Archive for the ‘Recovery’ Category

Need to access your BIOS but don`t have the password?, use CmosPwd

January 13, 2009


CmosPwd can crack, backup and restore BIOS passwords, you can even kill/clear the Cmos if cmospwd can`t crack the bios. There are several ways of using Cmospwd but the one i found the most simple and straightforward was to simply create a DOS boot disk and run it from there since if you want to run cmospwd from windows you have to install a potentially dangerous driver.

Here`s a small tutorial:

1.- right click on the portable device that you want to use as a DOS boot disk, it can be a usb flash drive or a floppy disk but i had to use a floppy disk since my BIOS wasn`t configured to boot from an USB device.

2.- select the format option , then from the window that appears check the “Create an MS-DOS startup disk” and click start.

3.- Download the cmospwd zip and extract it, then enter the new created folder and look for another folder called DOS, copy this folder to your newly created MS-DOS startup disk (I copied the whole cmospwd-5.0 folder but this should work too).

4.- Reboot your computer and pay extra attention as to what kind of BIOS you have, look for the BIOS word and the word right beside it, write the BIOS name and write it down since you will be needing that later.

5.- The DOS interface should start automatically from MS-Dos disk you have created.

6.- A prompt should appear , now simply type CD DOS and the prompt should change into something like A:\DOS: , then type cmospwd and the program should start.

7.- CmosPwd will show a long list of names, these are the different types of BIOS it can handle, locate your BIOS name on the list and write down the symbols that appear on the right side.

8.- Now once you are at the prompt again type cmospwd then / and finally the symbols that belonged to the name of your BIOS.

9.- Finally it will show the commands that it can do like backup,restore, Etc. however if you don`t wanna do all those things or find them too complicated just type cmospwd / K this will attempt to clear the BIOS erasing the password, however keep in mind that this will also erase all of the BIOS settings that are critical to the functioning of your computer so you will probably want to enter the BIOS and load the optimal values so that you can keep using your PC.

CmosPwd is a great program that just helped me in getting rid of my nagging BIOS password that i had been trying to bypass for years, i definitely recommend it. Available for Windows DOS/98/NT/W2K/XP/2003 and linux.

Works with the following BIOSes

  • ACER/IBM BIOS
  • AMI BIOS
  • AMI WinBIOS 2.5
  • Award 4.5x/4.6x/6.0
  • Compaq (1992)
  • Compaq (New version)
  • IBM (PS/2, Activa, Thinkpad)
  • Packard Bell
  • Phoenix 1.00.09.AC0 (1994), a486 1.03, 1.04, 1.10 A03, 4.05 rev 1.02.943, 4.06 rev 1.13.1107
  • Phoenix 4 release 6 (User)
  • Gateway Solo – Phoenix 4.0 release 6
  • Toshiba
  • Zenith AMI

Get it at http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/CmosPwd

Recover keys for games that have been installed in Windows using Game Key Revealer

January 13, 2009


Overview:

Game Key Revealer, reveals the CD-Key and Serials for installed games on computer. If you lost legal CD-Keys or Serials of your purchased games, you can find them with Game Key Revealer.

Features:

– Displays over 500 games
– Save to Text or Word (Word XP/2003/2007 only)
– Print
– Displays for 64bit-Edition releases

Review:

Losing the CD/DVD key of your favorite game because you lost the box and didn’t save the key somewhere can be awful since there is no easy way to recover it. Game Key Revealer can prevent this by searching keys for games that are installed in Windows and save them in a text or word document. However if you lost the game box and you don’t have installed the game in your PC you are totally screwed so use Game Key Revealer before you loose your stuff.
Because i don’t have any games that use game keys in my system i couldn’t test Game Key Revealer properly but according to the creator it supports over 500 games by the most popular developers. So give Game Key Revealer a try in order to backup your game keys. Available for all versions of Windows.

Get it at http://cakirbey.googlepages.com/

CD Recovery Toolbox Free will recover files from scratched CD/DVDs

January 13, 2009


Overview:

Recovery Toolbox for CD Free has been developed for recovering data from corrupted media of all types that are most common nowadays: CD, DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, etc. The program allows you to recover files of any types. The tool completely scans disks and saves as much information as possible. During the recovery process, Recovery Toolbox for CD Free uses a lot of different algorithms, which considerably increases the amount and quality of recovered data.

Features:

  • Recovering corrupted data from all most common types of media for today
  • Working with data that became corrupted both after a physical damage of the media and due to program errors
  • Allowing the user to completely control the recovery process
  • Giving the user as detailed report about the data recovery process as possible

Review:

CD Recovery Toolbox Free is a file recovery tool made specifically for optical media. Unlike the previously reviewed Copy Cat 2.0 CD Recovery Toolbox Free can select more than one file for recovery making the recovery process for whole CDs a lot less painful than with Copy Cat 2.0. CD Recovery Toolbox Free is easy to use and was able to recover files from a scratched CD that i have making this a good utility for recovering important files that otherwise would be lost forever. Available for all versions of Windows.

Get it at http://www.recoverytoolbox.com/cd.html