My PC-Answers
 
Tech Info

 

 

    Click on Date to open yearly calendar window 

 Home
 
  Download Links
 
 Search Area
 
 Tech Info

 
  
   
     Acronyms (pdf)

     Glossary (pdf)

      Win Cmd Ref (pdf)
                                     
Microsoft TechNet

Tom's Hardware

Hardware Secrets

 Windows Secrets

Search for Memory
Kingston PNY Crucial

Intel CPU Finder

AMD CPU Info

Intel Chipsets

c|net test

 Modem 
 Speed

 ZD Net test

Support for popular PCs and printers

Acer

Dell

eMachine

Gateway

HP

Lexmark


  Banner


SUPERAntiSpyware

 

 

  

 
Tech Info List
Hardware Network Security Software Tech Info Lists Top of Page

 

Hardware Software Network Security
Motherboard
Form Factors		 Operating Systems
Upgrade Specifications		 Client/server
networking model 		CIA
Confidentiality
Integrity
Availability
POST
Hardware Diagnostic
Message Groups

Short-Cut Keys

Network Topology
Access
Control
BIOS Setup
Access Keys
& POST codes		 Trouble-Shooting
Minimum Processes
to run in WinXP		 Glossary of
Network Terms 		Methods of
Authentication
Bus
Architecture
Characteristics		 Windows XP Professional
Product Documentation 		Cable / DSL
Modem Diagnostics 		Attacks
Default IRQ
Assignments 		Place Windows XP's
Kernel into RAM		 The 7 Layer
OSI Model		 Remote
Access
Common I/O Address
Assignments

Find XP's Product
ID in the registry

 Wireless Standards Tunneling,
VPN & IPSec
DMA Channel
Assignments 		Windows XP
AutoPlay Problems		   Cryptography
Logical Device
Name Assignments 		    Viruses
Trojan Horses
Worms
Intel
Microprocessors 		    Firewalls
AMD
Microprocessors 		    Networking
Overview
Memory
Modules 		    Private Key
Cryptography
Video
Displays		     Public Key
Cryptography
Motherboard
Chipsets		      
Miscellaneous Q & A


 
Hardware
Hardware Network Security Software Tech Info Lists Top of Page

Motherboard Form Factors

Form Factor

Width (in inches)

Length (in inches)

Design Type

IBM PC

8.5

13

Motherboard

IBM PC XT

8.5

13

Motherboard

AT

12

11-13

Motherboard

Baby AT

8.5

10-13

Motherboard

LPX

9

11-13

Backplane

Micro-AT

8.5

8.5

Motherboard

ATX

12

9.6

Motherboard

Mini-ATX

11.2

8.2

Motherboard

Mini-LPX

8-9

10-11

Backplane

Micro-ATX

9.6

9.6

Motherboard

NLX

8-9

10-13.6

Backplane

Flex-ATX

9

7.5

Motherboard
picoBTX 10.4 7.9 Motherboard
microBTX 10.4 10.3 Motherboard
BTX 10.4 12.7 Motherboard
The Motherboard

Bus Structure

Internal bus - The lines that move data within the computer on the motherboard.

External bus - The lines that communicate with peripherals and other devices plugged into the motherboard

 

Primary bus structures on motherboards

Address Bus:
The components on the motherboard pass memory addresses to one another over the address bus.

Control Bus:
Used by the CPU to send out signals to coordinate and manage the activities of the motherboard components.

Data Bus:
The primary job of the computer is to process data logically the data must be transferred between peripherals, memory, and the CPU.

Power Bus:
This bus is the river of life for the motherboard's components, providing each with the electrical power it needs to operate.

 


 







Technical Info Listings



POST Hardware Diagnostic Message Groups

Code Description
1xx

Motherboard errors
2xx

Main Memory errors

3xx

Keyboard errors
5xx

Color Graphics Adaptor errors
6xx

Floppy Disk Controller errors
11xx

COM port errors
14xx

Printer errors - lpt port
17xx

Hard Drive Controller errors
86xx

Mouse error
3000

Nick Card error
NOTE:
After the POST (Power On Self Test) and boot sequence have advanced to the point at which they have use of the video to display messages, they can display a numerical error message to indicate a failure that occurred during the POST or boot sequence.






Technical Info Listings

 

Motherboard Setup Access Keys
BIOS (Basic Input Output System)
 

  BIOS POST Codes @ BIOS Central   

 


Bios Suppliers
 


Keyboard Commands
 
ALR Advanced Logic Research, Inc. ® PC / PCI F2
ALR PC non / PCI CTRL+ALT+ESC
AMD® (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.) BIOS F1
AMI (American Megatrends, Inc.) BIOS DEL
Award™ BIOS CTRL+ALT+ESC
Award BIOS DEL
DTK® (Datatech Enterprises Co.) BIOS ESC
Phoenix™ BIOS

CTRL+ALT+ESC
Phoenix BIOS CTRL+ALT+S
Phoenix BIOS CTRL+ALT+INS

Computer  Vendor
 
Keyboard Commands
 
Acer® F1, F2, CTRL+ALT+ESC
ARI® CTRL+ALT+ESC, CTRL+ALT+DEL
AST®  CTRL+ALT+ESC, CTRL+ALT+DEL
Compaq® 8700 F10
CompUSA® DEL
Cybermax® ESC
Dell BIOS web site search links For models not listed below.
Dell® 400 F3, F1
Dell 4400 F12
Dell Dimension® F2 or DEL
Dell Inspiron®  F2
Dell Latitude Fn+F1 (while booted)
Dell Latitude F2 (on boot)
Dell Optiplex DEL
Dell Optiplex F2
Dell Precision™ F2
eMachine® DEL , F 2
Fujutsu Manuals & BIOS Manuals & BIOS Download
Gateway® 2000 1440 F1
Gateway 2000 Solo™ F2
HP® (Hewlett-Packard) F1, F2 (Laptop, ESC)
IBM® F1
E-pro Laptop F2
IBM PS/2® CTRL+ALT+INS after CTRL+ALT+DEL
IBM Thinkpad® (newer) Windows: Programs-Thinkpad CFG.
Intel® Tangent DEL
Lenovo (formerly IBM) Lenovo BIOS Access page
Micron® F1, F2, or DEL
Packard Bell® F1, F2, Del
Seanix DEL
Sony® VAIO F2
Sony VAIO F3
Tiger DEL
Toshiba® 335 CDS ESC
Toshiba Protege

ESC

Toshiba Satellite 205 CDS F1
Toshiba Tecra ESC then F1 or F2
Toshiba Notebook [Newer models]
  1. Turn on computer by Holding down power button while  pressing the ESC key.
    The machine will beep, then display:
    Check System, then press [F1] key.
  2. Release ESC key
  3. Press F1 key

 






Technical Info Listings



Bus Architecture Characteristics

Bus Bus Width (bits) Bus Speed (MHz) How Configured
8-bit 8 8 Jumpers and DIP switches
ISA 8, 16 8 Jumpers and DIP switches
MCA 32 10 Software
EISA 32 32 Software
VL-Bus 32 Processor speed
(up to 40 MHz)		 Jumpers and DIP switches
PCI 32/64 Processor speed
(up to 33 MHz)		 PnP
USB Serial Serial PnP
AGP 32 66 MHz PnP


 


Bus Architecture Characteristics
(Cable and Back Plane PC Bus Standards)
 
Bus Data Rate Type Description Topology Voltage
RS-232 19.2 Kbps Unbalanced 20 meters, Single Ended Point-to-Point ~ 5V
AccessBus 100 Kbps Unbalanced Similar to I2C, 10 meter Multi-Point ~ 5V
I2C Bus 3.4 Mbps Unbalanced 2 Wire, 1 Data, 1 Clk-Access Bus Multi-Point ~ TTL
SMBus 100 KHz Unbalanced 2 Wire, based on I2C/Access Bus Multi-Point TTL
10Base2 10 Mbps Unbalanced 183 meters, IEEE-802 Thin Net Multi-Point ECL
10Base5 10 Mbps Unbalanced 500 meters, IEEE-802 ThickNet Multi-Point ECL
10Base-T 10 Mbps Balanced 100 meters, Category 3 cable Multi-Point ECL
100Base-T 100 Mbps Balanced 100 meters, Category 5 cable Multi-Point +/- 1.0v
RapidIO 10 Gbps Balanced Differential LVDS Star / Mesh LVDS
HyperTransport 800Mbps/bit pair Balanced 2/4/8/16/32 bits Daisy-Chained LVDS
FireWire, 1394b 800 Mbps Differential "...." 1394b Point-to-Point 0.6~0.8V
USB 480 Mbps Differential USB 2.0 Star Topology 0.3~3.6V
ATA-7 133 Mbps 16 Bits Ultra ATA/133,Added CRC Chained TTL
Serial ATA
(SATA) 		150MBps Differential 2 differential pairs [Tx/Rx] Point-to-Point LVDS
SCSI-3 40 MBps 8 / 16 Bit "..", 16 devices Chained TTL
Ultra 640 SCSI 640 MBps 32 Bit "..", 4 devices Chained TBD
PC-AT (ISA) 8MHz 16 Bits Personal Computer Bus Card edge TTL
EISA 8MHz 32 Bit PC local bus Card edge TTL
Micro Channel 10MHz 32 Bits Personal Computer Bus Card edge TTL
VESA (VLB) 33MHz 32/64 Bit PC local bus Card edge TTL
PCI 33/66MHz 32/64 Bits Chip-to-Chip, Multidrop PC Local Bus Card edge TTL
PC Card 8MHz 16 Bit ISA in a PCMCIA form factor Connector-ized TTL
CardBus 33MHz 32 Bit PCI in a PCMCIA form factor Connector-ized PCI
AGP 8x 533MHz 8/16/32 Bit "....." 2.1GB/s Point-to-Point TTL
PCI Express 2.5Gb/ps up to 32 Bits Serial PCI, differential pairs Point-to-Point LVDS

 





Technical Info Listings



Default IRQ Assignments

IRQ# Default Use Description
0 System timer Reserved interrupt for the internal system timer.
1 Keyboard controller Reserved interrupt for the keyboard controller.
2 Bridge to IRQs 8-15 In cascaded interrupt systems, IRQ 2 is used as a link to IRQ 8-15, which means it's not available for general use; If needed by an older system, it's replaced by IRQ 9. You may also see IRQ 2 assigned to programmable interrupt control
3 COM2 and COM4 Many modems are preconfigured for COM2 on IRQ 3. It's also used as the default interrupt for COM4, if a system has four serial ports in use.
4 COM1 and COM3 Normally used by the serial mouse on IRQ 4. It's also the default interrupt for COM3
5 LPT2 & Sound card Often the default IRQ for network interface cards. Used on some older systems for the hard disk drive and is the default interrupt for LPT2 (the second parallel port). Most sound cards are preset to IRQ 5.
6 Floppy disk controller Reserved for the floppy disk controller (FDC).
7 LPT1 This interrupt is normally used for the first parallel port.
8 Real-time clock Reserved for the real-time clock timer, which is used by software to track events to "real world" time, (IRQs 8-15 are not available on an 8-bit system).
9 None A popular choice for network interface cards, but it's generally available for any use. It replaces IRQ 2 in cascading interrupt systems, so it should not be used if IRQ 2 is in use. Hardware MPEG2 cards and SCSI host adapters can also use it.
10 None This IRQ has no specific default settings; it is commonly used for video cards and modems.
11 None No default assignment; it is used by some SCSI host adapters, PCI video cards, IDE sound cards, and USB controllers
12 Motherboard mouse
(PS/2) connector		 On motherboards supporting a PS/2 mouse (mini-DIN connection on the motherboard), this IRQ is reserved for the PS/2 mouse, A PS/2 mouse on this interrupt frees up IRQ 4 (and COM1/3) for other users. Some video cards may also use this IRQ.
13 Math coprocessor or
floating point unit (FPU)		 Reserved for the integrated floating point unit (386DX and later) or a math coprocessor (386sx and earlier).
14 Primary IDE adapter Reserved for the primary IDE controller, which controls the first two IDE (ATA) disk drivers. On PCs with no IDE devices, it can be reassigned in the BIOS setup for other users.
15 Secondary IDE adapter Reserved for secondary IDE controller, if present. Can be reassigned in BIOS, if needed.





