Posts by kc0arf

It centers on the relationship between student and teacher, regardless of discipline. To simply say that the problem exists, without going into any sort of detail will discourage any thoughtful response. People in the know will glance onwards, as they don't wish to invest time pulling answers out of someone. Give proper details. Show that you have put some thought into the issue.

Hello,

The original poster did not comment on the delivery for grading: does the professor need to see it 24 x 7, or just fire it up, run the demo in the office, and then leave?

I have had to do various things similar to this in the past, and as a result, have a Mac laptop with lots of RAM, and simulated the machines with Virtual Machines. Not worried about security in this case as VM Hypervisors like Virtual Box or Parallels can create networks that live inside the machines with virtual interfaces. The VM can see each other, but not the real world.

Anyways, I generally use Linux for the backend, and either Mac or Windows for the front. Couple of Virtual Machines, and can backup the hard disks if desired if you want to keep snapshots of code or whatnot.

My latest project involves FreePBX and a telephone server running on a Virtual Machine, and working with the phones to demonstrate to a customer how the real thing will work.

Christian

WIndows 2003's DHCP panel should show you the active leases, and from there, you should be able to determine who/what is consuming them.

It also sounds like you are a business. Take the time and move everything off of the 192.168.1.x subnet, as eventually, someone will ask you to VPN one day, and have that same subnet at their home, and that will create a routing nightmare. Change yours to 192.168.125.0/24 or something else off the beaten path, so you have some routing flexibility.

I agree to also examine your lease expirations, and have things clean up from there.

Also, Windows 2003 is no longer officially supported by Microsoft. Might be time to upgrade that server.

Christian

Hello,

I agree that an OpenVPN tunnel is quite snappy on a single 1194 UDP port forward from your firewall. Yes, it requires a client download, but you can really trim down access on the VPN, and beef up security with different features, including the ability to protect against man-in-the-middle attacks.

PPTP was developed back in the days of Windows NT, or the 1990's. There are problems with the protocol, some of which are discussed https://www.bestvpn.com/blog/4147/pptp-vs-l2tp-vs-openvpn-vs-sstp-vs-ikev2/

As for general troubleshooting, you can use a packet sniffer like Ethereal / Wireshark to see if packets are reaching your server on the proper port or not.

Christian

Hello,

If you want to get deep into mail processing, scrap the windows box, and go with a linux solution, such as CentOS, and learn postfix. Then, as you continue learning about email, look at the MailScanner package which will send you into the world of antivirus scanning, blacklist scanning, and other spam fighting techniques.

Also note that POP3 on 995 is POP3s, or the ssl encrytped port. You will need some sort of certificates to get that to work.

I would also study IMAP as it is a cleaner multi-device email protocol. POP is nice if you have a single user checking from a single box. IMAP is much cleaner for multi device checking... computer, cell phone, tablet.

Christian

Hello All,

I have to wonder if in all the legalease crap we "agreed" to, even the stuff written in French, when the software was installed allowed Micro$oft a legal in to upgrade the machines with our implied consent.

All of the machines that I care about are on a corporate network, serviced by a WSUS server. It might boil down to overriding DNS to look at localhost 127.0.0.1 for .microsoft.com to prevent the download.

There is nothing wrong with "if it works, don't fix it". A computer is a machine, dammit, and if all I want it to do is perform in a certain fashion, then so be it.

Funny, my Macs and Linux machines work just fine and don't have these problems. Slowly converting people away from the Micro$oft madness.

Shall we talk licensing models, and CALs sometime?

Christian

Before you attempt the upgrade, you may wish to ask yourself if it is really necessary. I find myself prefering Mountain Lion over Yosemite, and my computers are nice and stable. I find little motivation to upgrade if things are working exactly as I wish them to.

Hello,

No need to pounce on him. OS X will display the running processes in a terminal window, or you can go to Applications -> Utilities -> Activity Monitor, and view information there.

Not sure about controling the Startup Daemons (we call "services" the Unix "daemon") as I have not had to dinker with them.

You can get some startup items for a user login to be controled in the System Preferences -> Users & Groups -> Login Items area.

I like the older, modern MacBooks with the Dual Core processor. Strong enough to move along quickly, but will still run Snow Leppard. SL was the last OS X that could run Carbon applications... so now on my Mountain Lion computer, I cannot run Diablo II as it was compiled with Carbon, and ML does not support that anymore.

