Reviews by Hisham

2008-08-25T15:38:00.001+06:00

More members sent me emails with questions about Rapidshare. Here are some hints to help you more efficently use rapidshare.

Rapidshare has been an excellent tool for sharing large files. Over the last few weeks, many people have figured out how to more efficently use this service. I wanted to document some of these suggestions here. If you have more please let me know.

Rapidshare traces the users IP address to limit each user to a certain amount of downloading per day. To get around this, you need to show the rapidshare server, a different IP address. You can do this one of
multiple ways.

1.

1. Short-Out the java script:
1. Goto the page you want to download
2. Select FREE button
3. In the address bar put the following: java script:alert(c=0)
4. Click OK
5. Click OK to the pop-up box
6. Enter the captcha
7. Download Your File

2. Request a new IP address from your ISP server.

Here\'s how to do it in windows:
1. Click Start
2. Click run
3. In the run box type cmd.exe and click OK
4. When the command prompt opens type the following. ENTER after each new line.

ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
exit

5. Erase your cookies in whatever browser you are using.
6. Try the rapidshare download again.

Frequently you will be assigned a new IP address when this happens. Sometime you will, sometimes you will not.

If you are on a fixed IP address, this method will not work. To be honest, I do not know how to do this in
linux/unix/etc. If this works for you, you may want to save the above commands into a batch file, and just
run it when you need it.

3. Use a proxy with SwitchProxy and Firefox:

1. Download and install Firefox if you have not already
2. Download and install SwitchProxy
3. Google for free proxies
4. When you hit your download limit, clean your cookies and change your proxy

4. Use an anonymous service:

Running your system through the tor network should in theory work; however, it is difficult to use and setup.
Plus, you allow others to run their evil deeds through your system as well by using this system. Anonymizer
2005 is inexpensive, easy to use, but not free. Other pay services would likely work as well.

5. You can use a bookmarklet to stop your wait times:

1. Open IE
2. Right Click On This Link
3. Select Add to Favorites
4. Select Yes to the warning that the bookmark may be unsafe.
5. Name it \"RapidShare No Wait\"
6. Click on the Links folder (if you want to display it in your IE toolbar)
7. Click OK
8. You may need to close and reopen IE to see it
9. Goto rapidshare and click the bookmarklet when you are forced to wait

6. Use hacked DLL file

Download this file;

http://rapidshare.de/files/12884678/LCC.rar.html

Expand file (pass is: bru87tef94orc87ing94)

Copy file to your system32 directory (usualy C:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM32) and replace existing one

Now go to Rapidshare web page & try to download something (click Free)

Enjoy

BitTorrent

2008-05-16T10:23:00.002+06:00

<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">BitTorrent</span>

Introduction:

BitTorrent is probably the greatest "thing" that ever happened to the internet ant and also the worst thing too. BitTorrent is a popular file sharing network using which people can download and upload stuff from one computer to another. For those who never heard of BitTorrent or don't think it's significant then think again. Consider the fact that 60 to 80%* of all internet traffic is on peer to peer (P2P) file sharing networks such as KaZaA, eDonkey, iMesh, BearShare, AudioGalaxy, Gntella etc. And BitTorrent is the king of all networks as more than 50% file sharing traffic is on the BitTorrent network.

*According to BBC News.

History of P2P and file sharing:

Before I talk about the actual network a little history and reinforcement of concept is in order.

The first popular P2P software was IRC (Internet Relay Chat) which allowed users to text chat with each other. This also opened doors to file sharing as people were willingly opening the doors to their computers and looking for stuff on other's computer. This generated huge popularity among people. But IRC slowly gave way to Instant Messaging services such as Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger and so forth. These became immensely popular and still are. These applications are used for file sharing as well as personal communication. Then it was time for the notorious Napster. With the rapid growth of popularity of audio compression technology MP3 music ripped from audio CDs were shrink down to merely one tenth of its original size without losing virtually any quality. And these smaller files were easily shared using this web based service. A flurry of lawsuits was made against Napster to shut it down and companies claimed millions of dollars in compensation. Eventually the record industry was able to shut down Napster but other services remained. BitTorrent is one such network that remained unharmed as there is no centralized sever that control the system.

How BitTorrent works?

“No centralized sever.” Sounds a little mysterious and the internal technology is actually quite complex. Most P2P file sharing network is controlled by some company or a server, no “one” person is actually in charge of BitTorrent. The power resides with the people. BitTorrent allows computers to directly communicate with each other through the internet without anyone controlling it unlike say Yahoo! Messenger where data is goes through Yahoo!’s own server. You see BitTorrent is not just an application it’s a protocol comparable to HTTP, FTP, TCP/IP etc. And what this protocol does is it allows computers to files among themselves without any restriction. To really understand how BitTorrent works we can take an example. Let’s say we have network of a thousand internet connected computers and all of them have an application known as a BitTorrent client. (A BitTorrent client is an application that allows users to download and upload files.) Let’s say user ‘X’ wants to download a 4 MB MP3 file from other users who have the file. He searches for the file and starts downloading it. And let’s say 50 more users have the same file in their computer. And the beauty of BitTorrent is that person instead of downloading from just one person he downloads from all 50 of them. So Mr. X will download small portions from all the users who have the file. So one user uploading 4 MB of data he uploads about 80 KB. One feature of BitTorrent is really fascinating is that while Mr. X is downloading the file he is simultaneously uploading the file to some other user who is downloading the same file. This way everyone is a winner.

