and Tricks are Here ...

Devil May Cry 4

2008-07-05T23:16:00.000+05:30

Bloody Palace

Successfully complete the game on the Devil Hunter difficulty to unlock the Bloody Palace.
Super Dante costume

Successfully complete the game on the Dante Must Die difficulty to unlock the Super Dante costume.
Super Nero costume

Successfully complete the game on the Dante Must Die difficulty to unlock the Super Nero costume.
Son Of Sparda mode

Successfully complete the game on the Devil Hunter difficulty to unlock the Son Of Sparda difficulty.
Heaven Or Hell mode

Successfully complete the game on the Son Of Sparda difficulty to unlock the Heaven Or Hell difficulty.
Dante Must Die mode

Successfully complete the game on the Son Of Sparda difficulty to unlock the Dante Must Die difficulty.
Hell And Hell mode

Successfully complete the game on the Dante Must Die difficulty to unlock the Hell And Hell difficulty.
Art

Successfully complete the indicated task to unlock the corresponding artwork:
Demon Invasion: Successfully complete the game on the Dante Must Die difficulty.
Light From The Demon Blade: Successfully complete the game on the Hell And Hell difficulty.
The Cast: Successfully complete the game on the Devil Hunter difficulty.
The Demons and 12 publicity pictures: Successfully complete the game on the Son Of Sparda difficulty.
The Ladies Of Devil May Cry: Successfully complete the game on the Heaven Or Hell difficulty.
The Two Heroes and 29 character images: Successfully complete the game on the Human or Devil Hunter difficulty.

Alternate ending sequence

Successfully complete the game. Then during the credits mini-game, protect Kyrie for over 90 seconds to view the rest of the ending sequence featuring Dante, Trish, and Lady.
Keeping Dreadnaught armor

This trick requires a fully leveled-up Royal Guard style. You must posses the "Dreadnaught" ability. Dreadnaught is performed by holding R1 + Left Analog-stick Away + Circle. This ability encases you in invulnerable armor, based upon how full your Royal gauge is. You can still perform Dreadnaught with an empty Royal gauge and get about five seconds of invulnerability. You will also suffer limited movement during a Dreadnaught. Perform Dreadnaught, and at the precise moment it runs out, switch your melee weapon (R2). If done quickly enough, you will keep the Dreadnaught armor and be able to move normally. Note: You will still be able to fully take damage.
Easy Red Orbs in Mission 7: The She-Viper

Use the following trick to get approximately 4,300 Red Orbs in about twenty seconds. At the start of the mission, destroy the rocks to your left. Enter the tunnel, and destroy the rocks. You will see the big red crystal near the Secret Mission. In order to get the most Orbs, start with the Stinger, then immediately activate Devil Trigger mode, and quickly mash away. Then, press Start, select "Systems", and choose "Retry Mission". This is the easiest way to get a lot of Red Orbs in a short amount of time.
Defeating Berial

Use Grim Grip to reel yourself close to his head, and attack with your sword. Once the combos are done, use Grim Grip while still in the air. When his flames are gone, jump up to his head. Grab his head with the Devil Bringer, then once he lands from that, use Devil Bringer again to throw and punch him. Then, run a short distance away because he will release an explosion around him. Make sure to pick up Green Orbs from the destroyed buildings, and roll to avoid his flame geysers and sword attack. Continue attacking this way, and use your Charge Shot to defeat him in under a minute.
Defeating Blitzes

Use the following trick to defeat a Blitz with Nero. To lower the Blitz "electricity shield" quickly, use charged pistol shots with Devil Trigger mode activated. Charge a shot. Activate Devil Trigger mode. Release the shot, maybe a few more. Turn off Devil Trigger mode, and repeat. This will quickly give you Super Smokin Stylish before he has even dropped his shield. This will work even with a level 1 Charge Shot, but is much easier if you have level 3. Once his shield is gone, use Devil Trigger mode again. Use the Devil Bringer to devastate him. Three throws should be enough to send him into "red mode". Once he goes red, he will try to grab you and kill himself to seriously drain your life or kill you. Shoot normal shots at him to get more Smokin Stylish points and defeat him.

Use the following trick to defeat a Blitz with Dante. Use the Royal Guard style along with the Gilgamesh gauntlets. While the Blitz is in his yellow "electricity shield" state, get close to him and press [Melee] + [Style] repeatedly and quickly. You will be performing a punch and canceling it with a Royal Block very quickly. Think of the [Style] move as the attack. Try to constantly use [Melee] + [Style] repeatedly. You will raise the letter grade of your style meter with each hit, and quickly lower the electric shielding. You are basically hitting the shield yourself, then blocking that hit so fast that you cannot see it happen. Again, just press [Melee] + [Style] at the same time. This may be somewhat tricky at first, but eventually becomes easy. Once his shield is lowered, quickly switch to swordmaster style. Use Real Impact uppercut with the Gilgamesh gauntlets at least twice. Perform a Kick 13 if time permits, and/or a Shocking. He will go into his overdriven "Red Mode". Quickly switch to Lucifer, and perform Bondage. If done correctly, you should defeat him and get a huge stylish ranking from one Blitz.
Defeating Demonic Bosses

You can use Nero's Devil Bringer to defeat Demonic Bosses. Before you daze any demonic Boss, get your Devil Trigger as high as possible. As soon as the enemy is dazed, activate Devil Trigger mode, and use the uppercut on them. Using it in different areas of the enemy's body results in a good combo.
Defeating Sanctus

Do the following to defeat Sanctus inside of Sparda in Mission 20. While Sanctus is airborne in his shield, get close and break it with sword attacks just like earlier in the game. However, he will sometimes block with the Sword of Sparda. When he does this, use the uppercut technique to break his guard. If you are skilled, you should use the Devil Trigger while he is in the air to use a special combo to force him to the ground. If you fail to do the air combo, just let him fall to the ground. You may be able to get a few sword-based shots in, but do not try to rely on this because he may escape. At this point, use the uppercut in Devil Trigger mode, if possible. Afterwards, he will go back to being airborne again, in which case you should not use the Devil Trigger. After you have gotten his health down to around 10% to 15%, he will use a charging sword attack (however, if you have perfected the aforementioned combo, you may bypass this). Defeating him requires timing. At precisely the correct moment of his charge towards you, uppercut to break his guard. Again, as soon as it is broken, Devil Trigger uppercut to finish him off. In the second battle against Sanctus, as the False Prophet, timing is once again crucial. All you must do is uppercut his attacks away.
Defeating Sparda

Sparda can be knocked down by using Pandora's PF398 Revenge technique. With Pandora equipped, hold X and make two complete circles with the Left Analog-stick, then shoot at Sparda. It may require two shots, but he will fall as though you used the stationary cannon.

Halo 3

2008-07-05T23:13:00.000+05:30

Lower weapon

During a local match or replay, click Left Analog-stick + LB+ RB + A + Down for approximately three seconds. If done correctly, your weapon will not be visible on your screen. When you shoot, your weapon will be raised again. -From: Dirttbagg and darthvader302
Show coordinates

During a local match or replay, click Left Analog-stick + click Right Analog-stick + LB + RB + Down/Right.
Toggle panning camera

During a local match or replay, click Left Analog-stick + click Right Analog-stick + LB + RB + Up/Left.
Infinite Spartan laser in Halo mission

Use the following trick to get a Spartan laser with unlimited ammunition in the "Halo" mission. Play through the level until you meet up with Sergeant Johnson. Shoot him until he falls down and drops the Spartan laser. Quickly pick it up, and shoot it at him. Keep shooting him until he kills you. When you respawn, knock him down again, and pick up his laser. He should get back up with another laser on his back. When he does, shoot him down again, and pick up the new gun he drops. This laser should now have unlimited Spartan ammunition. This makes it easier to destroy the Guilty Spark 343. -From: Camuel
Katana

Successfully complete all achievements (1000/1000) and find all Skulls to unlock the Katana.
Alternate endings

There are three endings. The first ending is shown when the game is successfully completed on the Easy, Normal, or Heroic difficulty setting. The second ending is shown when the game is successfully completed on the Legendary difficulty setting. The third ending is shown when the game is successfully completed on the Legendary difficulty setting with all Skulls activated.
Easier Legendary mode

If you are playing alone on the Legendary difficulty setting, turn on an idle second player to stay behind. If you die, you will respawn instead of restarting.
Super fast Spartan laser fire

In Forge mode, get a Spartan laser. Charge it until it is almost about to fire. Before you fire, turn into the Monitor. Fly around until you find a target. Before you turn back into a human, hold RT to fire the Spartan laser almost instantly (if done correctly). You can use the Monitor's aimer to aim the laser.
Smarter respawning

When playing in Co-op mode on the Legendary difficulty setting, it is best to have one player keep their distance from the enemy at all times. By doing this, if the rest of the players die, they will respawn around the player that is farther back, rather than having to restart at the checkpoint.
Preventing lag

To clear the hard drive cache and prevent lag in Solo and Multiplayer mode, when starting the game, hold A + Up. Select "Yes" when you are asked if you want to clear the cache.
Easy experience in Multiplayer mode

Note: This trick requires four active accounts on your console that are all able to play on Xbox Live. Enter the matchmaking lobby, and choose "Social", then "Rumble Pit". Sign all four of your accounts in the lobby. In free for all modes, you have to be in the top three to earn experience points. Start matchmaking, and it should find two additional players. Once the game begins, you can simply do nothing. Once the game ends, all four of your accounts will tie for third place, giving all of them easy experience points. -From: Brandon Adkins
Getting in the same ranked Lone Wolves game

Go to the Xbox 360 Dashboard. Change your language to the second option from the bottom, then start Halo 3. Invite four other friends that are about the same rank as you, and have them change their language to the same one as you. Get everyone in the same party; everyone must search at the same time. Everyone must then make a game in Lone Wolves. Before you go to start the countdown, press X to change the search options to the bottom one, which is to search for the same language. If done correctly, you should be in the same ranked Lone Wolves game as your friends. You can now get achievements or level someone up.
Extra grenades

In Multiplayer or System Link mode, when you kill someone, slash their dead body with the Energy Sword for more grenades come out of it.
Armor permutations

Successfully complete the indicated task in Campaign mode to unlock the corresponding armor part in Multiplayer mode:

Elite

Ascetic Body: Accomplish the "Up Close and Personal" achievement.

Ascetic Head: Accomplish the "Steppin' Razor" achievement.

