Webspeaker

Microsoft doesn't know it yet

2008-09-11T17:12:00.003-05:00

A weird issue came up at work today. I really believe that Microsoft doesn't about it yet, since it exists in IE6 and later. It is a minor issue, but certainly something to fix.

The problem was that when users were typing www.website.com/whatever they would get an Address bar error from IE. It would tell them that Windows cannot find "it" and to check the spelling. If you include the http:// prefix, then it worked fine. This has nothing to do with resolving an address, or any far sought cause.

What I figured out is the following. If you have a Favorite in the root of your Favorites folder with the name/label www.website.com then you will have the above problem. Once you start typing www.website.com in the address bar, IE will recognize the Favorite and assume you are trying to type the name of one. If you keep typing after that, it will still be looking for a favorite that doesn't exist, and it will not see it as a URL anymore. So, going to www.website.com/whatever will throw the error. Check your spelling, because Windows can't find it.

To fix it, just rename the shortcut, delete it, or move it into a subfolder in your Favorites. Again, I tried this with IE6, IE7, and I believe I did it with IE 8 Beta 2 as well.

Obviously, www.website.com is an example and could be any domain name instead.

Chapter 2: Installing XP

2007-04-06T00:44:00.000-05:00

First there is preparation. Obvious things like verifying that your equipment meets the requirements and is compatible with XP. Partitioning decisions. File system choice. Type of network you will be on. Whether to use Dynamic Updates or not. And about licensing. It recommends to create a checklist.

If you can, always use NTFS. If you have to dual boot with an OS that can't read NTFS partitions, then you may have to use FAT32.

The standard networking components are mentioned. And then also different ways to install XP. One way being over a network. It discusses winnt.exe and winnt32.exe and the switches that can be used with them.

Stop errors, and other errors you may encounter during setup. The BSOD and a number of log files are named and explained. The setupact.log has everything that happened during the setup, and the setuperr.log has just the errors.

Then WSUS is explained. The Windows Server Update Service is a service running on a server on a domain. It allows client computers to connect to it, instead of to the Windows Update website. This way bandwith use out to the Internet is limited to a minimum because only the update server has to go get them. Also updates can be managed.

Chapter 3 is about deploying Windows XP. Stay tuned for more.

Chapter 1: Intro

2007-04-06T00:27:00.000-05:00

This chapter introduces you to the different versions of XP. They are Professional, Home Edition, Media Center Edition, Tablet PC Edition, and the 64-Bit Edition.

A common question people ask is about the differences between Home and Pro. Here are some big ones:

Domain membership

Support for two CPU's

NTFS or print permission

Dynamic disks

Support for RIS

Tablet Edition is basically Pro with some touchscreen functions and applications.

This chapter also covers the changes that came with Service Pack 2. The Security Center was added, ICF replaced by Windows Firewall, Automatic Updates improved, pop-up blocker built in to IE6, and more. To see if you have SP2 you can look in System Properties, or run "winver.exe".

Then it goes over Workgroups and Domains. The major differences in security and management. For instance when you log on locally the authentication process is done by the local security subsystem, but if you log on to a domain then the domain controller has to do this.

Further about logon there is a service called Secondary Logon. It allows you be logged in as a user with a limited account and start applications with different credentials.

That's all I'm pulling out of chapter one for you.

Complete Change Of Heart

2007-04-05T23:45:00.000-05:00

I've done two things related to this Blog since my last post. One is rejecting spam comments, and the other is checking my adsense account. That's far from exciting and doesn't take a lot of time, so basically I've been away.

Linux as a webserver is not happening. HP has some free courses that you can follow that are helpful. I signed up for a few Linux courses, but ended up getting behind and kinda lost my desire to mess with it right now.

Change of heart, or mind. I purchased the book "Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Windows XP Professional Second Edition", the Training Kit with the Evaluation version of XP Pro and a CD with some self test software. I am going into chapter four now, and am starting to realize that XP still has some secrets for me. I've been working with, and supporting computers with Windows for years, but especially in domain network environments there is much more to know.

Because I thought this book would be boring I was reluctant to buy it. I'm glad I did though. It's one of the core exams for MCSA/MCSE, so if you want to go there eventually, you need it. But I'm enjoying the read, the presentations, and the details I pick up from it. It's not what I thought. The main reason for getting this is to get certified and improve my financial situation, as well as getting away from supporting end users directly. (Read: I'm tired of dealing with ignorance and want more money for what I do)

So, about a minute before I started writing all this I thought I would sort of document my way through the book, chapter by chapter, by writing a short review or some key points.

If you've been through this course or are in the process of or are thinking about it, please write a comment and share your experiences, difficulties, successes, tips, and whatever else may be helpful. That would be nice.

Since I'm going into chapter four I'll have to write 3 posts for chapters 1 through 3. Give me a little time to do that, and I'll get this started.

Thanks for reading!

Linux Distro Fedora As Server

2007-02-04T03:43:00.000-05:00

Currently I am learning Fedora and how to set it up as a web server. I want to set it up with the downloadable Wordpress files and restart my blog and host it myself for a little while. If I like it, I will look into paying for hosting. It would be much more flexible. Learning takes time though, and I'm not spending all my time on it. I will try to post my progress on this blog.

About Fedora. It is just one of the many Linux distributions. It is free to download and use. One DVD or 5 CD's. I am totally new to Linux, which feels weird. I have a GUI which makes it like Windows, but you're lost as to where things are. After playing with it all evening I'm getting a good feel and I'm getting used to the abreviations and the filesystem. After installing the OS, I've been able to edit files, get the httpd service started as well as mysqld. So far, I love it. I downloaded the files for Wordpress and now I need to figure that out. I need to create a database for it to work and I forget how to do that. The command line is so cool. I feel so... advanced! LOL. Things look good and it has a lot of nice features. All free. The only thing that keeps me from switching to Linux all together is support for games. If my games would run on it, I would be off Windows in a heartbeat. For now I'll run it on a spare machine.

Anyway, that's how things are and what my focus is on. Keep in touch here and when I get things running I hope you follow me to the new site. Have a great weekend!

16 Bit Subsystem Malicious?

2007-01-31T22:59:00.000-05:00

No. But the process ntvdm.exe is for some reason included in the virus definitions of Computer Associates. Yesterday, an old DOS program that we still run on ~20 computers at work stopped working on machines newer than Windows 98. You can imagine we didn't have many working ones left.

