September 7th, 2010
Cruise over to Jupiter Broadcasting and check out The Linux Action Show and the other shows from Chris, Bryan and the other guys at Jupiter Broadcasitng.
I am a big fan of puzzles.
I like my Nintendo DS. I like having it on long trips or in any situation where I have a little time to kill.
My favorite game on the DS is Brain Age and Brain Age 2.
There have been articles recently that question whether exercises like Brain Age really provides any benefit.
If you ask me, I can tell a difference in my problem solving skills when I indulge myself in the puzzles, and I can tell when I don’t.
I like anything that gives you a constructive challenge.
My best find recently?
Brain Workshop, via Sourceforge.net.
It runs on Windows, OS X, and Linux.
I installed the Windows version.
For all three versions, you will need to install Python, and then, Pyglet.
I also had to update the sound driver for my Windows XP machine.
Okay, in Dual 1-Back mode, you keep your fingers on the A and the L keys.
If you see the rounded-corner blue square appear in the same place twice in a row, you press the A key.
If you hear the same sound (or letter) twice in a row, you press the L key.
It sounds simple, but it gets pretty challenging.
It gets addictive, pretty quickly.
It’s a good break away from my DS.
When Windows XP first came out, everyone was really happy with the ‘eye candy’ that the background and the taskbar offered. They even coined the phrase, “Fisher Price” to describe it.
It was an ample description. Remember Fisher Price? The toy company whose features usually had bright colors and oversized buttons and switches.
While Vista offers a great deal of eye candy, there are still plenty of ways to “pimp” WIndows XP, and avoid the upgrade requirements of Windows Vista (of many flavors.)
There are some great utilities and software to add graphical flavor to XP.
One effect that is impressive with Vista is the 3D desktop. While I remember Sun Microsystems originally conceptualized the effect a few years earlier, Microsoft adapted the idea and included it in Windows Vista.
Is it possible to get this effect on Windows XP?
It is!
Madotate 2.02.02 is a free utility to give you the 3D Window function, similar to the offering in Vista and some of the Linux offerings.
Madotate is lightweight, with a small footprint.
You can use your mouse and drag the windows around. There is an imaginary ‘vanishing point’ in the middle of the screen.
If you ever need to share data back and forth between two machines on your home network, there are some pretty easy ways to do it. **
What you want to do first is create a share on one of your machines. On my server, XPServer, I will create a share to use as a drive mapping on my client machine, XPClient.
The workgroup name on each machine must match. You can look at those by right-clicking My Computer and choosing properties.
Look at the workgroup name on the page. It should be the same on both machines. If it isn’t, you can click Change and make the appropriate changes. After the change you will need to reboot to make the change effective.
Once the workgroup names are the same, choose one of the machines. Pick a folder from inside of Windows Explorer. Right-click on the folder, and choose Sharing and Security.
If your window does not look like this, you will have to enable File and Printer Sharing. You can do it from the tab that displays here, and it is pretty intuitive.
You want to check Share this folder on the network.
Give the share a name to use for mapping a drive, which we will use later.
Also check the box for Allow users to change my files.
Click Apply and OK.
Now, the share is set up on our server.
On my client machine, XPClient, I pull up a command prompt, and type the following:
net use U: \\XPServer\u
If all of my settings are correct, I get a “command completed successfully” message.
The above statement can be placed in a text file using Notepad, and saving it with a *.bat extension. This will allow you to double click the file and run the mapping from your hard drive, or your desktop, wherever you save the batch file.
As an alternative, you can use the menu from inside of Windows Explorer to do the same thing. Tools… Map Network Drive… type in U: and \\XPServer\u, and click Connect. To make the mapping permanent, click the checkbox for Reconnect at logon. After that, every time you log on, the U: drive will once again be ready to use.
Now, if I pull up My Computer, I see my U: drive mapped.
I can now drag and drop, copy to, save to, etc. to the U: drive from all my applications.
** Note: For the purpose of a simple explanation in drive mapping, I have simplified this post. Most security experts recommend that you do not enable File and Print Sharing in Windows. A better way to implement File and Print Sharing is to fully utilize security measures with usernames with passwords, which I may attempt to post at another time.
I took some time today to uninstall OpenOffice 2.4 and install OpenOffice 3.0 on my main laptop, which is running Ubuntu 8.04 (a debian-based Linux OS).
It was painless.
From a command line:
sudo apt-get remove OpenOffice*.*
I downloaded the OpenOffice 3.0 archive file. I opened it in Archive Manager, and unzipped the contents into a new folder, /OO.