Technical Info Listings



Common I/O Address Assignment s

I/O Address Range Device or Port Commonly Assigned
000-00Fh DMA channels 0-3 controller
020-021h IRQ 0-7 interrupt
060h,061h Keyboard
0F8-0FFh Math coprocessor
130-14Fh SCSI host adapter
170-177h Secondary hard drive controller
1F0-1F7h Primary hard drive controller
200-207h Game port
220-22Fh Sound cards
278-27Fh LPT2 or LPT3
2E8-2EFh COM4
2F8-2FF COM2
300-30Fh Network cards
3B0-3BBh VGA video adapter
3C0-3DF VGA video adapter
378-37Fh LPT1 or LPT2
3E8-3EF COM3
3F0-3F7h Floppy disk controller
3F8-3FFh COM1





Technical Info Listings



DMA Channel Assignments
DMA channel Assignment
0 DRAM refresh
1 Sound card
2 Floppy disk drive
3 ECP or EPP parallel port
4 DMA controller
5 Sound card
6 Available
7 ISA IDE Hard Drive Controller





Technical Info Listings



Logical Device Name Assignments

Port I/O Address Default IRQ
COM1 3F8-3FFh 4
COM2 2F8-3FFh 3
COM3 3E8-3EFh 4
COM4 2E8-2EFh 3
LPT1 378-37Fh 7
LPT2 278-27Fh 5





Technical Info Listings



CPU Core Speed
(MHz)		 Voltage
(volts)		 L1 Cache
(KB)		 L2 Cache
(KB)		 Mounting
Pentium P5 60-66 5 8 WT/8 WB - Socket 5
Pentium P5 75-333 3.3 8 WT/8 WB - Socket 7
Pentium Pro 166-200 3.3 16 512 Socket 8
Pentium II 233-450 2.8 16 WT/16 WB 512 Slot 1
Pentium II
Xeon		 400-450 2 16 WT/16 WB 512/1024/2048 Slot 1
Celeron 266-300 2 - - Slot 1
Celeron 300-533 2 16 WT/16 WB 128 Slot 1/
Socket 370
Celeron 533-700 1.7 16 WT/16 WB 128 Socket 478
Pentium III 450-1266 1.7-2 16 WT/16 WB 256/512 Slot 1/Socket 370
Pentium III
Xeon		 500-1000 2 16 WT/16 WB 256/512/
1024/2048		 Slot 1
Pentium 4 1300-2533 1.75 Socket 256 Socket
478 P4





Technical Info Listings



AMD Microprocessors
CPU Core Speed
(MHz)		 Voltage
(volts)		 L1 Cache
(KB)		 L2 Cache
(KB)		 Mounting
K6 166-266 3.3 32 WT/32 WB 256 Socket 7
K6 266-300 2.2 32 WT/32 WB 256 Socket 7
K6-2 266-550 2.2/2.3 32 WT/32 WB 256 Socket 7
Athlon 500-1800 1.75 64 WT/64 WB 512/256 SlotA/Socket A
Duron 600-1200 1.6 64 WT/64 WB 64 Socket A






Technical Info Listings

 


Memory Modules Types and Bandwidths
 

SDRAM Single Data Rate
168 pin

Module
Standard

Module
Format

Chip
Type

Clock
Speed
(MHz)

Cycles
per
Clock

FSB
Speed
(MT/s)

Bus
Width
(Bytes)

Transfer
Rate
(MBps)

PC66

SDR DIMM

10ns

66

1

66

8

533

PC100

SDR DIMM

8ns

100

1

100

8

800

PC133

SDR DIMM

7/7.5ns

133

1

133

8

1066

DDR SDRAM Double Data Rate
184 pin

Module
Standard

Module
Format

Chip
Type

Clock
Speed
(MHz)

Cycles
per
Clock

FSB
Speed
(MT/s)

Bus
Width
(Bytes)

Transfer
Rate
(MBps)

PC1600

DDR DIMM

DDR200

100

2

200

8

1600

PC2100

DDR DIMM

DDR266

133

2

266

8

2133

PC2400

DDR DIMM

DDR300

150

2

300

8

2400

PC2700

DDR DIMM

DDR333

166

2

333

8

2667

PC3000

DDR DIMM

DDR366

183

2

366

8

2933

PC3200

DDR DIMM

DDR400

200

2

400

8

3200

PC3500

DDR DIMM

DDR433

216

2

433

8

3466

PC3700

DDR DIMM

DDR466

233

2

466

8

3733

PC4000

DDR DIMM

DDR500

250

2

500

8

4000

PC4200

DDR DIMM

DDR533

266

2

533

8

4266

DDR2 SDRAM Double Data Rate 2
240 pin

Module
Standard

Module
Format

Chip
Type

Clock
Speed
(MHz)

Cycles
per
Clock

FSB
Speed
(MT/s)

Bus
Width
(Bytes)

Transfer
Rate
(MBps)

PC2-3200

DDR2 DIMM

DDR2-400

200

2

400

8

3200

PC2-4200

DDR2 DIMM

DDR2-533

266

2

533

8

4266

PC2-5300

DDR2 DIMM

DDR2-667

333

2

667

8

4333

PC2-6000

DDR2 DIMM

DDR2-750

375

2

750

8

6000

PC2-6400

DDR2 DIMM

DDR2-800

400

2

800

8

6400

PC2-7200

DDR2 DIMM

DDR2-900

450

2

900

8

7200

PC2-8000

DDR2 DIMM

DDR2-1000

500

2

1000

8

8000

RDRAM Rambus
184 pin

Module
Standard

Module
Format

Chip
Type

Clock
Speed
(MHz)

Cycles
per
Clock

FSB
Speed
(MT/s)

Bus
Width
(Bytes)

Transfer
Rate
(MBps)

RIMM1200

RIMM-16

PC600

300

2

600

2

1200

RIMM1400

RIMM-16

PC700

350

2

700

2

1400

RIMM1600

RIMM-16

PC800

400

2

800

2

1600

RIMM2100

RIMM-16

PC1066

533

2

1066

2

2133

RIMM2400

RIMM-16

PC1200

600

2

1200

2

2400

RIMM3200

RIMM-32

PC800

400

2

800

4

3200

RIMM4200

RIMM-32

PC1066

533

2

1066

4

4266

RIMM4800

RIMM-32

PC1200

600

2

1200

4

4800

Low Density vs. High Density memory modules
 
  • LOW DENSITY modules have 100% compatibility with ALL systems and ALL chipsets as it fully follows JEDEC guidelines.
  • HIGH DENSITY modules only have 10% compatibility and are VERY SLOW as it breaks all JEDEC guidelines.

How to tell if your 1GB module is a low or high density module?

  • All low density 1GB modules are made with 16 chips (8 chips on each side) using 64Mx8 device.
  • All high density 1GB modules are made with 16 chips (8 chips on each side) using 128Mx4 device.


Many only consider SPEED when purchasing memory and often neglect an important fact that memory DENSITY is actually even more important!

So why memory DENSITY is so important? Is it related to your system when upgrading? The answer is YES!

1GB PC3200 DDR module  [128Mx64]
If your system is designed for accepting DDR (Double Data Rate) memories of 184pin DIMM (usually desktops) or 200pin SODIMM (usually laptops) built, for your system to fully recognize 1GB capacity per memory slot, you need to use 'Low Density - 64Mx8 config' 1GB module. If you use 'High-Density - 128Mx4 config' 1GB module, your PC may only recognize it as HALF the size at 512MB or most of the time it will not work.

It costs memory manufacturers almost the same to produce Low Density 1GB modules which have 100% compatibility with all systems on the market, comparing to producing high density 1GB modules. So why would manufacturers be so foolish to produce high density 1GB modules which only have 10% compatibility with systems on the market? The reason is simple, because high density 128Mx4 devices are mainly designed for used in slower server chipset/segment (Registered) which are not designed for PC chipset/segment (Unbuffered).

JEDEC standard/guideline specifies that 64Mx8 and 32Mx16 devices are to be used to construct a 1GB Unbuffered module. Any 1GB Unbuffered module constructed by using 128Mx4 device BREAKS all the JEDEC standard/guideline in which is supposed to be designed only for Registered module. Since JEDEC doesn't want the modules to be built that way, so the companies who make them (a lot are generic and 3rd parties), don't put their company label on the unbuffered modules.

Due to un-usability and high incompatibility of high density modules with standard PC, they are FAR CHEAPER, usually about half the price when compare with low density modules and a lot of buyers have fallen into attractive CHEAP PRICE trap by High Density module sellers and have complained that they will not run at all and sellers would not accept return!

High Density module is also by far slower than Low Density module at same speed rating say PC3200/DDR400.

This is also why almost all Branded-Name systems such as Apple/MAC, Compaq/HP, Dell and IBM only uses LOW DENSITY modules.
Memory Chips Company Name - Top 10 : Market Share (%)
(Source: Gartner DQ, Mar 2005)

  1. Samsung Electronics : 30.9
  2. Hynix Semiconductor : 16.3
  3. Micron Technology : 15.8
  4. Infineon Technologies : 13.3
  5. Elpida Memory : 6.0
  6. Nanya Technology : 4.5
  7. PowerChip Semiconducto : 4.3
  8. ProMOS Technologies : 3.4
  9. Mosel Vitelic : 1.0
  10. Winbond Electronics : 1.0

 

 
FSB = Front Side Bus
MTh = MegaTransfers per second
MBps = MegaBytes per second
ns = Nanoseconds (billionths of a second)
DIMM = Dual Inline Memory Module
SIMM = Single Inline Memory Module
DDR = Double Data Rate
SDR = Single Data Rte


SIMM DIMM & RIMM (Old Style)


Top of Page

Major computer memory manufacturers

These are the major manufacturers of semiconductor memory (RAM).

 

SIMM, DIMM & RIMM
Memory Modules Capacities

30-Pin SIMM

Capacity

Parity / ECC

Standard
Nonparity

256KB

256KBx9

256KB-8

1MB

1MB-9

1MB-8

4MB

4MB-9

4MB-8

16MB

16MB-9

16MB-8

72-Pin SIMM

Capacity

Parity / ECC

Standard
Nonparity

1MB

256KB-36

256KB-32

2MB

512KB-36

512KB-32

4MB

1MB-36

1MB-32

8MB

2MB-36

2MB-32

16MB

4MB-36

4MB-32

32MB

8MB-36

8MB-32

64MB

16MB-36

16MB-32

128MB

32MB-36

32MB-32

 

 

 


Technical Info Listings

Video Graphic Displays

Recommended Resolutions for CRT and CRD Displays

Resolution

Minimum Recommended
CRT Monitor

Minimum Recommended
LCD Panel

800 x 600

15"

14"

1024 x 768

17"

15"

1280 x 1024

19"

17"

1600 x 1200

21"

19"

 

Video Card GPU

Like motherboards, today's cards have their own processor called Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). 3D graphics rendering need floating point calculations and GPUs are just what it need for the job. Like CPUs, GPUs have core clocks too, around 600 MHz.

 VRAM Memory

Video RAM (VRAM) is at graphic cards as RAM is at motherboards. If cards would not have the RAM memory, it would use RAM installed on the motherboard. Like RAM, VRAM have a range of clock rates following the standard installed on the card.


 

DDR standard, Double Data Rate
 DDR2 standard, Double Data Rate 2  
 GDR3 standard, Graphics Double Data Rate 3
GDR4 standard, Graphics Double Data Rate 4

Modern cards VRAM go up to 1 GB with a top core clock of 1.6 Ghz. Compared to RAM, VRAM has a technology call Z-buffer. Maybe the most important as it is use in 3D graphics for coordination.
 


 

VGA - SVideo - DVI
Card
 


Super Video Graphics Array (SVGA or VGA - shown on the left), is a small 15 pins connector to plug your computer screen.

Separate Video (SVideo - shown above in the middle), is a circle like connector used to connect your TV, game console, DVD player etc. 

 Digital Visual Interface (DVI - shown above on the right ), can be use for digital projectors. LCD screen should be use with DVI standard as it was design to enhance digital display.

