~ INDEX ~

DEMO: INTRODUCTION Until recently, WNI has never offered an official explanation for the DEMO account. Left to out own, one was not difficult to devise.

It seemed obvious WNI sales reps would require a fully functioning demonstration account necessary for training and sales presentations. It would also greatly add to the marketing flexiblity if any off the shelf box had the capability to access this demonstration account. It was believed DEMO could be accessed with a Power-off code. Just because it has never been found does not mean it never existed. It may be safe to assume that WTV removed the Power-off code as part of the Summer 98 Client Upgrade.

That any box is currently capable of accessing DEMO, despite WTV's best efforts to stop us, seemed to indicate the capability to access DEMO was integral in the design of both the box and the WTV network. Since WTV seems incapable of preventing our accessing DEMO, WTV has chosen a different tactic. Since January '98 WNI has on at least three occasions placed limitations on this account... a topic for another time.

It was clear when WNI launched its first DEMO Crackdown in January 98 WNI that DEMO it felt this account, which was being visited by everyone who wished to bomb or harass others with impunity, was more a liability than an asset. We know that as part of that Upgrade WTV had created special promotional accounts which probably functioned as a replacement for DEMO.

Like FLASH, DEMO seems to be a generic account all webtv boxes can probably access under certain conditions. In our case this was not via the official method but by a Trick that caused the GoTo window to remain up while changing users. While in this stage of the login, there are less constraints imposed upon us by the Client. In fact.... and this is sometimes not fully appreciated by some... that to access DEMO was to hack the WTV servers! DEMO was the first time we could operate outside of the constraints of our 6 Users. Like FLASH, it has been gutted by WTV. Both DEMO and FLASH have no mail service, access to chat, and have the Surf Watch Kiddie filters switched on. Aside from the name, there is one additional difference: DEMO has a seemingly standard Client IP list while FLASH has an expanded IP list. One may assume that like DEMO, FLASH was once a fully functional account and may have fallen victim to the DEMO Crackdown beginning in January '98... but since there are no reports of anyone ever having even been in FLASH at that time, we may ever know for sure.

In addition to Demo and Flash three other hidden accounts were also found. DataDownload@webtv.net found by Bone, AccountDisabled@webtv.net found by MattMan, and Registration@webtv.net found by Eric Mac. Like Demo and Flash these accounts were also striped down with the exception of Registration witch allowed full surfing. Each account at one time or another ended up serving a very useful purpose in the many hacking excursions.