UPDATE: We have access again but only partial. We are all working hard and are feeling very close to having full access once again.
UPDATE: In may of 2003 We gained access to Msntv Networks once again and this time mostly from the efforts of NapHead.
From: SaladMan@webtv.net
Date: Dec 1998
To: MattMan69@webtv.net
Subject: Webtv Viewer
Hi, this is saladman (sheldon). I have been working with the webtv viewer on my computer. I have been corresponding with ultrax about this and suggesting that he pass on the info to you and any other trustable people. I don't know if you remember seeing any of my postings in the past. I haven't posted much because I haven't really figured out much before. But I'm not one of those kids who are interested in causing trouble. I'm 29, and intentional bombing got old with me a long time ago..and even so, all I ever wanted to bomb was myself...lol. Also, I am not interested in doing things like hacking the pentagon. But webtv has such a dreamlike quality to it that I was attracted to it the very moment I saw the webtv road taking me towards the city. The background music always brings back many good memories. Anyway, back to the point...ultrax's mailbox has been full for the last few days, so if you know how to reach him to pass the following info along, I'd appreciate it. Also, feel free to pass it along to others who have proven themselves very, I mean Very trustworthy. Ok, now I'm going to give you some info that is exciting to me beyond belief...I was playing around with connectsetup on the webtv viewer, and all of a sudden, the daily connecting screen took over and took me to the registration page! Maybe you've heard of others doing this, but nothing I've heard suggested that this was possible. On the registration page, there was all sorts of humorous information already filled in. The humor was rather webtv-esque, so it looked like it was safe to register with that info. But I backed out because I didn't want someone innocent to be billed. Then, I went back in later. This time, there was different registration info, equally humorous (same home ph# though). This time, I couldn't resist, thinking that if necessary, I could perhaps talk to webtv and agree to pay the charges for opening an account. I also figured that since there was no way to access webtv server pages with this program, there would be no reason to charge me. I figured the info wouldn't even be sent to webtv, since mail did not work. Well anyway, I finished registering and breathlessly clicked on done. To my surprise, I was then transferred to the splash screen with the daily table below it. I was so thrilled! But nothing could beat the thrill of what came next!!! HOME FOR FLOG-OUR-MINK!!!!!!!!!! Yes!! The webtv home screen on my computer. The url listed above was wtv-home:/home!!! I'm not making this up. I took screen shots that show these pages on my computer. I can send some if you like. Ok, so I was at home for flog-your-mink and you can imagine my excitement when I began clicking on all the links and getting the appropriate pages. Then I went to my mail page and saw that my address was at testdrive.webtv.net I had always wondered what it would be like to be in testdrive. I don't know if I could get to killer willie's or some of those other pages. I did get into demo but in the way that showed only the funny popups and did not display the name demo . Maybe you can send me some urls to try. I tried mailing to ultrax from the mail page, and the message was sent, but it was returned later, saying his mailbox was still full. So I e-mailed my computer, and today, looking through my mail, I was excited to find a hello message from Hildegard Hold-the-phone, which was the human-name for flog-your-mink. I can forward that to you as well if you like or I can e-mail you from testdrive too. So here I am in testdrive wondering how long I would be allowed to stay, so I rushed to collect all information I could. I was disconnected once, and when I tried to reconnect by restarting the program, the connection took over immediately. I felt a little safer this time, and I added a user. When I tried to switch users, I got the choose users screen. Logging back in worked fine. Just when I started getting comfortable, I was disconnected again and nothing I tried could get me connected again. I was bummed, because there were still plenty of pages I wanted to try out. But anyway, while I was there, I tried chat and news and no information from webtv chat rooms and no newsgroups were displayed. The alt.discuss newsgroups were said to not exist. I tried posting to a couple newsgroups (webtv.users) and I haven't yet checked to see if the postings showed up. Also, I tried saying something in a chat room, but it did not appear on the screen. Clicking people said that there was no-one in the room, and this was a room that is alway occupied (webtv-tech). So, that is my experience with testdrive so far. Maybe my accessing it means it is again available for access by webtv boxes, but my method for getting in involved controls beyond what is in the webtv box. I will have to try connecting to weekly or thrashnet, etc to see what happens. I forgot what page all the listings of different possible flashrom downloads is on. I would like to try seeing what happens if I try to download those things. I wish sound worked on the webtv viewer. I tried switching to tv mode to see what would happen. I might have the wrong url. I thought it was wtv-tricks:showtvhome, but that just gave me a message that webtv ran into technical problems. I did go to tricks and info.. Now, did I come back with codes? You bet!!! Want the code for the webtv home page, stocks, favorites, mail, etc...you name it, I got it. As far as putting the code to use, I think that would be much more the area of your expertise than mine. If I send you the info, let me know if you have any breakthroughs with it. One thing's for sure, I'm hoping that if this info gets beyond you and ultrax and me, it doesn't get into the hands of some idiot who wants nothing but to exploit the codes for destructive purposes. ...////snipped irrelevant info////.... Anyway, it's getting late, and I hope what I said here is not one of those, "ho-hum, yawn...FYI, so-and so did THAT a year ago" kind of things. I look forward to your ideas on this project. Take it easy, Sheldon
Favorite Folder Access method: This trick I discovered back when I had a webtv but It proved to be very useful when we first discovered how to access accounts/production using Eric's emu.
Ultimate Token Bypass: Discovered that you could add a custom service to the services list (client:showservices). Without going it to much detail It not only was used as a unbeatable token bypass but came in handy in setting up custom servers.
Unregistering TOS'ed Box's: Setting up the viewer to connect to webtv using a SSID from a TOS'ed box unregistered the TOS'ed webtv unit and allowed one to reregister the box and access the webtv network once again. I believe this trick pissed webtv off more than the viewer it's self as they were quick to kill this. Countless people were unTOS'ed I alone unTOS'ed about 100 people. Can you imagine what webtv was thinking when "my" tos'ed unit kept showing up! They would TOS my account and the very next day I would be back. This went on for about 10 TOS'ings until webtv finally gave up LMAO. But eventually webtv prevailed and the method was killed.
My Greatest Contribution: My greatest contribution would have to be when I got Eric Mac and VirusOmega together. This lead to unmatched greatness!