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Hackers have found a way around Microsoft Vista’s activation system. Unlike Windows XP and Volume Activation 1.0 Wndows Vista doesn’t have any corporate keys which will permanently activate it.

Volume Activation 2.0 requires a corporate user to either do a onetime activation through Microsoft servers (MAK) or companies can host a local activation server which does not talk to Microsoft (KMS). The only difference is KMS requires re-activation once every 180 days. However as long as there’s a local KMS server it’s simple to keep Windows Vista activated.

The hacker’s release is a VMware image of a permanently activated KMS (Key Management Service) server which allows local activation of Windows Vista Business/Enterprise Edition. As such, it’s not true that the workaround will be usable for only six months. Press reports stating so are written by people who don’t know what they’re talking about. The “client” Vista activates every six months, not the server, which in this case is permanently activated.

Volume Activation 2.0 is only built into those two editions. Companies which buy 25 numbers or more of the OS would be given the KMS to simplify the activation process. For it to work, users have to type in the non-virtual Vista two commands which launch the same Visual Basic script with different options:

cscript c:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs -skms vm_vista_ip
cscript c:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs -ato

The hack was released under the name of Bill Gates’ wife, Melinda Gates. The actual name of the pirate scene release is “Microsoft.Windows.Vista.Local.Activation.Server-MelindaGates.” Cracked copies of Windows Vista started flooding the internet soon after the operating system was released to manufacturing and ahead of its official release. However, the lack of a corporate activation key made most of them useless. Some activation cracks were apparently released, using some beta files from RC versions of Vista, but apparently they didn’t work for everyone.

This only shows that while Microsoft tries to block illegal users from using its operating systems, they will not be able to prevail for long. For every security system there’s always a workaround if you have physical access to the machine, that’s a rule every security expert knows. Everything can be cracked eventually, if it’s worth it.

Link here.

Includes: Shorewall, NAT, Caching NameServer, DHCP Server, VPN Server, Webmin, Munin, Apache (SSL enabled), Squirrelmail, Postfix setup with virtual domains, courier imap imaps pop3 pop3s, sasl authentication for road warriors, MailScanner as a wrapper for SpamAssassin, Razor, ClamAV, etc. Samba installed, not configured.

http://www.howtoforge.com/ubuntu6.06_firewall_gateway

This guide describes how to generate and use a private/public key pair to log in to a remote system with SSH using PuTTY. PuTTY is an SSH client that is available for Windows and Linux (although it is more common on Windows systems). Using key-based SSH logins, you can disable the normal username/password login procedure which means that only people with a valid private/public key pair can log in. That way, there is no way for brute-force attacks to be successful, so your system is more secure.

http://www.howtoforge.com/ssh_key_based_logins_putty

One of the biggest difficulties in migrating from Windows to Linux is the lack of knowledge about comparable software. Newbies usually search for Linux analogs of Windows software, and advanced Linux-users cannot answer their questions since they often don’t know too much about Windows :). This list of Linux equivalents / replacements / analogs of Windows software is based on our own experience and on the information obtained from the visitors of this page (thanks!).

http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html#7

Microsoft’s Vista may be vulnerable to at least three pieces of widespread malware, two of which date back to 2004 , according to security vendor Sophos.

At least three well-known Internet worms–labelled Stratio-Zip, Netsky-D and MyDoom-O by Sophos–are able to execute on the OS, according Sophos.

http://www.zdnetindia.com/news/software/stories/163296.html

uTorrent runs perfectly in Linux under Wine. But why use an emulator to run a program which has a near knock-in replacement that runs natively ? KTorrent is the uTorrent of the Linux World.

http://everythingelse.wordpress.com/2006/12/03/ktorrent-utorrent-clone-for-linux/

James Kim (whom many of you may know as CNET’s senior editor of digital audio), and his family have gone missing. As we understand it, last weekend James, his wife Kati, and his very young girls Penelope  and Sabine , drove from their home in the SF Bay Area to Seattle. They were expected back some time Sunday, but were last seen by a hotel clerk at 5:45 PM on Saturday in or between Gold Beach or Portland, Oregon. We sincerely do hope they are all safe, and our hearts go out to the Kim family.

We’ll have more information as we get it. If you have any information as to the Kim family’s whereabouts, please contact the SFPD at 415-558-5508 during normal business hours, and 415-553-1071 after hours.

Update: Crave reports that James and his family are driving a 2005 silver Saab station wagon with license plate “DOESF.” The official missing person report can be found here.

http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/30/cnets-james-kim-and-family-missing-have-you-seen-them
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9666094-1.html?tag=head
http://www.sfgov.org/site/police_index.asp?id=37978