Ascetic Shoulders: Accomplish the "Overkill" achievement.

Commando Body: Accomplish the "Triple Kill" achievement.

Commando Head: Accomplish the "Overkill" achievement.

Commando Shoulders: Accomplish the "Killing Frenzy" achievement.

Flight Body: Successfully complete the "Tsavo Highway" mission on the Heroic or Legendary difficulty setting.

Flight Head: Successfully complete Campaign mode on the Heroic difficulty setting.

Flight Shoulders: Successfully complete "The Ark" mission on the Heroic or higher difficulty setting.

Spartan

EOD Body: Successfully complete the "Tsavo Highway" mission on the Legendary difficulty setting.

EOD Head: Successfully complete Campaign mode on the Legendary difficulty setting.

EOD Shoulders: Successfully complete "The Ark" mission on the Legendary difficulty setting.

EVA Body: Successfully complete the "Tsavo Highway" mission on the Normal or higher difficulty setting.

EVA Head: Successfully complete Campaign mode on the Normal difficulty setting.

EVA Shoulders: Successfully complete "The Ark" mission on the Normal or higher difficulty setting.

Mark V Head: Accomplish the "UNSC Spartan" achievement.

ODST Head: Accomplish the "Spartan Graduate" achievement.

Rogue Head: Accomplish the "Spartan Officer" achievement.

Scout Body: Accomplish the "Too Close to the Sun" achievement.

Scout Head: Accomplish the "Used Car Salesman" achievement.

Scout Shoulders: Accomplish the "Mongoose Mowdown" achievement.

Security Head: Earn 1000 Gamerscore points.

Security Shoulders: Accomplish the "Marathon Man" achievement in the Campaign Meta-game.
Hayabusa armor

Collect the indicated number of Skulls to unlock the corresponding piece of Hayabusa armor:
Hayabusa Chest: Collect 6 Skulls
Hayabusa Helmet: Collect 13 Skulls
Hayabusa Shoulders: Collect 9 Skulls

Skull locations

You can only collect Skulls on the Normal, Heroic, and Legendary difficulty setting. You must start from the beginning of the mission. You will not be able to see the Skulls if you load from a checkpoint, unless doing so after dieing. In Co-op mode, as soon as one player picks the Skull up, all players will receive the achievement if there is one. Not all Skulls earn an achievement; only nine of them do. To use Skulls, press X at the lobby screen. This will give you a bonus multiplier for Co-op mode and go towards earning the Guerrilla, Demon, etc. achievements.

Black Eye Skull: At the start of the "Crow's Nest" mission, without moving anything, you can see a huge pipe above you. Walk up the stairs, then up the next set. Turn to your left and jump up on the shelf unit. Jump to the red cross beam, then up onto the pipe. Then, just walk to the end. Walk over the Black Eye Skull to collect it. You do not have to pick this Skull up, it does it automatically. The Skull description reads "Bash your way to better health." When this Skull is active, your shield will instantly charge when you use melee attacks, and will not auto-recharge anymore.

Blind Skull: In the "Sierra 117" mission, when you get to the area where you see the Phantom overhead (one of the marines will point it out), jump over the rocks, and keep following the path on the right. When you get to the cliff, there will be a rock over the side. The Skull is on the end of the rock. The Skull description reads "Shoot from the hip." Note: This Skull has to be activated before you start a campaign map.

Catch Skull: In "The Storm" mission, go to where the first anti-air Wraith tank is located. There is a large gray cylinder in the that area on the ground on the far side from where you enter. The Skull is on the top of the silo. To get up there, perform a grenade jump off a Warthog or use a vehicle to push a large crate to the side of it; jump on the crate, then the silo. Note: Do not destroy the Wraith near the door or the Skull will disappear. The Skull description reads "Pull pin. Count to three. Throw." When this Skull is active, every NPC will carry two grenades and throws them often.

Alternately, take a Warthog, and park the front of it next to the cylinder. Take out a grenade (plasma recommended), and throw it at the front of the Warthog. Jump at the correct moment (usually as soon as you throw it) to get a little extra boost to your jump to get to the top to reach the Skull. This may require a few attempts.

Alternately, play in Co-op mode. Have a partner stand beside the building the Skull is on. Jump on top of them, then have them jump. At the peak of their jump, jump off of them. You will land next to the Skull. Collect it, then drop down to allow everyone else to get it.

Cowbell Skull: In "The Ark" mission, pick up a Grav Lift from the small building near where you fight the Scarab. Then, proceed through the level until you reach the second sloping hallway (stairway). You should see some partitioned risers (platforms) halfway down. The Skull is on the top level. Throw the Grav Lift on the right side of the hall so it lands on the fourth little green dot from the door. Then, run, jump, and use the Grav Lift to propel you to the top. You should reach a checkpoint just as you enter the room, so if you miss you can try again. When this Skull is active, explosive force is increased.

Famine Skull: In "The Ark" mission, when you first go into the valley to the right after the wrecked Phantom, look to your left to see a huge boulder. Use a Ghost to get to the side of the boulder that is closest to the bridge overhead. It is easy to pilot the Ghost up the side of the wall using the thrust. To get the Skull, pilot two Ghosts up the wall to the top of the bridge and stack them on top of one another next to the beam where the Skull is placed. Then, jump from the top of the Ghosts towards the Skull and land on the beam. The Skull description reads "Trust us. Bring a magazine." When this Skull is active, dropped weapons will have very little ammunition compared to normal.

Use the following trick instead of trying to get a Ghost to the Famine Skull or risking your life with a grenade. Instead of going straight to it, go the way you do later in the level with the tank. Kill all the enemies or until one drops a deployable cover. Go the way you would have. When you get over the hill, destroy the Ghosts. Go under the bridge. You will see a big rock with a pathway leading up. Follow it. When you get to the top, turn to your right. It will not have a dirt ramp, but a wall. Walk up to it. Notice the small ledge. Jump up, and walk all the way to the right. Deploy the cover so that it lands about halfway down to where the bridge slopes. Do not throw too far or it go over the ledge. Jump on top of the cover. Jump up to the narrow ledge to get the Skull. Note: There is more than one way to jump from cover to ledge; try a few if you miss.

Fog Skull: In the "Floodgate" mission, as you are walking down from the anti-air gun you destroyed in the previous mission, there will be a ramp (next to a missile launcher). Around this ramp, there is a checkpoint. At this point, you should also hear a marine yelling, “There! Over There!”. Look up and to the right, directly at the roof of the building next to the missile launcher. There is a Flood form (not to be mistaken with the two other Flood forms jumping in front of you), which is holding the Skull. Kill him before he jumps, and he will drop the Skull down to the ground where you can retrieve it. Note: Correct timing is required because if you kill him too early, the Skull will get stuck on the roof. The Skull description reads "You'll miss those eyes in the back of your head." When this Skull is active, your motion sensor disappears.

Grunt Birthday Party Skull: In the "Crow's Nest" mission, immediately after the first objective, while en route to the barracks, you will fall down to a pipe. Go to the end of that pipe, then look over the edge to find a small space a few feet below. Drop over, then quickly pull back to land under the floor you dropped from. The Skull is at the end of this area. When this Skull is active, it makes Grunts explode in confetti when they are headshot. There will also be some cheering, like a birthday party.

Iron Skull: In the "Sierra 117" mission, after freeing Johnson and killing all the Covenant that come in the Phantoms, walk to the Pelican that arrives to pick you up. Face the cargo bay, but instead of going in, turn left and follow the path. Once you hit the wall, jump up to your right to eventually reach a walkway. Walk all the way to the end. Take a left, then a right. At the end of this, a little bit to the right is a dark corner. Press Up to turn your light on and you should see the Skull. If you cannot see it, you are probably standing on it. The Skull description reads "Death carries a heavy price...". When this Skull is active, instead of losing 25 points when you die, you will lose 75.

IWHBYD Skull: In "The Covenant" mission, go to the last tower. Before you get to the Prophet of Truth, there are a series of bridges with Halos. Do not jump through any yet. First, kill the Prophet of Truth, and defeat the bridges of enemies. Then, jump through the Halos in this order, with "1" being at the entrance and "7" being the end near where the Prophet of Truth was located: 4, 6, 5, 4, 5, 3, 4. Alternately, jump through the Halos in the following order: 4, 5, 6, 5, 7, 6, 5, 4, 1, 2, 3, 2, 7, 2, 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 5, 4, 5, 3, 4. This is much easier in Co-op mode with three or four people. This is the Halo theme if it was played on a phone by dialing the numbers. If done correctly, the Halos will start flashing, and the Skull will appear near the Prophet's ramp. If the Halos do not flash, try again. The Skull description reads "But the dog beat me over the fence." When this Skull is active, there is bonus dialogue throughout the game. IWHBYD stands for "I Would Have Been Your Daddy", which is a level chapter from the original Halo. -From: crimsontwist

Mythic Skull: In the "Halo" mission, follow the normal path until you reach a cave. Follow the right wall until it branches off into a small path. At the end of this path is some rubble, and in front is the Skull. The Skull description reads "Coverage under the Covenant health plan." When this Skull is active, you will get a 3x score multiplier for all kills.

Thunderstorm Skull: In "The Covenant" mission, after you shut down the first tower and get access to the Hornet, fly to the second tower (the one the Arbiter shut down). While walking up the stairs, go to the middle part that connects both, and there should be stairs leading up to a platform where the Skull is. The Skull description reads "Field promotions for everyone!" When this Skull is active, enemies will be much stronger.

Tilt Skull: In the "Cortana" mission, when in the circular type room with all the Flood, look for a small structure piece next to two archways. Jump on top if it, then go up on the rocks to the top left. Turn left and jump up again, then turn 180 degrees and jump to the rocks across from you. Then, follow the rock sticking out and leading up on top of the original circular room. The Skull is in a pool of blood. The Skull description reads "What was once resistant is now immunity." When this Skull is active, enemies will have different body parts that are resistance to certain bullet types.

