also opens the possibility of dual-core smartphones and tablets as technology continues to migrate to mobile platforms.


Intel's work with Nokia to develop the Meego mobile operating system, and its purchase of McAfee to provide better security for connected devices of all shapes and sizes also hint at what may be on the horizon for Intel.


Companies that want to provide employees with portable computers, but don't need mobile users to have top-end computing power can explore the possibility of deploying dual-core netbooks rather than full-blown notebook PCs. Even single-core netbooks are capable of completing the vast majority of tasks that mobile workers might need to perform.


Netbooks are smaller and lighter than notebooks, making them easier to lug around while on the go. They also have significantly better battery life than typical notebooks--lasting six hours or more on a single charge. And, let's not forget that netbooks are generally much cheaper than typical notebook PCs.


Smartphones and tablets have pushed netbooks to the back of the mobile computing bus, but those platforms have limitations and sometimes mobile workers need a "real" computer. The Atom N550 processors bring dual-core power to netbooks, and expand the possibilities for computing on the go.

Cracks in computer defenses abound

This news from Yahoo News


IBM  reported that the number of discovered cracks that hackers could exploit in computer software surged in the first half of the year.


The number of new "vulnerabilities" documented by an X-Force Research and Development team at IBM increased 36 percent to 4,396 from the same period last year and more than half lacked patches to fix the flaws.


"This year's X-Force report reveals that although threats are on the rise, the industry as a whole is getting much more vigilant about reporting vulnerabilities," said IBM Security Solutions general manager Steve Robinson.


"Threat dynamics continue to multiply and evolve at a furious pace, making it more crucial than ever to look at unfolding trends so we can better prepare our clients for the future."


Software weaknesses were most abundant in Web applications, programs accessed in browsers on the Internet, according to the team. Web application vulnerabilities accounted for 55 percent of the disclosures.


"These figures may only represent the tip of the iceberg of total Web application vulnerabilities that exist, as they do not include custom-developed Web applications," X-Force said in a report of the findings.


Covert cyber attack tactics on business computers grew in frequency and complexity, according to X-Force.


Hacker attacks using booby-trapped document files "continue to soar" as cyber crooks find new ways to trick users, the report warned.


In a bit of encouraging news, the number of "phishing" attacks in which hackers use email messages to try to dupe people into visiting bogus websites or opening tainted files plunged 82 percent, according to X-Force.


"Despite this drastic decline, financial institutions are still the number one phishing target," the team concluded.


"Credit cards, governmental organizations, online payment institutions and auctions represent the majority of other targets."

How to Edit the Right click Menu

A lot of programs you install will add themselves to the right-click
menu of your files and/or folders. And most times, you have no
choice in the matter and, as a result, your right-click menu can get
very long with added items you don't even use. The last person I
was helping with this had a right context menu so long that the
Rename option was no longer visible!


Fortunately, you can easily remove those unwanted menu items, if
you know the registry values to edit. And it's not at all difficult
once you know the keys responsible for the additions.


For Files, the secret lies in the "context menu handlers" under the
shellex subkey for "All Files" which, in the registry, is nothing but
an asterisk - like a dos wildcard, which means the values entered
apply to all files. 


It is at the very top of the Root key, right here:


HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*shellexContextMenuHandlers


Click the the + sign next to the ContextMenuHandlers key, to
expand it.


Now you will see some of the programs that have added items to
your right-click menu. Simply delete the program keys you don't
want.


It's that simple. If deleting makes you uneasy, just export the
key before deleting it. Or, instead of deleting the values, disable
them. Simply double click the default value for the program on the
right hand pane and rename the clsid value by placing a period or
dash in front of it.


ie; - {b5eedee0-c06e-11cf-8c56-444553540000}


Then exit the registry, refresh, and right click a file to see if the
item was removed from the menu.


Some programs - like WinZip or WinRar - will add several items
to your right click menu but all of them will be removed by
deleting or disabling their one context menu handler.


Note that the above key only applies to the right click menu of
files.


To remove entries from the right click context menu of folders,
you need to navigate to the Folder and Drive keys:


HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTFoldershellexContextMenuHandle rs
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDriveshellexContextMenuHandler s


All you have to do is follow the same procedure as for Files -
either disable or delete items you wish to remove.


