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I know this stuff is old..and I know many of you think Carolyn Meinel is full of carp... but hey, If you want to learn security, you have to learn what your opponents are up to...and some of this stuff still has a little relevance.
Anyway, take it in the spirit for which is intended...anytime anyone has an opportunity to learn, it can't be all bad.
The Guide to Mostly Harmless Hacking (Windows 95 version)
/me runs off and puts on my asbestos lined socks..
WOW!!!
io.sys is just a backup for the windows logo?
I never knew that... ;)
Wow] i feel so 3li73 now. I'm going straight onto yahoo messenger and i'm gonna haxor everyone's box and take over the world now!
Now that's what i would be saying if 99% of the stuff that comes outta her mouth wasn't rubbish made up from nothing.
Anyhow if you feel like a laugh then defiantly give it a read.
cheers
.:front2back:.
What makes me cringe is looking over to my bookcase and realising that, in my more youthful and unenlightened days, I actually spent money paying for that crap in paperback. :(
I grew up in her words. While her teachings were unmethodical, her information was never incorrect. She merely didn't give you a "hold your hand" approach to it, and left vital, common sense things out to help deter the morons.
While now I see her information as childish, to those starting out fresh back then, her organization and collective information inspired a lot of talent which you see on these forums. She's a nutcase, but a damned good security consultant, and her guides provided the newest and most updated information for the time in which it existed.
It isn't crap, just think on those cold nights you could always use 'em to start a fire in the Fireplace.Quote:
What makes me cringe is looking over to my bookcase and realising that, in my more youthful and unenlightened days, I actually spent money paying for that crap in paperback.
well that's what i tend to do with useless paperbacks that i buy
um When exactly was anything that came from her usefull?Quote:
but a damned good security consultant, and her guides provided the newest and most updated information for the time in which it existed.
cheers
front2back
She helped me understand the command line. She helped me gain curiosity to learn more. Her insights and teachings helped me root deep in ethical hacking. While her methods may be odd, her influence upon me made me the ethical-grey-hat-that-strives-to-learn-everything-possible for the sake of betterment of myself and the internet that I am today.Quote:
um When exactly was anything that came from her usefull?
While her methods and information may be old in terms of where we are now, when they first came out it gave people at least ground to stand on and expand beyond that. For 12 years ago (before she decided to publish them as tutorials and kept them as emails between friends) it was a light within the cryptic world in which it was near dangerous for a newbie to get started in.
While I can see that others may not appreciate her knowledge, waaay back in the day she did a lot of good for a lot of new people. Eventually, she explained to those reading her works that these were not full fledge tutorials but merely the first step into a much larger world.
She has my greatest respect in her ability to teach to a near completely dumbed down level in a time when teaching newbies. period was considered "retarded"
Don't get me wrong, I completely respect your opinion of her. We all simply had different experiences with how we started out in the security world :)
I do agree that much of the work published is helpful for the total newbie. If the newbie can figure out those points left out, then they may be able to excel more so in the security world. If they have to go around asking quesions about dumb things, they won't go far. The GTMHH is the divider between moronic, and potential.
Hey, I'm one of those guys asking questions about dumb things! I'm a moron with potential. ;)
her readings not only helped begin my jourrney but when i got stuck she had her phone number up and with free cell calls on the weekends she always took a few minutes to explain something when i botched things up....I think a lot of you got your heads swelled a little too much when you thought u knew something.........i havent, i spend my time helping noobs who have deep questions like, "where are my program files located?" or is the start button the one that says start? i hope to God I never forget that i entered this place knowing only that to turn off windows ME u had to unplug it!!!! :D
I myself have learned from Carolyn Meinel. When I was a total noob, I stumbled upon her writings. Now I understand the command prompt and how to use it and more. I think pooh sun tzu hit it right on the head when he said that she gives you intoductory tutorials on subjects that people can expand on a much larger scale.
I respect her alot. And I do know there are some things questionable her, but she makes up for it by pointing noob's in the right direction.
Well a couple years ago I perused happyhacker.org for a while and thought it was pretty cool... But now I read this s**t and don't know what I was thinking.
There are a couple positive points though; most of them have already been stated. I think the best thing is that she points people in the direction of ethical hacking and not breaking the law. That way at least some of the n00bs won't turn into *shudder* skiddies.
But IMHO, there are many other sources that are far better than her stuff.
Oh and by the way jxrry59.... Tool 0wnz
--mjk
There was a discussion about happyhacker a while back on here, and most people seemed to agree that the only use of her website was that it provided technical words that you could copy and paste in to google to find better articles on it.
I think i started off by reading astalavista.com then i started using her website, I havent been back to her website since but still visit astalavista ocassionally, so i think that speaks for its self..
I dont think she intentionally means to mislead, i think she doesnt reaserch her stuff properly first.
the people over at attrition.org have some things to say about old (shes like 60+ not that thats an issue) carolyn
i2c