In the Part I of this series I had you develop your personal budget using the Personal Budgeting Spreadsheet.
This budget should detail all your cash inflows and outflows for a given month. Under the Quick Budget Section you should be able to get a snapshot view of Income and Spending. If this is your first time developing a budget you will know that it is very difficult to forecast spending for any given month. I would recommend that you look at last months income and spending habits by reviewing  paycheck stubs, receipts, ATM and credit card statements to get an idea of real historical values. This will allow you to develop a more thorough and accurate budget.

This part of the series deals with credit card debt. If you were like me 5 years ago you had several credit cards of varying balances yielding ridiculous interest rates (ranging from 15% to 24%). Looking at those interest rates you are better off sometimes borrowing from the mob and risking the chance of losing a couple fingers or limbs for failing to repay. However, what’s done is done.

Stop using your credit cards (but don’t cancel them, you can cut them up but don’t make the mistake of canceling the credit card, I will explain this when we get to the Credit Score part of this series)! Setup a payment plan and pay more than the minimum payment. If you have the ability to pay double, triple or quadruple the minimum payment do so. The interest you will pay over the course of paying the minimum payment is almost enough to give you a heart attack.

If you are planning on putting a purchase on credit ask yourself, “Can I really afford this if I am paying with a credit card?”.

The plan is to evaluate how much money you will allocate (in your budget) to paying down credit card debt.

Let’s look at a hypothetical scenario. Let’s say that we have the ability and means of allocating $500 per month to repaying credit card debt. This number is dependent on your Personal Budget Worksheet. It’s basically a financial commitment you are making for credit card repayment. Try to stick with this allocation from month-to-month. As I stated before, your financial budget worksheet should be a “living and breathing document” and after editing and modifying this worksheet from month-to-month your monthly allocation may go up, sometimes down due to unforeseeable circumstances. However, in most likelihood, the number should go up over time.

The logic is as simple as it gets. Payoff higher interest charge cards first. Why? Because, they yield the highest interest from month-to-month! It’s pretty much common sense, however I’ve seen may people make the mistake of paying their cards in an even distribution. Let’s say they have $500 allocated to paying credit card debt, they pay $500/3 = $166.67 to each credit card but don’t realize that this is the wrong way to approach this type of debt. So here is the plan. In the chart above you will notice three credit cards varying in interest rate, minimum monthly payment, and balance. The plan as I stated earlier is to pay minimum payments on the lower interest rate cards and (what I call) “front-loading” the highest interest credit card.

For Example:
Monthly Allocated for Credit Card Repayment = $500.00

Month 1

* Does not include monthly accrued finance charges

Month 2

* Does not include monthly accrued finance charges

Month 3

* Does not include monthly accrued finance charges

As you can see, what you are doing is deferring principal payments on Credit Cards #1 & #2 to make larger principal payments on Credit Card #3. Once Credit Card #3 is paid off completely you will employ the same technique to the remaining credit cards (Credit Card #1 should be “front-loaded” while Credit Card #2 will get minimum payments. I would create a spreadsheet and develop a plan until payoff. Whatever you do realize that this is only as effective as your commitment! As you can see, if you increase your monthly allocated dollar amount for credit card repayment the life of your plan will decrease as you are paying these cards off faster! 

Summary
 

• Compile a list of your credit card balances, interest rates and monthly minimum payment
• Never pay minimum payment on all cards
• Develop a plan or schedule for pay off
• Develop an allocated monthly payoff amount
• Pay minimum on lower interest cards first and “front-load” higher interest cards with remaining amount from allocation.

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I have very few things in life that I am passionate about. One of those things is personal finance and personal financial planning. I think we all have the ability to control this aspect of our lives but many of us fail to do so. Now let me first note that I have made plenty of financial mistakes in my lifetime. Some of those mistakes include, but are not limited to:

• Purchasing three BMW’s in the span of 5 Years
• Purchasing a overpriced condo-conversion at the peak of the real-estate market
• Racking up $7,000 in credit card debt by the time I turned 22.
• Losing a couple thousand dollars in Vegas several times a year

So what happened?

I had a moment where I was just fed up with my credit card bills. In 2003 I owed $7000 in credit card debt (between 3 high interest yielding cards) and when I looked back at it I had nothing to show for the debt I managed to rack up. So I set a goal for myself, I told myself I would payoff this debt in a years time. Anyone that knows me knows that I have a very driven personality. If I set my mind to a goal whether it be short or long term; 9 times out of 10 I will achieve those goals. Needless to say, I paid off $7000 in a matter of 10 months! How I did that will be another part of this series.