We noticed that ntvdm.exe was taking up 50-100% CPU time when trying to run the DOS application. Later we found out that it was because the realtime scanner from Computer Associates (eTrust) had all attention on that file like white on snow. This caused the DOS program to be so slow that it wasn't usable. Once we figured this out we excluded the ntvmd.exe process from being scanned. Everything went back to light speed after that.

While searching we found that many people have had issues with the ntvdm.exe file taking up the CPU time. Yet there was no solution anywhere, at least not for our exact situation. If you're dealing with something similar, make sure your Antivirus software is not bogging it down.

The file ntvdm.exe is basically running the 16 bit subsystem in your 32 bit Windows OS. VDM stands for Virtual DOS Machine. The Windows 98 machines did not have any AV software installed, plus I doubt they have a file called ntvdm.exe. NT suggests that it's only on NT operating systems, such as Windows NT, 2000 Pro, XP. I hope this will help someone and save you a big headache!

Adsense Preview Tool

2007-01-29T02:47:00.000-05:00

You're not allowed to click your own ads, since this is against the Adsense agreement. The Competitive Ad Filter for Adsense allows you to exclude certain ads from being displayed on your website. You do this by adding the URL of the ad to the filter. How can you find the URL without clicking the ad? It's not shown in the status bar.

Google has created a preview tool just for that. By showing you the ads with a checkbox next to them, you can select the ads you don't want, and then view the URLs. Next you can add these to your filter.

You might say it's easier to just right click the ad and do Copy Shortcut (IE) and then paste it in the filter. If you do that, you will have to puzzle out the URL from what you copied. It's not hard, since it's at the end of that string, but it's one at a time and requires this extra step.

Many ads also have the URL shown inside the ad image or text. Often this is all you need. But sometimes it isn't.

Today I've been fighting with this taxcut.com ad that kept showing up and barely gives you a cent per click. I tried to get the URL. The image ad shows taxcut.com, so that's what I blocked. There was no other way however to find the URL of that ad. It was a flash ad, so the Copy Shortcut wasn't available, and the preview tool wasn't either. Source code didn't reveal it either. I was either too impatient for that ad to disappear (wait at least 4 hours for the filter to take effect) or it didn't work. I'll find out tomorrow I guess, but Google needs to find a way for flash ads, or require the URL to be shown in the ad. End of rant.

Hafnium Instead Of Silicon

2007-01-28T04:33:00.000-05:00

Since the 60's processor manufacturers have used silicon to make the transistors that make up a CPU [central processing unit = processor]. This news article from CNET writes about AMD, IBM, and Intel working on the switch to a metal called hafnium. It will improve performance and allow them to make transistors yet again smaller. Smaller means more will fit in an amount of space. More in turn means increased performance. The method they strive to use to make these new chips is called immersion lithography, in which the lines on the chip are etched while it is immersed in purified water. Read the article (2 pages) for more info.

CrossLoop - Simple Secure Screen Sharing

2007-01-26T20:48:00.000-05:00

Remote Desktop, Terminal Services, PC Anywhere, Dameware, and others. All of them allow you to remotely connect to a computer over the network/Internet. CrossLoop is a very easy to use and free screen sharing application. My friend over at CCTech pointed this out a while ago, and I just came across the bookmark. He posted it a while ago, so check out his post. It's free, secure, and easy to use for anyone.

Rubber Ducky Monitoring

2007-01-26T20:10:00.000-05:00

Rubber Ducky is a cute little aquarium display that sits neatly above your system tray. The elements of the aquarium monitor the state of your computer--fish for network traffic, plants for hard disk, bubbles for CPU usage, and water level/color for RAM usage. Whenever your system experiences a slow-down, just take a quick glance at Rubber Ducky and you will know what is holding it up at a single glance.

This tool is free of spy/malware, and is really simple. It's a cute way to display your resources. If the ducky is drowning you are running out of RAM, if you're not doing anything online and there's a lot of fish, maybe you need to check for worms, no pun intended! Worth checking out in your spare time.

Belarc Advisor

2007-01-26T18:12:00.000-05:00

You may have heard of this web based tool. It is a free [for personal use] program that displays details about your hardware, software, security status, missing updates and more. It also displays keys for your installed software. It's a ~1MB download that runs locally only. None of the collected info is sent anywhere. Click here to try it.

Blogspot For Complaints

2007-01-26T00:22:00.000-05:00

The blogging fever keeps spreading. A friend started a Blog for complaints. Anything he wants to complain about, he will post. And you can comment and vent as well. He just opened, and his first post is about left lane drivers. It's a funny idea I think. Check it out.

1-800-COMPLAIN.blogspot.com

As a sidenote I want to mention that I've been away from Blogging for some days. One reason is because one of my hard drives started clicking and I've just been backing stuff up and been busy otherwise. Just now I finished setting up my two new 320GB Seagate Barracuda SATA drives in a RAID1 configuration. That should double the read speed and keep write speed the same. So it's a bit of a performance boost, and I'll have a backup at all times. I'm digging this!

Hard Drive In Action

2007-01-19T21:22:00.001-05:00

Since we're on the subject of data recovery, I might as well post this cool video that shows what your drive does when it's buzzing along, copying, deleting, formatting, etc. If you watch the Presentation first, you will understand much better what is going on in this video. Enjoy.

Free Data Recovery Presentation!

2007-01-19T17:25:00.000-05:00

Alright, I consider this a good find! While surfing YouTube the other day, I came across some videos about Data Recovery. Companies that specialize in this can easily charge you up to $3000 for a regular 40GB hard drive. For example, at work I have used DriveSavers a number of times, and their charge depends on the amount of recovered data. They usually charge at least an attempt fee of $200.

The free videos I found are cut in 7 takes of each like 9 minutes. So it's a roughly one hour long presentation given by Scott Moulton. He gives a lot of information about how hard drives work, how they are assembled, how data can be recovered, and what can and can't be done. Do you know about the freezer trick? Do you think hard drives are hermetically sealed? Well, see what tips Scott has for you. Here is the first part. You can also find them all on his website at MyHardDriveDied.com.