Then after it finished:
cd /OO
sudo dpkg -i *.deb
It took about 90 seconds.
Overall, the speed was quite an improvement from the old version. I noticed there was less lag in accessing the menu and opening and closing files.
I like the slider for magnification in the lower right corner of the screen.
I am not sure, but the toolbars seem to have less clutter than the previous version.
I installed the PDF extension, which is still in Beta, but I am still trying to get the hang of using it.
I am still getting a feel for all of the changes, but my overall impression is that version 3.0 is smooth and stable.
If you have ever had to troubleshoot any of your IM applications or games, you have had some exposure to TCP and UDP ports, used in the TCP/IP protocol suite.
Normally, you can pull up a command prompt and type netstat <enter> to give you a full listing of connections being made to other IP addresses and the internet.
Sometimes, this can be useful to check if your machine is slowing down for no apparent reason.
In examining a friend’s machine, not too long ago, I found several connections to what looked like an Asian Telecom company.
His ISP disabled his account, due to “Spam Activity” originating from his account.
The only tell-tale sign was the TCP and UDP connections to the telecom.
Netstat is a useful command, but it is a command you enter from the command line. A GUI would be helpful.
I came across Netstat Viewer 1.0 for Windows.
It’s a simple program that really has only an executable file, and requires no install.
As you can see, it provides a graphic of the TCP and UDP port connections to and from your machine.
It’s pretty straight-forward and does not require much explanation.
To update, simply click the Update button.
If you want a quick and dirty on TCP and UDP, you can find one here.
There are plenty of other websites offering more detailed explanations, as well as dedicated ports and applications.
Netstat Viewer is a free application.
Over the past couple of days, I have gotten several requests to assist with recovering data.
In Windows XP, if you highlight a file in Windows Explorer or on the desktop and press SHIFT+Delete, it will permanently delete the file and bypass putting it in the Recycle Bin.
The other way to permanently delete the file is to delete the file, then empty the Recycle Bin.
What do you do if you inadvertently delete a file you actually want to keep?
The first thing to remember?
Stop what you are doing. Cease using that machine. Leave the power on!
I found a great utility at http://ntfsundelete.com. Properly named, the utility is called NTFS Undelete.
In order to run the utility, there is a Windows ISO file that you download and burn to a CD.
(I would recommend downloading and burning the CD on another machine. The less you use the machine with the lost files, the better chance you have of recovering them. If you need help burning the ISO to CD, read this post.)
After you burn the CD, simply pop the CD into the desired PC, and open My Computer and go the CD drive. Double-click it.
The NTFS Undelete program runs.
It offers a searchable window that accepts wildcards(* or ?).
After you find the files, you select them with a checkmark.
On the recovery tab, you select Recover to restore the files.
When you recover the files, you have to save them to a drive other than the drive from which you are recovering.
It’s helpful to have a USB drive of some sort for this step.
After looking through several utilities, this one looked the most promising.
And, of course, it’s free!
Many times, I get questions on alternative Operating Systems.
People ask, “How can I learn how to use another OS? I don’t want to erase my hard drive and put something on that I don’t know how to use!”
It makes sense. Unless you are an OS maverick, you usually don’t randomly install something that you don’t know how to use.
BUT, what if you could install it, and leave your current OS in tact?
The answer is called virtualization. In the IT world, it means that you can have ‘a software box’ on your hard drive that will let you run a full, functional version of another Operating System. When you get done playing, you shut the program down.
I have played extensively with VirtualBox and with VMWare’s VMPlayer.
Since I have spent quite a bit of time discussing VirtualBox, I decided to walk through an install of VMPlayer.
Download the VMPlayer application for your OS. I am installing it on a test Windows system.
Run the program.
The install is pretty straight forward and intuitive.
Click Next.
Click Next.
Click Next.
Click Install.
Click Finish.
The restart message. Shut down other apps and click Yes.
After the machine reboots, log in and start VMPlayer.
Accept the license agreement and click OK.
At this point, you are greeted with options for an appliance. An appliance is simply a virtual machine that can be run in the environment by VMPlayer.
You can choose Open if you have an appliance you want to open. You can also choose Download in order to browse and choose your appliance.
There are several pre-defined appliances on the VMWare website.
Most of them are either free or open source. You won’t find any Windows appliances, due to the licensing restrictions from Microsoft.
Previously, I chose a FreeBSD appliance. I downloaded it and unzipped it with 7-zip.
I chose Open from the above screen, and navigated to the image file on my hard drive. It was called openbsd43.vmdk.
You may encounter this message. Choose I copied it.
