Tag: PC

DELL R710 mod: Installing a x16 GPU on a x8 slot

Electronics, , , , ,
So, I have a Dell R710 that I used to use as a 24/7 home server with Proxmox (BTW, Proxmox is amazing!). But after a few electricity bills I retired the server, until one day I had the idea to use it as a desktop. The biggest issue with that concept was the integrated matrox GPU, it was only designed to output low resolutions and struggles to even play a YouTube video. Even though the R710 has free PCIE slots, they are only x8. Now, Dell did sell x16 risers, but they are hard to find and expensive. So we…

ThinkPad T420 easy hinge repair

Mechanical, , ,
So one day I noticed a gap on the left side of the screen of my ThinkPad T420. Upon further investigation as you see from the pics above the hinge broke, specifically one of the pins that holds the bar to the hinge. Resulting in higher forces being applied to the threaded inserts, detaching them from their spot. Ideally you would replace the entire hinge, but as iFixit says “Repair is noble” so let’s repair it. Tools & Parts The repair To fix the threaded inserts, I used two component epoxy adhesive (Specifically Bison’s metal epoxy). I threaded the screw…

Making the ultimate IT flash drive multitool

Software, , , , , , ,
In this guide we are going to create a flash drive with pretty much any tool you could need to diagnose and repair a pc as well as other useful tools for your everyday life. You will be able to run diagnostics, install a new OS (windows or Linux), boot into a live Linux environment, fix boot issues, run penetration testing, do data recovery, scan for malware and have a useful suite of programs of all kinds on the go. Selecting the right flash drive For what we are doing you will need a decent flash drive, a capacity of…

Shredding a file in Linux with shred

Software, , , , ,
When deleting a file by simply pressing the delete button the file can be easily recovered, you don’t always want that. That’s where shred comes in, What shred does is to wipe the file and make it unrecoverable. This can be very useful if you want to delete a file with sensitive data. Usage Basic options :        -f    force permissions        -u   remove after        -v   verbose        -z   write zeros at the end        -n [number]   times of shreddingIf you are not running the…

Cracking archives with rarcrack

Software, , , ,
Rarcrack is a handy tool used for cracking encrypted archives. It can be very useful if you forget the password to an encrypted archive. It supports zip, 7z and rar. But on the downside it is slow, the cracking speed depends mainly on your CPU. Usage The options :       –help displays the help file       –type [rar/zip/7z] set the archive type       –threads [2-12] set the number of threads default 2 max 12 If you are not running the command as root, you need to add sudo. Example For this example i created an encrypted 7z…

Cracking truecrypt containers with truecrack

Software, , ,
Truecrack is a software used to crack truecrypt containers using brute force or wordlist attack. It can be useful if you have created a truecrypt container and forgotten the password. The cracking speed depends on the computers CPU. Syntax  Basic options :       -w [path] wordlist      -c “[characters]” charset for brute force      -s [number] minimum password length      -m [number] maximum password length      -v verbose modeYou can read Hydra’s documentation with the following command. Example   For this example i have created a truecrypt container with the default options with a password…

Cracking FTP with hydra

Software, , , , , , ,
Hydra is a fast login cracker that supports a lot of protocols. It is a command line tool, but a GUI is available. The FTP (File Transfer protocol) is used to remotely access files. The cracking speed is low but with a weak password and a good wordlist it is possible to be cracked. Most attackers will try to crack a password only if there is no other way in(e.g using an exploit or social engineering). This is a list of supported protocol that hydra supports as listed in the official website :Asterisk, AFP, Cisco AAA, Cisco auth, Cisco enable,…

Sticky keys privilege escalation on windows XP

Software, , , , , ,
The purpose of a privilege escalation attack is to gain more privileges over an operating system. An example can be gaining administrator privileges from a restricted account on windows XP system which is what we are going to do today. How does this attack work ? This attack is a fairly simple one. The way it works is by replacing the ‘sethc.exe’ with the ‘cmd.exe’ file which are both located in the system32 folder, ‘sethc.exe’ is the application that runs when you press shift five times. Then all you have to do is press shift five times in the login…

Creating a disk image with dd

Software, , , , , ,
The dd command is a useful utility that allows someone to easily image a storage unit. You can use this command to backup and restore your flash drive, SD card, etc. It can also be useful for forensic work, e.g if you’re trying to recover deleted files from a flash drive, you can image the drive then work on the image keeping the original safe. WARNING This command if used improperly can result in destruction of data. Be very carefull and double check the command before executing it. Syntax You can always see the commands documentation with the fallowing command Or…