Geek Out!

In the Wake of the LULZ Boat

2011-06-30T02:15:00.000-07:00

Just a quickie here with a link. As most who read this probably know the hacking group LulzSec went on a 50 day tour. Each day they posted their successes on Twitter. Many encouraged and laughed along with them until the day they posted 550961 email addresses and passwords garnered from various places including hackforums.net, nato-bookshop.org, and several gaming forums. They told their followers to just try them in some places. And all was a lot of fun and games until the reports started coming in. Some ordered books and other things using the combos in Amazon.com. These were no Bill Gates to whom 100.00 might be an annoyance, these are people from all over, gamers, some have money some do not and most have done LulzSec no harm. That was when the old skool ones stepped in. The quiet hackers that are spoken of in whispers and as legend by some. Sure some of them are TOO old skool. They maybe have lost the touch the or not kept up. But some were not. They moved on LulzSec. Hacker wars have begun - let the rest of us beware. Some have sworn to turn LulzSec over to the fed (sort of unhacker like), others have declared they will 'Show' the 'script kiddies' what hacking is. It is rumored that LulzSec site was hacked for under an hour, I have heard everything from 1 minute to 47. Though 19 seems to be the standard and sounds about right.

Here is a site with the list of emails. Search it, if you find you are on it change passwords to any and all sites that you even think maybe there is a chance you even THOUGHT of using a standard or similar password on. Do not panic, you may have to go only to page 347 on it instead all of the way to 1102. Yes, it is tedious - but it beats having your AMEX for work charged up and you being responsible for paying it. Ih and stay off the porn sites - seems they got a lot from them too.

Microsoft NOT in Gang of Four

2011-06-06T00:35:00.000-07:00

Usually I quote Jon Radoff over on the gaming blog because he is mainly a game marketeer. I do not always agree with him, sometimes I think he demonstrates what is wrong in business today, sometimes agree with him he has insight as to the direction technology is taking. This is one of those times and I would like to address one of his points concerning Microsoft from my personal experience in the industry. Microsoft forgot what it was about.

Most IT professionals have stories to tell about the giant. I have more than a few, but let me just select from the best. First you must understand Microsoft was a hero to many of us in the budding IT field in the early 80s. They took on IBM and won. IBM had been the business that bought technologies that showed promise and shut them down. They were THE defining company for computers. Microsoft changed all that. They created DOS and it WORKED! Well at least the odd numbered ones did.

Maybe we were to blame in a way. Until Windows was unveiled, Microsoft could do no wrong. Gates was hero and the company was full of renegades and geeks. They had the best PC O/S, Novell had the the best network, Epson made the best dot matrix printers and Procomm plus was the standard for PC interconnectivity. Most of the world used WordPerfect, Lotus and dBase as PC business applications. Got the computing world in your head?

Changes were coming, Crays were the fastest supercomputers and lived in a fishtank to keep cool, Apples were for artsy types but MACs were actually compared to Crays and other "real business" machines. Chips previously available all over the place from many manufacturers but were starting to standardize. The first rumblings of storms of change started when WINDOWS was released in 1985. A friend of mine called me to brag he had just gotten it on his PC. What did he need that for to code in assembler? It looked like a MacIntosh! It was a RAM hog- it needed 512 KB, great for people who did not do much crunching, but for the numbers and data types it was stupid.

Suddenly though Novell needed 1 MG ram to run. So MUCH! We upgraded our server. I sat with the manuals for a while learning how to compsurf my drive, how to put in a NIC and most of all how to set up the upgraded Novell. it was FAST. We used Paradox from Ansa, a company that had just been acquired by Borland and had one of the best networked databases there was. It all ran on DOS and we were happy - for now. But annoyed that we had upgrade our system to keep it supported because they had to recode a network the bloat from Windows.

By the time I was working for a company that published software training courses we were into Windows 2 and starting on 3. We got lots of betas, beta were free back then. For publishing in the technology field they were crucial. My first experience was with Win 3.1 and MS-DOS 6.0. I had to work with Windows for training purposes, but we still did not NEED it to do our work. Plain old DOS was good enough for most of what we had to do.

Back then Windows was shell that ran on top of DOS. Your machine would start DOS and you could go from there if you wanted either starting Windows or not. You could run other manufacturer's versions of DOS there was PC-DOS and DR-DOS to name 2 I remember. The new Windows was almost out. The new MS-DOS was due months later but DR-DOS was due out earlier. Suddenly the beta Windows would not run well on the beta MS-DOS - it crashed an burned a lot. Why? Because MS-DOS had changed to counter the competition's release and Windows had not. The writer testing DOS sat next to me, we both called our contacts and they pointed fingers at each other. Same company creating software that is dependent on each other and the dev teams not talking to each other, that looks really good.

Then we went to Gamma. I was testing the course copy against what we had and suddenly everything was different! We scrambled to change the documents. The steps to map a left handed mouse were different completely, to perform certain tasks the menus were different, the fluff that we added to the courses for fun was all wrong now, except solitaire, that still worked at least we used that to train people how to use a mouse.

We went nuts. It was 2 -6 weeks to release of software. Training manuals and courses took 6 weeks once at the printers IF we were lucky and paid premium to get it done We might get galleys back in two weeks. The head editor decided to wait until the software was released - good call on that one because upon release all of our old steps were correct. We began to suspect they released bad gammas to mislead the competition, pity they did not inform their beta testers who were writing BOOKS that might increase Windows sales. But I guess they already had a World Domination Plan and did not need us little people anymore. Who cared if we were users?

Well we all know what happened next, 95 came out and suddenly no one had any choice anymore. We all HAD to use Windows, because every business used it. By then I was into BI and tech support of BI. We moved from doing manual extracting and physically sending the data to our clients which was fairly secure to online extract and download because the clients demanded it. It is so much more convenient and so much less secure. Most people no longer have a choice and the few that do seem to be ridiculed for thinking they might use a door instead of a Window .

Except - even Microsoft seems to be thinking more about how they can make things work again. They finally got that most of us will not use I.E. They may even be ready to admit that other companies do some things better than they because they are NOT Microsoft. They should spend some time refining what they DID best and that WAS operating systems. But is it too little too late?

If I data crunch I need more RAM, fast drives and fast processors but not much in video. If I am a website designer I need great graphics. If I edit videos or record for a living I need good sound and a quiet machine. I do not need Visio to make a video, I do not need Adobe to make a flow chart. Microsoft the key to success is to be flexible enough you help everyone run their business not to MAKE everyone use your products and work the way you want them to. But Microsoft does not listen to the "little guys" like Jon, so it takes them longer to hear what is really happening out there.

I hear of more and more super user types using Ubuntu and Macs. Personal Networks are in use for everything now from work updates to hardcore gaming. Vista was a failure not because Vista was awful, but rather because it was perceived as awful by its potential users before it was even shipped. Word leaked out from BETA testers. To defend Microsoft a little there is a REASON it is Beta, bit perhaps a nationwide beta test of companies who are trying to conduct daily business on their systems is NOT a good idea. Others based the likely poor performance on experience with past Microsoft new product releases. Microsoft needs to prove to us that it can pull an IBM and get good at what they do again and to do that they need to pull back, develop and TEST instead of trying to force their standards and business models on their customers. In the mean time I will sit and watch to see if Ubuntu follows in Microsoft's footsteps while I use FREEBSD and THAT is what it is about - CHOICES that fulfill our needs and purses.

Traffic test

2011-06-02T02:34:00.000-07:00

Once in a while I test out 'blogger tools' and ads. See the Entre Card over there? They CLAIM they bring lots of people to your blogs. See the Flag counter way down the page.. Hmm the EntreCard site claims 14 people have visited my blog today so should be 15 accounted for on that flag list down there. I see 2 and one of them is me. We will see if the numbers change and I will update you on how effective this is, One thing I CAN say, I picked up 3 readers on the Gaming Blog. the one EntreCard still has not approved. So at least 3 people popped through and read enough to go see the link and go read the other blog.

Viruses and Facebook

2011-05-30T23:42:00.000-07:00

I would like to say I am part of the cause for the new Facebook awareness of Viral banners, links and apps on their site. But I am not that full of myself to think that my one voice actually got through in spite of my complaining for a year. Last month I basically left Facebook. I got the third infection in less than 12 months. It is time for me to move on and leave that site to the lowlifes on the internet.

The first was a stupid registry reviver one, easily spotted and cleaned. The second was a basic speed up your computer one - eight months later. Same idea, They want you to run out to their site, and BUY the product that is going off except of course it is not finding the 30 viruses and spyware it lists as finding on your machine, though it may be installing them.

I noticed it because my drive started cranking , then Flash tried to start. I was reading an article. No reason for flash unless it is a banner which I had blocked, yep it was payload drop time.

The screens look like they could be official. Perhaps it is a mutation. all I know is suddenly my files seemed to disappear. I started to panic then relaxed, it was only MY user directory affected. Fine, Easy solution - SYSTEM RESTORE. Several hours later I had it found, removed it and then cleaned, recleaned and reupdated the machine.

This one was the last straw. It had attacked the FAT. The File Allocation Table could not FIND the files to tell me they were there. I muttered steamed until I realized Trend was scanning them.They were there. Just not able to be found.

Trend Micro's Housecall took it out. I then followed with Malwarebytes which traced the rest of the components and removed them. Where exactly these came from, I am not certain to this day but most evidence points to Facebook and one of those crappy banners. But hell for all I know Bleeping Computer, GamerDNA or even Major Geeks could have been the source. All are sites I frequent. So I cleaned it up kept a component or two that were non functioning without the rest to test virus checkers with and moved on.

