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Just say no to HTML email and proprietary attachments #
The ASCII Ribbon Campaign "opposes any and all HTML e-mail, and e-mail with proprietary attachments" for a number of reasons, including: poor/non-existent rendering support in many email clients, the sheer overhead and waste of bandwidth, difficulties for the blind and others who cannot use a GUI, and security risks inherent in HTML email. Two related posts from 2004: Circumventing didtheyridit | HTML email considered harmful.
/misc | Jul 02, 2009
Howto: set up your new unmanaged VPS #If you've got a shiny new slice over at Slicehost and are wondering what to do next, Guvnr.com has a 20 part series entitled Set Up Unmanaged VPS (4 Newbies) .. The V-P-S Bible. The Guv has clearly put a lot of time and energy into creating this handy guide, and even includes videos of most steps. A few parts could perhaps be condensed or removed altogether (like Part 16: Nginx Control Panel - there is no Control Panel, as the guide explains, though perhaps the information is still useful for Nginx newbies Googling for one), but it remains one of the best introductions to setting up your site on an unmanaged VPS.
/nix | Jun 30, 2009
FastCopy and Ycopy #I've been meaning to list Ycopy for years, and Mike Mills has kindly reminded me several times about the super-fast and open source FastCopy:
FastCopy 1.99r3 [100k] {S}+ "The fastest copy/delete software on Windows." Supports Unicode, paths exceeding MAX_PATH (260 bytes), regex filters, and more. 
- Ycopy 1.0d [184k] + Copies files, skipping and logging those that are corrupt or unreadable.
/windows | Jun 30, 2009
Live CD-based antimalware #A mixed bag at best:
- Avira AntiVir Rescue System: must download a Windows-based installer which burns rescue CD directly to disc; reportedly "updated several times a day so that the most recent security updates are always available", but definitions were almost a month old; froze computer completely when Configuration and Updates options were clicked.
- BitDefender Rescue CD: standard ISO image; online update worked flawlessly; confusing interface for selecting scan target (volumes do not seem to automount); detected infections could not be cleaned or removed (this may be due to NTFS mounting issues)
- F-Secure Rescue CD (updated version): zipped archive includes ISO image, release notes, and PDF manual; files containing malware are renamed (this behavior cannot be modified); online update appeared to have worked, but reported database version was 2008-11-07_10 (more than 7 months old).
- Kaspersky Rescue Disk: standard ISO image; online update worked flawlessly; drop-dead simple scanning, cleaning, and log viewing. UPDATE 1: This tool seemed to work perfectly, removing all detected infections. However, during reboot, it gave a warning about being unable to unmount a volume, and ended up ERASING THE ENTIRE HARD DRIVE. As always, use this and all tools at your own risk (and joy). Backup. Backup. Backup. UPDATE 2: It appears others have suffered the same fate. Tags: Kaspersky Rescue Disk, NTLDR is missing
See also SOS - Anti-virus Rescue Disks to the rescue and Bootable rescue CDs can fix your damaged Windows. Note that these reviews are from last year; the products seem to have changed rather markedly since then.
Microsoft's Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset, also known as DaRT (and which is built on Winternals Administrator's Pak / ERD Commander 2005), is a bootable CD which includes "Standalone System Sweeper". Definition updates can be found here.
/windows | Jun 24, 2009
It's better to green your diet than your car #"Thinking of helping the planet by buying an eco-friendly car? You could do more by going vegan, say Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin of the University of Chicago... The typical US diet, about 28 per cent of which comes from animal sources, generates the equivalent of nearly 1.5 tonnes more carbon dioxide per person per year than a vegan diet with the same number of calories, say the researchers... By comparison, the difference in annual emissions between driving a typical saloon car and a hybrid car, which runs off a rechargeable battery and gasoline, is just over 1 tonne. If you don't want to go vegan, choosing less-processed animal products and poultry instead of red meat can help reduce the greenhouse load."
