How to Bypass Windows 7 Parental Controls

There are several ways to bypass Windows 7 parental controls and the following list is just a few ways which will help you defeat or get around those annoying filters and pointless parental controls.

Use a Proxy
This method has been used for ages and it still works just as well as ever. If all you need to do is bypass the web filter on windows 7 then a proxy is definitely the way to go. Simply do a search on Google for proxy sites (and believe me you can find thousands) and once you find one thats not blocked just use it to browse the web without restriction.

Boot from a live Linux CD/DVD/USB removable drive
You can find tons of free live Linux CD's which allow you to run a Linux OS straight off a CD, DVD, or USB without installing anything to your computer. Obviously if your running an entirely different OS which leaves no trace on your computer after you remove the CD/DVD/USB you don't have to worry about Internet filters or being tracked. If you're not familiar with how to use Linux then I suggest checking out "Zorin OS" which is a free Linux distribution that looks and feels just like windows. You can download it at http://zorin-os.com. An added bonus of it looking like Windows is that if your parents see it they probably won't even realize you're using a different operating system.

Hack The Password
Ultimately the best way around parental controls is to just completely disable them. But to do this you'll need the administrator password. Fortunately hacking the password on windows 7 is a fairly simple process.

Step 1: Go to ophcrack.sourceforge.net select Windows 7 and download the ISO. After the download is complete burn the ISO to a CD.

Step 2: Restart your computer (with the CD in) and your computer should now boot from the live CD into a Linux environment.

Step 3: Ophcrack will automatically run as soon as the CD boots and now all you need to do is wait until Ophcrack has completely finished cracking the computer password(s). This process will take anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours depending on the strength of the password used to protect the computer.

screen shot

Step 4: Finally now that you know the computer password; reboot the computer, eject the CD and enter in the password.

That's it! Now you'll have complete access to everything on the computer and you can go ahead and remove parental controls or do whatever you'd like.

Remote Control Another Computer
This option is great because it allows you to do pretty much anything you want and if your parent walks in the room all you have do is minimize your browser and you'll be ok. There is one major drawback though, this method requires that you have a non-parental controlled computer connected to the Internet at all times. So pretty much the only way to make this work is to either find a friend who doesn't mind you taking control over their computer whenever you need, or buy a cheap pc from a garage sale and then hide it somewhere your parents wont find (which is also fairly difficult because, remember, you have to have it running and connected to the web at all times). But if you are successful at finding a PC you can use then what you need to do is install some remote control software on that pc; I suggest either using the free software from Logmein.com or from NTRconnect.com. Both LogMeIn.com and NTRconnect.com allow you to access the pc you install it on from any web enabled computer.

The previous suggestions were just a few ways to beat Windows 7 parental controls but if any one knows of other ways to get around Windows 7 parental controls make sure to leave a comment describing how, and I will add it to this post. Note: please don't leave suggestions like how to trick your parents into giving you a password or ideas like reformatting the hard -drive and reinstalling. I only want suggestions that would work for anyone and that don't risk damaging or destroying data.

Spell Check in Vim

To turn on spell check in vim go to command mode and then type
:set spell
Now all of the misspelled words in the current document should be highlighted. Move your cursor to a word you'd like to correct and type
z=
This will cause a list of suggested correct spellings to pop up, and which you can change to.

Other Helpful Spell Check Tips
Move to next misspelled word:
]s 
Move to previous misspelled word:
[s

Find and Replace in Vim

Vim has a very verbose and powerful way to perform "find and replace". With Vim you can use find and replace over the entire document or just part, you can ignore case when searching, have vim prompt you each time before a substitution is made, and much more. In this post we will cover a couple common examples to help you get started.

The general syntax is

[range]s[ubstitute]/{pattern}/{string}/[flags][count]

Flags
"g" - replace all matches in a line (not just the first match)
"i" - ignore case
"c" - confirm before each substitution

Examples
Note: in all the following examples "find" is the word you want to match and "replace" is the word you'd like to replace it with. 

Example: entire document, all occurrences, ignore case

:%s/find/replace/gi

Example: entire document, all occurrences, ignore case, confirm substitution

:%s/find/replace/gic

Example: lines 5 through 8, all occurrences, ignore case, confirm substitution

:5,8s/find/replace/gic

Example: Selected text (using v command), all occurrences,

:'<,'>s/find/replace/g

To get the '<,'> simply use the v or ctrl-v command to highlight the text you want to replace and then type ":" which will then cause '<,'> to automatically appear.

As with most vim commands you can always get more complex but these basic examples should get you started. If you discover any cool combinations of your own feel free to leave a comment down below.

Bash File Fork Bomb Script

Fork bombs are recursive scripts that infinitely call themselves and push a system to it’s max until it ends up freezing or crashing. Creating a fork bomb script for Linux is extremely simple. Create a file called “myscript.sh” and insert the following two lines.


 #!/bin/bash
 :(){ :|:& };:

Then save this file and chmod it so that it’s executable “chmod a+x myfile.sh”. Now you can run your script by typing “./myfile.sh”. The the system you run it on will grind to a halt and completely freeze within seconds.