You can browse the VMWare website and find appliances to test and play with that peak your curiosity.
This is a great way to get your feet wet with an alternative OS. You’ll find BSD, Linux and other virtual appliances on the website.
Install an OS appliance with a browser, and you’ve got a great security protection layer to allow you to surf the web.
VMWare player requires registration and a valid email address, but it is free for personal use.
By now, we have all seen the new, High $$$ video campaign from Microsoft.
The campaign consists of every day people, from all walks of life categorizing themselves, “I am a PC.”
It’s not bad, but MS left themselves wide open.
The new Mac ad…
Oh no, you dih-unt!
The exchange is fun-spirited and humorous.
Did not see that one coming!
Dare I say that Apple has had a great deal more experience in ad campaigns.
Coming into the mainstream has not been an easy task, and it’s one that deserves recognition for Apple.
MS, on the other hand, has never really had to sink a whole lot into an ad campaign.
I think we are starting to see some ad campaign competition emerge. That’s a good thing.
Now, if that competition will just make it’s way into the production environment.
That’s exactly what the ad above is about!
Over the past few years, the workforce has seen some practices that make all of us question our job security.
With the recent developments in the economy, it makes everyone wonder…
“How secure am I in my current job?”
Internet media and 24 hour news channels dominate the information exchange.
We have become familiar with some practices that are scary. On the flip side, we have also become familiar with some practices that provide inspiration in hard times.
Events ripple through the economy and wreak havoc along the business and personal financial coastlines.
Gasoline prices and the current crisis will undoubtedly affect all of us.
The unknown part is, to what degree?
In a normal day’s work, what can you do to avoid or minimize the impact?
How do you demonstrate value to those around you?
5. Now is the time to be humble. If there were ever a time to be ready and willing to work overtime, it’s now. Don’t hesitate to take calls after hours. You never know, that one call that you take and help someone might just be your saving grace.
4. Stretch the “other duties as assigned” objective in your job description. I observed a friend of mine as he worked for another company. He got calls from customers routed to him, through some mistake , in the admins. Instead of following up and making sure that the customer calls were addressed and routed to the right person, he would simply tell them, “Wrong number,” and hang up. He did not get fired, but word eventually got back to his ‘chain of command.’ Remove “That’s not my job” from your conversational phrasing.
3. Follow up. You can demonstrate teamwork and interpersonal skills through touching base with others after your deliverable is satisfied. The underlying message will be that you really care about the project or task, and that you care about the company as a whole.
2. Double-check your work. After you have double-checked your work, engage your team mates to check your logic and have the freedom to openly criticize it. This goes hand-in-hand with team work. Now is not the time to worry about getting credit — Workplace karma is an open book for all to read.
1. Concentrate on solutions. If you put your energy into placing blame, others will do the same. Carefully working to find solutions will not only help everyone focus, but it will also help everyone to perceive you as a solutions-minded team player. That is much more preferable to being seen as a finger-pointer, which usually perpetuates more of the same.
It’s always a good practice to keep your resume and cover letter updated.
In some scenarios, it may be unavoidable. Decisions may be over and done.
Putting the above principles into practice can only help. Through all of these practices, you are displaying model behavior and setting a good example.
That never hurts.
With the 2008 Presidential Election coming up, it’s all over the news.
The scenario is inevitable. Around the watercooler… at the cafeteria… someone is going to breach the topic of the election.
The best practice is going to be to avoid it, altogether.
Think about it.
When you talk about the economy, the subject impacts people’s money. It’s impossible to bring the topic up, without making reference to the election, or without making reference to parties and lawmakers.
It’s a can of worms. No matter how you look at it.
When you open the can, you find that passions and tempers flair. Talk about money, directly or indirectly, and you find that people shift from easy-going and middle-of-the-road to highly opinionated, with little delay.
The same can be said for discussions of rights, energy, fuel or the weather. Not to mention a host of other issues.
Those topics can be fertile grounds for heated debate.
Ignore the party or view with which you associate yourself. The fact is, you never know when the guy standing next to you, or the girl across the table is going to have a diametrical opposite view of the same topic, or candidate.
Where does the freedom of speech begin and end, in the workplace?
The truth is, your freedom of speech is limited to guidelines and policies set up by each individual company or institution.
For example…
The reality is, you probably can’t wear your favorite T-Shirt to work.
Most businesses have a policy against wearing T-shirts, especially those with a logo or promotion on them. If they are allowed, the approval usually has to encompass logos for a company-endorsement or company-sponsored event.
Back to the topic at hand…
The best scenario for me?
