Bypassing McAfee Security Center???

[antizero]

A friend dropped his laptop off before leaving on a trip so I could install some software for him, but he's got McAfee Security Center installed and I can't get around it. Is there a way to access the internet without a password? Some sort of back way to shut down the program? Any help at all? *I swear this is legit!*

[satis]

You should be able to disable McAffee security center from the systray (near clock). Just right-click on the McAffee Antivirus symbol and you should see an option.

Are you sure that's what's causing the username/password, though? I have it, but it never did that, just popped up annoying "virus warnings" and begged me to buy McAffee Antivirus (which I already own).

[antizero]

Yeah...it's a McAfee window that pops up and it's called Privacy something or other (computer's all bagged up right now). It prevents any and all internet access without first logging in. It looks like the kind of thing that might be on a school network or something, where public computers can be used by anyone, but you have to have your own login. I can't turn it off through the system tray or through the Task Manager without the Administrator password.

In the end I guess it's not that big of a deal. I searched for security holes or bypasses and came up with nothing. I just thought it would be funny to tell him I just simply turned off his security programs. I'm all about security, but this is kind of a silly thing to have on a personal laptop. I guess I don't foresee a scenario where someone breaks into his apartment and then checks their email...but to each his own.

[satis]

well, if you're feeling froggy, there's some stuff you can do. It takes some work though. Is he running NTFS or Fat32? If it's FAT32, it's easy...just boot into DOS with a diskette and copy the SAM file to the floppy. Cart it over to another machine and crack his admin password. You can use LC4 to crack out the passwords.

If he's running NTFS, you'll need to get more creative...boot up using a linux floppy, mount the NTFS partition, then copy the SAM file. Everything else is basically the same.

[antizero]

I'm not sure how to check for NTFS or FAT32, but since he's running XP and has a 40GB hard drive and it's all one partition, I'd have to imagine it's NTFS - unless I'm wrong in my assumptions, which is always possible.

With that in mind, how can I create a Linux floppy without Linux? And what happens then? :confused:

[satis]

log into your user account on his box, open up 'my computer', go to the properties for his hard drive. It'll say filesystem there. It probably is NTFS, but you might get lucky.

As far as how to load Linux on a floppy, you can find floppy images around the web.

http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Operating_Systems/Linux/Distributions/Tiny/Floppy_Sized/

you then write it to a disk using rawwrite, for instance. That just copies image files to whatever.

http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/rawwrite.htm

assuming he is running NTFS, and if you're really interested in doing this, lemme know and I'll try to be more complete with instructions. :)

*edit*

ok, I piqued my own curiosity, and found just the thing.

here's a linux distribution that fits on a single floppy:

http://www.toms.net/rb/

it has mount and basically everything else you need.

Here are instructions on 'how to recover NTFS partitions', which is kinda what we're doing. >:D Most of those instructions don't apply with the exception of the mount command.

http://not.toms.net/twiki/bin/view/Tomsrtbt/CopyingSomeDataFromACrashedNTPartitionForDummies

erm...I'll leave it at that for now. If you wanna give it a shot, lemme know. I'll try to step-by-step you.

[antizero]

This looks like a lot of fun...and very useful in that devilish sort of way :cool: so I definitely want to give it a try.

I'm going to go buy a couple floppies in the morning and then I'll put that tomsrtbt on one. If you want to try and post some step-by-step instructions here, that's cool. Otherwise you can drop me an email at randy@antizero.com. Either way, this is very much appreciated!

[satis]

I was browsing around the Tom's wikiwiki thing, and noticed an article about issues getting Tom's onto a floppy using XP/Win2k/NT4 (I think that was it). So be forewarned. Hopefully it'll work, but we may need to find another distribution. :/ Or strip one down so it'll fit right. Anyway, lemme know how that goes.