Network Admin's Ramblings

Keep DHCP records

2009-02-24T08:58:00.003-06:00

There is a bill proposed that would force ISPs to keep DHCP records for a minimum of two years. It also sounds like that it would apply to anyone with a WiFi hotspot, including home users. Now, there are several reasons why this is a stupid idea and won't work. However, I'm more interested in why they are doing it. It supposedly is to protect the children's welfare. Yeah, right. It sounds to me that it would help more in investigating piracy cases. Are the MPAA and RIAA behind this? Is this a huge invasion of privacy (yes it is, by the way)? Is this Bill Legit? I want your comments.

Here is the link to the article I got my info.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/20/internet.records.bill/index.html

Getting out of debt.

2009-02-12T10:58:00.003-06:00

I know this is supposed to be a technical blog, but this news is so good I just had to share.

My wife and I are finally getting out of debt! YAY!

I did a TON of research. I took some advice from several different financial get out of debt gurus and mashed their methods together. I took the debt snowball and the "live like no one else now, so you can live like no one else later" attitude from Mr. Dave Ramsey and combined it with the teachings of Ramit Sethi from the iwillteachyoutoberich.com blog. I also thru in a couple of other pieces of advice too.

Here's how we're doing so far. In the last two months, we've paid off 3 relatively small debts. All under $600 each. Now, I know that these are small victories, but it still feels good! By the end of the year, about half our debt will be gone and the rest hopefully eliminated by the end of the following year. Now, while we are doing this, we are also putting $400 a month into savings. This will be our emergency fund slash down payment for a house.

If you can't tell...I'm kind of excited!

New Gadget - Apple IPod Touch 2g 8GB

2009-02-12T10:34:00.002-06:00

Ok, So I got a new toy, um, I mean gadget. An Apple IPod Touch. I have to admit, I was a little reluctant to get one. I'm not a huge fan of Apple. After all, they produce over-priced, over-rated hardware. But the IPod touch was just so cool. And, I admit, I love it.

First off, it has the best mobile browser that I've used or seen. Plus the Apps store is filled with great apps. The only regret I have is I wished I would have gotten the 16GB version instead of the 8GB.

Actually, I had the thing for a month before I even put some music on it. I mainly got it for the apps and wifi. Weather, sports, tons of games, news, real estate searching, and tons of other worth while apps are the biggest reason for getting this gadget. I even have apps that help me with my side business like keeping up with my billable hours, scanning networks, mileage log, and to do lists.

Overall, I think this gadget is great, but still over priced by at least $20 - $50. But the apps for my business make this worth it. And everything else is a huge plus.

Apple IPod Touch 2g...highly recommended.

Twitter!

2009-02-11T12:59:00.001-06:00

You can follow me on twitter by going to twitter.com/imagineit

Free Web tools for small businesses

2009-02-04T16:00:00.001-06:00

Appointment reminders

The online microblogger everyone loves to hate, Twitter, can actually be useful. And I don't mean just for telling your friends what bar your in or how the latest Indiana Jones movie sucked. But it can help you remember stuff, like what happened after the bar. OK, so Twitter doesn't do this, but it offers the interface and rememaberthemilk.com will do the rest. After you sign up for your twitter account, sign up at rememberthemilk.com. You will have to enable sms services on rememberthemilk and start following them on twitter (Full instructions are on rememberthemilk.com.) Rememberthemilk.com is a wonderful site that will remember things for you, then sends you reminders by email and/or text message. You can also set reminders by going on the website, or by sending a txt message to them via twitter. Its simple, it works, and best of all, its free.

Sample reminder for txt message:

d rtm Pick up some milk at 4:43pm tomorrow

The d rtm stands for direct message to rtm - rememberthemilk. Rememberthemilk.com has what is allowed for creating reminders via text message.

Saving money by checking prices

You're at a client's location. They want to setup a wireless network and ask you for a price on a wireless router. Or maybe you're just at best buy wanting to know if you can pick up the new season of The Family Guy on DVD cheaper. Either way, you can send a text message to Amazon.com with the item and it will give you back the best price. It will even send you another text message giving you a chance to purchase this item. This can be a very usefull tool and is free. Just sign up at Amazon.com.

Marketing

Need some cheap, good quality business cards, flyers, post cards, or just about anything you can put your name on? Vistaprint.com is the place for you. They are always giving aways something free. Just pay for shipping and handling. I have ordered several things from Vistaprint and have been happy with them all.