Last month I got hit again. This time a bit more seriously. Yes it was another crapware banner delivering a javascript to my machine. As far as I can tell I had this..Vista Total Security 2011 the link is to a site describing it. This one is a Royal pain. Thank goodness no one codes for Opera. It starts by setting off the Official looking Your computer is infected. It looks like a Windows defender screen. Except.. Vista is no longer really supported, and they would not charge for the fix.

If you try to open defender it is blocked, if you try to go to a website it is blocked. Here is how it works, it downloads a little .js that sits in your roaming directory. Every time you try to open a browser page, it calls the .js to put up the page that says that the site you are trying to go to is infected. Solution - turn off javascript right? Well not exactly. I do not know if it was Firefox 4.0 or the virus but I would turn off the .js and it would still run. When I reopend the tools in Firefox it was checked to allow .js again and again and again. Firefox has a 4.01, perhaps it a was a glitch in their browser or perhaps it was the virus finding a way past that.

So I did what any geek would do. I opened Opera, opened a new tab, got the error and then opened Dragonfly. I saw what it was being called and from where. So I typed in https://trendmicro.com in Firefox and guess what it worked. I got housecall to run (I do NOT keep the component in a default directory) and got it to start cleaning off the virus, except - it did not get the java script. So I tried Panda. Got a message that Activescan does not work with my version of Firefox or of course with Opera. Mutter. I downloaded the 30 day trial. I will give my evaluation of that soon.

However to be fair it found the java script and zapped it, Can anyone tell me why Microsoft keeps people from accessing and clearing the java cache? Last week my daughter came to me, guess what - it was going off on HER machine, Facebook is about the only place in common we go anymore. She cleaned it, we think she got it all she tried the trend 30 day free download except it seems it does not like Malwarebytes. Too bad it works! I updated Firefox to 4.01 and Opera to 10.11. Activescan still does not work with those according to their site.

So I log into Facebook last week to leave a client a message. I see they have the HTTPS in full swing - except it does not work on any applications which are the biggest offenders. I see they have their protection on for links, except it blocked a legitimate site I was trying to go to on information about a virus spread through Facebook. And last I see the same ads on the right hand side. And the machine goes nuts, Yep it is trying it again! NOT THIS TIME BUDDY!

Sure they check the ads - the first time, but what about each subsequent ad. Are you sure they have not been compromised by a third party? Why are they placed on the right on the games and groups where a mis-click can potentially end in an infected user's machine. Why are there ads for products and techniques already known to be scams or at the very least suspicious in their claims? You know how many Acai berry diet plan ads i saw there when that was the big fad? Hey HERE IS AN IDEA FACEBOOK - Only accept ads from REPUTABLE companies and Websites instead of lining your pockets and including in your TOS that if any user's machine is damaged by the site it is their problem nay even their fault for trusting you to perform due diligence. So in the mean time - you all can find me on MySpace or Twitter or the gaming sites. That is unless they all decide to follow the Facebook Model and put profits over their users.

Then you will find me curled up with a good book and on the MUD.

Learning CSS

2011-05-25T02:52:00.000-07:00

I was asked to assist in redoing a website and ensuring it was completely accessible. This meant learning CSS, something I have avoided for a while. Friends who started doing CSS complained constantly. Then there is the fact that every time I went to look at the simplest technique, there was always an exception for I.E. (WHY does Microsoft do that?)

Well first let me say CSS is not difficult nor is it the bear that many lead me to believe. HOWEVER, many sites that purport to be pure CSS are not. They have .js or worse flash. They run server side applications and even loud music and sound that cannot be turned off. Some have only 1 page and no variations on it for mobile or other media. Yes they are using a CSS but why bother?

However as usual there are some roses in the weeds for learning CSS and finding templates and examples in the wild as it were. First is the obvious one W3 Schools the tutorial covers all of the basic concepts and commands and explains very well why CSS is a good idea. Standards for accessibility are covered as well as techniques to make the site look better. But honestly, what you build in the tutorial, looks like a middle school or grade school site. Once you understand the techniques and commands, it is time to move on to see what you can do DO with it.

I learn by doing and observing so off I went to find blogs, templates and sites I could view to see how they did something. There are a LOT out there, so let me list the ones I found the most useful.

Veerle's Blog This is the designer's old site, by all means check out the new one, too. But this has invaluable techniques for using Photoshop (or any graphic editor really) and basic information on CSS.

Free Website Templates - this site has a lot of templates of varying types, complexity and price. Most techniques can be gleaned from studying the CSS of many of the templates. Not all are accessible, pure CSS or even free - but it well worth a look to see what people can do.

CSS Zen Garden - This site is a perfect example of why to use CSS. All it is is the same page in several designs. The only difference is the CSS.

So, that should be enough to get anyone started. And my own design I hope you will see soon, I am down to tweaking and will post the links here when they are done. From what I learned I managed to come up with 5 very different looking designs for the site. So if the vote is tied among the owners I can just change them in a few months and swap out the design without changing the content pages. And THAT is the beauty of it.

Boxer Editor

2011-05-23T01:11:00.000-07:00

Ok for those of you who are not coders, do not do CSS or HTML or care for the software reviews - talk among yourselves. For the rest of us.

As most of you know I am a great supporter of small useful utilities. This one is not so small is extremely useful and while it is not free it is well worth the price. Boxer Text Editor. I love this tool. I was introduced to it by an online coding acquaintance (Ken Perry) who suggested I try it. Ken is blind. (He says he hates to be called visually impaired and prefers blind). He was looking for an affordable accessible editor. He suggested I try it knowing I hate the wordpad like editors. I missed Multi-Edit but at the time the cheapest version was around 500.00 too rich for my out of work self (they now have a lite version I may look at.) I started with the 30 day trial and have used it through a few versions now for over 4 years.

Installation
I opted for the disks to be sent to me. It arrived quickly and well protected - good job! Yes you read that correctly 1 disk. Download is also an option but my connection is slow and who know what my daughter is downloading or uploading as we speak? Boxer installs like a dream. No glitches on Vista, Windows 7 or my old 98 machine. First time I did it it went so fast I was not sure it worked. But it started up with no issues. The Boxer Shorts tips are cute, they get annoying fast though. You can turn them off easily. User configuration and preferences are a breeze to set up. Projects are more work and sometimes a lot more annoying but you can start right out coding.

Features
I am very happy with Boxer. It is small, easily configurable for any language and comes with quite a few templates like HTML, C, and Pascal, users have made others that can be downloaded from the site and you can of course add your own. I made one for myself for DIL using the C as a base. The entire program is small enough to run on a thumb drive (5 MB fully installed) which is great for carrying to a client site so you have an editor you know well.

It has all the features that make my life easier and I expect in a code editor; like find mate so you can ensure all your braces, brackets and parenthesis are closed. You can set it format your code (or plain text) and most other main features that larger and more expensive code editors have are built in. Side by side window configuration to find differing or same lines when comparing source. In other words it is a professional level tool.

For HTML, it is an excellent tool that includes a spell checker you can set to ignore HTML tags so that only the text is spell checked. When I hover the mouse over a color code, a small pop up appears showing me the color. The find mate works to find the end tag or starting tag in a pair.

Boxer also has some handy tools that save time, the HTML color, ANSI and OEM charts as well as a calculator, and a calendar. It comes with quite a few user macros and you can download more from the site to use as is or study to make your own. You can set up projects or just work on individual code. There is a an evaluation of 30 days available. I bought a copy after playing with it for a month, 30 days was not enough time to complete what I was working on, and I liked it well enough I wanted to continue using it.

Drawbacks and Issues
For the most part it is a nice little package. However every once in a while if I am working on a project it starts to hog the ram and fight over memory addresses. It has caused the Vista machine to lock up if I am running a telnet client or winscp or other ftp software on the WiFi router. Sometimes the text for linked documents or projects will show up in a hover type alt text and not go away. This last can be annoying. And like any tool that has autotext it can come up with some very odd fill ins. I usually keep that turned off. Lastly it is not 100% accessible on all features. Ken could not use the find mate for parenthesis and such. But he did use it almost exclusively on his windows machine.

The only issue I have with it for HTML editing is if I am editing a document and adding tags to an existing site (like a div for a new CSS class) it adds the end tag automatically. so if I want to change a section it looks like this div /div stuff I want in the div. I then have to go back and delete the end tag and put it where I really want it.

Making a simple "find this text in this situation and change to title case" is kludgy when making a macro. Something a word processor or pure text editor does easily. A lot of the pure text manipulation is not intuitive and you wind up writing a macro in the C-like language. While it is powerful I do not recommend this for say a blogger or an article writer.

Overall
The drawbacks are minor though and truth be told I tend to push my ram a lot. If I could just find the conflict with winscp I would be elated. But I suspect it is something unique to my Vista machine and over all I highly recommend this product for any developer. At $59.99 it well worth it. It is available for both 32 and 64 bit. It is great for a consultant or even for a consulting company due to the small size and the fact it leaves no traces on the client machine when used from a USB drive. I actually cannot say enough good about this product. Just go down load the 30 day trial and see for yourself. But be ready to be impressed.

Wordpress

2011-05-21T02:51:00.000-07:00

Today I made a blog over at WordPress. I had to to walk someone through adding tags and categories to a blog for crawlers to find. Let me just say this about that I am not impressed.

