A Nearly Complete Guide on Uplink

Having spent some time playing the game, I decided to write a guide. It’s not 100% full, as I prefer some things and do them more often than other things. However, this information will be quite enough for you to play and progress faster and with less failures than me.
I don't know why I decided to make it, I just felt like that.

Getting Started

To begin with, you must register in the Uplink database. It’s very fast, in fact, and you don’t have to type complicated passcodes. My 3-digit password is sufficient for it. Then, you’ll have to choose your location. It doesn’t really matter which one you choose. To log in again, you can just press your name, and the form will be filled. Initially, the password field has some 8 characters. It’s okay, the log in will be successful. Optionally, you can type in your name and password, of course, but I always feel too lazy for it.
After the registration is complete, you will be asked if you want to complete the tutorial. Its first stage is actually quite useful for you to get familiar with the interface. As you go through, note where your bank IP and account no. are (these will be seen in the Finance tab).
I’d call completing Tutorial One at least once a must. The remaining two are unnecessary, especially if you read this (or probably another) guide.

Terms

Here are terms used in the game or just by me. I'll shorten some things for the sake of convenience.
Gigaquads, or Gq’s, are memory units in the game.
Credits, or c’s, are monetary units.
Map shortenings I’ll use to make the guide more convenient and compact:
I will shorten Uplink to UL.
Internal Services System (or Machine) will be shortened to IS.
Public Access Server will be shortened to PAS.
Local Area Network will be shortened to LAN.
File Server will be shortened to FS.
Central Mainframe will be shortened to CM.
Uplink Internal Services System will be called UI.
I may call your gateway “home”.
Everywhere I write “type something”, don’t use the quotation marks. When you’ve done hit Enter (or click the button in front of the text box if Enter doesn’t work) after that without any additional notice.

Connecting to an IP

To do this, just click the map in the upper left part of the screen and choose the place you’d like to connect to. However, few of them are safe, so you’ll want to bounce of as many IP addresses as possible in order not to be tracked and caught. To bounce, choose an IP (click a white square “dot”) and then a different one. To undo your choice, click it once more. When you’re satisfied with the path, click Connect. The longer your path, i. e. the more bounce points you have, the longer it takes to find you.

To maximize the number of bouncing points, first go to your map and connect all your present IPs.
IMPORTANT: InterNIC must always be your first bounce point. There is only one exception: Uplink Internal Services System (UI) can be securely reached directly. UL bank as well, but it’s not that safe.
NOTE: to connect from any point you already at, you have to disconnect first. Say, if you’ve connected to UI, you won’t be able to connect to InterNIC unless you disconnect.
The only point you can’t unchoose is your gateway. After you’ve connected all the points present (again, starting with InterNIC), click Save. It’ll spare you a lot of time later.
Connect to InterNIC and choose Browse/Search. Choose the first five points in the list by clicking a + in front of them, it should disappear. If it doesn’t click the plus once more.

Click Disconnect right under the map. You’re in your Gateway again. As you’ve probably noticed, the list has become longer.

Now, click the circles in front of them once, so they become pluses. Go to the map. The points in orange are the ones marked with +. Click Load. The track you previously made appears. Add all the orange points to it and click Save again.

Close the map and click the pluses once more, so that there are no icons in front of the five. They’ve also disappeared from your map. It’s convenient not to overload the map.
Note: don’t click the lines themselves, or else you’ll connect to those IPs immediately.
Connect to InterNIC again. If you still have the trace you previously saved, and connect. Do it directly. Go to Browse/Search again, but now add all IPs there. I agree, it’s a lot, but it will serve you well. Actually, you won’t have to go to this section anymore, and you’ll need some data from InterNIC later. Disconnect.
Scroll the list down to the five empty spaces you left after taking away the pluses. You can start from the top, but the way described is more convenient to me. Make 5 more pluses and go to the map. Notice where the orange dots are. Click Load and connect the five points to the existing path.