 

Video Card Connectors
Conventional VGA cards, CRTs, and analog-compatible LCDs use the standard VGA connector. Early digital LCDs and their matching video cards often used the DPP connector. Most recent digital LCD panels and LCD TVs use the DVI-D (also known as DVI-HDCP) connector, whereas video cards used with both analog and digital displays use the DVI-I connector.

 

Video Card Technologies

Modern pc graphic cards are design with a ton of features to help accelerate and sharpen 3D graphics. I will explain in general some of them only. I keep the more sophisticated details for a future advance guide.

So here it is for the most used features to help you understand what modern cards are able to do in a 3D environment.

Anti-aliasing (AA), make your graphics look smoother. Without AA, graphics looks like they have been made from squares. Try to make a perfect circle with only squares as tool.

 Texture filtering is a way to blend texture pixels together by slicing them. In a 3D environment, object textures look smoother, more realistic with texture filtering. Otherwise when more and more textures appear, it looks somewhat blurry.

A shader make 3D effect in such ways that sometime you almost believe it is real. Imagine a lake with a castle close by, the reflection of the castle in the water is the kind of visual effect shader technology can do. This is only a tinny part of what shader can do.

 
TV PC Card

NEW TV PC Tuner Video Capture PCI Card + remote


This product turns your PC quick and easy into a powerful desktop multimedia system.
Watching and recording Television programs bring you into the realm of high-definition picture quality of digital TV.
Supporting NTSC Television Standards, time translation, scheduled recording your favorite programs, and supporting high quality VCD/DVD record and play back etc. Add some spices to your digital life.

 

Technical Info Listings

Motherboard  Chipsets - Pentium 4's back to 486's

 

Chipsets used from Pentium 4

Chipset Codename

Commercial Name

Segment

Alderwood

925 series

Desktop

Alviso

910 and 915 series

Mobile

Bearlake

31, 33, 35 and 38 series

Desktop

Bigby

3200 and 3210

Server

Blackford

5000P, 5000V and 5000Z

Server

Broadwater

963 and 965 series

Desktop

Brookdale

845 series

Desktop

Calistoga

940, 943 and 945 series

Mobile

Canterwood

875P

Desktop

Clarksboro

7300

Server

Colusa

860

Server

Crestline

960 and 965 series

Mobile

Glenwood

955X and 975X

Desktop

Granite Bay

E7205

Server

Grantsdale

910 and 915 series

Desktop

Greencreek

5000X

Server

Lakeport

945 and 946 series

Desktop

Lindenhurst

E7320 and E7520

Server

Montara

852 and 855 series

Mobile

Mukilteo

3000

Server

Mukilteo 2

3010

Server

Placer

E7505

Server

Plumas

E7500 and E7501

Server

San Clemente

5100

Server

Seaburg

5400

Server

Springdale

865 series

Desktop

Tehama

850 series

Desktop

Tumwater

E7525

Server

Tylersburg

X48

Desktop

Whitmore Lake

3100

Embedded

 

Chipsets for the Pentium Pro, Pentium II and Pentium III

Chipset Codename

Commercial Name

Segment

Almador

830 series

Mobile

Balboa

440LX

Desktop

Camino

820

Desktop

Carmel

840

Server

Mars

450KX

Server

Natoma

440FX

Desktop

Orion

450GX

Server

Solano

815 series

Desktop

Whitney

810 series

Desktop

 

Chipsets for the Pentium Processor (PI)

Chipset Codename

Commercial Name

Segment

Mercury

430LX

Desktop

Mobile Triton

430MX

Mobile

Neptune

430NX

Desktop

Triton

430FX

Desktop

Triton 2

430HX

Desktop

Triton 3

430VX

Desktop

Triton 4

430TX

Desktop

 

Chipsets for the 486 Processor

Chipset Codename

Commercial Name

Segment

Aires

420EX

Desktop

Saturn

420TX

Desktop

Saturn II

420ZX

Desktop


 

 



Software
Hardware Network Security Software Tech Info Lists Top of Page

Operating System Upgrade Specifications



Technical Info Listings

WIN 95     WIN 98     WIN ME     WIN XP and 2000     WIN VISTA

 Windows 95 Minimum System Requirements

Component

Minimum

Recommended

Processor

386DX/20

486DX/66

Memory

4MB

16MB

Hard drive

10MB

500MB

Video card

VGA

SVGA

CD-ROM

Optional (2X)

Optional (2X)

Mouse

Required

Required


Technical Info Listings

WIN 95     WIN 98     WIN ME     WIN XP and 2000     WIN VISTA

 Windows 98 Minimum System Requirements

Component

Minimum

Recommended

Processor

486DX/66

Pentium

Memory

16

24

Hard drive

180MB

295MB

Video card

VGA

SVGA

CD-ROM

Required (2X)

Required (2X)

Mouse

Required

Required


Technical Info Listings

WIN 95     WIN 98     WIN ME     WIN XP and 2000     WIN VISTA

 Windows ME Minimum System Requirements

Component

Minimum

Recommended

Processor

Pentium/150

Pentium/150

Memory

32MB

32MB

Hard drive

480MB

645MB

Video card

VGA

SVGA

CD-ROM

Required (2X)

Required (2X)

Mouse

Required

Required


Technical Info Listings

WIN 95     WIN 98     WIN ME     WIN XP and 2000     WIN VISTA

 Windows XP and 2000 Minimum System Requirements

Component

Windows XP Pro

Windows 2000 Pro

Processor

233-MHz Pentium
(300-MHz Recommended)

133-MHz Pentium
compatible

Memory

64MB
(128 MB recommended)

64MB

Hard drive capacity

2GB

2GB

Hard drive free space

1.5GB

650GB

required drive

CD-ROM or DVD

CD-ROM or DVD

Video card

SVGA or higher

VGA or higher

Input device required

Keyboard and mouse

Keyboard

 
Technical Info Listings

WIN 95     WIN 98     WIN ME     WIN XP and 2000     WIN VISTA

 Windows Vista

Component

Home Basic

Home Premium / Business / Ultimate

Processor

1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor

Memory

512 MB

1GB

Hard drive capacity

2GB

Hard drive

20 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space

40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
DirectX 9 Graphics Support for DirectX 9 graphics and 32 MB of graphics memory

Support for DirectX 9 graphics with:

  • WDDM Driver
  • 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)
  • Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware
  • 32 bits per pixel
Additional Requirements

 

 Actual requirements and product functionality may vary based on your system configuration. Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor can help you determine which features and edition of Windows Vista will run on your computer.

While all editions of Windows Vista can support multiple core CPUs, only Windows Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise can support dual processors

 
 

Home Premium / Ultimate

TV tuner card required for TV functionality (compatible remote control optional).

Home Premium / Business / Ultimate

Windows Tablet and Touch Technology requires a Tablet PC or a touch screen.

Ultimate

Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption requires a USB Flash Drive and a system with a TPM 1.2 chip.



 

Technical Info Listings


Short-Cut Keys

Inside most Windows Programs

Key Sequence

 Description

       <Ctrl><Shift>
          + <F10>

Open a shortcut (right-click) menu    

       <Ctrl> + A

Select the entire current document

       <Ctrl> + B

Turn bold on or off of selected text    
       <Ctrl> + C Copies selected text to be Pasted  using <Ctrl> + V     
       <Ctrl> + F Launch a program's search or find tool     

       <Ctrl> + I

 Turn italics on or off     

       <Ctrl> + O

Open a New document     

       <Ctrl> + P

Open the print dialog box     

       <Ctrl> + S

Saves the current file which has the focus   

       <Ctrl> + U

Turn underlining on or off of selected text     

       <Ctrl> + V

Paste previously copied / cut contents into the current program. 
See: <Ctrl> + C  and  <Ctrl> + X      

       <Ctrl> + X

Cuts (Delete the selection) and move it to the clipboard to be Pasted using <Ctrl> + V from clipboard     

       <Ctrl> + Y

 Re-do the last undo

       <Ctrl> + Z

Undo the last thing you did      

       <Ctrl> + <End>

Move the cursor to end of document     

       <Ctrl> + <Home>

Move the cursor to beginning of document
Outside Windows Programs
Start Menu
+ View information in the System Properties dialog box
+ Windows Help and Support Center
+ Show the Desktop
+ Open My Computer (XP) or Windows Explorer (Vista)
+ Open the Windows Search utility
+ Locks the computer session
+
Minimize all open windows
 Maximizes all open windows
+ Open the 'Run' dialog box
    Open a shortcut (right-click) menu
Keyboard F-Keys
F1

Start Help (Supported in most applications).

F2

Rename selected icon or file in Windows Explorer or on the Desktop
F3

Open Search (in Windows Explorer or on the Desktop only).
F4

Open a drop-down list (supported in many dialog boxes)-for example; press F4 in

F5

Refresh the view in Windows Explorer, or the Desktop, in the Registry Editor, and some other applications.

F6

Move the focus between panes in Windows Explorer.

F10

Send focus to the current applications menu.

 

 

Internet Explorer
       <Alt> + D Go to the address bar
       <Alt> + <Home> Go to your Home page 

       <Ctrl> + B

 Organize Favorites    
       <Ctrl> + E 
          or <F3> 		Show or hide the Search bar
       <Ctrl> + <F5> Refresh current Web page regardless
of time-stamps
       <Ctrl> + F Open the Find Dialog box      
       <Ctrl> + H Show or Hide the History bar
       <Ctrl> + I Show or hide the Favorites bar
       <Ctrl> + O 
           or   L 		Open the Open dialog box to go to
another Web site     
       <Ctrl> + N Open a new browser window with contents of current browser     
       <Ctrl> + R 
         or  <F5>		 Refresh the current Web page
       <Ctrl> + T Open a new browser Tab (Explore 7) with no webpage selected    
       <Ctrl> + <Tab> Change Tabs in Explorer 7 
       <Ctrl> + <Enter> Add www. before and .com after, what you're
typing in the Address bar and go to that site
       <Ctrl> + <F5>

Refresh current Web page regardless of time-stamps
       <Esc> Stop downloading a Web page
       <F11> Toggle full-screen mode on or off
 




Technical Info Listings




 Trouble-Shooting
Minimum Processes to run in WinXP

Start the Task Manager (by right-clicking an empty portion of the Taskbar and
selecting task Manager or pressing CTRL-ALT-DELETE) to check if anything is
running in the background. Stop all running programs listed below the
Application tab, and then check the list below the Processes tab; here you should
stop all the processes except:

 

  • Csrss.exe
  • Explorer.exe
  • Lsass.exe
  • Services.exe
  • Smss.exe
  • Spoolsv.exe
  • Svchost.exe
  • System
  • System Idle Process
  • Winlogon.exe


    •  

    Technical Info Listings


    Place Windows XP's Kernel into RAM

    Note: Only do this if the system has 256 MB or more of installed memory...

    Check how much installed memory on the system with:
      <Windows Key> + BREAK
    It's a given that anything that runs in RAM will be faster than an item that has to access the hard drive and virtual memory. Rather than have the kernel that is the foundation of  XP using the slower Paging Executive functions, use this to set the DisablePagingExecutive DWORD to a value of 1 so the kernel runs in RAM.
    Open the Registry Editor (Start_Run_regedit)  Find and Edit the Registry key  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Session Manager \ Memory Management  in the window on the right side find "DisablePagingExecutive" and click on it. Place a 1  to disable paging and have the kernel run in RAM (set the value back to 0 to undo this change) Exit the Registry Editor and reboot.




    Technical Info Listings
     

     

    Find XP's Product ID (PID) in the registry
     

      Now, don't go changing this number...

      Load regedit (start run open: regedit) and navigate to:
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion

      The number is listed under ProductId on the right side of the screen under data

      Look but don't touch.

     

     




    Technical Info Listings



    Windows XP Autoplay Problems

    AutoFix Download



    Technical Info Listings


    Network
    Hardware Network Security Software Tech Info Lists Top of Page


    Network Stuff


    Comparison of Networking Models

    Attribute

    Peer-to-Peer Network

    Client/Server Network

    Size

    Restricted to a maximum of 10 computers

    Te size of the network is limited only by server size and network hardware, and it can have thousands of connected systems.