I choose to avoid debates and conversations that encompass politics or the economy.
If someone makes a comment, I smile and walk away. If someone asks for my opinion, I give them the most politically correct answer I can, then move on.
If I choose not to share my opinion, then no one can be offended. I don’t let people bait me or trick me into those conversations, either.
I’m just an average guy, with opinions, like everyone else. I can’t discuss the entire legal details or aspects of it.
The best advice I can give anyone?
Avoid it.
The project code-named Windows 7 in Redmond has officially been named:
Windows 7
The interface is reported to be Vista-like, with even more eye candy.
One of the goals for the specifications is to encompass all the security features of Vista, but to do away with the annoyances that have been exploited in the Apple ad campaign.
Originally, the OS was slated for release in 2010, but according to some sources, the release date could be pushed forward to 2009.
That’s so far in the future, you have to be wary of rumors.
Thinking back over the past few years, I have heard many rumors. Many did not pan out.
One such rumor surfaced during 2004. Sun and Microsoft came to an agreement to end back and forth litigation between the two entities.
They made a PR campaign out of the result, and both companies agreed to work together for interoperability between Solaris and Microsoft Server. That included an agreement to offer Microsoft Windows Server on Sun hardware.
The rumor?
Microsoft was courting Sun to approach them about buying the software rights to an older Solaris OS Kernel, upon which they would supposedly build the next version of Windows.
It was a great idea. I loved the rumor. But it was just that. A rumor.
Since then, Sun has open-sourced Solaris, and Microsoft has released Windows Vista, which is clearly not a Unix-based OS.
Another rumor?
I heard someone speculating that Microsoft would eventually make Windows free of charge to each consumer.
If you think about it, it actually makes a certain amount of sense.
If you give away the platform, you encourage more people to use it.
To me, that seems like a great opportunity to ‘up-sell’ other components to the consumer, even more. (That’s something that MS has been really good at. Ever buy a PC with MSWorks?)
That one did not pan out, either.
Actually, Microsoft wants to go in the opposite direction.
Ideally, they ultimately want everyone running some Windows OS product, and a pricing structure that is subscription-based.
As I said earlier, the next 8 months should be very interesting in the OS market. It will be directly affected by the economy and by our disposable income.
OpenOffice.org Version 3.0 was released today.
For anyone that is unfamiliar with it, OpenOffice is an alternative office suite that provides similar functions to MS Office.
OpenOffice is free of charge, and provides some pretty nifty functions for opening, editing and saving MS Word, MS Excel and MS Powerpoint presentations. (OOoWriter, OOoCalc and OOoPresent, respectively.)
One of the things that I love is the ability to export a document to a PDF file, that comes native to the installation.
The new version of OOo offers an extension function. That means that much like Mozilla Firefox, users can program their own extensions and share them with the world.
There is a PDF extension that allows you to import PDF files and edit them.
Now that… makes it really worth taking a look.
You can expect the extension library to grow within the coming months.
I have used OOo for a few years now, and I have no complaints.
From Linux Format, I understand there are some performance differences in between version 2.4 and version 3.0. V.3 is a few milliseconds slower in certain functions.
Overall, there is a performance improvement in the newer version.
I have a programmer buddy that I talk to on occasion. Not too long ago, prior to this release, I spoke with him.
“I noticed that when I start MS Word that it takes X milliseconds to load. When I launch OOo Writer, it takes X+1 milliseconds.”
(I have yet to confirm his findings.)
My advice to him?
“Embrace it and use it. OpenOffice will get better, as more people embrace it.”
Let me say, I like the eye candy that Windows Vista provides.
What I am not crazy about is the syrupy function of the OS.
I have installed it, to play around and familiarize myself with it.
What I found myself doing? Waiting. And waiting some more.
So what do I do?
I look for ways to improve the eye candy that XP offers (without having to buy anything to do it.)
So, I research options for free software, as much as possible.
I stumbled across the most impressive Vista-esque Theme for Windows XP, yet.
This version is still in Beta, but there is a stable version available and ready for download.
You can check it out here.
Why hang on to XP?
The OS has fewer requirements than Windows Vista, and runs much leaner.
All of the netbooks that have recently floated onto the market are running a customized version of Windows XP. That speaks volumes.
Just like with cars, the push for the consumer OS will become one in which efficiency and optimization come into focus.
With the price of gasoline and recent developments in the economy, people will be working to discover more ways to do more with their PCs, without having to allocate all of their disposable income to do it.
That is, what disposable income they have.
I’m still using it.
XP still does a more efficient job and runs much leaner. I use it, when I have to.
