Rating: 
Summary: Nothing of value here
Review: A great book -- packed with information, and an enjoyable read to boot. "Steal This Computer Book 3" reveals the "other" side of the Internet -- the good stuff (many great little-known resources) and the bad stuff (viruses, trojans, hackers and various other baddies). I was happy to learn I was already doing most of what I needed to do to secure my computer, and the book inspired me to beef up my security even more. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: A Must-Read Internet Exposé
Review: A great book -- packed with information, and an enjoyable read to boot. "Steal This Computer Book 3" reveals the "other" side of the Internet -- the good stuff (many great little-known resources) and the bad stuff (viruses, trojans, hackers and various other baddies). I was happy to learn I was already doing most of what I needed to do to secure my computer, and the book inspired me to beef up my security even more. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A Must-Read Internet Exposé
Review: A great book -- packed with information, and an enjoyable read to boot. "Steal This Computer Book 3" reveals the "other" side of the Internet -- the good stuff (many great little-known resources) and the bad stuff (viruses, trojans, hackers and various other baddies). I was happy to learn I was already doing most of what I needed to do to secure my computer, and the book inspired me to beef up my security even more. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Abbie Would Be Proud
Review: Abbie Hoffman if he were alive today would be impressed with the job Wallace has done writing this book about the "dark underside" of the Internet, not to mention coining the title of Abbie's now famous tome "Steal This Book." From hate groups on the net to censored web sites to ways to get around "filtering software" to ways to protect yourself and your computer from getting viruses, this book contains a wealth of information you probably won't find in other computer books.The book is divided into five main parts and several appendices. Part 1 titled "Information Overload" deals with subjects like finding information by using search engines, methods of finding "alternative sources of news," getting past Internet filters and parental control software, online activism, and hate groups. Part 2 discusses "Internet Threats," like viruses, and Internet con games. Part 3 describes how to "break in and enter a computer (and it's fairly easy to do) and Part 4 discusses how to keep people from breaking in to your computer (nice of Wallace to do that I'd say), as well as a great chapter called "Computing on a Shoestring (finding cheap computers and software for it). Part 5 also discusses ways to protect your computer (firewalls, ways to delete sensitive data beyond recovery) and the book's first Appendix describes software that can be used for all of these various computer tasks. Another appendix describes a "hacker's gallery of rogue tools" for "hacking" or "cracking other folks' computers. Wang takes great pains to say that none of these tools or information should be used to do anything illegal, however I suspect a number of people will anyway. Still, I feel it's better to be prepared for that possibility than to do nothing when it comes to using your computer or being on the Internet. I found this book to be a valuable resource, one that I intend to refer to whenever a privacy or "hacker issue" comes up for me.
Rating: 
Summary: Very informative, no CD
Review: I have all the books in this "Steal .. " series. This one has very similar chapters from the first book along some new topics. It was very disappointing that NO CD was included for this price and I did not agree with their reasoning. The second book included one. Also some programs discussed are outdated. Somewhat same topics as past books. However if you are new, you won't know it! Some negatives about this book, but I still give it a 5 star rating because of the authors effort to inform us about something we don't pay attention to. Plus great sense of humor.
Rating: 
Summary: Steal this computer book 3
Review: I orderd this book after seeing the "stunning" reviews it recieved on this site. I'm sorry to say that I am very disappointed. I got it yesterday morning and was real eager to get into it, but within an hour I just stopped reading. Why? Dont get me wrong this isnt a bad book per-se and its just that it has its audience and i'm not part of it. This is for people\parents\employers\new users to the internet who want to know more about its dark underbelly.
If you know or understand phrases like- firewalls, sniffers, back-doors, loggers, scanners, spam, idtheft, filters, Airsnort, dumpster-diving, social-engineering, shoulder surfing and so on....- then dont even pick this book up. I'm no computer security guru but i'd say a couple of days surfing the net and you'll soon have the bones of this book. If on the other hand, you're new to the net, you're worried about you kids safety while on the net, who's using your computer, what they're doing, what other could be doing to you, or just need a quick jumpstart into the darker side of the net then maybe (and only just maybe!!) you should consider this book. Its like one reviewer said, its for the ordinary guy, but if you've done any bit of work in IT then a lot of it will seem like fluff. So I've left it for now but am not gonna throw it out, its something i'll read when i got time and also there looks to be some interesting sections that I'm gonna look through. It still gets 2 stars though; one because its well organsied and written in a very easy to understand language, not too technical which is definately a plus if you're new to the net and all thing computers, and two beacuse theres a lot of good links to related software and sites that can help you understand more. Think of it as a good reference\starting point. Peronally i'd say save you're money and read "computer espoinage, counter measures and tactics" if you want more intersting read.
Rating:
Summary: Steal this computer book 3
Review: I orderd this book after seeing the "stunning" reviews it recieved on this site. I'm sorry to say that I am very disappointed. I got it yesterday morning and was real eager to get into it, but within an hour I just stopped reading. Why? Dont get me wrong this isnt a bad book per-se and its just that it has its audience and i'm not part of it. This is for people\parents\employers\new users to the internet who want to know more about its dark underbelly.