Top Tips For Bloggers - One Month Report

2007-01-17T19:35:00.000-05:00

One month ago today, I created webspeaker on Blogger. Shortly before that day I had no idea what RSS even is and thought that Blogs are another way to waste time. I learned a few things, and by applying them the result is roughly 1300 visitors and almost $10 from Adsense. Forty-some posts later I feel pretty good about how my Blog is doing, and want to keep it going.

With some help, and by reading a lot I have learned that a few things are important.

Backlinks: Get sites with related content, and preferrably a higher PR than yours, to link to you. When your PR goes up, SE's will find you and bring you traffic. Also others will be more likely to Blogroll you, which helps traffic a little.
Quality Content: If you want people to come back and/or spread the word for you, make sure you have something worthwhile. Post every day if you can.
Promote: Any way you can. Get your URL out there. Whether you post an article on Digg.com, or sign up on MyBlogLog.com, or some TopBlogListDotSomewhere, make sure you are out there. A really successful way is to become active on forums, especially those with content related to your Blog. Forums usually allow you to add a signature which can contain links. Some even allow your Adsense ads to be displayed! Almost every forum has a Lounge. That's the place where almost anything off-topic is welcome. Post a link to one of your Blog posts.
Ad Positioning: If you are trying to monetize your Blog, make sure you find out which ads are being clicked. For instance, the ~$10 from Adsense all came from the two ad bars above. Adsense lets you create a channel for each ad unit. That makes it easy to track your clicks and earnings.
Layout & Look: Last but not least is the logic of your pages. Some Blogs look like a mess and are hard to navigate. Try to group related items together, put important stuff on top, choose colors that are easy for the eye so that your text can be read without a strain.

At the age of one month I'm obviously learning myself, but these are some important tips to get you going. Please add a comment if you have more valuable tips! And don't forget to include a link to your Blog.

$5500 Gaming Rig

2007-01-17T00:14:00.000-05:00

Dell XPS 710 H₂C. You got the money to dump on it? Are you a gamer? Then this is the way to go right now! This machine from Dell is packed with insane power.

Quad is the keyword. The CPU, RAM, but also the GPU! There are two of the new dual core 8800 cards in it with each 512MB video memory! 4GB of RAM! And aside from looking real hot, it keeps your hardware cool! That is of high importance with this thing. Also see it at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Free Online PC Protection Class

2007-01-16T23:51:00.000-05:00

You can sign up and enroll for the free PC Protection class that CNET is offering on January 22. You'll learn how to reduce spam, secure your wireless network, create good passwords, and remove malware, and protect your computer from virusses and worms. If you have any questions or concerns about this, this may be a time to get things cleared up for you.

iPhone Commercial - Funny

2007-01-16T22:48:00.001-05:00

You've heard of it. You've seen it. Maybe you already have it! This video shows you a few hidden extras of this gadget! They're not in the user manual! We'll have to redefine what it really means for something to be multi-functional! Enjoy. Found it through [GAS].

Edit: The video is no longer available. If you want to see something else that's funny, I suggest this video of a rabbit chasing a snake into a tree!

Human Flight Project - Like A Bird

2007-01-14T16:09:00.000-05:00

This is not in a can with wings, this is like a bird does it! Yves Rossy, the man who developed these wings, was a former Mirage III pilot for the Swiss. His lifetime passion for flying has gotten him to the point where he can fly like a bird. His website says that he taught himself slight movements of his body just like birds use their bodies to move around up there. With help from sponsors the wings are now Jet powered. That is needed for horizontal flight, which he has managed to do for over 6 minutes! His site has a bunch of videos of him testing this human dream, and also other stunts and Jet flights. It may be the coolest thing I've seen on the Internet! After some more fine tuning he wants to make it capable of stunts and participate in air shows. If you've ever dreamed of flying, or if you like Batman for that reason, or even if neither apply to you, this is cool to watch!

Google's Advanced Cheat Sheet

2007-01-13T02:10:00.000-05:00

Not long ago I posted about the Google Cheat Sheet. There is more than that basic sheet though. More advanced operators are supported that allow you to search for specific things. For instance you can search for a string of characters that appear in a URL of any site. A popular way of using the "inurl:" operator is by searching Google for "inurl:/view/index.shtml". It will bring up a long list of web cams that all use the same software and have that same URL. Improve your searching and have some fun!

Ready For Vista?

2007-01-12T18:30:00.000-05:00

My computer is ready for Vista. Is yours? There's a difference between Vista Capable, as you see a lot on computer boxes in stores, and Vista Ready.

Capable means that it can run Vista, but you may not be able to take advantage of all features. Ready means that you can run everything, including the Aero interface. Visual goodies. The minimum requirements are 512MB RAM and 800MHz. Recommended is at least 1GB and 1GHz.

PC Pitstop has a readiness checker that quickly gives you an overview of what you have, versus what you need, and whether you have that. The Vista Readiness Center will only run in Internet Explorer 5+, so most of you will have to pull IE out of the dust for just a minute. It will install a little checker utility on your computer, and at least in IE7 it kept asking to run an ActiveX control on the page. I had to allow it for each test. Pretty annoying, but hey, I'm not running this test more than once. I know I'm ready.

Also, the page will show the breakdown of the different versions of Vista that will come out. These will be Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, Enterprise. If you just want to have everything available to you, get the Ultimate version. January 30th is the day of release as far as I know. Who's switching over immediately?

The Best File Manager

2007-01-11T23:33:00.000-05:00

Windows Explorer works, but is limited. If you want to do more with your files, and do it easier, then get Total Commander! An old friend sort of forced me to use it when I first started with computers. He showed me how it worked, made me use it, and fall in love with it.

Some of the features of Total Commander are:
- compressing and decompressing of files,
- encrypting and decrypting files,
- splitting and merging files,
- easy copying and moving,
- comparing of files,
- a built in FTP client,
- and it's customizable and add-ons are available.

There are many options, which may be overwhelming if you're new to it, but you don't have to change a thing to use it. I absolutely consider this the best file manager out there.

This shareware program used to be called Windows Commander, and you can guess why it changed (in 2002). Version 6.56 is now the latest, and 7 is in Beta 2. They also have a CE/Pocket release and a version for your USB memory stick, including the U3 type sticks. It's a great tool!

