I did it. I found a way to recover files encrypted by Windows XP encryption after a reinstall of the OS, and no encryption keys. Out of ignorance, I encrypted some directories that I wanted to keep private, but didn’t know about the export key thing. Then I got hit hard by a viral infection. The amount of time to remove it versus the time it would take to reinstall was ridiculous. So there went my file access, even though the username and password was the same. After a year of research and frustration, I have my files back. I won’t go into detail about how Windows goes about encrypting the files, but let it suffice to say that through a series of fortunate accidents, I succeeded. But there are a few catches. Catch #1: Physical access. You must have the drive in hand. If you don’t have physical access, you can pretty much forget it. Catch #2: You must buy software. I used a deleted file detector and was able to recover all of my files by directory. Catch #3: You cannot have used any scrubber software. What that means, is if you used a secure deletion program, this method won’t work. For the most part, if you are tech-savvy enough to be using one of these programs, chances are, you are tech-savvy enough to know better than to encrypt without exporting the keys to begin with, if you even bother to use
Windows encryption rather than a more secure option. If you meet these criteria, plug the drive in as a slave, power up, run the deleted file recovery program, and enjoy your files. A word of caution though – this is a VERY time consuming process. so you may want to do this on a spare pc. Also, sorting through all the files that you have deleted on the disk… Got a couple of days off? It took me a week of evenings after work and one solid – 16 hrs per day solid – weekend to finish. But I got my files back. 🙂 I should also note that you should never ever try to save the recovered files to the same drive you are recovering from. You may actually overwrite what you want back. Best bet? Use a spare drive or go get a second one. Happy filing! :woo:
Category:Life in General
Self Explanitory
Just in case you can’t find it anywhere else…
After 2 hours of searching I, finaly found a list of the first 30 companies to receive waivers exempting them for one year from the President’s healthcare legislation. The numbers in () are the number of employees affected.
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Fowler Packing Co. (39)
Baptist Retirement (127)
BCS Insurance (115,000)
Local 17 Hospitality Benefit Fund (881)
Greater Metropolitan Hotel (1200)
UFT Welfare Fund (351,000)
Aegis (162)
Maritime Association (500)
Aetna (209,423)
UABT (17,347)
Reliance Standard (varies)
QK/DRD (Denny’s) (65)
Guy C. Lee Mfg. (312)
I.U.P.A.T (875)
HealthPort (608)
Jack in the Box (1,130)
Allflex (34)
Transport Workers (107)
Tri-Pak (26)
Cryogenic (19)
Metro Paving Fund (550)
Health Connector (3,544)
Health and Welfare Benefit System (41)
PS-ILA (8)
PMPS-ILA (15)
Maverick County (1)
Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc. (326)
GS-ILA (298)
Allied (127)
CIGNA (265,000)
This is reposted from this link. Thanks to CBS for informing us.
An Oldskool Guide to Netiquette
I’m a geek. An old-school geek. I started out on a Commodore 64 and worked my way up to what my hobby is today – hardware and network administration. I don’t do it professionally. I don’t want to destroy my childhood memories of fun and games with stress and pressure. Along the way I learned quite a bit. Through all the tweaking and posting and calling and chatting, I learned a great deal. Here are some of the biggest lessons, often learned the hard way.
- 1. Always check your cables
2. Always proof your entries – preferably before you hit enter. (for those of us who remember entering machine language via hexadecimal code on an alpha-numeric keypad)
3. Double check the phone number you dialed for that BBS. Mrs. Johnson is tired of tones in her ear – they mess with her hearing aid.
4. Be clear about the subject you are posting about, and to whom you are speaking. Two ladies talking about where they like to keep their purses entangling with a guy asking about interesting locations can be quite messy.
5. NO FLAMING. This is a big one. You’ll often see it on today’s version of BBS systems, the open forum. Basically, this means if you can’t say anything nice, keep your hands away from the keyboard. The internet is forever, those posts don’t go away.
6. There are no girls on the net. While we all know that this is not literally true, it does make a very valid point. No one can see you. No one can know anything about you unless you tell them. We can’t see your face as you speak. You have no gender, no age, no race.
7. This is more of a corollary to the previous two – Your facial expression as you post has nothing to do with how your words will be read. NO ONE CAN SEE YOU!!! No matter how many smileys or emoticons you use, if what you say is ugly, then it’s ugly and no amount of 🙂 (jk) 😛 is going to fix it. If you just have to say it, do it in a private -PRIVATE- message. There is no penalty for being polite. You can’t be over polite on the net. And I promise you, the rest of the users on the forum, message board, etc. will appreciate your discretion. I’ve seen many online communities torn apart and fade away because of flame wars. No one wants to be involved in that.
8. Good or bad, if you post about someone else, make sure you wouldn’t mind them reading it. There is no such thing as a private post. If banks and schools can’t secure vital consumer information, what makes you think a social networking site can? Or would even try for that matter? It will get back to them, whether through a mutual friend, security failure or a deliberate hack, they will probably read it at some point. Make sure that you have said it to them directly first so that there are no unpleasant impressions of you left behind. Don’t be like the person that breaks up with someone via email. No one respects cowardice.
9. Don’t be vulgar. There are places for that and general topics and public networking sites are not it. Just because you are anonymous does not mean that you can’t be tracked via IP. Trust me, I’ve done it. If you want to post in an adult community, there are plenty out there. So if you post is Not Safe For Work (NSFW) label it so you don’t get folks in trouble or parents can catch it before the kids see it.
10. BE POLITE This is perhaps the best of them all. As I said, there is no penalty for being too polite. If there is even a remote chance that you might be misunderstood, clarify and clarify again. I’ve moderated in a number of forums and I can’t stress this enough. The way things are worded, phrased, and even punctuated goes a long way in setting the tone of a text post. Remember that no one can hear your voice inflection or see your facial expression. What was meant as innocuous teasing can seem cruel to someone who doesn’t know your posting style or is new to the community.
The internet is a place of freedom and self expression of a level that has never been seen before in the history of man. Don’t spoil it for yourself and others by assuming that everyone else is just like you. It’s very unlikely that someone will read anything the way you meant it to be read. If you see something you don’t like, give the author the benefit of the doubt – it’s probably not directed at you and not meant to be offensive. Not only that, chances are, it probably isn’t true. The anonymity of the net offers a place for people to exercise their alter egos. If you met them in real life, you’d never know it. Never take anything on the net too seriously, unless there is life threatening banter or talk of suicide. It’s for fun, let’s keep it that way.
A post about nothing
OK, this is a post cuz I want to post, but I can’t think of anything to write about that isn’t mindkillingly boring. (Forgive the mishmash word please.) I’ll never understand those folks that can write about what paper towels to buy and somehow think it’s interesting to the rest of the world. Don’t get me wrong, I love blogging, but geeze, where does the material come from? I’d pull something out of my rear, but my rear is just as boring as the rest of me, so meh. I truly envy those who can be creative on cue – most of my great orations occur in the shower. And while they are truly wonderful, I doubt my darling will install a terminal in the stall so I can update. Something about electricity and water, go figure. Either way, my not so profound musings may or may not find their way to my blog. (possibly a good thing?) At least I’m not contagious…
Woot!
I can now post from my EVO phone! Awesome!