If you know or understand phrases like- firewalls, sniffers, back-doors, loggers, scanners, spam, idtheft, filters, Airsnort, dumpster-diving, social-engineering, shoulder surfing and so on....- then dont even pick this book up. I'm no computer security guru but i'd say a couple of days surfing the net and you'll soon have the bones of this book. If on the other hand, you're new to the net, you're worried about you kids safety while on the net, who's using your computer, what they're doing, what other could be doing to you, or just need a quick jumpstart into the darker side of the net then maybe (and only just maybe!!) you should consider this book. Its like one reviewer said, its for the ordinary guy, but if you've done any bit of work in IT then a lot of it will seem like fluff. So I've left it for now but am not gonna throw it out, its something i'll read when i got time and also there looks to be some interesting sections that I'm gonna look through. It still gets 2 stars though; one because its well organsied and written in a very easy to understand language, not too technical which is definately a plus if you're new to the net and all thing computers, and two beacuse theres a lot of good links to related software and sites that can help you understand more. Think of it as a good reference\starting point. Peronally i'd say save you're money and read "computer espoinage, counter measures and tactics" if you want more intersting read.
Rating:
Summary: Steal this computer book 3
Review: I orderd this book after seeing the "stunning" reviews it recieved on this site. I'm sorry to say that I am very disappointed. I got it yesterday morning and was real eager to get into it, but within an hour I just stopped reading. Why? Dont get me wrong this isnt a bad book per-se and its just that it has its audience and i'm not part of it. This is for people\parents\employers\new users to the internet who want to know more about its dark underbelly.
If you know or understand phrases like- firewalls, sniffers, back-doors, loggers, scanners, spam, idtheft, filters, Airsnort, dumpster-diving, social-engineering, shoulder surfing and so on....- then dont even pick this book up. I'm no computer security guru but i'd say a couple of days surfing the net and you'll soon have the bones of this book. If on the other hand, you're new to the net, you're worried about you kids safety while on the net, who's using your computer, what they're doing, what other could be doing to you, or just need a quick jumpstart into the darker side of the net then maybe (and only just maybe!!) you should consider this book. Its like one reviewer said, its for the ordinary guy, but if you've done any bit of work in IT then a lot of it will seem like fluff. So I've left it for now but am not gonna throw it out, its something i'll read when i got time and also there looks to be some interesting sections that I'm gonna look through. It still gets 2 stars though; one because its well organsied and written in a very easy to understand language, not too technical which is definately a plus if you're new to the net and all thing computers, and two beacuse theres a lot of good links to related software and sites that can help you understand more. Think of it as a good reference\starting point. Peronally i'd say save you're money and read "computer espoinage, counter measures and tactics" if you want more intersting read.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing of value here
Review: I read through this book anticipating I would find information that would help me understand the darker side of the internet and protect myself from it. In the end though, the bottom line of the book is that you need: 1) anti-virus software, 2) a good firewall like Zone Alarm, and 3) a good spy blocking program like Spycop. I knew that already and I have all that installed on my PC. The rest of the book is fluf. I found the reading extremely tedious and painful because there is so little new here. Don't waste your money. If you do the three things I mentioned above, you can bypass this book alltogether.
Rating:
Summary: The darker side of the net...
Review: If you're looking for something that covers the murky underbelly of the internet, you might want to check out Steal This Computer Book 3 by Wallace Wang.
Chapter List: Finding What You Need: The Magic Of Search Engines; Alternative Sources Of News And Information; Censoring Information (We Know What's Best For You); Hacktivism: Online Activism; Pledging Allegiance: Hatred As Patriotism; Where The Hackers Are; Viruses And Worms; Trojan Horses: Beware Of Geeks Bearing Gifts; Con Games On The Internet; Online Stalkers; Probing A Target; Sneaking Into A Computer; Digging In; Computing On A Shoestring; Protecting Your Data And Your Privacy; Waging War On Spam; Web Bugs, Adware, Pop-ups, and Spyware; Firewalls, Intrusion-Dectection Systems, and Honeypots; Computer Forensics: Recovering And Deleting Data; Protecting Your Computer; Software; A Hacker's Gallery Of Rogue Tools; A Bit Of History: Phone Phreaking And Other Phun; Glossary; Index
On the back cover, you have this warning: "This book is not to be used for hacking into government computers, shutting down AOL, cracking software, phone phreaking, spreading viruses, or any other illegal activity." That's enough to get your attention. Depending on your background, I think you'll have varying reactions to the book. People who haven't been exposed to information like this will quickly learn that all is not safe when you're online. If you've surfed the web for any length of time as an IT professional, you'll read a lot of the information and say "I already know that". But even then, you'll pick up some ideas and concepts that you may not have been aware of. For instance, I didn't know there were servers that would send you requested web pages via email in order to bypass filtering or banned sites. And the chapter on alternative sources of news will cause you to think about expanding your media view of the world.
The packaging of the book is rather unique. The cover and pages have a dirty, "photocopied" look to make it appear more illicit than it actually is. It becomes one of those books that will catch someone's eyes on a book shelf, and may need to be explained. :-)
An interesting read, and you will learn a few things along the way....
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