    Administration

    Each individual is responsible for the administration of his or her own system. A dedicated administrator is not needed.

    A skilled network administrator is often required to maintain and manage the network

    Security

    Each individual is responsible for maintaining security for shared files or resources connected to the system.

    Security is managed from a central location but often requires a skilled administrator to correctly configure.

    Cost

    Minimal startup and implementation cost.

    Requires dedicated equipment and specialized hardware and administration increasing the cost of the network.

    Implementation

    Easy to configure and set up.

    Often requires complex setup procedures and skilled staff to set up.


    Technical Info Listings



    Network Topology

    Bus Topology

    Bus Network

    Advantages

    Disadvantages

    Compared to other topologies, a bus is cheap and easy to implement.

    There might be network disruption when computers are added or removed.

    Requires less cable than other topologies.

    Because all systems on the network connect to a single backbone, a break in the cable will prevent all systems from accessing the network

    Does not use any specialized network equipment.

    Difficult to troubleshoot.

    Ring Topology

    Ring Network

    Advantages

    Disadvantages

    Cable faults are easily located, making troubleshooting easier.

    Expansion to the network can cause network disruption.

    Ring networks are moderately easy to install.

    A single break in the cable can disrupt the entire network

    Star Topology

    Star Network

    Advantages

    Disadvantages

    Star networks are easily expanded without disruption to the network.

    Requires more cable than most of the other topologies.

    Cable failure affects only a single user.

    A central connecting device allows for a single point of failure.

    Easy to troubleshoot and isolate problems.

    More difficult than other topologies to implement.

    Mesh Topology

    Mesh Network

    Advantages

    Disadvantages

    Provide redundant paths between devices.

    Requires more cable than the other LAN topologies.

    The network can be expanded without disruption to current users.

    Complicated implementation.

    Wireless Topology

    Advantages

    Disadvantages

    Allows for wireless remote access.

    Potential security issues associated with wireless transmissions.

    Network can be expanded without disruption to current users.

    Limited speed in comparison to other network topologies.


    Technical Info Listings





    Glossary of Network Terms

    IP Address
    The "IP address" is the Internal IP address of the Router. To access the advanced setup interface, type this IP address into the address bar of your browser. This address can be changed if needed. To Change the IP address, type in the new IP address and click "Apply Changes". The IP address you choose should be a non-routable IP. Examples of a non-routable IP are:

    192.168.x.x (where x is anything between 0 and 255.)
    10.x.x.x (where x is anything between 0 and 255.)
    172.y.x.x (where y is anything from 16 to 31, and x is anything between 0 and 255.)

    Subnet Mask
    ADVANCED FEATURE! There is no need to change the subnet mask. It is possible to change the subnet mask if necessary. Only make changes to the Subnet Mask if you specifically have a reason to do so.

    DNS
    DNS is an acronym for Domain Name Server. A Domain Name Server is a server located on the Internet that translates URL's (Universal Resource Links) like www.belkin.com to IP addresses. Many ISP's do not require you to enter this information into the Router. The "Automatic from ISP" checkbox should be checked if your ISP did not give you a specific DNS address. If you are using a Static IP connection type, then you may need to enter a specific DNS address and secondary DNS address for your connection to work properly. If your connection type is Dynamic or PPPoE, it is likely that you do not have to enter a DNS address. To enter the DNS address settings, uncheck the "Automatic from ISP" checkbox and enter your DNS entries in the spaces provided. Click "Apply Changes" to save the settings.

    DHCP
    The DHCP server function makes setting up a network very easy by assigning IP addresses to each computer on the network. The DHCP Server can be turned off if necessary. Turning off the DHCP server will require you to manually set a Static IP address in each computer on your network. The IP pool is the range of IP addresses set aside for dynamic assignment to the computers on your network. The default is 2-100 (99 computers) if you want to change this number, you can by entering a new starting and ending IP address and clicking on "Apply Changes".

    Local Domain Name
    You can set a local domain name (network name) for your network. There is no need to change this setting unless you have a specific advanced need to do so. You can name the network anything you want such as "MY NETWORK".

    Dynamic IP
    A dynamic connection type is the most common connection type found with cable modems. Setting the connection type to dynamic in many cases is enough to complete the connection to your ISP. Some dynamic connection types may require a Host Name. You can enter your Host Name in the space provided if you were assigned one. Your Host Name is assigned by your ISP. Some dynamic connections may require that you clone the MAC address of the PC that was originally connected to the modem. To do so, click on the "Change WAN MAC address" link in the screen. The Internet Status indicator will read "Connected" if your Router is set up properly.

    Static IP
    A Static IP address connection type is less common than other connection types. If your ISP uses static IP addressing, you will need your IP address, Subnet Mask, and ISP gateway address. This information is available from your ISP or on the paperwork that your ISP left with you. Type in your information then click "Apply Changes". After you apply the changes, the Internet Status indicator will read "Connected" if your Router is set up properly.

    If your ISP assigns you more than one static IP address, your Router is capable of handling up to five static WAN IP addresses. Select "My ISP provides more than one static IP address" and enter your additional addresses.

    PPPoE
    Most DSL providers use PPPoE as the connection type. If you use a DSL modem to connect to the Internet, your ISP may use PPPoE to log you into the service. If you have an Internet connection in your home or small office that doesn't require a modem, you may also use PPPoE.

    Your connection type is PPPoE if:
    1) Your ISP gave you a user name and password which is required to connect to the Internet
    2) Your ISP gave you software such as WinPOET, Enternet300 that you use to connect to the Internet
    3) You have to double-click on a desktop Icon other than your browser to get on the Internet

    To set the Router to use PPPoE, type in your User Name and Password in the spaces provided. If you do not have a Service Name or do not know it, leave the Service Name field blank. After you have typed in your information, click "Apply Changes". After you apply the changes, the Internet Status indicator will read "Connected" if your Router is set up properly. For more details on configuring your Router to use PPPoE, see the user manual.

    PPTP
    Some ISPs require a connection using PPTP protocol. This sets up a direct connection to the ISP's system. Type in the information provided by your ISP in the space provided. When you have finished, click "Apply Changes". After you apply the changes, the Internet Status indicator will read "Connected" if your Router is set up properly.

    Telstra BigPond
    Your user name and password are provided to you by Telstra BigPond. Enter this information below. Choosing your state will automatically fill in your Login Server IP address. If your Login Server address is different than one provided here, you may manually enter the Login Server IP address. When you have entered your information, click "Apply Changes". After you apply the changes, the Internet Status indicator will read "Connected" if your Router is set up properly.


    MTU Setting
    The MTU setting should never be changed unless your ISP gives you a specific MTU setting. Making changes to the MTU setting can cause problems with your Internet connection including disconnection from the Internet, slow Internet access and problems with Internet applications working properly.

    Disconnect after X...
    The Disconnect feature is used to automatically disconnect the router from your ISP when there is no activity for a specified period of time. For instance, placing a checkmark next to this option and entering 5 into the minute field will cause the router to disconnect from the Internet after 5 minutes of no Internet activity. This option should be used if you pay for your Internet service by the minute.

    MAC Address
    MAC is an acronym for Media Access Controller. All network components including cards, adapters, and routers, have a unique "serial number" called a MAC address. Your ISP may record the MAC address of your computer's adapter and only let that particular computer connect to the Internet service. When you install the router, the Router's own MAC address will be "seen" by the ISP and may cause the connection not to work. Belkin has provided the ability to clone (copy) the MAC address of the computer into the router. This MAC address, in turn, will be seen by the ISP's system as the original MAC address and will allow the connection to work. If you are not sure if your ISP needs to see the original MAC address, simply clone the MAC address of the computer that was originally connected to the modem. Cloning the address will not cause any problems with your network.
    To Clone your MAC address, make sure that you are using the computer which was ORIGINALLY CONNECTED to your modem before the Router was installed. Click the "Clone MAC address" button. Click "Apply Changes". Your MAC address is now cloned to the router.

    Channel and SSID
    To change the channel of operation of the Router, select the desired channel from the drop-down menu and select your channel. Click "Apply Changes" to save the setting. You can also change the SSID. The SSID is the equivalent to the wireless network's name. You can make the SSID anything you want to. If there are other wireless networks in your area, you should give your wireless network a unique name. The default is belkin54g. To change the SSID, click inside of the SSID box and type in a new name. Click "Apply Changes" to make the change.

    Broadcast SSID
    It is possible to make your wireless network nearly invisible. By turning off the broadcast of the SSID, your network will not appear in a site survey. Site Survey is a feature of many wireless network adapters on the market today. It will scan the "air" for any available network and allow the computer to select the network from the site survey. Turning off the broadcast of the SSID will help increase security.

    USE as Access Point
    When using the Router as an Access Point, you must specify an IP address for the Access Point. This IP address must fall into the same range as the network that you will be connecting it to. To access the advanced setup interface of the Router again, type in the IP address in the web browser and login.

    Protected Mode
    NOTE: In most situations, best performance (throughput) is achieved with Protected Mode OFF. If you are operating in an environment with HEAVY 802.11b traffic or interference, best performance may be achieved with Protected Mode ON.

    Turbo Mode
     Selecting "Frame Bursting" will result in all devices capable of Frame Bursting to function in frame bursting mode, and all clients not capable to operate in normal 802.11g modes. Frame Bursting mode supports both Frame Bursting enabled devices and non Frame Bursting enabled devices simultaneously. Frame Bursting mode is based on the unreleased 802.11e specification.

    Selecting "Off" will disable all turbo modes.

    Virtual Servers
    This function will allow you to route external (Internet) calls for services such as a web server (port 80), FTP server (Port 21), or other applications through your Router to your internal network. Since your internal computers are protected by a firewall, machines from the Internet cannot get to them because they cannot be 'seen'. If you need to configure the Virtual Server function for a specific application, a list of common applications has been provided. If your application is not listed, you will need to contact the application vendor to find out which port settings you need. To select from the provided list, select your application from the drop-down list. Select the row that you want to copy the settings to from the drop-down list next to "to row", then click "Enter". The settings will be transferred to the row you specified. Click "Apply Changes" to save the setting for that application. To manually enter settings, enter the IP address in the space provided for the internal (server) machine, the port(s) required to pass (use a comma between multiple ports), select the port type (TCP or UDP) and click "Apply Changes". You can only pass one port per internal IP address. Opening ports in your firewall can pose a security risk. You can enable and disable settings very quickly. It is recommended that you disable the settings when you are not using a specific application.

    Client IP filters
    The Router can be configured to restrict access to the Internet, e-mail or other network services at specific days and times. Restriction can be set for a single computer, a range of computers, or multiple computers. To restrict Internet access to a single computer for example, enter the IP address of the computer you wish to restrict access to in the IP fields. Next enter 80 and 80 in the Port fields. Select TCP. Select Block. You can also select Always to block access all of the time. Select the day to start on top, the time to start on top, the day to end on the bottom and the time to stop on the bottom. Click "Apply Changes". The computer at the IP address you specified will now be blocked from Internet access at the times you specified. Note: be sure you have selected the correct time zone under Utilities> System Settings> Time Zone.


    MAC Address Filtering
    The MAC Address Filter is a powerful security feature that allows you to specify which computers are allowed on the network. Any computer attempting to access the network that is not specified in the filter list will be denied access. When you enable this feature, you must enter the MAC address of each client on your network to allow network access to each. The "Block" feature lets you turn on and off access to the network easily for any computer without having to add and remove the computer's MAC address from the list. To enable this feature, select "Enable MAC Address Filtering". Next, enter the MAC address of each computer on your network by clicking "Add" and entering the MAC address in the space provided. Click "Apply Changes" to save the settings. To delete a MAC address from the list, simply click "Delete" next to the MAC address you wish to delete. Click "Apply Changes" to save the settings.

    Note: you will not be able to delete the MAC address of the computer you are using to access the Router's administrative functions. (The computer you are using now).

    DMZ
    The DMZ feature allows you to specify one computer on your network to be placed outside of the NAT firewall. This may be necessary if the NAT feature is causing problems with an application such as a game or video conferencing application. Use this feature on a temporary basis. The computer in the DMZ is not protected from hacker attacks. To put a computer in the DMZ, enter the last digits of its IP address in the IP field and select "Enable". Click "Apply Changes" for the change to take effect. If you are using multiple static WAN IP addresses, it is possible to select which WAN IP address the DMZ host will be directed to. Type in the WAN IP address you wish the DMZ host to direct to, enter the last two digits of the IP address of the DMZ host computer, select "Enable" and Click "Apply Changes".