Tough Luck Skull: In the "Tsavo Highway" mission, once you get past the part where you are forced to leave your vehicle, you will go through a tunnel and onto an open freeway. Immediately after coming out of the tunnel, you will see a huge pipe with two yellow ladders. Climb the second ladder. You should see a Regenerator power-up. Proceed to your right onto a small platform ledge where the yellow chain link fence is located. Jump onto that ledge, crossing over the fence. Directly behind you should be a large column that is holding up the giant pipe you were just on. Below that is a walkway. Fall off the ledge onto the walkway. Walk to the end of that. You should see a hidden ledge with the Skull on it. A few attempts may be requires to jump across. The Skull description reads "Your foes always make every saving throw."
Terminal locations

The following is a list of all seven Terminal locations. To accomplish the "Marathon Man" achievement, when you find each Terminal, press RB to view the journal. The screen will eventually start to turn red. Wait until it turns blue again and a new entry will appear. You need to view both entries in all Terminals for it to count towards the "Marathon Man" achievement. -From: Jared

The Ark

1. Start the mission, then once you enter the first building, go left into another door. You should now be in a curved corridor. On the inside is a Terminal.

2. After activating the bridge to let your comrades across the gap, turn 180 degrees, and you should see a Terminal (it does not open until you activate the bridge).

3. In the third building after defeating the Scarab, kill the group of sleeping Covenant, then follow the corridor downwards. Once you reach a door in front that is locked, immediately on the left there is an open door. Go through and walk straight off, then turn 180 degrees to find a secret room with a Terminal.

The Covenant

4. When in the first tower standing on the lift, face the access panel and turn left. Jump over to find a Terminal.

5. Land your Hornet on the second tower, walk towards the entrance, but when you see the locked door, turn 180 degrees. A Terminal should be right in front of you.

6. When in the third tower standing on the lift, face the access panel and turn right. Jump over to find a Terminal.

Halo

7. After reaching the end of the first cave, follow the right wall, and you will see a building. Jump up on the walkway, then go left once inside to find a Terminal.
Multiplayer medals

Successfully complete the indicated task in Multiplayer mode to unlock the corresponding medal. Once you unlock most medals, they will be displayed in the corner of the screen and at the end of the match. You can view all earned medals on Bungie's official website. Note: There are two medals (Linktacular and Steaktacular) which will not display a confirmation once you unlock them, but they will still appear in your medal history.

Assassin: Hit and kill an opponent with a melee attack from behind.

Beat Down: Hit and kill an opponent with a melee attack.

Bomb Planted: Plant the bomb in an Assault game type.

Bulltrue: Kill an opponent who is in the act of a sword lunge.

Death from the Grave: Kill an opponent after you have died.

Double Kill: Kill 2 opponents within 4 seconds of each other.

Extermination: Get an overkill on the opposing team, wiping out all of the members.

Flag Kill: Get a melee kill with the flag in a CTF game type.

Flag Score: Capture the opposing team's flag in a CTF game type.

Grenade Stick: Kill an opponent by sticking him/her with a Plasma Grenade or a Spike Grenade.

Hail to the King: Kill 5 consecutive opponents in a single life from inside the hill before it moves in a King of the Hill game type.

Hell's Janitor: Kill 10 zombies in a row as a human without dying in an Infection game type.

Highjacker: Board an enemy ground vehicle.

Incineration: Kill an opponent by using the Flamethrower.

Infection Spree: Kill 5 humans in a row as a zombie without dying in an Infection game type.

Invincible: Kill 30 opponents in a row without dying.

Juggernaut Spree: Kill 5 consecutive opponents in a single run as the Juggernaut in a Juggernaut game type.

Killapocalypse: Kill 9 opponents within 4 seconds of each other.

Killed Bomb Carrier: Kill the opposing bomb carrier in a Assault Gamtype.

Killed Flag Carrier: Kill the opposing flag carrier in a CTF game type.

Killed Juggernaut: Kill the Juggernaut in a Juggernaut game type.

Killed VIP: Kill the opposing VIP in a VIP game type.

Killimanjaro: Kill 7 opponents within 4 seconds of each other.

Killing Frenzy: Kill 10 opponents in a row without dying.

Killing Spree: Kill 5 opponents in a row without dying.

Killionaire: Kill 10 opponents within 4 seconds of each other.

Killjoy: End an opponent's killing spree -- any spree.

Killtacular: Kill 5 opponents within 4 seconds of each other.

Killtastrophe: Kill 8 opponents within 4 seconds of each other.

Killtrocity: Kill 6 opponents within 4 seconds of each other.

Laser Kill: Kill an opponent by using the Spartan Laser.

Last Man Standing: Be the last human of the game in an Infection game type.

Linktacular (secret medal): Play in a matchmade game comprised of all Bungie.net users.

Mmmm Brains: Kill 10 humans in a row as a zombie without dying in an Infection game type.

Oddball Kill: Get a melee kill when holding the ball in an Oddball game type.

Open Season: Gun down 10 opponents with a Shotgun in a row without dying.

Overkill: Kill 4 opponents within 4 seconds of each other.

Perfection: Win a slayer game with 15+ kills without dying.

Rampage: Kill 20 opponents in a row without dying.

Running Riot Kill 15 opponents in a row without dying.

Sharpshooter: Snipe 10 opponents in a row without dying.

Shotgun Spree: Gun down 5 opponents with a Shotgun in a row without dying.

Skyjacker: Board an enemy aircraft.

Slice 'N Dice: Cut down 10 opponents with the Plasma Sword in a row without dying.

Sniper Kill: Kill an opponent by using a sniping weapon.

Sniper Spree: Snipe 5 opponents in a row without dying.

Splatter: Hit and kill an opponent with a vehicle.

Splatter Spree: Splatter 5 opponents in a row without dying.

Steaktacular (secret medal): Beat the opposing team by over 20 kills.

Sword Spree: Cut down 5 opponents with the Plasma Sword in a row without dying.

Triple Kill: Kill 3 opponents within 4 seconds of each other.

Unstoppable: Kill 10 consecutive opponents in a single run as the Juggernaut in a Juggernaut game type.

Untouchable: Kill 25 opponents in a row without dying.

Vehicular Manslaughter: Splatter 10 opponents in a row without dying.

Wheelman: Be the driver of a vehicle when a passenger kills an opponent.

Zombie Killing Spree: Kill 5 zombies in a row as a human without dying in an Infection game type.
Multiplayer ranks

Get the indicated number of skill and experience points to advance to the corresponding rank. Note: You can skip ranks once there is a set skill requirement. For example, you can go from Lieutenant Grade 2 (Skill: 10, EXP: 85) straight to Captain (Skill: 20, EXP: 100)
1. Recruit: Skill: 0, EXP: 1
2. Apprentice: Skill: 0, EXP: 2
3. Apprentice Grade 2: Skill: 0, EXP: 3
4. Private: Skill: 0, EXP: 5
5. Private Grade 2: Skill: 0, EXP: 7
6. Corporal: Skill: 0, EXP: 10
7. Corporal Grade 2: Skill: 0, EXP: 15
8. Sergeant: Skill: 0, EXP: 20
9. Sergeant Grade 2: Skill: 0, EXP: 30
10. Sergeant Grade 3: Skill: 0, EXP: 40
11. Gunnery Sergeant: Skill: 0, EXP: 50
12. Gunnery Sergeant Grade 2: Skill: 0, EXP: 60
13. Gunnery Sergeant Grade 3: Skill: 0, EXP: 150
14. Gunnery Sergeant Grade 4: Skill: 0, EXP: 300
15. Lieutenant: Skill: 10, EXP: 70
16. Lieutenant Grade 2: Skill: 10, EXP: 85
17. Lieutenant Grade 3: Skill: 10, EXP: 200
18. Lieutenant Grade 4: Skill: 10, EXP: 400
19. Captain: Skill: 20, EXP: 100
20. Captain Grade 2: Skill: 20, EXP: 150
21. Captain Grade 3: Skill: 20, EXP: 300
21. Captain Grade 4: Skill: 20, EXP: 600
22. Major: Skill: 30, EXP: 200
23. Major Grade 2: Skill: 30, EXP: 300
24. Major Grade 3: Skill: 30, EXP: 600
25. Major Grade 4: Skill: 30, EXP: 1,200
26. Commander: Skill: 35, EXP: 300
27. Commander Grade 2: Skill: 35, EXP: 450
28. Commander Grade 3: Skill: 35, EXP: 900
29. Commander Grade 4: Skill: 35, EXP: 1,800
30. Colonel: Skill: 40, EXP: 400
31. Colonel Grade 2: Skill: 40, EXP: 600
32. Colonel Grade 3: Skill: 40, EXP: 1,200
33. Colonel Grade 4: Skill: 40, EXP: 1,800
34. Brigadier: Skill: 45, EXP: 500
35. Brigadier Grade 2: Skill: 45, EXP: 1,000
36. Brigadier Grade 3: Skill: 45, EXP: 2,000
37. Brigadier Grade 4: Skill: 45, EXP: 4,000
38. General: Skill: 50, EXP: 600
39. General Grade 2: Skill: 50, EXP: 1,200
40. General Grade 3: Skill: 50, EXP: 2,500
41. General Grade 4: Skill: 50, EXP: 5,000

Weapon descriptions

Assault rifle: This is a very handy weapon to fight all enemies with, but not vehicles. It is useful against both Covenant and Flood and is available throughout the game.

Pistol/Magnum: This is a very powerful dual-wielding gun that has high firing power. The new pistol no longer has a small zoom and has very little bullets. It is useful against both Covenant and Flood.

SMG: This is as powerful as in Halo 2. It has been upgraded with higher firing power and has a recoil. It is useful against both Covenant and Flood but can be difficult to find. It can be dual wielded.

Battle rifle: This is a powerful burst-firing rifle that has high damage and high accuracy. It is better against Covenant than Flood. It is useful for sniping.

Shotgun: This is a low ranged but powerful weapon. It can hold small amount of ammunition but can fire in mid-reload. It is useful against both Covenant and Flood but is far more efficient when used on the Flood.

Sniper rifle: This is an extremely long-ranged rifle that can fire four shots in one round. This is the main weapon for sniping and usually takes two shots to kill in the torso.

Rocket launcher: This is an extremely high damage weapon that is good for taking out powerful opponents and vehicles. It is also useful against groups of enemies. It has splash damage. Be careful as it can also be hazardous to yourself.

Spartan laser: This is the most powerful weapon in the game but requires a long charged wait. It is useful for killing vehicles and powerful enemies. It is vital to kill the Monitor.

Plasma rifle: This is a powerful weapon that is great against the Flood. You can dual-wield them, but they will overheat if fired for too long.

Plasma pistol: One fully powered shot can take out your shield. A powerful but difficult weapon to use. It can be dual-wielded. It is useful because of its high range and high attack speed. It is better against Covenant.

Brute spiker: This is a Brute weapon that is commonly used throughout the game. It has a medium-sized clip and can be dual-wielded. It is more powerful against Covenant.

