Symbian hacks alive and kicking: Norton, DrWeb, TrendMicro, and UMU let you hack your Nokia or SonyEricsson without certificates

Hacking Symbian used to be so easy. You'd download a hacking app, sign it with a certificate that you could pick up from many Symbian forums and other sites, and your phone would be all yours.

But then Nokia cracked down on developer certificates. If you still have an old developer certificate you can use it, but since they're tied to your IMEI you can only use it on the phone for which the certificate was originally created.

Of course the hackers always win. You can flash your phone with hacked firmware, or can can use a loophole in Norton Security, DrWeb, TrendMicro, and UMU.

Yes, that's right. Antivirus programs let you break and enter Symbian! Just download the Norton hack (or one of the other hacks), apply it, and then install ROMPatcher to get into the parts of your phone that Nokia doesn't want you to enter. You don't even need to sign the hacked sis files, just install and run and you're in.

So if you found an old Nokia in the basement, blow off the dust and hack it back to life. S60v3, S60v5, Symbian^3, anything goes. If you found an old SonyEricsson then the UMU hack is your friend.

The antivirus hacks for Nokia:

• Hack Symbian with Norton (CODeRUS)
• Hack Symbian with Norton (symbian freak) UPDATE: This link is dead. And so is Symbian.

• Hack Symbian with DrWeb (CODeRUS)
• Hack Symbian with DrWeb (symbian freak) UPDATE: This link is dead. And so is Symbian.

• Hack Symbian with Trend Micro (CODeRUS)
• Hack Symbian with Trend Micro (symbian freak) UPDATE: This link is dead. And so is Symbian.

The antivirus hack for Nokia and SonyEricsson:

• Hack Symbian with UMU, SonyEricsson too (CODeRUS)
• Hack Symbian with UMU, SonyEricsson too (symbian freak) UPDATE: This link is dead. And so is Symbian.

More hacks:

• index of Symbian hacks (symbian underground)

ActiveFile offline

File manager ActiveFile has some great extras. It's also a task manager, and it can reboot your phone, make screenshots, and make fake messages too. What really sets ActiveFile apart is that it can backup and restore your SMSs.

Unfortunately its website is down. Alietan.com expired on July 30, 2011. Maybe Alie Tan will renew it, maybe he moved on to Android and said goodbye to ActiveFile.

Since legit app sites point to the defunct alietan.com for their downloads, the only way to get the program is from forums of ill repute like iP-mart, noeman.org etc.

Or you can download it from here:

• Active File 1.44.5 (basic and manufacturer capabilities versions) hosted by symbian underground

Symbian Signed certificate change kills the HelloOX2 hack for Symbian^3 (and Just HackIt! too)

Update: new hacks for Nokia and SonyEricsson phones with S60v3, S60v5, and Symbian^3. No certificates needed!

Symbian has a long history of hacking methods. Manual hacks, HelloCarbide, HelloOX, HelloOX2, firmware flashing, Just HackIt!

As long as Symbian lives (which won't be long), it will be hacked.

But Nokia keeps trying to stop the hackers from entering the system folders on their own phones, and sometimes they manage to close the doors for a while until the hackers develop a new lock pick. They can't lock you out of your old Symbian S60v3 phone, but they've managed to shut the doors for owners of Symbian^3 phones who didn't get their own developers certificate yet.

The HelloOX team is having problems with the latest version of HelloOX2 (v2.11) because Symbian Signed closed a hole in their certificates. HelloOX2 is back to v2.03 now, which opens Symbian S60v3 but not Symbian^3.

The problem: the new "17 capability" developer certificates generated by Symbian Signed since 27 June 2011 no longer sign HelloOX2 in a way that makes it work on Symbian S^3 phones.

Because HelloOX2 hacks Symbian^3 with code "borrowed" from Just HackIt! they closed the original Symbian^3 hack too.

So if you want to hack your Symbian^3 phone but you didn't get your own developer certificate yet, you'll have to wait until the hackers find a way around Nokia's certificate restriction.

• Just HackIt! by CODeRUS
• HelloOX2 UPDATE: This link is dead. And so is Symbian.

