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Brute-Force Cracking Estimation      XLS

This little spreadsheet lets you enter the number of positions in a key, the number of values per position, and the number and speed of processors attacking the keyspace. It computes the maximum time required for brute-force cracking of the entire keyspace measured in seconds, hours, days, years or universe-lifetimes.

CAC:  Computer-Aided Consensus (TM)

     PPT (ZIP) 30 MB

     PDF .2 MB

     MP3 10 MB

An easy method using a spreadsheet to improve brainstorming. Takes the insights of the Delphi Method and applies them to live brainstorming sessions. The PPT file is a narrated introduction (in a WinZip archive) excerpted from a lecture on leadership techniques originally created for MSIA students; the PDF is a printout of the slides from that talk. The MP3 file is the extracted voice-stream from the slide presentation.

CATA:  Computer-Aided Thematic Analysis (TM)      PDF

An easy method using a spreadsheet to isolate facts, ideas, opinions and feelings into themes and then organize these themes into a coherent structure without having to impose an extrinsic framework on them.  Useful for all students and researchers.

For a guided tour of the method with voice commentary, click here to download a PPT (PowerPoint) file with narrated slides (~7 MB) and then play the slide show (press F5) with your computer sound enabled.

If you prefer, you can download the same PPT file compressed into a WinZIP archive (~3 MB )by clicking here.

The self-starting PPS file and a WinZIP archive of that one are also available for people who prefer that format.

Electronic Crime Scene Investigation: A Guide for First Responders, Second Edition: a Review      PDF

The National Institute of Justice has issued its second edition of this classic guide. Read the review and download the document. It is required reading for all information assurance professionals who could have contact with a crime scene involving computers and networks.

Frequently Corrected Errors      PDF

I’ve been editing technical writing since 1970 and notice that some errors keep popping up in many writers’ papers. I’ve been collecting the comments I make about these errors and hope that you will find some of them helpful. Several colleagues have contributed suggestions that I have gratefully incorporated and acknowledged in the file. Version 8 was updated in December 2009.

On Writing      PDF

I have compiled some essays about writing (originally posted on the MSIA Graduate Portal) into this document and hope that all students will find the ideas and resources interesting, stimulating and useful.

Organizing and Safeguarding Information on Disk       PDF

How can you organize information on your hard disk and on your desktop for easy retrieval? What are some easy steps you can take to safeguard your precious information against accidents? This paper has lots of screen shots to illustrate simple principles that can help you manage your computer files and programs.

Searching and Seizing Computers and Obtaining Electronic Evidence in Criminal Investigations      PDF      HTML

Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, Criminal Division -- United States Department of Justice (July 2002). This publication is available from the DOJ Cybercrime site in HTML. I have produced a PDF of this public-domain text and added a set of bookmarks to correspond to most of the table of contents links in the original Web version of the document.

SQ3R (method for organized study and learning)      PDF      HTML

Reading assigned materials a few times does not work as a method for integrating knowledge. Try Survey-Question-Read-Recite-Review (SQ3R), a method long-established as an excellent way to tackle new written information.

Tips for Using MS-WORD 2007     PDF

This evolving document lists some useful tips for using WORD as more than the electronic equivalent of a typewriter. Topics include autosave, spell-checker, grammar-checker, paragraph spacing, autotext, autocorrect, keyboard macros, bookmarks, special characters, defeating automatic formatting, automatic bullets and numbers, bookmarks, columns, working with bibliographic references, footnotes or endnotes, cross-referencing footnotes, headings, document map, outline view, outlining toolbar, creating tables from text, autoformatting tables, managing tables, styles, tracking changes, pictures, using macros when editing, and adding and updating a table of contents. Updated Dec 2009.

TODO Database Format      MDB

Empty MS-Access database showing the format I used for many years in keeping track of projects and priorities. The TASKS function in Outlook provides a useful substitute that I have been using in later years.

Tracking Changes in MS-Word 2003     PPT

Many new users of Word are mystified by Track Changes. This PPT file demonstrates how to use the feature in MS Word 2003. The functions are similar in Word 2007 even though the user interface has changed.

Understanding Computer Crime Studies and Statistics v6         PDF