Linux Solutions

The article will provide a user with information on SARDU. SARDU is a free software that can build one multiboot support CD, DVD or a USB device (USB stick/pendrive and all removable are supported). The name is the short of Shardana Antivirus Rescue Disk Utility. The disk or USB device may include comprehensive collections of “antivirus rescue cd”, collections of utilities, popular distributions of Linux Live, the best known Windows PE , recovery disks and Install of Windows XP , Windows Vista and Windows Seven .

SARDU includes a few utilities, but is primarily a tool for managing the software (ISO image files) that a user can download from other companies and developers.
SARDU has multilanguage support. At startup it checks to see if a system language exists, then sets the software language accordingly. If a system language does not exist, the language is set to English.

Software manageable by SARDU
The user must download all the ISO image who wants to integrate in the support. Downloaded the ISO images, have to be placed inside the “ISO” folder. Alternatively user can select a different path by selecting the “ISO icon” at the top of the GUI.

SARDU’s menu is divided into four categories:
• Antivirus
• Utility
• Linux
• Windows

User-friendliness
With a few clicks the media is ready. If a user wants to make a multiboot USB a user has to press the ‘Search USB’ button. The software will then look for all devices with FAT32. Only FAT 32 is supported. The device can be chosen from the combo box. By default the combo boxes of devices are disabled, and is activated only when one (or more) devices with FAT32 are detected. In the tab `Report` a user can find details about the selected USB: Type (Removable or Hard Disk), Serial, Label, Space used and free.

Pressing the button with the ‘USB icon’ causes SARDU to extract the needed files from one ISO at a time. After a careful examination it builds the menu and makes a multiboot USB device. If a user wants to make a multibootable CD or DVD a user will have to press the button with `disk`. SARDU then extracts the needed files one ISO at a time and, after a careful examination, builds the menu and makes a multibootable ISO. The ISO must then be burned to disk using the burning software or the burn option of SARDU.

If a user has read the article then he/she would have learnt about SARDU.

The article will provide a user with information on controlling Tor with Vidalia. It will cover network map information and also new identity feature. Vidalia is an anonymity manager. Basically this means that it can be used to control Tor, and is automatically launched on network connection.

As soon as the Tor client managed to establish a route to the Tor network, Vidalia hides as an onion icon on the upper right corner of the screen. By right-clicking this icon displays a configuration menu.

Please note that vidalia menu proposes essentialy two features:
• a Network map which displays a window showing a map of the Tor network, a list of Tor relays and a the list of currently used routes and their status.
• a New identity entry, which will make Tor use a different route for future connections, so that they will appear to come from a different address. A user should be careful as some software might still continue to use the old route, depending on how it behaves with network connections. If a user wants to be sure a software is using a new route, a user may want to close it, hit the New identity button, and then start the software again once the popup window disappears.

The network map
Now, let’s have a look at the network map. All the Tor nodes in the Tor network are listed, as are all a users circuits and connections that go through the Tor network. All this requires a bit of technical knowledge of how Tor works in order to understand and use, but it is not at all necessary. From the connection listing it should at least be relatively easy for a user to see which exit node and country it appears a users connections come from. Right-clicking on any established circuits enable a user to close it in case this one is too slow.

The New identity featureA user will not a very useful thing when he/she is working with Tor is the following option, found in the Vidalia menu that a user can get by right-clicking its systray icon.

By clicking on the “New Identity” option will tear down all users current circuits and build new ones which means that the set of computers a users route his/her Internet traffic through will exchanged by some others. This is very useful if a user experiences bad performance or even time-outs accessing some Internet resource as a user might have better luck with the new circuits that are built.

If a user has read this article then he/she would have learnt about controlling Tor with Vidalia.

The article will provide a user with information on how to use Tails. Please note that starting a computer on a media containing Tails doesn’t change anything on the operating system actually installed on the hard drive: as a live system, Tails doesn’t use a users hard drive during the whole session. Whether the hard drive is absent or damaged, it wouldn’t prevent the computer to start Tails. Consequently, removing the CD or USB stick containing Tails is enough to retrieve the usual operating system.

A consequence of this amnesia is that a user can’t save anything on the device containing Tails be it files that user create or download or any configuration. A user should save anything that he/she wants to keep for later access into a separate device (other USB stck, other CD or any device a user would choose). Tails is based on alpha software and is always being developped, which means it might contain programming errors or obsolete protections.

Please note that the graphical user interface used in Tails is called GNOME and shares many fundamentals with that of Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and most other modern operating systems, so if a user has used any of them, getting used to GNOME will take no time. A user will note that in the upper left corner of the screen there is a button with a logo in it, followed by three menus: Applications, Places and System.

The Applications menu is where a user will find short cuts to the installed applications. Please explore the different categories of applications and try out those that seem interesting.

The Places menu is to make it easy to access storage media.

The System menu allows to:
• customize some aspects of the GNOME desktop (Preferences);
• change some important aspects of the system and hardware behavior (Administration);
• shutdown the computer.
On the right of these three menu entries, a few shortcuts allow to launch the most frequently used applications. Passing the mouse cursor over one of these shortcut will display the application name and its function.

In the upper right corner a user will find a couple of icons, each which offers an interface for some running application : the onion icon is made to control Tor, the two computer screens are for the network settings. Other icons help a user keep an eye on the battery level if he/she runs from a laptop, one allows to instantly change the keyboard layout, another controls the sound level. Please note that the clock icon allows to change the current timezone to make it show the local time.
At the centre of the screen, a user will note a vast area called the Desktop. A Computer icon provides access to storage media and the Trash is the place where “deleted” files are moved. Please note that when media storage is connected to the computer, additional icons appear on the Desktop.

On the bottom of the screen is another panel: on its left, an icon allows to minimize all open windows to show the Desktop; then come the buttons for open windows; on the right, a set of four similar rectangle icons gives access to four different workspaces.

The article will provide a user with information on Tails 0.8.1. Tails is Free Software released under the GNU/GPL.

Tails is a live system: a complete operating-system designed to be used from a CD or a USB stick independently of the computer’s original operating system. It is Free Software and based on Debian GNU/Linux. Please note that Tails comes with several built-in applications pre-configured with security in mind: web browser, instant messaging client, email client, office suite, image and sound editor, etc.
Tails relies on the Tor anonymity network to protect a users privacy online: all outgoing connections to the Internet are forced to go through Tor.

Tor is free software and an open network that helps a user defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security known as traffic analysis. Tor protects a user by bouncing a users communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching the Internet connection from learning what sites a user visits, and it prevents the sites a user visits from learning a users physical location.

Using Tails on a computer doesn’t alter or depend on the operating system installed on it. A user can use it in the same way on his computer or the computer of a friend or one at the local library. After removing a users Tails CD or USB stick the computer can start again on its usual operating system.
Tails is configured with a special care to not use the computer’s hard-disks, even if there is some swap space on it. The only storage space used by Tails is the RAM memory, which is automatically erased when the computer shuts down. It means that a user will not leave any trace neither of the Tails system nor of what a user did on the computer. This allows a user to work on sensitive documents on any computer and protect a user from data recovery after shutdown.

If a user has read the article then he/she would have learnt about Tails 0.8.1