Google Earth - 3D And Still Free

2007-01-10T18:19:00.000-05:00

Data made available by Google software isn't cheap, in terms of money and labor, but also trust. Google is allowed to use the data under certain conditions. The only way you're allowed to access the data is through Google software. Gaia was trying to reverse engineer Google Earth and thus violating the terms. One advantage of Gaia was that it was available on operating systems that Google Earth does not (yet?) support. Without a battle Gaia stopped. Why?

A letter by email. The majority of the letter sent by Michael Jones (Google Chief Tech) is posted on the Gaia web site with his permission. It is nice to see that he did not take a hard and tactless approach like "we'll sue you if you don't shut it down". A rather pleasant yet firm approach resulted in cooperation and respect towards Google. I imagine you don't always see that in the business world. You can read the letter here.

To continue about data available to Google, let's talk about how Google SketchUp allows you to help build a 3D model of Earth. Let me quote a line:

Google SketchUp enables you to build and modify 3D models quickly and easily. If you use Google Earth, Google SketchUp allows you to place your models using real-world coordinates and share them with the world using the Google 3D Warehouse.

The latest version of Google Earth is 4, and the latest of SketchUp is 6. Just browsing through the Google 3D Warehouse is really cool. So many people have already contributed to the 3D model of our planet! Stadiums, the Eifeltower, and many other buildings and structures have been added to the Warehouse. Feel like helping? It sure makes data cheaper for Google ;o).

US Military Uses Open Source CAD

2007-01-09T18:51:00.000-05:00

Has anyone used the Open Source CAD program called BRL-CAD? Apparently the US Military uses it. The homepage is http://www.brlcad.org/. There is documentation available, more screen shots, and a project site. If you've been reading my Blog, you know that Open Source means free.

I don't know anyone that has used it. It would be nice to know if it's worthy being called a replacement for the expensive Auto-CAD. It's been available for the Windows platform since 2006. Maybe my buddy at Crystal Coast Tech has tried it? Comments please?

Daylight Savings 2 Wks Early And 1 Wk Late

2007-01-09T18:19:00.000-05:00

This year the time change for Daylight Savings in March and October will be two weeks early and a week later, respectively. Who cares, right? Well, it's the first time this happens.

Government Computer News calls it Y2K7. The article brings out that on older systems, or systems that haven't been updated, or older software that isn't supported anymore, it may wrongly display the time. This could cause computers to be out of sync. If a computer clock on a domain type network is too far out of sync with the domain controller, there will be problems.

So especially for network administrators it's important to make sure necessary patches are applied before the clock goes forward (Fall Back, Spring Forward). Avoid 3 weeks of head aches.

Critical Update For IE7 - iDefense Video

2007-01-09T17:47:00.000-05:00

IE7 is in need of a patch to fix a security issue found "in the way Vector Markup Language (VML) is handled". If your automatic updates are disabled in Windows, visit Microsoft Update. More details about the issue here. Microsoft thanks iDefense for reporting the VML Buffer Overrun Vulnerability.

While looking the iDefense website I noticed a nice little video, "Life Of A Threat", on how security holes are reported, confirmed, defended against, and finally patched. It may be best to open it from the iDefense Labs homepage. It's interesting to see how they try to keep tabs on well known hackers and hacker chat rooms, worms, and issue warnings and implement defense and logging mechanisms. Worth spending the 6:05 to watch it.

Off Topic Video: Rabbit Chases Snake Into Tree

2007-01-07T16:24:00.000-05:00

This is the funniest video I've ever seen. I liked rabbits already, and now I absolutely love them. It's so hilarious to see that he doesn't give up and starts biting his tail, and the snake takes off. Watch this! It's Gold!

Texas Rabbits Rule - video powered by Metacafe

Every Car A Rolling Wireless Hotspot

2007-01-07T01:01:00.000-05:00

In a way, this may beat Google to the nation wide WiFi coverage. Imagine using your cigarette lighter to power a WiFi access point. You'll always be within 5 feet of a hot spot unless you're in the back of a Limo. You may think it's a wild idea, but it will soon start to become a reality. Broadband in your car!

Autonet Mobile says it'll work like any other hot spot. You'll be able to just use the wireless adapter you use anywhere else. The access point will be pricey ($400-ish), and on top of that you'll have a more than regular Broadband Bill ($50-ish). But that's not too outrageous to start at.

The connection works good, even at high speeds, says one race car driver. It makes use of existing cellular wireless networks from Verizon and Sprint. Read more at ComputerWorld.com.

One Terabyte Hard Disk

2007-01-06T23:27:00.000-05:00

After turning 50, the hard disk has finally reached a capacity of 1TB (Terabyte, equals 1,000 Gigabytes). At the next Consumer Electronics Show manufacturers will be showing off the new drives.

Due to high data density the drives will be using perpendicular recording technology. Basically, data will be stored vertically to the disk, as opposed to longitudinal recording. Wikipedia has more info and a picture that helps understand this better. The bottom line is that more data will fit on a square inch of a platter.

The 3.5" drives will be available soon for consumers. You may think you don't need that much space, but you will eventually. Games get larger, video editing is getting easier and thus more popular, and downloading music isn't going away. Some people run an external hard disk on USB for backup purposes. Eventually you'll rock a TB too! Expect to spend around $400 USD.

Very Funny Notepad Glitch?

2007-01-06T22:13:00.000-05:00

Notepad Secret Trick - video powered by Metacafe
I have no idea who figured this one out, but it is weird. Type "Bush hid the facts" in Notepad, then save it anywhere under any name, and close it. Now open the text file you just created and see the result. When I saw the video I thought the guy had some encoding setting off or so. I still couldn't believe it when I tried it myself. It only works on Windows XP. Funny!

PS2 Games On Your PC

2007-01-06T20:28:00.000-05:00

The PC SX2 emulator is at the point where you can play many of the Play Station 2 games on your PC. The emulator is a free program. People have been working on it for roughly four years, and have come a long way. Check PCSX2, and grab their feed if you're into emulators, gaming consoles, and older games. For more details, check their website.

The Near Future Of Wi-Fi

2007-01-06T00:32:00.000-05:00

802.11 a, b, g. The three wireless standards you are probably most familiar with. For quite a while now, there is a new standard in the works that will offer improved speed, coverage, and connection stability. 802.11n is what it is going to be.