Update: new hacks for Nokia and SonyEricsson phones with S60v3, S60v5, and Symbian^3. No certificates needed!

Just HackIt! hacks the remains of Symbian

Update: new hacks for Nokia and SonyEricsson phones with S60v3, S60v5, and Symbian^3. No certificates needed!

Nokia is ditching Symbian, but the obsolete operating system still tries to fight hacking attempts as if its life depends on it.

Needless to say, Symbian is losing the fight. CODeRUS released a new Symbian hacking app in the tradition of HelloCarbide and HelloOX.

The latest crowbar to force your way into the system folders is called Just HackIt! It lets you install unsigned programs through a modified installserver.exe just like all the other hacks, so once hacked you don't need to worry about signing and certificates. And CODeRUS made a version of ROMPatcher for Symbian^3 too, so say goodbye to noisy camera clicks and other unwelcome Symbian limitations.

• Just HackIt! from CODeRUS
• ROMPatcher for Symbian^3
• ROMPatcher patches for Symbian^3 (Open4All, remove recording beep, and more)

Note: Symbian^3 is not the same as Symbian S60v3.

• more about Symbian hacking on symbian underground

Update: new hacks for Nokia and SonyEricsson phones with S60v3, S60v5, and Symbian^3. No certificates needed!

ActiveFile fixes old bugs but comes with a new problem

X-plore is the best file manager for Symbian if you want to manage files. But file manager ActiveFile has a few extra features beyond file managing that make it a great program.

ActiveFile is also a task manager. And it can reboot your phone, make screenshots, back up your SMSs, and it can make fake messages too.

The file manager gets the job done. The two pane layout makes it easy to move files between folders. Unfortunately ActiveFile lacks the "tree view" option of X-plore. The # key selects and deselects files and folders, unlike previous versions of the program. Unfortunately the selection marker is very hard to see on white file icons.

The screenshot tool of ActiveFile usually needs to be triggered with the C (delete) key, unless you have a very old phone that still has a pencil key. The camera key can make screenshots in theory, but on my phones it keeps launching the camera instead of making screenshots.

The option "turn light on" is probably meant to light the led so you can use your phone as a flashlight, but this didn't work on any of my phones. If you want to use your phone as a torch, use BrightLight.

SMS backup and restore is the best feature of ActiveFile. You can back up and restore every message folder, including your custom message folders. Better yet, ActiveFile can restore your messages in a non-destructive way: if you restore a backup, new messages that arrived after you made the backup stay on your phone. If you send a backup from one phone to another, the two SMS folders are merged perfectly. Not even Nokia's own Ovi Suite will do that for you.

You can choose whether the SMS backup file should be stored on your phone's own memory or on your memory card, but you can't select the folder in which ActiveFile should store the backup. ActiveFile doesn't even tell you the location of the backup file, and the SMS backup screen has no options for copying backups to your computer, storing them online, or sending them to other Symbian phones to merge different messaging folders. Of course there's a workaround to do all that: just navigate to the backup files in any file browser to copy, send, move, or delete 'em. ActiveFile stores your backups in C:\Data\Others or E:\Others, depending on whether you choose internal memory or memory card as backup location.

ActiveFile may crash with an out of memory error when you restore backups with a lot (many hundreds) of messages, so don't rely on ActiveFile as your only SMS backup method.

ActiveFile can create fake SMSs. Unlike other fake SMS creators like Free-iSMS and Fake Messages (which can only fake incoming messages), ActiveFile can fill your inbox and sent folder with fake incoming and outgoing SMSs. Old versions of ActiveFile would get the date and time of your fake messages wrong, but the latest version gets it right.

The latest version (v1.44.5) fixes some other bugs (details here UPDATE: This link is dead. And so is Symbian.) too. It works well on my phones except for one: on my old Symbian S60v3 feature pack 2 phone the program shuts down whenever I try to open the options menu. On this phone I'll stick with version 1.44.0, which fortunately is still available on the ActiveFile website.

• ActiveFile from Alie Tan UPDATE: This link is dead. And so is Symbian.

