Back|Track - is it REALLY that good?

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Back|Track - is it REALLY that good?
Brought to you by the iintens blog.

You may or may not have heard of a Linux 'distribution' that is rapidly increasing in popularity called Back|Track, it is a Linux LiveCD that I believe is based on Slackware and is focused on 'hacking' and penetration testing in general, A common mistake people make is making the assumption that the tools that come with the Back|Track distribution are ONLY made for Back|Track and are not available anywhere else easily, This is where they are wrong.

Back|Track is actually a distribution that is meant to be ran from a LiveCD and is a collection of tools for *NIX based systems, most/all of the tools are actually available on almost every other linux distribution and the odd few are even available on Windows operating systems, A list of all the applications on Back|Track 3 Final can be found here, Thses tools can be installed easily on your existing Linux/Unix installation without the need for Back|Track Using your Distributions package manager e.g.

Debian: apt-get

FreeBSD: ports

Gentoo: portage

ArchLinux: Pacman.

The list goes on and on; but basically- If you already run Linux- consider taking the time to install the tools YOU need, It has many advantages, including:

* You are working in a familiar environment, not in a totally different setting.
* There is no need to constantly restart your computer/switch to a LiveCD and back again.
* You can do other things whilst using said tool[s], this includes chatting on IRC, listening to Music or even surfing a forum
* You might actually learn a bit more.

The list goes on and on

I'll be writing a follow-up article on using Back|Track as a primary distribution and why this is a bad idea in a few days, so expect some more Back|Track stuff

P.S. No offense to remote-exploit in any way, I just much prefer using my own distribution for hacking things- a LiveCD is very annoying.