First if you are low vision or have problems seeing the screen, the default layout I was assigned was awful. Light gray on white does not do it. So Of course I go looking for a high contrast theme to make my life a little easier. Some are really nice but the default picture has nothing to do with what I blog about or even is anything I would want to have on my blog. I see one I like, I preview it and an then I see it is 75.00 to implement. I think not.

So I try to go back of course the back button does not work, I see a second tab opened in Opera click on that and am brought back to my dashboard - sigh so I have to load the themes again. I notice an Edit CSS option and get excited. Cool I can just add my own! I click on it and start reading expecting the usual no .js no scripts agreement stuff to ensure I am not trapping readers. Here is what it basically says :

If you are familiar with CSS or you have a stylesheet ready to paste, you may delete these comments and get started. Great! I think, and settle back to read what I can and cannot do. There are 2 check boxes one says to add to this style sheet, the other says to start blank - Better! Ok maybe this is not so bad oh wait..

You can not edit the stylesheets of your theme. Your stylesheet will be loaded after the theme stylesheets, which means that your rules can take precedence and override the theme CSS rules. The Sandbox theme is recommended for those who would prefer to start from scratch. There is a bunch of what they encourage and a bunch of what they will strip out, only one that I question is unsafe code - I think I know what they mean, but what if they decide a scroller is unsafe code. But oh well this is just a test right? But if I like it maybe I will move the gaming blog over there, or set up Sunflower's stuff. So I click the box to create my own CSS from scratch, I figure I have to use the divs and the classes they define anyway so having a default to work from is not such a bad thing. I hit the start from scratch and just use this and preview to see what is what in the page. At the top of the preview is this little notification. you must purchase the Custom CSS Upgrade to save your changes. So, let me get this straight, I do the work and you want me to share it with the community and I have to pay to do it ? I think not.

Now I have decided not to move the blog, but maybe I will use it as another blog site in case I ever want to separate the game stuff from the gamer stuff. So I browse some of the other options. Akismet - all the description says is Askismet. Now if you are a blogger already you probably know this is anti-spam API But if you are not it might be nice if they explained that and HOW it works. (It does the best it can, so I am not bashing it, it just is not perfect and people need to know that.)

They have some interesting choices like box.net and Akismet. Neither of these are free tools under normal circumstances and the fact the provide them as widgets and seemingly at no cost is nice. But the box.net security seems to be undermined somewhat by allowing any blog reader to download files. Most of the widget choices are nothing that great or fancy or indeed even unique, most reputable blog sites - even this one provide similar services.

There are whole lot of other tools for making the blog look spiffy, display well on mobile media, hell even making it look like a webpage, but I am not impressed with actual content editing. I see why so many Wordpress blogs have serious typos in them. They do not make it easy to edit your words, your text or even your tags and categories. Which is why I went there in the first place. Because my inexperienced client could not intuitively figure out how to do it. So I ask anyone reading this who uses Wordpress, Why do you?

CSS, W3, and accessabilty

2011-05-20T00:42:00.000-07:00

I have been working on redesigning a web site. It needs to be brought up to more modern standards. It needs to be accessible and most of all it needs to impart the information that it is meant to in a way the users can find it. This should not be difficult. EXCEPT it is.

This is my first real venture into the world of CSS and accessibility, you see a large percentage of our users are visually impaired. Some are low vision, this means that the test must be in a font that is readable and contrast must be good. Some use speech clients that means alt text must be there, no server side java script and of course no music. Also table can be a pain as can frames.

But the definition of accessibility does not stop there. It includes people with slower or older browsers. Odd browsers, text only browsers and hearing impaired. So basically to make a truly accessible page, it should not run flash or any of the fancy stuff. Which is no big deal, right? Yeah about that.

So I go off to gather some templates to look at and learn from. EXCEPT a year ago when something was marked as an accessible CSS it was. Now a lot of it is marked so but uses .js server side to make the hover work properly. Use flash as a graphic display device or use jquery which is really just another form of .js to some speech clients.

I found a few with none of the above and started studying them. I loaded first in Opera 11.01 but Opera upgraded so loaded in 11.10 they load differently spans and alt text sometimes overlap other text, I get a lot of extra space on the left side. In Firefox, they display differently, in Chrome they look ok on the one version I have. In Internet Explorer the hover does not work quite right it is out of alignment. So the solution of a year or so ago is no longer a solution. We must again test and build with conditions for every conceivable browser and instance. When will they stop making the internet unaccessible through developing products that do not respond to the most basic html?

Sony, hackers and identity security

2011-05-19T23:00:00.000-07:00

I have avoided writing about the whole Sony debaucle, perhaps I will one day, but if nothing else it should have taught companies and consumers that data needs to be secure. As a consumer I do not want my info out there. If I am using the internet there is no reason for anyone to need my phone number unless i buying something with a credit card. Yet Google is still asking for phone numbers on accounts as can be seen on Geekwoman's blogs here and a solution for it here.

Now please look at this one by me. That is what can happen if your cellphone number gets in 'the wild'. Yep, a cellphone number can be used like a credit card in a way. So let's just get it straight. We are responsible for our identity security. One way to keep things secure is to not share them on the internet where anyone can read them. Assurances that my information is secure is not enough, it will not be Google that has to pay my cellphone bill when some hacker breaks in, gets it and sets up a skim account in another stolen identity name. It will not be Google that has to cancel all checking, credit cards and other things because their name and information is being used to apply for credit limits that are skipped out on and it will not them whose reputation is trashed. Do not try the "oh, we will never be hacked." routine either it has happened before and I have every reason to believe it will happen again sometime in the future.

So please, anyone and everyone who reads my blatherings. Start telling these companies they do not need that information. Email their tech support and customer service telling them you do not feel secure giving it. Even if they are secure and you are ask them how they protect against man in the middle attacks? Against hacking? is their database encrypted? What type of encryption? and most of all WHY do they need that information? I am sorry guys I do not want to be tracked, marketed to or even categorized.

First it seems people who think they know what is going on are telling me now what i must do and be interested in. I do not play WoW stop trying to market MMOs that are WoW-like to me. I do not have an Xbox - stop trying to sell me games for one. It seems that you all think if I type a word I must be needing to buy something for it. Well here is a word for you PRIVACY. I want that and I want to keep it and for me the easiest way to ensure that it is preserved is to just not tell anyone anything I do not want them to know.

Resumes - Why bother to Read Them

2010-09-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

Recently my partner of almost 30 years lost his position. Well. let's be fair he was told to tender his resignation effective several month later or be let go immediately. He took the deal and hoped. It was a no go they were cutting budgets and he was a casualty.

So, he started to look for a job. He registered with the state employment agency. They send jobs that they think are a match based on his skill set. His skill set when it comes to computers includes MS Office and his level is what we used to call unsophisticated user. Yeah I know, don't ask - but then again what I know about music might fill a thimble.

So he gets the list of suggested jobs for him in his mailbox. Java Developer, Software design and my personal favorite Hardware tech support. Now 2 of these I am qualified for albeit marginally. Yet do I receive these in my searches? No.
I have to ask on what are they matching and WHERE'S MINE?

RU Botted? Dunno RU Working?

2010-07-24T20:58:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I logged into TrendMicro for my weekly Housecall run. I noticed a Beta Utility call RU Botted. The copy pointed out the possibility of your machine being used as a server of files or in DOS without your knowledge. Ok, so it is feeding into the present paranoia of users on virri and worms, but it is also not a bad idea to check. Many virus checkers do not check for bots so I decided to DL this and give it a try.

Download and setup - Quick and painless as was the installation. Great job! Am not enamored of it setting itself to run at startup, but I can change that. It would be nice to have a when "connected to the internet" option though, because I still turn the modem and router off and work offline. But it is beta and free so I am not complaining.

Function
This seems to be a daemon. It does not seem to interfere often or eat too much ram (488K according to system). It is very quietly idling in the background until it detects bot like activity. Then it logs it and pops up a screen informing the user that activity has been detected, do you want to go to TrendMicro's site, run Housecall and check it? Now is when I had a few issues. It took me to Housecall, asked me if I want to dl it etc. Then the launcher failed when I trird to run it. So I turned OFF RU Botted, closed the browser. At this time I noticed there was a separate window open for Netflix. I muttered about damn marketeers. closed that, opened the browser (Firefox, Trend like most companies refuse to admit Opera and Chrome even exist.) Downloaded the file, install and voila, it worked!

I picked up a book to read. Housecall finished quickly and returned a there is nothing message. Odd. I checked the log. It had an entry of a DNS inquiry to a malicious site. How.. informative. From where, what site and what called it? I shrugged it off, decided maybe it was a probe, but firewall did not go off.

I go on my merry way, except next day when I fire up machine it gives me the same message. I think this was because there is still something in the log. I opened the log and sure enough two entries said "Detected DNS query of malicious domain." No further information. I would like to know what domain, what app made the call perhaps even what port. I checked my firewall logs. No outgoing. and as a matter of fact nothing at the exact time logged. That sort of makes sense. If the firewall had caught it it would have stopped it and RU Botted MAY not have gotten a chance to spot it.

Then I got another. Same error, different site, then another from my own site. Then another. I look, sure enough Netflix is open again in most cases.

Overall
At this point I have no clue if the app is working or not. I will be installing a different bot watcher and putting it through its paces. In the meantime, anyone know anything about this? If you are interested in trying it be my guest, but there is presently no way to tell if it is working, and honestly - until they get the bugs out I would not recommend it at all.