Symbian task manager KillMe kills bugs

Symbian S60 task manager KillMe groups the processes (including the hidden ones) that run on your mobile phone according to whether your phone really needs them to keep running.

KillMe is the easiest way to close programs that can't be killed from Symbian's built-in task manager. If a program gets stuck and won't quit, KillMe will make it go away. You can also use KillMe to close non-essential processes to free some memory if you're running low.

The latest KillMe update kills a few bugs.

KillMe doesn't have its own website in english yet, but you can get KillMe in english at Mobile Castle. You'll need to sign the program or hack your phone to install unsigned programs.

If you try to install the new version of KillMe on top of an older version and your phone pops up an "update error," uninstall the old version and try again.

• KillMe v1.36 at MediaFire UPDATE: This link is dead. And so is Symbian.

This entry was stolen by the copycats of nokiashare.blogspot.com because these thieves are too stupid to write their own stories.

Free your phone: ROMPatcher+ updated and included in latest HelloOX2 hack

ROMPatcher+ by Il.Socio is a ROMPatcher spinoff that's being updated a lot lately. ROMPatcher+ lacks the "caps off" option in the menu. Instead, switching capability checking off is now done with a standard ROMPatcher patch. This may stop people from trying to disable capability checking on phones that don't support it.

You can apply and switch off patches in ROMPatcher+ with a single push on the button now. Some old ROMPatcher bugs were fixed, hitting "patch info" displays all info lines of a patch, and it works on touchscreens too. You don't need to store patches on drive E anymore, because ROMPatcher+ can run .rp files no matter what drive they're stored on.

ROMPatcher+ works on all phones that support the old ROMPatcher, and it works on new phones like the Samsung Omnia HD, Nokia 5630 XpressMusic, and E52 too. The most interesting update under the hood is that ROMPatcher+ supports more patch commands, which may lead to better patches.

Unfortunately the author of ROMPatcher+ included a "donate money" nag screen. Hopefully this annoying "feature" will be removed soon.


Symbian hacking tool HelloOX2 got updated too, and now it includes ROMPatcher+ by Il.Socio instead of ROMPatcher by ZoRn.

If you don't like ROMPatcher+ by Il.Socio (for example, because you hate the nag screen), you can keep using the old ROMPatcher by ZoRn. You can even keep both programs on your phone. Of course the old versions of HelloOX with ROMPatcher by ZoRn are still available. The choice is all yours.

ROMPatcher+ by Il.Socio

• ROMPatcher+ on Symbian Freak (signup/login required to read and download)
• ROMPatcher+ v2.00 mod by Nima79 on Symbian Freak (signup/login required to read and download)
• ROMPatcher+ v2.00 mod by Nima79 on Mobile Castle (signup/login required to download)
• ROMPatcher+ on Symbian Toys

ROMPatcher by ZoRn

• ROMPatcher by ZoRn

HelloOX2 with ROMPatcher+ by Il.Socio

• helloox2.com
(the signed version costs US$5 and is advertised all over the site, the unsigned version is free but the download link is much less obvious)
• HelloOX2 v2.02 on Mobile Castle (signup/login required to read and download)

HelloOX2 with ROMPatcher by ZoRn

• HelloOX2 v2.01 at symbian underground

HelloOX 1.03

• HelloOX v1.03
• HelloOX v1.03 with ROMPatcher for Nokia N96

more

• symbianhack.site666.info
• list of Symbian phones and firmware versions that can be hacked
• get a free developer certificate to sign HelloOX, ROMPatcher, and any other Symbian program

Last free version of Bluetooth File Transfer Lite, new beta test version of Jbak TaskMan

Bluetooth File Transfer Lite

Bluetooth File Transfer Lite from Medieval Software is a file manager which can send and grab files over bluetooth, similar to an ftp client. In addition, Bluetooth File Transfer Lite can pack and extract files in the zip, tar, jar, nth, and thm compression formats.

Similar to Nokia phones without a pencil key (and in contrast to file managers like X-plore and ActiveFile) you can select and deselect files with the # key in Bluetooth File Transfer Lite.

The built-in text viewer doesn't know how to break lines so they fit on the screen without horizontal scrolling, but the built-in picture viewer has a very smooth zoom function. You can get out of the full screen picture mode by pressing the 1 or 0 key, which is not very clearly indicated in the program.