I am not a Windows advocate, at all. My choice OSes do not include XP or Vista.
Despite some of what I consider hype about Vista, I haven’t switched over, yet.
Taking that into consideration, I am always looking for ways to improve the eye candy on XP.
CrystalXP is up to the task. It provides a ‘Vista-esque’ transparency feature to XP.
You can find out more, and download it here.
Note: You will have to use the Inactive checkbox in order to change the settings. Once you make your changes, you can re-activate it with the same checkbox.
In case you are wondering why I even run Windows, I use it for research and for testing.
Most enterprises and businesses use it as their primary desktop OS.
I keep it around to keep abreast of how the MS plumbing works, and to keep up with software that is available for Windows.
It’s free, but still in Beta.
It seems as if I spend several hours a day answering questions.
Usually, the questions pertain to viruses and malware.
To sum it up… here are some of the most common myths regarding viruses, malware, and anti-virus software.
5. If I get a virus, spyware or malware, I can just restore from a backup.
This seems to make sense, on the surface. That is, until you figure out that you may never know exactly when the infection actually occurred. You can guess. You can even try the backup, but be aware that many times you don’t know abou the infection until some odd behavior or a frozen screen alerts you.
You may have backed up the virus at some point!
Restore points are great, if you are running Windows XP or Vista. The tradeoff is, the more restore points you save, the more your system will slow down and the more drive space you will use for the restore points.
A good practice is to have a clean install, with all the updates, then make an image of the clean install. Norton Ghost, DriveImage or TrueImage are all good products.
Down the road, if you have issues, use the imaging program to restore the original image. There are free alternatives, which I will discuss in a future post.
4. I only install and run retail software, so I am safe from getting spyware, viruses or malware.
The software you install and run will impact your safety, but cannot be a guarantee that you are safe.
Your online behavior is a better indicator of if, how and when you will become infected. Be careful about opening emails. Don’t arbitrarily click links in emails. Know what you are installing, and if you are not sure, use Google to find out if there are any complaints about what you are installing.
There are plenty of seemingly reputable companies that write free programs, but make a practice of reading the entire EULA.
There are enough complaints and information that will alert you to programs that you should avoid.
3. Viruses only infect application files.
Viruses can hide in just about any type of file. New methods and exploits are discovered on a regular basis.
A good virus scanner will use heuristic algorithms to look at the size, age, behavior and other characteristics of the files on your system. It will monitor strange behavior, and even though there are no listings in the virus database, it will flag any files or behavior that could potentially be harmful to the OS.
2. Since I never perform any banking or monetary transactions online, I am safe.
On the surface, this makes sense.
This is a game of numbers. It does not matter how old or slow your machine may be, malware authors look at the quantity of infections.
The problem is, viruses, malware and spam are big business. The days of authoring viruses and malware for fun have been replaced for the most part by people wanting to make money.
In the old days, a virus author touted the user, letting them know they had control of their machine. The big business authors of today do not want you to know they are there and using your machine to do their dirty work. If you don’t know they are there, the longer they get to stay, the more use they get out of your machine.
1. My virus scanner is up-to-date, so I don’t have to worry about viruses, malware or spyware.
This is the biggest myth of all. I talk to people on a regular basis, and nothing could be further from the truth.
Zero-Day Exploits are viruses or malware for which a solution or fix is not readily available. Since there are hundreds of new viruses being written every day, this is a very real threat.
I have seen and even gotten drafted into fixing machines with ZDE infections. It’s not fun, and usually takes hours, if not days or weeks.
Sometimes, the only solution is to start over with a fresh install. You can save yourself time, if you have an imaging program and a clean image.
Remember, the best defense is to alter your behavior, and arm yourself with knowledge. Google is your friend.
Keep your friends close.
How to “UNSHRINK” Your Clothes – Click here for more blooper videos
I did not even know this was possible. I can’t tell you how many times in the past that I would have loved to have this trick in my arsenal of bachelor laundry secrets.
In the first post, I talked about putting Knoppix on a bootable thumbdrive.
In this post, I’ll talk about installing XP in a virtual machine on the thumbdrive, using VirtualBox, running on Knoppix as the host OS. The install of XP is called the guest OS.
The great thing about running a virtual machine, is, you can install the guest without corrupting your boot sector or overwriting your host OS.
VirtualBox also allows you to mount iso images as virtual machines and run them. That could include just about any Linux distro or even BartPE. Your limitation in this instance is going to be available drive space.
