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iOS 17 Tips, Tricks, How-Tos, News

Safe-Cracking Made Stupid Easy: Just Use a Magnet

SentrySafe puts all sorts of measures in place to protect your valuables and important documents. This particular SentrySafe has an electronic lock, four 1-inch bolts to keep the door firmly in place, pry-resistant hinges, and it's able to withstand drops of up to 15 feet. That all sounds great, until you find out that you can open this safe—and pretty much every safe like it—in a matter of seconds using only a magnet. A rare earth magnet, to be precise.

How To: Unlock Any Master Lock Combination Padlock

Let's say you forgot the code to your Master Lock combination padlock. What can you do besides buy another one? Well, there's a surprising abundance of ways to open a combination lock other than with just the combination, some of which will even let you reset the code. Of course, these hacks aren't limited to folks just looking to open their own locks, but let's just assume that's what you're here for.

How To: Break into Almost Any Gun Safe with Straws, Paper Clips, Coat Hangers, and Even Children!

At the recent DefCon conference in Las Vegas, researchers opened many of the top commercially available gun safes with simple tools like a straw or a paper clip, and in one case, just by shaking it a bit. The investigation began after the researchers, Toby Bluzmanis, Marc Tobias and Matt Fiddler, learned that certain Stack-On safes, issued to some law enforcement officials to secure their firearms at home, could be opened simply by jiggling the doorknob.

How To: Pick a Spoke-Hedz 3-Digit Combination Lock

My kids found an old Spoke-Hedz three digit lock, and wanted my help to crack it open. One of the first things I noticed was that it doesn't function like a normal code lock, where one half of the lock will open, or the lock itself separates. In this lock, the locking bail extends through the lock mechanism, and the lock mechanism itself slides back and forth across the bail.

How To: Pick a small lock on a cabinet or mailbox

Have you accidentally been locked out of your mailbox, or lost the key for a cabinet holding all your important documents? For being such small locks, the ones on mailboxes and cabinets can be deceptively difficult. This tutorial shows you how to pick a four cylinder lock easily. You'll need some basic lock picking tools, scaled down to match the small size of the pick. Once you have the right tools and technique down, it's just a matter of being able to get past all the pins.

HowTo: Build a Vibrating Lock Pick With a Toothbrush

Unbeknownst to the general public, picking a lock can be a very easy process once you get the hang of it (yes, surprising AND frightening). A vibrating lock pick set takes the general ease of picking even further by speeding up the process. Now, with the help of Invent Geek, you can make your own DIY Vibrating lock pick for about a tenth of the price of a manufactured kit.

How To: This Is Why Your TSA-Approved Luggage Locks Are Useless

Last year, the Washington Post's Ashley Halsey wrote an article on what really happens to your luggage at airports. In it, they unwittingly published a photo of the master keys the TSA uses for TSA-approved baggage locks. Now, thanks to that picture and a French lock-picking enthusiast, anyone with a 3D printer can make their own master keys to unlock any TSA-recognized locks.

How To: Pick a door lock with an electric pick gun

In this video, we learn how to pick a door lock with an electric pick gun. First you will need to have a locked door and an electric pick with you. Once you have these, push the electric pick into the door and turn it on as you twist the knob. Continue to do this for several tries until the door is completely unlocked and you are able to twist the door knob. After you do this, you will be able to open a door anytime you accidentally lock yourself out! Make sure the pins reset when you are fin...

How To: Use a Tennis Ball to Unlock Car Doors Without a Key

The Next Three Days is the new film by Paul Haggis (Crash), which stars Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks. Laura (Banks) is accused of murder and sent to prison, and her husband John (Crowe) struggles to prove her innocence while taking care of their only child. But the system does not work for John, and he's forced to take extreme actions and attempt a prison break.

How To: Make a Lock Pick Out of a Paper Clip and Multi-Tool

The fine folks at ITS Tactical made this detailed tutorial on how to make a two-piece lock pick set out of only a few paper clips and using only a multi-tool in the construction. The host begins by demonstrating how to construct the pick, then how to use it on a real lock. It is not as easy as using a real lock pick, but will still work. As the host emphasizes at the beginning of the video, these picks are only to be used in emergency situations, and NOT to break into other people's homes wil...

How To: Open a door without a lockpick

In this tutorial, the instructor shows us how to open up a door with a screwdriver. For this to work you will need a locked door and a screw driver. You first will need to take the screw driver and push it under the two latches on the side of the door on the lock. Keep pulling back on the latches with the screwdriver until the door pops open, this can take a few minutes or a few seconds depending on the lock strength. This will work on most normal door locks. Be careful because this will leav...

How To: Hack a bike lock without a key

Hacking a bike lock is something that you may need to do sometime if you forget your combination or maybe just didn't bring the key for the lock with you. You should never hack a bike lock to steal anything and should know that this tutorial is for informational purposes only. The first thing you will need to do to accomplish this task is to get a marker. Once you have the correct size marker to fit into the key hole, just stick it in there. Once it is in the lock, just press down while turni...

How To: Pick a Deadbolt Door Lock with Bobby Pins Quickly

Whether you locked yourself out of your house, or just into experimenting with locks, check out this video to learn how to open a deadbolt door lock. No skill, no experience, and no professional pick tools needed -- just 2 bobby pins. Using very light torque to the tension wrench, insert another bobby pin and scrub over the pins from inside to outside. If the pins do not set after several strokes, release the tension wrench and do it again. Use a screwdriver when the plug is too tight to turn.

How To: Lock pick a magnum lock

When it comes to picking basic locks, all you need are small household items. Check out this video to see how to pick a magnum lock using a pen clip and bobby pin. With a little pressure and proper maneuvering of the bobby pin, you should have the lock unlocked in no time.

News: Crack a Master Lock Mathematically, Without a Shim

Apparently it is possible to reduce 64,000 possible Master Lock padlock combinations down to just 100. The entire process is clearly illustrated in the below how-to from Mark Edward Campos. For an enlarged version, click here. Looking for something a little more interactive? We have loads of lock-picking tutorial videos. Here's one that demonstrates the same method (math as opposed to shim) outlined in the above illustration.

How To: Open locks with comb picks

Not a great lock picker? Well, get some help figuring out how to break into padlocks and high security locks -- check out this video tutorial on how to open locks with comb picks. Comb picks are one of the best ways to hack into these common everyday padlocks. It's not a foolproof way to pick locks, but it's great when it works.

How To: Successfully bypass padlocks with a lock pick

For lockpicking, there's tension wrenches and lock picks. There's all kinds of tensions wrenches (or spanners) out there, you just need to find the right one for you and it's best if it were stainless steel. The lockpick should also be stainless steel. To bypass padlocks, all you need is the lock pick though, and it's simpler than you think. With a delicate touch and a little practice, you'll be lockpicking like a pro in no time. Next you'll be picking Master locks, deadbolts, door locks, bik...

How To: Pick single-pin locks

Ever wanted to learn how to pick a lock? Well, there's no better time than now to start learning the craft of so many locksmiths out there... lock picking. Just watch this video tutorial to see how to pick single-pin locks.

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