Double-click Cancel (so that you’re in the gateway again) and unplus the IPs. Make 5 more pluses. Go on until you’ve connected all of them. Some of them will most likely overlap, so you might want to change the scale of the map. If you’re still not sure, consult with the names. Naturally, you can mark more or less than 5 points, I just find it convenient.
It takes quite a while, I know, but it’ll save you more in the long run.
When done, it looks like this in a “normal” and loaded state respectively:

The positions of different bounce points will be different, so don’t worry if you find 5 of them in New Zealand while I have none. They appear to be assigned to the IPs randomly. I’ve also taken away the UL bank and PAS, as I don’t need the bank now, and I won’t probably need the PAS at all except as a bounce point.
If you haven’t added all the points, it’s not actually a big deal. Let’s go to the next stage.

Navigating, Shopping, and Your First Mission

Go to UI. Login either by typing everything or just clicking the given info and proceeding. Ranking is quite useless, but may be interesting. Mission List is irrelevant before you’ve finished the test mission. The News menu is sometimes needed to learn when you’ve accomplished certain missions, and you can also read some storyline text here.
Go to Software Upgrades and buy Password Breaker (only 1.0 is available) and Log Deleter 1.0. These are crucial. Now you have 1,000c left. Disconnect.
Go to the map. Press Load. The green IPs are target IPs of the missions you have. Double-click the UL Test Machine point: the first click unchooses it, the second makes it your destination. Connect to it. There’s a window with login/password text boxes. Click Software>Bypassers>Password Breaker, then click the pop-up window. It will start working. Once finished, Password Breaker closes automatically. Click Proceed, then File Server. Go to Software>File Utilities>File Copier. Find the UL Test Data file and click it with activated file copier. While it is copying, find available space of at least six empty slots: 1 slot equals 1 Gq. As soon as the file has been copied, the copier window will follow your cursor again. Click one of the top empty slots so that there are at least 5 free slots beneath it. Done. Close the window of the program: right-click anywhere and then the cross button.
Click the map, then Disconnect. Go to InterNIC. Fortunately, it’s possible to disconnect without having to enter the gateway each and every time. Now you go to Admin section. Use Password Breaker. In the case of windows requiring no names, you should click the password text box itself. Later on, you’ll just click the password and enter without having to break the passcode again. This will not always work, especially with LANs (a single password will be offered for every password window in the system, which is usually wrong), but it never fails with InterNIC.
In the Admin section, go to logs. Use your Log Deleter (Software>Security>Log Deleter) to clear some of your logs. You will never be able to clear all of them, as after you disconnect the log stating that will appear. However, you can (and should) clean your traces. To do so, delete all logs containing “authentication accepted” and “Connection from 127.0.0.1 routed to”. This is done much like with copying files. With Log Deleter1.0, you will only be able to delete the text, but not the log itself. I’ll refer to this as “clear your logs” later. You should do it every single time, the more often the better.


Delete the logs of the two types mentioned above. Disconnect. Open the task notification, click Reply, then Attach, choose the file and click Send. You will get a notification letter within several seconds.
Note: logs containing “Accessed file” mean that you may be tracked. So, you can find the guy and get him to prison. Arresting people will be covered later.
Basically, you lose nothing if you delete all the letters after reading them, so free the space in the lower part of the screen for your missions.

