theforcefield.net - The Business of Tech

Sunday, 19 August 2012 17:20 - Cobian Backup

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 22:20:39 +0100

Cobian Backup is a program that allows you to schedule and bacup fils and directories to other directories or locations in the same computer or another machine on a network. The program is multi-threaded, works in both download and upload using few resources. It comes in application or service versions.

Cobian Backup is a FREE download.

Website: Cobiansoft

Sunday, 19 August 2012 17:04 - ScreenConnect

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 22:04:15 +0100

ScreenConnect is a self-hosted remote support solution developed by Elsinore Technologies that not only helps you service your customers, it can also be customized to promote your brand. FREE 30 Day Trial.

Contact:

Elsinore Technologies
4700 Six Forks Road Suite 320
Raleigh, North Carolina 27609

Sales: (919) 925-0650 Option 1
Support: (919) 925-0650 Option 2
General: (919) 925-0650
Fax: (919) 532-0023

Wednesday, 19 August 2009 03:27 - Comparison of remote desktop software

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 08:27:26 +0100

Wikipedia Comparison chart of Remote Support tools. There are several popular tools not listed but overall the chart is a fairly comprehensive list remote support programs and their features but does not include a comparison of cost.

Thanks to Dan Hand of ACRBO for the link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_remote_desktop_software

Sunday, 11 January 2009 15:47 - Kaseya

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:47:25 +0100

Kaseya is a Manages Services platform for IT service providers. You must fill out a form online to receive a price quote. Free 30 day trial .

Contact:

160 Spear Street
Suite 1220
San Francisco, CA 94105
+1-415-694-5700

www.kaseya.com

Sunday, 11 January 2009 13:38 - NTR Global

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 18:38:19 +0100

NTR Global offers off-site remote support software solutions using a Software as a Service licensing model. The company has offices around the world. Must call or e-mail for quote. Free 15 day trial .

Call for quote: 1-866-459-2543

North America: 4849 Alpha Road, Ste 200 Dallas, TX 75244

Sunday, 30 November 2008 17:22 - Zelscope: Oscilloscope and Spectrum Analyzer

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:22:48 +0100

Zelscope is an application that converts a PC into a low-frequency oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer. A single user license is $9.95. A 14 day trial version is available.

Contact:

http://www.zelscope.com

Thursday, 23 October 2008 16:15 - Maltego

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:15:23 +0100

Maltego is a forensics and information gathering application. It is an open source application with a free and paid edition for Linux and Microsoft Windows. The free "community" edition has a nag screen and reduced functionality.

Website: http://www.paterva.com/maltego/

Free "Community" Edition: http://www.paterva.com/maltego/community-edition/

Paid "Commercial"Edition: http://www.paterva.com/maltego/download/

Thursday, 23 October 2008 16:01 - XSSED

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:01:56 +0100

/XSSED is a repository for information about cross site scripting vulnerabilities and attacks. The site was created by Kevin Fernandez and Demitris Pagkalosand is considered the largest known listing of XSS vulnerable websites.

website: http://www.xssed.com/

Thursday, 23 October 2008 15:54 - US-CERT

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 20:54:14 +0100

US-CERT (United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team) is a US Government agency in partnership with both private and public sectors. The site includes the National Vulnerability Database , security publications, alerts and tips and other resources.

website: http://www.us-cert.gov/

Thursday, 23 October 2008 15:39 - National Vulnerability Database

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 20:39:53 +0100

The National Vulnerability Database is a US government repository of vulnerability management data. The database is sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security's National Cyber Security Division . The repository uses SCAP (Security Content Automation Protocol).

website: http://nvd.nist.gov/

Wednesday, 01 October 2008 08:39 - Reimage

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:39:54 +0100

Reimage is a new automated web-based Windows Repair process that is safe, non-destructive and can be performed remotely. The product was featured in episode 26 of The Force Field podcast.

The company is based in Israel with a US office in New York.

Reimage can be purchased as a package of 20 repairs or as a monthly subscription of up to 50 repairs/month.

Members of TheForceField.Net can receive a FREE 7 day trial of Reimage for evaluation.

Contact Information:

Israel Headquarters:
3 Hachilazon street,
Ramat Gan 52522
ISRAEL
+972-(3)-5759757

US Office:
1 Penn Plaza
41st Floor
New York, NY 10119
1-(646)-744-3620
Mon-Fri: 9am-10pm EST

Technical Support:
support@reimage.com

Sales:
sales@reimage.com

Tuesday, 09 September 2008 04:18 - PC-Doctor, Inc.

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:18:45 +0100

PC-Doctor is a worldwide industry leader in PC diagnostic hardware and software for OEMs, System Builders, corporate IT departments and PC repair professionals. Among the products they offer is PC-Doctor Service Center 6, a hardware and software diagnostic kit for computer repair techs.

PC-Doctor is the preferred diagnostic suite for HP computers.

