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A Fistful Of Password Busting Tools for Your Travels


Not all booty is as easy to find as digging where the X marks the spot. Sometimes a pirate's got to kick a few doors open to get at the goods! Here are a handful of programs to help you gain access whilst pillaging!

If it's Windows you're after, don't forget about trying the easy way first. Reboot, hold F8 down, and boot to safe mode. Log in as Administrator with a blank password. It works on a scary number of systems, and you'll be able to clear or change any other password on the system.

Don't get too paranoid, Windows users. Removing passwords on other systems really isn't all that hard either.

Now, on to the tools!


Offline NT Password & Reg-Editor
. There's an excellent walkthrough on the site, including instructions on writing the image to floppy, CD, or a USB drive. Works on almost all versions of NT, from 3.51 right up to Vista. Some success has even been reported on 2008. It's also included on Ultimate Boot CD.

PING. One of my favorite drive cloning apps also includes a utility to blank Admin passwords. It's a great disc to keep in your technician's tool kit.

Ophcrack. Runs on OSX, Linux, and Windows and uses rainbow tables to crack Windows passwords. Several tables are available for download, ranging in size from 380mb to 8gb.

Don't forget Nirsoft for Windows application passwords. Their apps will help you find Messenger, Mail, Dial Up, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and several other passwords, as well as wireless keys.

What about Mac? Grab yourself an OSX boot disc and read up. This article takes you through the process step-by-step. Linux users that need help resetting root's password can read this one for help.

Got another helpful tool to suggest? Comment it so the rest of us can add it to our kits!

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Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

CiviballsI have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

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