Simplistic View

Rotating event Log files in Windows Server 2003. Shouldn't this be done automatically?

2010-12-16T10:44:00.000-05:00

First off let me say yes, we still use Windows Server 2003 SP2 here. It serves the purpose we need it for and as of right now those needs may be small but are still very relevant. I would love to wipe the server and install RHEL6 but that's further down the line.

Alright, back to the task at hand. When I first started working here, about a year ago, the server performance was abysmal at best. That led me to start looking at what was dragging the server down, besides being a Windows box that is. One of many, many, findings was the Event log files were not set to be rotated out, ever! With my background in Linux administration I was completely baffled as to why this would not be a standard on any server.. Bueller?

So, I went about looking into this and found many solutions. There were two options that stuck out as viable alternatives one was an .adm template and the other was simple bash script... I mean batch script (:

I wanted a quick solution that I could possibly modify for other uses on the fly with minimal fuss, that obviously left out an adm template. So, off to work on a batch script I went. After shaking off the rust of batch scripting, it was an easy solution.

I utilized Sysinternals Psloglist.exe in the below example. A later addition also adds 7zip by Igor Pavlov into the mix so the weeks log files can be zipped and stored for later viewing if necessary.

Below is the code that I used to accomplish this task, please feel free to adjust this code to fit your systems if you are in a similar situation.

REM This is to rotate the logs:
REM Created by Dan M.
REM This work is released un the Creative Commons Non-commercial Share A-like license
REM http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode

:: Get date in useful format
For /f "tokens=2-4 delims=/ " %%a in ('date /t') do (set newdate=%%c-%%a-%%b)

:: Echo
ECHO "This is a log of the purge/rotation of the event logs" > f:\logs\file.txt
ECHO "-----------------------------------------------------" >> f:\logs\file.txt

:: Run Sysinternals PslogList.exe
:: Echo out times to file.txt for emailing
%SYSTEMDRIVE%\SysinternalsSuite\psloglist.exe Applications -c -g f:\Logs\%newdate%_APP_EVTS.evt
ECHO "Application events were rotated %newdate% at %time%" >> f:\logs\file.txt
%SYSTEMDRIVE%\SysinternalsSuite\psloglist.exe Security -c -g f:\Logs\%newdate%_SEC_EVTS.evt
ECHO "Security events were rotated %newdate% at %time%" >> f:\logs\file.txt
%SYSTEMDRIVE%\SysinternalsSuite\psloglist.exe System -c -g f:\Logs\%newdate%_SYS_EVTS.evt
ECHO "System events were rotated %newdate% at %time%" >> f:\logs\file.txt

:: Call email_me.cmd
CALL g:\scripts\Email_me.cmd

Remember adjust your variables and destinations accordingly and as always happy admin-ing!

Back to posting

2010-09-09T15:03:00.001-04:00

Time to get back to posting to this little gem of a blog I have here. What to blog about is the only question...

Gmail: Forwarding only actual email to your Blackberry

2010-05-28T10:50:00.004-04:00

If you are like me and setup your primary Gmail account with your Blackberry, or other smartphone, you more than likely get tired of all the "junk" email that goes to your device and startrs it blinking at 230am. This junk for me was mainly mailing lists as I am on a few in the Linux world. Well let's see if we can clean up this little issue.

Some people say why don't you just use the Gmail app for Blackberry devices?
A. Because for me it freezes constantly and breaks my data connection, I'm not the only one. But if you want to use it keep that in mind and also that it hasn't been updated in around 2 years.

What you will need:
1. A computer to access your Gmail account
2. A Blackberry email address(optional, you can setup a new gmail acct too)
3.

Procedure:
Ok lets log into our gmail account and click on Settings, click Filters, Create a new Filter. Now here is where we need to put in some information in regard to what we WANT forwarded. I have a list of email domains that I have compiled that is in no way exhaustive but a start, I add to it all the time.

In the FROM field:
*@gmail.com|*@hotmail.com|*@yahoo.com|*@att.blackberry.net|*@vzw.blackberry.net|*@aol.com|*@msn.com|*@live.com|*@roadrunner.com|*@gmx.de|*@gmx.net
This covers a majority of the providers, in order to add more use the pipe(|)and a star(*) - Important NO SPACES or the rule will fail. So if I wanted to add ACME corporations email I would simplty append |*@acme.com to the end of the string.

In the TO field:
MyEmail@gmail.com

I leave HAS THE WORDS and SUBJECT empty because I want almost all email to come through.

In the DOESN'T HAVE feild:
cdlug-general OR chat OR LTP

Put the key words you DON'T want forwarded, seperated by OR. You can use other boolean phrases also, but I will not cover them in this article.
**I highly suggest you put "chat" in the feild. If you don't every gchat you have will be forwarded to your phone and that can get annoying.

Once you are done with that hit "Next Step"
Now place a check in the box next to "Forward it To:" select your forwarding address. if you have not set one up yet simply click "Manage your forwarding address", select "add new", put in your blackberry.net address and await the verification code. Once the code comes type it into the box and click "Save changes" at the bottom of the page, you will be returned to the Filters page.

Now you can hit "Create filter", I do not suggest checking the apply to XX number of conversations below or you may clog up your blackberry.

Done. Now all email from the email domains we setup in the begining will be forwarded to your blackberry and all the ones you don't want will stay in the cloud.

Hope that helps! If you have any questions/comments please feel free to post them!

Dan

Exchange Server 2003 fun

2009-11-16T08:40:00.009-05:00

Well with my new job in NY being very Microsoft centric I have run into the normal bevy of MS related issues. Namely random crashes, corruption and crap, I like to call it C3. The latest has been a blast to deal with.

How to add yourself as an Exchange Full Administrator without using ESM Delegation in my case this was because I couldn't use the ESM Delegation Wizard

Original issue: An Exchange mailbox had been corrupted and I needed to restore it from a backup. So I thought this should be easy(wrong).

Actions: I setup a Recovery Group just like I was supposed to and mounted the store recovered the mailbox etc.

Problem created: When trying to add a new user the new user's mailbox is created in the recovery group. This has to be one of the dumbest designs ever but, fine I will just delete the recovery group that I created and then recreate the user. Halt! Microsoft decided that is not a good idea and even though I created the RG I can't delete it, mind you I am logged in as a Local/Domain/Enterprise Admin so I should have super powers right? Nope.

Microsoft restricted that aspect to only Exchange Full Administrators(EFA). Fine, I looked around and figured out how to add an account as an EFA, this should be easy right? Wrong.
You cannot add an account to be a EFA unless you have an account and login credentials for an EFA. Now what? Off to Google I go.

A solution finally!
1. Log into the Exchange server with local/domain/ad admin rights
2. Run regedit and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Exchange\ExAdmin
3. Create a new dword called ShowSecurityPage
4. Set the value from 0 to 1
5. Close the ESM if open
6. (re)Open the ESM
7. Right click on your Exchange Organization, select properties, Add the desired account with FULL access.
8. Go to your recovery group and delete the database then the recovery group itself

Now you are able to add your desired users and they will be added to the correct database

What a mess...

Run updates from crontab

2009-07-05T00:32:00.003-04:00

Simple safe-upgrade script to be run from root's crontab -

Reasoning - I was tired of the way the updater was in Ubuntu recently, that whole pop-under thing is annoying and counter productive. So I wrote a script that safe-update's the system and doesn't need a sudo user to install the updates.

Now, I would not advise using this on a server or mission critical desktop. Who knows what could happen even with only safe-update called...

Setup is near the bottom, read this first.

What update.sh does:

$now is the current date in unix time
$check_date is the current date minus one week
(actually 6 days 23 hours 59 minutes and 45 seconds)

Fist step is:
It checks to see if this script has been run before via a if file exists in bash

if yes then:
It checks to see if current date minus one week is greater than or equal to the last update. So if this was last run over a week ago it will start.
If not it was last updated withing a week it will exit. This _should_ not happen, but is a built in 'failsafe'.

If the file does not exist:
It creates the .update_log and goes on its merry way updating.

What is doens't do:
This script does NOT reboot the machine when done, this was done on purpose for the user(s). This way when they are done for the day they and shutdown the computer will be up to date the next time it is turned on.

WARNING:
Firefox will act crazy if not restarted after updating! This may be covered in the next revision.

Setup:
1. Copy between the CUTs to /root/update.sh via vim/vi/nano/gedit etc. (Yes you need to be root)
2. chmod +x /root/update.sh
3. su root (if you sudo'd in)
4. #crontab -e
5. Setup the crontab the way you like it
5a. Here's mine 30 16 * * 2 /root/update.sh
6. :wq <-- to save the crontab

You may also want crontab to shutdown or reboot the machine after, but that is up to you.