Fast forward 5 years and you will see a drastic change:

• Zero Credit Card Debt
• 18% participation in deferred compensation through my employer
• Five-figure Savings Account Balance (ING Direct - PLUG!!! If any of you need a referral I can send you one)
• BMW sold and gone
• 5% net income savings
• I still have my tax refunds for the last 5 years yielding interest in my ING Account (let alone my milk money from the 3rd grad )

Most people think that you need to have tons of money in order to save and curb spending. The key is to develop a monthly budget and stick to it. It’s very hard to sit down and put together all of your incoming and outgoing cash flows starting with a blank sheet of paper. I found this budget planning spreadsheet that I use and update monthly to know exactly where my money is allocated from one month to another. A budget planner should be a living and breathing document. You shouldn’t sit down, develop a budget, and never look at it again. If that is the case you are simply wasting your time. The budget planner is most useful when you use it, modify it, and gain valuable metrics to your personal spending habits. I believe that if you don’t know where your money is going you can’t plan or forecast for the future.

The spreadsheet can be downloaded below in a Excel format. It is very user-friendly and I encourage you to use this religiously.
Personal Budget Spreadsheet

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I decided to write a series on Personal Finance that is based on my experiences over the course of the last 5 years. This series will allow you to see how I did it, the techniques and methodologies I employed to eliminate debt, save money, plan for retirement and raised my credit scores.  This whole series is based on the the perspective of starting young (being 26 years old) and archiving financial independence early so that you can enjoy your later years.

No one I know, likes living paycheck to paycheck, but many of us do. I can confidently say that if I was laid off or fired tomorrow I would have enough reserves to sustain myself for 12 months. This was a goal I set for myself years ago and I feel that everyone should be able to make that statement if they follow my plan.

Disclaimer: This series will provide you with techniques for gaining financial independence. However, results may vary and the entire process will not occur over night. Personal financial planning is long term in nature tinged with short term goals and objectives. 

I will structure this series in 8 parts.

• Budgeting
• Eliminating Credit Card Debt
• Easy Ways To Save
• Savings Plans
• Retirement Plan
• Investments
• Wants vs. Needs
• Credit Score Rebuilding

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Have you ever inherited network equipment either from procuring a used switch on ebay or ran into a situation where poor documentation lead to no records of documenting password(s) for your network devices? I ran into this situation when replacing my organizations Layer 2 switches. I needed these passwords in order to lookup current configuration settings so I could plan and design our new network appliances but they were no where to be found. So what do you do? Here is a tutorial that will show you  how to recover passwords from Cisco Cataylst Fixed Configutation Layer 2 and Layer 3 switches.

Disclaimer: Use at your own risk. These instructions are here for reference and before you take these measures you should backup current configuration files and/or consult with Cisco support.

Introduction

This document describes the password recovery procedure for the Cisco Catalyst Layer 2 fixed configuration switches 2900XL/3500XL, 2940, 2950/2955, 2960, and 2970 Series, as well as the Cisco Catalyst Layer 3 fixed configuration switches 3550, 3560, and 3750 Series.

Before You Begin

Conventions

For more information on document conventions, see the Cisco Technical Tips Conventions.

Prerequisites

There are no specific prerequisites for this document.

Step-by-Step Procedure

Follow the password recovery procedure below.

1. Attach a terminal or PC with terminal emulation (for example, Hyper Terminal) to the console port of the switch.Use the following terminal settings:
   • Bits per second (baud): 9600
   • Data bits: 8
   • Parity: None
   • Stop bits: 1
   • Flow Control: Xon/Xoff

   Note: For additional information on cabling and connecting a terminal to the console port, refer to Connecting a Terminal to the Console Port on Catalyst Switches.

2. Unplug the power cable.
3. Power the switch and bring it to the switch: prompt:For 2900XL, 3500XL, 2940, 2950, 2960, 2970, 3550, 3560, and 3750 series switches, do this:Hold down the mode button located on the left side of the front panel, while you reconnect the power cable to the switch.
   