The older Macs also will not CHARGE an iPad. They will sync and work with iTunes, but they did not have enough USB power capacity to charge them.

The one thing I DISLIKE about the latest MacBook Pro, the Retnia one, is that they removed the ethernet jack. As a computer professional, I want a strong OS like MacOS (which is a flavor of Unix), but I cannot assume wireless networking will always be available. Yes, I can get a Thunderboldt to Ethernet adapter, but that is just another widget to carry around, or worse, loose.

Hello. Just to understand, this is a USB external hardddrive that is not working in either your Mac, or on other computers. Disk Utility is Apple's authorative program to work with devices.

Have you tried a different USB cable?

You tried it on different computers without success, so it is either the cable, or something internal to the unit.

Wowsers! Cannot use a VM to accomplish this.

The following I haven't tried, but is the approach I would take:

Format the drive completely empty. Install each Linux to it's own partition, and keep track of which one was done first. I would do Ubuntu first, then OpenSUSE, and then Fedora. Make sure you do an advanced install, or at least have the option to customize your hard drive layout. Each one would only need to be say 20 GB in size... Have the Fedora partition write to the master boot record.

Once everything is installed, you should be able to either run a rescue / repair disk, or boot knoppix, and edit the /boot/grub/grub.conf and define each bootable partition. Make some meaningful descriptions. You will need to do this if you
install Windoze last, as it will clobber anything that grub setup.

Next, you need to edit your grub.conf file to ensure each partition is properly listed. Note the root (hd0,1) area... that is hard disk 0, partition 1. You will need an entry for each linux version (hd0,1) (0,2) (0,3) but properly aligned.

My /boot/grub/grub.conf has these lines:

title Fedora (version)
root (hd0,1)
kernel <bunch of stuff>

title Looze XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

Postfix is a back-end email manager, like Exchange Server or Sendmail and not a front-end like Thunderbird or Eudora.

You may wish to also consider why you want to violate your terms/contract with your ISP.

Also, setting up another email server may not be as easy as you think. Yes, the technical software of an email server is easy to get and install, but email follows definitions bound in DNS records (specifically the MX record) and a number of us system administrators check each email message, and look for a defined MX record. If you don't have a valid email server address, and other pieces put into place, your message gets marked as spam, and eaten. If you do too much of this, other consequences, such as being blacklisted by an organization, can get you into real trouble.

Oh, that is a loaded question, right up there with differences among the christian religions, or explaining chocolate and strawberry ice cream.

Unix was developed by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs in 1969. From there different groups have done different things with it.... see WikiPedia for details.

Linux was created by a Computer Sciences student Linus Torvalds in 1991. His release of a kernel (core code) happened in the early days of the internet, which allowed talented programmers to look into it, and write things against it (meaning, link into the core, such as a device driver for a keyboard that the kernel could process), and Linux was born. See WikiPedia too.

I am of the opinion that Linux and Unix are quite related, but there are some important differences. To end users, they may feel the same, but notice that file structures are different (is that config file in /usr/etc, or /etc) and differences in what sorts of software is available. You may say that they are like flavors of ice cream... basically the same, with different tastes.

Mac OS X is a flavor of Unix. Apple has a special GUI interface running over the Unix. Apple might be mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Windows is not a flavor of ice cream. It is more like a cookie. Tastes good for some, but leaves lots of crumbs all over the place.

Both Linux and Unix have different codesets within them, …

You may wish to give VirtualBox a spin. It is freeware from Sun, and you can install using .iso or real physical disks.

I agree that VMWARE should be able to do this, but perhaps VirtualBox may give you the desired result without the headache.

This is one of many fundamental reasons why it is a bad idea to use the Administrator account as a daily user account. Imagine having to delete it, or cleanup something like this.

I ran across such a case a couple months ago, and it was a headache converting from Administrator to a user with administrative privs.

You may need to use a command line operation to disable DHCP on the Juniper network router. Some of the CISCO products also require usernames and passwords to get to an administrative level to make a change.

You will need to clobber one of the DHCP servers, otherwise the scopes could clash and cause problems.

Does your assignment require you to physically install three operating systems, or can you prepare 3 Virtual Machines, and call it done?