Frequently used Terms:

BitTorrent client: An application that is installed in your computer that allows you to share file in the BitTorrent network.
Tracker: A website or sever that stores information about all connected computers and the files that are in those computers. This is different from download servers as Trackers don’t actually stores or host files that are being shared. But provide information about files that are being shared and where they could be found.
Torrent: A file which can be an audio, video, software or any other kind which is shared in the BitTorrent network is called Torrent in short.
Leecher: Someone who downloads a file from the BitTorrent network.
Seeder: Someone who uploads a file in the BitTorrent network.

Endless potential, usage and misuse of BitTorrent:

Use of BitTorrent is incredibly widespread. Users are downloading copyright protected music, movies, videos, software, games, eBooks and what not without thinking twice. Here I would like to mention file sharing itself isn’t illegal but sharing copyright content without the owners permission is illegal. For example: if want to share your vacation videos there is no stopping you. Or your garage band’s first sample album or some form of free software you have created can be shared at will, which is clearly legal. And the original intension of BitTorrent was to take off load from web servers by allowing users to download files among themselves. That is if you have some form of content and want to share it with the rest of the world you upload the file to a certain number of people and while they are downloading the file simultaneously they are uploading that some other user. And they are sharing the file among themselves without the original content creator’s intervention. But the original purpose of BitTorrent is being overshadowed by the amount if illegal downloads. A large chunk of piracy is done through BitTorrent and other file sharing networks. Vividness of its exposure was mentioned on first paragraph.

Illegal usage of BitTorrent and its consequences:

The movie industry is suffering most due to this ruthless and care free form of piracy which is virtually undetectable. It is a well known fact that the Hollywood movie industry has suffered a loss of about 800 billion US$ due to piracy of which BitTorrent has a big part.
Music files being shared in the form of MP3s are hurting the record industry. And the artists are the true victims. Sometimes songs are being illegally shared even before they are officially released.
Software industry is losing out from revenues. Millions of users are downloading “cracked” software from the internet. Big software companies such as Microsoft, Symantec, Adobe and Ahead among others are missing out on their rightful profit.
Game companies are in constant fear of releasing games knowing minutes after releasing the game they will be pirated.

Why BitTorrent cannot be stopped: (You can’t sue me!)

How can you sue me? There is no centralized server. There is single individual or company that actually controls the network. It’s an open source and free to join network that no one controls. The ultimate control lies within the people. The record industry was able to shut down Napster as it was controlled by a server. For people with general knowledge about networking topology “BitTorrent is a ‘Mesh’ network.” So if you are even able to shut down one terminal (a tracker or user of the network) others will seamlessly continue working. But if someone wanted to actually find out who are using BitTorrent to share their files that would be a fairly simple task. That is by getting to know the IP Address of the file sharers from the trackers the seeker could detect the users. They will then have to ask the ISPs about the holders of those IP Addresses. But here their journey will come to a grinding halt. ISPs are very reluctant about giving up information about its users; they consider it to be an invasion of privacy. So there is no way to stop the people. And the trackers cannot be shut down either as most trackers do not actually host the files but act as sort of a middleman between users. And most trackers hold information about Torrents. And that being said it now our time rip off those who profit by ripping us off.

Great, where do I start?

You will need a few things before you get started and understand some things. The primary requirement is a fast internet connection. You will need to download a BitTorrent client and you need to learn addresses to some popular trackers.

Short reviews of some BitTorrent client:

All of the BitTorrent clients reviewed a re completely free and open source.

uTorrent: Pronounced “micro torrent” has a file footprint of about 200 KB but it is pretty fast and consumes little memory. This is a pretty basic client if all you want to do is manage your torrents. This works well with most proxy servers. This is pretty simple to use and works with most trackers.
Azureus: If you want features and lots of it then look no further. Azureus is probably the best and feature rich BitTorrent client. If you are an advance user this would be perfect. The interface can be a little confusing for first time users and can be a burden for most. But if you really are serious about BitTorrent and want make your own tracker this will come mighty handy.
BitComet: One great feature of BitComet is it integrates links to some of the most popular trackers within its interface. So it is very easy to get started with. I would recommend you to get started with this. Instead of searching for torrent through a browser for torrents you can do the task more efficiently through BitComet.
BitTorrent: Even though this client was made by the actual creators of BitTorrent network the client is bare-bones and links only to bittorrent.com when searched through its interface. But it is still quite functional.
KTorrent: BitTorrent client for Linux OS.