Earthlink: End of an Era?

2009-03-07T01:00:00.000-08:00

Last night I could not connect to the internet. My daughter had been on earlier, the wind was up so I suspected a server outage or lines down. I tried a few things, nothing worked. So I called tech support at Earthlink. Now let me state here, that I have been a customer of this company for over a decade. I used to LOVE them. Now I like them, well better than my alternatives, but they have become like all the ones I avoided in the past, about getting it done and doing more not about customer service.

I called, I get the voice response sftw call router asking me what sort of connection I use. I answer. It offers me the option of trying the self help route or a techie. I try the self help route after 3 more questions it puts me in queue for a tech (THAT was a waste of time). So I settle back to music on hold. I keep getting the adverts to check my trouble online at their troubleshooting site. If I could access the stupid site I would not be calling. GET THIS THROUGH YOUR HEADS! If you are in a technology industry and people are using an alternate tech to contact you for support, it is probably because it is not working!

So that starts annoying so the poor techie has a customer that is not pleased by the time she gets to me. (not very long btw MAYBE 10 minutes so they get good points for that). First let me say the technical support person, Julie was not awful or stupid or any of the horror stories one hears, but she was obviously following a script or a decision flow based on the problem type. I am afraid I am a troublesome customer. here is how it went.

She asks me what the problem is. I tell her I cannot connect and it was working maybe 6 hours previous. Did she know of any server outages in my area? She looked and said nothing had been reported so let's check my side. First we do is it plugged in and are the lights on stuff. I checked before I called, but yeah any techie should check that first.

Ok. Next she says Open I.E. (FIRST MISTAKE One should ask the customer how they connect. as it so happens I do not use a browser to connect) I tell her I do not use I.E. (yes I have suspicion of what she wants to try). She says oh what do you use? I tell her Opera, but the browser is not the issue, I connect using a network connection profile I set up. She puts me on hold again and comes back with we can check your Opera instead. By this point I have I.E up.

We try the connect to the ip addy routine with a new default connection. My firewall is going nuts so I have to keep telling it ok. I mention this. No response (SECOND ALWAYS ASK ABOUT FIREWALLS, what if it was in lockdown mode or gaming deny mode?) No luck so she has me clear cache. (Not needed since I stated I do not use that to connect so the cache cannot be the issue.) We clear all history then try again, no luck.

So now she wants me to delete all network connection profiles. So I delete the one I just made, the others stay. It took me a while to tweak em and if the plain vanilla doesn't work it isn't the connections. So we try several more things through the browser including changing my master account password from a high security password that I use to a no security one. I was not happy with that and was less so later on.

FINALLY we get to trying a ping from the command prompt. YEAH! The modem works (I knew that) The diagnostics show nothing is wrong on my side and the phone line works because I am calling from it. It is now perhaps 45 min to an hour later. She says she will call back in about 10 min . I load up a game nada 2 hours later, so I turn all off and go to bed.

This morning same thing, no connectivity. So I call back. The call routing sftw recognizes I called about connectivity last night and asks if I am calling about the same issue. I answer yes assuming (incorrectly it seems) that that will bring up a call number that the techie can access. Now I get William. Now unlike Julie, William does not hear so well. First he asks what the problem is. (hmm no call record on his side?) So I tell him I cannot connect to the internet. Because NOW I have stuff to do that I did not get done the night before I am not in the mood to humor anyone. So when he says You cannot browse the internet? I correct him.
No, I cannot connect at all. I am not looking to browse I am looking to get online, open winscp and ftp some files to the test box. I am not using a browser I am trying to merely connect. (I am not a morning person btw)

He starts to walk me through the open i.e routine. I sigh, open it and of course nothing (I have to sign in don't I?) I am still trying to get the network to go through while I am talking, suddenly it goes through then disconns. Hmm I mention it to him. He says really? He sounds surprised, mainly because we have not really done anything. I try again it goes through, I open winscp and connect to the test box. It's back. I thank him and tell him it is up now.

NOW I still suspect it was a hardware issue on Earthlink's side and they did not bother to tell their tech support. It MIGHT have been an AT&T or Sprint issue with lines, but again, either Earthlink did not know about it or they did and did not inform their techies. The reason I suspect this is a third party group is that in the past when I have called, they have checked the record, recognized that I have been a customer for a long time and I might have a clue about how to use the service. Neither William nor Julie seemed to have this information. Nor did they have the O/S info that should be on my account information based on my purchases. Last walking through a tech support decision flow is all well and good but most people who support their own company's products can listen to the caller, ask a few questions and have a good idea where to start, you can always back track to the flow if you know exactly how your supported product works.

So It seems this is the end of the era of Earthlink being a GREAT ISP and it has now slipped to a good one. But hey it is still better than Verizon. But then again Sneaker net is too.

IT Professionals and Literacy

2008-10-02T19:33:00.000-07:00

.. or lack thereof. "What!?" say you. Well I hope this is the case rather than what my suspicions lead me to believe. But I get ahead of myself.

I was recently on a game. Now I have played this game for years and have used the same client software for years. (ZMud if anyone cares.) So while playing another person mentions they are rebuilding all of their macros, scripts, etc in ZMUD due to a hard disk failure. He is having a problem with a math function so I go to the creator's site to peruse the forums as I KNOW I have seen a similar little app there. (It just calculates number of enemies killed experience gained and averages.) When i connect to the forums my pages starts to "roll". It perpetually refreshes. I mutter about the damn Opera update and fire up Firefox - Same thing. Hmm So I fire up the old I.E. Old in that it is NOT updated. Page loads fine. I report it in the forums and go on my way.

Next day I check to see if they have any idea what it could be (I did check the obvious as well as run an internet search on similar problems. I may have an idea, but so far this is the ONLY forum where I have seen this behavior and I would LOVE to know what changed there so I can figure out what is fighting with what.) I see a reply from another user and it says HIS version of Firefox runs fine and so it must be something with my machine did I check for viruses, etc. I reply to the condescending tone of the post with yes, it used to work and has stopped so I thought just perhaps someone might be interested in the issue as it may affect readership. Went on to explain it is a known issue with Forefox and Skype (which I do not use), but was also occurring in OPERA and seems to only work with an out of date I.E. I have not gone back to check further responses yet because now we get to what REALLY leads me to hope that it is a lack of literacy on the part of IT professionals.

Dh has been complaining his account loads slowly and his internet browsing is slow. I watched him the other day. It does seem slower than either my daughters' or mine. I look at start up, devices, etc. I notice under adapters there is one, 6TO4, that is not loading and there are MANY instances of the driver attempting to do so. So, what is this adapter and why is it not working? I punch in a search for it and find many forums with posts addressing this. I pick a techie helping techie forum and settle in to read.

A person who is a database person posts the exact issue with his laptop with Vista Home Premium. He is hoping a network guy will tell him if what he thinks (that he can safely disable this) is true. He mentions that he has followed the usual track of checking it, searching the driver, searching the MS site, checking for upgrades, etc. Sounds like what I am looking for.

There are 5 answers to his issue. 3 of them tell him to download and upgrade the most recent version from his laptop manufacturer. One tells him to check for ad ware and viruses. The last one points him to an article on the MS support site that states it is a component put in place for enterprises going from a v4 protocol to a v6 protocol as a stop gap and that most people are safe disabling the device. (What do you know a meaningful name from Microsoft I am impressed!)

I hope that the first 4 'professionals' have problems reading for it seemed to me the user with the issue stated he had attempted those actions. I hope they were not just posting something so that they could have their name out there and add to their branding. Because if that is the case they did more harm than good. They have proven what users have said about techies is true. They never listen, they never believe you and they are useless.

I expect a bit of condescension on a gaming forum. After all most people on those are NOT professionals, or if they are they are they are not required to behave as such. (the owner is always polite btw and I recommend ZMUD and CMUD) But on a forum where all members are thought to be in the same field although with different areas of expertise, I would never expect people to rush to get a message up so they can raise their activity level on the forum, or so that they can get a thrill in seeing their name on a technical forum. I would hope they are professionals. So I suggest HR departments start enrolling their IT staff in literacy programs. It seems they need it.

Bots and annoyances - How to fight back

2008-09-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

We have all had them, bots or even live people who we do not know that decide to contact us while we are online on an IM. IM is a wonderful thing, too bad these bots are about to ruin it.

Lately I have begun fighting back. But merely reporting a username based on a "hi are u there?" message is not enough to go on for an abuse report. So, since i trust my firewalls and AV's I have begun answering them, logging them, and reporting. I advise everyone to do the same. Why you ask it won't stop them..

No it will not. But it may make the IM makers plug the issues that allow people to run these bots. If you are a bot maker reading this TFB. Bots do have their uses but it has hit the point where people who can barely turn on a machine can download a bot to annoy people trying to get work done.

Here is the anatomy of bot IM

Without fail they all have screennames like marvinvalenciagndhs. They begin with any1 there?. If they get a response even an auto one they respond with something Like Hi how u doing. Next response is "It's Ashley" or Alissa Or some female name usually starting with A and having 2 syllables. Now why Ashley is writing from Marvin's account is suspicious enough.

Now the variations start some will tell you they know you and try to get you to connect to a website to view their pics or hot webcam action with their roommate or whatever.

Some will say "you don't know me I got your name from Ashley" then proceed to tell you some sob story about how their boyfriend dumped them or their husband is always out of town and they want to meet up and party with you but they need to know you are ok first.