Easy Missions and Better Software

Connect to UI. If you enter Ranking, you’ll notice that it has improved, perhaps too significantly. Mine went up from the 105th to the 62nd after even the test mission. Go to Mission list and choose as many missions as you can. Right now you can either copy or delete a file. You should always contact the employer. Personally, I always ask for more money. They won’t agree initially, but later on they can easily add 10% above. You can also ask for money before you complete the mission. They’re likely to reject. To make them agree, choose “No, thanks” and ask for the entire sum (or half of it) again. The chances are that they’ll agree. However, you will not be able to take more if you do not accept the task, even if they agreed to do it first.
I’d advise you to accept all the missions available right now. Still, if they ask to send a copy of a file, and the UL difficulty is 3, don’t accept it. This task is a pain in the neck. These files are encrypted, and employers only accept decrypted files. This requires additional software, and File Decrypter takes too much space.
If you see “steal” or “return” in the overview window, it means you must copy files. “Destroy” or “sabotage” means that you must delete them.
In most cases, some targets will have at least two tasks, which means you don’t need to disconnect every time. However, you should do everything as fast as you can.
Read the news, if you feel like it.
Disconnect.
Open your memory bank and delete the test task file.
Choose a left or right mission letter and note the name of the target company. Go through your missions and find how many of them are connected with it. Just in case, do copying missions first: you might discover that you must copy the file you’ve just deleted. I’ve never encountered it, though. If the file you must copy is not present at the file server, you’ll have to abandon the mission. However, if the file you must delete isn’t there, just send a reply, the job is done. I’d advice to copy/delete files first. The second thing is to clear logs, and only the third one is to send a reply. Security is a primary thing here if you don’t want to do things over and over again.
If the location is new, it’ll be the first in your gateway table. The first missions are very unlikely to suggest new IPs if you followed the instruction where I advised to add IPs. So, if it’s new, go to the map, click Load and click the destination once, if not, double-click and connect. Use the Password Breaker to get to the system. Click View links and add the locations which have pluses in front of them. Normally, each new IS provides you with two more links to add, which means you become two points more difficult to track. Ultimately, you can filter “internal services” at home and add all the contacts at once or filter "public access" and add al the phone numbers (you can use them as bounce points, either). I don’t do the things described in the previous sentence, it looks too much to me. I just add those while completing missions.


Close Links window, go to File server and copy/delete the files. Once you’re done with the location, disconnect, clear logs and reply the client’s letter(s). Then mark the two new locations so that they are orange, go to the map, click Load, add the two to your path, save it and double-click Cancel. Then make them disappear from the map. Delete mission files you no longer need.
Repeat this with the following locations.
As soon as you’ve got 4,000c, go to UI, delete Log Deleter 1.0 (by using File Deleter) and buy Log Deleter 4.0. Go to InterNIC and delete the empty logs. The process of shifting will get some time, though. If you always clear logs with it, you are nearly uncatchable.

Upgrading Software, Part 1

Continue working.
NOTE: if you trace a hacker or perform similar tasks, your Neuromancer rating (not rank) goes down, not to mention that tracking is not an easy task. Missions that involve copying or deleting files, or destroying the system improve it. Positive side is said to go as follows: from Neutral to Aggressive > Single Minded > Activist > Anarchic > Revolutionary. I didn’t get to Revolutionary, as for some reason or other missions “Our Esteemed colleague wishes to make a donation” decrease it, though they are really easy to accomplish and give you a good deal of money.
As soon as you accumulate 5,000c, go to UI and buy HUD_MapShowTrace. With it, you’ll need no Trace Tracker. Map analyzer doesn’t take any disc space and shows where the trackers are Their way is highlighted in red following from your destination to your home.
Continue working. Having earned 20,000, buy Hud_Connection_Analysis. Then buy Monitor_Bypass 5.0 and Proxy_Bypass 5.0. The versions should be 5.0, lower ones don't look useful and time-saving.