//----------------CUT--------------------------//
#!/bin/bash
# update.sh - DTM
# Get root's paths (as root 'grep bin /root/*')
# this will give the correct shell also
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:"${PATH}"
PATH=/usr/sbin:"${PATH}"
PATH=/sbin:"${PATH}"

# Check last update time
#-----------------------
# Check if file exists get information on last modify time or just create one

# Define vars using Unix time - makes it easier
now=`date +%s`
check_date=$(($now-604785))

# See if file exists
if [ -f /root/.update_log ];
then
last_update=`cat /root/.update_log`
if [ $check_date -ge $last_update ];
then
echo $now > /root/.update_log && aptitude update && aptitude -y safe-upgrade
else
exit
fi # //END COMPARE LOGS
else
echo $now > /root/.update_log && aptitude update && aptitude -y safe-upgrade
fi # //END MAIN IF
//-------------------------CUT--------------//

Another run-in with Windows Vista

2009-07-03T14:17:00.006-04:00

Where to begin? Well, I am moving back to New York after nine years of living no closer then 9.5 hours by car. With this move comes the oh so fun job hunting. As many of you know, unless you live under a rock, the job market flat out stinks at this point in time. I have applied for 27 jobs and have heard back from one! Anyhow, this whole resume thing and it having to be in the lovely proprietary Microsoft Word format 97% of the time, has gotten a little unruly in OpenOffice. Don't get me wrong OpenOffice is great, when it is not deleting embedded tables in doc files as it is in 3.1, I use it every day for normal document, PDF, spreadsheet application. But, the table dropping was killing me, so I said screw it and installed my copy of Windows Vista Business x32 that came with my Thinkpad.

First off the install was quick, on the 20GB partition I allowed it, but the updates took over 2 hours to download and install! Mind you I do have a 6MB pipe and they were downloaded in less than 10 minutes. Installing should not have taken over an hour and a half on a dual core T7100 1.8Ghz intel with 4GB of ram. After my wait was over sometime around midnight I installed the much needed Antivirus and went to bed, finally.

This morning I installed my Copy of Office 2007, applied service pack one and was on my way to my normal tasks. Checking email, looking at job boards, etc. I soon realized my four legged friend needed to take a little trip outside. So, I closed the lid on my Thinkpad, like I did last night, and took him for a walk. Needless to say I was distracted for a good 3 hours, I happened to be walking into the kitchen when I noticed my amber battery light was on and the little green moon was not! I panicked a little because I have my good battery(7 cell) in and not the little 4 cell that came with it, these are not cheap and I try not to run them below 25% unless it is an absolute necessity.

So now that you are up to date on the on the happenings, I suppose I can show you the picture of what the desktop looked like when I opened the lid.

Lovely heh? Less than 14 hours installed and I get my first BSOD. Someone again tell me why I don't use Microsoft products? As of right now I am only at 31% of my battery, thank you Windows Vista Experience you have made my day and busy weekend for that matter, even better.

I am off to install Ubuntu Linux on the other 60GBs of my hard drive, guess I should have just dealt with VirtualBox OSE's lack of USB support in the free version, thanks a lot Sun! I blame you too.

And by the way I did click the "Find a Solution" button, you know what I got? Nothing....

Thanks again....

Centos - Mounting NTFS drives

2009-06-20T20:20:00.003-04:00

I was brushing up on my CentOS 5.3 skills and needed access to an older NTFS formatted usb drive. I forgot that CentOS doesn't include NTFS-3g support natively, doh!
So here are the few simple commands needed to get it installed:
1. Open a terminal window
2. Su - (or Sudo -s)
3. yum install fuse fuse-ntfs-3g dkms dkms-fuse
4. mkdir /media/win
5. /sbin/fdisk -l <-- to find your drive
6. mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sdb1 /media/win

Bam you are done!

Oh no windows Viruses on my Linux box!!

2009-05-19T12:46:00.004-04:00

This was supremely entertaining.

My Linux box was infected with Windows viruses oh no! As you can see I downloaded the install.exe to help me keep my system clean!. ;)

The not so funny part is that the that the detection @ VirusTotal was 11/40 or 27.5% <--- yuck!

Best quote of the week

2009-02-13T12:24:00.002-05:00

"The one ray of hope is that maybe, just maybe, the thousands of Windows worms will go to war with each other and kill every Windows machine on earth. Though that would be a short-lived cure, because even after a Windows holocaust the first thing the survivors are going to do is get up, dust themselves off, and see if rebooting will bring their systems back up." -- Carla Schroder

http://blog.linuxtoday.com/blog/2009/02/i-give-up-peopl.html

Twitter Address

2009-01-13T09:58:00.002-05:00

With having to block Facebook at work due to overzealous users, I have now setup a twitter account. I know, I know who hasn't but anyway here is the address:

http://twitter.com/likuidkewl/

Newegg Eggsaver shipping - redux

2009-01-09T12:36:00.003-05:00

Anyone who has ordered from Newegg.com knows that they sometimes offer free shipping with certain items. I suggest that, unless you have no urgent need for the item, you use UPS or FedEx to ship. The reason is that the Eggsaver shipping is provided by DHL and then handed off to the USPS for final delivery. This is common for small items such as Memory and processors. One major issue I had with this shipping method was that once it was handed off to the USPS DHL stopped reporting its progress, and it seemed that the Newegg shipping tracker didn't track it either. But, if you take your dhl tracking number and navigate your browser to http://webtrack.dhlglobalmail.com plug it in you will see the same information from Newegg but also a link to the USPS tracking number on the bottom right. Now at least you can tell when it arrives in your town.

HTH

Ubuntu 8.04 dbus and console kit crash

2008-12-30T11:09:00.005-05:00

This has been happening randomly since our switch to the lovely Ubuntu server platform. The open bugs at launchpad were a good starting point for information.

What seems to be happening is that the dbus service is crashing and this is evident because the gnome-power-manager service is a screamer and depends on it, so after we restart dbus(#/etc/init.d/dbus restart) two instances of console-kit-daemon are running and fighting with each other for control.

The simple solution was to kill one of them:
$ps aux | grep console-kit-daemon and sudo kill xxxx
or use:
$pidof console-kit-daemon then pick one and kill it or script it to be killed.

We will see if this helps.....

A useless post

2008-12-29T19:03:00.003-05:00

To make you jealous.....

Latest Midori on the Ubuntu Intrepid eee

2008-12-16T21:25:00.004-05:00

If you are like myself and have installed Midori as your default browser in Intrepid you will want to add this PPA.

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/webkit-team/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/webkit-team/ubuntu intrepid main

To do so open a terminal and type:
$sudo mousepad /etc/apt/sources.list
Scroll to the bottom paste in the above ppa save.
Update and upgrade and you have a much more stable Midori/Webkit
(Be warned with some issues with Google's use of java though)

Installing Ubuntu 8.10 with Xfce4 on a Asus eee 700 2G Surf

2008-11-23T21:52:00.004-05:00

Here I will cover the steps I used to get a cheapo Asus 2G Surf off of Xandros and on Ubuntu 8.10 with minimal system "sluggishness"

Download the Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Alternate installation CD from your closest/fastest mirror(IMPORTANT!)

Burn/Copy the ISO to a usable medium for the eee.
I used unetbootin to write the ISO to a 1GB Sandisk thumb drive from Linux, it should be the same using Windows.

Boot the eee using the usb flash drive by pressing esc during the POST process and choosing the medium you setup in the previous step.

When the Ubuntu(unetbootin) menu is displayed select "Text mode install" - This installs only the bare minimum of needed files leaving out the "fluff"

Partitioning:
I am going to say right now that some are not going to agree with my choices of file systems and/or partitions, but this is what worked the best for me and I am not to worried about that old 1GB SD card I barely ever use dying.

My layout is as follows:
Internal Solid State Disk -
/ ROOT is the entire 2GB of the SSD using EXT2
(This is a good idea in order to keep the non-replaceable SSD in good shape, you can read more about journaling file systems and the effect on solid state storage by doing a quick search of the web)

Additional SD card - This where we thrash away at a cheap 1GB SD card
/SWAP is 512 of the SD card (some say this is optional, I disagree)
/TMP is 256 of the SD card on the EXT3 file system (Journaling FS)
/HOME is the remainder of the SD card on EXT3 also
(I am religious in my backups so I am not worried about the SD card going kaput and losing my home directory. If you are not a backup person you may want to become one just in case or not keep anything super important on the eee.)

**I was plugged in to the Internet to get the latest updates and to make the most of my time**

Answer all the questions(...)
Follow all the prompts(...)
After the setup completes in about 45 minutes to an hour we can move on.

We are now going to install a kernel specifically designed for the Asus eee series of netbooks.
To install the new kernel follow the instructions at array.org
They are simple and concise.

Before I rebooted I removed the splash and quiet option from the grub boot options ($sudo vim /boot/grub/menu.lst) so I could see if any errors flew by, then rebooted ($sudo reboot).

Now you have a lean mean Ubuntu 8.10 install with a kernel designed for a eee pc, but we are not done yet.

$sudo aptitude install xfce4 gnome-power-manager
This will take a few minutes, I use the gnome power manager only because there is not a native Xfce program yet.
Keep your eyes here though it looks to be soon.

Now that Xfce is installed lets start it
$startx
**Note you will have to setup xfce to your liking and add the menu/applets of your choosing as it is barren**
A good place to start is here: http://www.xfce.org/about/tour

A quick setup for this tutorial:
Right click the panel(little grey area) and select "Customize Panel" under position select fixed position and in the drop down box select "Full Width" then "Close".
Right click an empty area of the panel and select "Add New Item" scroll down to the bottom and select "Xfce Menu" set it up to your liking and then do the same for "System Tray" and "Task List"(after you add this you will see the gpm and you can edit your settings from there)

If you have any real issues you cannot overcome leave a message here or fire off a quick search on the internet

Now lets install a web browser. Go to the XFCE menu -> Accessories -> Terminal
$sudo aptitude install midori
I like this browser due to the small footprint. Granted it is not as mature as Firefox, but it is webkit based and under heavy development(codeword for a little buggy). You may choose to install firefox instead for surefire compatibility but beware you _will_ notice the difference.