You may wish to check with your professor, but in my opinion, you would best off picking a base operating system, in your case unfortunately Windows 7, and from there, install a virtual machine program (Virtualbox is free) and from there, setup three virtual machines.

Choosing Ubuntu, Fedora, and OpenSuse will expose you to the three major distributions... Debian style (apt-get), Fedora-Redhat style (yum), and OpenSuse (yast).

You might even be able to earn bonus points if you have enough RAM, and run all three operating systems at the same time. If you create a shared folder, you might be able to have all three see a sharepoint, and exchange files among themselves.

I am listening to a mix of music from a variety of artists. Right now, Couch Potato from Weird Al Yankovic is on tap.

Hello Kerry,

Welcome to DaniWeb! I am a member of the ancient school here, knowing Dani for 6 some years. Yes, some things have changed, but a lot of good quality people remain around.

I think you owe Dani dinner for not making an account before now. Look in Dani's Cookbook for some ideas. :)

Christian

For those who may not have heard, former network leader Novell (who owns SuSE Linux) made a deal with Microsoft exchanging some intellectual property rights. Those in the business-end of IT know that Microsoft is busy applying for thousands of patents concerning Intellectual Property -- have a look at Network Computing and Information Week for all the good details.

From Groklaw:

Under the Patent Cooperation Agreement, Microsoft commits to a covenant not to assert its patents against Novell's end-user customers for their use of Novell products and services for which Novell receives revenue directly or indirectly from such customers, with certain exceptions, while Novell commits to a covenant not to assert its patents against Microsoft's end-user customers for their use of Microsoft products and services for which Microsoft receives revenue directly or indirectly from such customers, with certain exceptions.

What does this really mean? Novell won't sue Microsoft? Microsoft won't sue Novell (SUSE) users?

Look here for some great information / discussion:
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20061107194320461#comments

Also, check out:
http://www.linuxtoday.com/it_management/2006110701826OPLL

So, will Microsoft start distributing SuSE? Will Novell be finally crushed by Microsoft? How will the GPL (General Public Licence) of the core OS be affected? Are we looking at a new big legal case like SCO vs. IBM? Yes, there are a load of questions asked, and many answers that need to be generated.

So what do I think?

* I'm done with Novell. I have a certification from the …

Hello,

You are absolutely right concerning the risks of equipment in the cargo hold of the plane, along with the value of meeting and networking with people. Doing the webcast is socially isolating -- networking with people is an important task, and visiting with others, getting in on the action -- that is the real magic of conventions.

Perhaps you should bring along a legal pad and a pen. Maybe two colors to make it fun. Or try writing with your other hand for a different "font".

The most important thing is that the travelers are still alive. Yes, there was tremendous waste of soaps, drinks and the like. But until the Terrorists loose the blind thirst for blood, I am not certain what other choices there are.

Christian

I love my MacBook. :) Couple months old, but I still consider it quite new, and as more and more Universal programs come out, it will get faster and more enjoyable.

As for the super-computing, you need to have software that will take advantage of it. Weather simulations. Large Database queries / sorting. Video Processing.

Have to remember that with all 8 CPU's spinning at 2500 MHz, and all you are running is Word, just think of all of the idle clock cycles that you and your local power company are sending out in smoke.

Network Computing recently ran an intense report on too much power/heat within the data center. Computers are becomming more dense (8 CPU's in one case, instead of one or two!). Heat. Lots of it. And Power. And then trying to cool it. Basically, the electric bill, and the cooling requirements are much larger than the machine cost.

Christian

Hello,

Let's say for a moment that Microsoft made cars. Would you expect there to be parts for a 1998 Microsoft Sedan?

I would. But then again, I would also acknowledge that the part may need to be ordered, and there might be a handling fee on it. But I would expect to be able to get it. For cars, I would suggest 20 years to have parts available. But not necessairly for free.

At some point, the 98 folks are going to need to move forward. Either retire from the internet, or build up a defense paradigm.

As for my private consulting thing, I won't work with 98 anymore. I am not going to go looking all over the etherized tundra for drivers and the like.

As for business applications, I know of a handful of 98 computers used on specialty devices isolated from floppy disks and the internet. They'll be fine.