The visible or physical change you will see is that routers and adapters will have multiple antennas [commonly 3]. This is the key to the new technology. The standard is aiming to improve the speed, by making simultaneous connections. Range will expand, and stability as well since basically antennas can hand off transmissions to the one with the clearest path. Speed is the most exciting word in this. Wireless will be faster than your 100Mbit connections. I have read rates of 200Mbit, thus double that of wired 100Mbit connections. Of course, with the new CAT6 cabling standard we are up to 1000Mbit (Gigabit) connections, but most places have not upgraded their cabling, routers, switches, and computers yet.

Pre-N hardware has been available to consumers for I don't know how long. But is it wise to spend your money on that? We are warned that since the standard has not been set, it will change, logically. It will be possibly another 6 months before the N-standard is here. Hardware purchased before then may not work well, or at all, when new hardware is produced according to the future industry standard 802.11n.

Even though that risk is real, as I said, manufacturers have already released hardware, and will hopefull continue to support that. I'm guessing that firmware upgrades will allow you to increase the compatibility of your hardware with future standards. If you have the money, need the speed and increased stability now, or are a techy that needs to try the latest, go for it. If you have a currently stable set up, especially for a business environment, then I suggest you hold off.

Check with manufacturers such as Linksys, Netgear, D-Link, and Belkin for pre-N hardware. Keep your eyes open for Wireless-N!

Google's Cheat Sheet

2007-01-04T17:50:00.000-05:00

You may use search engines just to search with keywords, in the hope to find what you need. Search engines can do more though. You may have heard that Google's SE can be used as a calculator, or to search one specific site, or search for synonyms, or do a safesearch to filter out adult results. There are a number of Operators that can make your searching more effective.

Check out Google's Cheat Sheet to learn about the Operators.

On that page is a reference to Google Labs, which is their Technology Playground. You can test new products and services that Google is working on. They are functional, but not ready for prime time. One I like is Google Suggest. The same Google SE, but it suggests keywords real time while you're typing your search. It saves time, and can be useful when you're not sure about spelling, or what words to use. It also shows you how many results are available for each (set of) keyword(s).

myLot Earnings

2007-01-03T22:48:00.000-05:00

As promised, I would let you know what the ~25 replies and 1 new thread made me! It's really nothing to write home about, but hey, it is a whole forty-two dollar-cents.

The thing is though, if you need to ask for help on a forum about any subject, you can do it here. People will respond, because they get paid for it, and there are many that actually post good stuff. The one thread I started got like 90+ responses. If you enjoy this kinda thing, you can make some money with it. A good running website will earn much more for you.

Earnings will improve a bit when you get a lot of referrals, and get many good threads going. I read that once you have 500 posts, you can get paid for uploading images with your new threads. So it can pick up a bit when you commit to it, but I doubt you can buy groceries for it.

Because traffic is high (~53,000), it is a good place to drop your URL when you see a place for it. A lot of people that are trying to make a buck on line are on there and many have Blogs. So you decide whether it's worth it. It may not be a lot, but one thing is certain. It's easy money. Please sign up through me if you are interested.

Celestia - Your Own Hubble Telescope

2007-01-03T19:26:00.000-05:00

Google Earth junkies! Leave the planet with Celestia! Are you one of those people that played for two hours with Google Earth when you first got it? I know I did. Celestia is very much like that.

See a few quotes from the Celestia web site below. But first, let me tell you that it's an Open Source program! It will run on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.

Unlike most planetarium software, Celestia doesn't confine you to the surface of the Earth. You can travel throughout the solar system, to any of over 100,000 stars, or even beyond the galaxy.

All movement in Celestia is seamless; the exponential zoom feature lets you explore space across a huge range of scales, from galaxy clusters down to spacecraft only a few meters across. A 'point-and-goto' interface makes it simple to navigate through the universe to the object you want to visit.

Celestia is expandable. Celestia comes with a large catalog of stars, galaxies, planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and spacecraft. If that's not enough, you can download dozens of easy to install add-ons with more objects.

Download Celestia | See Screenshots | Celestia Home

It may take you a little time to get used to the controls, because they're different than Google Earth. But buckle up, there is a lot to see out there! (I didn't see any aliens on my trip though)

Open Source Web Design

2007-01-02T15:37:00.000-05:00

Not sure what to think of that? Well, it's really simple. People create web page templates, and share them. They are free to download, and customizable since the code is not hidden. Don't want to spend a lot of time designing the visible front of your Blog or other web site? Browse through nearly 1700 designs at www.oswd.org and download the ones you like.

If you are not interested in having the work done for you, but want to learn CSS, or maybe HTML, then you should know that you can learn a lot from reading code. For that too, this is a great resource. If you know it all and just need ideas for a new layout, also a reason to check this out.

In a way you could even promote your Blog here. If you know how to make good looking, quality templates, you can create them with links to your blog, and upload them to OSWD. This is not the only site offering Open Source Web Design, but it sure is a clean, well designed, easy to navigate, and to the point place. I think you should check it out!

Picture: Secured Or Confused?

2007-01-02T04:10:00.000-05:00

My funny and bright cousin back in the Netherlands did this. In a chat he made a couple of typo's and then explained that he had to blind-type. Well, here was I thinking that he was sitting in the dark, on his laptop. The picture clearly shows that I was wrong.

I had to laugh when he told me he alphabetized his keyboard! For a moment I thought that it would be harder for someone to tell what password you're typing. But then I realized that after a short confusion upon discovering the layout of the keyboard, a person would just get a different string of characters, then compare it with a QWERTY keyboard and have the actual typed string. It still helps to confuse on first sight though.

On the other hand, if you're trying to make a secure password, you could sure do it with this keyboard. Just type a word, following the letters on the keys, and the actual typed password will be something totally different. It would likely not be a word from the dictionary.

If you can type without looking at the keyboard, removing the letters from the keys entirely would make it much harder to see what you're typing. I can see that to be a decent idea in some situations.

If nothing else, it'll teach you to blind-type! Thanks to Bart for sending me the funny picture!

myLot - Posting For Money

2007-01-02T03:55:00.000-05:00

I've been seeing these web sites where you can write articles, review articles, post replies on topics, and then get paid for that. One of them is myLot. It's a place that is much like a forum or web board that accepts really any topic you want. The thing is just that you get credit for each post you make. Tonight I decided to try it, and I started posting replies to existing threads. A total of 25 I posted, and then I created a new thread myself. Their system updates every 24 hours, so when it does, I will report back here and let you know how much that made me. Referrals are rewarded, so if you decide to check into this, you can sign up through me here. Tomorrow I'll post the result of my 25 replies and 1 new thread. Stay tuned!