Remember we have not installed the default Xubuntu install so we have no login screen right now. If you feel you don't need one or you just want to show off in front of your friends leave it at the bash login and use startx. If not, you can choose to install GDM(since we met most of the dependencies with the power manager install) or use the old school login manager xdm(personal favorite)
#aptitude install xdm(optional)

Now we have a base system, power management and a login manager. All that is left is network management.

You can go for broke and install network manager, but I try to leave out as much gnome as possible. As such I install WICD
$sudo aptitude install wicd(optional)

Now just add your networks double check your power settings and go for gold!
I have found this setup to be fast and reliable, with some exception for minor Midori issues.

Have fun and feel free to leave any questions or comments you may have.

Acer Aspire One - Windows version, OOPS!

2008-11-15T22:30:00.007-05:00

Behold the poster child for Linux on Netbooks.

This was shot at my local Staples on 15 November, 2008.

Here is a close up of the screen. I love the part about the CD-ROM.

*Sorry about the quality, it is a camera phone what can I say.
**And this display model is not for sale apparently

Custom DrWeb CureIt utility -

2008-11-08T14:26:00.006-05:00

As some may know I have switched to Linux for my everyday computing needs. This has left my "Storage" partition mostly untouched for months. Today I re-applied my 'Windows V!sta Business' Image to the Windows partition in order play around over the weekend.

While examining the Storage partition, mainly getting the needed security apps loaded on V!sta, I found a little script I wrote to deal with the DrWeb CureIt update issue(s).
Some may be curious as to what these "issues" are (IMO):
#1 You have to download the entire CureIt utility to have the most current virus definitions every time
#2 The ads that are packed with the program to buy Dr. Web are a bit over the top and annoy me
I understand this is a free tool and they need to make money, but I do believe they can do without my $20 for a spell.

Moving on, this is a simple batch file that can automate the process required to manually update the modified CureIt utility. In reality this is not "CureIt" but a modified version of the normally installable version which goes easily on a USB drive. I got the idea two years ago when CureIt first came out, the way it was packaged made me realize that DrWeb's main scanner didn't have to be installed to sniff out and destroy malware and off I went.

How this script works is simple, there is a zip file that has the needed files in it, simply extract and navigate to the DrWeb_USB folder and run Launch.bat. I have removed all the bases to save space in the download, so you will need to select option #1 the first time.

You may be able to swap out the Drweb32.exe for a newer version but this is not tested and is not supported(Much like the rest of this program). Do not try to use the .exe from the actual newer CureIt versions as Dr.Web has "fixed" it. If you would like to try a newer scanner version, use a installed version and the same goes for a newer .dll.
I do believed I tried this with more recent releases but it failed I think....

DISCLAIMER
If this somehow breaks your computer, which is highly unlikely, it is not my fault.

ALSO
If you feel like you are cheating the good Doctor please by all means buy a license and substitute that for the cureit.key. The only reason this is included is so that everyone can use it.

Below are two screen shots

CMD Windows options:

Driver Versions(note vdb's not included):

Here is the link to the zip file:
http://www.zer0-tec.net/files/DrWeb_USB.zip

//If this is illegal it will be promptly removed with word from DrWeb ltd.//

Dan

Ubuntu 8.10 Released.. With issues...

2008-10-30T21:07:00.003-04:00

I think I am just p-o'd that Canonical released Ubuntu 8.10 with a bug that affects me in a major way. This one:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/264789

How can you release a distribution this day in age and have severe issues with USB storage of all things? UGH!

Dropped the Tomato....

2008-10-27T22:08:00.008-04:00

Well it was a nice run but it seems that the Tomato Firmware series of old has gone and all that is left are the remnants of what was once great.

Some may say "Wait Tomato still R0X!" But I am sorry my friends, it does so no longer. I feel that ever since the 1.07 version things have gone steadily downhill. Jon _has_ given out the code and others _have_ tried to improve the issues that arise, kudos to them. But when a router locks because someone is using a Intel Wireless card on a client machine this is by far unacceptable. It saddens me to say that this issue has been known and still remains. Do not think that I don't appreciate all the work that went into this project because I do, I am very grateful. But how does something like this go on for months?

As such I have switched from Tomato to DD-WRT v24-sp1, as of this posting I am up over 8 days and no lockups. Where as with Tomato I would have had to reboot 2-3 times already.

Again, thanks Jon for the time and effort. No ill will is intended in this posting.

AT&T Profits hurt by M-16 wielding iPhone Geniuses?

2008-10-22T14:16:00.005-04:00

Thanks again Google News!

The 'e1000 nasty' firmware fix announced via Suse

2008-10-17T13:24:00.003-04:00

For those affected, there has been a message sent to the lkml in regards to fixing corrupted firmware.

See here:
http://lkml.org/lkml/2008/10/17/214

Thanks again Microsoft!

2008-10-08T10:48:00.005-04:00

As some of you know, well if you read this blog that is, over the last year or so I have switched 98% of my computing to Linux. There does however seem to be something around every two weeks that requires me to use Windows and today was one of those days.

Below you will find what I was greeted with this morning. All I have to say is "Thanks again Microsoft" this time you have proven it is not only third party vendors who like to crash and lockup the computer. FANTASTIC!!

And just in case you are wondering what I was doing to have this happen the answer is nothing, it looks like AU went off and BLAM! There goes the OS.
Userspace "What is that!"
UGH!

Washington Post's "Underscore for Emphasis"

2008-09-15T12:52:00.003-04:00

It seems even the Washington Post is now a fan of the "Underscore for Emphasis" campaign:

However, the NTSB contradicted Metrolink's report. Higgins said that the dispatcher noticed something was wrong, but before he could contact the train, the conductor _ who survived _ called in to report the wreck.

Was visible at: 1254 EST
Here

gnu Wallpaper

2008-09-06T09:43:00.005-04:00

Simple gnu wallpaper created with gimp.

It is the gnu Alternate logo and a simple black background designed to allow ample space for conky monitoring.

It is 1280x800 and is covered by GPLv3.

Added:

Some Xubuntu (Xfce) tweaks

2008-08-07T08:40:00.003-04:00

I have been using Xubuntu for around a month now on my ThinkPad and thought I would share some of the tweaks/fixes I use.

This is a very tip of the iceberg post so if you have questions please fell free to ask.

Xubuntu install "must haves" -
Aptitude install the following(keep in mind this is my notebook)
Powertop, ACPItool, htop, rar, OOo Writer, xubuntu-restricted-extras

Fixes:

Mount NTFS drives at boot

Create mount point and place it in /media
ex. sudo mkdir /media/yourMount

List partitions with 'sudo fdisk -l' select the partition to mount
ex. /dev/sda5 5100 9729 37187608+ 7 HPFS/NTFS

Edit /etc/fstab as super user and add lines for your ntfs partion(s)
/dev/sda5 /media/yourMount ntfs-3g defaults,umask=007,gid=46 0 1

Reboot or mount -a

Unbind Windows key as a modifier

Create a file called .Xmodmap in your home directory.
vim .Xmodmap

Add this line:
remove mod4 = Super_L
*Same applies for Super_R also if you have it.

Go to Settings -> Settings Manager -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts tab

Create a new "Theme" Give it a name and and now map the Super_L to the shortcut of your liking. I use it for a Terminal.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If I get some more time I will put up some more information.

--Dan

Pidgin 2.4.3 released - Fixes ICQ issue

2008-07-02T08:53:00.003-04:00

Great job to the Pidgin maintainers for a quick response to the ICQ issues reported yesterday.

Downloads for version 2.4.3 are available @ http://www.Pidgin.im

ICQ users left in the dark

2008-07-01T17:18:00.003-04:00

As is being reported around the net 3rd party ICQ clients Pidgin and Kopete are are stuck ICQ-less until patches get merged into the systems. Pidgin is affected in the Linux and Windows world, fixes are available but to my knowledge these are only temporary or proposed and not anything official.

Ubuntu temp fixes: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pidgin/+bug/244591
Windows temp fixes: http://developer.pidgin.im/attachment/ticket/6220/liboscar.zip

You have to love unannounced protocol changes! :)

Who says Microsoft filesystems are "dirty"?

2008-06-19T18:26:00.002-04:00

Below is a screen shot of one of the computers we have at work. Needless to say it was in need of a minor disk cleanup / defrag.

Linux Power information

2008-06-07T15:14:00.004-04:00

Striving to be Green is great, running Green in the Linux world is a bit of a hassle but can be done.

I don't have the time to explain in great detail, but I am going to provide some links to help you on your quest for a "Greener Linux"

Great write up on the usage of CPU-Freq utils:
http://polishlinux.org/linux/debian/green-pcs-cpu-frequency-scaling-in-linux/

Thinkpad Linux mailing list- An valuable resource for those with Thinkpads / Ideapads && Linux
http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-thinkpad

Thinkwiki - Another great resource for Lenovo/IBM notebooks and Linux:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki

Less Watts - Saving power with Linux and Intel:
http://www.lesswatts.org/

PowerTop Mailing List:
http://www.bughost.org/mailman/listinfo/power

Hopefully those links will keep you busy for a bit and help you reduce YOUR footprint on the world...

Cyber Armies

2008-05-12T20:14:00.004-04:00

According to the following story the Air force is entertaining the thought of creating its own bot net. All your bot are belong to us.