Christian

Hello,

I fully agree with you. I have the 15" MacBook Pro, and love it very much. I do wish, however, that the thing came with a modem and S-Video outputs. These items my PowerBook G3 from 1999 has, and they are still used by me.

I do not know if the DVI video adapter can have a widget to format the signal into S-Video. As a techie, the need for a modem port is still important to me. There are still places in America that Wi-Fi and cable does not exist. Yes, I know there are USB modems available, but I see that as another part that can break or fail.

Otherwise, the machine is outstanding. It can get a bit warm though, so be sure to keep it cool.

Christian

Hello,

I can just think of all the obsolete computers that are going to be turned over, and how wonderful Linux will operate on them.

Yes, some of you are really going to need Windows to satisfy your computing needs, but I am willing to bet that the mass majority out there could run Linux, and save yourselves a lot of money.

Christian

A couple of years ago, I thought I would never have seen an "Intel Inside" sticker on Apple hardware. Looking at the news today, I was surprised at the revelation that Intel Macintosh hardware can now run Win XP SP 2!

Somebody please check if hell froze over.

WOW.

Go look for yourself: http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/

Apple has made it so easy! You need to make sure your firmware is up to date, some hard drive space, updated OS software, a blank recordable CD, and a legal copy of Windows XP.

What is really the easy part of all of this is that Apple has taken the hard part out of running Windows by automating the following things:

* The blank CD that the instructions call for is used to store drivers needed in the Windows XP world. Bootcamp supplies all the necessary drivers -- your Windows friends often have to hunt them down on the internet from a variety of places. Your drivers are right where they are needed -- in your hand.

* Hard drive partitioning is an easy step. Windows XP is going to run in a different area of the hard drive (called a partition) than your Mac OS X. Reading through the online documentation, you can access your XP partition from OS X, but if you made XP use NTFS, the drive will be read-only from OS X. Also remember that Intel Macs will not run Classic, so …

Hello,

Good comments fellas. I agree about not wanting to dual-boot the Mac, unless it was an older one, such as my Powerbook G3 333 MHz computer. An OS X box that is sufficiently modern / fast that can run OS X is a cool useful thing.

In the case of my PB G3, however, where OS X is marginal, Linux feels nice and refreshingly fast on the computer. Fink is not a complete answer; for example, the current version of NESSUS is not available via the fink options. As the latest release (3.x) is not open source, you cannot compile it. Only available for Fedora / Redhat and Suse as .rpm packages.

It is possible to live without Windows. Been doing it for a few years now. With OpenOffice and other tools available, I found it easy to let go. Granted, with Linuxes like FC5 and SuSE not shipping with xine and xmms ready to go (because of licensing issues) there are a couple of post-install steps that the end user may not be ready to deal with.

The last "difficult" install that I remember for Redhat was 5.2, when .iso disks were not easily available, and we all installed from the internet. It was saying something to install your OS via dialup internet.

Christian

Fedora Core 5, the next version of software based on RedHat Linux of long ago, was released in Mid-March to the masses. I am sure that others have looked at the alpha and beta releases -- I waited until the the official release before looking at the software. Initial reactions: I love it.

My hardware, for those to compare, is an AMD Athalon 1.2 GHz computer with 756 MB of RAM or so, ample hard drive space, and an ATI Rage Pro 128 video card. Actually, it is an ATI All-in-wonder TV card, with Rage 128 video horsepower, but the default system install doesn't recognize the TV input. For this review, I have not tackled the configuration of TV video.

I found the disks easy enough to grab via FTP off of a mirror, and burn. I like the DVD distribution -- just one disk to be responsible for, and I can click and go with the install, and not have to be around for the disk-swap. The FTP'd DVD worked well the first time, and the install process worked wonderfully.

As an advanced user, I never select the automatic disk partition scheme -- I always partition the disk out into 8 or 9 partitions, one for root (/), /var, /home, /opt, swap, /tmp, /usr, and /backup. Granted, /backup is not a standard, but I make it a distinct partition for backup purposes, and develop crontab scripts (batch files for our Windows friends) to make copies of …

Hello,

I agree with Dave... Wireless security is hard to come by, and WEP is not sufficient. It can be hacked, scanned, and thumped without too much effort.