Working with Banks

You will find tasks where they ask you to give them info concerning someone’s loan or balance (“Client interested in financial data on an enemy”). These tasks are fairly easy to complete and usually give you more than 5,000. Bounce to the necessary bank. Banks are quick to find you, so don’t waste time. Go to “Manage existing account”, type the person’s account number as a name and use Password Breaker. Click Client Details and write the number they’re interested in. If there’s much money, i. e. more than 100,000, don’t finish the mission yet. Wait until you have bought Monitor_Bypass 5.0 and Proxy_Bypass 5.0.
When you see a task called “Trace a recent balance transfer”, accept it before another hacker does it. Again, wait until you have bought Monitor_Bypass 5.0 and Proxy_Bypass 5.0.
Once you’ve obtained the two bypasses, you can get way more money without accomplishing tasks directly. However, I’ll start with a safer task.
Tasks described as “Our Esteemed colleague wishes to make a donation” are also easy and give you at least 8,000c. Hack into the necessary account, go to Transfer Money and fill in the form with the target Bank IP, Account number and sum of money. You have them all in your mission letter. Reply the letter and get your money.
The two types of missions below have to be done as fast as you can, or else they might find you before you can recall and recite a tongue-twister. Banks have background tracing of some sort, so that it is not visible on your map.
If by chance you’re asked to send your client the size of a loan and you see there’s much money there, complete the task by writing what they ask, then go to Transfer Money, press your Finance tab and type in your Bank IP, Account number and the sum of money you want to get. I’ve had this only once, and I transferred a million credits. However, you will need Proxy_Bypass 5.0 (it’s a must), and Monitor_Bypass 5.0 (it'sreally preferable, but not that necessary) is also good to activate.
That's how the Connection Analysis field looks like (banks are not proxy-protected):


Once the transfer is done, go to View Statement (in the guy’s account menu) and delete the last record with the transfer. Disconnect, clear your logs. Connect to your bank (UL International Bank), activate the bypasses, enter your account, go to View Statement and clear the last line where you get a big sum of money. Disconnect, clear your logs if you bounced to get to your bank.
Finally, I’ll explain the task called “Trace a recent balance transfer”. Activate the bypasses. Hack into the given account, go to View Statement, find the line with a large transfer, put down (on a sheet of paper or your Notepad program) the IP of the target bank, the receiver’s Account number and the sum of money transferred. I once had a guy who transferred a total of 1,700,000 to two different accounts (800,000 and 900,000 credits). Unfortunately, being less experienced, I was caught.  The moral is: be fast and be ready to write down more than one account details. Delete the line containing the transfer. Disconnect and clear your logs. Find the bank by its IP in your gateway (remember, I advised you to export the entire InterNIC to your gateway?), make it appear orange on the map. Applying the filter to the word “bank” can help you. Alternatively, you can use IP Lookup if you already have it and learn the name of the bank. Anyway, connect to this bank. Activate the bypasses. Hack the account which now has this money. Go to View Account and reply to the client typing the account owner’s name. Get your ~4,000-6,000c. Go to View Statement and clear the last line where he receives a big sum of money. Then follow the instructions written in the previous paragraph. If you have several missions of the sort, feel free to gather all the money you can get.
I’ve accepted and accomplished 4 tasks of this type. 3 of the transfers were less than 1M credits, but still I’ve got more than 3.5M on my account.


Added: I happened to see one more mission of this type some time later and now I have 5.3M. I’ve just realized it was an act of boasting, but still decided not to delete it.


Now you will finally speed up greatly, as you can afford to buy some new hardware!

Hardware

Connect to UI and enter Gateway Upgrades menu. The last gateway does not support the best modem and the greatest amount of HD memory, but it can be equipped with 8 CPUs, which makes it the fastest gateway in the game. Choose whatever you want, click Proceed. You will be notified that the process should take ~24 hours. Use Fastest speed to make it happen sooner. The next e-mail will tell you that you need to logout to get the gateway. Just in case, you don’t have to quit the game to logout, just hit the cross in the upper left corner and log in again. Voila, it’s done!
Connect to UI again and choose Hardware upgrades. In the following paragraphs, I assume that you’ve chosen the fastest (and the most expensive) gateway.
Memory. Purchase one 8Gq and three 32Gq options. You will be unable do have more than the total of 128Gq with this gateway.
Security. I haven’t used the items, but theoretically it can prevent you from being arrested. You will sacrifice your gateway in favor of freedom and all the money and stats you’ve gotten so far. I usually buy an item of the two just in case. Theoretically, at least Motion Sensor should be working permanently. Once launched, it actually will, unless you logout and log back in. I have never used Self Destruct. Theoretically, when your Motion Sensor goes crazy, you blow things up and go shopping to buy everything again. In this case, you’ll probably have to buy 4 items of 32Gq memory packs.
Modem. Its upgrades don’t seem to change much, but just in case I choose an 8Gq modem. The 10Gq model is not supported by this gateway.
Processors. Purchase 8 Turbo CPUs: the 8th will replace the initial one having only 60 Ghz. The 8 CPUs make this gateway the best in the game (IMO), and the majority of operations become waaaaay faster.