Bluetooth File Transfer Lite is written in mobile Java, so it takes some time to start on a Symbian phone. You also have to go to the application manager to allow Bluetooth File Transfer Lite to read and write data, or else your phone will pop up a blizzard of security warnings.

Bluetooth File Transfer Lite v.1.41 is free, but Medieval Software plans to ask money for future versions.

• Bluetooth File Transfer Lite from Medieval Software
• Bluetooth File Transfer Lite at GetJar
• Bluetooth File Transfer Lite v.1.41 at Mobile Castle



Jbak TaskMan

There's yet another test version of Jbak TaskMan. This program shows the running tasks on your phone, including hidden tasks that won't show up in Symbian's built-in task manager. Jbak TaskMan also displays memory status, disk usage, and detailed task info. When the program is running, long-pressing the menu button launches Jbak TaskMan instead of Symbian's built-in task manager.

The new test version fixes a few bugs, lets you set the font size in pixels, and the menus appear faster. And now Jbak TaskMan has a flashlight too. When you activate it, your screen turns bright white, but BrightLight and Light Control are better at turning your phone into a torch.

Jbak TaskMan v1.00 R16 is not available from Jbak's own site, but if you want to test it you can get it from Mobile Castle.

• Jbak TaskMan site (latest full version and some test versions)
• Jbak TaskMan v1.00 R16 (test version, unsigned) at Mobile Castle

Free your phone: HelloOX2 Symbian hack got better

Do you want Nokia to control what you can and cannot do with your mobile phone? Or Samsung? Or would you rather decide yourself?

The bad news: By default, Symbian comes with a lot of excessive restrictions, and the official Symbian policy is that you can't (and shouldn't) have the freedom to do with your phone what you want.

Most (if not all) Symbian phones won't let you install unsigned software, even if the unsigned programs are perfectly legitimate. There's a workaround called Open Signed Online, but this is still in beta testing and in its present state it's inadequate. Symbian also won't let you change the user interface beyond what Nokia (or Samsung, or SonyEricsson) thinks is good for you. Just try to change the name under a program icon or remove "share online" from your active standby and you'll see what I mean. And you can't silence the artificial camera shutter sound if you happen to have the wrong regional firmware edition, even if such shutter sound is not required in your country. The list of restrictions imposed by Symbian (and Nokia, and Samsung, and SonyEricsson) is long, and most of these restrictions are downright ridiculous.

The good news: If you hack your phone you can get rid of most of these restrictions. And rightly so. After all, it's your phone.

Setting your phone free is a cat and mouse game. Some smart people make the tools that let you set your phone free, Nokia strikes back with firmware updates that put the shackles back on, the hackers find a new way to put control back in your hands, and so on.

The latest episode in this comedy is called HelloOX2.

HelloOX by bugb is a way to hack Symbian on phones with firmware that resists the old HelloCarbide method. And now it got even better: HelloOX2 v2.01 plays well on the Nokia E52 and E90, in addition to the long list of phones that are supported by earlier editions of HelloOX and older hacking methods.

Keep in mind that liberating the E52 and E90 is still tricky, because ROMPatcher doesn't work on these phones yet. Check the list of hackable and unhackable phones for the latest info.

HelloOX needs to be signed with a "17 capabilities" certificate before you can install it. The authors of HelloOX2 sell a signed version for US$5, but of course you can also get the free (unsigned) version and sign it yourself.

UPDATE: The first release of HelloOX2 v2.01 had a bug: it would install ROMPatcher without asking you first. The links below point to "HelloOX2 v2.01 fixed," which asks you if you want to install ROMPatcher or not.

