LSS CDs

[MBI]

Yeah, it is a fair bit of dough to buy a copy.
I can understand the frustration, and thanks for the update.

[Fallen]

The LSS CD's, no matter what level you purchase, are only accessible if you have the proprietary database software created by Tobias's programmers. I have a gov't clearance and have the gov't set and whenever I switch to a new computer I have to call him and let him know I am emailing him my specific customer code that was issued when I bought the set. He then sends me a link to a temporary registration site where I enter my code. He then enters his counter code and the encryption key is generated and emailed back to me. I plug in the encryption and viola, access. After speaking with Marc he told me they do this to keep the discs from being pirated and to keep people from viewing, copying, and then reselling the discs to people who don't have clearance.
As for the usefulness of the cd's I think that they are not even remotely worth the price or the hassle.+
The standard LSS book is the main information source on the discs. The rest of the discs are nothing but demonstrations of different specialized tools that no civilian will ever be able to get their hands on. They are govt only tools. They do not go into any great detail avbout the tools or how they work. They simple show very bad, blurry, static filled converted vhs tape videos from the late 80's, of people using the tools from a distance. There are some up close things that are by john falle but once again you need the tools. He doesn't go into theory or construction, who can blame him they are his patented tools, only what they are used for. You have to remember these guys make their living off of consulting and training police, military, lawyers, etc. They are not giving away all of their trade secrets. This is more of a see what you could do if you had our tools promotional thing. The LSS book contains hundreds of references to these tools and they are video linked to the individual disks. Once again the whole program was designed a long time ago and it's use is completely counter intuitive to what you know as far as computer programs go. It is actually easier to pick some high security locks that it is to find information on the damn discs.
Now I know there are people who will say that I am crazy, or that I just don't like Marc, or whatever so let me say this. I am a former member of the special operations community and I have attended many covert entry training classes all over the world. The best education I have ever had about lock picking and bypassing has come from independent study of information posted publicly on the forums like this one. If you want to get good at picking locks or manipulating safes or whatever, you simply have to research, research, research, and then do some more research. Once you think you have it figured out, practice, practice, practice, and then research some more and practice again until you get it. Once you have the technique down, find another technique and repeat cycle, Every day you should practice every technique you have learned at least once or you will loose your touch. Touch cant be explained, it is something that everyone develops and understands individually. Marcs discs are not for training, they are for educating and familiarizing. If you are in a department or unit that wants to train covert entry techs then you can use the Gov't set to look at products and services you may want to acquire. Thats it. Thats basically all the discs are good for.

+

[elbowmacaroni]

Windows not good for running older programs - dial up or otherwise - includes printers that run off 2000 - XP also

buy a older computer - run it and keep it off the net is the only way - programs will try to update themselves

causing problems for the end user - legit or not charging a fee for the activation code is common to run program

there are many programs - offered free but require activation $$$$$ this is what you pay for -

lots are scams and possible harmful to your computer - with spyware already built in as a bonus

Run a Windows XP virtual machine.

thanks xeo

Also, if you are still running win7 or win8, there is a lesser known "XP Mode" that exists to run older software that doesn't like the newer 64bit OS libraries and such. For all intents and purposes it is an XP VM. FWIW, YMMV, YOLO, YODO, FTW, WTF, ABC, 123, etc... et.al. ad infinitium, ad nauseum...

[plugspin]

Heh, the LSS CD's have some interesting stuff if you are relatively new to lock picking and have the interest. But yea it's very painful to use. The RSA package that "protects" it is severly lacking. I had my code expire once... so I set the date back on my system and it reactivated. And FYI, every time you play any of the videos or audio it decrypts it to a cache directory and leaves it there when it's done. So it's not hard to extract all of the multimedia content if one desires, just find the cache directory. Do yourself a favor and just install it on a virtual machine so you never have to reactivate it or worry about expiring codes or future OS support.