Needler: This can no longer be dual-wielded but is much more powerful. It can now explode with four needles. It is useful against a group and powerful opponents.

Carbine: This is a Covenant version of a battle rifle. It is very useful for sniping and in close combat. It fires single shots and has an average round. It is commonly used by Jackals.

Brute shot: This is a less powerful splash weapon that is useful for taking out groups or vehicles. It has a high range and is very common throughout the game.

Beam rifle: This is a Covenant sniper-rifle. It does not require clips but cannot be fired repeatedly due to overheating. It has high range and is powerful against Brutes.

Energy sword: This is a melee weapon that is extremely powerful against one opponent, usually resulting in a one-hit kill. It is useful against both Covenant and Flood. It has a small rush towards the target before striking.

Gravity hammer: This is a rare and powerful melee weapon. It is only used by extremely powerful Brutes. It can take out groups and can push opponents away. It has a tiny rush when attacking.

Frag grenade: This is a powerful and dangerous grenade that has the highest kill-radius. It has a bounce that can make killing opponents difficult.

Plasma grenade: This is a weaker grenade that can stick to opponents and detonate, killing those around it. It sticks only to opponents.

Spike grenade: This is a less powerful but lethal version of the plasma grenade. When detonating, it sends spikes shooting in all directions. It can stick to both opponents and vehicles.

Firebomb grenade: This explodes on impact spreading flames around the area. It has a burning effect that is good against Flood more than Covenant but can spread.
Recharge shields quicker

If your shields are down in Forge mode, press Up and they will recharge.
Reload quicker

If you are a Spartan or Elite and your ammunition is low, press Up again while reloading to instantly reload.
Melee faster

To melee quicker, press B, then press Y(2), B rapidly.
Stay zoomed in

If you are zoomed in as a Spartan or Elite and turn into the Monitor, press Up to turn back into your character and still be zoomed.
Crouching

To crouch, click and hold the Left Analog-stick. While crouched, you will not appear on motion-sensors. This is helpful in Multiplayer mode when you do not want the other team to find out where you are.
Play as the Oracle

At the Forge lobby, press Up to turn into the Oracle. You can pick up items by pressing A when you see a green hand.
Exploding grenades

Throw a grenade in the air, and shoot it with a sniper rifle.
Defeating Flood

When you kill any Flood that can come back to life by the infection forms, hit the body and it should break apart. This saves ammunition.
Defeating Wraiths

To easily kill a Wraith and save time and ammunition, aim at the little circle on its back. It only takes approximately five to ten shots to kill it this way.
Illegal service tags

If you go to "Appearance" and try to change your service tag to "I17" (Master Chief's number is 117), the game will not allow it. It will say that the tag is reserved for use by the UNSC.

If you try to use "A55" as your service tag, you will be told that it cannot be used under UNCS regulations and rules.
Driving vehicles through invisible walls

In certain levels in Campaign mode, you may want to take your vehicle through most of the level. However, there are invisible walls that keep the vehicle from moving past where it is needed. To pass through this, drive your vehicle through the doorway, gate, tunnel, etc. where the invisible wall is located. Just before you go through it, jump out and let the vehicle pass through the wall. This allows you to take the vehicle through the rest of the level if desired.
Go under map in Construct multiplayer map

To do this trick, you must be in Forge mode. Make sure you sell a respawn point before doing this glitch. Start out as the Oracle. Go down the pink Grav Lift by using your boost (press LT). There should be a few holes. You cannot fit down these as the Oracle. Start boosting into one of the holes that is not a closed circle. The Oracle should go slightly lower into this hole. Make sure you keep holding boost, then turn into either Spartan or Elite. You should fall underneath the level. Make sure you drop a respawn maker on a place where you can stand so you can get back whenever desired. To confirm you are under the level, try to fly up without going through the Grav Lift. There is an invisible wall just like in the "Foundation" level in Halo 2, except on the bottom. Note: This may require a few attempts.
Dribble Skull in Crow's Nest mission

At the beginning of the mission, grab the Skull on top of the large pipe near the ceiling before you pick up any weapons. This is easier in Co-op mode. Press RT repeatedly. This will cause Master Chief to drop the Skull, but because he has no weapons, he will immediately pick it back up, making it appear as though he is dribbling the Skull like a basketball.
Red vs. Blue reference in Crow's Nest mission

When you begin the mission, you will find a large roadway with many Covenant forces. You are supposed to fight your way to a door that will lead you to a room with two turbine-like objects. Instead of going through this door, follow the road all the way to the end, killing all the Covenant on the way. Once you reach the end, there will be a Marine knocking on a door wanting to get in. If you listen closely, you can hear that it is actually an excerpt from Red vs. Blue where Simmons is talking to Griff trying to get into the base. Note: There is a different message for each difficulty setting:

Easy: None

Normal: Two Marines copying Red vs. Blue.

Heroic: Simmons and Griff from Red vs. Blue.

Legendary: Church and Caboose doing a "remake" of Simmons and Griff.
Leave level boundary in Highground multiplayer map

Go down to the beach area in Forge mode, and get in a Mongoose. Have the person in the Mongoose accelerate at the barrier. Afterwards, have the Wraith boost at the back of the Mongoose from a short distance. For a brief moment the Mongoose will be past the barrier. When this happens, get out. You will then be outside of Highground. This trick works in all ocean maps.
Evil duck in Isolation multiplayer map

In the "Isolation" multiplayer map, go to the Flood cave where the Ghost is located. Go in front of the Ghost, look up, and walk a short distance slowly. You will see a big smudge on its face, but look carefully for the duck's body. You can partly see its face and the horns on its head. This is related to the picture in Zanzibar in Halo 2.
Leave level boundary in Isolation multiplayer map

While in Forge mode, get as high as possible as the Monitor. Spawn a teleporter on the ground. Then, hug any wall while still being as high as possible, and spawn another teleporter. If the teleporter beneath you is lit up as it should be, turn back into a Spartan or Elite, then go through the it. You should now be outside the level boundary.
Stretchy Master Chief in Last Resort multiplayer map

While in Forge mode, move to the two Mongooses next to the building on the far side of the map from the beach. Change into the Monitor, and place six or more Fusion Coils near the side of the bridge coming out of the building. Change back to Master Chief, and stand on top of the coils. Position yourself so that when they detonate you will fly into the side of the bridge. This may require a few attempts. Then, end the game. Go to the theater and watch the movie. Play the explosion slowly by tapping A quickly to pause and restart the movie. If done correctly, upon impact Master Chief will stretch out.
Flipped Elephant message in Sandtrap multiplayer map

Note: This trick is best done with two players. In the "Sandtrap" multiplayer map in Forge mode, first try to get as many pre-placed Fusion Coils and Plasma Batteries before starting. Place as many Fusion Coils and Plasma Batteries as possible in front of an Elephant, then drive into the pile. Then, shoot at the pile until it explodes. It will either just jump a little, stand up on the rear, or turn all the way around. When you get close, the message "Hold RB to flip... wait, what? How did you do that?" will appear. -From: Matthew Garriga

Get two Elephants to collide into each other. Have one flip the other over. When one is flipped over and you get close, the message "Hold RB to flip... wait, what? How did you do that?" will appear.

Drive the Elephant on a hill so it stays on it. Put exploding crates around the hanger. Blow up the crates with a plasma grenade. When it is flipped over and you get close, the message "Hold RB to flip... wait, what? How did you do that?" will appear. You can keep flipping it back and forth.
Breathing under water in Sierra 117 mission

At the end of the level, when the Pelican arrives after you have rescued Johnson, it destroys the two Covenant ships, one being above the water just outside of where Johnson is held. The other one is above the water in the place just before the Pelican lands. You can climb in. Once the Covenant ship is destroyed on the side where it picks you up, the debris that remains will float on the water. Jump onto it, and let it sink. After that, all you can do is just jump from one piece of debris to the other. If you touch the ground, you will die.
Monkeys with teddy bear in Sierra 117 mission

After you come into contact with the snipers in the woods, follow the left rock path to find a strange family of monkeys holding a teddy bear.
Hidden area in Tsavo Highway mission

After the part where you exit your Warthog, jump across the bridge, and kill the Brute and two Grunts that are attacking your men. Turn directly around, facing toward where you came from. Look to your left, and you will see a structure. Go up to the wall on the structure, and look to your right. There should be a pathway. Follow the path until you get on top of a bridge-like structure. There should be some dead UNSC Marines, a sniper rifle, and some other ammunition.
Crossing broken bridge with vehicles in Tsavo Highway mission

When you reach the bridge with a Warthog or other vehicle with barriers, normally you cannot cross this area. However, back in one of the buildings before the bridge is a Grav Lift. Get it, and throw it a bit before the break in the bridge, then run the Warthog or any other vehicle over it. This will make the next area much easier, especially on the Legendary difficulty setting.
Leave level boundary in Valhalla multiplayer map

Go to the ocean barrier (the side with the ocean). Then, you and another player must get a Mongoose and Wraith. Have one player drive the Mongoose into the barrier. Keep accelerating, and have the other player get into the Wraith. Drive behind the Mongoose inside the Wraith, and use the boost. You must be close for the Mongoose to go through. Once you hit it, the other player must jump out once he or she is pass the barrier.
Easy "Used Car Salesman" achievement

Go to the beginning of "The Ark" mission. Make sure you have a guest or a friend to help. Continue the mission until you reach where the crashed Pelican is found (after the first terminal). Kill the blue Brute, and grab the rocket launcher under the crashed Pelican. Continue to where the choppers are located. As you are moving, a Prowler will drive by. Ignore it because it will soon stop and abandon the Prowler leading to failure of the achievement. Another Prowler will follow. Have your guest or friend shoot it twice with a Brute Shot, then shoot at it with your rockets to get the achievement. Note: If you are by yourself, do the same thing, but instead of using a Brute Shot, throw a grenade in front of it. Then, shoot it with the rockets.
Achievements