PC-Doctor Service Center 6 http://www.pc-doctor.com/pcd_service_center.php?_s_icmp=service_tech

PC-Doctor Home Page http://www.pc-doctor.com

PC-Doctor also publishes a free monthly newsletter called Service Currents

PC-Doctor, Inc.
9805 Double R. Boulevard.
Reno, NV 89521
Phone 775-336-4000

Tuesday, 11 December 2007 05:37 - Running WinsockXPFix.exe Your Window XP PC

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 10:37:57 +0100

"If your internet connection stops working after removing spyware using adaware or spybot, or because you removed a virus, your TCP/IP stack may have been corrupted. Running WinsockXPFix.exe may correct this problem. WinsockXPfix restores the files associated with connecting to a tcp/ip network. You can download WinsockXPFix.exe" Download from here: http://www.iup.edu/house/resnet/winfix.shtm

Monday, 12 November 2007 04:47 - Carbonite

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 09:47:56 +0100

Carbonite is an online backup service. The service requires installation and download of backup software. The company offers a 15-day free trial. Service is $4.16/month or $49.95/year.

Carbonite offers an affiliate and partner program for resellers.

http://www.carbonite.com

Carbonite
334 Boylston St - 3rd floor
Boston, MA 0211

877-665-4466

international callers 617-587-1100

weekdays between 9am and 5pm EST.

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Monday, 12 November 2007 04:15 - IDrive-E

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 09:15:28 +0100

IDrive-E is an online backup service with encryption. The free version allows backup/restore from home PCs and servers without backup, restore, or file type restrictions and bandwidth limits.

IDrive E Basic - 2GB - FREE

IDrive E Pro - Unlimited (read terms) - $4.95/month or $49.95/year.

IDrive-E has a partner program for resellers.

http://www.idrive.com

Pro Softnet Corp.
IBackup Division
21300 Victory Blvd Suite 690
Woodland Hills CA 91367

Tel: (818) 594 5972 # 107
Fax: 1-800-787-2595

Sales and Billing Support
1-866-748-0555 ext 201

Technical Support
1-866-748-0555 ext 202

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Sunday, 11 November 2007 11:04 - Mozy

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 16:04:21 +0100

Mozy is an web based data backup and storage service.

Home Unlimited Plans start at $4.95/month per PC.

Mozy Pro Licenses are $3.95/month each and $.50 per GB.

Mozy has an affiliate and reseller program.

www.mozy.com

Berkeley Data Systems, Inc.
774 East Utah Valley Drive
American Fork, UT
Phone: (801) 756-2331
Fax: (801) 756-2576 Info: info@mozy.com
MozyHome Support: homesupport@mozy.com
MozyPro Support: prosupport@mozy.com
MozyPro Sales: sales@mozy.com

Sunday, 21 October 2007 13:32 - Network Monitoring With Linux

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 18:32:05 +0100

    Ever wonder what kind of traffic is flying around on your network? Which machines or what protocols are using the most bandwidth? What your network throughput is? There is a very simple way to find out and all it involves is an old PC that you are not using, a simple hub, and an hour or two of your time.

   We've all been there: Users are complaining about a slow network and you have no idea where to begin looking for the cause. Perhaps there is an infected machine on the network that is making multiple connections to an outside address. Maybe you have a user that you suspect is sucking up bandwidth by downloading movies or listening to streaming audio. The best way to obtain a good picture of what's going on is to install some type of device that can see all the traffic to and from all of the machines on your network and then present that information in an easy to understand format.

   One of the best tools for doing this is an application called “ntop”. Ntop is an open source tool that will show you all of the traffic on your network, broken down by IP address, protocol, throughput, etc. All of the data collected by the application is presented in an easy to use web interface. Although ntop has been ported to Windows I will explain how to get this application up and running using Linux. The main advantage of using Linux is that ntop itself can be quite resource intensive (depending upon the size of your network) and Linux allows us to install the bare minimum of an operating system therefore allowing most of the hardware resources to be available to the application.

   The first step is to procure a donor machine. This doesn't have to be anything fancy, an old PIII with 512Mb of ram and a 20Gb hard drive will suffice. You will also need a hub (NOT a switch!) so that you can plug your new ntop box into a network segment where it can see all of the traffic. Lastly you'll need a copy of my favorite Linux distribution, Debian.

   Begin by downloading and burning a copy of Debian. I recommend getting the network install image, it's very small, and you only need a very few basic packages anyway. Go here: Debian and download the appropriate “netinst” image (i386 for most of you). Make sure you burn this as an ISO “image” and then boot your selected PC to this CD. Go ahead and install Debian, making sure that you are plugged into the network and the internet is accessible. Debian has a reputation for being difficult to install but you can safely accept the defaults most of the way through, with the following exceptions:

1.   If your PC grabs a DHCP address, use the tab key to choose “back”, then choose “configure network manually”, and then assign an appropriate static IP.
2.   When you get to the “Software selection” screen, unselect everything (trust me). This is done by using the space bar to toggle your selection and the “down” arrow key to move through the menu. Once you have deselected all options, use the “tab” key to choose continue and hit “enter”.

After it installs grub, it will spit the CD out at you and you simply hit “enter” to continue and boot into your new Debian system.