   Catalyst Switch Series	LED Behavior and Mode Button Release Action
   2900XL, 3500XL, 3550	Release the Mode button when the LED above Port1x goes out.
   2940, 2950	Release the Mode button after approximately 5 seconds when the Status (STAT) LED goes out. When you release the Mode button, the SYST LED blinks amber.
   2960, 2970	Release the Mode button when the SYST LED blinks amber and then turns solid green. When you release the Mode button, the SYST LED blinks green.
   3560, 3750	Release the Mode button after approximately 15 seconds when the SYST LED turns solid green. When you release the Mode button, the SYST LED blinks green.

   Note: LED position may vary slightly depending on the model.

   Catalyst 3524XL

   

   Catalyst 2950-24

   

   For 2955 series switches only:

   The Catalyst 2955 series switches do not use an external mode button for password recovery. Instead the switch boot loader uses the break-key detection to stop the automatic boot sequence for the password recovery purposes. The break sequence is determined by the terminal application and operating system used. Hyperterm running on Windows 2000 uses Ctrl + Break. On a workstation running UNIX, Ctrl-C is the break key. For more information, refer to Standard Break Key Sequence Combinations During Password Recovery.

   The example below uses Hyperterm to break into switch: mode on a 2955.

   C2955 Boot Loader (C2955-HBOOT-M) Version 12.1(0.0.514), CISCO DEVELOPMENT TEST
   VERSION
   Compiled Fri 13-Dec-02 17:38 by madison
   WS-C2955T-12 starting...
   Base ethernet MAC Address: 00:0b:be:b6:ee:00
   Xmodem file system is available.
   Initializing Flash...
   flashfs[0]: 19 files, 2 directories
   flashfs[0]: 0 orphaned files, 0 orphaned directories
   flashfs[0]: Total bytes: 7741440
   flashfs[0]: Bytes used: 4510720
   flashfs[0]: Bytes available: 3230720
   flashfs[0]: flashfs fsck took 7 seconds.
   ...done initializing flash.
   Boot Sector Filesystem (bs:) installed, fsid: 3
   Parameter Block Filesystem (pb:) installed, fsid: 4
   
   *** The system will autoboot in 15 seconds ***
   Send break character to prevent autobooting.
   
   
   !— Wait until you see this message before
   !— you issue the break sequence.
   !— Ctrl+Break is entered using Hyperterm.
   
   
   The system has been interrupted prior to initializing the flash file system to finish
   loading the operating system software:
   
   flash_init
   load_helper
   boot
   switch:

4. Issue the flash_init command.
   

   switch: flash_init
   Initializing Flash…
   flashfs[0]: 143 files, 4 directories
   flashfs[0]: 0 orphaned files, 0 orphaned directories
   flashfs[0]: Total bytes: 3612672
   flashfs[0]: Bytes used: 2729472
   flashfs[0]: Bytes available: 883200
   flashfs[0]: flashfs fsck took 86 seconds
   ….done Initializing Flash.
   Boot Sector Filesystem (bs:) installed, fsid: 3
   Parameter Block Filesystem (pb:) installed, fsid: 4
   switch:
   
   !— This output is from a 2900XL switch. Output from
   !— other switches will vary slightly.
   

5. Issue the load_helper command.
   

   switch: load_helper
   switch:

6. Issue the dir flash: command.Note: Make sure to type a colon “:” after the dir flash.The switch file system is displayed:
   

   switch: dir flash:
   Directory of flash:/
   2    -rwx  1803357   <date>               c3500xl-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC7.bin
   
   !— This is the current version of software.
   
   4    -rwx  1131      <date>               config.text
   
   !— This is the configuration file.
   
   5    -rwx  109       <date>               info
   6    -rwx  389       <date>               env_vars
   7    drwx  640       <date>               html
   18   -rwx  109       <date>               info.ver
   403968 bytes available (3208704 bytes used)
   switch:
   
   !— This output is from a 3500XL switch. Output from
   !— other switches will vary slightly.
   

7. Type rename flash:config.text flash:config.old to rename the configuration file.
   

   switch: rename flash:config.text flash:config.old
   switch:
   
   !— The config.text file contains the password
   !— definition.
   

8. Issue the boot command to boot the system.
   

   switch: boot
   Loading “flash:c3500xl-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC7.bin”…###############################
   ################################################################################
   ######################################################################
   File “flash:c3500xl-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC7.bin” uncompressed and installed, entry po
   int: 0×3000
   executing…
   
   !— Output suppressed.
   !— This output is from a 3500XL switch. Output from other switches
   !— will vary slightly.
   