Adding Items


Adding Items to the right click menu of Files and Folders is also
fairly simple using the Registry. 


It just involves the creation of a few new keys for each item you wish to add. 


You edit the same keys used for removing items. Let's use Notepad as an example of an item you'd like to add to the right click menu of all your files or folders.


For folders, go to this key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTFolder


Click the + sign next to Folder and expand it so that the Shell key
is visible. 


Right click the Shell key and choose New>Key and
name the key Notepad or whatever else you'd prefer (whatever the
key is named is what will appear in the right-click menu). 


Now right click the new key you made and create another key named Command. 


Then, in the right hand pane, double click "Default"
and enter Notepad.exe as the value.


Exit the registry, refresh, and right click any folder. Notepad
should now be on the context menu.


For files, go here again:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*


Expand the * key and see if a Shell key exists. 


If it does exist, follow the same procedure as for folders.


If it does not exist, you'll have to create a new Shell first. 


Just right click the * key and choose New>Key and name it Shell. Then right click the Shell key and continue on the same way you did for adding items to the right click menu of folders.


Once done, Notepad should appear as an option in the right click
menu of all your files.

Make folder whithout specifying folder name

Would you like to make folder whithout specifying folder name.Follow the below steps.......


1.First of all select a folder or file or make new folder or something.


2.Right click on it n click on rename
and erase previous name.


3.Now hold RIGHT ALT botton n write 0160


4.Release alt botton n press ENTER

Hard Disk Speed Up

To speed up your hard disk speed we need to configure a special buffer in the computer's memory in order
to enable it to better deal with interrupts made from the disk.
This tip is only recommended if you have 256MB RAM or higher.


Follow these steps:


1.Run SYSEDIT.EXE from the Run command.


2.Expand the system.ini file window.


3.Scroll down almost to the end of the file till you find a line called
[386enh].


4.Press Enter to make one blank line, and in that line type
Irq14=4096


Note: This line IS CASE SENSITIVE!!!


5.Click on the File menu, then choose Save.


6.Close SYSEDIT and reboot your computer.

Block your USB in XP

First of all backup ur registry


Start -> Run -> regedit ->Find the Hkey_Local_Machine>System>Current Control set>Services>USBStor.


Look at the right pain and find out the Start where value of the start would be 0000000(3) edit the value by
double mouse click and type 4 and save.
Restart ur pc

You can Hide Folders and Files from Your Computer:

          Everybody wants keep their files secret from others in their computer. Then this article gives the solution for your problem.

Step1:

Click Run in the All programs from start button.

Step2:

Type cmd in Run tab and click Enter. Then the below command prompt will open.

Step3:

After open command your command prompt type a drive name(eg:D: or E: or F:) where your folder or files that you want to hide.

Step4:

After entering into Drive type the below command:

attrib +s +h Mobile

The process is shown in below figure.

In the above command Mobile is the folder name that we want to hide.

Go to the drive where you have folder or file. The folder now in secrecy mode. It hide from your computer.

Step5:

If you want to back the file from secrecy mode then type the below command.

Attrib –s –h Mobile

In the above command Mobile is your folder name.

New 10 Rupee coin of India

 This new Indian coin has been approved by the Indian government as a new symbol for Indian Rupee and this is the newest look of Rs. 10 coin 

The Indian rupee symbol is a mix of the Devanagri ''Ra'' and Roman ''R'', and becomes the fifth currency in the world to have such a distinct identity. As you are aware, this new Indian rupee symbol is designed by IIT post-graduate D Uday Kumar and has been approved by the Union Cabinet today.

The new Indian rupee will now join the elite club of US dollar, British pound-sterling, Euro and Japanese Yen to have its own symbol. 

The response received for this new Indian rupee symbol has already been great.

LTE-UE validated in IOT

L and T Infotech, leading IT Services company announced that its LTE User Equipment (UE) Stack has been validated in interoperability tests (IOT) with Trillium LTE eNodeB software from Continuous Computing, the global provider of integrated platform solutions that address the mobile broadband capacity challenge.

