I love technology and fiddling with computers and gadgets dearly, and so, one of my long-term goals have been to has an operational computer running Linux, with which I can do most, if not all, of what I am able to do with my Windows computers.
Like most IT-professionals who has been working in the business for more than, say five minutes, I have got a pretty decent stash of computers laying around at home. One of these is a HP Compaq nc6000 portable computer – one of HP’s finer pieces of work in my opinion – complete with 1GB of RAM and an intel WLAN interface card. I’d tried to install this with Ubuntu earlier (version 6.06 – Dapper Drake), but found no joy when trying to get it up and running with wireless LAN. Since a computer with Linux without an internet connection is rather like a bicycle to a fish (in other words,not very useful), I decided to shelf the experiment.
Then, a friend of mine invited me to Linux installation evening hosted by OLUG – Oslo Linux User Group and PING, and told me to bring a computer to install Linux on. So, hoping to get my computer up and running with Linux and WLAN, I brought the aforementioned nc6000.
I booted the computer with the Ubuntu 8.04 Live CD, and chose the install option. The installer installed without a hitch; and when it booted back up, it got online, with wireless LAN, right out of the box.
If you know nothing about Linux; let me tell you this; the most absurdly useful set of commands I have found so far (within 48 hours of installing the computer) are the following three:
Blog
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Apt-get FTW or: How I learned to stop worrying and learned to love Ubuntu
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Why Webmail rocks my world
I’ve been using email since 1998, and from the get-go I’ve been using various webmail-clients, in addition to locally installed clients such as Outlook Express (urgh), Outlook (Yum-yum), Lotus Notes (Oh-so-bloated) and Thunderbird (Weighed, measured and found wanting). My first email address was a hotmail one, and although that specific incarnation of my online presence no longer exists, I still have a hotmail address.
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Changing the Windows Product Key
A while back I was unfortunate enough to run across a pirated copy of Windows on one of my computers. Naturally, I had a legal Product Key, but how to change the Product Key so that you’re not bugged by the Windows Genuine Advantage utility?
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Citrix: "ICA File not found" Error fix
When accessing applications through Citrix Web Interface, users sometimes get the following error message:
Having researched many possible solutions, the fix I’ve found is this:
1: Open Internet Explorer
2: Click Tools > Internet Options
3: On the General tab, click the Delete Files button
4: Restart the browser
The cause seems to be that Citrix times out due to not finding the ICA-file because there are too many files in the cache. -
Problems accessing local drives in Citrix
I’ve had a few users who have had problems accessing their local drives in Citrix. The error they get is the following:
The problem is, as one might surmise, one of access levels. To set the appropriate access level, do the following:
1: If in Full-screen mode, exit it through pressing Shift+F2
2: Right-click the Citrix-icon
3: Open “File Security Status”
4: You’ll get this dialog box:
5: Set the appropriate security level, No Access (Denies all Access), Read Access (Read Access only) or Full Access (Full Access) -
Lotus Notes: Resolving “File Already Exists” issues
Working in a Lotus Notes environment, I have seen quite a few of the issues concerned with Lotus Notes. Running Lotus Notes with the data-folder located on a network share, combined with sync of Offline folders has a nasty tendency of creating corrupt files.
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Internet Explorer and me (Or: Why I choose)
I’ve been using computers more or less actively for about 10 years now. My first encounter with a computer was a hulking 386, which I never really got the hang of. Since then, I’ve encountered computers in many different ways, but the first time I can remember getting a “So that’s what it’s all about” feeling, was back in the summer of 1996. Using Word (!) I constructed my very first website.
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Deactivating Automatic Reboot after Windows Update
Have you ever returned to your computer only to find it having restarted, and all of your data gone? For a myriad of reasons, I keep my computers running continuously for a long time at a time. This makes this insistence on a reboot not only annoying, but in its extremes, it can actually make me lose work. To prevent this, I have disabled the auto-reboot, and I am no longer annoyed with repeated requests for reboots.
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U3 -v- PortableApps
U3 and PortableApps are two competing systems designed to run software off external storage media. This is most relevant for thumbdrives and the like, but you could run PortableApps from a harddrive, or even your iPod!
For this comparative test, I used a SanDisk U3-enabled 4GB thumbdrive. When I bought it, U3 launchpad was already installed. After having tested U3 for a while, I formatted the drive, and installed PortableApps with the same, or similar software testing it once more.
Why run software off a portable drive in the first place?
If you travel a lot, it is often advantageous to be able to bring with you both the files and the programmes you need with you, not having to download or install them. There is also the issue of security to be considered, seeing how as you leave behind fewer tracks. In addition, a portable drive with your applications will enable you to run them from wherever you might be in the world, or even off it. Today, memory in general, and thumbdrives especially are very cheap. Many people have one or more thumbdrives around them on a day to day basis. Why not use the possibilities this entails?
Price
U3 is not available for purchase; you have to buy a thumbdrive which has it preinstalled. You will also need to configure it when you start it up for the first time.
PortableApps is free, and can be installed on any external storage unit you might wish. It comes in suites from 1MB upwards. The standard suite is recommended for thumbdrives with a capacity of 512 MB and above. This is the one I have used, along with some additional programs.
