Using OS X In VMare

Have you even wanted to try out a Mac but just didn't want to throw down a ton of cash to do so? Well there is a way that you can do this using VMware. What VMware does is it creates a virtual machine so that it is like running a computer on your computer. The process of getting OS X up and running in VMware is a tedious process but is well worth it in the end.

Full instructions on how to do this can be found here: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Vmware_how_to.

That wiki page has all of the information that you will need to get OS X up and running in VMware. Also I think that there may be a prebuilt OS X VMware image somewhere out in the torrent world but that was just a rumor that I have heard. I also suggest that if you really do like OS X then go out and buy a Mac.

OS X running in VMware
(Click Image to view larger version)

Make Ice Cream In just 5 Minutes

I found this really good article on Lifehacker not too long ago and decided that I would share it with all of you. I hope that you can have some fun creating your own ice cream. http://www.instructables.com/id/5-minute-Ice-Cream/

Spice Up Firefox With Personas

Are you tired of the plain Firefox look? Then why not spice it up a bit by using Personas. Personas is a utility for Firefox that lets you dress up Firefox by using skins. This Add-On is one of the better ones that I have found for making Firefox look more stylish and can be done in a matter of seconds.

To setup Personas it is really easy you just go to there homepage Here and then click on the Get Personas For Firefox - Free button to download it.

Personas download button

Once you have Personas downloaded and installed you can now go and take a look at there Gallery of skins Here. To preview a skin all that you have to do is scroll over the image of the skin on the Personas Gallery page. Now to set the skin so it stays all you need to do is click on the image. You can also click on View Details and then click on the Wear This button on the next page.

Firefox with skin applied (click on image to view a larger version)

If you can't find what you are looking for in the Gallery you can also make your own skins very easily by just going Here. Once you have signed up you can then see all of the information that you need to upload your own skins. What you will need to create your own is two images (one for the header and one for the footer). The header image needs to be 3000 wide x 200 tall and the footer needs to be 3000 wide x 100 tall. If you need more details on how to create your own you can visit this page Here. Also if you need a free image editing program to create your own skins a very good one is Gimp.

Now you can make Firefox look personalized to who you are in just a few minutes. Have fun and if you have any that you have created don't be afraid to post them up in the comments.

Recover Forgotten User Passwords In Windows With Ophcrack

Have you ever forgotten your password in Windows and then did not know how to get it back so you were then locked out of your computer? Well there is a very simple solution to this problem and it is called Ophcrack. Ophcrack is a utility that you boot your computer into and it then uses Rainbow Tables to find the passwords.

First to recover your passwords you will need to download Ophcrack it can be found here: http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/download.php?type=livecd. When it is finished downloading it will have a .iso file extension. What this means is that it is a file that is used to be written to a disc or mounted to a virtual CD/DVD drive. You will want to burn the file to a disc.

To burn the file you can use a program called ImgBurn and can be downloaded from here: http://www.filehippo.com/download_imgburn/.

Once you have Ophcrack burned to a disc you will then need to restart your computer and set your Bios settings to boot from a CD/DVD first. If you don't know how to do this you can read more on the subject Here.

After you have set it to boot from a disc you will need to have your Ophcrack disc in the CD/DVD drive. When it is booting from the disc you should see a screen similar to the one shown below.

Ophcrack Live CD Boot Screen

When you see this screen you will want to select Ophcrack Graphic Mode. It will then load and boot into the disc. Once Ophcrack has booted completely it will start to find your passwords. This may take a couple minutes to do depending on how long and complex your passwords are.

Ophcrack finding passwords

You can click stop once you have found the password for the account that you can't remember. Now all that you will have to do is just restart your computer by clicking Exit. You will then be asked in the teminal to Press any key to exit. Then push any key and you will then be asked if you would like to Shutdown (Y/N). You will want to hit Y then push enter.

Shutdown (y/n)?

Now just boot back into Windows and enter in your lost password. Now if you ever forget your password again you can just use this little tool to help you out.

Backup Your Hard Drive Using DriveImage XML

Backing up your hard drive can be one of the more important things that you can do before disaster strikes. If you create hard drive backups before something bad happens you can then just restore your machine back to the way it was before but you will also lose all of your data you have saved in the time period between the backup and the present. When making backups of your hard drive it is a good idea to keep the backup files on a hard drive that is not your C: Drive/OS so either try to keep them on an external or an extra internal drive. Then disconnect after the backup is finished so there is less of a possibility for something to go wrong with it like it getting infected with a virus or something similar. So with that being said lets get started.

First you will need to go to http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm to download and install DriveImage XML. Now you will need to run DriveImage XML and you should get a window that looks similar to the one below.

DriveImage XML main window

Now you will want to click on the Backup button that is located in the left bottom corner. This will then bring you to a screen where you can choose which drive you would like to backup (not the drive that you will be saving the files to).

Choose which drive to backup

Once you have chosen the drive all you should need to do then is just click Next. This will then bring you to the Drive Backup Wizard. If everything is correct on the first screen then you can proceed by clicking Next.

Drive Backup Wizard

Now you should be at a screen where you choose where to save your backup to (preferably not the same drive as the OS). You can change some of the settings on this screen to fit your preferences. The settings that I have chosen are shown in the image below.

Options I have chosen to use

Once every thing is set to how you like it you can now click Next. This will now start the backup process. This may take awhile to complete depending of how much stuff you have saved on your hard drive.

Backup in progress

When the backup is completed you will see a small notification window pop up saying that the backup was completed then closes after a few seconds. Now all you have left to do is just click on Finnish.

Backup completed successfully

Now you can start making backups of your hard drive with just a few clicks. You may be wondering how you can restore your machine using these backups and that is just as easy as making them.

You will just need to go to the Restore button in the main window in the bottom left corner. Then you will want to select the drive you would like to restore and click Next. Now the Drive Restore Wizard should pop up. You will then need to browse to where you have the backup .xml file located. Once you have located the file click Next. Now your Drive should be restored back to what it was before.

Drive Restore Wizard