Classic Tech Tips Archive

OK, the urpmi upgrade did not go very well. I got into an unworkable corner with URPMI (segmentation fault on running urpmi). Rather than try to troubleshoot or do anything fancy I'm going to move on…

The news is that Nero has announced NeroLinux a version of their cd burning software that will run under the linux operating system. The software is available in either rpm or deb binary (for either …

Okay - so after the last article you've inventoried what software you use on a PC and you know what services (server's) the pc runs that you've told it to. You even know what passes as "normal" start…

So, AVG has been scanning away finding things we've really got a foothold on the system and the malware has a fight on it's hands. It's good to see progress. Up to this point we've had multiple Spool…

Just noticed that for the last (hour?) the main adsense login site has been down with an interesting multi-language error message page. Ads seem to be served still, but the login is offline at the mo…

I see a couple changes mentioned over at the official adsense blog. It looks as though there are new ways to customize search boxes for google adsense. Also it looks like there's more assistance for …

It looks like at least one label is not as concerned that freely available lyrics online are a threat... The push to make song lyric sites and programs illegal has cooled -- at least on one front. Wa…

Sendmail is not my favorite MTA. I really prefer Postfix, but... I have to use sendmail in a few situations. I've run a little script on the web server for a good while to monitor the mail queue. I w…

Mirrors are added, now it's time to start the process. OK, everything up until now has been preparatory and hasn't REALLY upgraded anything. I've skimmed over the errata and release notes (again) at …

Just found this fairly challenging javascript game escape. You control a square and try to avoid touching 4 moving blocks (and the walls). It's fairly tricky - I made it to 32.something seconds after…

Sunbeltblog has a good post on a group that helps "take bad guys out". The Internet Crime Provention and Control Institute (Link expired). Basically, they will take submissions of complaints and assi…

Ouch, Dell is recalling 35,000 notebook batteries that were shipped between October 5rd and 13th of this year. They were made in China or Japan and "pose a risk of fire." There is a web-site setup by…

Since Google Talk is based on the Jabber protocol (XMPP) it's been compatible with any jabber client for instant messaging. That was a well and good move. Very welcoming to see a big name use an open…

In what will undoubtedly make Vista a more stable release of Windows... Microsoft will be moving display drivers outside the main kernel and run them in "userland". Display adapter/driver problems ha…

As I type this, I'm downloading a compressed hard drive image from the freeoszoo download page. The download size is about 1.2GB and it's been BLAZING fast. (286KBps is the top I've seen) it's been g…

Ok, so you've got a hardware firewall and you've got antivirus. You're safe right? Well, not entirely. I've mentioned the flaws of antivirus. It's always a step behind. A firewall doesn't protect aga…

Picking up from last time... AVG was failing to install with a peculiar registry error. (Which I didn't see much reference to online.) OK, so here is another fruit of the online search (so many bugs …

This is under the security tab because DRM software protection has proven to be a computer security issue... Spyware Confidential is reporting on artists revolting against the Sony DRM. According to …

OK - copying of the most crucial files are done. It's time to start the process. First I've gathered a list of URPMI sources that I can use from online. No local mirror this time, so it may take a wh…

I just saw a news article (sorry no link at the moment)... that mentioned that Adobe has announced they will move to a monthly patch cycle. This takes a cue from Microsoft which since October of 2003…

Beta news is reporting on Google Music. They say it will make it easier to find artists, album titles and lyrics. Not too long ago there was a report that the Recording industry was going to wage a w…

Incidents.org is reporting this as well... A new Beagle variant is making the rounds. It comes in an almost empty email, as a ZIP attachment containing the worm as an EXE. The attachment name, email …

This is related to MS05-054... According to Incidents.org it's possible that this will not install (user submission of this). They also have a user submitted workaround... Shinil Hong of SUNY Buffalo…

The securityfix is reporting on a new worm that exploits an older Windows vulnerability. The worm is called dasher and is in at least it's second iteration. Sans noticed an odd increase in port 1025 …

Ok, the first two entries thus far, hardware firewalls and software firewalls have been fairly operating system independant. A hardware firewall is best, but if that's not possible a software firewal…