• HelloOX2 site (free version in .rar file from a file farm with forced countdown counter)
• HelloOX2 v2.01 fixed, unsigned (zip file, no forced wait)
• HelloOX2 v2.01 fixed, unsigned on Mobile Castle
• HelloOX2 discussion at Symbian Freak (login/signup required), the place for technical support questions
• how to get a free developer certificate

• list of Symbian phones and firmware versions that can (and cannot) be hacked
• all Symbian hacking methods (and a list of things you can do with a hacked phone)

MyNotes and ActiveFile fix bugs, but users of Contacts Transfer be warned

MyNotes

Symbian's built-in Notes application does its job, but MyNotes does more. With MyNotes you can protect your notes with a password, encrypt them, and organise them into folders. MyNotes used to choke on passwords that contain a zero, but the latest update fixes this bug.

MyNotes is a mobile Java program, so it doesn't launch as fast as Symbian's built-in notes application. But that's a small price to pay for password protection, encryption, and filing your notes into folders.

• MyNotes


ActiveFile

A new beta test version of file manager ActiveFile appeared on the ActiveFile website, but was quickly removed. For details about ActiveFile, check this review.

What's new (according to the changelog)?

The beta test version comes as a single installer for all versions of Symbian S60, and numerous bugs were fixed.

What's new (according to my own test, which is far from complete)?

The SMS backup and restore function has improved. The "backup options" entry in the menu of the SMS backup tool works now, so you don't have to click all the way to the settings menu to change your SMS backup/restore settings. And the "ignore duplicate" setting (which you can set to yes or no) doesn't forget your choice anymore.

The "fake SMS" feature has a new bug. When I created fake messages with the beta test version, ActiveFile got the dates wrong. August 10 became July 9, September 11 became August 10, etcetera. If you want to set a certain date for your message, you'll have to increase the day and month by one. This means you can't fake an SMS for the last day of the month, because ActiveFile won't accept the 32nd of August. If you set the first day of the month (or the first month of the year) and hit "create," ActiveFile crashes without creating the message, since one minus one produces an invalid date. On the bright side, ActiveFile can fake outgoing messages in addition to inbound SMSs, a feature you won't find (yet) in Free-iSMS or Fake Messages.

What's not new?

SMS backup files can be stored on your phone's built-in memory or on your memory card, but ActiveFile won't let you choose in which folder you'd like the backup to be stored. It doesn't even tell you the location of the backup file, which makes it unnecessarily difficult to copy the backup to your computer, store it online, or send it to another Symbian phone to merge different messaging folders.

You can move, copy, and send the SMS backup files manually if you know where they are. If you choose to store SMS backups in "internal memory" the backup files are stored in C:\Data\Others. If you choose "memory card" the files end up in E:\Others.

A bug that has not been fixed, and which may cause very unpleasant surprises: when you delete SMS backups from within ActiveFile's SMS backup screen it will also delete phone book backups created by Contacts Transfer if they're on the same drive. To be on the safe site, tell ActiveFile and Contacts Transfer to use different drives to store their backups until ActiveFile is fixed.

Other bugs may have been repaired (or introduced), but I'll wait for future updates to look into that. For managing my files I still prefer X-plore, and KillMe and JBak TaskMan are better than ActiveFile's built-in task manager. What really sets ActiveFile apart from other file and task managers is its nondestructive SMS backup and restore option and the Fake Message creator. These features work, even though there is plenty of room for bug fixes and other improvements.

• ActiveFile from Alie Tan
• ActiveFile v1.43.1 beta at Mobile Castle

Hackers versus Nokia 4-3: HelloOX2, SetMeFree, and the MapDrives methods open up phones that Nokia tried to lock down

HelloOX2

Symbian hack method HelloOX has its own site, and version 2.0 sets new Nokia firmware versions free that resisted the previous HelloOX versions, such as firmware version 30.0.33 of the Nokia N96, version 300.21.012 of the Nokia E71, and the previously unhackable Nokia N97.

HelloOX2 doesn't seem to work on the Nokia E51 firmware version 400.34.011.

HelloOX installs ROMPatcher on your phone, which you can use for a lot of things, including installing unsigned Symbian programs.

Just like previous versions, HelloOX2 needs to be signed with a "17 capabilities" developer certificate. You can also buy a signed version (US$5 as of July 27, 2009), but IMO that's an expensive way of getting a DevCert that other sites give away for free.