Either way, an attempt will be made to get you to connect to a website. I HOPE everyone knows better. It is most likely a phishing site or an infected page. Even if it IS a webcam of 2 hot chicks, why would they contact you if they did not want money in some way shape or form and you can rent a porn dvd for the price they will charge. So I will assume that you have not connected to www.hotchicksonawebcam.com and continue

Some will send a link to get off their list. Guess what.. Yep don't buy it. But at this point you have enough to report. So now it is time to hit the ignore button and go to Yahoo, GMail, MSN, ICQ or whoever to report.

FIRST make sure you save a copy of the log file. attach it or copy and past it into your complaint. Next include your real (or business's) name and the IM screenname you were using at the time of the spam. Tell them up front you are tired of this time waster and will reporting EVERY SINGLE ONE in the future. Follow through with that threat. I am betting that it will take only about 5% of the users reporting every single one to effect a change.

Now how do i know these are bots? well most people when someone replies to an "are u there" with "fuck off bitch" will either be insulted or go into a lot of explanation of who they are and how they know you. And they will find either it is a case of mistaken identity (I have done that myself) and apologize for bugging you or they will be someone you know and you will apologize. Real people do not go on to post websites to an IM until they are certain they know the person they are to whom they are typing.

Of course if you are a decent bot writer yourself, you can always set a bot to catch a bot, the only risky thing in that is that some of these bots are actually set to try and hijack your account when you are not online to send their URL all over through your contacts list. So I would advise against unattended bot baiting.

Let's get rid of these so we can go back to using IM for work and fun with our friends.

The I in IT

2008-09-05T16:00:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time the IT department was kept in the basement and thrown bones every so often. The rest of the company never understood them and that was fine with everyone. We were let out of our cages to go fix stuff. We were faceless, nameless (as one manager said were were the Shadow Ninjas we fixed stuff and you rarely saw us do it.)

Somewhere along the line all that changed. It was sometime in the 90's. Probably about the time Windoze 95 was released. Suddenly we were adored, worshipped and fawned over. Salaries went skyrocketing and people began to flock to the field.

Then it started happening - branding, image, marketing yourself as an IT professional. It was no longer enough to do your job and do it well, you had to be known; in some cases being known counted for more than knowing your job. Then the bottom fell out of the market for IT professionals. Why is that do you think? Well some maintain we did it to ourselves to some extent and that the nails were driven in by those who are impressed by the look not the knowledge. Egos have ballooned and more and more we see sites, blogs and information that are written by people who bow down to the almighty *I*.

First, let's look at the boom in IT. In the late 90's IT was the place to be. Consulting companies like the now defunct EDS (bought out by HP in July) had strict requirements to be a programmer with the title Software Engineer or Systems Analyst. But almost none to be a Business Analyst, even though in many client locations they performed the same or very similar tasks. Usually a BA cost less than an SA though the client.

Now like most companies, each job title had a level and each level a salary cap. Let us say an employee was a BA level 1. That would mean they had a salary cap of say 30K. So, for a raise you had to be promoted by a manager to a BA level 2 and then you could code pound merrily until your salary broke say 45K. Only thing was a BA level 3 was a manager type. Many code pounders do not want to be a manager and deal with HR things, so as an employee under them approached the next cap; good managers would sound them out and mentor them as to their next step in the company, bad ones forced techies into management. Most of them left the company because they hated being a people person.

The hybrids went to SA boot camp. Most of us never wanted to be more than a Project Manager or Team Lead. A full class at the beginning was around 30. Usually that whittled down to about 20 by the end. The thing was over half the class was frequently comprised of people from the marketing side of the company. When asked why they wanted to become coders, most answered, "Because I can make a lot of money."

That *I* should have been the first red flag to the industry, the answer was not because technology was cool, or users needed friendlier apps, or companies need better systems that are secure or that tools could be more efficient. It was about the person. Unfortunately, that has carried over into the present day. More next time.

The difference between Doze and Nix Users

2008-08-29T02:36:00.000-07:00

Company is gone, kid is back in school and I am faced with a dilemma: Ubunti, Solaris or Fedora? you see I am sitting here surrounded by machines. If you have read previous blogs you know at least one is parts only now, however. There is this little Pentium - one of the first coprocessors. It is a machine that was proprietary, it is an AST. Yep they are gone, but the machine is still running.

It was great box in the heyday of machines, now about all one can say is it still runs. And it does. So I decided to give it a new lease on life by reformatting it with a *nix, except which one? So I went asking people who use *Nix variations. I heard good things about them all. Then it hit me.

When a new feature comes out in a *nix product all the users get excited even if it is not on a product they use presently. I heard about Fedora from people who run Suze, Ubunti from Fedora users, Suze from a Ubunti user, and Solaris - well I have a soft spot for Sun.

When a new feature or even a new operating system comes out for windows users and administrators alike seem to approach with caution and trepidation.

Microsoft are you listening? People look forward to new products from those others because they work. Because they help them do their job better. Their job is to run IT so the users can do their job better. Not so they can spend days even months working out how to get an app to run.

Talk about Timing..

2008-08-27T19:37:00.000-07:00

I just finished filling out an application online for an editor's position, when I started going through my mailbox and looking at the news letters. that is when I ran across this little gem.

Who Lies More On Resumes?

That started me thinking back to when I had a say in the hiring process and worked as a headhunter. I hit many who claimed to have skill sets they did not. Some had no knowledge of the software packages and languages they claimed to, others and far more common, claimed to have levels of expertise they did not.

Perhaps that is where I have gone wrong all this time. Maybe it is not that I am over the magical number of 40, maybe it is not that I made too much for one end of my industry and not enough for the other, maybe it is because I refuse to lie on my resume and to headhunters about what I can and cannot do. And here I was a member of two of the industries that lie the most about it. Hospitality/Travel and IT.

I have spoken to people who have claimed to support packages that never existed. To people who claim to be SQL experts and cannot even tell me how to delete a group of records based on one criterion. I have worked with people who have no clue about emulation and connectivity packages that are considered the industry standard. Yet all of them on their resumes claimed to be experts.

But the other side of this equation, the ones that make the applicants feel secure in lying is the companies themselves. You see back in the stone age, when I was a headhunter for IT and Telecommunications, we talked to the head of the IT dept for our job specs. We spoke to the decision maker. He (rarely in those days were women in the head IT positions) understood that we perhaps did not know everything there was to know about the technology, especially if it was an emerging one.

One of my most memorable contacts with a headhunter was one who was convinced I knew C++. Now I have done some work in ANSI C way back and I continue to code some for a game in an ANSI C based language. Some things are common still, pointers, includes, objects, containers. BUT the OO aspect of the language makes programming much different. (I have done some OOP with application languages such as PAL, DBA, etc, but mainframes tend to like structured.) Well this headhunter was desperate (he must have been) My first statement was - I am not looking to move - and my second was - C++? nope. Yes, my resume has C on it - ANSI C.

He would not take no for an answer. He wanted to know how many objects I had created. How many containers, About pointers I had used. Obviously he was reading off a list of questions. Finally I got through to him that I was not what he was looking for. That to me a container a pointer and a string are all objects. His complete confusion at the terminology told me he did not know programming.

But I wonder how many people gave him answers and he presented them. And I wonder how many of them wasted the hiring professional, the IT manager and who knows who else's time before a person in the enterprise who knows C++ pointed out the skill set was not what they wanted. I learn pretty fast. I do have background in a lot of languages, life cycles, case tools, environments and applications. There are only a handful that I would claim to know well though, even though I have collected many pieces of paper over the years that says I can follow along in a training course.

I know database design, ETL, BI tools, reporting tools. I can make your data turn flips through hoops. I will not lie on a report, but I can usually make it show what you want. BUT I have to know the data and the industry. I will never claim to know understand or know the insurance industry. I worked in human resources, travel, publishing, music and in retail - with a smattering of wholesale. I know marketing, SLCs. testing and measurement standards. I know Unit and system testing and many other aspects of both IT and the industries in which I have worked. Some of those skills are cross industry and platform, some are not. But the two skills it seems I lack is bragging about knowing my job as if it is something extraordinary and lying on my resume. Anyone know where I can get certification in those skills?

It has been a while

2008-05-28T19:48:00.000-07:00

I still live, I have many things to go off on. (Like WHY does disk defragger keep wanting internet access? Sorry am NOT gonna let my machine function as the defragger for the world wide web.) ANd much else. However am actually geeking out and working on zones for Valhalla Mud (yes a shameless plug - GO there NOW!) After i get these up and debugged and don't crash the game (I hope) Will be back in cranky mode.

In the meantime, got here and enjoy this man's webcomic. Pancakes is my spiritual guide.

The Secret of Mana Theater

The Vista Rebellion

2008-02-22T21:37:00.000-08:00

"Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista is an important update for Windows Vista. Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) contains many security, reliability, and feature updates for Windows Vista. A program may experience a loss of functionality after you install Windows Vista SP1. However, most programs will continue to work as expected after you ..."

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It seems that Microsoft hasn't "gotten" it yet. There is a rebellion taking place and they are missing it. You see many users and developers hate Vista. Ok, maybe it is not so much Vista as the way in which Microsoft Corp seems to be railroading us into using it. Except they seem to have backed off that a bit.

I use a lot of utilities, freeware and shareware. I believe in supporting those who make a good tool or a neat gizmo. Vista has been out for over a year. Yet, a lot of both commercial and shareware apps do not support it. Why? Because we have finally had enough of being told what we MUST do.