    Block ICMP Ping
    Computer hackers use what is known as "Pinging" to find potential victims on the Internet. By pinging a specific IP address and receiving a response from the IP address, a hacker can determine that something of interest might be there. The Router can be set up so it will not respond to an ICMP Ping from the outside. This heightens the level of security of your Router. To turn off the ping response, select "Block ICMP Ping" and click "Apply Changes". The router will not respond to an ICMP ping.

    Administrator Password
    The Router ships with NO password entered. If you wish to add a password for more security, you can set a password here. Keep your password in a safe place, as you will need this password if you need to log into the router in the future. It is also recommended that you set a password if you plan to use the Remote management feature of this Router.

    The login timeout option allows you to set the period of time that you can be logged into the Router's advanced setup interface. The timer starts when there has been no activity. For example, you have made some changes in the advanced setup interface, then left your computer alone without clicking "Logout". Assuming the timeout is set to 10 minutes, then 10 minutes after you leave, the login session will expire. You will have to login to the router again to make any more changes. The login timeout option is for security purposes and the default is set to 10 minutes. As a note, only one computer can be logged into the Router's advanced setup interface at one time.

    Time and Time Zone
    The Router keeps time by connecting to a Simple Network Time Protocol (SNTP) server. This allows the Router to synchronize the system clock to the global Internet. The synchronized clock in the Router is used to record the security log and control client filtering. Select the time zone that you reside in. If you reside in an area that observes Daylight Saving, then place a checkmark in the box next to "Enable Daylight Saving". The system clock may not update immediately. Allow at least 15 minutes for the router to contact the time servers on the Internet and get a response. You cannot set the clock yourself.

    Remote Management
    Before you enable this function, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SET THE ADMINISTRATOR PASSWORD. Remote management allows you to make changes to your Router's settings from anywhere on the Internet. There are two methods of remotely managing the router. The first method is to allow access to the router from anywhere on the Internet by selecting "Any IP address can remotely manage the router". By typing in your WAN IP address from any computer on the Internet, you will be presented with a login screen where you need to type in the password of your router. The Second method is to allow a specific IP address only to remotely manage the router. This is more secure, but less convenient. To use this method, enter the IP address you know you will be accessing the Router from in the space provided and select "Only this IP address can remotely manage the Router". Before you enable this function, it is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED that you set your administrator password. Leaving the password empty will potentially open your router to intrusion.

    AT Enabling
    Before you enable this function, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SET THE ADMINISTRATOR PASSWORD. Network Address Translation (NAT) is the method by which the router shares the single IP address assigned by your ISP with the computers on your network. Advanced users should only use this function. This function should only be used if your ISP assigns you multiple IP addresses or you need NAT disabled for an advanced system configuration. If you have a single IP address and you turn NAT off, the computers on your network will not be able to access the Internet. Other problems may also occur. Turning off NAT will disable your firewall functions.

    UPnP
    UPnP (Universal Plug-and-Play) is a technology that offers seamless operation of voice messaging, video messaging, games, and other applications that are UPnP compliant. Some applications require the Router's firewall to be configured in a specific way to operate properly. This usually requires opening TCP and UDP ports and in some instances setting trigger ports. An application that is UPnP compliant has the ability to communicate with the Router, basically "telling" the Router which way it needs the firewall configured. The Router ships with the UPnP feature disabled. If you are using any applications that are UPnP compliant, and wish to take advantage of the UPnP features, you can enable the UPnP feature. Simply select "Enable" in the "UPnP Enabling" section of the Utilities page. Click "Apply Changes" to save the change.


    Automatic Firmware Update Notification
    The Router has the capability built-in to automatically check for a new version of firmware and alert you that the new firmware is available. When you log into the Router advanced interface, the router will perform a check to see if new firmware is available. If new firmware is available, you will be notified. You can choose to download the new version or ignore it. The router ships with this feature disabled. If you want to enable it, select "Enable" and click "Apply Changes".

    Wireless Security
    Using Encryption can help secure your wireless network. Only one type of security may be selected at a time. Therefore the customer must select a mode that is supported on all network devices on the wireless network. This Belkin product has 5 possible Security settings:

    1) Disabled. No encryption is enabled in this mode. Open networks where all users are welcome sometimes prefer to not enable encryption.

    2) WPA PSK - Home (no server). WPA (Wireless protected Access) PSK is a recent standards-based security technique where each packet of information is encrypted with a different code, or key. Since the key is constantly changing, WPA is very secure. There are two types of WPA, WPA-PSK (Pre-Shared Key), and WPA-Radius Server. Obviously the difference being that one requires a server and one does not. WPA-PSK is for home and small business users who do not have a server. The PSK encryption key is generated automatically from a string of characters or Pass Phrase. Obviously the biggest security risk in WPA PSK is if someone finds out your Pass Phrase.

    a. TKIP verses AES. WPA setup requires the user to select whether to encrypt using TKIP or AES. The WPA standard specifies TKIP, so that is the default. Additionally TKIP should provide better compatibility between wireless products from different vendors since many wireless products will never be upgraded to AES. AES is a new encryption technique based on the un-ratified 802.11i standard. New WPA standards are being considered using AES. Although AES is not as popular, some users may prefer to use this technique. Either way, all networks devices must use the same technique.

    b. Pre-Shared Key. Enter any word or phrase up to 40 characters. The same PSK must also be used for every other wireless network device on the network. Watch out for upper and lower case differences ("n" is different than "N".) Remember, the easiest way to break your security is for someone to guess your PSK.

    3) 128-bit WEP. Until recently, 128-bit WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) was the standard for wireless encryption. If not all of your wireless devices support WPA, 128bit WEP still offers very good security option. It will require you to enter hex numbers, or you can generate them automatically.

    4) 64-bit WEP. Belkin only recommends 64-bit mode on networks where some devices do not support either WPA or 128bit WEP.

    5) WPA - Radius Server. (This mode is accessed from the Advanced Button). WPA server is only for networks using a Radius Server. All parameters for this mode should be obtained from the administrator of your Radius Server. Unlike WPA PSK, WPA server passes the key from the server to the clients instead of generating it automatically.

     




    Technical Info Listings

      Cable / DSL Modem Diagnostics

      In order to access the modem's internal diagnostics please
      follow the instructions below. Make sure the modem is directly
      connected to the PC i.e. not connected through a router.

    1. Go into the Control Panel and click on Network or
      network connections depending on the operating system.
      If using Windows XP or Windows 2000 then a Network
      Connections window will appear. In this Window there
      will be your local area connection that you use to
      connect to the internet, right click on this and click
      properties. Another window will appear called Local area
      connection properties or Network if using Win98 or Windows
      Me. In this window select the TCP/IP protocol for your
      adapter and click properties.

    2. If using Windows 2000 or XP then a Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
      Properties window will appear. The settings in this window
      will probably be set to Obtain an IP address automatically.
      Change this to Use the following IP address and where it says
      IP address there will be a box to the right, in this box type
      in 192.168.100.100 then go to the next box (Subnet Mask) and
      type in 255.255.255.0 then in the last box (Default Gateway)
      type in 192.168.100.1 and then click OK. The window will
      close, then close the Properties Box by clicking OK or CLOSE.
      Then close the Network Connections window.

    3. For Windows 98 and Windows ME, the properties window that appears
      will be slightly different in that it has TABS. On the tab that
      is titled IP Address type the same settings as above but to enter
      the gateway you will need to click on the Gateway tab and enter
      the gateway address in the New Gateway box and click Add. Once
      this is done click OK to all and Apply, then you will be prompted
      to restart your computer. This will not happen in Windows 2000 or XP.

    4. Once the computer has restarted or if using Windows 2000 or XP all
      windows are closed, open Internet Explorer and type in the address
      bar 192.168.100.1 and the diagnostics page should display.

    5. Once you have viewed this information you will need to delete the
      settings you entered in your network in order to access the
      internet again.




    Technical Info Listings





    The 7 Layer OSI Model

    The modular networking architecture of Windows is based on two industry standard models for a layered networking architecture, namely the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) model for computer networking, called the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) Reference Model, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802 model. Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP are all designed according to these standard models. The ISO OSI and IEEE 802 models define a modular approach to networking, with each layer responsible for some discrete aspect of the networking process.

    The OSI model describes the flow of data in a network, from the lowest layer (the physical connections) up to the layer containing the user’s applications. Data going to and from the network is passed layer to layer. Each layer is able to communicate with the layer immediately above it and the layer immediately below it. This way, each layer is written as an efficient, streamlined software component. When a layer receives a packet of information, it checks the destination address, and if its own address is not there, it passes the packet to the next layer.

    When two computers communicate on a network, the software at each layer on one computer assumes it is communicating with the same layer on the other computer. For example, the Transport layer of one computer communicates with the Transport layer on the other computer. The Transport layer on the first computer has no regard for how the communication actually passes through the lower layers of the first computer, across the physical media, and then up through the lower layers of the second computer.

    Note: The OSI Model was originally developed in the early 1980s by the ISO, which continues to maintain the standard.

    The application block is made up of the upper three layers: Application, Presentation, and Session. It is responsible for connecting software programs to the network.

    The network block consists of the lower four layers: Transport, Network, Data-link, and Physical. This block is responsible for moving data on the network.

    It can be difficult to remember the order of the layers, so in the past, a lot of schools taught them from the top down, using the mnemonic device "All People Seem To Need Data Processing."

    The OSI Reference Model includes seven layers:

    • Application
    • Presentation
    • Session
    • Transport
    • Network
    • Data-Link
    • Physical

    Application layer represents the level at which applications access network services. This layer represents the services that directly support applications such as software for file transfers, database access, and electronic mail. This layer provides services and utilities that enable application programs to access a network and its resources. This enables applications to save files to the network server or print to network printers. The Application layer also accesses resources that each system has available for network use.

    The Presentation layer translates data from the Application layer into an intermediary format and will change at lower layers. This layer also manages security issues by providing services such as data encryption, and compresses data so that fewer bits need to be transferred.

    The Session layer allows two applications on different computers to establish, use, and end a session. This layer establishes dialog control between the two computers in a session, regulating which side transmits, plus when and how long it transmits.

    The Transport layer handles error recognition and recovery. It also repackages long messages when necessary into small packets for transmission and, at the receiving end, rebuilds packets into the original message. The receiving Transport layer also sends receipt acknowledgments.

    The Network layer addresses messages and translates logical addresses and names into physical addresses. It also determines the route from the source to the destination computer and manages traffic problems, such as switching, routing, and controlling the congestion of data packets.

    The Data Link layer packages raw bits from the Physical layer into frames (logical, structured packets for data). This layer is responsible for transferring frames from one computer to another, without errors. After sending a frame, it waits for an acknowledgment from the receiving computer.

    IEEE 802.2: General standard for the data link layer in the OSI Reference Model. The IEEE divides this layer into two sublayers -- the logical link control (LLC) layer and the media access control (MAC) layer. The MAC layer varies for different network types and is defined by standards IEEE 802.3 through IEEE 802.5. IEEE 802.3: Defines the MAC layer for bus networks that use CSMA/CD. This is the basis of the Ethernet standard. IEEE 802.4: Defines the MAC layer for bus networks that use a token-passing mechanism ( token bus networks). IEEE 802.5: Defines the MAC layer for token-ring networks.

    The Physical layer transmits bits from one computer to another and regulates the transmission of a stream of bits over a physical medium. This layer defines how the cable is attached to the network adapter and what transmission technique is used to send data over the cable.