• HelloOX2 site
• HelloOX2 at Mobile Castle
• HelloOX2 discussion at Symbian Freak (login/signup required), the place for technical support questions
• how to get a free developer certificate to sign HelloOX and other programs
• list of Symbian 9.x phones and firmware versions that can be hacked

AUGUST 19, 2009 UPDATE: There's a new version of HelloOX2.


MapDrives method

There's a thread from abgnokia on the Symbian Freak forum that explains how to hack your phone with MapDrives, ROMPatcher, and file browser X-plore. SetMeFree (see below) makes it a bit easier, and HelloOX2 is the easiest Symbian hack for phones that resist the old HelloCarbide hack, but if these methods don't work for you the manual MapDrives method may help you out.

This method may open up the "unhackable" Nokia 5630 XpressMusic a tiny little bit.

• MapDrives method on Mobile Castle
• MapDrives method on Symbian Freak (login/signup required)
• very limited Nokia 5630 XpressMusic hack on Symbian Freak (login/signup required)


SetMeFree

SetMeFree is a bundle of MapDrives, ROMPatcher, and Y-Browser to hack Symbian phones that resist other hacking methods (but try HelloOX2 first). The bundled ROMPatcher patches are meant for S60 3rd ed. Feature Pack 2 phones.

Like all other hacks that appeared after HelloCarbide, you'll need to sign SetMeFree with a "17 capabilities" developer certificate.

• SetMeFree v1.00 on Mobile Castle
• SetMeFree discussion on Symbian Freak (login/signup required)


Some things you can do with a hacked phone

• install unsigned programs without having to deal with Symbian Signed
• change or remove your phone camera shutter sound
• customise your Active Standby screen

...and much more. Check symbianhack.site666.info for details.

PhoNetInfo and Jbak TaskMan with new features

PhoNetInfo

PhoNetInfo shows almost everything you need to know about your mobile phone. Your phone's firmware version, IMEI and IMSI numbers, Wi-Fi and bluetooth MAC addresses, the Wi-Fi SSID and security mode of your active wireless connection, network signal strength, the amount of RAM your phone really has and how much of it is available for your programs, which tasks are running (including those that Symbian's own task manager hides), and much more.

PhoNetInfo can restart your phone with less button pushes than switching your phone off and on. This feature works on my Feature Pack 1 phones, but not on my Feature Pack 2 phone.

The latest version adds bug fixes, copying of selected information to the system clipboard, and correct processor speed info for more phone models.

PhoNetInfo is unsigned. You can sign it yourself, install it on a hacked phone with certificate checking switched off, or you can download the old, signed version.

• PhoNetInfo


Jbak TaskMan

JBak TaskMan lets you see hidden tasks, memory status, disk usage, and detailed task info. When the program is running, long-pressing the menu button launches Jbak TaskMan instead of Symbian's built-in excuse for a task manager.

The latest series of test versions feature bug fixes (reboot and autorun should work without errors now), make the program work better on touchscreen phones, add a quickstart folder, and there's a new experimental "kill all" function. The latest signed version doesn't have all the new features and the official site doesn't have the latest unsigned test version, but Mobile Castle does.

You can sign the test versions yourself, or install them on a hacked phone with certificate checking switched off.

• JBak TaskMan site (latest signed version and some unsigned test versions)
• JBak TaskMan v1.0 R12 (unsigned test version)

Nokia vs. hackers 3-3: new firmware hackproof, certificate generator and repacked HelloOX won't let you in

Nokia vs. Hackers 3-3

Until a week or so ago all Nokia S60 3rd and 5th ed. phones could be hacked with the HelloOX method. But now there are a few firmware versions out that resist HelloOX.

The damage so far: N96 firmware version 30.0.33, E51 400.34.011, E75 110.48.125, and the hackability of other new phone/firmware combinations is not clear yet.

Here's a list of all phones and firmware versions that can be hacked.

JULY 27, 2009 UPDATE:
The hackers have taken the lead again. HelloOX2 opens up phones and firmwares that Nokia tried to lock down.

AUGUST 19, 2009:
Improved version of HelloOX2


HelloOX 1.05, nothing new?