Installation
U3 comes preinstalled when you purchase a U3-enabled thumbdrive. All you need to do to set it up, is to give it the information it asks for, and it should be up and running. U3 is delivered with a password protection system which, should you wish to enable it, locks the drive fully unless the password is provided. Once you’ve set U3 up, you can download additional software for it from the U3 software central. The U3 software central leaves a distinctly messy impression, and it is not easily searchable. It has a load of programmes, many of which cost money.
PortableApps needs to be downloaded, and then installed. Installing PortableApps is very simple, and will take roughly twenty minutes, depending on what suite you choose, and what storage media you have chosen. After installation, you can download more programmes from the Portable Apps website, or browse for them online. All programmes for PortableApps are Open Source, and by far, most of them are free (I have yet to find any that are not free). There is no built-in security system, but at the PortableApps website, there is a perfectly good backup, synchronization and encryption/decryption tool called Toucan, which works very well and intuitively, and is able to encrypt separate files, instead of locking the entire drive, which seems to be the U3 approach.
Usage
The U3 Launchpad is automatically loaded, and will open a password prompt, if password protection is enabled. If password protection is not enabled, the launchpad will be loaded anyway, and can be found as a start menu in the right hand side taskbar in Windows. When you eject the U3 Launchapd, the drive itself is also unmounted, and so, should you wish to use the files on the drive, you will have to unplug the drive, and plug it back in, whereupon U3 Launchpad will once more be loaded.
PortableApps is not automatically loaded, but when Windows reads the drive, one of the options in the launch-menu is to launch PortableApps. Should you not wish to load PortableApps, you will still be allowed access to the drive, and once you do wish to launch PortableApps, there is a loading-option for it in the drive. When you eject PortableApps, the drive is still available, and should you wish to relaunch PortableApps, this is no problem.
Usage of the storage media
U3 and PortableApps are as close as makes no difference when it comes to how much memory they use on the storage media. PortableApps
Conclusion
All things considered, both systems stand up to the test, but PortableApps seems to be a notch or two better in all parts of the system. The choice is, of course, in the end up to the user, but my recommendation in this case is clear; PortableApps is the better tool. U3 comes in a very tidy second, but loses out when it comes to software costs and security. I have to admit that I am partial to the ease of encryption in PortableApps, and I dislike having to enter a password to reach non-sensitive files.
Note: This article has been written, in its entirety, on four different computers, running OpenOffice off a thumbdrive running PortableApps.
The U3 website
The PortableApps website -
Firefox: Disabling the Extension Install Delay
In a previous blogpost I wrote about my favorite Firefox extensions. One thing that annoys me though, is that whenever I try to install an extension, Firefox shows a dialog box, and grays out the “install” button for three seconds, like this:
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Securing Wireless Networks, why and how?
Why?
A man in his twenties, let’s call him Bill, gets on a bus in Oslo. He carries with him a portable computer, complete with a wireless network adapter. The computer is running Windows XP Professional, and has an app installed called NetStumbler. The man is bored, and decides to have some fun…
Bill turns the computer on and starts NetStumbler. After a short distance, he has found in excess of two hundred wireless networks, half of which are unsecured. The man unboards the bus, and selects one which is unsecured called “Linksys”. He decides to punish the owner a little, you simply don’t leave your wireless network with default settings, onw do you?
He logs onto the network, and using Google, it is the work of a minute or two to learn that the config-page of the router is located at the IP-adress 192.168.0.1, and the default user name and password are both admin. He logs on, and finds another computer connected to the router. He shuts the computer out, and starts working his mischief.
Bill starts out turning off broadcasting of the SSID, and changes the SSID, following which he sets WPA-security. He then changes the admin-password of the router, logs off, and gets on the next bus. The entire process, from logging on to the config-page until he logged back off, took him less than two minutes.
How?
The above scenario is not unthinkable. In spite of it mostly being mindplay, I have myself seen close to fifty available wireless networks, many of which are not only unsecured, but also sport default values for everything. So, what does the scenario teach us?
If you know something of routers, you’ll know that the first thing you’ll try when unable to contact the router, is either connect directly to it with a cable (which wouldn’t help you in the above scenario, as the admin-password has been changed), or simply push the reset-button, located on the back of the router. In the case detailed above, the problem will be solved, and for the owner in question, who hasn’t bothered to set up the router, the default settings will be restored.
The next piece of knowledge we can glean from this, is that by doing two simple things, the security of your router will be heightened by large degrees. By changing the SSID (the name the router presents to the outside world), and changing the admin-password, much has been achieved. If you want to go a step above and beyond this, I’d recommend turn off broadcasting the SSID, and setting some sort of security, either WEP or WPA2. These simple steps will prevent trespassers to connect to the network, and secure the network even more
I’ll not tell you what will work best for you, but I personally feel that if the SSID does not identify you is better than a SSID that does. If your name is John Smith, I think that it is better to call the network HomeLAN than calling it JohnLAN or SmithLAN.
Another thing I’ll tell you is that it is better to use a randomly generated WEP-code, instead of one that can be logically disseminated. A quick Google-search for “random WEP code generator” will provide you with many useful pages, for example this one, whereas a search for “WPA2 code generator” will, among others, turn out this one.
Securing wireless networks is very important, so much so that even Microsoft has created a guide to help users set up their wireless networks.