Upgrading Software, Part 2

You can actually delete the tutorial file, it’s no longer needed and it takes more space than your programs.
Buy Firewall Bypass 5.0 (you can easily afford it now), Decypher 3.0, IP Lookup, HUD_LAN (it will not occupy your HDD space. Instead, a new tab will appear), 3 LAN tools except LAN Force (your presence will be noticed instantly) (these are Scan, Spoof and Probe), Decrypter 7.0 (or at least 5.0, but don’t be greedy) and Voice Analyzer 2.0.
Firewall Bypass is much like Proxy Bypass in overcoming limitations in some places. The latest version is preferable: there are companies that set strong firewall protection.
Decypher will be needed to get access to some places that have an Elliptic Curve. The latest version works faster. Its application is similar to that of Password Breaker.
IP Lookup will add an IP you type in the field to your Gateway list if you don’t have it and show the name of the organization in the window. It adds telephone number locations as well, which can be especially useful when you encounter LANs.
File Decrypter is necessary in some missions, and one of the Storyline missions also requires it. It’s applied similarly to File Deleter, but it obviously doesn’t delete anything. You may encounter files with the 8th level of description to send to your clients (shown in the File Server table. Personally, I haven’t, but I rarely accept such missions. In this case you can only abandon the mission.
Voice Analyzer 2.0 is important to get to lots of places; all Central Mainframes are equipped with voice protection. To deal with it, go to the PAS of the same company and add the phone number of the Administrator. You can do the same with Director’s phone number and make it an additional bounce point. Run Voice Analyzer and connect to the Administrator. It will start recording. You’ll see the notification when the analysis is complete. Version 2.0 allows you to save voice files onto your hard drive, so that you don’t have to record the Administrator again, if you happen to return. Saving works much like copying files. To load an existing voice, open your Memory bank, then launch Voice Analyzer and click the file with the name. Click Play. Each file takes 1Gq. To bypass voice protection, open the corresponding part of the system you want to break in, launch Voice Analyzer, load the correct file (or just don’t close it), click Play and wait until the phrase Access Denied written in red converts to Access Granted written in green. If all of a sudden this doesn’t happen, you’ve chosen the wrong track. Choose the right one and do it again.
NOTE: I did not include LAN Force and Proxy Disable, as applying these tools will result in immediate beginning of tracking. I don’t use them, therefore, which doesn’t (and shouldn’t) prevent you from doing it.
NOTE: the more often you use bypasses the better. They allow you to change a lot of things which you otherwise can’t do, e. g. delete some logs, copy files, etc. and be way more secure. Additionally, it can postpone the moment they start tracking you.

Breaking into Governmental Institutions

Now you can change Social Security data. To do this, connect to International Social Security Database, open HUD Connection Analysis tab and activate Proxy_Bypass 5.0, i. e. place the square window of the program onto the corresponding lock sign. Then you can change anything. That’s easy: choose “search”, type in the name, hit Enter and wait. Then change whatever you want. When finished, click Commit.
If you buy Decypher 3.0, you will be able to get access to the Global Criminal Database and change its records.
Academic records are changed similarly.
Note1: if you search for your own record in Academic database, you’ll see that you were quite a good student. Naturally, you can change anything here as well.
Note2: you can visit the Criminal database from time to time and search for your record. If you find any crime there, you can hit Clear. You can avoid being arrested this way, if you’re quick enough.
Some employers might want you to ruin someone’s life. It’s pretty easy to do. Just enter the Criminal database, search for his record and add at least 2 convictions there. These might be really ridiculous. The third one should contain the word “parole” in it. Even such record as “Stared at his own parole” will suffice, but I usually use a “Broke Parole” criminal record. Hit Authorize arrest. Disconnect and clear your logs. Visit the news section of UI and wait until the record of the guy’s arrest appears. You can change game speed if necessary. Now you can reply to the e-mail and get your reward.
Note3: Whenever you accomplish a task like that, your Neuromancer rating goes down. Actually, it doesn’t go down: it seems to smash against the floor or something. The situation is quite similar if you trace a hacker. It’s much more difficult to go up the Neuromancer ladder. Actually, it doesn’t seem to play any significance in the game, but it sort of shows your hacker morale. Accomplishing such tasks as destroying a database or a computer system will increase it.
Note4: sending a random guy in jail without accomplishing any mission doesn’t seem to affect your Neuromancer rating. You might want it, however, if you see an “Accessed file” record and decide to find the bas the intruder and make him not do it any longer. Trace him, find his name and authorize arrest.