Accomplish the indicated achievement to get the corresponding number of Gamerscore points:
Landfall (20 points): Finish the first mission of the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary.
Holdout (20 points): Finish the second mission of the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary.
The Road (20 points): Finish the third mission of the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary.
Assault (30 points): Finish the fourth mission of the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary.
Cleansing (30 points): Finish the fifth mission of the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary.
Refuge (30 points): Finish the sixth mission of the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary.
Last Stand (40 points): Finish the seventh mission of the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary.
The Key (40 points): Finish the eighth mission of the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary.
Return (50 points): Finish the final mission of the Campaign on Normal, Heroic, or Legendary.
Campaign Complete: Normal (125 points): Finish the Campaign on Normal.
Campaign Complete: Heroic (125 points): Finish the Campaign on Heroic (unlocks achievement for Normal, if not earned).
Campaign Complete: Legendary (125 points): Finish the Campaign on Legendary (unlocks achievements for Normal and Heroic, if not earned).
Iron (10 points): Find and claim this skull when playing on Normal, Heroic or Legendary difficulty.
Black Eye (10 points): Find and claim this skull when playing on Normal, Heroic or Legendary difficulty.
Tough Luck (10 points): Find and claim this skull when playing on Normal, Heroic or Legendary difficulty.
Catch (10 points): Find and claim this skull when playing on Normal, Heroic or Legendary difficulty.
Fog (10 points): Find and claim this skull when playing on Normal, Heroic or Legendary difficulty.
Famine (10 points): Find and claim this skull when playing on Normal, Heroic or Legendary difficulty.
Thunderstorm (10 points): Find and claim this skull when playing on Normal, Heroic or Legendary difficulty.
Tilt (10 points): Find and claim this skull when playing on Normal, Heroic or Legendary difficulty.
Mythic (10 points): Find and claim this skull when playing on Normal, Heroic or Legendary difficulty.
Graduate (10 points): Earn 5 EXP or finish 10 games to complete the requirements for basic training (Online).
UNSC Spartan (15 points): Earn your Sergeant rating to be recognized as a true Spartan (Online).
Spartan Officer (25 points): Advance to the Spartan Officer ranks (Online).
Two for One (5 points): Score a Double Kill with a single Spartan laser shot in a ranked free for all playlist (Online).
Too Close to the Sun (5 points): Destroy an enemy Banshee with the Spartan laser or missile pod in a ranked playlist or in campaign.
Triple Kill (5 points): Kill 3 enemies within 4 seconds of one another in a ranked free for all playlist (Online).
Overkill (5 points): Kill 4 enemies within 4 seconds of one another in a ranked free for all playlist (Online).
Lee R Wilson Memorial (5 points): Score 5 grenade sticks in any ranked free for all playlist (Online).
We're in for some Chop (5 points): Destroy an enemy vehicle with equipment in a ranked playlist or in campaign.
Killing Frenzy (5 points): Kill 10 enemies without dying in any ranked free for all playlist (Online).
Steppin' Razor (5 points): Score a Triple Kill with the sword in a ranked free for all playlist (Online).
Mongoose Mowdown (5 points): Splatter an enemy with the mongoose in a ranked free for all playlist (Online).
Up Close and Personal (5 points): Kill 5 enemies by melee or assassination in a ranked free for all playlist (Online).
Fear the Pink Mist (5 points): Kill 5 enemies with the needler in a ranked free for all playlist or in campaign.
Headshot Honcho (5 points): Kill 10 enemies with headshots in a ranked free for all playlist or in campaign.
Used Car Salesman (5 points): Destroy a vehicle that has three enemies in it in a ranked playlist or in campaign.
Marathon Man (40 points): Locate and access all Terminals in the Campaign.
MVP (5 points): Earn the MVP in any ranked playlist (Online).
Maybe Next Time Buddy (5 points): Board the same vehicle within 10 seconds after being boarded in any free for all playlist (Online).
Guerilla (10 points): Score over 15,000 points in the Campaign meta-game on the first mission.
Demon (10 points): Score over 15,000 points in the Campaign meta-game on the second mission.
Cavalier (10 points): Score over 15,000 points in the Campaign meta-game on the third mission.
Askar (10 points): Score over 15,000 points in the Campaign meta-game on the fourth mission.
Exterminator (10 points): Score over 15,000 points in the Campaign meta-game on the fifth mission.
Ranger (10 points): Score over 50,000 points in the Campaign meta-game on the sixth mission.
Vanguard (10 points): Score over 50,000 points in the Campaign meta-game on the seventh mission.
Orpheus (10 points): Score over 15,000 points in the Campaign meta-game on the eighth mission.
Reclaimer (10 points): Score over 15,000 points in the Campaign meta-game on the final mission.

How to have a safer and faster XP..??

2008-01-10T21:05:00.000+05:30

To disable unneeded startup services for a safer, faster XP, use the "Services" Admin Tool (Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services). If you are a single user of a non-networked machine, you can disable the following items, with no ill effect.

Alerter
Clipbook
Computer Browser
Fast User Switching
Human Interface Access Devices
Indexing Service (Slows the hard drive down)
Messenger
Net Logon (unnecessary unless networked on a Domain)
Netmeeting Remote Desktop Sharing (disabled for extra security)
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager (disabled for extra security)
Remote Procedure Call Locator
Remote Registry (disabled for extra security)
Routing & Remote Access (disabled for extra security)
Server
SSDP Discovery Service (this is for the utterly pointless "Universal P'n'P", & leaves TCP Port 5000 wide open)
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Telnet (disabled for extra security)
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Upload Manager
Windows Time
Wireless Zero Configuration (for wireless networks)
Workstation

Change Drive Icon..!!!

2007-11-20T15:19:00.002+05:30

Changing drives icon First of all copy a icon file to the root of the drive.example: c:\icon.ico Then create a file called: autorun.inf in c:\autorun.infthen open that file and type the following:[autorun]icon=icon.ico save and close the file. Now open my computer and refresh.. and woh! icon changed....you can apply to other drives too.be careful:"autorun.inf" and "ico.ico" must be in the root of the drive.example: c:\autorun.inf and c:\icon.ico.same on the root.

Deleting Recycle Bin

2007-11-20T15:19:00.001+05:30

Deleting recycle bin

Start] [Run] [Regedit]Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\BitBucketModify/Create the Value Data Type(s) and Value Name(s) as detailed below.Data Type: DWORD // Value Name: NukeOnDeleteSetting for Value Data: [0 = Use Recycle Bin / 1 = Permanently Delete]Exit Registry and Reboot

Another Method:

start->run->gpedit.msc-> user configuration ->desktop->remove recycle bin from desktop->double click->change it not configured to enable->apply and ok.

Now come to start->run->gpupdate.exe and press enter.

Your recycle bin icon is gone from desktop nad you will need to revert your settings for get that back.

After reverting setting make sure to run gpupdate.exe command .

Removing Multiple Boot Screens

2007-11-20T15:18:00.000+05:30

If you are getting unwanted multiple boot screen
Then Follow these Steps.
1> Right Click on My Computer
2>Select Properties
3>Select Advanced Tab
4>Select Settings In the Startup & Recovery Section(3rd grp)
5>Select the operating system which u want.
6>And Click OK.
7>Further again press the setting and click on Edit.
8>It will open boot.ini File.
9>Now u can delete those o/s which you don't want to be displayed.

Note: For deleting operating systems from boot.ini file, keep it mind that you can'tdelete that o/s which is selected by default there. Beforemaking any changes make a copy of boot.ini file.

How to infect a Computer with a Virus or Trojan

2007-11-20T15:17:00.002+05:30

Bind 2 exes (infect a game or any other .exe with your virus/trojan)
A simple thing to do is bind a game with the virus or trojan , lets say you have game.exe and server.exe , there are some programs that will add server.exe into game.exe , so when the program connects those two files it gives you a file.exe that will have both game and server in it , send it to your friends and say its just a game , binder is the program you need to connect these file.

Send them a downloaderA downloader will automaticaly download AND execute any file from the internet on the victims computer as soon as they open the downloader,here it goes:a downloader is 2-4 Kb only! it can be added in a game.exe with the way above,you have to upload your trojan/virus on a server lets say geocities then you set up the downloader to download and run this file,you send the 4Kb file to the victim and as soon his computer runs the file it starts downloading the trojan/virus from geocities,the victim will see nothin, the VIR SCANNERS CANT SEE IT BUT they will detect the trojan/virus that it will download.

Infected webpage (.EML Bug)Another way is to build a webpage that contains a virus and infects the visitors with explorer 5.01-5.5 versions with any virus , i havent test it yet and i am not sure if and how it works but i have seen programs around that promt you to choose a trojan/virus then it decodes it and the it gives you the html that contains the virus the problem is that it takes long time to decode it and its better if your virus is 1-30Kb other ways it ll take days to decode , as i said i havent test it yet and i wont be able to write more or reply to any emails askin for it.

Best way (if you have access on the victims pc)
Get a floppy disc and do the job

To Convert a FAT partition into NTFS

2007-11-20T15:17:00.001+05:30

To convert a FAT partition to NTFS:

Click Start, click Programs, and then click Command Prompt.
In Windows XP, click Start, click Run, type cmd and then click OK.
At the command prompt, type CONVERT [driveletter]: /FS:NTFS.
Convert.exe will attempt to convert the partition to NTFS.

NOTE: Although the chance of corruption or data loss during the conversion from FAT to NTFS is minimal, it is best to perform a full backup of the data on the drive that it is to be converted prior to executing the convert command. It is also recommended to verify the integrity of the backup before proceeding, as well as to run RDISK and update the emergency repair disk (ERD).

Tips to create a Strong Password easily..!!!

2007-11-20T15:16:00.002+05:30

How to create a Strong Password.
This lead me to explain the method I follow to set a password - A Strong Password indeed by all standards.
You must follow the following criteria while creating a Strong Password:
* The password must be a minimum of 8+ characters.
* The password must have 1 number , 1 special character, 1 Upper Case character.

A very simple example that I use to explain my friends and colleages is : P@ssw0rd. It fullfills all the criteria's. The 'a' is replaced by a special character @. The 'P' is of upper case. The 'o' is replaced by the numeral 0.
Well, you can now convert your regular password into a Strong Password by following a few changes like the example I have mentioned above for the simple password - P@ssw0rd.

* Make the first character Upper Case.
* Change all 'a' in the password to the special character @.
* Change all 's' in the password to the special character $.* Change all 'l' in the password to the special character !.
* Change all 'o' in the password to the numerical 0.
* Change all 'i' in the password to the numerical 1.

How to bypass CD DRM Encryption??

2007-11-20T15:16:00.001+05:30

DRM is an encryption manifest file which dissallows an individual who's purchased a CD which contains the DRM directly written into the actual Audio Disk. DRM stands for Digital Rights Management.