Links to some trackers and search engines:

There are far too many trackers out there for me to review so I leave it up to you to explore and I believe the following links are more than sufficient for even the most tech savvy.

www.torrentz.com (Torrent search engine)
www.torrentportal.com (Very popular)
www.bittorrent.com (hosts only legal Torrents)
www.legaltorrents.com (hosts only legal Torrents)
www.torrentpool.com
www.torrentreactor.com (Very popular)
www.thepiratebay.com (Self-proclaimed biggest Tracker in the world)
www.torrentspy.com (Popular)
www.yellowtorrents.com
www.btmon.com (Popular)
www.wtorrent.com (Popular)
www.torrentbar.com
www.zoozle.com
www.torrentroom.com
www.torrentbox.com
www.fulldls.com
www.bitenova.com
www.btjunkie.com
www.piratic.com
www.torrentvaley.com
www.torrentattack.com

How to download Torrents:

Simply download and install a BitTorrent client of you choice. I recommend BitComet. Go to one of the popular tracker mentioned above. Search for movies, music, software or anything else you are looking for. Click on something that has a lot of seeder and download should begin on your BitTorrent client. This couldn’t be any simpler.

A few words of caution:

File sharing itself is not illegal but sharing copyright content without the copyright holder’s permission is. If you do share copyright content, do so at your own risk.
Install a reputable anti-virus software and keep it up-to-date and avoid sharing EXE files over BitTorrent.
Do not give your real name, E-mail address or any other identifiable information over the internet unless you’re absolutely sure it is safe.
Check your ISP’s licensee information and agreements and see whether they give away user information without your permission.
BitTorrent opens up the world to your computer. So be careful of what you download.

Why I support file sharing:

There are numerous possible ways BitTorrent can be used legally and the fact that it really cannot be shut down, just as piracy can never really be stopped. So my point is that governments and companies instead of trying to shut down BitTorrent should look for ways to use BitTorrent for the reason it was originally built to do. Some companies have started doing that. For example, most Linux versions are available for download from their original website as Torrents. This takes of significant load from the servers. Interestingly more people downloading from the servers would slow down the process whereas more people downloading a Torrent would actually increase download speed. Even some commercial software companies like Ahead are distributing trial version of their software (Nero Burning Suite) through BitTorrent which is a great example of legal usage of file sharing. Some companies now staring to realize the endless potential BitTorrent has and they are now tapping in to that. Even big movie download services are charging users for downloads which in terms benefits the movie makers and giving the users a far superior movie experience.

Firefox 2.0

2007-08-07T16:36:00.001+06:00

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System Requirements - Release Notes - Other Systems & Languages

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Firefox 2 delivers helpful new features to make your online experience more productive.
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Firefox continues to lead the way in online security, and now includes active protection from online scams to keep you safer.
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Choose from over a thousand useful add-ons that enhance Firefox. It’s easy to personalize Firefox to make it your own.

Do Math Quickly in Your Head

2007-08-07T16:21:00.000+06:00

Some time ago a picked up a cool little book called “Short-Cut Math” by Gerard W. Kelly. It’s promise was to increase my calculation ability (in my head) up to three times. Following are the tips that stayed with me since I read the book and that I found most useful. Now I use these techniques when dealing with our startup ThemBid.com when I’m negotiating over license agreements on the fly during lunch meetings.

1. Round Off to a Quick Approximation

First determine a level of accuracy you are happy with, then round the numbers appropriately before making the calculation. This is also useful to determine a quick ballpark figure before doing the actual calculation.

2. Break Up Into Parts

Say you have to multiply 613 by three. Try multiplying first 600 by 3, then 10 by 3 then 3 by 3 and adding the results.

3. Omit Words

When calculating in your head, think of the results rather than saying out the words. For example to compute 30/2, just think 15 instead of thirty divided by two equals fifiteen.

4. Quickly Find Three Common Percentages

20% -> Divide the number by 5
33.3% -> Divide the number by 3
50% -> Divide the number by 2

5. Finding Percentages by Using 100’s

The percentage of a hundred is the percentage number itself. For example, 15% of 100 is 15. Use this, combined with the Break Up Into Parts method.

The book has many more math shortcuts, but these are the ones that stuck to memory and I find myself using regularly. Have you learned any math shortcuts that allow you to quickly perform calculations in your head?

Active Virus Shield

2007-03-31T13:25:00.000+06:00

* Advanced detection technology to help stop known and new viruses, spyware and other malware before they attack you.
* Always-on, automatically checks for updates every hour- providing real-time scanning and protection against virus threats
* Easy-to-install, works with most Windows® operating systems. (Windows 98, 2000, ME, XP & Vista)
* Free to everyone- No AOL subscription required

I will soon review Opera 9.1

2007-03-16T12:25:00.000+06:00