 Please use this knowledge responsibly.

How to Make Macros in Vim

Macros are one of Vims most powerful features. They allow you to record a complex task and then repeat that task in the future with a single key stroke. To make a macro in vim simply....

• press "q" and then any key of your choice where you'd like to save your macro. For example if I type "q1" this will start recording my macro and save it to the "1" key for when I want to replay it.
• Now at the bottom left hand side of your terminal you should see vim say's "recording". Now every action you perform is being recorded and saved. To end the recording simply press "q" again.
• To replay your macro simply type "@" and the key where you saved your macro. So for our example above I would type "@1".

Note: it's important that when you run you're macro that you have your cursor in the right part of the screen. For instance if when you started your macro your cursor was at the beginning of a line then when you run your macro your cursor should be at the beginning of the line as well. To help with this you can use "^" to move your cursor to the beginning of a line or "$" to move to the end of a line.

If you'd like to run a macro several times in a row you can type #@your-key (# = number of times to repeat, your-key = where you saved your macro).

Edit your path in Linux

In Linux there are two different ways to edit your path. You can either set the path for all users on the system or you can set the path for a single user.

Edit Path For All Users
If you are an administrator of the computer (meaning you have root access) you can edit the etc/profile file. In this file look for a line setting the path such as PATH=....., if you find this line then add your path to the end of this statement, otherwise at the end of the file add

export PATH=$PATH:/pathyouwant/

Save, then exit your current shell and open a new one for the changes to take effect. 

Edit Path For Individual User
If you don't have root access on the machine you are using you can still set your own users path by editing the .bash_profile file in your home directory and then adding

export PATH=$PATH:/pathyouwant/

to the end of the file.  Save, then exit your current shell and open a new one for the changes to take effect.

Display Popup Notification In Linux

I work for a company managing over a hundred client Linux machines and when I'm going to be doing something that will effect the user it's nice to be able to notify them. Thus whenever I'm about to make a change on a system or all the systems I will SSH into those systems and display a popup notification message. I accomplish this with the following line of code in my scripts

DISPLAY=:0 notify-send "Very Important Message Here" 

This allows me to inform users that their systems will be shutting down for maintenance or other important information. Anyways, I hope you find this useful and are able to make good use of it. 

Add "Open in Terminal" to Right Click Menu

Often times when I'm using my file browser I find myself wanting to switch over to the terminal in order to perform some tasks in that directory. In the past that ment having to open up a new terminal window and then navigate to my current directory, but fortunetly there is an easier way. If you are using gnome you can easily add a "Open in Terminal" option to the right click menu.

To do this, simply open your terminal and type the following commands

sudo apt-get install nautilus-open-terminal

nautilus -q  

The first command will install the right click option, and the second command will restart your file browser so  you will be able to see the new change.

Best Windows Look Alike Linux Distro

Today's featured Linux distro is Zorin 6. Zorin is designed to look and feel like Windows.  It nearly perfectly mimics both Windows 7 and Windows XP and allows you to easily switch between either GUI interface. It's about as close to a copy of windows as Zorin could get without being sued for copyright infringement. But the best part about Zorin 6 is that it has "Wine" and "PlayOnLinux" pre installed which means that you can easily install Windows programs. Zorin is a deriviative of Ubuntu and brings the best parts of the Ubuntu world such as the app store and easy configuration.  Also the GUI in Zorin is extremely customizable and Zorin has "Ubuntu Tweak" pre-installed which allows you to change virtually any aspect of the GUI you'd like.

Overall I'd have to say this is by far the best Linux distro for someone making the transition from the Windows world to Linux. Anyone who has used windows XP or windows 7 will be able to use this OS right away. It's fast, easy to use, and highly customizable.

Zorin 6 is free but you can also upgrade to "business" or "ultimate" editions which include more pre-installed software and additional GUI themes including windows 2000 and Mac.  Link to the Zorin home page http://zorin-os.com

How To Get A Free Static IP

Having a static IP address can come in handy for a ton of things, such as setting up a cheap home server, or being able to SSH into your home machine. But unfortunately most Internet Service Providers (ISP's) give you a new dynamic ip address that changes frequently.

Fortunately, there is a free application that works with Mac, Windows, and Linux, which will give you a static Hostname (URL) that automatically redirects to your dynamic ip (autmatically updates whenever dynamic IP changes). Here's a 1 minute video that explains...

 The download and installation process is quite easy and instructions are provided for which ever Operating System you are using. I would highly recommend this service for anyone who wants an easy way to avoid the hassel of dynamic IP addresses. Check it out for yourself at www.noip.com. Note: If you are using a router/wireless-router you may need to enable a static IP address for your computer on your LAN and enable port forwarding in your router.


NOTE: For Ubuntu users
After installing I found that inorder for a non-root account to be able to run/start the noip program I had to run the following to commands

sudo chmod 770 /usr/local/etc/no-ip2.conf

 sudo chown YOUR-USER-NAME /usr/local/etc/no-ip2.conf 

also if your comptuer is using a router make sure you start the program with the -F flag to make sure you're giving the noip service your routers ip and not your LAN ip for the computer.

noip2 -F