Let's say you just ordered your business cards and they haven't arrived yet. You just met a potential client. Do you write your name down on some paper to give him? No way. Visit mydropcard.com and sign up for their free account. You'll enter all your information and activate your phone number. Whenever you meet a new client, send a text message to mydropcard with an email address and your information will automatically be emailed in the form of a vCard.

Prevent user from deleting history in IE

2009-02-04T15:59:00.002-06:00

To prevent the history from being deleted in Internet Explorer, you will need to edit the registry. If you don’t know how to do this, I have created a utility in the Downloads section of my website under the Internet Safety Category that will do this for you.

These instructions will work on IE 6 and 7 on XP and Vista.

1. Open regedit. Open start menu and click on run. Type ‘regedit’ and click “Ok”
2. Go to this registry branch.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbars\Restrictions

3. Create a new dword key called NoToolbarOptions and set the value to 0
4. Go to the following registry branch.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

5. Create a new dword key called NoToolbarCustomize and set the value to 0
6. Go to the final registry branch.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel

7. Create a dword key called History and set the vaule to 1.

Close regedit. If you have Internet Explorer open, close it as well. Now let’s see if it worked. Open IE and open the Internet Options window (Do this by going to the Tools menu and then Internet Options.) Under the General tab, you should be unable to clear the history.

To re-enable history deletion, change the above History key to 0.

Rip MP3s in Linux

2009-02-04T15:50:00.005-06:00

By now, you've probably learned how great Linux is. It's fast, it's pretty, it has a ton of applications all free...well, not quite. Because DVD decoders and mp3 encoders/decoders are proprietary, these formats won't be available to you right away. We can, however, enable them with just a view simple steps. This should work with almost any music extractor program, however, some may need a few more steps. I will be using the Ubuntu OS and the Sound Juicer audio extractor. Sound Juicer is included in the default Ubuntu install.

Let's start by going to the Applications menu, then Add/Remove...
Change the Show box to read “All available applications

Check the Ubuntu restricted extras and click Apply Changes

Let the install box do its thing. It may ask you to agree to a EULA. Mine had a couple of errors which is OK. You will get an update notice that will fix this problem.

Now that we have the restricted drivers, you can encode MP3s, along with some other things, but I'll leave that for you to find out. Let's open Sound Juicer audio extractor (It won't say Sound Juicer in the Applications menu, instead, go to the Sounds sub menu and click Audio CD Extractor).

Go to the Edit menu and click preferences. Under the Format section, you should have CD Quality, mp3 (mp3 audio) option available. The default bitrate is 128k.

Reset Root Password

2009-02-04T15:49:00.002-06:00

We all forget passwords. I've done it myself. When you setup a test Linux system, you set the root password to something you "should" remember. But a month later, you come back and need to do something that requires admin privileges, and you can't quite remember the root password. What do you do? You don't want to reinstall because it takes too long to reconfigure everything. Most Linux systems have a "back door" called single user mode. Ubuntu calls this "Recovery" mode. When you boot into single user mode, or recovery mode, you will get a root prompt without putting in the root password. Pretty cool. Also, pretty scary if you happen to gain access to someone else's Linux box. That is why this doesn't always work. More on that later. For now, lets get started.

On boot up, enter the Grub boot menu
If available, enter “Recovery Mode” and let the system boot. If “Recovery Mode” isn’t available, press “e”.
Move the cursor to the line that begins with “kernel” and press ‘e’
Put a “1” (thats the number one) at the end of this line
Hit “Enter” and press “b” to boot

This will get you to a root command prompt. You now have two options.

Option #1

You can type:

#> passwd

You will be asked to supply and confirm a new password for root.

Option #2

If you just want to blank out the root password, or any user’s password, you can edit two files: /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow

For the file /etc/passwd, you should see something that looks like this:

root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash

This is the entry for root. You should see an entry for every user on the system. Delete the ‘x’ and save the file.

For the shadow file, you are looking for a similar line, except this time instead of ‘x’, you will see a hashed version of the password. For example,

root:$1$wKVlXGjM$qd5f/NIuLqGU7p1s32HM1/:13955:0:99999:7:::

Delete the contents in-between the first set of colons. Here it would be the $1$w… string. Save this file.