400 Visitors Since The Start 2 Weeks Ago

2007-01-01T21:13:00.000-05:00

webspeaker was created on the 16th of December, 2006, that is last year :P. The next day I added Sitemeter to keep track of how many people come around here. Before midnight December 31st, local time, the counter hit 400! That's not pageviews, and that doesn't include my visits. It's actual visitors! Some returning, many new ones! The hottest post is a couple below this one, about the XP Themes!

I hope to keep this success going and will continue to post new techy stuff! Thanks to all visitors! Thanks to all services on the web that help us Bloggers promote our pages!

I want to list the ones that helped me out, so that if you haven't used these yet, you can start now:

Digg
HypeDiss
MyBlogLog
BlogTopSites
BlogTopList
TopBlogLists
Bloggernity
BlogHub
Technorati
And also the bloggers found in my sidebar! Check them out too!

If I'm missing any, I will add them later. I just wanted to thank those who helped and visited! Let's see how we'll do in 07!

Open Source (Free) Applications For Windows

2006-12-31T19:24:00.000-05:00

Open Source. It's what we like. What is it? Big bunches of code that make up a program. But not just that. Usually companies that create software will protect their code. They don't want anyone to get a hold of it, because then their work can be stolen, modified, and abused. Open Source basically means that the code is available to anyone that wants to modify it, or create additional functions. Now, the reason we like this is because it makes it free. We love free stuff. We love sharing.

There is a lot more Open Source software out there than you might know of. There are complete operating systems, office packages, video-, sound-, and image-editing programs, anti virus software, disk utilities, screen savers, compression software, P2P clients, and much more. All Open Source. All free to use.

The website I want to highlight here is www.listible.com! There is a long list of Open Source applications.

Look into Open Source software, before you spend money on your yearly anti virus subscription, or feel the need to get a newer version of MS Office, or think you need to pay for some utility. Your wallet will like you.

Four XP Themes: Free, Simple, Beautiful

2006-12-31T03:38:00.000-05:00

Best XP Theme! All Included In One Pack! Just Watch It! - video powered by Metacafe
Until now, every theme for Windows XP on the Internet required some kind of program to manage and run it. Nobody likes that. When I found this video, that was all over!

This video shows you how to get 4 really nicely made themes for Windows XP! They are free! They look great! They don't require extra software! You can download, install, reboot, enjoy!

The website to get them at is www.crystalxp.net, as shown in the video. Or go directly to the choices. Watch to learn how to choose, and go about installing the package. I chose the Vista look. It's working great so far, and looking sweet.
Oh, if, for some reason, you have a problem after the first restart of your computer, then make sure you have the Windows XP install CD. This is important because your system files will be modified. Take these precautions! Note that the Windows CD needs to be a system CD, not a restore/recovery CD. Nothing should happen though, so enjoy!

Many Of You Use Old Browsers

2006-12-30T17:16:00.000-05:00

A web browser is our tool to access web content. To read this, you use a web browser. Since there are many risks to using such a tool, updates are released frequently to patch security holes and improve stability, speed, and user experience. Every so often a complete new package is released, which we call an upgrade. For example, you may have heard of Internet Explorer 7. version 7 is an upgrade to version 6. Updates will usually change a version to 6.1, or 6.1.3 and so on.

While I was looking at my statistics for this blog, I noticed that there are quite some surfers that don't have the latest surfboard. To see which version you have, open up your browser, and click on Help at the top, then on About [your browser name]. If it says something like 6.1.3.8, just look at the first digit. In the example you would have version 6.

Need a reason for sharpening your tool? Upgrading and updating your browser will make surfing more secure, faster, more convenient, and webpages will actually show up the way they are intended to show. Because of frequently added and changing technology, older versions of web browsers can give errors, incorrectly handle instructions, and as a result make parts of a page unusable or mangled. It's also a security risk since older versions can be exploited easier by new technology.

Webmasters put a lot of time into designing, optimizing, providing content, and more. It would be a shame to spend your time on surfing such pages with a dull tool. You would be missing out.

Based on webspeaker traffic:

FireFox Users:
70.73% use the latest version which is 2.0.0.1. That's a good amount in comparison, which can be contributed to the automatic updates. Some are still using version 1.0!

Internet Explorer Users:
34.25% use the latest version, which is 7. And 2.74% is even on version 5.5 and 4.01! IE updates can be acquired through the Microsoft Update website. In the IE browser, click Tools, then Windows Update.

These are the most common browsers. Other less frequently used are Safari, Opera, and Camino.

New Blog: Football Vids

2006-12-30T02:53:00.000-05:00

Please be informed that a new Blog is live! Devoted to football only! Many videos to see, and it will be interesting for everyone, whether you like football or not! Go to http://footballvids.blogspot.com/!

Off Topic Video: Real Football

2006-12-29T23:27:00.001-05:00

Here's an off topic post. Even if you don't like football, you will be impressed by this footage.

It will show you some spectacular football skills, moves, tactics. There are many of these movies out there, but this one stands out just a little bit.

I LOVE FOOTBALL. :]

Google Groups BETA = Usenet +

2006-12-29T09:58:00.000-05:00

Remember the time that Usenet wasn't free? Started by some folks at Duke University in 1979, Usenet became one of the biggest and most famous web boards. Today, it is Google powered, and of course free.

The new Google Groups that is currently in BETA searches Usenet archives starting in 1981. On top of that it of course allows you to start your own groups, which we know from the old Google Groups. Some new features are introduced and Google is collecting feedback from users.

Take a tour of the features offered. Virtually every subject is at least touched on in this vast base of information. If you think something is missing, start your own group, invite members, customize it how you want, and contribute to the web's free infobase.

Underground Tech Show: thebroken

2006-12-27T21:59:00.000-05:00

Found on Digg. Called thebroken, these guys have IMHO a really cool show going of currently 4 episodes. In a somewhat educational way they show how to hack and crack. Things such as hacking wireless networks, also called wardriving, modding your PS2 or XBOX, cracking Windows passwords, and more. They mix is up with some humor, and if you're into techy stuff, you'll like to watch this.