And now… a few words about licensing. I am installing this as a test, for exploration only. I have a Windows XP license for the box that I am using for exploration. After I am finished, I will erase my vitual machine, and re-install Windows XP on the machine. If you decide to embark on the same exploration, do so at your own risk, and make sure you read and understand the EULA for Windows XP.
The first step in getting VirtualBox to run is to add the user to the Vboxusers group. The defaut Knoppix user account is called Knoppix. This is pretty straight forward, you can do it easily using KUser User Manager.
From the K Menu, choose System and KUser – User Manager. Find the Vboxusers group under groups and add the Knoppix user.
The next step is to ensure that you have the vbox module loaded. From a root shell, enter:
$ modprobe vboxdrv
That sets up the main components for VirtualBox.
Now, I run VirtualBox OSE.
From the K Menu, I choose System and VirtualBox OSE.
It pulls up the VirtualBox OSE manager.
From here, I click New.
It’s pretty straight forward. I choose the OS type (XP), the amount of RAM (256MB) to use for the virtual machine, and I create the virtual hard drive for the install. I choose 3 GB, and make it a dynamically expanding image. I have a secondary dialog that allows me to set the virtual hard drive up. (These settings should work fine.)
Once the setup is complete, I choose Settings for my new virtual machine. I choose the CD/DVD and enable the host passthough. This allows me to run the XP install CD and allow it to install to the virtual drive.
I am omitting the steps to installing Windows XP. There are enough instructions around the web for the install, if you Google it. Installing the OS is no different from installing it directly to the hard drive, without Knoppix in the mix.
Once the install completes, I boot up the virtual machine, which you can see here.
One caveat, a message about the mouse capture will pop up. Click the checkbox (don’t show this message again) and click OK. If you don’t click the checkbox, it will not allow you to capture the mouse inside of the guest OS. You will click the mouse on the XP VM all day… and nothing will happen. You will just keep getting the message.
If you choose Devices from the menu, and choose Install Guest Additions, you will be prompted to download the iso image for Guest Additions. Once it completes, it’s about 5 MB and it will prompt you to mount the iso image to the virtual CD/DVD drive. Do so.
Once it is mounted, choose the D: drive and run the Guest Additions setup.
Guest Additions adds some helpful functions to the virtual machine. The most noticeable, is auto adjustment of the screen resolution. I played around for a little while, until I installed it. Setting and re-setting the screen res until I finally installed GA.
You can map a drive the actual hard drive on your machine and make changes, if need be. You will have to go to the Knoppix desktop and click (probably hda1) to mount the drive. When it mounts, right click on the icon on your desktop and choose Change Read/Write Mode. You will get a confirmation dialog.
There is a double-folder icon at the bottom of the VB window. You can set up your shared folders here. If you explore it a little, you will find the hard drive from the machine.
You can install pretty much anything you can install on XP inside the virtual machine. Keep in mind your limitations, though. You only have a limited amount of space in which to work.
For the most part, I try to use free software for testing concepts and ideas.
Most free virus scanners are limited edition packages that offer full paid packages. If you map a drive to the local machine, the virtual machine maps it as a network drive. Most of the free antivirus packages do not allow virus or spyware scanning on a network drive.
I am still researching some more free options to allow the scan to the local hard drive. One option is ClamAV. It’s open source and free.
As with anything, if you use safe practices, you will have less worries.
Avoid P2P and Bittorrent, don’t let the kids play on it. For the period of time that you keep the thumdrive around, use it for rescue and troubleshooting.
That’s it for the Windows discussion.
VirtualBox is available for several different operating systems and is a great way to test drive or play “in a sandbox.” Read all of the (PUEL) license agreements, but for the most part, it is free for personal use.
The past couple of days, I have been playing around with VirtualBox OSE, running on top of Knoppix 5.3.1, the DVD version.
The interesting thing is, I have been running it off of a Sancruzer 8 GB USB thumbdrive.
To make it even more interesting, I installed Windows XP as a guest Operating System.
Add to that, I was able to read and write from the Windows hard drive on my machine, even though it was booted into Knoppix, from the thumbdrive, and I had Windows running in a virtual machine.
Let me explain about these different components.
Knoppix is a Live version of Linux that detects and loads most drivers for a machine. That means that, theoretically, I can put the CD or DVD in the respective optical drive and boot it up. The result is a fully operational Linux operating system in my laptop or desktop. It will boot up and operate in a machine without a hard drive. If there is a hard drive, Knoppix is useful in examining the drive. For forensics, it can be used to find out what happened to make the machine crash or malfunction. For data rescue, it can be used to access the drive and pull important files off of the drive and copy them to another medium.