You might also be able to limit the exposure of the network by placing the access point in the basement, and / or toggling the transmit power to the least available. I know that on my Buffalo Technology's Access Point can change the output power to something very minimal. Placing the node low to the ground limits the range.

Christian

Hello,

I have not tried the F8 trick on the keyboard to do that. There are some symbols up there that I am not sure what they do to be honest. Have not done *everything* just yet.

I also found out that I needed to run FONDU under fink to migrate my fonts over into OpenOffice. I wish that was in the OpenOffice literature.

Christian

As many of you already know, Apple has released a new line of computers with Intel chips inside -- namely the new iMac, and the MacBook. I took delivery of my new one the last week of February, and it was a wonderful new tool to take me into the next line of computing.

My new MacBook came in a nice styrofoam box that was thinner than the one I purchased back in March of 2000, the bronze Lombard PowerBook G3. The unit ships with 2 DVD-ROMS for system restoration.

On the outside, the laptop is nice and sleek and thin. Because of the wide-screen format, the MacBook is wider than my PB G3, and as a result, the old computer bag is not going to work for me -- the bag's foam innerds are in the wrong places to protect the MacBook. I like the new magnetic power connector -- it is great in preventing the power cord getting trapped in the computer where it could break the female plug inside the computer. I do not like the power transformer on the other end though -- I think Apple went backwards from the "hockey-puck" power adapter that was released with the Powerbook G4 series. I find the MacBook power transformer to be clunky, and the wire management more messy than the hockey-puck.

Other exterior items include the video out port, 2 USB ports, the 10/100/1000 Ethernet port, and Firewire (400). Apple deviated from the PCMCIA card …

Part of my new job as a Linux Engineer is to evaluate different Operating Systems. I am most familiar with RedHat, having grown up with their OS since 5.2 back in the mid-90's. Wow, have things changed. So, I looked at a linux that a lot of people are talking about: Ubuntu, and was pleasently surprised at how easy it was to work with.

I worked with Ubuntu "Breezy Badger", the most current installation available. It installed onto my older Compaq E500 laptop without a problem, as it recognized the hardware and software (except the PCMCIA wireless card) right out of the box. Ubuntu installs with a text-based installer, a bit of a surprise, but not a shock to work with.

The distro came with OpenOffice 2.x, the latest GNOME 2.12, and a bunch of other common utilties. The install process connects you to the internet to download updated packages; by the third reboot, you are up and running with the latest Ubuntu software.

Ubuntu is based on the Debian architecture -- you use APT-GET to locate packages, resolve dependancies, and update the machine. You can also use the graphical Synaptic Package Manager to graphically make these choices.

But, as an advanced Linux user, I was surprised at some of the lack of expert options that other distros, such as RedHat feature. I had manually install (via apt-get, but couldn't do this at main installation time) packages to make, compile, and deploy. I couldn't find Acrobat …

The Washington Post, among other news agencies is reporting a "severe" security flaw that affects Microsoft Windows 98 - XP. According to the article, the flaw allows computer virus and spyware manufacturers to disribute malicious programs designd to take control of affected computers.

Macintosh and Linux users are immune to the problem, even those computers that operate Microsoft Software. The issue is a core Windows problem that has not been addressed since Windows 98.

Feel free to read the article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/29/AR2005122901456.html

Unfortunately, due to limited time, your author (me) has not had the chance to track down and determine what the "official" name of the flaw is, nor been able to nail down Microsoft's response to the problem. I encourage readers to post via comments the latest information on the situation, to help those affected survive the situation.

Christian

Hello Alex,

I have seen FC4 crash out of the install if I setup the partitions on the hard drive, and then need to change them before the software hits the platters. Kinda weird. Reports the drive is busy. Ok.

Glad Gentoo is working for you. I have been with Ubuntu linux for about 2 weeks now, and am going to be writing there shortly.

Christian

A couple years ago, RedHat Linux was a completely open-source, freely-available linux solution that brought linux to the masses. Then, RedHat changed the paradigm: they wanted to transform RHL to a corporate supported linux, and enjoined with the Fedora Project for community support. But now a choice had to be made for linux users-- stay with RedHat 9, purchase RedHat Enterprise Linux, or migrate to Fedora Linux.