    Technical Info Listings


    Wireless Standards
    Standard Frequency
    Range    		 Theoretical
    Maximum
    Throughput     		Effective
    Throughput
    (Approximate)     		Average
    Geographic
    Range
    802.11b
    ("Wi-Fi")    		 2.4 GHz 11 Mbps 5 Mbps 100 meters (or
    about 330 feet)
    802.11a 5 GHz 54 Mbps 11-18 Mbps 20 meters (or
    about 66 feet)
    802.11g 2.4 GHz 54 Mbps 20-25 Mbps 100 meters (or
    about 330 feet)
    Bluetooth
    (version 1.x)    		 2.4 GHz 1 Mbps 723 Kbps 10 meters (or
    about 33 feet)
    Bluetooth
    (version. 2.x)    		 2.4 GHz 2.1 Mbps 1.5 Mbps 30 meters (or
    about 100 feet)
    IrDA 300-300,000 GHz 4 Mbps 3.5 Mbps 1 meters (or
    about 3.3 feet)

     

     
    Security
    Hardware Network Security Software Tech Info Lists Top of Page


     

    What is CIA?

    CIA (in this context, of course) stands for Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability. These are the three tenets or cornerstones of information security objectives. Virtually all practices within the umbrella called “Information Security” are designed to provide these objectives. They are relatively simple to understand and are common-sense notions.

     
    Confidentiality

    Confidentiality refers to the idea that information should only be accessible to its intended recipients and those authorized to receive the information. All other parties should not be able to access the information. This is a pretty common and straight-forward idea; the US government for example marks certain items “Top Secret,” which means that only those who are cleared to see that information can actually view it. In this way, the government is achieving information confidentiality. Another common example is the sharing of a secret between two friends. When the friends tell each other the secret, they usually whisper so that nobody else can hear what they are saying. The friends are also achieving confidentiality.

     
    Integrity

    Integrity is the idea that information should arrive at a destination as it was sent. In other words, the information should not be tampered with or otherwise altered. Sometimes, secret information may be sent in a locked box. This is to ensure both confidentiality and integrity: it ensures confidentiality by assuring that only those with a key can open it; it ensures integrity by assuring that the information is not able to be altered during delivery. Similarly, government documents are often sealed with some sort of special stamp that is unique to an office or branch of government. In this way, the government ensures that the people reading the documents know that the document is in fact a government document and not a phony.

     
    Availability / Accessibility  

    Imagine that a terrorist blocks the entrance to the Library of Congress. Though he did not necessarily destroy the integrity of the books inside nor did he breach confidentiality, he did do something to negatively affect the security of the Library. We deem his actions a “denial of service,” or more appropriately, a denial of availability. Availability refers to the idea that information should be available to those authorized to use it. When a hacker floods a web server with erroneous requests and the web server goes down as a result of it, he denied availability to the users of the server, and thus, one of the major tenets of information security have been compromised.

     

     



    Technical Info Listings

    Access Control
     
    One of the most crucial areas of information security that dates back to its origins is the idea of access control. Access control is the ability of a system to limit access to only certain users. When you think access control, think “password.” Of course, there are many ways to authenticate users than just passwords, but passwords are probably the most well-known way of controlling access to resources, especially to information security laymen. We’ll now look into the specifics of access control.

     
    Types of Access Control Factors
     
    One of the key questions associated with access control is: How do you ensure that a user is in fact who he claims to be? There are many ways to do so, and so they have been categorized into three types of factors:
     
    • Type I: What you know – Access control methods related to “what you know” include passwords, numeric keys, PIN numbers, secret questions and answers, and so forth. Basically, Type I access control depends on the user to know something in order to access the information.
    • Type II: What you have – You probably use this access control method every day without realizing it. A physical key is used to open a door to your house through a lock – a form of Type II access control. In information security terms, Type II access control methods may include physical keys or cards, smart cards, and other physical devices that might be used to gain access to something.
    • Type III: What you are – This form of access control is closely related to biometrics or authentication by biological factors. Some high-tech systems may use fingerprints, retinal scans, or even DNA to ensure that a user is who he claims to be. This type of access control is considered the most secure because it requires that a user be physically present whereas the other two can be compromised by theft of a password or a keycard.
    The best authentication systems use more than one factor (Type) to ensure a user’s identity; this is known as “multi-factor authentication.”

     
    The Workings behind Access Control
     
    There are essentially three steps to any access control process.

    1.     Identification: Who is the user?
    2.     Authentication: Is the user who he says he is?
    3.     Authorization: What does the user have permission to do?

    Authentication is achieved through the factors discussed above, but Authorization is actually achieved between the reference model and the Kernel of the operating system. The reference model is the system that directs the Kernel what it can and cannot access. A request to access information would be sent through the reference model to verify that the user requesting access should actually have access to what he/she is requesting. The kernel then acts only if the reference model directs it do so.

     
    Methods of Access Control
     
    Another very important question that should be raised when considering access control is: “Who determines which users have access to information?” The Security+ exam suggests three different methods of determining this:
     
    • MAC: Mandatory Access Control is the system in which a central administrator or administration dictates all of the access to information in a network or system. This might be used in high-security applications, such as with top-secret government information.
    • DAC: Discretionary Access Control is the system in which the owners of files actually determine who gets access to the information. In this system, a user who creates a sensitive file determines (through his own discretion) who can access that sensitive file. This is considered far less secure than MAC.
    • RBAC: Role-Based Access Control is related to a system in which the roles of users determine their access to files. For example, if Bob is a member of accounting, he should not be able to access the engineering files.

     

     



    Technical Info Listings

    Methods of Authentication
     
    Kerberos

         Kerberos is an open-source and widely-accepted method of authentication that works on a shared secret key system with a trusted third party. Before you begin to understand how Kerberos actually works, you should consider this analogy: two people are in love and want to deliver messages of their affection to each other. The problem is that they cannot express their love for each other openly because of a family feud. So, they entrust a mutual friend to deliver their secrets to each other.
         In essence, Kerberos does much of the same. If two users wish to communicate with each other, they must first contact a trusted Kerberos server to obtain a shared secret key. Only the users that have this key can communicate with each other because the key encrypts and decrypts messages. The logical part of the Kerberos server that governs key distribution is aptly called the Key Distribution Center, or KDC. Once keys have been distributed to the two parties wishing to communicate, Kerberos then issues what are known as “tickets” through the TGS or Ticket Granting Server. These tickets allow for the actual communication between the clients by storing authentication information.
         Kerberos has a wide variety of applications, especially in open source software, but is not without vulnerabilities. One is that Kerberos makes extensive use of that trusted third party. If the third party is compromised, information confidentiality and integrity may be breached. If the third party simply fails, availability is lost. Kerberos also uses time stamps in order to “time out” communications. If two hosts are on different times, communication may be difficult or impossible.
    Remember that Kerberos is associated with SSO (single sign-on) technology
     
    Biometric

    As discussed before, biometric factors are factors of authentication that utilize the biological factors of a user. Biometric authentication and identification is considered the most secure. Typical biometric factors include fingerprint and retinal scans as well as photo-comparison technology.
     
    Username / Password

    The most common form of authentication system is a username and password system. This is a Type I system and therefore relies on the difficulty of guessing the password for effectiveness. There may be questions on the Security+ exam about what constitutes a good password. Use common sense here! A good password would obviously consist of numbers and letters, lower and upper case, and symbols. In other words, the general rule of thumb is that a good password is complex. Another rule of thumb is that a good password should be at least six characters and probably eight. In fact, eight or more is the standard at the moment. Systems that allow for lost password retrieval should not allow a malicious user to learn information about the users of a system; in addition, systems should not elaborate as to whether a username or password is incorrect as this would aid potential attackers.
     
    Multifactor
     
    Multifactor authentication refers to using more than one factor to authenticate a user. Multifactor authentication is more secure than single factor authentication in most cases. An example of multifactor authentication would be an authentication system that required a user to have both a password and a fingerprint
     
    CHAP
     
    CHAP is an authentication protocol that uses username and password combinations that authenticate users. It is used in PPP, so its most common application is dial-up internet access user authentication. All you really need to know about it is that it uses a three-way handshake to prevent replay attacks. Microsoft has a version of CHAP known as MS-CHAP.
     
    SSO
     
    Single sign-on, or SSO, refers to the ability for a user to only be authenticated once to be provided authorization to multiple services.

     

     


    Technical Info Listings

    Attacks
    Attacks and Malicious Users
     
    Social Engineering
     
    This kind of attack is probably the most commonly successful and damaging of all attacks, yet it requires no technical ability.     Social engineering is an attack by which the attacker manipulates people who work in a capacity of some authority so that the attacker can get those people to do something that he desires. For example, if an attacker calls into a business posing as a bank representative who is reporting foul activity on an account and then proceeds to ask for a routing number, that attacker is engaged in a social engineering attack. Remember, social engineering means manipulating people.

     
    Dumpster Diving
     
    This is another low-tech attack. All you have to remember about this attack is that the name is very indicative of the nature of this attack –     a dumpster diver would look through trash and other unsecured materials to find pertinent information to either launch an attack or carry out some other maliciously intended action.

     
    Password Cracking
     
    This is an attack by which the attacker wishes to gain authentication (and authorization) to network resources by guessing the correct password. There are two basic kinds of password cracking attacks:
     
    • Brute Force – Every single possible combination of characters (aaa,aaA,aAA,AAA,aab…)
    • Dictionary – Enter passwords from a text file (a dictionary)
    Most of the time when password cracking is attempted, the cracker has some means of entering username and password combinations quickly. Usually this is through a cracking program such as Brutus. One way to defend against cracking attacks is to put a mandatory wait time before login attempts. 11Another way is to lock out the login system after a certain number of attempts. Finally, limiting the number of concurrent connections to a login system can slow down a cracking attack.

     
    Flooding
     
    Just like a flood can overwhelm the infrastructure of a locale,     a flooding attack can overwhelm the processing and memory capabilities of a network system or server. In a flooding attack, the attacker sends an inordinate amount of packets to a server or a group of hosts in order to overwhelm the network or server. This would, of course, cause a denial of service to the hosts who demand whatever network resource has been overwhelmed. Some special kinds of flooding attacks:
     
    • SYN Flood – A flood of specially crafted SYN packets
    • ICMP Ping Flood – A flood of ICMP pings
       
    Spoofing

    Spoofing is not always a form of attack but can be used in conjunction with an attack.     Spoofing is any attempt to hide the true address information of a node and is usually associated with IP spoofing, or the practice of hiding the IP address of a node and replacing it with another (false) IP address. One implication of a successful spoof is that investigators cannot trace the attack easily because the IP address is false. Spoofing can be achieved through proxy servers, anonymous Internet services, or TCP/IP vulnerabilities.

     
    Birthday Attack
     
    Any attack based on favorable probability is known as a birthday attack. This comes from the statistical truth that it is far more likely in a room of 100 people to find two people who have the same birthday than it is to find a person with a specific birthday.  You can just associate birthday attack with probability.

     
    Buffer Overflow
     
    A buffer overflow attack is a very specific kind of attack that is very common when attacking Application level servers and services. Basically, a buffer is a memory stack that has a certain holding size.     Through a specifically and maliciously crafted packet, information can overflow in that stack, causing a number of problems. Some buffer overflow attacks result in a simple denial of service while others can allow for system compromise and remote takeover of a system. Patches are usually issued to defend against specific buffer overflow issues.

     
    Sniffing

    A sniffing attack is one in which an     attacker “sniffs” information, either off the media directly or from regular network traffic, in order to compromise the confidentiality or integrity of information. Un-switched Ethernet traffic can easily be sniffed when the NIC operates in “promiscuous” mode, the mode in which the NIC reads all traffic regardless of the destination IP address. Sniffing can be thwarted by careful attention to media security and switched networks.

     
    Overview
     
    While there is certainly a dearth of space here to list all of the wonderful tricks that hackers have up their collective sleeves,     it is safe to say that the attacks that you will see on the Security+ have been covered above. Study each one carefully and try to associate one word with the attack that will help you remember what it’s all about; after a while, the distinction between attacks will become more obvious and clear to you.

     

     



    Technical Info Listings

    Remote Access
     
    One of the most ever-present and ancient uses of the Internet and networking has been to provide remote access to networks or network resources. Since the early 1980’s, different remote access protocols have existed to allow users to remotely “dial in” to a network of choice; while some of these protocols have come and gone, many of them remain widely in use even today in dial-up WAN access and business VPN networks. The information in in this section will help you in your ability to identify the security features, benefits, and costs of several types of remote access protocols and services.
     