LTE or Long Term Evolution, is a new high performance air interface standard for cellular mobile communication systems. It is the last step towards the 4G generation of radio technologies and is aimed to be the successor to the current 3G technologies like UMTS. 

"Continuous Computing is the global leader in network access, edge and core protocol software stacks and we are happy to have demonstrated interoperability with their Trillium LTE product family," said Isaac Sundarajan, Executive Vice President and Head of Product Engineering Services (PES) Business Unit, L and T Infotech. 

The LTE-UE Stack is intended for devices such as standalone/multi-mode or tethered mode wireless handsets, data cards, USB wireless modems, laptops and ultra mobile PCs.

Tendulkar lends a helping hand to his old friend

Indian Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, who has set many milestones in cricket, has been a real hero off the field too. Tendulkar lent a helping hand to his old friend Dalbir.

Despite having a hectic schedule, Tendulkar visited one of his old friends, Dalbir Singh Gill at an Ahmedabad hospital. It was revealed that Sachin arranged the medical treatment for Dalbir and was instrumental in giving a new lease of life to him.

Sachin and Dalbir played together under-15 and under-17 level. Dalbir played for Gujarat and represented West Zone till 2001. He met with a fatal road accident in 2002.

Dalbir was in coma and given steroids after the accident, which damaged his hip joints. Sachin talked to former BCCI Physio Dr. Anant Joshi, who advised to shift Dalbir to Ahmedabad.

Dalbir Singh under-went the hip-replacement surgery at Shelby hospital in Ahmedabad. The total cost was around Rs 5 lakh and Sachin bore the entire expenses.

Dalbir is reportedly doing well after the surgery and may soon be able to walk again. His family members consider Sachin as a saviour and expressed their gratitude towards the cricketer.

India Finds Way to access BlackBerry:

The telecoms ministry has suggested a formula by which security agencies can get access to corporate email on Research In Motion's Blackberry devices, the Economic Times reported on Thursday.

RIM faces an Aug. 31 deadline to give authorities the means to track and read BlackBerry Enterprise email and its separate BlackBerry Messenger service.

The newspaper said the telecoms ministry has suggested every time a corporate email is sent on a BlackBerry handset through an enterprise server located in the premises of any company, a copy of this can be fed to the monitoring systems installed by all Internet service providers (ISPs) in the country.

If the solution is not acceptable to the interior ministry, the only option for the telecoms ministry would be to instruct carriers not to offer the enterprise email services on Blackberry platform, the paper said.

It cited an unnamed senior official in the home ministry as saying the intelligence agency was testing the proposal.

A senior government source had said this week India would allow the messenger service to continue beyond the deadline as it had been assured access to the services, but could shut down the secure email service if access is not given by then.

How to trace an IP of remote system

In here I have figure out some very easy but cool ways to trace out the geographical location and various other infos like ISP details etc of a remote computer using its IP.
Well I guess its one of the most important must learn manul for boys out there if you want to impress your friends particularly gals whom you’ll meet online in a chat room and tell them their geographical locations and ISP details and make them surprised and impressed J.
In the practical execution of this manual you don’t have to work much as it is very simple only you have to use your brain to understand some symbols and some format of expressions and use your IQ to execute things the right way.

What is IP and how to get the IP of a remote system::

Getting the IP or Internet Protocol of a remote system is the most important and the first step of hacking into it. Probably it is the first thing a hacker do to get info for researching on a system. Well IP is a unique number assigned to each computer on a network. It is this unique address which represents the system on the network. Generally the IP of a particular system changes each time you log on to the network by dialing to your ISP and it is assigned to you by your ISP. IP of a system which is always on the network remains generally the same. Generally those kind of systems are most likely to suffer a hacking attack because of its stable IP. Using IP you can even execute system commands on the victim’s computer.
Lets take the example of the following IP address: 202.144.49.110 Now the first part, the numbers before the first decimal i.e. 209 is the Network number or the Network Prefix.. This means that it identifies the number of the network in which the host is. The second part i.e. 144 is the Host Number that is it identifies the number of the host within the Network. This means that in the same Network, the network number is same. In order to provide flexibility in the size of the Network, here are different classes of IP addresses:

Address Class Dotted Decimal Notation Ranges
Class A ( /8 Prefixes) 1.xxx.xxx.xxx through 126.xxx.xxx.xxx
Class B ( /16 Prefixes) 128.0.xxx.xxx through 191.255.xxx.xxx
Class C ( /24 Prefixes) 192.0.0.xxx through 223.255.255.xxx

The various classes will be clearer after reading the next few lines.