What's the cause for DRM Encryption?
DRM(Digital Rights Management) is to control the internets piracy of Audio files, mp3s for example.. on P2P (Peer To Peer) Clients, (A famous one is KaZaA) for non-3rd party use. Which this means that You can rip the audio to your computer, and listen to them only at your computer and nowhere else. Now there usually is an internal ripper provided by the CD itself, for you to burn the audio to another CD-R or whatever, but if you follow my howto it'll make things a lot simpler.
-What you need-

1: 6-ft. (182m)* Shielded Audio Cable, 1/8/11th's stereo miniplug, to 1/8/11th's stereo miniplug. Radio shack item # (42-2387A)
2: A CD Player.
3: The CD which has the DRM encryption.
4: A Computer with working Microphone input, and soundcard output.
5: An Audio editor such as Sonic Foundry Sound forge 6.0 or something like it.

Now, take the Audio chord and plug it into your CD player where you'd put your headphones, then take the other end and plug it directly into your CPU's microphone input.

Once that's done, open up your Audio Editor... click on File>New> Once the new layout has opened, click "Record" now once it has started to record, click Play on your CD Diskman. (Make sure you have your Sound on the Diskman to MAX output)

Now thats pretty much it... once the disk has been fully played and upstreamed to your audio editor... you can disect the Tracks and the name them on New Sound layouts, name the track... and save it as mp3. Becuase by default all audio editors save upstreamed tracks as .WAV format, and wav format is a relativelly enormus size as far as bytes are concerned. Remember, it's our right to do what we want with what we buy.

Improve XP Start up time..!!!

2007-11-20T15:15:00.001+05:30

Aight so u wanna know how to turn the pc on in 10 seconds (may vary)Aight heres what u have to do to turn ur pc on in 10 seconds.

Aite Click on the start button then press R it will take u to Run well go to run
n type Regedit
press enter
this will open Registery Editor
now look for the key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ContentIndex

now there find the Key Called
"Startup Delay"
Double Click On It
Now where its Base
Click Decimal
Now its Default Value Is 4800000 (75300:hexadecimal)
Change The Value To 40000
here u go u have done it
now close the Registery Editor
and Restart Your Computer
You'll See The Result

How to fasten up Windows XP..??

2007-11-20T15:13:00.000+05:30

1. DISABLE INDEXING SERVICES:-
Indexing Services is a small little program that uses large amounts of RAM and can often make a computer endlessly loud and noisy. This system process indexes and updates lists of all the files that are on your computer. It does this so that when you do a search for something on your computer, it will search faster by scanning the index lists. If you don’t search your computer often, or even if you do search often, this system service is completely unnecessary. To disable do the following:

1. Go to Start
2. Click Settings
3. Click Control Panel
4. Double-click Add/Remove Programs
5. Click the Add/Remove Window Components
6. Uncheck the Indexing services
7. Click Next

2. OPTIMISE DISPLAY SETTINGS

Windows XP can look sexy but displaying all the visual items can waste system resources. To optimise:

1.Go to Start
2. Click Settings
3. Click Control Panel
4. Click System
5. Click Advanced tab
6. In the Performance tab click Settings
7. Leave only the following ticked:
- Show shadows under menus
- Show shadows under mouse pointer
- Show translucent selection rectangle
- Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop
- Use visual styles on windows and buttons

3. SPEEDUP FOLDER BROWSING:-

You may have noticed that everytime you open my computer to browse folders that there is a slight delay. This is because Windows XP automatically searches for network files and printers everytime you open Windows Explorer. To fix this and to increase browsing significantly:

1. Open My Computer
2. Click on Tools menu
3. Click on Folder Options
4. Click on the View tab.
5. Uncheck the Automatically search for network folders and printers check box
6. Click Apply
7. Click Ok
8. Reboot your computer

4. IMPROVE MEMORY USAGE:-

Cacheman Improves the performance of your computer by optimizing the disk cache, memory and a number of other settings.
NOTE: This program is shareware and some features require activation.
Once Installed:

1.Go to Show Wizard and select All
2.Run all the wizards by selecting Next or Finished until you are back to the main menu. Use the defaults unless you know exactly what you are doing.
3.Exit and Save Cacheman
4.Restart Windows

5. OPTIMISE YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION:-

There are lots of ways to do this but by far the easiest is to run TCP/IP Optimizer.

1. Download and install
2. Click the General Settings tab and select your Connection Speed (Kbps)
3. Click Network Adapter and choose the interface you use to connect to the Internet
4. Check Optimal Settings then Apply
5. Reboot

6. OPTIMISE YOUR PAGEFILE:-

If you give your pagefile a fixed size it saves the operating system from needing to resize the page file.

1. Right click on My Computer and select Properties
2. Select the Advanced tab
3. Under Performance choose the Settings button
4. Select the Advanced tab again and under Virtual Memory select Change
5. Highlight the drive containing your page file and make the initial Size of the file the same as the Maximum Size of the file.

Windows XP sizes the page file to about 1.5X the amount of actual physical memory by default. While this is good for systems with smaller amounts of memory (under 512MB) it is unlikely that a typical XP desktop system will ever need 1.5 X 512MB or more of virtual memory. If you have less than 512MB of memory, leave the page file at its default size. If you have 512MB or more, change the ratio to 1:1 page file size to physical memory size.

7. SPEEDUP FOLDER ACCESS - DISABLE LAST ACCESS UPDATE:-

If you have a lot of folders and subdirectories on your computer, when you access a directory XP wastes a lot of time updating the time stamp showing the last access time for that directory and for ALL sub directories. To stop XP doing this you need to edit the registry. If you are uncomfortable doing this then please do not attempt.

1. Go to Start and then Run and type “regedit”
2. Click through the file system until you get to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSys
tem”
3. Right-click in a blank area of the window on the right and select ‘DWORD Value’
4. Create a new DWORD Value called ‘NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate’
5. Then Right click on the new value and select ‘Modify’
6. Change the Value Data to ‘1′
7. Click ‘OK’

8. MAKE YOUR MENUS LOAD FASTER:-

This is one of my favourite tweaks as it makes a huge difference to how fast your machine will ‘feel’. What this tweak does is remove the slight delay between clicking on a menu and XP displaying the menu.

1. Go to Start then Run
2. Type ‘Regedit’ then click ‘Ok’
3. Find “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\”
4. Select “MenuShowDelay”
5. Right click and select “Modify’
6. Reduce the number to around “100″
7. This is the delay time before a menu is opened. You can set it to “0″ but it can make windows really hard to use as menus will open if you just look at them - well move your mouse over them anyway. I tend to go for anywhere between 50-150 depending on my mood.

9. IMPROVE XP SHUTDOWN SPEED:-

This tweak reduces the time XP waits before automatically closing any running programs when you give it the command to shutdown.

1. Go to Start then select Run
2. Type ‘Regedit’ and click ok
3. Find ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Control Panel\Desktop\’
4. Select ‘WaitToKillAppTimeout’
5. Right click and select ‘Modify’
6. Change the value to ‘1000′
7. Click ‘OK’
8. Now select ‘HungAppTimeout’
9. Right click and select ‘Modify’
10. Change the value to ‘1000′
11. Click ‘OK’
12. Now find ‘HKEY_USERS\ .DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop’
13. Select ‘WaitToKillAppTimeout’
14. Right click and select ‘Modify’
15. Change the value to ‘1000′
16. Click ‘OK’
17. Now find ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ System\CurrentControlSet\Control\’
18. Select ‘WaitToKillServiceTimeout’
19. Right click and select ‘Modify’
20. Change the value to ‘1000′
21. Click ‘OK’

10. IMPROVE SWAPFILE PERFORMANCE:-

If you have more than 256MB of RAM this tweak will considerably improve your performance. It basically makes sure that your PC uses every last drop of memory (faster than swap file) before it starts using the swap file.

1. Go to Start then Run
2. Type “msconfig.exe” then ok
3. Click on the System.ini tab
4. Expand the 386enh tab by clicking on the plus sign
5. Click on new then in the blank box type”ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1″
6. Click OK
7. Restart PC

11. ENSURE XP IS USING DMA MODE:-

XP enables DMA for Hard-Drives and CD-Roms by default on most ATA or ATAPI (IDE) devices. However, sometimes computers switch to PIO mode which is slower for data transfer - a typical reason is because of a virus. To ensure that your machine is using DMA:

1. Open ‘Device Manager’
2. Double-click ‘IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers’
3. Right-click ‘Primary Channel’ and select ‘Properties’ and then ‘Advanced Settings’
4. In the ‘Current Transfer Mode’ drop-down box, select ‘DMA if Available’ if the current setting is ‘PIO Only’

Registry Hacking

2007-11-20T15:12:00.001+05:30

Display legal notice on startup:
Wanna tell your friends about the do's and dont's in your computer when they login in your absence. Well you can do it pretty easily by displaying a legal notice at system start up.
REGEDIT
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system]
"legalnoticecaption"="enter your notice caption"
"legalnoticetext"="enter your legal notice text"

Automatic Administrator Login:
Well here's the trick which you can use to prove that Windows XP is not at all secure as multi-user operating system. Hacking the system registry from any account having access to system registry puts you in to the administrator account.
REGEDIT 4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"AutoAdminLogon"="1"

No Shutdown:
Wanna play with your friends by removing the shutdown option from start menu in their computer.
Just hack it down !!!
Regedit
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
"NoClose"="DWORD:1"

Menu Delays:
Another minor and easy tweak to remove any delay from menus sliding out. For this you will need to use regedit (open regedit by going to Start -> Run..., then typing 'regedit' and pressing enter). The key you need to change is located in HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop. The actual key is called MenuShowDelay - all you have to do is change the value to 0. Remember, you will have to re-boot your computer for this tweak to take effect.

GPEDIT.MSC And Autoplay
A great tweaking file that comes with XP is gpedit.msc.
Go to Start -> Run... and then type in 'gpedit.msc' and press enter.
This is effectively the Policies Editor, and it comes in handy often.
For example, if you hate CD autoplay like I do and want to permanently disable it, you can use this tool to do so.
Just run gpedit.msc, then go to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System. In here you can see the value 'Turn Off Autoplay'. Right-click on it and then click 'Properties'.