   At this point, you should be staring at a login prompt (yes, it's all text based, no “point and click” here). Simply type “root”, hit “enter”, and then the password you chose for root when you installed the OS. Now, we're going to do some basic setup:

1.   Type “nano -w /etc/apt/sources.list” (without the quotation marks). This will open a file up in an editor.
2.   Using your arrow keys to move around, put a “#” sign in front of the line that starts with “deb cdrom” (this is called a “comment” and it means the line will be ignored). Then move the cursor to the end of the first line that starts with “deb http” and add “contrib” and “non-free”. It should look like this:
“deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ etch main contrib non-free”
3.   Do the same for the remaining 3 lines.
4.   Hit “ctrl O” (the ctrl button and the letter “o” at the same time), “enter”, and then “ctrl X”.
5.   Type the command “apt-get update”.
6.   Type the command “apt-get install openssh-server” (just hit enter when it asks you if you want to continue).

   From here on, we can have some fun and finish the install remotely from our desktop by simply cutting and pasting commands into a terminal window connected to the Debian box. This ntop server is designed to be headless anyway, so there is no need to have a monitor and keyboard connected during normal operation.

   Linux users can simply open a terminal and connect to the Debian box using SSH. Windows users will need to download a small program that will allow terminal connections to a Linux box. This program, called “putty”, allows a Windows box to use SSH (the secure shell protocol) and can be found here: putty (just grab “putty.exe" and save it to your desktop). Open up putty, punch in the IP address of your Debian box, log in as “root”, and then cut and paste the following commands into the terminal window (one line at a time, hitting enter after each line):

   apt-get install ntop graphviz gsfonts-x11
   ntop –set-admin-password
   reboot

   That's it, now you have a working network management box! There are a few basic parameters you will want to set, so open up your web browser and point it to:

   http://IP_address_of_ntop_box:3000

   You should see the ntop summary page. We should set up a secure means of talking to this box, so choose “admin > configure > startup options” from the menu at the top of the page and enter the user name (admin) and the password you just created for the ntop admin. Change the “HTTP Server” value to 0 and the “HTTPS Server” value to 3000, then click “save preferences” (bottom of page). Next, choose “admin > configure > preferences” and in the blank boxes at the bottom of the table, enter “dot.path” in the first box and “/usr/bin/dot” in the second box, then click the “add” button. Reboot the ntop box one more time and make sure that you can access it using https, not http. (As a side note, the previous 2 reboots are not necessary; normally I would just restart the ntop service via the command line but I'm trying to keep this simple. I should also advise the Windows users that you do NOT need to log in to the box to make it work, in fact it's a bad idea to remain logged in as root.)

   In order to see more than just traffic to the ntop box itself, you must plug it into a network segment that carries all the traffic for your network. This is where the hub comes in: Pick a spot on the back bone of your network, plug the hub in there, and connect the ntop server to the hub. For example, you can place the hub between your firewall and the core switch to see all the traffic in and out of your network. Of course you can always mirror a port on the core switch to the port that your external connection plugs into (if you have a managed switch in place).

   I would strongly recommend one last security related configuration; it is a very bad idea to allow root logins via SSH. While allowing this makes the above install very easy, now that the box is up and running it's time to change this parameter. Log into the ntop box via a terminal (as root) and follow these instructions:

1.   Enter the command “nano -w /etc/ssh/sshd_config”, this will open up a file in an editor. Using the same method you used earlier to edit the “apt” file, look for the line that reads “PermitRootLogin Yes”, change “yes” to “no”, and save your changes.
2.   Enter the command “/etc/init.d/ssh restart”.

(After you have completed the above configuration the login procedure via SSH changes a little bit: you will no longer be able to log in directly as “root”. You must log in as the regular user that you created when you initially installed Debian and then issue the command “su” to change to the root user)

   As always, if you have any questions, comments, problems, or monetary contributions, please direct them to me at thughes@fwpm.com.

RESOURCES:
Debian: http://www.debian.org/

ntop: http://www.ntop.org/

putty: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

Burning CD images: http://www.petri.co.il/how_to_write_iso_files_to_cd.htm

Todd Hughes is a Network Security Analyst and long time Linux fan in the Upstate New York area. Send your Questions, comments or feedback to: thughes@fwpm.com.

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Friday, 19 October 2007 02:27 - Fiddler

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 07:27:39 +0100

Fiddler is a HTTP debugging proxy freeware tool from Microsoft. The program allows you to monitor all HTTP traffic and works will most applications, including Internet Explorer and Firefox.

http://www.fiddlertool.com/fiddler

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Saturday, 13 October 2007 12:26 - The PC Decrapifier

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 17:26:03 +0100

This handy free tool removes will uninstall most of the trialware and annoying software installed by most of the major OEM's. http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/home
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Saturday, 13 October 2007 12:02 - Ultimate Boot CD

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 17:02:49 +0100

A *FREE* set of hardware and software diagnostic tools. Check the web site for a complete list of tools included.

Current Release: 4.1.1 http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/
For Windows Current Release: 3.06 http://www.ubcd4win.com/ {mos_fb_discuss:191}