Information Security

readpst – Backtrack 5 – Forensics – Forensics Analysis Tools – readpst

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We have had a couple requests to write a post about readpst which is included in the default path of Backtrack 5 and also located in the Backtrack menu underneath Forensics/Forensics Analysis Tools. The readpst application will read PST files which are also known as Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders and convert them to mbox, MH, or KMail formats. There are various other switches that can be used to output each email into a separate file, include attachments, modify contact formats, be recursive, etc. I will explain basic functionality below along with a couple of the formats and various switches.

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Tabbed Windows Explorer In Windows 7 Using Cubic Explorer

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Well the title of this article is a little misleading but I wanted to make sure that people understood what alternatives were available for Windows 7 Windows Explorer. I just got done writing another article about my Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit and QTTabBar experiences which can be read here. To summarize I have been using QTTabBar on Windows XP for over a year and was very happy with the results but once I installed QTTabBar on Windows 7 I started having all sorts of issues. This sent me into a panic looking for alternatives because I used the Windows Explorer tabbed functionality all of the time. I am happy to say that I found an even better alternative for Windows Explorer tabs on Windows 7 by installing a Windows Explorer replacement called CubicExplorer. Continuing reading to discover the benefits of CubicExplorer as well as why using an alternative to Windows Explorer on Windows 7 really isn’t so bad.

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Windows XP Slow After Windows Search Installed

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I haven’t done a ton of testing with Windows Search but the goal is to rival Google Desktop application that allows you to easily search directories and files on your computer. I have installed and tested each of these on my laptop and quickly uninstalled each. Currently my laptop has 2GB of RAM and a 1.2GHz processor and at this point just not enough power to handle either application. I have yet to try it on one of my desktops with a more powerful processor and more RAM however I still don’t think it would be worth the processing and memory cost. After uninstalling Windows Search my Outlook and Internet Explorer applications were immediately much faster.

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Cannot See AppData Folder In Vista, Unhide All Files and Folders in Vista

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By default in Windows Vista all system files and folders are hidden as in previous versions of Windows. The difference is the typical menu is not at the top of Windows Explorer so how you might be used to turning on hidden files and folders might seem harder than it was before. Actually its exactly the same and if you follow the instructions below you will see all files and folders in no time.

  1. Open My Computer: Click the Windows icon in the lower left hand corner of Vista, scroll up to the right, and click Computer.