Episode 3 was most interesting to me, with the interview of Kevin Mitnick, who after his interesting career of identity changes, hacking, and prison time started his own consulting company. I too like to learn things I'm not supposed to know. To read up on Kevin, go here, here, here, here, and the Wikipedia page.

Keystroke Loggers

2006-12-27T00:34:00.000-05:00

If you have seen the movie Troy, then you know what a Trojan Horse is. In the computer world a Trojan Horse is a small program. It is created to do things you don't want to happen. To stay with the movie Troy, a Trojan can open doors that make your computer accessible from the Internet. Such doors are called ports. Opened ports are used to let someone in, or to send information out.

A keystroke logger is often part of a Trojan. That means that a Trojan can detect and log all keys pressed, and send the collected information to someone else. Often keys pressed while on a certain web page are logged. Think about what kind of information you enter on web pages? Indeed, this is often a username/password combination. If you do online banking it may log your account number. The goal is always to capture sensitive and private information that can be used to break things, or to steal things.

Most such web sites have adequate security in place to protect the data you transmit between the site and your computer. Encryption levels are so high that nobody can crack it before the sun will burn out. Do you see how sneaky a keylogger is? A keylogger will get the information as you type, and thus before it even gets encrypted or sent anywhere.

The best way to avoid getting hurt by Trojans is by keeping your computer clean. If you have two computers, use one for fun, one for business/email/banking etc. Be careful with sites that offer things for free. Stay away from porn sites, casino and gamble sites. Don't click 'OK' or 'Next' or 'Click here' without reading. If you use P2P software, be wary of files that are small, and have deceptive names. Usually files smaller than 1MB are a no-no. Keep your virus scanner up to date and keep it from expiring. Even when you go to get Anti-malware software, be careful. Some programs out there do the opposite of what the name suggests. When in doubt, always do some research on Google.com. Keep your firewall on.

Following these guidelines should keep you pretty safe.

Google WiFi Coverage Map

2006-12-26T21:38:00.000-05:00

The map shows the coverage of the Mountain View area, and where Google deployed network equipment. They seem to mount it on public light poles and it almost sounds like coverage depends on the presence of these.

To learn more about the Google WiFi project check out http://wifi.google.com/support/. Eventually we'll have a form of global free internet access. Aaah, think about that! You can Blog from anywhere!

Weekend On Wireless In New York City

2006-12-26T19:07:00.000-05:00

Wow, I lost two readers over the weekend! Just to let everyone know, I'm not abandoning this blog! :) My wife and I spent the weekend in New York City. For me it was the first time there and I have to say it was great. We had a blast, did lots of walking, saw many sites, made many pictures, also went to the Blue Man Group show, and I was basically way too tired to read anything in the evening, let alone post anything. I did try to check in though and then saw that there were 9 wireless networks available in my hotel room on the 9th floor. NONE of them were secured. Hence my post about wireless network security. This top 10 is taken from the linked article.

1) Change Default Administrator Passwords (and Usernames)

2) Turn on (Compatible) WPA / WEP Encryption

3) Change the Default SSID

4) Enable MAC Address Filtering

5) Disable SSID Broadcast

6) Do Not Auto-Connect to Open Wi-Fi Networks

7) Assign Static IP Addresses to Devices

8) Enable Firewalls On Each Computer and the Router

9) Position the Router or Access Point Safely

10) Turn Off the Network During Extended Periods of Non-Use

On my wireless router I of course changed the admin password. Also I use WPA encryption, changed SSID, enabled MAC Address filtering, and enabled the firewall on the router. Enabling the firewall on the computers often interferes with File and Printer sharing. I only enable it on my wireless capable computers. Also, I used to use static IP's, but for ease of use I am currently on DHCP.

Ask yourself about the area you live in. If you live in the middle of New York where hundreds of people will be picking up your wireless signal, maybe you should tighten it down a little more than someone living in my neck of the woods. Also, it may depend a little on the sensitivity of your data. If you only play solitair online, and pay your bills the good old fashioned way, then perhaps you don't need to worry so much about encryption.

Math Trick Video: Multiplying Made Easy

2006-12-22T20:33:00.000-05:00

The Best Multiplication Method! - video powered by Metacafe
Some kids, and probably adults too, have problems with math. This video will show you how to multiply two numbers by drawing it out on paper. You can't get the answer wrong again if you remember this trick. Even if you're good at math, you will probably appreciate the way it's done.

NVIDIA Graphics Relieve Burn Victims From Pain

2006-12-22T11:14:00.000-05:00

VR pain distraction through SnowWorld, a game in which patients get a floating feeling and can throw snowballs at penguins, snowmen, etc. Their studies show 40-50% lower pain ratings as a result. Patients wear a helmet to hook up to the virtual world. Read more in the article. Good to see them involved in this stuff. Gaming sure is good for something :-P

Severe burns are some of the most painful injuries imaginable. Patients require daily care to clean the wound and daily physical therapy to stretch the newly healed skin. Despite aggressive use of medication, the majority of burn patients report severe to excruciating pain during wound care.

Time Travel With Google Patents

2006-12-22T00:21:00.000-05:00

Google Patents is not crawling much in Beta, yet searching over 7 million Patents to start with. Results ranging from long ago till this year. Type in the keyword "paperclip" and you'll find many paperclip designs since the early 1900s. The earliest one I've seen is from 1901, and doesn't look like the conventional clip.

You can bend a paperclip and use it to open your CD-ROM drive. You can bend it and shoot it across the room with a rubber band. You can think of other uses for this old and simple, yet brilliant idea. The smartest part of it, is the fact it was patented.

Having the ability to search so many patents may inspire others to new ideas. I think it's cool. Just make sure you patent your invention when you slip, fall, hit your head, and get a vision of the flux-capacitor, making time travel possible! We can only imagine what would be possible with a time machine!

Google CSE suffer from SrS

2006-12-21T00:11:00.000-05:00

SrS is Supplemental Results Syndrome. It is a Custom Search Engine disease that Google is going to fix eventually. We don't know when though.

Say you have a blog like mine, and you're not up there with the big boys yet, then you probably suffer from SrS. No page rank, no backlinks, not enough search results.