There's a program called HelloOX 1.05 floating around on many Symbian forums. Some say it works better than HelloOX 1.03, others say it's exactly the same file with a different name. The maker of HelloOX 1.01, 1.02, and 1.03 apparently has nothing to do with this repacked version, so don't expect it to do things that HelloOX 1.03 cannot do. According to this discussion on the Symbian Freak forum (signup/login required) HelloOX 1.05 is a hoax just like HelloOX 1.04.

• "HelloOX 1.05" on Mobile Castle
• "HelloOX 1.05" on Symbian Freak (signup/login required)
• HelloOX 1.03
• HelloOX 1.03 for Nokia N96

JULY 27, 2009 UPDATE:
HelloOX2 opens up phones and firmwares that Nokia tried to lock down.

AUGUST 19, 2009:
Improved version of HelloOX2


Drakkarious Certificate builder

If you can't hack your phone with HelloCarbide, you'll need HelloOX. Unfortunately you have to sign HelloOX with a developer certificate (DevCert) before you can install it on your phone, and these certificates are hard to get.

The Drakkarious Certificate builder is supposed to make a DevCert for you without having to post your phone's IMEI on the web. But most people who tried it reported that it didn't work, and some people even detected a trojan in the program, although this appears to be a false positive.

• Drakkarious Certificate builder on Mobile Castle
• Drakkarious Certificate builder discussion on Symbian Freak (signup/login required)
• places where you might get a DevCert updated with new sites that provide developer certificates

SigWatch monitors your mobile phone network signal strength

SigWatch plots the signal strength of your mobile phone network over time. This can be very useful if you're in a remote area, or in a builing with heavy concrete walls and bad network coverage. Just run SigWatch, walk around, and look at the graph to see which places have the best mobile network signal.

You need to have Python installed to use SigWatch. Install Python programs (and Python itself) on your phone's built-in memory, not on your memory card.

The SigWatch site on code.google.com is very programmer oriented. Mobile Castle has a more user friendly SigWatch page and download link.

• SigWatch
• SigWatch v1.0.0 at Mobile Castle

• Python (required to run SigWatch)

Clean up your phone with PyUtilS60

PyUtilS60 is a Python script which can purge your RealPlayer history, autostarting programs list, themes (even those that don't appear in the application manager of your phone), and stuck installers.

It needs Python, of course. It also needs access to the system folders of your phone, which means that your phone must be hacked.

• PyUtilS60

• Python for Symbian S60
• how to hack your phone to set it free
• open4all (to switch off capability checking if you can't use CapsOnOff or the built-in Caps Of feature of ROMPatcher)

InstsvrOnOff toggles your Symbian installserver hack

You hack your phone because you don't need Nokia or SonyEricsson to take you by the hand and tell you what's good for you. And then you add the modified version of installserver.exe because you don't need Symbian Signed to force their judgement on you.

But do you want to have your copy of the modified installserver.exe active 24/7, or only when you need it?

Enter instsvrOnOff, a tool to turn off the hacked version of installserver when you don't need it, and toggle it back on when you want to install something. Run, click, ready: instsvrOnOff is a simple and efficient program that gets the job done and stops right there.

You'll need a hacked phone with Python installed, and in typical Python style it's a good idea to put Python and your Python programs directly on the phone memory and not on a memory card.

If you use the installserver patches for ROMPatcher you don't need instsvrOnOff, because then you can switch the installserver mod on and off from the ROMPatcher menu.

• instsvrOnOff for phones with the installserver.mod at Symbian Freak (for members only)
• instsvrOnOff for phones with the installserver.mod at Mobile Castle (for everybody)

• Python for Symbian
• how to hack your phone and set it free
• modified installserver.exe for Symbian S60 and UIQ

• installserver patches for ROMPatcher

HelloOX Symbian hack with ROMPatcher for Nokia N96

The HelloOX method to set Symbian free on new phones with new firmware allows you to install the Symbian modifier ROMPatcher.

Unfortunately ROMPatcher and the Nokia N96 didn't go very well together.

But erkk at the Symbian Freak forum repacked HelloOX with a version of ROMPatcher that works on the N96. This combines well with the installserver patch for ROMPatcher that lets you install unsigned programs without having to deal with the censors at Symbian Signed.

