WEP, WPA/WPA2, and the associated authentication methods are designed to keep invaders out. However, it has become increasingly easier to crack WEP encrypted networks (see the video here) and cracking WPA/WPA2 networks is difficult, but feasible.
These methods help keep external users from being able to access sensitive data, but what about internal, authenticated users?
Internal wireless security is important when utilizing networks of hundreds of users.
Say I have a WPA2 AES encrypted network. A normal user will connect to the network and be granted access to the internal wireless network.
Unlike wired networks, wireless networks do not have switches to direct traffic to the right ports (users), therefore, every authenticated user can see everybody else's traffic. Now, with a network of hundreds of users, this can pose a problem. Once somebody is authenticated, they are free to sniff traffic, perform man-in-the-middle attacks, etc.
It doesn't matter what encryption method (WEP, WPA/WPA2) was used because each authenticated user is using the same key as everyone else to encrypt their data. For more see... Securing Wireless Networks Internally
Out of the box, the HTC Touch Pro is really an amazing device. However, it still brings the infamous Windows Mobile lag with it. While the lag is not as bad as previous Windows Mobile smartphones, it still is present and may bug people who notice the lag.
Slow tab scrolling in TouchFlo 3d, laggy scrolling in windows, slow opening programs, slow opening menus, etc are all typical lag indicators.
The good thing is, there are a few things tweaks you can perform to make the Touch Pro more responsive. First off, you will need to install Advanced Configuration Tool on your phone. Before you can install Advanced Config, you need to install .NetCF 3.5 which can be found here:
After you have installed the program on your phone, launch the program and make the following changes:
Under the "Perfomances" category:
Change file system cache to 8MB
Change file system filter cache to 131072
Change Glyph cache to 32KB
Here's what the configuration should look like:
After you've made the changes above, soft-reset your device for the changes to take effect. Once the phone is booted up, enjoy the increased speed and performance from your Touch Pro!
Flashing a custom ROM to your HTC Touch Pro allows you to have an operating system that fits your likes and needs. In many cases, custom ROMs strip out non essential preinstalled software as well as apply various performance tweaks. In my experience, using a custom ROM is much better than the stock ROM simply because of performance. The difference is night and day! Touch Flo 3D does not lag, programs open faster, switching between programs is much faster, returning to the Today screen is faster, and overall system responsiveness is much quicker than before.
NOTE: These steps only apply if you have a CDMA Touch Pro. These instructions WILL NOT WORK with a GSM Touch Pro*. Also, if you to return your phone for any reason, you will have to flash back to the stock ROM and relock the phone.
Basically, there are three steps to flash a custom ROM to your Touch Pro.
Unlock the phone to allow it to load and boot custom ROMs
Choose and download your choice of custom ROMs
Flash the custom ROM to your Touch Pro using the ROM Update Utility (RUU)
*If you have a GSM Touch Pro, the process is virtually similar except you will need to use a GSM unlocker and GSM custom ROMs.
Here are some great registry tweaks for your Touch Pro. There are a number of great hacks like how to get 4 icons in a row, extend battery life, disable the SMS sent notification, how to unlock more camera modes, and more.
You can use a registry editor such as PHM Regedit to make the required changes. If you use a registry editor, make sure to soft reset your device after you apply the registry changes.
Alternatively, you can use the .cab files I have made to install each hack individually. Make sure to install the .cab files to the main (device) memory and soft reset your device after you're done installing.
Here is a .cab file will all the tweaks below included. Use this if you want all the tweaks below to be applied all at once.
4 icons in a row in your Programs and Settings folders.
Add new key HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Shell\IconConfig Under the IconConfig key, add these values:
After purchasing my math book from iChapters.com, I was pissed off to find out that the chapters are in secure pdf format (.spdf). That means that I had to install the Oracle IRM unsealer in order to view my chapters. These .pdf's cannot be opened without the unsealer program, which authenticates you and unlocks the document. However, you're not home free once the document is unlocked.
Here are some of the hindrances and restrictions:
You need to install 3rd party software to view the .spdf
You must be connected to the internet (no offline viewing)
You cannot print to a digital file (cannot print to .ps, .pdf, or use Microsoft XPS Document Writer)
You must remember to "check-in" the .spdf because it can't be viewed on more than two computers
These restrictions don't just go for the material on iChapters.com, it also goes for lots of other .spdf distributors as well. What I hate about the whole thing is that I paid for the material, yet I cannot conveniently access it without jumping through hoops.
Unless I wanted to print out 1,000 pages, then I can't take the chapters with me. Even still, if I wanted to view the files, I'll have to make sure there's an internet connection and also make sure that I haven't opened the file on two different computers because that would leave the file license "checked-out" and not viewable on any other machines.
These restrictions are set in place to prevent bad people from redistributing the material, but at what cost? A HUGE cost to the honest user, I'll tell ya. So, here's how to get around that nonsense and print the .spdf to a more convenient .pdf file:
Setup a CUPS print server on a 2nd PC (or use a virtual machine)
Add and share a PDF printer on the CUPS server
Connect/add to the CUPS PDF printer to your PC that can view the .spdf
Print the .spdf to the networked CUPS PDF printer
Basically, this circumvents the digital print security by making the .spdf think that it's being printed to a real networked printer.
Setting up CUPS
First, you need to setup CUPS. This guide is going to be using Ubuntu 8.10 as the CUPS server.
Install the CUPS-pdf printer by opening a terminal and running "sudo apt-get install cups-pdf".
As a request from one of my readers, here is a demonstration video of a Touch Pro with a custom ROM installed. As you will soon see, this custom ROM is much faster and snappier than the stock ROM.
Usually, after opening just a few programs, the stock ROM comes to a crawl. You'll notice TouchFlo3D slow down and sluggish performance when switching between programs.
The ROM I used was Mighty ROM 4.12 with a 32MB page pool. In the video, you'll see me opening lots of programs, switching back and forth between the programs and home screen, scrolling through TF3D, and more.
I'm mainly trying to demonstrate the responsiveness of the device. Also, notice when I open the Windows directory - it takes all of 2 seconds!
Since people will probably ask, Diamond Background Changer changed the background in the middle of the vid.
GlassFlo3D is part of the theme I'm using to make the interface transparent, the other part is the red theme provided for Mighty ROM. To get the program icons in the TouchFlo3D program tab arranged like in the video, I used All Programs Tab