Each Class A Network Address contains a 8 bit Network Prefix followed by a 24-bit host number. They are considered to be primitive. They are referred to as "/8''s" or just "8's" as they have an 8-bit Network prefix.
In a Class B Network Address there is a 16 bit Network Prefix followed by a 16-bit Host number. It is referred to as "16's".

A class C Network address contains a 24-bit Network Prefix and a 8 bit Host number. It is referred to as
"24's" and is commonly used by most ISP's.

Due to the growing size of the Internet the Network Administrators faced many problems. The Internet routing tables were beginning to grow and now the administrators had to request another network number from the Internet before a new network could be installed at their site. This is where sub-netting came in.

Now if your ISP is a big one and if it provides you with dynamic IP addresses then you will most probably see that whenever you log on to the net, your IP address will have the same first 24 bits and only the last 8 bits will keep changing. This is due to the fact that when sub-netting comes in then the IP Addresses structure becomes:

xxx.xxx.zzz.yyy

where the first 2 parts are Network Prefix numbers and the zzz is the Subnet number and the yyy is the host number. So you are always connected to the same Subnet within the same Network. As a result the first 3 parts will remain the same and only the last part i.e. yyy is variable.
***********************

For Example, if say an ISP xyz is given the IP: 203.98.12.xx Network address then you can be awarded any IP, whose first three fields are 203.98.12. Get it?

So, basically this means that each ISP has a particular range in which to allocate all its subscribers. Or in other words, all subscribers or all people connected to the internet using the same ISP, will have to be in this range. This in effect would mean that all people using the same ISP are likely to have the same first three fields of their IP Addresses.

This means that if you have done a lot of (By this I really mean a lot) of research, then you could figure out which ISP a person is using by simply looking at his IP. The ISP name could then be used to figure out the city and the country of the person. Right? Let me take an example to stress as to how cumbersome but easy (once the research is done) the above method can be.

In my country, say there are three main ISP’s:

ISP Name Network Address Allotted

ISP I 203.94.47.xx
ISP II 202.92.12.xx
ISP III 203.91.35.xx

Now, if I get to know the IP of an e-pal of mine, and it reads: 203.91.35.12, then I can pretty easily figure out that he uses ISP III to connect to the internet. Right? You might say that any idiot would be able to do this. Well, yes and no. You see, the above method of finding out the ISP of a person was successful only because we already had the ISP and Network Address Allotted list with us. So, what my point is, that the above method can be successful only after a lot of research and experimentation. And, I do think such research can be helpful sometimes.

Also, this would not work, if you take it all on in larger scale. What if the IP that you have belongs to someone living in a remote igloo in the North Pole? You could not possibly get the Network Addresses of all the ISP’s in the world, could you? If yes please send it to me J.

Well now I guess you have pretty good knowledge about what an IP is and what you can do by knowing the IP of a remote system. Now lets come to the point of finding out the IP of remote system.
Well you can easily figure out the IP of a remote system using the netstat utility available in the microsoft’s version of DOS. The netstat command shows the connections in which your system is engaged to and the ports they are using. Suppose you are checking your mail in hotmail and you want to find out the IP of msn. All you need to do is to open a dos window (command.com) and type netstat. You will see all the open connections of your system. There you will see something :

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP rahul:1031 64.4.xx.xx:80 ESTABLISHED

Now you got the IP address of hotmail ass 64.4.xx.xx .
Similarly you can figure out the IP address of most http or ftp connections.