• HelloOX 1.03 with ROMPatcher for Nokia N96 at Symbian Freak (login/signup required)
• HelloOX 1.03 with ROMPatcher for Nokia N96 (no need to log in)

AUGUST 19, 2009:
Improved version of HelloOX2

Install unsigned programs on new phones with new firmware with the ROMPatcher installserver.exe patch

HelloOX by bugb is a simple way to hack Symbian on phones with firmware that resists the old HelloCarbide method. Unfortunately there is no hacked installserver.exe for new phones with new firmware, so unsigned programs still needed signing before you could install them on your phone.

Running a hacked copy of installserver.exe doesn't work on new phones with new firmware versions, because these phones refuse to run installserver from any location other than the Z:\ drive, which is read-only.

But the hackers at Symbian Freak found a workaround. ROMPatcher can patch installserver.exe in memory (RAM), so now you can install all programs on new phones with new firmware without having to sign them first.

These ROMPatcher patches allow installation of unsigned programs on phones hacked with the HelloOX method.

• installserver.exe patch collection

• the old installserver.exe hack for those who don't want to use ROMPatcher
• the modding section of the Symbian Freak forum (members only)
• the HelloOX hack
• list of phones and firmware versions that can be hacked
• index of all Symbian hacking methods

AUGUST 19, 2009 UPDATE
Improved version of HelloOX2 comes with ROMPatcher installserver.exe patch built in

HelloOX 1.03: one step hack for Symbian S60 3rd ed. phones, and for Nokia 5800 XpressMusic too

HelloOX by bugb is a simple way to hack Symbian on phones with firmware that resists the old HelloCarbide method. With HelloOX you can install unsigned programs and give yourself full access to Symbian's system folders on your phone, so you can customise the way your mobile phone looks and behaves in ways that are impossible on locked down systems.

You used to have to sign and install HelloOX together with MapDrives, and remove the mapped drives that it created by rebooting your phone. ROMPatcher was also installed by default, which could cause problems on some Feature Pack 2 phones.

But not anymore. Hacking your phone with HelloOX is now a simple process with just one program that does it all for you. Sign, install, run, ready.

• HelloOX on the Symbian Freak forum (login/signup required)
• HelloOX 1.03 with extended installation guide
• List of phones firmware versions that can be hacked fully or partially
• All Symbian hacks indexed

MARCH 3, 2009 UPDATE
You can now patch installserver.exe on new firmware too, so you can install programs without having to sign them first.

MARCH 16, 2009 UPDATE
There's a special version of HelloOX with ROMPatcher for the Nokia N96.

JULY 27, 2009 UPDATE
There's a new version of HelloOX. HelloOX2 opens up phones that Nokia tried to lock down.

AUGUST 19, 2009 UPDATE
Improved version of HelloOX2

Access to your Symbian system folders: the Open4All patch for phones hacked with the Y-Drive/Modo method

Note: the Open4All patch also works with HelloOX, HelloCarbide, and all other hacking methods as long as you install ROMPatcher on your phone.

The Y-Drive/Modo hack opens Nokia phones with firmware versions that resisted the old AppTRK and HelloCarbide hacks.

There's a problem, though. On many phones hacked with the new Y-Drive/Modo method, you can't simply switch caps off to give file managers like X-plore and ActiveFile access to system folders like c:\sys\bin. You had to use the Modo file manager instead, which has rather limited features.

This ROMPatcher patch takes care of that. When you let ROMPatcher run the Open4All patch, all your file managers can view, read from, and write to the system folders.

Of course your phone has to be hacked and ROMPatcher has to be installed on your phone to make this patch work.

This patch was posted on the Symbian Freak forum by wadowice.

Note: the Open4All patch also works with HelloOX, HelloCarbide, and all other hacking methods as long as you install ROMPatcher on your phone.

• Open4All patch for ROMPatcher on Mobile Castle
• Open4All patch discussion on Symbian Freak (signup/login required)
• Y-Drive/Modo hack to set Symbian free
• All Symbian hacks

August 19, 2009 update:
HelloOX2 hacks your phone and automatically installs ROMPatcher with Open4All