I hit my first instance of that way back when helped develop proprietary software. We had hired a consulting firm to help us with a 'quick start' on an app we had to port over to Windows 95, The were a Microsoft Solutions provider so guess what they suggested we use? Yep a Microsoft product. It was a database app so they suggested Access. Except... When we attempted to recreate a lot of the queries we had built in Paradox for DOS we got a "query is too complex" Message.

Fine for use we knew how to work around it but for users who needed to create different reports, we needed an easy solution. We mentioned this to the Consultants who said, "They will have to deal with it." My answer was "no, they do not they can buy another company's product and services." For years, it seemed the companies, end users and even developers did not believe this. Finally the last straw seems to have been reached. The high-handed way in which Microsoft decided everything must be Vista started the rebellion. People refused to buy it. Developers refuse to develop for it. Microsoft seems to have relented a little.

Now the service pack. Guess what every one of those companies listed have put forth the effort to build a product that works on Vista or did in some way prior to the service pack. They spent money on developers' salaries, testing, hardware and software. Now they will not work. Zone Labs already has their fix out as does Trend Micro, but at what cost? And what happens when SP2 is realeased?

The companies who are listed above at least put forth the effort to create a package that works with Vista. Now Microsoft in their usual high-handed manner lists them as not working on the fixed O/S and says contact them for more information. It doesn't care if your preferred firewall doesn't work, if your emergency virus removal doesn't work. Why? Because they are Microsoft. Never mind that the consumer of THEIR product probably put out money for the packages.

Like it or not, there is a recession on. That means people do not have that extra money to spend. That means the next O/S upgrade that costs consumers up front and has hidden costs such as this will refuse to buy. Get the message Microsoft - We do not HAVE to there is always *nix and OS 10.

February Blahs

2008-02-19T23:48:00.001-08:00

February is a dreary month. So I like to forget it exists and drown myself in geek like activities. This year - so far it has been nothing but one disappointment after another.

Zone Alarm - I used to love this firewall. It was great. Now I question it. I have had no intrusion attempts since installing it. At least according to it. I used to have pages on my 98 machine. I have not chaged internet providers, I have not changed my browsing habits, much. So suddenly going to Vista and the new version made all those SQL Server worms leave my ISP alone? I MIGHT believe it IFF every time it asks for permission for a file to access the internet it did not come back with no info in the knowledgebase about these files. Many have been in the system since XP. I fear Zone Labs may be losing their edge, I hate to see that.

Firefox - Yes it is one of the most popular browsers. Yes I have it and use it. But since it is becoming more and more popular, it is losing it's edge imho. It now takes longer than Opera (with multiple tabs) to load. Its interface looks a lot like Opera. (althought I may have Opera to blame for that, too) But now sites that look best in Firefox no longer look good in Opera. Opera hasn't changed. Sigh. So Firefox has bought into the heavy overheads to make it more user friendly. Also, it seems it is very forgiving of HTML errors to the coder. The reason I have Firefox is a convention I wish to attend this year could only do online registration if we had Firefox. The forms did not even work in the virus breeder known as I.E. Bad show on the part of the developer, but still one wonders why they would not work in ANY other browser? Trying to become Microsoft, guys?

Opera - Yes, it is still my main browser. The reasons? First it is not very popular, that means the hackers have not found security holes in it or do not bother to exploit them. But the developers seem to have a severe case of Firefox envy. Go back to making a fast loading, efficient browser that is W3 compliant. That is all I ask guys.

Gaming companies - EVERYTHING is online, yet nothing seems to be compatable with anything else. And why can't someone make or include a basic translator built into the gaming interface online. I would love to have more friends in Europe, but my French is borderline, My Italian is awful and forget my German. It would be nice to coordinate. More on that here.

ISPs - All seem to assume that we have access to high speed lines. I do not. Well I may, but it seems AT&T themselves are not certain. At&T decided to charge more for dial up than for DSL. You can read about it here. Good thing I use Earthlink.

Panda Security - Another company I loved. Great scanner, online capability. BUT their site still links to a scanner that does not support Vista. Guys, the OS has been out for over a year. Get with it! Trend has been supporting it since May of last year at least. Oh yeah and NONE of em support Opera, but at least most now support Firefox.

And last but certainly not least:

MICROSOFT - First I want to know what is in each update, so I can decide if I need it. The user friendly update check just lists updates, one has to go difgging to find out, How ard would it be to put a little sentence or two. Like, fixes a home networking issue. Security issues in OS fixed. I mean they'll all be in the cume anyway. But at least let me save a little time? Then there is the latest udate to I.E. Ok sometimes I still need it to check a site. So I admit I keep it updated. Well I did until recently. Update failed. It happens. So I check details. I get the usual helpful Microsoft Information - Error details: Code 800719E4. So I hit the site and go looking. DO you know running a search for that error code returned the result that the code was not found ANYWHERE on the site? The get help, link next to the code listed a few obvious options but nothing with information about that code.

What's new. Did I really expect Microsoft to make it easy for me to find how to fix my own machine? I am certain they would rather have me throw it away and buy all new from them again. It Ain't happening. Not even if I have to get an AS400 or an HP 9000 and load their proprietary O/S At least they give users of their operating systems a manul with a list of the error codes.

Maybe next month will be better. I doubt it, but I can hope.

Utilities, Tools and Widgets

2007-12-06T21:40:00.001-08:00

Let me start this out by saying I am an advocate for doing things the easy way. As I have said in the past I am lazy. Now that doe not mean I avoid doing work, it does mean I will spend hours even days setting something up so that I can perform a repetitious action in minimal time.

Actions like updating links, calculating and checking statistics, and most of all updating. So the idea of widgets, (called by some toolkits or utilities) has always appealed to me. Yes, those little apps or programs that make life easier. Here is a list of some I have tripped across, used and my opinions of them - so far.

Headline Animators - Like the one to the left for the OTHER blog. I like these little widgets. It is a slick fast way to promote a feed. They can be customized to fit in any website's theme.

RSS feeds - Kind of nice, but once you subscribe you get everything. If I post 20 things in one day about how the aliens are beaming messages to my crowns, and you are subscribed to me, you get them. But then, perhaps you read Andromedian and are interested in those intergalactic missives?

RSS Readers - Something about these remind me of the old echomail (now called usenet mainly) readers. I miss Blue Wave and kill files. I have just started playing with these. A kill file would be nice so I can filter out those blogs about the messages and pay attention to the ones about how to hack the starship that is approaching.

Trillian (and Miranda) - I love these types of apps. I hated having clients on different IM's and needing to load or unload one or another because the engines all fought with each other for supremacy. The only draw back to these is that they rarely get warning of changes in the messenger services. The last Yahoo change caused me to lose messages from people, the app would crash and I had a few system slowdowns. But you know these are worth sending the coders a donation or buying the commercial version. They are extremely useful.

Mihov image resizer - A perfect utility. It does just what the title says and little more. It resizes graphics. That means I do not have to load up Photoshop, load the graphic then play with it. I just load the resizer, enter the file name, it gives me the attributes and I tell it what I want and it resizes. It will also run some conversions like gif to jpg etc.

ID Serve - A quick DNS lookup tool from Gibson Research. I enter the URL or the IP and it goes out pings the machine and tells me what it can about the server. It defaults to port 80, but you can configure or request any port.

I continue to seek out new Widgets and will post here when I find them. I have yet to find a site builder that passes W3 compliance. (Yes that is my current quest) I like building websites, but it would be so much nicer if I could find a site builder that I like. One that gives me flexibility and lets me control what elements I wish and is W3 compliant.

Contributing to the digital divide

2007-12-02T20:51:00.000-08:00

Lately it seems to me that more and more companies are contributing to the digital divide with their practices. I may run a state of the art machine, but my connectivity is limited by what I can afford and is available in my area. In other words dial-up of the 56K variety. I have spoken to many online who are hampered by this same stumbling block due to their location. We have started compiling a list of sites that are starting to really annoy us. Here are some recent examples:

Gamespot - owned by Cnet
First every single page is graphics heavy, it takes anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes for a basic forum page to load. Yes you read that correctly a page that should be nothing more than text. Why is this? I am not 100% sure but I THINK it has to do with those annoying adverts.

Zone Labs -

Yep, the makers of Zone Alarm. What is their problem? Ok, so when i try a file transfer with Opera it may or may not complete. BUT according to their site, one should download with I.E. Why? because it seems that other browsers including Firefox may corrupt the download. BAD show Zone Labs. If you want me to replace my MS preferred firewall with yours, then let me do so with my non MS browser. I will have more to say about Zone Labs in my next Blog - unfortunately. They used to be one of my favorite companies.

Yahoo.com -
Sigh, their new look and upgrade now take forever to load. Trillian had to be patched because of all the new "features" causing system crashes. I am starting to really hate all IMs.

Microsoft - well no surprise there. I have a slow connection and must use the classic mail on MSN. OK I have no problem with that, except that takes forever too. More of the issue is the upgrade etc process. It has nit yet become online only. But it was a pain trying to upgrade online with this old slow machine not running I.E. Add to that they expect everyone to have a credit card. Think about that. What would you do if you had no credit card? Ahh there is paypal right? Yep, except MS doesn't take them. What about an e-check? Nope, they don't take that either. Ok a money wire? Nope. Credit card or nothing. When Word coverts a doc to HTML it does not conform to W3 compliance. A lot of online text editors start getting weird if you try to paste from it or enter the HTML it generates. It is NOT that hard guys. Quit trying to be the owner of the internet and let everyone read stuff.

