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

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

WinMD5Sum will check and compare the MD5 sums of files

Overview:

WinMD5 is a small utility for the checking and comparing of MD5 sums.

Review:

Checking the integrity of a downloaded file its not easy but it could be with winMD5sum. Some websites give the MD5 checksum of a file for verification purposes, with winMd5sum you can compare the checksum of the file you have downloaded versus the checksum given at the site, if they match your file has been downloaded correctly, if its not a match then your download is corrupt. Using winMd5 is very easy and straightforward, it evens adds a sendto menu entry for easy checking of files. In conclusion WinMD5sum is a simple way of checking if you have downloaded something correctly.

Get it at http://www.nullriver.com/products/winmd5sum

System Spec is a portable utility for the gathering of info about your PC

Overview:

What is System Spec ?, A utility to produce a specification of your system’s hardware and software.
With System Spec you can see, save and print a complete spec of your PC. This standalone, system information utility can also perform various windows functions. Additional advanced info includes CPU, drives, applications, display, memory, networking, internet, CD / DVD drives and more.

Features:

System Information Shown

* Computer Name
* Username
* IP Address
* MAC Address
* Windows version and service pack
* Windows Serial Number
* Internet Explorer Version
* Memory
* CPU Type and speed
* Calculated CPU Speed
* Sound card type
* Video and virtual video adapters
* Screen Resolution
* Network Present
* Network Adapters
* AC Power Status for laptops
* Battery Charge Status for laptops
* Time Zone
* CD / DVD Make and model
* COM Ports
* LPT Ports
* Mouse capabilities
* Hard Disks
* Hard Disks Serial Number
* BIOS Date
* PC Serial number
* Manufacturer
* PC Product
* PCMCIA Laptops
* USB ports
* Firewire ports
* Motherboard
* Modem

Windows function such as shutting down and run can be performed from the System menu. The Control Panel menu allows you to quickly open items from the Control Panel.

Other screen and system information shown.

* Personal
* Memory
* Display
* Drives
* CD / DVD
* CPU
* CPU Meter
* Processes
* Services
* Internet
* Programs
* Start-up
* Network
* Network Adapters
* Browse Network
* User List
* Printers
* Sound
* Devices

Review:

Knowing your computer is important, it allows you to know its capabilities if you want to upgrade your computer or in looking a specific driver. With that said one of the most simple and straightforward ways of getting to know your PC has to be system spec, just run it and system spec will show a basic overview of the hardware and software that you have, you can see more advanced reports using the icons on the upper right, in addition you can run several windows functions from one place making this a good method of running those services.
In conclusion system spec is pretty awesome and portable too, so use it if you want learn more about your computer hardware. Available for Windows 98/2000/XP.

Get it at http://www.alexnolan.net/software/sysspec.htm

PhotoFiltre is an image editor with a large amount of image effects

Overview:

PhotoFiltre is a complete image retouching program. It allows you to do simple or advanced adjustments to an image and apply a vast range of filters on it. It is simple and intuitive to use, and has an easy learning curve. The toolbar, giving you access to the standard filters with just a few clicks, gives PhotoFiltre a robust look.

Features:

*Image browser

*Plug-in management

*Scanning of images using a TWAIN compatible device scanner, webcam, photocamera

*Transparency management for GIF images and exporting them to icons 16, 256 or 16 millions of colors

*Advanced text effects rotation, shading, bevel

*Several types of contours and textures

*Blending and assembling of images

Review:

Editing pictures can be a complicated process that requires some work, thankfully this can be made easier by using photofiltre. This program is an image editor with a simple but effective user interface that can be used to apply a variety of filters and effects like making a picture look like it was taken a century ago for example, you can get even more effects by downloading the plugins available in the official site. In addition to the editing there is a nice batch processor that will allow you to apply various effects to several pictures at the same time. Unfortunately this program doesn´t support layers like photoshop which is disappointing, hopefully this will be added in a future version.
In conclusion if you want a simple image editor with a bunch of image effects then i suggest you use photofiltre. Available for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP.

Get it at http://photofiltre.free.fr/frames_en.htm

Automatically change your wallpaper with WallPaper Master

Overview:

Wallpaper Master is a powerful and highly customizable desktop wallpaper manager and cycler.