Increasing options in add/remove programs:
Not a fan of MSN Messenger? don't want Windows Media Player on your system? Fair enough, but if you go to Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel, by default none of Windows XP's 'built in' programs are visible. it's fairly easy to change, though... just open the file X:\Windows\inf\sysoc.inf (where X: is the drive letter where Windows XP is installed) in Notepad. You should see a section of the file something like this:

[Components]
NtComponents=ntoc.dll,NtOcSetupProc,,4
WBEM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wbemoc.inf,hide,7
Display=desk.cpl,DisplayOcSetupProc,,7
Fax=fxsocm.dll,FaxOcmSetupProc,fxsocm.inf,,7
NetOC=netoc.dll,NetOcSetupProc,netoc.inf,,7
iis=iis.dll,OcEntry,iis.inf,,7
com=comsetup.dll,OcEntry,comnt5.inf,hide,7
dtc=msdtcstp.dll,OcEntry,dtcnt5.inf,hide,7
IndexSrv_System = setupqry.dll,IndexSrv,setupqry.inf,,7
TerminalServer=TsOc.dll, HydraOc, TsOc.inf,hide,2
msmq=msmqocm.dll,MsmqOcm,msmqocm.inf,,6
ims=imsinsnt.dll,OcEntry,ims.inf,,7
fp_extensions=fp40ext.dll,FrontPage4Extensions,fp40ext.inf,,7
AutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,au.inf,hide,7
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
RootAutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,rootau.inf,,7
IEAccess=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,ieaccess.inf,,7

This is a list of all components installed at the moment. I've taken the example of MSN Messenger - the program entry called 'msmsgs', third-last line. You can see the word 'hide' highlighted - this is the string which tells Windows not to display the component in the Add/Remove Programs list. Fix this up by simply deleting the word 'hide' like so:

msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7

To this:

msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,,7

Now, after restarting, you should be able to see MSN Messenger in the Add/Remove Programs list. If you want to be able to quickly view and remove all components, simply open the sysoc.inf file and do a global find and replace for the word ",hide" and replace it with a single comma ",".
Automatically Kill Programs At Shutdown:
don't you hate it when, while trying to shut down, you get message boxes telling you that a program is still running? Making it so that Windows automatically kills applications running is a snap. Simply navigate to the HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop directory in the Registry, then alter the key AutoEndTasks to the value 1.

Speeding Up Share Viewing:
This is a great tweak. Before I found it, I was always smashing my head against the table waiting to view shares on other computers. Basically, when you connect to another computer with Windows XP, it checks for any Scheduled tasks on that computer - a fairly useless task, but one that can add up to 30 seconds of waiting on the other end - not good! Fortunately, it's fairly easy to disable this process. First, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace in the Registry. Below that, there should be a key called {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}. Just delete this, and after a restart, Windows will no longer check for scheduled tasks - mucho performance improvement!

Create a Shortcut to Lock Your Computer
Leaving your computer in a hurry but you don’t want to log off? You can double-click a shortcut on your desktop to quickly lock the keyboard and display without using CTRL+ALT+DEL or a screen saver. To create a shortcut on your desktop to lock your computer: Right-click the desktop. Point to New, and then click Shortcut. The Create Shortcut Wizard opens. In the text box, type the following: rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation Click Next. Enter a name for the shortcut. You can call it "Lock Workstation" or choose any name you like. Click Finish. You can also change the shortcut's icon (my personal favorite is the padlock icon in shell32.dll). To change the icon: Right click the shortcut and then select Properties. Click the Shortcut tab, and then click the Change Icon button. In the Look for icons in this file text box, type: Shell32.dll. Click OK. Select one of the icons from the list and then click OK You could also give it a shortcut keystroke such CTRL+ALT+L. This would save you only one keystroke from the normal command, but it could be more convenient.

How to Stop Hackers (How To Catch A Hacker)

2007-11-20T15:11:00.001+05:30

Some one wrote this great Post at orkut about Catching Hackers

I don't know who exactly the writer of this great post is...
Here is what he had to write :

"just wrote this guide to give you some tips of which you may not have heard yet. Hopefully, it won't come to a hacker getting in, but if it does...

Tip 1: Hackers cover their tracks. Experienced hackers cover them more thorougly, but amateur hackers sometimes leave things behind. Don't expect them to leave any really big evidence behind; expect more of little things here and there you might find surprising. For example, if you're writing a term paper and a black hat hacker accidently saved it when he took a paragraph out- that's suspicious. Where did that paragraph go? Well, for one thing, now you know he was in that area. Check the folders surrounding the file- you might find something.

Tip 2: Decipher between the type of hackers that are attacking you. Experienced hackers will have a more in depth look around when they penetrate your system. They won't touch much because they know that that won't add too much to their knowledge. But if you know a hacker's been in, and some files are messed with, and you have a log of someone guessing passwords to a file or something of that sort, its probably some newbie who's just starting out. These are the easiest hackers to catch. They usually get so caught up in thoughts like "I'm in!" that they forget the basics, such as work behind a proxy.

Tip to protect yourself
My friend was setting up a webserver once. His first time too, and he wasn't to anxious to set up some good software to protect against hackers and viruses. He didn't put up one IDS, and before you know it, the obvious happened. But this time, a newbie had struck. The nice log files showed, bluntly across the screen, multiple instances of a foreign IP address that stood out. Some stupid newbie had tried to login as "uucp" on my friend's XP computer, with a password of "uucp." Well, that's great, but he also had tried the same user/pass combination three times, enough to get himself logged nicely. Even a semi-brainless user with some form of neurological system knows that uucp isn't a default XP account. Again, excitement toiled this hacker's brain, and maybe if he hadn't done that, along with a few other stupid things, he wouldn't have gotten caught. What other things did he do? Well, lets see. He openned 35 instances of MS-DOS. He tried to clean the printer's heads, and he edited a .gif in notepad. Then he uninstalled a few programs and installed some html editor, and replaced four files with the words "14P." he might as well have posted his phone number. In a few days, we had tracked him down to a
suburban town in Ohio. We let him go, not pressing any charges, because he had done nothing really damaging and had provided me with an example of a moron for this guide.

Tip 3: Don't go crazy if you lose data. Chances are, if it was that important, you would have backed it up anyway. Most hackers nowadays wish they were back in 1989 when they could use a Black Box and having a Rainbow Book actually meant something. Most hackers aren't blackhat, they are whitehat, and some even greyhat. But in the end, most hackers that are in systems aren't satisfied by looking around. From past experiences, I have concluded that many hackers like to remember where've they been. So, what do they do? They either press delete here and there, or copy some files onto their systems. Stupid hackers (yes, there are plenty of stupid hackers) send files to e-mail addresses. Some free email companies will give you the IP of a certain e-mail address's user if you can prove that user has been notoriously hacking you. But most of the time, by the time you get the e-mail addy it's been unused for weeks if not months or years, and services like hotmail have already deleted it.

Tip 4: Save information! Any information that you get from a log file (proxy server IP, things like "14P", e-mail addresses that things were sent to, etc.) should be saved to a floppy disk (they're not floppy anymore, I wish I could get out of the habit of calling them that) incase there's a next time. If you get another attack, from the same proxy, or with similar e-mail addresses (e.g: one says Blackjack 123@something.whatever and the other says Black_jack_45@something.znn.com) you can make an assumption that these hackers are the same people. In that case, it would probably be worth the effort to resolve the IP using the proxy and do a traceroute. Pressing charges is recommended if this is a repeat offender.

Tip 5: Don't be stupid. If you've been hacked, take security to the next level. Hackers do talk about people they've hacked and they do post IPs and e-mail addresses. Proof? Take a look at Defcon Conventions. I've never gone to one, but I've seen the photos. The "Wall of Shame"-type of boards I've seen have IPs and e-mail addresses written all over them in fat red, dry-erase ink. Don't be the one to go searching the Defcon website and find your e-mail address posted on the Wall of Shame board!

Tip 6: Don't rely on luck. Chances are, sometime or another, you're going to be targeted for an attack. Here you can rely on luck. Maybe they'll forget? Maybe they don't know how to do it? If you think this way, a surprise is going to hit your face very hard. Another way you could stupidly rely on luck is by saying this: It's probably just a whitehat. On the contrary, my friend, it's probably just a blackhat. A blackhat with knowledge stored in his head, ready to be used as an ax. It's your data. You take the chance.

How Internet Cookies Work

2007-11-20T15:09:00.000+05:30

Internet cookies are incredibly simple, but they are one of those things that have taken on a life of their own. Cookies started receiving tremendous media attention starting in February 2000 because of Internet privacy concerns, and the debate still rages.

On the other hand, cookies provide capabilities that make the Web much easier to navigate. The designers of almost every major site use them because they provide a better user experience and make it much easier to gather accurate information about the site's visitors.
We will take a look at the basic technology behind cookies, as well as some of the features they enable. You will also have the opportunity to see a real-world example of what cookies can and cannot do using a sample page.

Cookie Basics
In April of 2000 I read an in-depth article on Internet privacy in a large, respected newspaper, and that article contained a definition of cookies. Paraphrasing, the definition went like this:
Cookies are programs that web sites put on your hard disk. They sit on your computer gathering information about you and everything you do on the Internet, and whenever the web site wants to it can download all of the information the cookie has collected.
Definitions like that are fairly common in the press. The problem is, none of that information is correct. Cookies are not programs, and they cannot run like a program does. Therefore they cannot gather any information on their own. Nor can they collect any personal information about you from your machine.

Here is a valid definition of a cookie:
A cookie is a piece of text that a web server can store on a user's hard disk. Cookies allow a web site to store information on a user's machine and later retrieve it. The pieces of information are stored as name-value pairs.
For example, a web site might generate a unique ID number for each visitor and store the ID number on each user's machine using a cookie file.

If you use Microsoft's Internet Explorer to browse the web, you can see all of the cookies that are stored on your machine. The most common place for them to reside is in a directory called c:\windows\cookies. When I look in that directory on my machine, I find 165 files. Each file is a text file that contains name-value pairs, and there is one file for each web site that has placed cookies on my machine.

You can see in the directory that each of these files is a simple, normal text file. You can see which web site placed the file on your machine by looking at the file name (the information is also stored inside the file). You can open each file up by clicking on it.

For example, I have visited goto.com, and the site has placed a cookie on my machine. The cookie file for goto.com contains the following information:
UserID A9A3BECE0563982D www.goto.com/

What goto.com has done is stored on my machine a single name-value pair. The name of the pair is UserID,and the value is A9A3BECE0563982D. The first time I visited goto.com, the site assigned me a unique ID value and stored it on my machine.

[Note that there probably are several other values stored in the file after the three shown above. That is housekeeping information for the browser.]