But now, there are some new guys on the block, and one of them is CentOS -- the Community Enterprise OS. CentOS is not related to RedHat in any way -- what they do is take the open-source, freely-available RedHat Enterprise SRPMS (source RPMS), and make them available without the RedHat trademarks... all allowed under the terms of the licenses. CentOS allows members of the public to have an Enterprise-quality linux without the pressure to purchase it, or the obligation of signing a support contract.

CentOS may be found at http://www.centos.org. The website features articles about the organization, explains their licensing policy, and offers places for downloads. CentOS also sponsors support forums, although as a "linux", any questions that relate to linux can be found on the wild internet too.

CentOS is upgraded using the YUM (Yellowdog Updater Modified) utility. (I should note that YellowDog Linux may be thought of as "RedHat for Macintosh). There are archives all over the internet that may be accessed via yum, and it will solve the dependancy questions that are often encountered …

As many on Iceland recently found out last week, it certainly matters where you dig!

I caught a recent article on the net mentioning Iceland was left without internet access when a local digger in England cut the fiber optic line that connects Iceland to Europe.

Called the Farice Line, the 1400 km long fiber optic line is the only connection that Iceland has for internet access, aside from the few people whom have satellite access. But then again, satellite access is expensive for internet access.

In Europe and the United States, we are spoiled with our internet access. Multiple large backup trunks are available to keep our connections to the rest of the world alive and happy. Other areas are not so fortunate -- Iceland's remoteness is shared with many countries in the South Pacific, such as Polynesia, Guam, and the Philippines.

Christian

YES!

In the past, Apple Computer has used San Fransisco's MacWorld Expo to release new hardware and software. What's next on the list? The highly anticipated Intel-based computers, as Apple migrates away from the PowerPC architecture, and into Intel's chipset.

At least one Apple-News website has credible information that Apple is looking at releasing an Intel iBook at MacWorld. While the sites did not elaborate on prices or capabilities, they did suggest that the new computers would be based on Yonah processors, the next-generation chip after the Pentium M. Yonah has single and dual core options, and the dual core processor would outperform Apple's current G4 PowerBooks. WOW!

One problem with the Intel-based computers is that today's Macintosh software is compiled for IBM/Motorola's PowerPC architecture, and these hardware instructions are not compatable with Intel's x86 instruction set. Thus, today's Mac software will need to run under emulation, or inside a Virtual Machine. Apple has successfully done this before -- remember 1990, when Apple went from the CISC-based Motorola 680x0 processor to the PPC601? Back then, they called the "transformation" software a Fat Binary -- the software was compiled in both formats, and while larger on the hard drive, it would run properly on the old hardware platform, or on the new one.

Apple's latest "transformation" software is called Rosetta. This system software will translate PowerPC instructions on the fly into x86 code. This will allow today's version of software to run on the new hardware. There will be …

Microsoft's new Visita OS -- expected to ship mid-2006 -- was recently reviewed by the Gartner group. The original document is available at Gartners' website for $95... unfortunately, I'll have to reference comments from others concerning it, instead of comments directly from it. The Windows Vista beta was released in July, and as beta software, it should not be judged for functionality or performance.

Analyst Michael Silver said in his report that "users may not find them [Vista's features] compelling enough to upgrade." He continued to say that that Vista would offer "incremental, evolutionary improvements" over Windows XP and 2000.

Microsoft in a statement felt that the report was "balanced". Microsoft felt that the report was balanced and "includes the 10 reasons why you should care about Windows Vista, which captures many of the innovated features in the operating system."

Did I read that properly? Users might not find the features compelling enough to upgrade, yet they are innovative? Hmm.

I am also wondering about the hardware requirements, and how that upgrade cost is going to filter into the equation. As a computer consultant, I have worked with one company that in 2005 had 200 MHz computers still in active service, and they were removing them, with the minimal desktop of 400 MHz. Another location that I worked at would replace the computers every three years -- and inside a company with over 1500 desktops, that 500 computer swaps a year! EXPENSIVE!

My single Windows …

Files, emails, and folders. Even the best of us sometimes misfile or loose things. Then, we need to locate that document in a hurry. Where did it go? Does this sound familiar?

Microsoft launched this week a new tool called Windows Desktop Search
(http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/web/desktop_search.mspx) and it works to help you locate your documents in a quick and easy fashion. Similar to Apple's Sherlock, the Windows Desktop Search will make an internal database of the collected files, and provide an interface to it. Using simple boolean operators (OR, AND, NOT), you can customize the results of the search, and narrow the responses to ones most relevant to your needs.

