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| Steal This Computer Book 4.0: What They Won't Tell You About the Internet | 
| Author: Wallace Wang
Publisher: No Starch Press
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $10.31
You Save: $19.64 (66%)
Buy New/Used from $10.26
Avg. Customer Rating:  (48 reviews)
Sales Rank: 64566
Format: Illustrated
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: 4
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 7 x 1.2
ISBN: 1593271050
Dewey Decimal Number: 005.8
EAN: 9781593271053
ASIN: 1593271050
Publication Date: April 15, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Am I Missing Something? August 28, 2006
6 out of 11 found this review helpful
I don't understand the appeal of this book.
I've been around the internet phenomenon in one form or another for almost 20 years. I'm conversant with the history of many technical and cultural happenings on it. As a result, I'm probably not the best reader for an 'shocking truths' book because none of it is going to shock me.
I read this book thinking I might come across a few clever tactics I'd not heard of, and because it has been marketed as cynical and funny writing. We had a copy of Rube Goldberg's Steal This Book in the house when I was young, so I was hoping for something in that vein too.
Honestly, I struck out on all three. There wasn't anything new for me, which was fine. I didn't find the humor lame or bad. As a matter of fact, I simply didn't find it. Am I not reading it right? And finally, the irreverent I was looking forward to...well, I'm not entirely sure it's possible in this context. The book didn't deliver that premise for me, but I'm not sure it can really be done anymore. That time and those circumstances in our culture are different from this time and these circumstances.
Someone who is idly curious about how the internet "really works," likes a long read, and can get into being entertained on the topic might enjoy this book. For me however it was flatly informative, sometimes a little forced, and simply not a funny piece of writing.
 A non- technical book showing what hackers do, why, and how users can protect themselves July 3, 2006
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Wallace Wang's Steal This Computer 4.0: What They Won't Tell You About The Internet offers a completely revised fourth edition of a non- technical book showing what hackers do, why, and how users can protect themselves. Embedded in these tips are insights on how to avoid scams and problems, while a companion cd comes packed with hacking and security-related programs like keyloggers, spyware stoppers and spam filters. If you've used the computer, you need to know about common tricks and traps - and Steal This Computer's latest edition covers them all.
Entertaining & Informative June 5, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Sheesh the reviews are so harsh for this book it's amazing that a new edition was even published!!
This book is kind of a mish-mash of lots of different topics. While it's not as bad as these reviews make it out to be, it's not that good either. Even the title of the book gives no indication what this text is about. To summarize, I would say that this book talks about the Internet in general, and all the shady aspects of it. File sharing via P2P applications, banner ads, OEM software for sale, finding wireless networks... basically if you want to learn more about the dark site of the Internet and how you can use (or be used) it to your ad/disadvantage, this book is a fun read.
Overall I cannot recommend this due to a writing style which is subpar and no clear-cut direction of what the author is looking to achieve.
Real the other reviews and make your own assessment. It's not that bad, but just because the title is (kind of) creative and the cover is black, that doesn't necessarily make this book good.
***
Eclectic and not completely focused, but fun... June 4, 2006
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
This is one of those books that never quite turns out as good as I hoped it would be... Steal This Computer Book 4.0 : What They Won't Tell You About the Internet by Wallace Wang. It tries to cover a lot of ground, and as a result it's not as focused as it should be...
Contents:
Part 1 - The Early Hackers: The Hacker Mentality; The First Hackers - The Phone Phreakers; Hacking People, Places, and Things
Part 2 - The PC Pioneers: ASNI Bombs and Viruses; Trojan Horses and Worms; Warez (Software Piracy)
Part 3 - The Internet Hackers: Where The Hackers Are; Stalking A Computer; Cracking Passwords; Digging Into A Computer With Rootkits; Censoring Information; The Filesharing Networks
Part 4 - The Real World Hackers: The Internet Con Artists; Finding People On The Internet; Propaganda As News and Entertainment; Hacktivism - Online Activism; Hate Groups and Terrorists on the Internet
Part 5 - The Future - Hacking For Profit: Identity Theft and Spam; Banner Ads, Pop-Up Ads, and Search Engine Spamming; Adware and Spyware
Part 6 - Protecting Your Computer and Yourself: Computing On A Shoestring - Getting Stuff For (Almost) Free; Computer Forensics - The Art Of Deleting and Retrieving Data; Locking Down Your Computer
Epilogue; What's On The Steal This Computer Book 4.0 CD; Index
This book has been around for quite a long time, and it's gone through a number of revisions (the 4.0 in the title). The earliest reviews of this book are from mid-1998, and in some areas it looks like the book has never been updated. Part of that is the historical nature of the material he's covering, and I'm sure there's a number of readers trying to figure out what MS-DOS is. The central theme of the book is "hacking", but there are areas where he strays into areas that I've not traditionally put in that category. Getting free stuff like email accounts and blogs? Censoring information? Hate groups? Even in the areas that I *do* consider more "hack-like", like file-sharing networks, he leaves out any mention of BitTorrent. Granted, there's a reference to the Steal This File Sharing Book, but still... It just seems that the information is a bit eclectic and rather "hit or miss" at times.
But even having said that, there is a guilty pleasure in reading this book. It's similar to reading about the seamy underbelly of your local city... you know it's there, you don't condone it, but you have a hard time averting your eyes when you drive by. And there are some things that I didn't know... like services that will email you requested web pages so as to avoid http logging.
So... I don't know that you'll get a lot out of it if you've been around computers for any length of time. It's still a fun read, and you can scan the areas that don't quite hold your interest...
 Not even close to a hacker book. November 17, 2003
9 out of 23 found this review helpful
Fist of all it is a cracker not a hacker. A hacker is some one who enjoys learning about computers and breaks down software to learn about it. Cracking is attacking another computer. Second of all it uses Visual Basic. VB is THE worst programming language. No hacker or cracker would recommend the use of such. It tells you how to be a Skript Kiddie. A SK is some one who uses other peoples software and goes around saying they are a hacker or a cracker. Thirdly virus writers aren't good people. They are niether hackers or crackers. They are black hat crackers(NOT HACKERS). A cracker has ethics and is often reffered to as a white hat hacker. Blacks do bad things, and get little benefit if not zero, but merely enjoy ruining other peoples computers. Black hat hackers are usually SKs with a wee bit more knowledge.If you want to be a hacker(which if you are a good one, means you can probably crack), I recommend using Linux, learning C and C++, Networking, A+ certified(don't actually get certified but get a book, it provides basic hardware info). Get to know GCC and become fluent in C and C++. If you know no language and they will be your first, I recommend Python. Python is a good starting language. But first of all switch to Linux. use sourceforge.net and tldp.org for info and free software. That'll start you up. Oh yeah...never use the "elite" jargon. If you use this you are no cracker you are a SK.
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