The U.S. would not, and need not, infect unwitting computers as zombies. We can build enough power over time from our own resources.
Rob Kaufman, of the Air Force Information Operations Center, suggests mounting botnet code on the Air Force’s high-speed intrusion-detection systems. Defensively, that allows a quick response by directly linking our counterattack to the system that detects an incoming attack. The systems also have enough processing speed and communication capacity to handle large amounts of traffic.
Next, in what is truly the most inventive part of this concept, Lt. Chris Tollinger of the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency envisions continually capturing the thousands of computers the Air Force would normally discard every year for technology refresh, removing the power-hungry and heat-inducing hard drives, replacing them with low-power flash drives, then installing them in any available space every Air Force base can find. Even though those computers may no longer be sufficiently powerful to work for our people, individual machines need not be cutting-edge because the network as a whole can create massive power.
After that, the Air Force could add botnet code to all its desktop computers attached to the Nonsecret Internet Protocol Network (NIPRNet). Once the system reaches a level of maturity, it can add other .mil computers, then .gov machines.
To generate the right amount of power for offense, all the available computers must be under the control of a single commander, even if he provides the capability for multiple theaters. While it cannot be segmented like an orange for individual theater commanders, it can certainly be placed under their tactical control.

http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2008/05/3375884

Have I found it?

2008-05-03T21:41:00.003-04:00

Well, I think I have found the Linux flavor for my R61 Thinkpad.

I have tried:
Version of Linux / Reason(s) for not keeping on my notebook

Debian based-
1. Ubuntu 7.10 and 8.04 - the Ubuntu guys/community has done a great job of making Linux a more user friendly distro than most. Out of the box most everything works without a hitch this is great! But, I need more battery life than 2 hours which was the maximum I was able to obtain with Ubuntu tweaked with Powertop and all un-needed services swithced off.

2. Debian Etch - The tried and true base for most things *nix. But, I didn't have the time or the energy to manually configure everything that I needed to configure. For example the screen resolution, Wifi card and Suspend to Ram.

3. ParsiX - This little up and comer from Iran is a very nice "niche" linux. Only issue with this distribution is the use of Xorg 7.2 and the "bug" with the Lenovo screens. Whatever I tried to fix it with just would not give me the use of my entire screen.

Redhat based -
4. Centos 5.1 - It truly is wonderful that Redhat, even though they don't want to delve into the desktop arena are allowing the source to be put out for free "as is" this allows many people to use Centos as a highly reliable server for years to come. With many having great luck on older hardware and desktops. But for a newer notebook this is just flat out not the distro, I am not knocking it at all it is awesome and I still use it for server purposes but not for my R61. The Suspend to Ram, Suspend to Disk, Wifi are not able to be used without recompiling a newer kernel from scratch 2.6.18 just cant cut it these days.

5. Fedora - This is great if you are looking for cutting edge low life cycle Linux fun, but if you are looking for support longer than 13 months you are in the wrong place. There is a great wiki entry in regards to this, and that in and of itself is one of the few reasons I have to say nay to Fedora.

Novell/Suse -
6. OpenSuse 10.3 - This is/was my favorite distro as I have used Suse on and off since Suse7 and loved it. But the ports that seems to be made for the Suse SLED 10.1 that is shipped with R61's never seemed to make it into the 10.3 tree in time for me to be able to deal with. I really hated giving this one up but the lack of battery life and the screen resolution "bug" shared with Parsix made me switch.

Mandriva(Mandrake) -
7. Wow! I was always gun shy of a distro that asked you to pay for Linux. But after trying to free version I may deviate from that path. Everything works, less the Opek Finger print scanner but that will come in time. Add the availability or "Laptop" kernels for power savings and I am SOLD!

Granted I have not tried Slackware or Gentoo, maybe one day.

More to follow later.....

XP SP3 and the SPIN!

2008-05-01T10:31:00.005-04:00

As everyone in the world now knows Microsoft has delayed SP3 for Windows XP, until it fixes an issue with interoperability in relation to its own Dynamics Retail Management Software. I was curious as to how many companies use this software and in the last few days looked at every store I went into and to my surprise none were using it. Not even the dry cleaners...

Is this a ploy to to push Vista into our faces and onto our computers? I don't feel this is the case as they have also pulled Vista SP1 from auto installation, but not manual download. I am thinking larger issue than DRMs one which they don't want to explain. But what is it? A backdoor? A severe kernel vulnerability? Who knows, all I have to say is:
*Conspiracy theorists unite!*

I do have it installed and running on my notebook. And my box hasn't been Pwned, yet....

Meet Theodore(Teddy)

2008-03-07T07:54:00.005-05:00

Teddy is my pup. Here are some pics from yesterday:

Trying Vista SP1

2008-02-23T16:57:00.003-05:00

Well with all the talk of Windows Vista and its failure to claim the "fame" on the desktop, I thought it fitting to give it another chance on my "new" ThinkPad R61.

As I have been a Microsoft Beta Guinea pig for a few years I have had access to the Service Pack for about a week now. Until today I had no desire to run it at all, to be honest I was just bored. So here goes;

Installation was very fast, I was done in roughly 30 minutes. Base install no special software from Lenovo mind you. Most everything worked right from the start.
I think Microsoft figured out what I have thought was the biggest obstacle of an install for years, having an active internet connection first, being if I have a wireless card I more than likely will not plug in during my install why should I? This really irritates me in Linux BTW.

Things I have noticed that don't work, IBM Powermanager, On Screen Display, and the battery life is dismal at best.....

Maybe more if I keep it installed, this is doubtful though.

US-193 Satellite Shoot via NewScientist

2008-02-21T23:27:00.003-05:00

NewScientist story

About 40 seconds into the clip you will notice a sway in the camera, some of us know all too well what that rocking is from.. Video courtesy of the US Navy.

ThinkPad oddities

2008-01-30T20:47:00.000-05:00

I purchased a new ThinkPad recently and have been noticing some nice features along with some odd ones. Namely the drive protection, with R61 on my lap and typing away I sometimes get the yellow "repetitive shock" warning... Anyone else notice this or is it just my fingers smashing the keyboard?

Newegg + UPS Things to look out for

2008-01-11T08:29:00.000-05:00

This has me a little peeved. I ordered a new Lenovo Thinkpad from Newegg.com on Wednesday at 4pm PST I also added rushed processing to hopefully get it shipped out ASAP as my current notebook died. I totally forgot that with Newegg in order to actually process your request for fast approval it states that it must be done before 12pm PST. Ok understandable, but I really would appreciate it if they said so on the order page where they provide a check box also if you say guaranteed 3 day service deliver on Saturdays! Again, if I placed a "rush" order on Wednesday why did my package not get shipped until Thursday night at 11pm? I think this will be the last time I ever use them. I have been surfing around and noticed I am not the only one who has had this issue. They need to make things more obvious on the website, ie. where it says 3 day shipping make it "3 Business day shipping" or "UPS 3 business day shipping". The only day I would not expect a delivery option is Sunday, call me crazy but I have received packages on Saturdays before from UPS. I am fairly irritated if you can't tell and I am thinking about calling them today to find out why they are so crytpic in the shipping/ordering procedures. I have to say this is my first "bad" experience with them but for a purchase to take 5 days from order to delivery with express processing and "3 day shipping" is a little beyond me.

A little reality check

2008-01-04T15:35:00.000-05:00

Fedora information linkage

2007-12-16T21:57:00.000-05:00

This is really just a note to myself in order to keep track of these links, but others may find them useful also.

Fedora Service(s) info:
http://dnmouse.webs.com/servicesinf8.htm
http://www.mjmwired.net/resources/mjm-services-f8.html

Sirius Satellite radio listen online - work around

2007-12-15T14:27:00.000-05:00

Lately Sirius is having trouble with their website, certain areas are offline and other will not work all together. For example have an account and want to add a radio for the holiday trip to your Parent's in Sasqachuan? Sorry you can't.

I was so fedup with them I stopped listening online for a while, now I tried again and it is still offline! Apparently they hired some really great web designers and the code they wrote was busted! Good old script errors, dolts.

Anyhow if you would like to listen online I was able to pull a working link that doesn't use the oh so wonderful new Flash interface.

http://www.sirius.com/sirius/servlet/MediaPlayer

Beware of malicious Linux commands from "helpers"

2007-12-01T10:51:00.000-05:00

Recently there have been a few malicious commands posted at the Ubuntu forums directed at "helping" new users. So if you are thinking about the switch to linux or even trying it out, beware as usual on the internet. Here is the link to the post at the Ubuntu forums about this:
http://ubuntuforums.org/announcement.php?a=54

I have not seen this at the Fedora or Centos forums but be on the lookout in any regards.

Gmail + IMAP + Thunderbird

2007-11-01T14:16:00.001-04:00

What a great combination!
Nothing else needs to be said.

[How To] Install Zune theme on XP Pro x64 -

2007-09-21T22:34:00.002-04:00

I know the Zune theme has been around for a while and may be old news to most of you but there is a simple solution to the error that is output when a user tries to install the ZuneDesktopTheme.msi from Microsoft on a x64 version of Windows.

1. Search Google for a file called orca.msi, this is a MSI "manipulation" tool from MS.
1a. Or you can download it from here
2. Install orca, the defaults are fine
3. Download the Zune desktop theme, the direct link from MS is above ^
4. Right click on the ZuneDesktopTheme.msi and select edit with Orca
5. Under the Tables section(left) go to InstallExecuteSequence
6. In the Action-Condition-Sequence section(right) highlight LaunchConditions and Del
6A. Or right click the LaunchCondtions entry in the database and select Drop row
7. Answer yes to the prompt and then save and exit
8. Install the MSI as normal

Enjoy!!