Excerpted from a 2005 NewScientist article. Thanks to Mike Mills for sending it in.
/misc | Jun 20, 2009
Brother MFC-6490CW default password #If you have a networked Brother MFC-6490CW and are trying to access the Remote Setup program, the password is "access" (without the quotes). This did not appear in the printed or electronic documentation anywhere, and it took Brother tech support about 30 minutes to unearth. A quick Google search had not turned up anything, but now that the password is known, this Google search returns the correct answer.
/misc | Jun 19, 2009
Editing ISO images #Converting a retail Windows XP ISO image to an OEM version was made even simpler thanks to ISO Master (free for Linux, $20 for Windows). These steps were performed in Ubuntu 9.04:
- Download and install ISO Master via Synaptic Package Manager (search for "isomaster" without the quotes.)
- Launch ISO Master from Sound & Video in the Main Menu.
- Tools > Options > replace "mousepad" with "gedit" (again, without quotes)
- File > Open > select desired ISO image (in this example, we'll use the Windows XP ISO mentioned above)
- Let's edit SETUPP.INI: In the bottom pane, double click the I386 folder, right click SETUPP.INI, and click Edit
- gedit will open SETUPP.INI. Make desired changes.
- In gedit, click File > Save > and then close gedit
- In ISO Master, click File > Save As > type a new filename (it will not allow you to overwrite the original ISO image) and click Save.
/nix | Jun 19, 2009
Convert retail Windows XP to OEM #Unlocking WinXP's setupp.ini explains how to force Windows XP to accept retail, OEM, or volume license keys during installation (as well as how to change the CD's behavior). This is especially useful for installing Windows XP on a computer with an OEM license when you've only got a retail CD handy. Working from a retail ISO image, simply open I386\SETUPP.INI in a text editor and replace the last 3 digits of the Pid with "OEM" (sans quotes). Tested successfully with a retail ISO and Toshiba OEM product key. See also: Editing ISO images.
/windows | Jun 19, 2009
We may be the sons of whomsoever we will #Seneca reminds us of our true endowment:
We are wont to say that it was not in our power to choose the parents who fell to our lot, that they have been given to men by chance; yet we may be the sons of whomsoever we will. Households there are of noblest intellects; choose the one into which you wish to be adopted; you will inherit not merely their name, but even their property, which there will be no need to guard in a mean or niggardly spirit; the more persons you share it with, the greater it will become. These will open to you the path to immortality, and will raise you to a height from which no one is cast down. This is the only way of prolonging mortality -nay, of turning it into immortality. Honours, monuments, all that ambition has commanded by decrees or reared in works of stone, quickly sink to ruin; there is nothing that the lapse of time does not tear down and remove. But the works which philosophy has consecrated cannot be harmed; no age will destroy them, no age reduce them; the following and each succeeding age will but increase the reverence for them, since envy works upon what is close at hand, and things that are far off we are more free to admire. The life of the philosopher, therefore, has wide range, and he is not confined by the same bounds that shut others in. He alone is freed from the limitations of the human race; all ages serve him as if a god. Has some time passed by? This he embraces by recollection. Is time present? This he uses. Is it still to come? This he anticipates. He makes his life long by combining all times into one.
/misc | May 12, 2009
Dell Inspiron 600m - Disable flashing orange LED (dead battery indicator) #The Dell Inspiron 600m has a row of display lights just under the LCD panel. From left to right they are: power, hard drive activity, battery, and Bluetooth. When the battery no longer holds a charge, its LED blinks orange four times and then green once. Removing the battery altogether stops the blinking, but then the laptop wobbles as one of its four feet is on the battery. I was able to "disable" the orange flashing by removing the center control cover and covering the tiny LED on the motherboard with electrical tape. Of course, if your battery light is flashing, you should contact Dell immediately since it might explode anytime.
/windows | May 12, 2009
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