To know your own IP type the following command in a dos windows
C:\netstat –n
[this commands converts the IP name into IP addresses]
this is what you will probably see on typing the above command :

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP 203.xx.251.161:1031 194.1.129.227:21 ESTABLISHED
TCP 203.xx.251.161:1043 207.138.41.181:80 FIN_WAIT_2
TCP 203.xx.251.161:1053 203.94.243.71:110 TIME_WAIT
TCP 203.xx.251.161:1058 194.1.129.227:20 TIME_WAIT
TCP 203.xx.251.161:1069 203.94.243.71:110 TIME_WAIT
TCP 203.xx.251.161:1071 194.98.93.244:80 ESTABLISHED
TCP 203.xx.251.161:1078 203.94.243.71:110 TIME_WAIT

Here 203.xx.251.161 is your IP address.

Now lets clarify the format used by netstat :

Proto : It shows the type of protocol the connection with the remote system is using.
Here TCP (transmission control protocol) is the protocol used by my system to connect to other systems.

Local Address : It shows the local address ie the local IP. When the netstat command is executed without –n switch then the name of the local system is displayed and when the netstat is executed with –n switch then the IP of the local system is displayed. Here you can also find out the port used by the connection.
xxx.yyy.zzz.aaa:1024
in this format you will see the local address. Here 1024 is the port to which the remote system is connected in your system

Foreign Address :: It shows the IP address of the remote system to which your system is connected. In this case also if the netstat command is excuted with –n switch then you directly get the IP of the victim but if the netstat is executed without –n switch then you will get the address of the remote system. Something like

C:\netstat
Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP rahul:1031 msgr.lw4.gs681.hotmail.com:80 ESTABLISHED

Here msgr.lw4.gs681.hotmail.com is the address of the foreign system . putting this address in any IP lookup program and doing a whois lookup will reveal the IP of the remote system.

Note: The port to which your system is connected can be found from this in the same way as I have shown in the case of local address. The difference is that, this is the port of the remote system to which your computer is connected to.
Below I have produced a list of ports and popular services generally found to be running.
21 :: FTP port
80 :: http port
23 :: Telnet port

Note: If your execute the netstat command and find ports like 12345,27374 are open and are in use then make it sure that your sweat heart computer is infected with her boyfriend.. J J J J I mean your computer is infected with some sort of Trojan.
Below I have produced a list of commonly known Trojans and the ports they use by default. So if you find these ports open then get a good virus buster and get these stupid servers of the Trojans kicked out. Well if you want to play with these Trojan by keeping them in your computer but not letting them ruin your system performance then just disble it from the system registry run and they wont be loaded to memory each time when windows starts up[This trick doesn’t work for all Trojans].

Netbus :: 12345(TCP)
Subseven :: 27374(TCP)
Girl Friend :: 21554(TCP)
Back Oriface :: 31337 (UDP)

Well guys and gals I hope you are now well familiar with the term IP and what is the utility of IP in cyber world and how to get the IP of a remote system to which you are connected. I hope you find my writings very easy to undertstand. I know I lack the capacity of explaining myself but I try my level best to make things very easy and clear for you’ll.

How to get the IP of a remote system while chatting through msn messenger ::

This is a tutorial on how to get IP address from MSN messenger. This is actually
a really easy thing to do. It is not like going through the hard time and reversing
MSN messenger like many people think.
The IP address is only given when you accept or are sending a file through MSN
messenger. When you send IM's, the message is sent through the server thus hiding
your victims IP and your. But when you send a file or recieve a file, it is direct
connection between the two computers.
To obtain the IP accept a file transfer or send a file to the victim, when the file
sending is under way from the dos prompt type "netstat" without the quotation marks.
You should get a table like this:
Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP kick:1033 msgr-ns29.msgr.hotmail.com:1863 ESTABLISHED
TCP kick:1040 msgr-sb36.msgr.hotmail.com:1863 ESTABLISHED
TCP kick: ESTABLISHED
The top name in the list is the server's address for IMing. There could be many of
the second name in the list, as a new connection is made to the server for every
room you are IMing to. You are looking for the address of the remote host in
this table it may be something similar to "host63-7-102-226.ppp.cal.vsnl.com" or “203..64.90.6”.
without the quotation marks.
All you need to do now is to put this address in you IP lookup programe and get the IP of the remote system.