The vast majority of sites store just one piece of information -- a user ID -- on your machine. But there really is no limit -- a site can store as many name-value pairs as it likes.
A name-value pair is simply a named piece of data. It is not a program, and it cannot "do" anything. A web site can retrieve only the information that it has placed on your machine. It cannot retrieve information from other cookie files, nor any other information from your machine.

How Does Cookie Data Move?

As you saw in the previous section, cookie data is simply name-value pairs stored on your hard disk by a web site. That is all that cookie data is. The web site can store the data, and later it receives it back. A web site can only receive the data it has stored on your machine. It cannot look at any other cookie, nor can it look at anything else on your machine.

The data moves in the following manner:
If you type the URL of a web site into your browser, your browser sends a request to the web site for the page. For example, if you type the URL http://www.netcrackers.blogspot.com into your browser, your browser will contact Blogger's server and request its home page.
When the browser does this, it will look on your machine for a cookie file that Blogger has set. If it finds a Blogger cookie file, your browser will send all of the name-value pairs in the file to Blogger's server along with the URL. If it finds no cookie file, it will send no cookie data.
Blogger's web server receives the cookie data and the request for a page. If name-value pairs are received, Blogger can use them.
If no name-value pairs are received, Blogger knows that you have not visited before. The server creates a new ID for you in Blogger's database and then sends name-value pairs to your machine in the header for the web page it sends. Your machine stores the name-value pairs on your hard disk.
The web server can change name-value pairs or add new pairs whenever you visit the site and request a page.
There are other pieces of information that the server can send with the name-value pair. One of these is an expiration date. Another is a path (so that the site can associate different cookie values with different parts of the site). You have control over this process. You can set an option in your browser so that the browser informs you every time a site sends name-value pairs to you. You can then accept or deny the values.

How Do Web Sites Use Cookies?

Cookies evolved because they solve a big problem for the people who implement web sites. In the broadest sense, a cookie allows a site to store state information on your machine. This information lets a web site remember what state your browser is in. An ID is one simple piece of state information -- if an ID exists on your machine, the site knows that you have visited before. The state is, "Your browser has visited the site at least one time", and the site knows your ID from that visit.

Web sites use cookies in many different ways. Here are some of the most common examples:
Sites can accurately determine how many readers actually visit the site. It turns out that because of proxy servers, caching, concentrators and so on, the only way for a site to accurately count visitors is to set a cookie with a unique ID for each visitor. Using cookies, sites can:
->Determine how many visitors arrive
->Determine how many are new vs. repeat visitors
->Determine how often a visitor has visited

The way the site does this is by using a database. The first time a visitor arrives, the site creates a new ID in the database and sends the ID as a cookie. The next time the user comes back, the site can increment a counter associated with that ID in the database and know how many times that visitor returns.

Sites can store user preferences so that the site can look different for each visitor (often referred to as customization). For example, some sites offer you the ability to change content/layout/color. It or allows you to enter your zip code and get customized weather information.
Most sites seem to store preferences like this in the site's database and store nothing but an ID as a cookie, but storing the actual values in name-value pairs is another way to do it.

Ecommerce sites can implement things like shopping carts and "quick checkout" options. The cookie contains an ID and lets the site keep track of you as you add different things to your cart. Each item you add to your shopping cart is stored in the site's database along with your ID value. When you check out, the site knows what is in your cart by retrieving all of your selections from the database. It would be impossible to implement a convenient shopping mechanism without cookies or something like it.
In all of these examples, note that what the database is able to store is things you have selected from the site, pages you have viewed from the site, information you give to the site in online forms, etc. All of the information is stored in the site's database, and a cookie containing your unique ID is all that is stored on your computer in most cases.

An Example

To give you a simple example of what cookies and a database can do, We can take the example of Verizon.com They have created a simple history and statistics system for there articles. There system runs on the Verizon servers and lets you view your activity on the Verizon site. Here's how it works:
When you visit Verizon for the first time, the server creates a unique ID number for you and stores a cookie on your machine containing that ID. For example, on the machine I am using now, this is what I see in the Verizon cookie file:
user 35005 www.verizon.com/
There is nothing magic about the number 35,005 -- it is simply an integer that they increment each time a new visitor arrives. I was user number 35,005 to come to the Verizon site since this cookie system was installed. We could make the ID value as elaborate as we desire -- many sites use IDs containing 20 digits or more.

Now, whenever you visit any page on Verizon, your browser sends your cookie containing the ID value back to the server. The server then saves a record in the database that contains the time that you downloaded the page and the URL, along with your ID.
To see the history of your activity on Verizon, you can go to this URL on the site:
http://www.verizon.com/history.php
Your browser sends your ID value from the cookie file to the server along with the URL. The history.php page runs a piece of code that queries the database and retrieves your history on the site. It also calculates a couple of interesting statistics. Then it creates a page and sends it to your browser.

Try the URL for the history page now:
http://www.verizon.com/history.php

Then go view a couple of other pages on Verizon and try it again. You will see that the statistics change and so does the list of files.

Problems with Cookies

Cookies are not a perfect state mechanism, but they certainly make a lot of things possible that would be impossible otherwise. Here are several of the things that make cookies imperfect.
People often share machines -- Any machine that is used in a public area, and many machines used in an office environment or at home, are shared by multiple people. Let's say that you use a public machine (in a library, for example) to purchase something from an on-line store. The store will leave a cookie on the machine, and someone could later try to purchase something from the store using your account. Stores usually post large warnings about this problem, and that is why. Even so, mistakes can happen.
On something like a Windows NT machine or a UNIX machine that uses accounts properly, this is not a problem. The accounts separate all of the users' cookies. Accounts are much more relaxed in other operating systems, and it is a problem.

If you try the example above on a public machine (in a library or school, for example), and if other people using the machine have visited Verizon, then the history URL may show a very long list of files.

Cookies get erased -- If you have a problem with your browser and call tech support, probably the first thing that tech support will ask you to do is to erase all of the temporary Internet files on your machine. When you do that you lose all of your cookie files. Now when you visit a site again, that site will think you are a new user and assign you a new cookie. This tends to skew the site's record of new versus return visitors, and it also can make it hard for you to recover previously stored preferences. This is why sites ask you to register in some cases -- if you register with a user name and a password, you can re-login even if you lose your cookie file and restore your preferences. If preference values are stored directly on the machine then recovery is impossible. That is why many sites now store all user information in a central database and store only an ID value on the user's machine.
If you erase your cookie file for Verizon and then revisit the history URL in the previous section, you will find that Verizon has no history for you. The site has to create a new ID and cookie file for you, and that new ID has no data stored against it in the database.

Multiple machines -- People often use more than one machine during the day. For example a machine in the office, a machine at home and a laptop for the road. Unless the site is specifically engineered to solve the problem, the result will be three unique cookie files on all three machines. Any site that I visit from all three machines will track me as three separate users. It can be annoying to set preferences three times. Again, a site that allows registration and stores preferences centrally may make it easy for me to have the same account on three machines, but the site developers must plan for this when designing the site.If you visit the history URL demonstrated in the previous section from one machine and then try it again from another, you will find that your history lists are different. This is because the server created two IDs for you on the two machines.
There are probably not any easy solutions to these problems, short of asking users to register and storing everything in a central database.

Why the Fury around Cookies?

If you have read the article to this point, you may be wondering why there has been such an uproar in the media about cookies and Internet privacy. You have seen in this article that cookies are benign text files, and you have also seen that they provide lots of useful capabilities on the web.

There are two things that have caused the strong reaction around cookies:
The first is something that has plagued consumers for decades but is now getting out of hand. Let's say that you purchase something from a traditional mail order catalog. The catalog company has your name, address and phone number from your order, and it also knows what items you have purchased. It can sell your information to others who might want to sell similar products to you. That is the fuel that makes telemarketing and junk mail possible.

On a web site, the site can track not only your purchases, but also the pages that you read, the ads that you click on, etc. If you then purchase something and enter your name and address, the site potentially knows much more about you than a traditional mail order company does. This makes targeting much more precise, and that makes a lot of people uncomfortable.

Different sites have different policies. Many companies have strict privacy policies and do not sell or share any personal information about customers with any third party except in cases where you specifically allow them to do so. Other companies aggregate information together and distribute it.
The second is new. There are certain infrastructure providers that can actually create cookies that are visible on multiple sites. Many firms use these companies to serve ad banners on their sites. These companies place small (1x1 pixels) GIF files on the site that allow them to load cookies on your machine. The companies can then track your movements across multiple sites. It can potentially see the search strings that you type into search engines (due more to the way some search engines implement their systems, not because anything sinister is intended). Because it can gather so much information about you from multiple sites, the companies can form very rich profiles. These are still anonymous, but they are rich.

One company then went one step further by acquiring another firm, it threatened to link these rich anonymous profiles back to name and address information -- it threatened to personalize them, and then sell the data. That began to look very much like spying to most people, and that is what caused the uproar. Some companies are in a unique position to do this sort of thing, because they serve ads on so many sites. Cross-site profiling is not a capability available to individual sites, because cookies are site specific.

Things you didn't know about Windows XP.....

2007-11-20T15:08:00.000+05:30

You've read the reviews and digested the key feature enhancements and operational changes.
Now it's time to delve a bit deeper and uncover some of Windows XP's secrets.

1. It boasts how long it can stay up. Whereas previous versions of Windows were coy
about how long they went between boots, XP is positively proud of its stamina.
Go to the Command Prompt in the Accessories menu from the All Programs start button option,
and then type 'systeminfo'. The computer will produce a lot of useful info, including the
uptime. If you want to keep these, type 'systeminfo > info.txt'. This creates a file
called info.txt you can look at later with Notepad. (Professional Edition only).

2. You can delete files immediately, without having them move to the Recycle Bin first.
Go to the Start menu, select Run... and type 'gpedit.msc'; then select User Configuration,
Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Explorer and find the Do not move
deleted files to the Recycle Bin setting. Set it. Poking around in gpedit will reveal
a great many interface and system options, but take care -- some may stop your computer
behaving as you wish. (Professional Edition only).

3. You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut
on your desktop using a right mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll,
LockWorkStation' in the location field. Give the shortcut a name you like.
That's it -- just double click on it and your computer will be locked. And
if that's not easy enough, Windows key + L will do the same.

4. XP hides some system software you might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger,
but you can tickle it and make it disgorge everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the
text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf, search for the word 'hide' and remove it. You can
then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Windows
Components and there will be your prey, exposed and vulne