This is really putting a domper on the excitement of having a CSE. Many thousands of people have created Custom Search Engines already and find out that certain sites don't show up in the results. We are anxiously waiting for Google to fix it, and release Co-op out of Beta.

When that day comes, my CSE will work too. You can still add yourself to the sites-list, so you will be searched when we have the cure for SrS.

Click here for my CSE, which searches all Tech Blogs!

Destruction! So much fun... (blush)

2006-12-20T00:09:00.000-05:00

My job as a tech gives me the opportunity to declare hardware as obsolete or uneconomical to repair. In the last week or two we've had a good cleaning around the work place and that turned out to be loads of fun. How often do you get to throw monitors, about 200 old hard disk drives, printers, scanners, and other stuff as hard as you can into a big container? I should have made some pictures to post, man! Anyway, today my coworker and I had a load of cables, an old phone, mice, keyboards, external modems, and other stuff to throw and tear apart. Even a couple of old servers! I guess the lesson is: How much fun it is to be destructive when you can!!

By the way, if you haven't seen the movie Office Space, you have got to get/rent/borrow it!! A classic must see.

Cookies you don't like

2006-12-19T22:34:00.000-05:00

Meh, I don't really know which ones you don't like. But now that I have your attention to cookies, let me brief you on this article.

These digital cookies are little text files that are automatically stored on your hard disk drive when you visit websites. This good read shows the danger of poorly designed cookies (those are the ones you don't like). The Restaurant.com experience described here is definitely worth reading if you have questions about cookies. It clearly shows that the security level with cookies greatly depends on the builder.

Also, you can keep an eye on the cookies being used by getting an extension for your browser. The writer mentions AnEC (add n edit cookies), but the version I was able to find doesn't work with FireFox 2. You can easily go to Tools > Add-ons > Extensions > Get Extensions to find other ones. If you don't use FireFox... well, then you're on your own.

"In addition, the attacker would be able to see the target’s password, which is probably used for many other online services."

When signing up for things on remotely questionable websites it is obviously good to use a password that you don't use for anything important.

Great Speed Hack For Firefox And IE

2006-12-17T23:11:00.000-05:00

Browsers are apparently configured for dial-up users. This video shows in just a few steps how you can make some hacky changes to speed up your browsing. Effects will differ between computers and connections, but it works on Firefox 2.0 for me. Pages load lightning fast now, as if they are pulled out of cache. I'm a little amazed. This shows that there is more potential than we may think in the setup you currently have.

You'll want to try this for sure. Just pause the video after each step to keep up with it. First it shows the FF hack, then the one for IE. FF is much easier to do.

Lightning Fast Browsing Trick For Internet Explorer And Firefox - video powered by Metacafe

If the video doesn't work, or in case it's taken offline one day, here are the notes from it, exactly as shown in the movie.

By default, browsers are
optimised for dial-up ...
Broadband can handle much
more ..

Tweaks to increase the
maximum sumultaneous
connections per page for
faster browsing

Open Firefox
Type about:config in address bar
Filter 'network'
Double click
network.http.pipelining
and set it to TRUE
Double click
...pipelining.maxrequests
to set value from '4'
to a higher value
like 10
Your pages will load "much" faster now

For INTERNET EXPLORER users
Goto START > RUN and
type "regedit"
select HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Expand Software
Microsoft
Windows
Current Version
and ...
Internet Settings
MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server &
MaxConnectionsPerServer
indicates the maximum no.
of connections per page
Increase the values (DECIMAL)
from default to a higher value,
say 10
Close Regedit and see
the difference in IE

cheers !
Hope it speeds your browsing too

Default Password Lookup

2006-12-17T02:07:00.000-05:00

You know, I wonder how many people will decide to get a wireless router during this holiday season, and then forget to change the default password. That calls for a lot of wardriving, don't you think? In case you forget what a default password is, you can likely find it here. Just make sure you set a secure password afterwards. This is worth being added to the bookmarks!

AMD beating Intel by taking a different route

2006-12-16T22:40:00.000-05:00

Intel wants to race for number of cores, but AMD has a different plan. We already know about the upcoming Fusion. This article shows a little more about the plans they have and to what level they plan to take it. APU's are Accelerated Processing Units. They are integrated chips that work together with CPU cores, but are specialized to do one thing such as video processing. It looks exciting, and we'll start seeing some things in mid-2007. Read the article for more info on this interesting race!

Picture of a 5MB Hard Disk in 1956

2006-12-16T22:34:00.000-05:00

You may think floppy disks are outdated. They are. Look where it started though! Not exactly a pocket size USB memory stick now, is it?

Google Co-op

2006-12-16T22:25:00.000-05:00

Talk about custom. Can't be made easier than this to include a Search Engine for just your website, or many websites, or the entire web, in your web presence! You'll want to check into Google Co-op. Get your own CSE [custom search engine].

Another plus is that you can use this in conjunction with AdSense. In other words, it can help you monatize your website. Along with search results you can choose for ads to be displayed [just like in Gmail, regular Google result pages] that will generate revenue if they are clicked on. I think that's worth a "Thank you, Google!".

Click the title to see my CSE, and volunteer to help customize it. In case you're wondering, Google provides the code that allows you to put a search box on your site, like you see at the top of my sidebar. You can even define a custom results page. I think this is worthy of webspeaker-space ;-)

Tweak with Process Explorer

2006-12-16T22:12:00.000-05:00

Most of us have at some point used the Windows Task Manager. Maybe it was to end a hung application or to see how much CPU time a process was gobbling up. Processes are usually listed by executable name. Often these names make no sense to an average user.

Process Explorer from Sysinternals is a free helpful utility to find out what is running on your computer, and which process is what. Handy for troubleshooters, you won't have to hit up a search engine. Also handy for the average interested user.

If you care about what is active in your computer, try this utility. It can help you identify the good and the malicious. You can learn what is not required to run, and then disable these items to free up resources. Learn and tweak. :-) No need to be a geek.

Sound check, one, two , three.

2006-12-16T17:49:00.000-05:00

Just created this blog, and have to test it. The name comes from an old idea to start a web design business with a friend, long ago. Plans fell in the water but the name I still like. What do you think?

The main focus will be on tech stuff, though I'll make sure to break that rule here and there. Roll with my feed to stay updated on what's blasting through webspeaker :-)

You're welcome to leave comments... and visit my mybloglog.com profile! Networking helps all involved.