2600 Magazine_ The Hacker Quarterly - Digital Edition - Summer 2011 - 2600 Magazine [59]
While the identity of the group who disassembled the original Windows XP and assembled Black Edition XP remains unknown, rumors say that the group ORiON had something to do with compiling it. Anyway, Black Edition is an x86 32-bit version of XP that has been stripped of useless Microsoft components and pre-installed with a boatload of useful software. One important note about Black Edition is that it's an illegitimate version of Windows XP, so don't try to use your existing XP key. For one thing, it probably won't work. In addition, Black Edition XP comes with an XP key changer (Keyfinder) that registers Windows Genuine Advantage and removes the activation prompt. If you get a warning from your antivirus about this file, do not fret. All key generator programs are flagged as a virus.
Another noticeable feature of Black Edition XP is the boot time. This is due to certain files and programs that have been removed and certain updates that are slipstreamed in. Rest assured that anything that could create system problems or cause any software applications to crash has been removed. In fact, here is a list of the programs and components that have been removed: Address Book, Games, Internet Games, Paint, Pinball, Movie Maker, Music Samples, Old CDPlayer and Sound Recorder, Communication Tools, FrontPage Extensions, Internet Information Services (IIS), MSN Explorer, Netmeeting, Outlook Express, Windows Messenger, Blaster/Nachi Removal Tool, Desktop Cleanup Wizard, Out of Box Experience (OOBE), Security Center, Tour, Zip Folders, Display Adapters, and a few worthless directories and images.
Along with removing files, Black Edition has also integrated Service Pack 3 (SP3) along with all of the useful software. Remember that security issue I mentioned earlier about "salting the hash" and how Microsoft failed to address this flaw? Black Edition answered by integrating HashCheck Shell Extension ( http://code.kliu.org/hashcheck/ ) which salts files and allows you to compare the checksums, letting you see if any data is corrupted. K-Lite Mega Codec has also been installed, along with Flash Player, QuickTime Alternative, Windows Media Player 11, DirectX, and Java SE Runtime Environment (JRE) to decode and encode almost all audio and video formats. Some other tools included are: 7-Zip ( http://www.7-zip.org/ ), which has a high compression ratio compared to WinZip and supports 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, ISO, RAR, TAR, and a bunch more extensions. DriverPack ( http://www.driverpacks.net/ ) features hundreds of Chipset, CPU, GPU, Audio, Runtimes for ATI, Mass Storage, LAN, WLAN drivers. Chances are that DriverPack will not find every device driver in your system, and you will have to manually find some of the drivers on the web, so be aware of any devices that might not be well known or recognized.
Windows Internet Explorer 8 also comes defaulted with a bunch of cool links to online TV portals, various streaming music, underground searching databases, and open source programs like Notepad++ which has syntax highlighting for all you code junkies. Sandboxie isolates and secures web browsing. Daemon Tools is a virtual disk image emulator. OpenOffice is pretty much the number one open source alternative office program.
Since Black Edition XP is an underground project, there is no official source to download it or to seek further assistance from. It's sort of an open source, ongoing project with new updates and patches constantly being added, but you can easily find a copy of Black Edition XP by simply searching the web or by checking torrent sites.
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The Many Uses of SSH Tunnels
by twopointfour@riseup.net | 1598 words
SSH, as many of us know, is a protocol for remotely administering computers. You may hear people say "I'm gonna SSH into