VirtualBox is a virtual machine software suite that allows you to run instances, called guest operating systems, within a sort of ’sandbox’ environment on top of your host OS. VirtualBox allows you to do this without disturbing your host OS, overwriting the hard drive, or system files. OSE is the version of VirtualBox that I am running, the Open Source Edition. VirtualBox was created by Innotek, but was recently acquired by Sun Microsystems. The program is free of charge for personal use. For more info, you can read the license agreement here.
To start out with, I had to download the DVD version of Knoppix, from one of the mirror sites. The current ISO image is 4.1 GB, so it takes a little time, depending on your connection and bandwidth.
The next steps are the process to get the Sancruzer thumb drive formatted, and the system files and Knoppix OS copied over to it. I am documenting these steps for the purpose of simplifying it for myself.
We begin by booting up Knoppix. Make sure that you have the proper BIOS settings to allow booting from a CD / DVD. Check the documentation for your machine for the proper steps in doing this. (It will probably involve changing the boot sequence of devices on your machine. Set the priority of the optical drive to boot before the hard drive.)
I plug in the Sancruzer thumbdrive.
The following steps are simplified for my purposes (since I am using an 8 GB drive). You can check out the original wiki entry at http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Bootable_USB_Key.
Examine the desktop, to see how Knoppix identifies the thumbdrive. It should be identified as sd-something. Make a note of what it is.
My system and Knoppix identify the drive as sda.
First I erase the drive. I pull up a root console. (Click the penguin and choose Root Console.)
$ dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda
I pull up a root console and type the following for an 8 GB drive:
$ mkdiskimage -F -4 /dev/sda 0 255 63
I leave the root console open.
Run the SYSLINUX installer on your new partition.
$ syslinux -s /dev/sdz4
This installs the syslinux boot loader onto the thumb drive.
Next, I mount the sda4 partition.
$ mount /dev/sda4 /media/sda4
Change directory to the newly mounted partition.
$ cd /media/sdz4
$ ls
The ls command should list the files in the directory. There should only be one at this point, ldlinux.sys.
Next, we copy the files from the /boot/isolinux directory to the current directory on the thumbdrive, using rsync.
$ rsync -av /cdrom/boot/isolinux/ ./
$ mv isolinux.cfg syslinux.cfg
$ rm -f isolinux.bin
That should handle the small changes to get the boot files in order for the thumbdrive to boot.
Now, copy the rest of the CD to the thumbdrive.
$ rsync -av /cdrom/ ./ –exclude boot
That will take a little while. Walk away and come back to it.
After it finishes, and returns me to the prompt, I unmount the thumbdrive.
$ sync
$ cd /
$ umount /media/sda4
$ sync
Remove the thumbdrive, and shut down Knoppix from the K Menu. Remove the DVD when prompted.
Now, plug the thumbdrive back in, and boot up.
This may be the point where you have to tweak your BIOS settings once again. On some systems, the setting for booting from a thumbdrive may be listed as a simple USB device. On others, it may be listed as a USB hard drive, or under removable disks or devices. I found it a little tricky when moving from one machine to another, the trick being to figure out how the BIOS registers and manages the thumbdrive.
Once you boot up, you should once again see the Knoppix Welcome screen.
Now, make the drive read and writable.
Once again, from a root console, enter the following:
$ mount -o remount,rw /cdrom
$ mount –bind /cdrom /media/sda4
Since the original image is bound as read-only, we just changed it to be read-writable. We want to leave the root console open.
Now, there are some last steps.
We want to change the boot options for the thumbdrive. We are going to use Kwrite to do this, which is just another editor. The original article suggests vi, I like to make it simple.
In the root console, we want to enter the following:
$ kwrite /media/sda4/syslinux.cfg
On line two, add these to the end of the line:
noswap noeject noprompt dma home=scan
On line three, change the timeout from 300 to 50, to shorten the boot prompt wait time.
Click save and exit.
Now, we have one last step.
We need to create a persistent home directory.
I can exit the root console, now.
I click on the Penguin, Configure, Create Persistent Home Directory.
It prompts me, asking if I want encryption. I choose no, to keep it simple.
It also asks me for the size of the Persistent Home Directory. I have just under 4 GB left, but I only choose 3036, to allow some free space at the end.
After choosing the options, it takes a little while.
After it completes, I reboot and test the drive.
The great thing about the Knoppix 5.3.1 DVD, is, there are documents that come on the image. There are a number of books and documents on Knoppix floating around.
Two good places to start?
Google and Knoppix.net.
In a second post, I will describe the VirtualBox portion of the XP install on the thumbdrive.