Well 50%of the work is done now. Now you know how to get the IP of a remote system, so its time to trace it down and find some details about the IP.

Tracing an IP is quite simple. You can do it the easy way by using some sweet softwares like Visual Trace 6.0b

[ftp://ftp.visualware.com/pub/vr/vr.exe] 

Neotrace

[http://www.neoworx.com/download/NTX325.exe]

or by our way ie. Using MS DOS or any other version of DOS.
Well I suggest you to use DOS and its tracert tool for tracing the IP cause using it will give you a clear conception about the art of tracing an IP and I guarantee that you will feel much satisfied on success than using a silly software. Furthur you will know how things work and how the IP is traced down and the different networks associated in this tracing process.

Let us take a look at tracert tool provided for DOS by Microsoft.
It is a very handy tool for peoples need to trace down an IP.
Just open any DOS windows and type tracert.

C:\windows>tracert

Usage: tracert [-d] [-h maximum_hops] [-j host-list] [-w timeout] target_name

Options:
-d Do not resolve addresses to hostnames.
-h maximum_hops Maximum number of hops to search for target.
-j host-list Loose source route along host-list.
-w timeout Wait timeout milliseconds for each reply.

You will now see a description of the tracert command and the switches associated with it.
Well these switches doesn’t makes much difference. All you can do is to increase the timeout in milliseconds by using –w switch if you are using a slow connection and the –d switch if you wish not resolve address to hostnames by default.
By default tracert performs a maximum of 30 hops trace. Using the –h switch you can specify the number of hops to perform.
Now its time for execution.
Let us trace down the IP yahoo.com [216.115.108.243]

TIP: If you have done a long research (I mean a lot) then simply looking at the IP you can figure out some info from it. For example the IP 203.90.68.8 indicates that the system is in India. In India IPs generally begin with 203 and 202

C:\WINDOWS>tracert yahoo.com

Tracing route to yahoo.com [216.115.108.243] over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 308 ms 142 ms 127 ms 203.94.246.35
2 140 ms 135 ms * 203.94.246.1
3 213 ms 134 ms 132 ms 203.94.255.33
4 134 ms 130 ms 129 ms 203.200.64.29
5 122 ms 135 ms 131 ms 203.200.87.75
6 141 ms 137 ms 121 ms 203.200.87.15
7 143 ms 170 ms 154 ms vsb-delhi-stm1.Bbone.vsnl.net.in [202.54.2.241]
8 565 ms 589 ms 568 ms if-7-0.bb8.NewYork.Teleglobe.net [207.45.198.65]
9 596 ms 584 ms 600 ms if-3-0.core2.NewYork.teleglobe.net [207.45.221.66]
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 703 ms 701 ms 719 ms if-3-0.core2.PaloAlto.Teleglobe.net [64.86.83.205]
12 694 ms 683 ms 681 ms if-6-1.core1.PaloAlto.Teleglobe.net [207.45.202.33]
13 656 ms 677 ms 700 ms ix-5-0.core1.PaloAlto.Teleglobe.net [207.45.196.90]
14 667 ms 673 ms 673 ms ge-1-3-0.msr1.pao.yahoo.com [216.115.100.150]
15 653 ms 673 ms 673 ms vl20.bas1.snv.yahoo.com [216.115.100.225]
16 666 ms 676 ms 674 ms yahoo.com [216.115.108.243]
Trace complete.

Note: Here I have traced yahoo.com. In place of yahoo.com you can give the IP of yahoo or any other IP you want to trace, the result will be the same.

Now carefully looking at the results you can figure out many information about yahoo’s server [216.115.108.243]
First packets of data leave my ISP which is at 203.94.246.35 .Similarly you can find out the different routers through which the packets of data are send and received to and from the target system. Now take a look at the 13th line you’ll see that the router is in PaloAlto.Teleglobe.net from this you can easily figure out that the router is in Palo Alto. Now finally look at the target system ie. Yahoo’s server vl20.bas1.snv.yahoo.com . Now you got the address of yahoo’s server. Now put this address in any IP lookup programe and perform and reverse DNS lookup and you will get most of the info about this address,like the place where it is in.
Well another thing you can find out using the tracert tool is that the number of hops (routers) the target system is away from you. In case of tracerouting yahoo.com we find that the target system ie yahoo’s server is 16 hops away from my system. This indicates that there are 16 routers between my system and yahoo’s server.