2007-09-15T23:59:00.001-04:00

Belkin F5D7000 v3 fix

2007-08-17T12:54:00.000-04:00

If you happen to have a Belkin F5D7000 v3 like I do you can more then likely relate to the dropping of wireless connectivity all the time in Windows XP. Read on...

I found a fix while looking for Linux drivers for this card. As this card uses a RaLink chipset you can go to http://www.ralinktech.com/ under the support section and download the latest drivers and RaLink wireless utility directly from their website here .

Updating your drivers will alleviate the dropped connections, I had to do the driver update manually as Windows told me it couldn't find a better driver than it already had. But now I haven't had a dropped connection in days!

HTH someone else!

Who wants a Ride with Ted, the Airforce doesn't

2007-07-31T15:08:00.000-04:00

Good old "Pork barrel" spending, this time on the Dems;

The Engine No One Wants — Except Congress
The Government Is Spending $100 Million In Tax Dollars On A Jet Engine Deemed Unnecessary By The Military

The supersonic F-35 Lightning II is the military's next-generation strike fighter. It flies so fast that the speed is classified.

Pratt & Whitney has the government contract to make the jet's high-performance engine. But your tax dollars are also paying for GE to develop a spare engine — and it has cost you $1.6 billion so far.

The idea is that if GE and Pratt & Whitney compete, they'll build better engines that cost less and end up saving money. But here's where it really gets interesting: The military doesn't want the alternate engine. The Air Force and two independent panels have concluded it's "not necessary and not affordable" and that the supposed savings from competition "will never be achieved."

So why did Sen. Ted Kennedy personally earmark $100 million tax dollars for the project this year alone? He wouldn't agree to an interview, but part of the answer has to do with where it could be built: at GE's Massachusetts plant in Kennedy's home state — where it would bring jobs.

Kennedy is not the only one who wants to spend your tax money on the project. So does Congresswoman Jean Schmidt.

Talk about cryptic errors...

2007-07-30T22:18:00.000-04:00

I get this little guy everytime I try to empty my Recycle Bin in XP.
You have to love the descriptive information provided.
NO I am not trying to delete the desktop before anyone chimes in with that...

Reuters has had a little trouble covering the letour

2007-07-23T20:24:00.000-04:00

These poor guys at Reuters!

Burning Renault

‘Allo Paris, we have a problem…..
July 23rd, 2007, filed by mal.langsdon

I have just returned from a trip to Toulouse in southern France. The main reason for the trip was to drive down from Paris with a replacement people carrier for our 7-man Reuters pictures team covering the month-long Tour de France cycle race. I was also somewhat concerned about the state of the team’s morale after the latest in a series of setbacks that has plagued our crew since the Tour’s unusual departure from London.

Read the entire story here

Ask.com's "Anti-Google" tool

2007-07-20T21:07:00.000-04:00

This is a step in the right direction that all major search engines should impliment.
With Google's(aka SkyNet - Cozmik) privacy rating slipping and their quest for global domination in full swing it might be time to "switch"

Ask.com unveils anti-Google tool
By Cade Metz in San Francisco
'Hey! We care about privacy'

As Google plays games with its cookies, semi-rival Ask.com is actually getting serious about privacy. The web's fourth-leading search engine is giving web users a brand new tool that ensures their search results will not be retained by the company - at all. As the company points out, that's a first among major search engines.

Known as AskEraser, the tool isn't slated to arrive until later in the year, but Ask went ahead and announced the thing yesterday. No doubt, the company sees this as an opportune moment, with Google fighting off an ever-growing number of questions about its affect on end user privacy. At the end of May, after various privacy groups complained about Google's proposed $3.1bn acquisition of online ad firm DoubleClick, the Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation, and in a recent ranking of web privacy practices, watchdog Privacy International put the search giant at the very bottom of the list.

Geek squad thieves

2007-07-18T00:18:00.000-04:00

I have been following the Geek Squad "issues" since they had a run in with Sysinternals, now a Microsoft buyout.
But this is worse than a huge corperation using known pirated software.
Your personal information is at risk, have a look at the following links:

Consumerist Story #1
Consumerist's follow-up, one of many
CRN's coverage

This is an awful abuse of a "help desk" service and needs everyones attention, I for one have never used the service but when I do happen to go to a Bluebox the "service desk" is always busy with the poor saps trusting all their personal information to under paid computer geeks with nothing but time on their hands. A recipe for disaster.

Please pass this information along, maybe if enough users complain there will be an investigation into these abuses.

Mainstream Ransomware news..

2007-07-17T14:14:00.000-04:00

The story I posted about yesterday in regards to "Cyber blackmail" has been gaining more attention today with a Reuters story hitting the street this morning.
Nice to see they are letting the world know a day late!

More links of interest:
Washington post copy of the Reuters story
Brian Krebs Blog @ Washington Post
My post yesterday
Write-up from McAfee

Booz, Allen and Hamilton hit by cyber blackmail

2007-07-16T15:38:00.000-04:00

Those of you who know what Booz, Allen and Hamilton do may be a little disturbed at this occurence;

According to PrevX atleast three IP adresses belonging to Booz Allen in the Washington DC area are affected by Virus.Win32.Gpcode.ai

a wonderful(sarc.) little piece of malware that encrypts your data(not with RSA-4096 though) and supposedly uploads it to the authors server.

Hello, your files are encrypted with RSA-4096 algorithm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSA).

You will need at least few years to decrypt these files without our software. All your private information for last 3 months were collected and sent to us.

To decrypt your files you need to buy our software. The price is $300.

To buy our software please contact us at: tristanniglam@gmail.com and provide us your personal code -1755024102. After successful purchase we will send your decrypting tool, and your private information will be deleted from our system.

If you will not contact us until 07/15/2007 your private information will be shared and you will lost all your data.

Glamorous team

There is a removal tool available from PrevX but that is not the main issue, the fact is that with Booz Allen's fingers being in every pot in DC who knows what information will get out...

Some related links of interest:
Ransomware... Holding Corporate America Ransom! - PrevX
Blackmailer – the return of Gpcode - Kaspersky
Users comments @ NetworkWorld

Washinton Capitals Firefox theme

2007-07-15T15:44:00.001-04:00

Well this was a surprise to me, but it's nice to see someone going after the Hockey loving geeks.

(Note: I haven't installed it as it is only for 2.0+, and I still have issues with Ff 2 mainly I hate the fact that my up and down arrow keys stop working intermittently and I have to keep checking and unchecking autoscroll. What a PIA!)

Linux -

2007-07-12T23:49:00.000-04:00

Ok I have always been a supporter of Microsoft and at the same time a big critic also. But with my new position I deal with Linux 24/7 we are transitioning from Windows to Linux (Fedora 6 Stateless) so I am learning a lot about it. I have to say as you can see from my post earlier today, I don't much care for Fedora 7. BUT CentOS is my new flavor! I suggest you give it a shot if you are looking for a stable, reliable distro. FYI CentOS is RHEL with all the trademarks removed and no support from RH themselves. Who cares this is a rock solid performer!

Dan

So apparently only Windows crashes?

2007-07-12T19:58:00.000-04:00

Here is a screenshot of Fedora 7 crashing on my pc.
Wait, lets recompile my kernel to make it work right!!

Independence Day Storm Worm

2007-07-04T10:11:00.000-04:00

Be on the lookout for a new Storm Worm variant in your email inbox this 4th of July, the original message follows;

From: "mypostcards.com"
To:
Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2007 17:31:12 +0530
Subject: Celebrate Your Independence
Hi. School friend has sent you a greeting ecard.
See your card as often as you wish during the next 15 days.

SEEING YOUR CARD

If your email software creates links to Web pages, click on your
card's direct www address below while you are connected to the Internet:

http://83.250.XX.XXX/?7c0b58e47d14c775ed2175ee0c2a4c1c8a

Or copy and paste it into your browser's "Location" box (where Internet
addresses go).

PRIVACY
mypostcards.com honors your privacy. Our home page and Card Pick Up have links to our
Privacy Policy.

TERMS OF USE
By accessing your card you agree we have no liability.
If you don't know the person sending the card or don't wish to see the card,
please disregard this Announcement.

We hope you enjoy your awesome card.

Wishing you the best,
Administrator,
mypostcards.com

Scan results form VirusTotal

Vista Family Value pack done

2007-06-28T20:46:00.000-04:00

Around the time of the Windows Vista launch we announced the Windows Vista Family Discount Program to further persuade families to become early adopters of Windows Vista. The program was introduced with a sunset clause that takes effect 11:59 PM Pacific Time on 30 June 2007. We've been pleased with the response to the program, which has enabled thousands of multi-computer families to upgrade more than one PC in their home to Windows Vista.

Thanks to those of you who participated and also to those who helped seed and validate the original idea.
---
Source: http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2007/06/27/windows-vista-family-discount-program-concludes-at-month-s-end.aspx#comments
---
Well seemingly all remotely lucrative offers for consumers from MS are short lived.
What a mess.

Thanks to BetaNews for tehe heads up.

HP/Compaq V2010us upgrades

2007-05-27T22:00:00.000-04:00

I have been doing a little searching on the net to see what upgrades are available for my aging V2010us and found a few, but what I didn't find was people who actually tried them. So I decided to post the ones I have done so other know that they do work.

First upgrade I did was go from 2x256MB DDR ram 2x 512 PC2700's
-This is the stated limit and I thought it good enough for me, simple I know.

Second I replaced my Celeron M 1.4 with a Pentium M 1.7GHZ
-As long as you stay with the same processor core you are fine. There is a fair amount of work that has to go into this around 1 - 1.5 hours and some patience.