I really like the calendars and posters from Despair, Inc.
They are somewhat satirical, and sometimes provide truth or realism.
I have bought their calendars in the past, and gotten several chuckles from their “Style of Inspiration.”
Stumbling the interweb this evening, I came across a similar set of illustrations with an edge, “From the Federation,” If you will…
Check out the rest of the images here.
We started a Red Shirt Day at the office, in honor of all the guys that lost their lives in each episode of Star Trek.
Whether shopping around town or on the web, most of us have gained an awareness that sellers and retailers have become quite crafty at generating a profit.
With an ever-changing economy, it’s probably going to become even more intense.
How do you cover your bases, as a consumer, to make sure you get the best deal, with the least amount of financial exposure?
Here is a list of hidden profits strategies I have observed over the past few years:
Rebates – Even though some class action lawsuits have made progress in consumer rights, rebates are still alive and well. If you take into consideration that many people, if not most, fail at meeting all the requirements in receiving rebates, the picture becomes a little more clear. This is true if you are shopping online, or inside a retail store. Read the fine print in the mailer or website. Look for any * or footnotes describing details of the offer. Sometimes the devil is in the details.
Loaded Pricing Models – Many retailers offer great deals on individual items, while making up for the lost profit on other items. I saw a laptop on sale for what seemed to be a great price. When I looked into it in more detail, I found out that the great price did not include the power supply, the case or any other accessories. Many electronics retailers offer great deals on peripherals, while making up for profits on cables and other supplies.
This may also be true in non-electronics retailers. You’ll find some great deals on certain items, but upon closer examination, you discover that some of the other items in your basket actually cost a little more than the competitor’s.
Bait and switch – Somewhere I read that the traditional “Bait and Switch” tactic is illegal. That does not mean that it does not happen. A traditional “Bait and Switch” tactic was to advertise a product that was out of stock, or low in stock. When the consumer went to the store to buy the item, the sales person would inform them that the item was sold out. The sales person would then lead them to the alternative, which was not on sale. That’s the old style. Since then, stores have to issue rain checks or substitutions, for the most part.
A few months back, I needed a small tool, of a particular size. I went to a major retailer and found that the particular item that I needed was out of stock, yet, a complete kit of all different sizes of the tool was in stock. It was quite a bit more money. The interesting thing was, the tool, in different sizes was about $3 to $8 per tool for each individual size. The complete kit was $35. Strange as it was, the individual tools, all different sizes, were ALL out of stock. The tools were never advertised, so I doubt that it could be conscrued as false advertising. I went to another branch in a nearby location, and found similar circumstances.
Shipping or Delivery Fees – Many times, you might come across what seems to be a great deal on a particular product. You complete the online checkout, only to find that the shipping charges seem to be a little high. Be advised, that sites or individuals can set their own charges for shipping. They are not set in stone, and not necessarily passed on directly to the consumer for what the retailer or seller gets charged by the carrier.
Restocking and Retun Fees – If you return an item to a retailer, many times they will charge a restocking or return fee. This can be as little as one to five percent, or as much as 30% of the cost of the item in certain cases. You may also get stuck with the cost of shipping the item back to the retailer.
Installation – Due to the fact that many people are scared of technology, many stores will offer in-home installation by someone from the store. Usually this is $200 to $500 added to the cost. This is not always a bad deal, for someone that is completey frightened by technology or cables.
Extended Warranties – These are a way in which to add more profit to the bottom line for the retailer. These also, can be a good deal, provided that you are comfortable and aware of all the terms. Ask the hard questions. “If I drop it…?” or, “If lightning strikes it…”
Unexpected Additional Items – This is usually more common with a service provider. You agree to a service plan at one rate, only to discover that there are additional charges for each facet of service. This is one instance in which it pays to read reviews and complaints from existing customers. It literally pays to ask questions.
Package Deals – I had a conversation with a friend of mine, recently. He had taken a package deal from his cable provider for TV, internet and phone service. Sounded like a good deal. A couple of days later, he called me to ask about his slow internet. To make a long story short, the offer that he got at the time only included a 256 KB connection. Everyone else was getting a 1.5 MB deal on the unpackaged plan, which was roughly about 6 times faster. By the time he finished negotiating, he was doing little to save money by buying the package, considering the addtional charges.
This is not to say that all retailers encourage these practices, but it does give you food for thought, and possibly raise your awareness, when shopping in person and online.
The rule of thumb I follow, is: If it’s questionable or hard to understand, it’s probably not a good deal.
Check out Macho Hints On Bargain Hunting for my other observations and recommendations.
.