9. Enter “n” at the prompt to abort the initial configuration dialog.
   

   --- System Configuration Dialog ---
   At any point you may enter a question mark '?' for help.
   Use ctrl-c to abort configuration dialog at any prompt.
   Default settings are in square brackets '[]'.
   Continue with configuration dialog? [yes/no]: n
   
   !— Type “n” for no.
   
   Press RETURN to get started.
   
   !— Press Return or Enter.
   
   Switch>
   
   !— The Switch> prompt is displayed.
   

10. At the switch prompt, type en to enter enable mode.
    

    Switch>en
    Switch#

11. Type rename flash:config.old flash:config.text to rename the configuration file with its original name.
    

    Switch#rename flash:config.old flash:config.text
    Destination filename [config.text]
    
    !— Press Return or Enter.
    
    Switch#

12. Copy the configuration file into memory.
    

    Switch#copy flash:config.text system:running-config
    Destination filename [running-config]?
    
    !— Press Return or Enter.
    
    1131 bytes copied in 0.760 secs
    Sw1#

    The configuration file is now reloaded.

13. Overwrite the current passwords that you do not know. Choose a strong password with at least one capital letter, one number, and one special character.Note: Overwrite the passwords which are necessary. You need not overwrite all of the mentioned passwords.
    

    Sw1# conf t
    
    
    !— To overwrite existing secret password
    
    Sw1(config)#enable secret <new_secret_password>
    
    
    
    !— To overwrite existing enable password
    
    Sw1(config)#enable password <new_enable_password>
    
    
    
    !— To overwrite existing vty password
    
    Sw1(config)#line vty 0 15
    Sw1(config-line)#password <new_vty_password>
    
    Sw1(config-line)#login
    
    
    !— To overwrite existing console password
    
    Sw1(config-line)#line con 0
    Sw1(config-line)#password <new_console_password>
    

14. Write the running configuration to the configuration file with the write memory command.
    

    Sw1#write memory
    Building configuration…
    [OK]
    Sw1#

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Disclaimer: This technique should be used only to create backup copies of movies you have legally purchased and/or own. You should not backup or copy media or copyrighted material without authorized permission or consent from the publisher.

Most DVDs are protected or encrypted to make it impossible for users to copy or backup DVD media. In order to backup a DVD you must decrypt the DVD before copying it to blank DVD media. Unlike copying most CD media, where a one-to-one copy is typically used, one-to-one copies of protected/encrypted DVDs are nearly impossible. Blank DVD media. Depending on your home DVD player you may need to verify supported DVD formats (i.e. DVD+R or DVD-R). The best rule of thumb is to purchase at least 2 different brands and find which one works best. Once you find the media works consistently, dont’ deviate on brand and type.Tools used for this tutorial:

Step 1:

Download DVD Decrypter from the link above and install it.

Step 2:

Start DVD Decrypter

Step 3:

Insert DVD you wish to backup. You will receive asking you that a region code has not been set. Click “Yes”, select your region and click “OK”.

Step 4:

Once you select your region code as shown in Step 3 you will notice that the right hand listbox will populate with various files with various file extensions (mainly .IFO, .BUP and .VOB)

Step 5:

Select your destination or leave the defaulted destination path (C:\[DVDTITLE]\VIDEO_TS).

Step 6:

Click on the following DVD -> Hard Disk icon to begin the decryption process. This will decrypt the files displayed in your listbox to your right to the destination you specified in Step 5.

Step 7:

Grab a beer and relax. This process should take anywhere between 25-40 minutes. Once the decryption process has completed move on to Step 8.

Step 8:

Browse to your destination path you specified in Step 5 to verify files. If you specified C:\MOVIE\VIDEO_TS you would click the following –> Double-click “My Computer” -> “Local Disk (C:) –> MOVIE –> VIDEO_TS. At this point if you have files (.IFO, .BUP, and .VOB) in your destination folder you have successfully decrypted your DVD. The next step is to burn it to media.

Step 9:

Open Nero or Roxio and create a “DATA DVD”

Step 10:

Create two empty folders in your empty project called “VIDEO_TS” and “AUDIO_TS”

Step 11:

Open the “VIDEO_TS” folder you created in Step 10 and add the entire contents from your decrypted movie. Make sure you only copy the contents of C:[MOVIETITLE]\VIDEO_TS and not the VIDEO_TS folder itself. The AUDIO_TS folder should be left empty.

Step 12:

Click “Burn DVD”

Step 13:Congratulations you have successfully backed up a copy of your DVD!

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