Third I swapped my old Fujitsu 4200 rpm drive with my Maxtor OneTouch III mini's.
-Which by the way is a Seagate 5400.3 this made a 15-25 minute difference in battery times for the better! The real problem with this upgrade was the foam tape on the OneTouch's Seagate drive!!

So there is the small list, and with about $150 you can extend your precious V2000 series for another 1-2 years!

If you have any questions please fell free to post them.

Russia vs Estonia - Cyber War...

2007-05-17T07:15:00.000-04:00

Cyber warfare is on the rise between quarreling countries.

NATO Nervous As Russia Accused Of Unleashing Cyber War To Disable Estonia

A three-week wave of massive cyber-attacks on the small Baltic country of Estonia, the first known incidence of such an assault on a state, is causing alarm across the western alliance, with NATO urgently examining the offensive and its implications.

While Russia and Estonia are embroiled in their worst dispute since the collapse of the Soviet Union, a row that erupted at the end of last month over the Estonians' removal of the Bronze Soldier Soviet war memorial in central Tallinn, the country has been subjected to a barrage of cyber warfare, disabling the websites of government ministries, political parties, newspapers, banks, and companies.

NATO has dispatched some of its top cyber-terrorism experts to Tallinn to investigate and to help the Estonians beef up their electronic defenses.

"This is an operational security issue, something we're taking very seriously," said an official at NATO headquarters in Brussels. "It goes to the heart of the alliance's modus operandi."

BITS gone bad

2007-05-11T14:36:00.000-04:00

This is via Computerworld there was a discussion almost exactly one year ago to the day about this little situation with BITS.

Enjoy

Hackers hijack Windows Update's downloader:
Stealing Windows' BITS gets bad code past any firewall
--------------------------------------------------------
May 10, 2007 (Computerworld) -- Hackers are using the file transfer component used by Windows Update to sneak malware past firewalls, Symantec researchers said today.
The Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) is used by Microsoft Corp.'s operating systems to deliver patches via Windows Update. BITS, which debuted in Windows XP and is baked into Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista, is an asynchronous file transfer service with automatic throttling -- so downloads don't impact other network chores. It automatically resumes if the connection is broken.

"It's a very nice component, and if you consider that it supports HTTP and can be programmed via COM API, it's the perfect tool to make Windows download anything you want," said Elia Florio, a researcher with Symantec's security response team, on the group's blog. "Unfortunately, this can also include malicious files."

Florio outlined why some Trojan makers have started to call on BITS to download add-on code to an already compromised computer. "For one simple reason: BITS is part of the operating system, so it's trusted and bypasses the local firewall while downloading files."

Malware, particularly Trojans, which typically first open a back door to the system for follow-on code, needs to sidestep firewalls to bring additional malicious software -- a keylogger, for instance -- to the PC. "[But] the most common methods are intrusive [and] require process injection or may raise suspicious alarms," said Florio.

"It is novel," said Oliver Friedrichs, director of Symantec's security response group. "Attackers are leveraging a component of the operating system itself to update their content. But the idea of bypassing firewalls isn't new."

Symantec first caught chatter about BITS on Russian hacker message boards late last year, Friedrichs added, and has been on the lookout for it since. A Trojan spammed in March was one of the first to put the technique into practice.

"The big benefit BITS gives them is that it lets them evade firewalls," said Friedrichs. "And it's also a more reliable download mechanism. It's free and reliable, and they don't have to write their own download code."

Although BITS powers the downloads delivered by Microsoft's Windows Update service, Friedrichs reassured users that there was no risk to the service itself. "There's no evidence to suspect that Windows Update can be compromised. If it has a weakness, someone would have found it by now.

"But this does show how attackers are leveraging components and becoming more and more modular in how they create software. They're simply following the trend of traditional software development," said Friedrichs.

Florio noted that there's no way to block hackers from using BITS. "It's not easy to check what BITS should download and not download," he said, and then offered some advice for Microsoft. "Probably the BITS interface should be designed to be accessible only with a higher level of privilege, or the download jobs created with BITS should be restricted to only trusted URLs."

Microsoft was unable to immediately respond to questions about unauthorized BITS use.

Original Article

Remembrance

2007-04-17T21:13:00.000-04:00

Good looking and a hybrid hard drive? You bet!

2007-03-09T00:37:00.000-05:00

I want that!

Have a look at this LG Notebook:

Dual Core T5300
1GB Ram 667 DDR2
120GB 2.5" MH80 Hybrid Drive
14.1" WideSreen display
ATI® Mobility™ Radeon® X2300
(128MB VRAM, *HyperMemory™ Support)

Have a look here

Microsoft decides to F-up your Pc with the new version of WGA

2007-02-22T10:41:00.000-05:00

Ok I know I tend to complain about Microsoft my fair share and the fact that I still use it irritates some, but to bad I think Windows in itself is a great product. It is when Microsoft decides to do something like they did to me this morning that I get pissy and write about it.
When I logged onto my pc this morning I had an AU(auto update) available, it was the "NEW" Microsoft WGA tool mentioned here.
According to the article it was Opt-in right? WRONG!!! I'll explain.
Upon declining to install this new version of WGA, I was greeted with the typical are you sure and don't display this message again prompts, no problem. But as soon as I opened Windows Media Player 10 it shot up an error like this:

What the hell! So I opened the detail tab and what did await me?
This oh so helpful page:

Gee thanks for the information Microsoft!!!

Now please note that I had in no way opted-in nor downloaded the or WGA update this was a push by Microsoft and it totally screwed my morning!

Every day I get closer and closer to going Linux only and this is another large push in that general direction. Simply because I don't want my pc calling Microsoft I can't use Windows Media Player 10? WTF!!!

German Handballers celebrate title at BK?

2007-02-04T23:56:00.000-05:00

Look at the crowns!

What's on your Thumb Drive?

2007-01-18T23:51:00.000-05:00

I decided to compose a list of what's on my USB thumb drive(128MB) version, My 512MB and 1GB are a mess but this little baby is my pride and joy. 54.3MB of computer fixing fun in an easily accessible format. To organize all the programs I utilize Pegtop's PStart, I love free software!

Here are the screen shots of my PStart interface, broken down by sub-category:

Here is the entire list:
7-Zip - Freeware compression and file manager
Autoruns - Comprehensive listing of autostarts by Sysinternals
Calc - Common windows calculator
CCleaner - Portable version of CCleaner
Checksum Calc - CRC, MD5 and SHA1 hash program
cureit - My custom Dr.WEB CureIt!
CyberShredder - File shredder/eraser
DeepBurner1.08 - Freeware version of Deepburner
DirPrint - JRdirprint portable and free
dtaskmanager - Extended taskmanager
Ewido - Ewido(GriSoft) Micro stand alone scanner
FileAssassin - Unlocks and deletes files in use
FileZilla - Best open source FTP program
FoxIT - Stand alone PDF viewer
Hash - Another hash program CRC32, MD5, and SHA1
HDDScan - Diagnose Hard disk errors
Hex Cyngus - Hex file editor
HexEditor - HDD Hex editor 2.3 NOT 3.0
ICEECC - File verification and repair tool
IrfanView - One of the most used graphics views today
KeyFinder - Magic Jellybean key finder 1.5
KFLite - Key finder thing lite
lads - List Alternate Data Streams
LCISOCreator - Simple ISO creation utility
NetStatViewer - Graphic replacement for NetStat
NetWorkScanner - Softperfect network scanner
Notepad++ - Universal text editor
odbg110 - Olly debugger 1.10 reverse engineering app
PFE - Programmers file editor(discontinued)
PK204g - Command line PKWare(Oldie but goodie)
PMMon - Power management viewer(battery status etc.)
ProcessExplorerNt - Another Sysinternals masterpiece
RDP - Remote Desktop client courtesy of Windows
RegCleaner - A Microsoft original
ReNamer - Comprehensive file renamer by Den4b
RootkitRevealer - Again Sysinternals
SIW - System Info for Windows v1.66
TcpView - And Sysinternals again!
TerraIM - AOL/ICQ IM program
TweakUI - One of Microsofts very useful tools
Undelete plus - Recover those oops files easily
UniExtract - Unpack or Unarchive almost anything!
virtualcd - A virtual CD mounter from Microsoft
WhatChanged -A system snapshot utility(Not avail)
WinDiff - File comparison tool in the SP2 ResKit
xvi32 - Small fast Hex editor
xyplorer - Great Explorer replacement Xyplorer 4.5
Zip2Sfx - Freeware SFX creator

CTFMon.exe - Removal

2007-01-17T13:48:00.000-05:00

What Is the Ctfmon.exe (Ctfmon.exe) File?
Ctfmon.exe activates the Alternative User Input Text Input Processor (TIP) and the Microsoft Office Language Bar.

What Does the Ctfmon.exe File Do?
Ctfmon.exe monitors the active windows and provides text input service support for speech recognition, handwriting recognition, keyboard, translation, and other alternative user input technologies.

See this Microsoft knowledge base article to remove: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q282599

Vista "Craplets"

2007-01-11T17:06:00.000-05:00

'Craplets' could damage Vista launch: Microsoft exec.
A senior Microsoft Corp. executive says the company is concerned that uncertified third-party software loaded onto new computers by manufacturers could hurt the launch of consumer versions of its Windows Vista operating system later this month.
In a discussion Tuesday night at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the Microsoft official told CBC News Online, on condition of anonymity, that the world's largest software maker is frustrated by legal shackles that prevent the company from restricting what kinds of software major computer makers install on new PCs.