Apart from tracing an IP you can find out many usefull details about the target system using the tracert tool.

Firewall Detection

While tracerouting a target system, if you get * as an output then it indicates timeout error. Now if you peform another tracerout to the same taeget system at some other time with a good connection and in this way few times more and if you always get * as the output then take it for sure that the target system is running a firewall which prevents sending of data packets from the target system.

Example

Some days ago I tried to tracert hotmail’s server in plain and simple way using tracert without any trick.This is what I found out :


c:\windows>tracert 64.4.53.7

Tracing route to lc2.law5.hotmail.com [64.4.53.7]

over a maximum of 30 hops:



1 * * * Request timed out.
2 161 ms 147 ms 85 ms 203.90.69.81
3 126 ms 261 ms 219 ms 203.90.66.9
4 121 ms 115 ms 228 ms delswp2.hclinfinet.com [203.90.66.133]
5 727 ms 725 ms 711 ms 203-195-147-250.now-india.net.in [203.195.147.250]
6 1006 ms 794 ms 952 ms core-fae-0-0.now-india.net.in [203.195.147.3]
7 826 ms 731 ms 819 ms 213.232.106.9
8 885 ms 744 ms 930 ms 213.166.3.209
9 851 ms 1020 ms 1080 ms 213.232.64.54
10 1448 ms 765 ms 1114 ms pos8-0.core2.London1.Level3.net [212.113.0.118]
11 748 ms 789 ms 750 ms ge-4-2-1.mp2.London1.Level3.net [212.187.131.146]
12 719 ms 733 ms 846 ms so-3-0-0.mp1.London2.Level3.net [212.187.128.46]
13 775 ms 890 ms 829 ms so-1-0-0.mp2.Weehawken1.Level3.net [212.187.128.138]
14 853 ms 852 ms 823 ms so-3-0-0.mp1.SanJose1.Level3.net [64.159.1.129]
15 889 ms 816 ms 803 ms so-7-0-0.gar1.SanJose1.Level3.net [64.159.1.74]
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.
Trace complete.

I performed the same tracert many times a day but concluded with the same result. This indicates that the systems after the router SanJose1.Level3.net has firewalls installed which prevents the outgoing of data packets.

Detecting Traceroute Attempts on your System

You can detect that an attacker is performing a traceroute on your system, if you see the following symptoms:

1. If you observe port scans on very high UDP ports. This symptom means that the attacker has performed a traceroute on your system. However, it could also mean a simply port scan. Either way, it signifies the fact that your system is being scanned.

2. If the packet-monitoring tool installed in your network, picks up several outgoing TTL-exceeding messages, then it is yet another sign that someone is doing a traceroute on your system.

3. If in these log files, you also observer an outgoing ICMP port unreachable error message, then it means that since a traceroute was done on your system and as the target system i.e. your system, was reached, it responded with this error message.

You can also find our more information on the attacker (if he performs a traceroute on your system) by simply studying the sniffer log files. If you observer the TTL values, then we can easily figure out the following information on the attacker by making use of OS detection techniques discussed earlier in this white paper:

1.    The Operating System running on the attacker’s target system.

2.    Number of hops away, the attacker is from you.

Top 4 Rules for Web Design

Starting a small business is no small task. As part of your small business promotion and marketing plan, you should have a plan for a website. While many new small business owners believe that creating a simple website with a handful of paragraphs on each page is sufficient, there are many more rules for web design that should be considered before publishing your site.

Here are 4 basic rules for web design that you should use for your business website.

1.    Easy To Read

A decade ago, it was chic and creative for personal websites and even business websites to experiment with colors for their business web design. HTML coding made it easy to assign background colors and font colors. The problem is that many websites became difficult to read due to low contrast or bright colors.