It will automatically change your background wallpaper with a huge range of options, and is great for indexing large collections of personal photos or any kind of image.

You can create your own categories using images on your computer, and it will cycle through your images automatically in whatever order you specify: in a shuffle mode, listed order, or based on your personal ratings. The program also has auto-size options to make sure your images are displayed with optimal size.

Features:

• Store multiple wallpaper lists as different categories/libraries – up to 5000 images per category!
• The ability to rate wallpaper, so better wallpapers are chosen more often.
• Customizable Global Hotkeys – Quickly change/clear the wallpaper with any key combo.
• Very high quality resizing of images to fit the screen optimally and keep their aspect ratio.
• Auto change the wallpaper when windows starts, every x minutes, or use the ratings to choose an interval.
• Change wallpaper in order, in shuffle mode, or randomly according to rating.
• Analyse the wallpaper and automatically choose between Resize, Tile, Center or Stretch.
• Uses very little resources.
• Minimises to tray area for easy access.
• Easy to use but powerful interface.
• Desktop Wallpaper Master is a free download (freeware)!
• And more!

Review:

Looking always at the same old desktop wallpaper can get boring very fast. WallPaper master fixes this problem with lots of options. with this program you can select up to 5000 pictures per category and automatically choose one of them as your wallpaper,you can do this by random order or by ratings which is handy in making your favorite wallpapers show up more frequently.
WallPaper Master has a lot of features but the most useful is the “auto resize wallpaper” that will shrink a picture to make it fit into the screen if its too big or tile it if it is too small. This program uses between 10 to 11MB of RAM in my system which is a little high for my taste.Unfortunately WallPaper Master only supports JPG and GIF files which is a pretty small selection. also it doesn’t support vista which is a shame for some of you and the development has stopped in favor of the Pro version. still this is a good wallpaper changer with some neat features. Available for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP.

Get it at http://jamesgart.com/wallpaperchanger/

FileHippo.com Update Checker can let you know if your programs have updates available

Overview:

The Update Checker will scan your computer for installed software, check the versions and then send this information to FileHippo.com to see if there are any newer releases. These are then neatly displayed in your browser for you to download.

Review:

FileHippo.com is a great place to find free programs (some of the programs featured in this blog have come from there) so if you have programs that you download from there then FileHippo.com Update Checker is a pretty good way to keep them up to date. Just download the installer or the portable version and run it so that it can check your installed programs, a browser window will be opened with direct links to download the newest versions of your software. Unfortunately FileHippo.com Update Checker can only check programs that are added to the website so if you have programs that are not there you are out of luck. You could try Updatestar tough which is another software update utility with a larger software database but it’s not portable.
In conclusion if you only have programs that are on the FileHippo.com website then this update checker is a good way to keep them up to date. Available for Windows 98/ME/2004/2003/XP/Vista.

Get it at http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/

Diagram Designer is a powerful tool for creating flowcharts and other types of diagrams

Overview:

Simple vector graphics editor for creating flowcharts, UML class diagrams, illustrations and slide shows.

Features:

• Customizable template object palette.
• Spellchecker (see below about dictionaries).
• Import/export WMF, EMF, BMP, JPEG, PNG, MNG, ICO, GIF and PCX images.
• Slide show viewer.
• Simple graph plotter to plot mathematical expressions.
• Advanced “pocket” calculator with equation solver.
• MeeSoft Image Analyzer integration for bitmap image editing and extended file format support.
• Uses compressed file format for minimizing drawing file size.

Review:

Diagram Designer is an amazing open source program for creating diagrams. You can easily create flowcharts, UML class diagrams, illustrations and slide shows using a simple drag and drop interface. You can customize your diagrams with all sorts of colors and text formatting codes which makes Diagram Designer very powerful. You can optionally download dictionaries for spellchecking , use a simple calculator for advanced operations and export files into several types of image files, Oh and did i mention Diagram Designer is fully portable? In conclusion Diagram Designer should be the program that you use whenever you are making some diagrams. Available for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista.

Get it at http://logicnet.dk/DiagramDesigner/