Advanced Tasks

There are tasks that require you to copy a number of heavy files or destroy something. These are easy to do, but they may require some additional notes.
If you’re asked to “Copy large and secure database”, enter it and decrypt the files they ask. This is a must, they do not accept encrypted files. You’ll probably have to copy them to the employer’s File server. They’ll provide you with all the links. Sometimes, you’ll need to go to the target company’s file server several times is your HD space is not enough. If there is not enough space on the fileserver, you can delete some seemingly unnecessary files without touching the ones you just copied, or copy whatever files can be put there, in which case you’re likely to get less than the entire sum of money.
To delete all files on a server, go to console and type “cd usr”, then “delete” and wait until it’s finished. Done. Clear your logs. Go to News and wait until the one regarding your recent mission appears. Reply to the task letter. Actually, File Deleter works faster than the console, but here you’ll have to delete every single file from the server.
Some employers ask to destroy a computer system. To make sure this is the case, look for the word “permenantly” in the mission message. To crash the system, firstly delete the files using any technique described above, then type “cd sys” and then “delete”. The process is finished when the line “deleting os.sys” goes one line up. Type “shutdown” and wait until you’re disconnected by the system. Clear your logs. Wait for the news to appear and reply.


Note1: You can also delete your logs using the console. Type “cd log”, then “delete”. It takes really much time, though, so I don’t advise you to do this. However, I felt the urge to add the option here.
Note2: to leave the console and return to the menu, type “exit”. Naturally, this won’t work if you crash the system by deleting its core files.

