Important warning: this is a beginners lesson. BEGINNERS. Will all you super

k-rad elite haxors out there just skip reading this one, instead reading it

and feeling all insulted at how easy it is and then emailing me to bleat

"This GTMHH iz 2 ezy your ****** up,wee hate u!!!&$%" Go study something

that seriously challenges your intellect such as "Unix for Dummies," OK?

Have you ever seen what happens when someone with an America Online account

posts to a hacker news group, email list, or IRC chat session? It gives you

a true understanding of what "flame" means, right?

Now you might think that making fun of [email protected] is just some

prejudice. Sort of like how managers in big corporations don't wear

dreadlocks and fraternity boys don't drive Yugos.

But the real reason serious hackers would never use AOL is that it doesn't

offer Unix shell accounts for its users. AOL fears Unix because it is the

most fabulous, exciting, powerful, hacker-friendly operating system in the

Solar system... gotta calm down ... anyhow, I'd feel crippled without Unix.

So AOL figures offering Unix shell accounts to its users is begging to get

hacked.

Unfortunately, this attitude is spreading. Every day more ISPs are deciding

to stop offering shell accounts to their users.

But if you don't have a Unix shell account, you can still hack. All you need

is a computer that runs Windows 95 and just some really retarded on-line

account like America Online or Compuserve.

In this Beginner's Series #2 we cover several fun things to do with Windows

and even the most hacker-hostile Online services. And, remember, all these

things are really easy. You don't need to be a genius. You don't need to be

a computer scientist. You don't need to won an expensive computer. These are

things anyone with Windows 95 can do.

Section One: Customize your Windows 95 visuals. Set up your startup,

background and logoff screens so as to amaze and befuddle your non-hacker

friends.

Section Two: Subvert Windows nanny programs such as Surfwatch and the setups

many schools use in the hope of keeping kids from using unauthorized

programs. Prove to yourself -- and your friends and coworkers -- that

Windows 95 passwords are a joke.

Section Three: Explore other computers -- OK, let's be blatant -- hack --

from your Windows home computer using even just AOL for Internet access.

HOW TO CUSTOMIZE WINDOWS 95 VISUALS

OK, let's say you are hosting a wild party in your home. You decide to show

your buddies that you are one of those dread hacker d00dz. So you fire up

your computer and what should come up on your screen but the logo for

"Windows 95." It's kind of lame looking, isn't it? Your computer looks just

like everyone else's box. Just like some boring corporate workstation

operated by some guy with an IQ in the 80s.

Now if you are a serious hacker you would be booting up Linux or FreeBSD or

some other kind of Unix on your personal computer. But your friends don't

know that. So you have an opportunity to social engineer them into thinking

you are fabulously elite by just by customizing your bootup screen.

Now let's say you want to boot up with a black screen with orange and yellow

flames and the slogan " K-Rad Doomsters of the Apocalypse." This turns out

to be super easy.

Now Microsoft wants you to advertise their operating system every time you

boot up. In fact, they want this so badly that they have gone to court to

try to force computer retailers to keep the Micro$oft bootup screen on the

systems these vendors sell.

So Microsoft certainly doesn't want you messing with their bootup screen,

either. So M$ has tried to hide the bootup screen software. But they didn't

hide it very well. We're going to learn today how to totally thwart their plans.

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Evil Genius tip: One of the rewarding things about hacking is to find hidden

files that try to keep you from modifying them -- and then to mess with them

anyhow. That's what we're doing today.

The Win95 bootup graphics is hidden in a file named c:\logo.sys. To see this

file, open File Manager, click "view", then click "by file type," then check

the box for "show hidden/system files." Then, back on "view," click "all

file details." To the right of the file logo.sys you will see the letters

"rhs." These mean this file is "read-only, hidden, system."

The reason this innocuous graphics file is labeled as a system file -- when

it really is just a graphics file -- is because Microsoft is afraid you'll

change it to read something like "Welcome to Windoze 95 -- Breakfast of

Lusers!" So by making it a read-only file, and hiding it, and calling it a

system file as if it were something so darn important it would destroy your

computer if you were to mess with it, Microsoft is trying to trick you into

leaving it alone.

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Now here's the easy way to thwart Micro$oft and get the startup logo of your

choice. We start by finding the MSPaint program. It's probably under the

accessories folder. But just in case you're like me and keep on moving

things around, here's the fail-safe program finding routine:

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