Competent Machines Search Results

How To: Give Your MacBook's Battery a Longer, Healthier Life with These Power Tips

Apple's MacBook line of laptops is quite famous for their extensive battery life, thanks to various technologies that Apple has utilized. However, all things must pass, and over time your MacBook's battery will degrade. Certain use scenarios can accelerate the degradation of the battery—from excessive usage to high temperatures to overloading the system—and this can all lead to the untimely obliteration of your battery.

Networking Foundations: Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

Hello ladies and gentlemen, PySec here coming at you with another informative(hopefully) article for you all. In the last tutorial, we finally finished our discussion about IP Addressing and I intentionally didn't mention a really important concept with which IP Addressing wouldn't be feasible without it. What I'm talking about is how our network device gets the IP Address in order to communicate with other devices on the network/Internet. There are many different ways for that to be accompli...

Hack Like a Pro: Linux Basics for the Aspiring Hacker, Part 22 (Samba)

Welcome back, my aspiring hackers! Those of you who use Windows in a LAN environment understand that Windows machines can share directories, files, printers, etc. using "shares." This protocol dates back to the 1980s when the then dominant computer firm, IBM, developed a way for computers to communicate over the LAN by just using computer names rather than MAC or IP addresses.

Hack Like a Pro: How to Exploit SNMP for Reconnaissance

Welcome back, my rookie hackers! The more we know about a system or network, the better our chances of owning it and not leaving a trace for investigators to follow. One of the often overlooked sources for information is the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). Many rookie hackers are not even aware of it, but it can prove to be a treasure trove of information, if you understand how it works and how to hack it.

Hack Like a Pro: How to Create a Nearly Undetectable Backdoor with Cryptcat

Welcome back, my fledgling hackers! Awhile back, I demonstrated one of my favorite little tools, netcat, which enables us to create a connection between any two machines and transfer files or spawn a command shell for "owning" the system. Despite the beauty and elegance of this little tool, it has one major drawback—the transfers between the computers can be detected by security devices such as firewalls and an intrusion detection system (IDS).

How to Hack Databases: Hunting for Microsoft's SQL Server

Welcome back, my fledgling hackers! The database is the hacker's "pot-of-gold," as it contains information that is very valuable to both the business and the hacker. In this, the second of my series on hacking databases, we're on the "hunt" for Microsoft's SQL Server. Although far from the most commonly used database (Oracle hold's that title), Microsoft's SQL Server is very often found in small-to-medium sized businesses. Even a few big businesses use it.

Hack Like a Pro: How to Install BackTrack 5 (With Metasploit) as a Dual Boot Hacking System

Welcome back, my hacker novitiates! Many of you have written me that you're having difficulty installing and running Metasploit on a variety of platforms. No matter if you're using Mac, Linux, or Windows, I strongly recommend you install BackTrack as your secondary OS, a virtaulization system, or on an external drive. This particular Linux distribution has many hacking and security tools integrated—including Metasploit.

How To: Dry Your Soaking Wet Shoes Faster — Without Shrinking Them in the Dryer

Wet shoes are uncomfortable, no one can deny that. Just think about walking around with soaking wet footwear ... and each squishy step you take. Makes you cringe, doesn't it? It can happen in heavy rain, at the beach, or from an unforeseen puddle on the street. And while you can't always avoid soggy shoes, you can rest easy knowing that the next time this happens to you, you know the secret trick to drying your shoes faster without damaging them with excessive heat.

How To: | 3 DIY Electronic Geek Chic Pieces for Him

Stand out from the high street fashion clones with stuff you’ve fashioned yourself. It’s easy to take old pieces of electronic junk and transform them into all sorts of fun ‘n’ funky geeky accessories. Like a totally useful tote bag, a what-on-earth-is-that wallet and a bedazzling belt. It’s terribly geeky but chicy too. Here’s how…

How To: Make a crusty and crispy French bread

With a stand mixer, making bread has never been easier. So, if in the past, you've shied away from making bread because of its complicated process, you don't need to worry anymore, especially with this crusty French bread. But don't be fooled by the crisply baked (but delicious) crust, the inside is so soft it will melt in your mouth. Check out this full video recipe for crusty French bread.

How To: Make a mini penguin polymer clay bead

A piece of orange clay is rolled down to diameter of desired width of beak, and rolled down further at 1 end to make a point. Cone shape is cut to length of beak desired. A black ball of polymer clay is made. Base of orange beak is blended onto it. 2 clear seed beads are picked up individually with a pointed stick and pressed into head above beak. Stick is used to make 2 eye creases at right side of right eye and eyebrow over left eye. Repeat on other side. 2 flat oval pieces of orange clay a...

How To: Sell your stuff on eBay

Turn your possessions into cash and become an online selling machine. You will need: Something to sell, a computer with internet access, an eBay account, a digital camera, shipping supplies, something to sell,a computer with internet access, an eBay account, a digital camera, & shipping supplies.

How To: Make your own ballet style tutu

Tutus are not just for ballerinas anymore! Anyone who feels like twirling, dancing or just running around with a little extra poof can wear one! Follow this tutorial and make a tutu for yourself, your daughter or anyone else looking for a little fluff!

How To: Bleach your jeans for a stylish faded look

In this tutorial, Tom Howard shows us how to bleach jeans the proper way. This is far better than just placing your clothes in the washing machine the normal way. To do this the correct way, put your water level low (for one item) in your washing machine. Now, make sure the temperature is around 50 degrees give or take 5 degrees. Now, add 1/2 c of chlorine, adding more if you want your jeans to be lighter. Now, leave this is to soak for about 20 minutes and wash your jeans for 30 minutes. Mak...

How To: Create a Tangent Line with Excel

Given a function, you can easily find the slope of a tangent line using Microsoft Excel to do the dirty work. That is to say, you can input your x-value, create a couple of formulas, and have Excel calculate the secant value of the tangent slope. This is a fantastic tool for Stewart Calculus sections 2.1 and 2.2.