The best rule you can have for your website is to make it as easy to read as possible. Use high contrast, such as black text on white or off-white background, and assign your text at an easy-to-read size. Avoid using background and font colors that blend so much that readers have to squint. Keep text at least 11 and preferably 12 point font.

2.    Easy Navigation

Nothing is more frustrating to a website visitor than not being able to find what they’re looking for. As a sound website design tip, keep your navigation absolutely clear and easy. Your website navigation bar should be clear on the top or side. Use graphics like buttons or tabs to help visitors understand exactly where to click to go to another page.

If your web pages are longer and scroll down, place another navigation bar at the bottom so visitors can easily click to another page rather than having to scroll up again. If your visitors cannot easily navigate around your business web design, they will likely leave promptly.

3.    Consistent Theme

A theme for your business web design is of vital importance. It is your chance to make a first impression on your visitors. However, keeping your determined theme consistent throughout your website is essential to maintaining your ‘brand’ on the web.

A consistent theme simply means keeping every element of your website the same throughout. Background color, font and font size, link colors, navigation bars, columns of content, headers – all these should be the same throughout. Use helpful design tricks like cascading style sheets (CSS) to help make your business web design consistent.

4.    Easy to Download and Read in All Browsers

When a visitor enters your URL in their browser, your web host server sends your website information to the browser, which in turn translates the coding into the beautiful web page you have chosen. However, not all browsers are the same. That is why you should keep your web pages as small in byte size as possible. That means limiting graphics and images and compressing them for easy bandwidth, and limiting other large file size elements on your website.

Be sure your web designer creates your website to comply with most popular browsers so that all of your potential customers can see you clearly and easily.

Consider these website design tips for your business website. Using these top rules for web design will help your internet presence be more successful.

How to Prepare - Effective PowerPoint Presentations

Dear Friends,

Planning, creating and presenting a PowerPoint presentation needn't be difficult or stressful. Use these guidelines to improve the quality of your presentation.

1. The quality of the research. The topic should be thoroughly researched, with a number of different sources. e.g. Internet, library, journals etc

2. Organization. There should be a logical flow from beginning to end, like in written work. Avoid jumping from one point to another, and be careful about adding information that is not directly related to the main theme. Strongly consider drawing up an outline before you begin assembling the actual slides.

3. The “joy of six” is a helpful rule of thumb. Use a maximum of six points per slide and six words per point. Use key phrases and include only essential information.

4. Use text sparingly. Depending on the color and font size you select, text may be difficult to read. In addition, if your audience is concentrating on written text, they are most likely not giving you their complete attention.

5. Limit punctuation and avoid putting words in all capital letters. Empty space on the slide will enhance readability.

6. Select colors with care. Use contrasting colors for text and background. Dark text on a light background is best. Experiment with color combinations, but make sure they work well on a screen--there is often a difference between how something looks on your computer screen and how it appears when projected onto a screen or wall. If possible, preview your presentation ahead of time.

7. Keep unity of design from slide to slide. The basic outline OR theme should not be changed.

8. Learn to navigate your presentation in a non-linear fashion. This will arouse the interest of the people but limit rapid changeovers non linearly.

9. Know how to and practice moving forward AND backward within your presentation. Audiences often ask to see the previous screen again.

10. Font size is important--use the "floor test" for readability. Print out a slide containing text, then place the page on the floor. Can you read the slide from a standing position? Font size 24-40 is considered to be appropriate.

11. Minimize or avoid animated texts, sounds, and fancy transitions.

12. Avoid switching between programs (such as calling up a Web page).

13. Do you want people to take notes during your presentation? Leave them sufficient time to do so.

14. Timing. Use one slides per minute as a maximum.

15. Visual images can be great, but they need to be selected carefully and be appropriate to the point(s) you want to make.

16. Have a Plan B in the event of projector failure/ technical difficulties. Get ready with printouts and handouts.

17. Wear executive attire (Tie preferred) and practice good posture at the time of presentation.

18. Avoid typical habits / words / repetitive gestures while presenting.

19. Try to make your presentation more interactive by involving audience. Give chance to speak, if someone is seeking the clarification.

20. Do not allow people to distract from main topic. Beware of hijackers.

                                   ALL THE BEST