Having an index file, however, is not a good idea to the security minded. We will have to watch for viruses and other attacks that may enter that database, and quickly inventory it for particular keywards (quicken, accounts, passwords, addressbook, calendar, lawyer) and then send the results to someone else's screen. I would hope that such an index file is strongly encrypted. I cannot find any information, however, about it's design.

On the Windows Desktop Search webpage, there is also a link to install the MSN Search Toolbar into Internet Explorer. This new tool features tabbed browsing, a form filler (dangerous in my opinion -- I think automatic completion of forms is a horrible security risk), and a popup blocker. The Toolbar download page checks the type of browser that you are viewing the page on …

Happy Birthday to Firefox!

Mozilla.org today confirmed that November 9, 2004 was when it's popular web browser Firefox, was released at version 1.0 Today, the software is at revision level 1.0.7 (Mac, Windows, Linux), and the company is working on 1.5.

The announcement website:

http://www.mozilla.org/press/mozilla-2005-11-9.html

mentions a contest to "extend" Firefox by providing updates to popular extensions, and introduce brand new ones.

Hi,

I used the spyware term, because it is communicating the listing habits (personal use) of the CD-ROM's materials to Sony. It is spying on the computer by relaying the musical selection information.

It is like you looking at my phone records to see who I am calling, and how many times I made the call. Definately spying on me.

Christian

Sony BMG, a company that makes a variety of consumer electronics such as the Walkman, CD / DVD drives and burners, has released a product called XCP (eXtended Copy Protection) that prevents copying musical materials from the media onto the computer. According to investigators, XCP uses rootkit technology to run spyware applications to manage the digital rights software.

A rootkit is a software package that modifies core system files to perform an undocumented feature -- often with negative side effects. For example, you can modify the DIR command so that instead of just performing a directory listing, it will also email the contents to another user, without any trace to the operator in front of the computer. For greater details, see wikipedia about rootkits.

Researchs found that XCP features a number of Spyware like behavior, such as installing materials to your computer without a EULA (license agreement), not providing a means to get rid of the installed materials (if you un-install the software package, you cannot get rid of this subsystem without reformatting!), and it sends data about the user's habits without permission!

A system administrator named Mark Russinovich wrote up a detailed examination of Sony's features on his website:

http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/10/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights.html

There, you will find information how to detect the rootkit, along with a description of what he had to do to get rid of it. The tools he used, and the methodology invoked are far above and beyond your average Windows user.

Hello,

Yes. iTunes is new to Australia.

http://cnet.com.au/mp3players/0,39028967,40057664,00.htm

http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0510australia.html

So yes, it is new.

Christian

Earlier this week, Apple announced a new Australian iTunes Music store. This means that Australian Windows and Mac people can download and enjoy music on their computers and iPods just like those of us in the states.

According to internet sources, Apple typically pays AU $.99 per song, and sells the song for AU$1.69 -- an understandable markup. Unfortunately, I do not have details concerning Apple's fees here in the US to compare.

I think this is a great idea to expand the iTunes market further overseas. It makes a lot of sense to me to distribute the songs (intellectual property) through a legal means, and to ensure that the artist recovers the costs of making and marketing the music. Granted, I think that some musicians are overpaid, but that is the business process, and I do believe that if an artist makes a work public, that he/she should be compensated properly for it.

Now, if we can just get the movie people to do the same. Download a movie and watch it. Be allowed to make one copy of it for personal use. If the copy goes bad, gotta download it again. Yes, I know that the digitial videos are much larger than music files, but those of us with highspeed internet could download a movie overnight, and watch it the following day.

Austrailia, enjoy your new iTunes experience. :)

Christian

Early in November, Microsoft began a free web-based Virus Scanner, allowing members of the general public to come to their website, download a tool, and then proceed to tie up your box and scan it for all of the creepies that have infested your computer while on the internet. What they haven't readily disclosed, however, is that the scanner reports materials on your computer back to Microsoft HQ. BOOO!

Windows Live Safety Center works with Windows XP Home, XP Professional, 2000 Professional, Server 2003, or Windows 2000 Server. You need to also run it with IE 6.0 or better, as the tools use Active X. Thus, the site will not work with Windows 9x, ME, or if you refuse to use IE on the internet.