High schools - I hate to say this, but U.S. and Canadian High schools are adding to the issue. Many now require their students deliver their papers via a website and in .doc or is some cases .pdf format. What does that mean to a student with no machine at home? Hours at the library typing, writing and sending a paper. Same as any other student you say? Not really. One with a computer at home can do so at any time and with no time restrictions except those imposed by their parents. . One with access to the library only must write and send a paper within the hours the Library is open. Oh and most libraries limit time that one may have a computer. For those that do buy a machine they have to then put out the money for the applications that produce the required formats or do as my daughter did for a week or so, spend twice as much time on the paper for pure formatting reasons. I thought the purpose of paper writing was the content not the software format and the students' knowledge of commercial packages?

Neopets - Yes, the kid's site. One must now run the latest flash versions, have a fast connection and who knows what else in order to perform many actions. It is a shame that kids whose parents cannot afford the latest in technology cannot play all the games. What a great message to send to our kids. You need all the expensive stuff in order to compete.

This is a tip of the iceberg. Almost nothing here is crucial to existence, yet. The phone company seems to be moving more and more in the online direction. Which I should point out annoys me no end, how can I get online to check my status when my lines are down? Computer companies in general assume you have online access As I discovered in the almost 2 months I did not after the 98 machine's ports died. Lucky for me CDW, Circuit City and Best buy are all up the road and the library down the road. Companies need to rethink their strategies. If they want to take part in the global economy, they have to take into consideration that a person in a city in South Africa (yes that is where one of the brain-stormers of this was) may not have Vista, a high speed connection, a color printer or a credit card. They should consider not everyone in the world speaks English. (As my French and Danish gaming friends have pointed out.) Remember not everyone can see the pretty pictures that are slowing the load down as my blind friend says (he hates being called visually impaired btw) Not everyone can hear the music that takes forever to buffer as my father points out. I am tired of waiting for Pdfs to load for one small piece of information about my daughter's school arrival times. And last, but not least stop making all the tutorials as videos. Just make it so people who need information can get to it. It's not that difficult.

Criticism is needed

2007-11-27T14:19:00.000-08:00

For those of you who do not know in a previous life I was a professional writer/editor. Ok, perhaps it was this life, but it was long time ago. I have to say that while I was not working in a top publishing house, nor was I writing the Great American Novel, we were professionals. As such we always looked to improve our writing. The same was true when I began coding, we looked to others to assist us in writing more efficient code. Perhaps the entire program design was beautiful, but we always looked for ways to improve speed.

About ten years ago I noticed a slight change among new coders. When a suggestion was made for efficiency’s sake, they argued. I do not mean they said, hmm I’ll think about it and keep the code as it was – we all did that if we thought someone was wrong. Or maybe we would test it off on the side quietly . If the suggestion was a significant improvement the app changed, if not no more would be said. But each coder took pride in their work and strove to produce the best they could. I mean the new coders would argue the point as if the person making the suggestion had not actually reviewed the code. (Code reviews were mandatory by the way) “But I HAVE to use a nested IF instead of a CASE here.” And twenty minutes later they would walk off either having decided the coder with 15 years experience was out to get them, had antiquated views or did not know anything about the new world of code, leaving the senior coder scratching his or her head and returning to their project. But as a boss once told me a great coder is like a racehorse and some have a bit of an ego. We would shrug and continue.

I now see this attitude permeate every aspect of work. It seems no one can take criticism or even suggestions for improvement. It was a sad day when this became apparent in the writing community. Yes,I still keep my hand in. I always have. I am a member of several writers’ groups. I edit for a few sites. I have written online doco for a few. I am sad to say that it has finally become the case that writers no longer seek constructive criticism. Rather they seek to be stroked told how great their piece is and perhaps have a couple of grammatical errors pointed out. I have been in groups where if someone suggests that a paragraph is unclear to them the writer argues rather than asks for further input or for suggestions f how to make it clearer.

It has become the norm to ridicule the critique and its writer rather than thank the person for taking the time to go through the piece and offer suggestions. Nothing says you HAVE take them. One site on which I am an editor offers an award for top sites. We have certain criteria we must check and once that is done it becomes a matter of personal opinion. A petitioner for the award failed some of the base criteria, which includes things like: onsite links must terminate to a page with relevent content, HTML must pass W3 compliance, music must be by request, etc. I informed him his site was not ready for an in depth critique and moved on. The idea is not to critique the contents of the site until the mechanics are completed. Being the best of the best means all code works, the site looks good, is accessable to everyone and contributes uniquely in some way to the RPG community. The site designer/owner argued that the minimum requirements for consideration were unfair. He wanted the prize with out the work. When it was pointed out to him some was merely HTML choices for basic formatting (non W3 compliance) He replied he was not a coder, just a designer. I curbed my tongue and did not state, "Then when you are good enough to try for the award do so otherwise do not waste my time." Sorry but the point of the award is that it is the best of the best overall. If you are not capable of making the site so, do not whine. Go learn how to do it and try.

Which brings me back to the old days in writing. I functioned as both an editor and writer. None of us felt we were writing a great novel. We wrote user manuals for commercial and proprietary software packages and accompanying training materials. Her is how it would work. The author would write a guide. A first level (copy) editor would go through the guide looking for obvious errors in grammar and ensure it complied with the house style.and A tech editor would run through the guide step by step, check the veracity of the information and perhaps catch some errors the copy editor missed. The manuscript would be marked up and sent back to the writer to make changes. The writer would make them or not.

The editors would go over the new manuscript when it arrived, test and make further suggestions and send it back. The writer would do what he or she wanted and send it back. IF an editor noticed a common error they might mention it to the writer: watch tense, avoid to be, use active voice. That was all part of the editor’s job. If a paragraph or more really needed a rewrite it would be noted. The manuscript was sent back again to the editors after changes were made. It was in the best interest of the writer to make the suggested changes. Why? Because the editors had the manuscript last. Many were the times I rewrote a manual that was wrong technically, too long (there are page limits set), or was just poorly written. We called that a heavy edit. Yes, the author’s name went on the work. And we usually never re-contracted with that writer again. Why? Because there are a lot of writers out there who are willing and able to comply with a house style.

What saddens me is the lack of desire by writers to improve their craft. I give some of my worst writing to those groups of which I am a member to critique. Why? Because I know the good stuff is good. I can work with that. It is the parts I need help with that I present. The portions I KNOW are not working. I have received 0 critiques. Why? I request specifically for people to pull them apart. Grammar, I do not worry about too much that is what grammar checkers are for. But tense, tone, action, am I clear? Have I missed stating something does the dialog seem contrived? Does the action seem contrived? Is too much time spent on something? Not enough? Does the piece convey the feeling I want it to through the language used? If I am lucky I will be told “I got confused here who had what.” Most of the time I get, “it’s good, you have a typo here and that’s it now onto the next piece.”

I know I am not that good. Is it that I am such bad writer that they cannot say anything about it to improve it other than throw it out? Is it that they are afraid they will hurt my feelings? I suspect it is more that they are afraid I will argue and take up too much time or that they want to get to their pieces as soon as possible to hear exactly the same “It’s good, maybe change the tense here, now on to the next piece.” It is sad people have lost interest in improvement and rather hear praise than suggestions. But then that would be why so many computer applications are released with bugs. It takes less time money and energy to write a patch than to argue with a Prima Dona.

Microsoft, Digital RIver and other Pains

2007-10-23T11:28:00.000-07:00

OK, so the trial version of Office is expired, my daughter needs a word processor, she is used to word. First let me say when the trial version expires, you cannot do anything except view documents. This seems to have affected my ability to print to file even in other applications. That annoys me.

So I suck it up and go off to the Microsoft site to "convert" my product. Digital River runs that side of it. I mutter and fuss and fill out the forms using my husband's credit card (No paypal accepted - that is also annoying, but I'll deal with it). I send off all the info and start checking my account for the confirmation e-mail, nothing. Now it IS Saturday, I mention it to my husband the next morning, He says yeah whenever he has ordered ANYTHING on a weekend it has not gone through till Monday. OK then.

Monday still nothing not even a hey we got the order. I send a note to customer service. Finally a flag is placed on the online invoice with a note there is a problem with the order. I start checking e-mail. Again nothing.

Today I finally get back a note that state the order was cancelled, most likely for one of the following reasons:

1 I cancelled it (I did not)
2. Digital River received no response from the verification e-mail (yeah well, it is difficult to respond to something one never receives)
3. My home address doesn't match the home address on the credit card. (Uh yeah it does at least according to everyone ELSE online including Amazon)

Did I mention that I used to work in data management, including credit card verification and telecheck verification? There are several types of software and some are more sophisticated than others. Some get weirded out if a word is not exactly the same (St. vs Street or even vs St) Some are more forgiving, either way all that do not match kick out a report with the offending record and it is easy to research this. You pull up the order and the on file address and check. Yeah it takes a literate human to do this. Probably all of about a 3rd grade reading level.
I am guessing that either Digital River or their 3rd party verification company is lacking employees with that specialized skill. Perhaps Microsoft should subsidize a literacy program for their suppliers? Just a thought. So, who knows a word processing app that will read and allow us to work with Word .docs? Seems I am in the market.

Progress!

2007-06-30T17:06:00.000-07:00

Vista is succumbing to my wiles! Yep I broke down and bought a 3.6 USB drive. Plugged her in, pulled the drivers onto a floppy and installed on the 98. Off she goes. So I start pulling data over.