    RAS

    RAS, or     Remote Access Service, is a rarely-used, insecure, and outdated Microsoft offering in the area of remote access technology. You should know that RAS provides dial-up access and once was the protocol of choice for connecting to the Internet.
     
    PPP

    RAS was eventually replaced by PPP, the most common dial-up networking protocol today. PPP, or point-to-point protocol, utilizes a direct connection from a client to WAN over TCP/IP. This is advantageous for dial-up networking services as most people today wish to be able to use the Internet, which of course requires TCP/IP networking. When you think dial-up access, think PPP.
     
    Secure Connection

    The next group of technologies is considered “secure” in that the technologies set up an encrypted, sometimes “tunneled,” and difficult-to-intercept connection. These are the technologies     typically employed in VPN (Virtual Private Network) applications and corporate remote networks.
     
    PPTP

    Point-to-point tunneling protocol, or PPTP, is a tunneling protocol that can encapsulate connection-oriented PPP packets (which are simple remote access packets) into connectionless IP packets. In doing so, the data remains within the “IP capsule,” which prevents sniffing and other outside manipulation. PPTP is a client-server system that requires a PPTP client, a PPTP server, and a special network access server to provide normal PPP service. PPTP is commonly used to set up “Virtual Private Networks,” which are like LAN’s that are spread across the Internet so that multiple remote clients can connect to one logical network.
     
    L2TP

    PPTP, L2TP utilizes a tunneling protocol, but unlike PPTP, L2TP utilizes IPSec (IP Security) to encrypt data all the way from the client to the server. Because of this, L2TP data is difficult to intercept. L2TP can accommodate for protocols other than IP to send datagrams and is therefore more versatile; it is also common in VPN applications.

    Implementation of L2TP, a popular tunneling protocol
     
    SSL

    SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer, is a technology employed to allow for transport-layer security via public-key encryption. What you should know about this for the exam is that     SSL is typically employed over HTTP, FTP, and other Application-layer protocols to provide security. HTTPS (HTTP over SSL) is particularly used by web merchants, credit card validation companies, and banks to ensure data security (think: lock icon)
     
    Kerberos

    Kerberos is a *Nix technology that is also being implemented in Microsoft technology to allow for     client-server authentication over a network based on a shared key system. Kerberos is a public-key encryption technology and therefore is considered quite modern.
     

     



    Technical Info Listings

    Tunneling, VPN & IPSec

     
    Remote access protocol allows remote access to a network or host and is usually employed in dial-up networking. Alternatively, some remote access technologies are involved in remote control of a host, such as through secure shell or Telnet.
     
    Another class of remote access technologies does exist.     This class is related to two of the fundamental aspects of information security: confidentiality and availability. This type of remote access technology allows a user to securely dial in or otherwise access a remote network over an encrypted and difficult-to-intercept connection known as a “tunnel.” These protocols are therefore usually referred to as tunneling or secure remote access protocols.
     
    VPN

    A virtual private network is a pseudo-LAN that is defined as a private network that operates over a public network. It allows remote hosts to dial into a network and join the network basically as if it were a local host, gaining access to network resources and information as well as other VPN hosts. Understanding VPMs relies on your ability to recognize different applications of VPN networks. Use common sense here! Obviously, VPN networks would likely be employed in settings in which information security is essential and local access to the network is not available. For example, a VPN might be utilized by a telecommuting employee who dials into the office network.
     
    PPTP
     
    PPTP, or Point-to-point tunneling protocol, is a commonly implemented remote access protocol that allows for secure dial-up access to a remote network. In other words, PPTP is a VPN protocol. PPTP utilizes a similar framework as PPP (point-to-point protocol) for the remote access component but encapsulates data into undecipherable packets during transmission. It is as its name implies: an implementation of PPP that utilizes tunneling by encapsulating data.
     
    IPSec

    IPSec is a heavily utilized area of the IT Security. It will be your benefit to understand IPSec well. IPSec allows for the encryption of data being transmitted from host-to-host (or router-to-router, or router-to-host… you get the idea) and is basically standardized within the TCP/IP suite.     IPSec is utilized in several protocols such as SSL and TLS. You should know that IPSec operates in two basic modes. We will now study these modes in greater detail.
     
    • Transport Mode – Provides host-to-host security in a LAN network but cannot be employed over any kind of gateway or NAT device. Note that in transport mode, only the packet’s information, and not the headers, are encrypted.
    • Tunneling Mode – Alternatively, in tunneling mode, IPSec provides encapsulation of the entire packet, including the header information. The packet is encrypted and then allowed to be routed over networks, allowing for remote access. Because of this, we are usually most interested  in the Tunneling mode.
    IPSec is comprised of two basic components that provide different functionality:
     
    • AH – Authentication Header (AH) can provide authentication of the user who sent the information as well as the information itself.
    • ESP – Encapsulating Security Protocol (ESP) can provide actual encryption services which can ensure the confidentiality of the information being sent.

    IPSec implementation
     
    L2TP
     
    L2TP, or Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol, is an alternative protocol to PPTP that offers the capability for VPN functionality in a more secure and efficient manner. Rather than actually replacing PPP as a remote access protocol or IPSec as a security protocol, L2TP simply acts as an encapsulation protocol on a very low level of the OSI model – the Data Link layer. L2TP, therefore, commonly utilizes PPP for the actual remote access service and IPSec for security. Note that L2TP operates on a client/server model with the LAC (L2TP Access Concentrator) being the client and the LNS (L2TP Network Server) acting as the server.
     

     



    Technical Info Listings

    Cryptography

    The basics of cryptography, including common terminology, function, and applications.
     

     What is Cryptography?

    Cryptography is the science of hiding the meaning of a message. Even children are familiar with the concept of cryptography as they learn to speak to each other in “code languages” that adults cannot understand. Rap stars employ lyrics that have alternate and more explicit meanings. The British in World War II were able to crack the Enigma Machine, Nazi Germany’s method of ciphering critical data.
    For the purposes of the Security+ exam, however, we will usually speak of cryptography in terms of IT information security. Computers are often employed in conjunction with cryptographic services and protocols as many of these require complex calculations that only computers can provide in a timely manner.
     

    AES, one of many cryptographic algorithms
     

    How Cryptography Works

    The basic concept of cryptography is very simple. In a typical cryptographic exchange, information that is meant to be hidden for whatever reason is encrypted, or ciphered into a difficult-to-interpret form. We call this conversion encryption because it involves the change of     clear text, or understandable data, into cipher text, or difficult-to-interpret data. The encryption process is one-half of the entire cryptographic exchange.

    At the other end of the process is decryption, or the conversion of cipher text into clear text. Decryption is not always a part of encryption, however – some algorithms are called “hashes” as they only apply encryption (that is, from clear to cipher text) and have no means of deciphering the information. .
     
    Public Key and Private Key Systems
     
    A key is the password of sorts used to encrypt and decrypt data.

    When an encryption key is made     available to any host, it's known as a public key. In contrast, a private key is confidentially shared between two hosts or entities.

    A     symmetric encryption algorithm. uses the same key for encryption and decryption. When an different key is used for encryption and decryption this known as asymmetric encryption.

    More complex, systems require both a public key and a private key to operate. 
     
    Cryptanalysis and cracking
     
    Cryptanalysis is the act of     breaking the cipher or attempting to understand the cipher text. Cracking is often associated with cryptanalysis as cracking a shared key is often essential to cryptanalysis attempts. Not every cipher is decipherable – for example, some encryption algorithms are mathematically unbreakable (they operate on randomness) and other encryption algorithms are hashes that do not provide one-to-one functionality (that is, more than one input can result in the same output, making reverse-encryption or cryptanalysis impossible). However, most cryptographic algorithms can theoretically be cracked but require extraordinary amounts of computational power to do so. For example, RSA can take millennia to crack, hardly the amount of time that a potential attacker or cryptanalyst has available.
     
    Applications and Functions of Cryptography

    The Security+ exam will test you on your ability to recognize situations in which cryptography might be employed. The general rule here is that cryptography is employed in settings in which data confidentiality and integrity are desirable. For example, you would not use cryptography when transferring MP3 files (unless those files were highly sensitive for some reason) but you would certainly employ cryptographic methods when transferring health information. In addition to data confidentiality and integrity, cryptography can provide     non-repudiation, which is the idea that a sender of information would not be able to refute the fact that he or she did send that information or data. Here is a sample laundry list of some well-known functions of cryptography:
    Certificates
     
    • Tunneling protocols and VPN
    • Email security (PGP et al.)
    • Secure file transfer (S-FTP)
    • Secure access to web pages (SSL)
    • Kerberos Authentication
    • Document security


     


    Technical Info Listings

    Malicious Software:
    Viruses, Trojan Horses, Worms
     
    Viruses

          A computer virus is     malicious software that propagates itself upon the action of a user. For example, some viruses send emails promising great information on how to get rich quickly or pleasant images. The user then opens some sort of executable attachment (that is almost certainly not what is promised) and the virus either immediately acts or waits as a dormant drone to act, either upon the request of a master host or some sort of time period. Viruses typically inflict damage by either destroying files categorically or installing new files that drastically affect the performance of the computer. Most viruses also act to “insert” themselves into various executable files, increasing the likelihood that a user will re-run the malicious executable file.
          One of the core tendencies of any computer virus is propagation.     Most viruses include some mechanism for both local and network propagation, including the sending of instant messages, the setting up of web servers, and of course, emails. However, viruses are not truly “self-propagating” in the sense that the virus is actually incapable of “forcing” itself on another host machine in most cases. A virus typically needs user interaction to act (such as opening an attachment). This need for user interaction is usually seen as what separates a virus from a worm.
     
    Worms
     
          Unlike the friendly creatures that crawl beneath the crust,     computer worms can be extremely destructive and costly malicious programs that self-propagate to cause unbelievable damage to computer networks across the world. Alternatively, worms can help provide us the wonders of Google and Yahoo search engines. How can a worm be so good and yet so bad?
          Actually, worms are not inherently evil. Worms are simply pieces of software that are able to (through various means) self-propagate about the Internet. In many cases, computer worms provide various services that we all love and utilize. One such worm is the World Wide Web Worm, which “crawls” the Internet to pick up data from web pages for categorization and indexing that we later utilize through popular search engines.     Other “friendly” worms work to quickly patch software that is vulnerable to attacks by – you guessed it – other worms!
              However, some worms also do irreparable damage to computers. Many of these worms, which carry malicious payloads, install self-destructive software or a backdoor into the PC. Remote control of infected hosts is often a primary goal of worm writers who seek to crash high-profile websites and services through “Denial of Service” attacks.
     

    Trojan Horses and Backdoors



     
    A Trojan horse or backdoor is any software that attempts to give a remote user unauthorized access to a host machine or user account. Some backdoors actually serve a legitimate purpose (SSH, for example, might be classified as a “backdoor”) but in general, the terms “backdoor” and especially “Trojan horse” are associated with malicious intent.
    Some popular Trojan horses include:
     
    • BackOrfice
    • NetBus
    • SubSeven
    • VNC (can be used legitimately but also used for unauthorized access in conjunction with a worm)

     


    Technical Info Listings

    Firewalls

    What is a Firewall?
    A firewall is any hardware or software designed to prevent unwanted network traffic. Some firewalls are simplistic in nature; in fact, many people use NAT devices as firewalls as they do effectively prevent direct incoming connections to hosts behind the NAT. Other firewalls are intricate operations, based on white lists and blacklists, rules, and alerts. What all firewalls have in common, however, is an ability to block incoming traffic that may be deemed harmful.
     

    Image:Gateway firewall2.png

    Types of Firewalls

    Each type of firewall has abilities, advantages, and drawbacks; to do well on the Security+ exam, you should understand these.
     
    Packet Filtering Firewall
     
    A packet filtering firewall polices traffic on the basis of packet headers. IP, UDP, TCP, and even ICMP have enough header information for a packet filtering firewall to make an informed decision as to whether to accept or reject that packet. You can think of a packet filtering firewall as a bouncer at a party. The bouncer may have a list of people that are allowed to come in (a white list) or a list of people to specifically exclude (a blacklist). The bouncer may even check a guest’s identification to assure that the guest is above 18. Similarly, a packet filtering firewall simply inspects the source and destination of traffic in making a decision on whether to allow the packet to pass through. For example, some traffic may be addressed to a sensitive recipient and would therefore be blocked.