Hacking into LANs

This one is not easy to explain and seems difficult to hack. However, once you’ve done this, say, 5 times, you’ll go through it quite fast.
To hack any LAN, you’ll need: Proxy&Monitor Bypass; IP Lookup; HUD_LAN; Lan tools: Scan, Probe and Spoof; Password Breaker; Decypher; Voice Analyzer. To enter the system, choose the LAN tab.
LANs are generated randomly every time, so there’s no strict sequence of actions. I’ll introduce the devices first and give some tips of dealing with them.
A foreword, or, rather, 4 forewords: 1) to go back to the LAN after you entered, say, a Terminal, click the LAN tab again. 2) To go back within the LAN, click Back. 3) Even if your way is clear, you’re still unable to connect directly to the third element without connecting to the second. 4) Always apply Proxy&Monitor Bypasses.
Router
There’s little to say about it. The device is your LAN entry point.
Hub
A device to connect the router and the rest of the LAN system, otherwise it connects one its element and two or more other elements, e. g. a lock and two terminals.
Terminal
A frequently seen device. It’s useless most of the time. It will play a role in subnets: to pass them, you’ll have to spoof (i. e. use the LAN Spoof tool) on a subnet terminal to get access. If there’s a wireless transmitter in the LAN, you’ll have to hack into a terminal (i. e. click Connect), which is usually close to the transmitter. Such terminals will contain the frequency required to go further.
Lock
These elements are the barriers that don’t allow to proceed with LANs. To bypass it, find the corresponding Authentication Server, hack into it and hit Disable security locks. To tell which Authentication Server controls it, click the lock and search for a server surrounded by yellow dots.
Authentication Server
To tell which lock it controls, click it and search for a lock in a yellow dotted box. To hack into it, you’ll have to bypass Password and Elliptic Curve Cypher. Both are fairly easy to do.
Note: you can use a LAN Force tool to pass through a lock, but your presence will be discovered immediately.
Isolation Bridge
A less pleasant thing to pass. It works like an Authentication Server, but an Isolation Bridge controls two locks, one of which is always open and the other is always closed. Hacking into it and changing its settings will switch both locks.
Wireless Transmitter
These help you to go to another part of a LAN if it’s separated. It will show a window where you change the target frequency. If you find a correct one, you’ll be able to go further. Frequencies can be found in Terminals.
Wireless Receiver
That’s where you arrive at if you find the correct frequency.
Modem
Works like Wireless Transmitters and Receivers. To proceed, find the phone number to get to the next separated part of the LAN. Launch IP Lookup and type in the number exactly as it is written in the Modem. Disconnect. Clear your logs, just in case. Bounce to the last phone number you got. Making the points orange should help. Proceed further.
Subnet
A system can be protected by a group of terminals. Once you try to get to such system, the terminals protecting it will be in orange dotted squares. You’ll have to spoof the correct one (as described above).
Main Server
It’s your target LAN computer. Before connecting to it, prepare your Voice Analyzer with the loaded recording of the guy’s voice. Hack into and do what you have to as fast as you can. The administrator will enter the system within several seconds after you connect the Server, and they’ll start tracking you. The connection will be terminated shortly, so be very quick. If you need to delete files, doing it manually will be faster than doing it via the console. For some reason, if you use the console and you’re disconnected before it has been finished, the files will be untouched.
To view the LAN elements, use LAN Scan, then use LAN Probe on every single element of the network. When you’ve disabled a lock, Probe every element following the lock, including the lock itself. Actually, it doesn’t seem to me that the Scanner is really needed, but it helps you get the first impression of the LAN.
Once you’ve finished, disconnect and clear your logs.
Here’s an example of a LAN belonging to ARC. It has all the elements described above. However, it’s not that complex. I once had an ARC LAN with no Modems, Wireless transmitters and Subnets.
My current ARC LAN looks like this:

Storyline Missions

These (and some news) add a bit of plot into the game. Around the 14th of April, 2010 you’ll receive a letter from one of the top UL hackers. He’ll give you an ARC IP and login and password to access the computer. Connect to the IP and thy to log in with the name and code (a set of them will be automatically added). You’ll fail. Disconnect and clear your logs.
The log-in attempt is needed to enable the storyline. Some time later, you’ll receive a letter from ARC. Answering it is also needed. Since then, you’ll have to make a choice: the first one is to help ARC which is said to be bad, in which case just accomplish the mission you get immediately after answering the letter. There’s a “positive” side as well. To be a good and responsible hacker, wait for a letter from Arunmor to come. Then answer it attaching the file sent to you by ARC.
I will not spoil much more, but rather give some recommendations on completing the missions.
There are five missions on either side. That was spoiler #1.
Spoiler #2: you’ll have to use consoles to launch software. To do it, copy the file into File server if it’s not yet there, enter the console, type (it’s important) “cd usr” and then type “run programname”, where programname is the name of the file you need to run. It’s not case-sensitive, at least regarding the lower case. You can see the filename in your Memory tab.
Spoiler #3, the "most spoiling" one: if you play for ARC, the final mission will be a game over, despite the results. If the proggie spreads to your computer, it means you’ve succeeded. Good job! Still, the mission will be extremely difficult if the counter-program (I’m still trying to spoil as little as I can) is of a higher version than the program you’re trying to “promote”. You can check the version status in the UI menu: additional option will appear.
Note: these programs might demand that you switch off some protection. To do it, exit the console if you’re in, go to Admin>Security and disable every type present by clicking on it. Return to the console and run the program as described above.