Now for next thing I hate. The account I am using on Vista is a Admin equivelent account. I start by copying my files over. I run some tests, all looks good. Well, some minor annoyances, but hopefully I will figure them out. I suspect it is ME not Vista on those. POSSIBLY the application, but since app. was not meant for Vista or even for XP really, it's my problem to make it work.

I copy my daughter's school stuff over and go to drop it into her directory. I get the must confirm admin screen. That is annoying. Then i decide to break her stuff down by years, freshman, sophmore, etc. So I go to create the directories under her documents, it defaults to mine. I mutter a lot and force it to comply with my wishes. I move the files, I check one. Guess what? I can look at it but I cannot alter it. Now guess who shows as author? Yep, me - mainly because I type faster than she does and like most students she tends to wait until the night before an assignment is due to write it. So I go to change rights on the file and think hmm I wonder, Sure enough I do not have any but view rights to anything, so I check the directory, same. Odd I made the stupid thing, but no matter.

I reassign rights (just add myself as an all instead of as a view only) and tell it to apply to all child objects. It laughs and tells me it cannot because directory is in use. Well yeah kinda, is up in another window, but the OBJECTS are not in use. FINE. I pick a lower dir and reassign my rights. I click apply and yes and click through all the required if you started this message. EVERY SINGLE subdirectory and object within them returns a failure to reassign message. So I go in and look. They show they reassigned. I try to edit one. It laughs at me. So I sit there and reassign each object manually, clicking through. That works.

Uh Microsoft, let's talk about 2 things both apply to security. First I am signed in as and Admin equivelent. You know, that little click through of if you initiated this action is KINDA useless in many instances. Let's face it if I was dumb enough to leave the machine logged into a supervisor account, and some dishonest person came along and started doing stuff under my login you THINK they are going to be deterred by that? It is annoying.

Second. It's nice tht you are keeping me safe from documents that show to be authored by myself. Now I appreciate that perhaps WORD and the OS do not really communicate. I mean why not bring your business model into your software packages? (One day maybe I will bore y'all with old stories about beta testing MS stuff) BUT, i made the freaking directory, assigned rights and copied the files over. I STILL have to manually alter that with multiple click throughs for each document copied? There are times I miss Novell.

God Deliver us from Microsoft

2007-06-29T12:26:00.000-07:00

The old friend the 98 machine is very very sick. It started with a pulse through the phone lines that zapped the ports for my modem. LUCKILY it did not hit the CPU (I ran a soft modem on that machine for many reasons)

For those of you how do not know what that means here is a very basic explanation There are two ports for phone lines wired into the motherboard one in and one out. The modem is actually software, so they access the CPU. Now when you are online and doing other things it is SLOW, but if you are online and your machine is running minimal, the thread (part of CPU process) assigned to the modem can be pretty quick for dial up. It all depends on your CPU. BTW it sucks for gaming on MMPORGS, but there are nights when I have a clean connection I can outpace the DSL users with a clogged pipeline. (Cable always has me beat hands down though.)

So I was VERY happy that the CPU, motherboard and drives were undamaged - well until the repair dude from HELL got a hold of my machine, but that is for another Blog. So the upshot is no modem on the old machine. I have data files I need to get from the old machine to the new Vista machine. Now BITD (back in the day) all machines came with a floppy drive. No more. Both have CDRW, Actually the new one has a DVDWR but is supposed to read CDs. Repair guy from hell hosed my periphs on the 98 so I spend a night fixing them. Now have the 3.5 and both CDs work, the read only and the RW. Guess what? The Vista machine doesn't like CDs written from the 98, so no data xfer that way.

What about a null modem cord? Used to be you could null modem using a serial conn or if desperate do writes to the printer port to send via parallel. No problem since machines are right next to each other atm so no 30 foot (maybe it was 15 feet) limitation. Seems Vista only allows wireless networking between machines. Of course the 98 never heard of Vista, so off I go to read support forums both at Microsoft and from people who have a clue. Seems like only way to connect the two machines are through a wireless router or MAYBE USB to USB data xfer cables. Now the data xfer cables have a databridge on them , so a cable for just any old usb to usb type A (aka male plugs) will not do. Don't try this with your camera upload cord in other words.

I go pricing, they run from 10.00 to 50.00 most are USB 2.0 (98 is 1.0) some are 98 compat. Cool EXCEPT it is like the old PC anywhere or other old style master/slave machine setup (for those of you old enough to remember). Yep you have to install the software and drivers on both machines. ALL of the packages I found work with 98 OR with Vista, none work with both. Ok so back to sneakernet methods.

Flash drives! There we go flash or jump drives are slow, but SHOULD work. Guess what I need to down load a driver for 98. I do, I grab a CD I make sure it runs in the 98 machine, I go to burn the file onto the CD. DRIVE not ready. Hmm SO I grab a CD the VISTA machine likes. Burn and pop it in the first CD drive on the 98, nope. I pop it in the second, nope again.

So I have come to this conclusion. Microsoft does not want anyone to preserve their old data. Never mind it may be crucial to running their business, TOO bad. Unless you are willing to jump through hoops and perhaps pay through the nose. you are SOL. so thanks MS it really helps us small business owners.

Oh and my plans for the old friend? Unix, what else. At least I'll be able to copy data files.

Test Almost Over

2007-06-27T19:23:00.001-07:00

As some of you may or may not know I have been 'playing' with the site building tool for the ZEN site for RPGs. My evaluation is that it is OK. Now what does that mean? That means NOTHING made me say "wow that is neat!" but on the other hand nothing made me curse for hours at it either - well maybe one thing but I am getting used to that issue.

The Tool
Trellix SiteBuilder-

First I ran a generated page through the w3 compliance checker. It failed on 23 counts. All failures are Trellix generated code, not webgems as they call them for my html.

Line 1 column 0: no document type declaration; implying "!DOCTYPE HTML SYSTEM".
Warning Line 7 column 211: cannot generate system identifier for general entity "sUrl".
Note that in most documents, errors related to entity references will trigger up to 5 separate messages from the Validator. Usually these will all disappear when the original problem is fixed.

Error Line 7 column 211: general entity "sUrl" not defined and no default entity.
Info Line 7 column 210: entity was defined here.
Warning Line 7 column 254: cannot generate system identifier for general entity "Command".
Error Line 7 column 254: general entity "Command" not defined and no default entity.
Error Line 7 column 261: reference to entity "Command" for which no system identifier could be generated.
Info Line 7 column 253: entity was defined here.
Warning Line 7 column 271: cannot generate system identifier for general entity "FileName".
Error Line 7 column 271: general entity "FileName" not defined and no default entity.
Error Line 7 column 279: reference to entity "FileName" for which no system identifier could be generated.
Info Line 7 column 270: entity was defined here.
Error Line 10 column 47: required attribute "TYPE" not specified.
Error Line 14 column 20: there is no attribute "LEFTMARGIN".
Error Line 14 column 34: there is no attribute "TOPMARGIN".
Error Line 14 column 50: there is no attribute "RIGHTMARGIN".
Error Line 14 column 66: there is no attribute "MARGINWIDTH".
Error Line 14 column 83: there is no attribute "MARGINHEIGHT".
Error Line 21 column 39: there is no attribute "BACKGROUND".
Error Line 71 column 62: there is no attribute "BACKGROUND".
Error Line 71 column 139: required attribute "TYPE" not specified.
Error Line 71 column 139: document type does not allow element "STYLE" here.
Error Line 118 column 112: document type does not allow element "DIV" here; missing one of "APPLET", "OBJECT", "MAP", "IFRAME", "BUTTON" start-tag.
Error Line 125 column 110: document type does not allow element "P" here; missing one of "APPLET", "OBJECT", "MAP", "IFRAME", "BUTTON" start-tag.
Error Line 139 column 112: document type does not allow element "DIV" here; missing one of "APPLET", "OBJECT", "MAP", "IFRAME", "BUTTON" start-tag.
Error Line 178 column 45: end tag for element "P" which is not open.
Error Line 205 column 154: required attribute "TYPE" not specified.
The W3C Validator Team

The document Failed W3 compliance.

Now that having been said, I IMMed a friend who uses JAWS 8 speech client and had them check the page. JAWs handled it fine, so the product does create code that is accessible.

The builder is very simplistic, it is designed to work ONLY with Netscape and I.E products. This of course cause a bit of cursing on my part, since I use Opera as my main browser. It would not allow me to start my site creations using Opera. However, I easily performed site maintenance and added additional pages using Opera.

The page file naming conventions leave much to be desired. They do not draw from the title nor do they prompt the user for a name upon creation. As a result they are named cryptically with such titles as ID1, ID2, etc.

The backgrounds supplied with the product are fairly boring in my opinion, but that is better than bad. A fair amount of editing is possible on the editable templates, from color to columns. It is easy to pick up and figure out.

I saw no archive or generation storage to allow for a rollback.

The manual and tool assume the user is not at all sophisticated and as such lacks information on advanced topics such as RSS feeds, frames, and tables. Although if you use the tool as is and are not trying to do anything too fancy, it functions well.

Overall I would recommend this tool for a small business who wishes to have a web presence or as a personal website builder. It could be used as a pure site maintenance tool or as a quickstart on a site. They did make changes over the period of the two weeks or so I used the tool, so the tool is trying to be improved. I will give it one or two more days of playing, then will rebuild as I wish. For the record, my styles tend to be a bit darker.