Read the original article at the CBC

I have to say that I do see Microsoft's point with this, most users will blame them for any and I mean ANY problems with Vista. When in all actuality a majority of the time it is 3rd party applications that are at fault.

Did you get your child a new computer over the holidays? Read on

2006-12-28T15:08:00.000-05:00

With the threats worldwide to our children from internet predators every little step we take to protect them counts.

What can you do you ask?

Education - This the most important factor in dealing with these issues, a simple don't talk to strangers will not cut it in todays world as children as a whole love to interact with others online. And may easily fall prey to internet whacko's.

The folks over at MSBLOG have a great post on this very subject here so sit down with your children and watch and discuss this topic to better protect our youth.

I also highly recommend the Report Desktop Abuse Client a well desinged program to help your children immediately report offenders/sites that target them.

Kid safe Search engine

2006-12-28T14:54:00.000-05:00

Many of us try to shield our children from offensive websites using software and hardware to filter out the "bad" why not have a search engine designed for kids?

the people over at Zoo.com thought the same way and launched a kid safe search engine back in Q4 of 2006, kudos folks!

http://www.Zoo.com/

Corporate vs Home AV software - why is it lighter?

2006-12-22T13:26:00.000-05:00

I see this question asked many times around the Internet in different places or some derivative there of.

First off what people need to understand is that companies rarely update their computer systems as fast as you would at home. A large company roll-out takes at least a year from start to finish, not to mention that is a large chunk of change to spend. If you are missing the resources to complete either of these tasks, your upgrade may happen pieces at a time or not until the resources are allocated.

Another reason is application compatibility, this goes hand in hand with the above statement. If you don't have the resources to test manage the new systems what good would they do your company?

What does this have to do with AV software you ask?
The above examples leads to "legacy" systems being ever present in a corporate environment, since legacy systems are much less powerful than what you would use on a normal day at home the AV industry has taken note and tries to keep the resource usage down.

Speaking of resource usage, this is kept down in most corporate antivirus' by "dialing down" the protection at the end user level.
You may think that is a little crazy but what needs to be kept in mind is that in a corporation there is much more supporting hardware in the network to alleviate threats at the entry points rather than at the end user level. Thus negating the need for "useless bloat" in the program.

The last major reason in my opinion is user intervention, in a corporate environment work stations are managed by the respective IT departments and require little, or more often no user intervention. In complete contrast home users are expected to be able to manage their own systems and more than often they fail miserably in this respect. Just have a look at the root cause of botnet effectiveness. Antivirus vendors realized this early on and are trying to automate and more clearly explain the needs and actions of their software solutions, thus increasing "heaviness" of the utilities.

So in conclusion to the main question of "Why are corporate antivirus solutions lighter than home versions" there is not an almighty above all reason, but in general it is due to user intervention, needs, and money.

I hope this post shed some light on the situation, and please note this is not a definitive answer but rather a general observation.

HTH

Exploit surfaces for Windows Vista/XP/2003

2006-12-22T12:52:00.000-05:00

Well seems this exploit provides an escalation of privileges to an ALREADY authenticated user.

eWeek article below:
Vista Exploit Surfaces on Russian Hacker Site

I can't yet tell how this is going to effect the adoption of Microsofts self proclaimed "Most secure operating system yet"

Since it is not publically available yet the threat seems low, but if businesses weren't leery enough of adoption yet then this might help seal it. But who knows, definately not me!!

Later

Latest adventure with software

2006-12-14T22:57:00.000-05:00

Well this one is going to be quick, but here goes. I was trying to open a large.rar file with IzArc and it froze so I took a step back fired up taskmgr and killed the service. Well needless to say it was not that easy, take a look at the screencap below.

I can't remember when the last time I had to do a manual shutdown and reboot of Windows XP. This just goes to show that more than likely it is the software built for Windows vice Windows itself that is the culprit.

How do I know you ask? Well 7zip, Winrar, Winzip, and Pkzip all worked fine.

Nice find for the holiday season

2006-12-08T21:51:00.000-05:00

I was surfing LifeHacker this week and came across the posting from digitalFAQ.com about the DVD+/- media ie. life expectancy and quality of DVD-r's and thought it would be great information to put out in more channels as the holiday season is filled with new technology gifts.

You can read the repot online via the DigitalFAQ link above ~~or download it in pdf here.~~

ciao!

First AVERT notice for Vista is here

2006-12-06T23:39:00.000-05:00

Tonight I received the first AVERT notice for the new Microsoft Windows Vista operating system, all I have to say is "here we go..."

For those that don't know AVERT stands for "AntiVirus Emergency Response Team" and is run by McAfee.

You can read the whole article here, but I doubt you want to it is boring unless you are a geek, hey wait a second.....

Nostalgia

2006-12-03T00:12:00.000-05:00

Today I have been working on my recovery disk and ran into a program that needs to create a boot floppy, it has been over 5 years since I had a computer with a floppy in it and god only knows how long since i actually used one. So I brought out the USB floppy and started to create the disk. In the middle of the process something struck me as odd, and I was damned if I could figure it out. During the VM's boot sequence I hit me like a ton of bricks, it was the sound of the floppy humming away. Almost soothing, like running into a person from your past that stirs up fond memories. Just you and those 25 floppies to "trial" Windows95 from your friend whos new computer came with the companion cd.

Ok so some may think that is taking it a little far but I suggest you give it a shot, makes me want to install Windows 3.11 from floppies again just to play Doom.....

Ahh the memories...

I must be tired.

Lack of activity

2006-12-01T12:07:00.000-05:00

I would like to humbly apologize for the lack of activity here lately. I am actively searching for a job and that takes up most of my time. Hopefully once the phone interviews and face to faces are done I will be able to put up some more informative posts.

And yes I know that practically no one reads my blog, so mainly this is a message to myself.

Later...

Wipe it!

2006-11-27T19:38:00.000-05:00

Ok first off hope everyone had a good holiday here in North America.

Secondly, over at LifeHacker they had a nice little DLD called Undelete plus, and yes it does exactly what it sounds like. But it also gives you the ability to wipe the found files.
PRESTO!! no more files, how securely they are deleted I cannot confirm, I assume it is one to three wipes. For a completely free program this is a wonerful deal.

Until next time...

Jealous yet?

2006-11-18T18:19:00.000-05:00

I figured I would gloat a little bit more about getting a free copy of vista.
Ok done.

The installation was slow but that is to be expected on my notebook.
I tried to install it on my Desktop, which would better handle the load
but it seems there are still some bugs to work out, the error messages were
extremely cryptic. So much so that I couldn't figure out what driver was
missing it told me something to the effect of not being able to find the drivers
for the CD/DVDROM. But I tried to install from both. So I would like to know
how it can boot from either drive and not have the drivers?.....

Needless to say I am putting a hurting on my notebook, a small 1.4ghz with 768MB of ram and integrated graphics. I would have loved to slap it on my Desktop atleast it is a little more powerful 2ghz 1GB of ram and a 128MB graphics card the maybe my Vista experience level wouldn't be a 1. Ugh!!
I really don't get the math they use though, I would give this one at least a 2.

Here are two screen shots before I revert back to XP Pro:

Later all.

Vista for free!!!!

2006-11-18T16:49:00.000-05:00

Well it is official I am a VIP in Microsoft's eyes! At least I like to think so anyways.

In all reality from what I can gather in order to get Vista Ultimate or Business for free you had to be an active beta tester and submit one or more "bugs".

All I have to say is I just saved $400!

Here is a link to part of the story from Information week

Later folks!

Microsoft Research VirtualWiFi

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

I found this handy little program while browsing the Microsoft research webpage today although it has been out since August of last year(2005). I have not seen much about it on the net so I felt compelled to spread the word. Ok fine it is mainly so I don't forget about it in a few months.

Microsoft Research VirtualWiFi in layman terms is a tool to enable you to connect to more than one wireless network at a time using a intricate switching mechanism to make it seem like you are on one wireless network. It is all console based but well documented.

Uses:
The main area that the researchers from MS and Cornell Univ. is to simply allow one Wireless card 802.11 a/b/g to connect to multiple networks for productivity in the workplace etc.
But in my realm of thinking I tend to think of people who travel a lot, and thus would be able to take advantage at a multitude of free hotspots in airports coffee shops etc.

I know some of you are thinking that if both of my neighbors have Wifi and they are unsecured but only get 1-2 bars of signal in my house if I combine them I may get better "pirated" signal strength. Well so far as I can tell this is true.

Mind you I am not advocating this use at all, I actually frown upon it if you don't have an "ok" from your neighbors to leech the bandwidth.

The above scenario(s) will not be attainable without a little work on your part. Due to the fact that in order to use this software you have to disable Windows built in Wireless zero configuration service, set it to manual and stop it actually. This is the service which pops up those little balloons telling you that you have wireless networks in range and then will automatically set it up for you with a few mouse clicks.

So now you are thinking it might be a little harder than not to do, trust me it is easy as stated earlier the instructions are simple and all most fool proof. Emphasis on almost.