Final Notes and a Warning

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. The game is not very long to play, and ~10 hours seems to be more than enough to become a good Uplink player. Any feedback, including language, stylistic and other peculiarities of the English language will be appreciated. I’ve never reread the guide, so it may contain duplicate sentences or may miss something. The guide represents the way I play the game, so your playing style can be completely different.
You can also find the Introversion Software computer. I accidentally found it while tracking a hacker who violated my InterNIC privacy. The machine contains developers’ thoughts. I won’t give any hints here, explore it yourself!
A GROSS WARNING: if you ever try to hack into UI, be very quick and careful. They will find you unbelievably soon, so it’s difficult not to get caught. Motion sensor and Gateway nuke may help, but I’m not sure, I’ve never used them actively. I always buy them just in case.
Thanks for reading!

[NaveR]

I wish I remembered what I was doing back then. Was there info in previous emails from employers? Any reliable way to reproduce your issue perhaps?

[NexusLeader]

Why am i the only one encountering this issue?
"Find finanical details of one of our associates"
This asks me "Open his account and send his balance to us" without giving me a bank IP number and a bank account number.

[NaveR]

Thanks for the additional info!

[cst1992]

9. I don't see this mentioned (or maybe I glossed over it) but some of the more complex LANs have two entry points. Try to locate both of them and use the one that is farther from the main server (in terms of bounce points). This'll give you valuable time in the main server - mainly because your time in the main server is almost always constrained due to the voice authentication and the bounce points between your entry point and the main server.
10. In the beginning of the game the Uplink International Bank will give you 3000 out of the maximum of 4000 credits you are allowed. Max the loan to the 4000 and you'll be able to squeeze in a better Log Deleter. Not the v4 (because that itself costs 4000c) but something like v2 or v3 is good enough. Also get at least the v2 Trace Tracker, because you need a kind of handle on how fast/slow the trace is. Without it, you're effectively running blind. To get the maximum versions of all three you need 8000c (1500: PB + 2500: TT + 4000: LD). (3/3)

[cst1992]

3. To this day I never really got what the modem is supposed to change - everything is CPU bound and nothing is bandwidth-bound. For me, just getting a fast-enough CPU cluster seemed to do the job fine.
4. You might want to put the money hack into a later section separate from the main guide, since it kind of ruins the game :/
5. Transferring from one of your own accounts to another isn't a crime, even if you are transferring billions. For that, it could help to create an account alongside your target's(because the IP stays the same) and when you are done, you can just transfer money between your own accounts.
6. Did you know you can buy and sell stocks?
7. Some of the places in the game are unhackable, so be sure to steer clear of them. Sometimes you'll find a way to get in, sometimes you won't
8. LAN Force and Proxy Disable shouldn't be used, true - but they do have their uses in some special situations.(2/3)

[cst1992]

Hey, I've been playing this game since it originally launched almost 20 years ago. I can give you some pointers to keep in your guide:
1. You will have to use a disabler for your first-time Social Security missions. Once you do some *ahem* stuff and are filthy rich you can buy whatever you want, but the Proxy/Monitor Bypass and Connection Analysis software add up to about 45,000 credits, so it's a waste to buy those at this stage. The Proxy for the Social Security system will only be level 1/2, so a low level disabler is fine(scary thought, isn't it?)
2. Technically the fastest is the Omega Parallel Supercomputer(or whichever modded gateway you want to put in your game - try "AWOL Overkill") because it has 16 processor slots for a total of 3200 GHz, but it has such pitiful amount of memory you just shouldn't bother. The Trinity is indeed the "best all round gateway money can buy" even though sometimes it falls a bit short.
(1/2)

[cst1992]

Yeah, I can confirm that this is it. You just have to change the "class 2/3" to "class 1" and that should be enough.

[NaveR]

Lol. Cool one

[Gunther Barrelgrenadelauncher]

I got another opportunity at the academic record style missions. If it helps anyone, don't delete whats already there. Just change the number when its for changing the class of the degree. For example, the guy I was hired to change the records of had a Software Engineering, Class 2 degree, I believe. I just had to change the 2 to 1. Nothing else.

[NaveR]

Should work as well, true.