    A packet filtering firewall can also filter traffic on the basis of port numbers. For example, many companies now block traffic on port 27374 because it is well-known to be a port used by the Trojan horse “SubSeven.”

    Note that a packet filtering firewall basically operates through a special ACL (access control list) in which both the white and black list of IP addresses and port numbers are listed. In essence, this firewall operates at the Network and Transport layers of the OSI Model. This model is notable for its simplicity, speed, and transparency – however, traffic is not inspected for malicious content. In addition, IP addresses and DNS addresses can be hidden or “spoofed,” as discussed in the Attacks lesson
     
    Circuit-Level Gateway
     
    A circuit-level gateway is a type of firewall that operates on the Session layer of the OSI model. Instead of inspecting packets by header/source or port information, it instead maintains a connection between two hosts that is approved to be safe. This is something akin to a parent who approves the people that their children can speak with on the phone once they trust those people. In this scenario, the parent does not have to listen into the conversation because they know they can trust the two communicating children. Similarly, a circuit-level gateway establishes a secure connection between two hosts that have been authenticated and trust each other.
     
    Application-Level Gateway

    As the name suggests, an application-level gateway operates in the Application layer of the OSI model and actively inspects the contents of packets that are passed through to the gateway. It is for this reason that application-level gateways are considered the most secure as they can actively scan for malformed packets or malicious content. Think of an application-level gateway as the eavesdropping parent. An eavesdropping parent has the most complete knowledge of his or her child’s activities because he or she can listen into all of the child’s conversations. An application-level gateway does have drawbacks, however, including speed and routing problems. Application-level gateways are notorious for the amount of time it can take to inspect packets.

    A special kind of application-level gateway is a proxy server, which is a server that serves as the “middle man” between two hosts that wish to communicate. In the proxy server model, the host wishing to communicate sends a packet to the application-level gateway (proxy server), which then makes the decision whether to forward the packet to the intended recipient or to deny the request to send the packet.
     


    Technical Info Listings

    Networking Overview
     
    In subsequent chapters of this study guide, we will take a look at different security topologies or ways that networks can be set up with security in mind. Before we can do this, however, we must have a clear understanding of different networking devices and concepts. We will now very briefly describe different key networking components to help you understand how they are related to information security and the exam.
     


    A cartoon-ish network
    IP Address

    An IP address is a unique numeric identifier of a host machine within the scope of a TCP/IP network. Public IP addresses are unique and individual to each host in the world, while private IP addresses are often duplicated among different private networks. You can think of a public IP address as a sort of telephone number and the private IP address as a sort of extension system that operates “in-house.” All IP addresses are formed as four octets separated by a dot: for example, 192.168.1.1 is a commonly-used private IP address.
     
    NAT
     
    NAT, or Network Address Translation, is a service in which a gateway can allow multiple private hosts to operate under the guise of a single public IP address. One of the implications of NAT is that hosts “behind” the NAT are effectively “hidden” from the rest of the Internet, with the NAT acting as a sort of packet filtering firewall.
     
    Router

    A router can forward packets of information based on the IP address of the header of the packet. Think of the header of the packet as a sort of shipping label for the packet in which the contents (the package) are contained. A router can quickly examine the shipping label and send it off to the appropriate destination.
     
    Gateway
     
    A gateway serves as a sort of middle-man between two networks, usually the Internet and a private network. Many routers also serve as gateways, and many gateways have NAT functionality built into them.
     
    Media
     
    The term “media” in networking refers to the physical medium of communication that the network utilizes. In many Ethernet networks CAT-5 cabling is employed. In high-speed applications, fiber optic media is used.
     
    Applications and Ports
     
    Applications, in the networking sense, refer to specific Application-layer services that hosts provide over specific ports, or gateways into the system. For example, a web server is an application server that provides web pages over the port TCP 80. Other Application servers include FTP, Telnet, SSH, and Media servers.
     
    Firewall
     
    A firewall is a device that can selectively filter communications between two hosts. Although we have an entire article dedicated to firewalls, it never hurts to reinforce the concept of what a firewall is for your own extended understanding.
     
    Switch/Hub
     
    Hosts are connected to each other via a switch or a hub. The difference between a switch and a hub is that a hub forwards all packets to all connected hosts whereas a switch forwards packets only to selected recipients via MAC address, increasing information confidentiality.
     
    DMZ Host
     
    A DMZ host is basically a “catch-all” host for requests on non-configured ports. Through a DMZ host, undesirable network traffic can be sent to single safe host rather than any host that would be in danger from malicious traffic.
     

    Technical Info Listings

    Private (Symmetric) Key Cryptography
     
    Here you will learn about different symmetric key algorithms and their key features. More importantly, we will learn about some more key concepts related to cryptography as it applies to both symmetric and asymmetric algorithms. Finally, we will learn the advantages and disadvantages of symmetric and asymmetric algorithms. First, let’s learn a bit about the differences between block and stream ciphers.
     
    Block v. Stream Ciphers
     
    The difference between a block and a stream cipher is rather simple. A block cipher would break up a clear text into fixed-length blocks and then proceed to encrypt those blocks into fixed-length ciphers. Because the blocks are of a fixed length, keys can be re-used, making key management a breeze. Typically, computer software uses block ciphers.

    Stream ciphers operate on continuous (read: non-discrete) portions of data that arrives “in real time.” In other words, stream ciphers work on information “bit-by-bit” rather than “block-by-block.” Because the data does not need to broken down, stream ciphers are generally faster than block ciphers, but keys are not re-usable in stream ciphers, making key management a real pain. For this reason, stream ciphers are usually employed at the hardware level.
     
    End-to-End Encryption

    End-to-End encryption refers to a situation in which data is encrypted when it is sent and decrypted only by the recipient. Of course, in order for the packets to be routed, the relevant TCP/IP headers must be present and unencrypted on the packet.
     
    Link Encryption
     
    In Link encryption, every packet is encrypted at every point between two communicating hosts. In this formulation, information sent to one router is encrypted by the host and decrypted by the router, which then re-encrypts the information with a different key and sends it to the next point. Of course, in this formulation, the headers are also encrypted. The obvious drawbacks include speed and vulnerability to “man-in-the-middle” attacks.
     
    Key Strength
     
    A cryptovariable, or key, is the value applied to encrypted or clear text in order to decrypt or encrypt the text. The length of the key, in bits, is usually a good indicator of the strength of the key. A 128-bit key is, for example, much stronger than a 32-bit key.
     
    Symmetric Key Cryptography

    In a symmetric key cryptosystem, a single key is used to encrypt and decrypt data between two communicating hosts. In order to break the system, an attacker must either: A) discover the key through trial-and-error, or discover the key during the initial “key agreement.”
     


    From Navy Symmetric Key Encryption Schema
     
    Symmetric key protocols are known to be faster and stronger than their asymmetric counterparts
    but do possess unique disadvantages that we will discuss later. We will now look at some common symmetric algorithms.
     
    DES

    DES is an outdated 64-bit block cipher that uses a 56-bit key. It is a symmetric algorithm that splits the 64-bit block into two separate blocks under the control of the same key. It is considered highly insecure and unreliable and has been replaced by 3DES.
     
    3DES

    Triple DES or 3DES is the partial successor to DES but is still considered outdated and slow. It uses three separate 56-bit keys for an effective key length of 168 bits. However, a vulnerability exists that would allow a hacker to reduce the length of the key, reducing the time it would take to crack the key. In addition, 3DES is very slow by today’s standards and would not be practical to use in encrypting large files.
     
    AES

    AES is the true successor to DES and uses a strong algorithm with a strong key. It is based on the Rijndael Block Cipher. The Rijndael Block Cipher can utilize different block and key lengths (including 128, 192, and 256 bit keys) to produce a fast and secure symmetric block cipher. The Twofish algorithm, an alternative to Rijndael, utilizes 128-bit blocks for keys up to 256 bits.
     
    IDEA

    All you have to remember about IDEA is that:
     
    • PGP uses IDEA to ensure email security, and
    • It operates using 64-bit blocks and a 128-bit key
    RC5

    RSA Security developed RC5, a fast, variable-length, variable-block symmetric cipher. It can accommodate a block size of up to 128 bits and a key up to 2048 bits.
     
    Symmetric v. Asymmetric

    Here is a quick run-down of the advantages of symmetric and asymmetric algorithms:
    Symmetric

    Symmetric
     
    • Faster and easier to implement
    • Lower overhead on system resources
    Asymmetric
     
    • Scalable and does not require much administration
    • Easier for users to use

    Technical Info Listings

    Public (Asymmetric) Key Cryptography
     
    Public Key Cryptography is a widely-applied form of cryptography commonly utilized in many network transactions. The Security+ exam will test you on your both your understanding of how public key systems work as well as your ability to discern between different types of public key algorithms. The exam will also cover PKI, or public-key infrastructure.
     
    The workings of Public Key Cryptography
    Unlike private key systems, in which two communicating users share a secret key for encryption and decryption, public key systems utilize widely-available and unique “public keys,” as well as “private keys,” to securely transmit confidential data.
    Here’s how a public key transaction works: Assume we have two users, Pat and Jane, and that Pat wishes to send Jane a secret love note. Pat encrypts the love note using Jane’s public key. The message is sent via email to Jane. Jane then can read the message by decrypting the message with her private key. Note that in order for this transaction to take place, only Jane has to know her private key. This is the beauty of a public key (or asymmetric) system. Through this transaction, known as secure message format, the confidentiality of the message is assured: only Jane can read it!
    Public-key cryptography can also be applied to validate the authenticity of a message. In this formulation, Pat would send Jill a message using his private key (therefore encrypting the message). To read the message, Jill would use Pat’s public key. In doing so, Jill has affirmed that the message was in fact sent by Pat. This is known as open message format.
    In order to ensure both information authenticity and confidentiality, signed and secure message format may be employed. Extending the love note example, Pat would first encrypt the message with Jill’s public key and then encrypt that encrypted message with his own private key. When the message is sent to Jill, she can use Pat’s public key to verify the message was indeed from Pat. But the message is still encrypted! To overcome this, she can use her own private key to decrypt the message.
     
    Public Key Protocols
     
    • RSA is an asymmetric key transport protocol that can be used to transmit private keys between hosts. The  algorithm utilizes large prime numbers for effectiveness. The process can be explained very simply – Pat encrypts the private key with Jill’s public key, and Jill decrypts the message with her private key to reveal the private key.
    • Diffie-Hellman is a key agreement protocol that can be used to exchange keys. It uses logarithms to ensure security in the algorithm. In the Diffie-Hellman operation, Pat and Jill each use their own private keys with the public key of the other person to create a shared secret key. Note that Diffie-Hellman is vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.
    • El Gamal is an extension of Diffie-Hellman that includes encryption and digital signatures.
    Message Digesting
     
    A message digest is something of an unreadable, condensed version of a message. More specifically, a message digest utilizes a one-way hash function to calculate a set-length version of a message that cannot be deciphered into clear text. Message digests are usually employed in situations in which it would be undesirable to be able to decrypt the message. One such application is in modern username/password systems, in which the password is stored using a hash function or digest. After the password has been hashed, it cannot be un-hashed. When a user attempts to login with a password, the password he types is also hashed so that the two hashes (rather than the two passwords) are compared against each other. Note that the hash assumes that a hashed value cannot be deciphered and that no two messages will produce the same hash.
     
    Hashing Protocols
     
    • MD5 is the most commonly-used hash protocol and uses a 128-bit digest. It is very fast in hashing a message and is also open-source.
    • SHA-1 is a more secure implementation of a hashing protocol that uses a 160-bit digest and “pads” a message to create a more difficult-to-decipher hash.


    Technical Info Listings
     

    Q & A

    What

    Where

    Microsoft Product Information

    http://www.microsoft.com/products/info/default.aspx?View=22




    Technical Info Listings




    Home      Download  Links      Search  Area      Tech  Info

    Last Update: Saturday, July 31, 2010 at 05:55 PM

    Copyright © 2010, All rights reserved.