Ok, what you need:
1. MS VWF program
2. Access point "sniffer" like Netstumbler
3. 2 or more wireless networks in range and open for access

Steps:
1. Install the MS VWF program
2. Type services.msc in the "Run" box of the start menu
3. Find, stop, and set to manual the Wireless zero config service *note you can do this after you are connected to one of the networks in this scenario it actually makes it less work for you.
4. Open a command prompt at or navigate to the folder where the software installed

---

5. Input "VirtualWiFi install" without quotes - see readme if driver signing issues arise
6. Now check to see it installed there are two ways to tell
a. Check task manager to see if virtualwifisvc.exe is running or
b. in the open command prompt type in "virtualwifi helper -op getssid" without quotes

Now if everything went right and you see a response similiar to the above it is time to add our other network(s) into the equation.

7. Fire up your AP "sniffer" for get the next best signal
8. In the command window type in "virtualwifi addnetwork -ssid YourSSID -mode IS or AH
Example:

Now you should be able to use two networks at the same time

Hope this was educational, any questions or comments please feel free to post them.

Later

Fixed

2006-11-10T20:37:00.000-05:00

I fixed some things with my Blog today, mainly I setup the comments. So feel free to leave feedback.

BTW, I hate being electrocuted...

Touch me

2006-11-10T00:20:00.000-05:00

Well I must say I was getting PO'd at my notebook after a re-install of my entire operating system. The problem was the drivers for my touchpad were not loaded correctly and my cursor would fly all over the screen and randomly select things. Now that was annoying.
So being the tweaker that I was I downloaded the latest Synaptics Touchpad drivers and gave them a whirl. While flipping through the settings I noticed an option under Tapping called Tap Zones, come to find out I can set each corner of my touchpad to do a different action, from the right click option to a simple macro or porgram. What an idea!
I immediately put it to the test and I must say it works like a champ. For now the only one I have setup is the top right as a right click, it is so convenient. Scan, Send to, Delete all right there from your touchpad. Some of you may say, "You are a lazy SOB, the button is right below it." I know it's there but if you are like me and have big hands you have to cramp it up to use one hand normaly to hit those buttons or use two hands and that is just a pain on a smaller size notebook like mine. So that is my rebutle to you!

In other words don't knock it until you try it. I can say taht almost 100% of the time if you try it you will get addicted to it.

Later

Dell tech Support far from #1

2006-11-08T15:05:00.000-05:00

Ok I got an itch to bother Dell tech support with a dumb but simple question that may be asked by a novice user.
Scenario: Person formatted the PC and lost the wallpapers provided by Dell and would like to get them back.
Simple answer right? WRONG!!! 20 minutes later the answer is Google.com
I posted the excerpt here for your enjoyment, note he first says go to Support.dell.com then rebukes his statement and says use Google.
You = Myself
RTS = Dell Support

2:30:53 System Welcome .
2:30:53 System Connecting to server. Please wait...
2:30:53 System Connected to chat2.us.dell.com
2:32:22 System RTS Abriaul S has joined this session!
2:32:22 System Connected with RTS Abriaul S
2:32:32 RTS Thank you for patiently waiting, you have contacted Dell Hardware Warranty Chat Support. Would you please verify the person or company name that owns the system, your phone number and e-mail address so I can better assist you?
2:33:12 You
2:33:32 RTS What's the service tag#?
2:33:38 You xxxxxxxx
2:33:52 RTS Is this a new or existing case?
2:34:04 You new, simple question actually
2:35:22 RTS I will be happy to help you today. Can you provide any other information regarding what is happening with your system today?
2:35:42 You I formatted my pc and found all the drivers and the like but all the Dell wallpapers are gone do you know where I may obtain them?
2:36:07 You I know it sounds silly and I am sorry for wasting your time but I couldn't find the answer anywhere
2:36:32 RTS xxxxx, I'm sorry you are having this problem today, but I will gladly assist you with this issue.
2:37:05 You Thanks
2:38:16 You I am not saying I can't change the wallpapers, I know how to do that, it is just the Dell specific ones are gone and I am wondering if there is a place on the Dell website or FTP I may find them.
2:39:52 RTS xxxxx, Please give me 2-3 minutes while I look up some other information on this issue.
2:40:20 You Thanks
2:41:32 RTS xxxxx, have you tried right clicking on the icons under the start Menu. Click Copy and Paste them to the desktop.
2:42:34 You I am asking about the background images of the operating system desktop, like the Windows XP bliss pictures and the like
2:43:19 You but the ones that are specific to Dell. ie. dell.bmp etc. I remember that one
2:44:43 RTS Xxxxx, there's no way to get the wallpaper back, you can search for the wallpaper.
2:45:03 RTS You can go to support.dell.com and download the specific wallpaper.
2:45:31 You I have been to the support site and found no links could you point me to a URL?
2:45:41 You besides support.dell.com
2:45:55 You maybe a little more indepth ie. what options etc.
2:50:13 RTS xxxxx, you can go to www.google.coma and type in Dell wallpaper and try searching for specific wallpapers.
2:50:43 You So Dell doesn't offer them as a download?
2:51:23 RTS There's no way to get that wall paper back.
2:51:47 You Thanks I guess

So apparently Google is now a Dell support site....
#1 Rated customer service?

The end of Zer0-Tec.net

2006-11-07T22:32:00.000-05:00

IMPORTANT NEWS FROM ZER0-TEC.NET

Down for good

This is a sad day for me as it brings to an end our favorite hangout

The main reason it happened was a lack of participation from members, probably not anyone reading this.

Second I got a message from 1and1 that said this:

Three great years coming to an end
As a special thank you to our first customers, who signed up
for the Professional Package Preview, we offer you to keep your
package at a great price. Click the button to see this great deal or other upgrade options.

I took this as an omen, and posted this message, it also seems fitting that "All that you give" by Cinematic Orchestra is playing on my other PC....

Let the oddities continue...
As I said it has been fun.

Keep in touch

This message will self destruct tomorrow...

Why I dumped Firefox

2006-11-07T20:53:00.000-05:00

Ok so I was just as excited as the next guy about the new release if Mozilla's Firefox(2.0) but boy oh boy what a smack in the face it was.

Pro's-

Spell checker

Speed

Con's-

Memory usage - HOLY CRAP!! 100MB+ for a browser????

Stabilty - I had it crash about 10 times in 2 weeks, it was a fresh install btw

Bookmarks - I have never had as many problems with them as I did with this version

Just didn't feel done

All I have to say is thank god they released another version of 1.5
1.5.0.8

Mozilla needs to stop worrying about IE7 they know Firefox is superior, if they keep on rushing releases they will end up just like Microsoft and nobody wants that. Not EVEN Microsoft. Hell look at Vista the KING of delays....

Later

Customize me!

2006-11-05T17:07:00.000-05:00

I get asked a few times a month where I go for wallpapers and the like so here are some links

Themes - I only use Microsoft themes. I don't like patching my uxtheme.dll, I guess???
Royale -

D/L from MediaFire

Zune -

D/L from MediaFire

Wallpaper Sites
Mandolux - Hi-Def photography and design . This guy is amazing!
Interfacelift - Great spot for not only walls but also icons and visual styles
DeviantArt - An oldie but goodie for Widescreen wallpapers
PlasmaDesign - Nice spot for some 3D and fractals etc. costs $$ for Widescreen though
Skinbase - Have fun sifting through them all.
TSS2000 - A few too many ads and not enough walls

There are many many more. They are out there if you get past the Google top list....
Feel free to comment on some that are high quality Ad/Spy free.

Thieves!

2006-11-05T14:06:00.000-05:00

Well looky here I have made a post that is not over one year from the last. It must be Christmas, no wait it is only November. Oops.

Whatever, so with the soon to be lack of a forum on ZT I decided to post here. More than likely this will happen more often than not now. I know I know I have said it before, but I promise!

The goods:
Ok so is anyone else pissed that Microsoft has pushed the release of Windows XP SP3 back to 2008, or is it just me? Four years and four hundred patches later...

But wait Microsoft, you say the EOL(end of life) for Windows XP will be Holiday season 2008 two years after the release of Vista as per here.

So is this a ploy to push Vista to consumers?
I hate to join the CToA (Conspiracy Theorists of America) but I have to say YES!
Time will only tell.....

Until next time...

2006-07-21T23:12:00.001-04:00

Purple

2005-08-01T22:55:00.000-04:00

Sorry about the lack of a post today, but I have been really busy.

Dammit, let the rabbits wear glasses!!!

Sunny Skies

2005-07-31T18:18:00.000-04:00

Melodies?

2005-07-31T18:07:00.000-04:00

Has anyone esle noticed that taking pictures of yourself for any reason is extremely hard? I took around ten of myself today with my phone, and not one looked good enough to post here on a blog that no one reads. All of them were screwed up in some way, one I looked like I have a lazy eye, another I looked like I have two chins, and still another I look like I am anorexic. Is it really that hard to take a picture of yourself? Apparently so...

Oh and just for S&G's I put up the best picture of all the ones i took today at the link below. Enjoy, and try not to laugh...
http://www.zer0-tec.net/likuidkewl/blog/073105.jpg

Pirates?

2005-07-31T00:24:00.000-04:00

This blog layout is wierd, I am trying to figure it out.

The really annoying part is that my auto-update feature went off earlier, and like a good gnome I went and did my updates. Well if you can't or don't want to do a reboot right then when the feature tells you to, it keeps popping up letting you know "Hey I am still waiting". That is so annoying, atleast wait until I resume in some way.

Ok well I am **AHHH** stop with the annoying messages! That's it I am rebooting now. Congratulations Microsoft....

First post

2005-07-30T18:02:00.000-04:00

Mainly this post is just so I can setup the template the way that I want it. But what the hell, have you ever noticed that life's little "surprises" seem to sneak up and slap you all at one time, or is it just me? I thought so...