Even more interesting is that the "Windows Live Safety Center" is not hosted on microsoft.com... check out the homepage:

http://safety.live.com/site/en-US/default.htm

Who is live.com? Good question. whois tells me that it is a company in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia (Canada). The domain is listed on msft.net Who are they? Microsoft Ok. So maybe they are a subsidary. Or about to be bought up. Who knows. The point is... the software source advertised by Microsoft is not hosted in house.

Microsoft, in it's untrustable stealthy fashion, does not make a direct link to any information discussing what the program technically does, and what information gets sent back to HQ, and tries to justify why the material is …

Accusations are nothing new to Microsoft -- they continue to battle various groups in Europe and Asia for various antitrust violations. That is nothing new. What is new is that South Korea continues investigating, and Microsoft replied with a threat. "It might be necessary to withdraw Windows from the Korean market, or delay offering new versions in Korea" Microsoft said in a U.S. regulatory filing.

WOW! Microsoft actually leaving a market instead of correcting it's code and policies to conform with fair trade practices, and IT common sense. It is no secret that Microsoft wants a Windows & IE world out there, and that the competition can falter and fall apart. That is the goal of business. But there are also reasons for cross-platform functionality, along with different browsers performing the same functions.

For example, let's say I have a Microsoft server installed with some some Windows and some Macs on it. Why can't I use Safari to manage Windows Server Update Services? Why does Microsoft insist on a single web browser (IE) to do something as simple as clicking on a few buttons, and maintaining the server? Novell's concept works just fine on my Mac. So does webmin on Linux.

Then again, Microsoft cannot handle an RSS feed either.

So, let's say that Microsoft decides to abandon Korea. Granted, I doubt they would be able to order everyone with present-day installations to go out there and format their drives, as the software is already paid …

Operating System software is an entity that lives and breaths on it's own. It requires little tweaks and enhancements here and there to make it better, and to fix problems. Such is the case with Apple's Tiger OS X, 10.4, and the release to 10.4.3 Let's look at some of the highlights of the update.

Available by web or via Apple's Software Update, the software is available in 2 formats: a Delta Update that will work with 10.4.2 --> 10.4.3 or a Combo Update that will 10.4.0 and all inbetween --> 10.4.3

Apple's website details all of the updates -- inside here, I will briefly discuss some that have caught my eye.

Finder -- work was done with spotlight to increase responsiveness. The Finder was also enhanced to work better with non-Roman language versions, and also with copying rules. Remember that Apple OS X is based on Unix, and case text makes a difference in file names. While Aqua might think the files are named the same, Darwin will identify them differently.

Safari -- now passes the Acid2 test (web standards are important), improves compatability with webcams.

Networking -- enhancements to SMB file mounting and passwords that contained quotation marks.

Mail -- corrected some minor quirks of the mail program. Also repaired problems when Microsoft Outlook sends a meeting request to an Apple Mail user, and the calendar item would not appear.

Other OS Issues resolved include Palm Desktop issues, window scrolling, conversion …

Hello,

Please tell us more about your DVR service. I don't have a unit yet, and am thinking of one. Thanks.

Christian

Does anyone ever watch "live" TV anymore, aside from Football games? With today's busy schedules, and active people, I am willing to bet a lot of us record our shows, such as ER or CSI or Law and Order, and then view them at a comfortable time and date. Today's gadget folks have a DVR, like TiVo; others use the old VCR. Either case, we both get burned when the networks run a show "overtime", and when they move it to a "special date and time".

TiVo, a leading DVR service, has designed into TiVo 7.2.1 software the ability to keep recording a show, and run it to completion before switching to the new show. For example, if you were recording a show, and it ends at 7:32, but you have a new show starting at 7:30, you can use the Season Pass manager to determine a priority for which one should be recorded.

A better fix would be simple: force the TV networks to start their shows on time, and end them on time. But we all know the real truth -- the commercials are the name of the game, and if a commercial is long, we need to air that at the expense of meaningful programming. We also know that TV networks don't really care if we watch the show -- I have seen several shows now get moved, clobbered, cancelled and no real notification to let us know. I lost track of Star Trek Voyager …