The root, or whichever user’s, password is now reset. Reboot the machine. Grub will automatically boot into the normal mode.

This method will work on (almost) all Linux Operating Systems, with a couple of exceptions. Fedora and OpenSUSE used to not allow this. In order to reset the password on these machines, as well as other incompatible ones, you must boot up with a live cd and mount the / (root) partition. Once it is mounted, you can follow the steps for blanking the password.

There are also other factors that determine if this will work or not. For instance, how you partition the drive. You may have to mount the partition where /etc is located.

Although this method seems simple and straight forward, and it really is, many things can go wrong and this won't work. So remeber passwords and ALWAYS backup.

Single-click VNC for remote support

2009-02-04T15:48:00.003-06:00

So you’re sitting at home, relaxing, watching the new HD version of Tron, when it happens. A relative, who you only hear from when they need their computer fixed, calls explaining how weird things are happening after they captured the cute bunny rabbit that was hopping around on an advertisement. Do you get up, put some pants on, and go across town to fix it? Or maybe you try to talk them through it, until they ask what this start button is you keep talking about. You could pay for some really good online tools such as logmein, goto meeting, or a number of others. Or, you could try one of the best unknown tools around. Single-click VNC. It was created by the writers of UltraVNC, so you know it is a great product.

So what is it and how does it work? It is a self extracting, compressed, specialized version of the VNC server. It’s actually a reverse server. It doesn’t wait for you to connect; it actually goes looking for you. As with any VNC setup, there are some tricks to getting it to work, mainly just NATing the correct port to your PC. Usually 5900, but you can change it in the setup script.

There are a few things you’re gonna need for the setup. First, you’ll need to download the custom.zip file from http://www.uvnc.com/pchelpware/create/index.html. Unzip the file and open the helpdesk.txt. Now, there are detailed instructions of how to edit this file to make it your own. I’m just going to cover the important parts. Then you’ll need to install the UltraVNC package. Doesn’t have to be UltraVNC, but it’s the one I prefer.

Helpdesk.txt (snippet)

[HOST]

My computer name

-connect IP_Address:PORT –noregistry

Second line is the name that appears in the list. You can have several hosts. The next line tells the IP address and port number to connect to. This can be difficult if you have a dynamic IP instead of a static. Not to worry tho, dynamic IP addresses rarely change these days. Plus, you can always sign up for an account at dyndns.com. This will give you a DNS name instead of an IP address. Just remember to update your DNS name with the appropriate IP address every week or so.

Here is an example of what mine looks like.

[HOST]

Terry’s PC

-connect *edited*:5900 –noregistry

This is all you need to change to get a working setup. Read the documentation on the webpage! There are some options, such as adding encryption.

Now we need to create the self extracting executable. Go to the creator website here: http://www.uvnc.com/pchelpware/creator/index.html. Upload the file and in a few seconds you will have a download. This file needs to be on the computer you want to control. Then all the user has to do is double-click it to open it, then double-click your name (or whatever you chose) in the list box.

On your end, you’ll need to start the VNC viewer in listening mode in order to accept the connection. If you installed UltraVNC, all you need to do is open the start menu folder for UltraVNC and start the viewer in listener mode. But it also works if you download just the viewer. To start the viewer in listener mode, use the command line option -listen.

If everything goes right, you should see the client computer’s desktop. You can even transfer files!

Been a while

2009-02-04T15:45:00.001-06:00

Its been a while since I've posted here. I've been crazy busy. A lot has happened and I have a lot to write about so in the next couple of weeks I hope to put a few things up.

Just say no to Microhoo

2008-02-11T12:09:00.001-06:00

Yahoo! declined Microsoft's buyout because...not enough money? Hmmm. 44.6 billion is a lot of money, but apparently not enough to sell your soul to a software giant.

Gadgets Gadgets Gadgets

2008-02-06T12:22:00.000-06:00

I love gadgets. What Techie doesn't? My current fav gadget, and the last one i purchased, is the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet. If you haven't checked this out, be sure to do so. It's Debian Linux based, which means there are tons of free software. I'll include links after the post so you can check it out.

If anyone out there reads this (and I doubt you do), I want to know what is your favorite tech gadget. Cell phones, mp3 players, Portable Media Players, video game consoles, etc... the list goes on and on. Let me know what your fav is and why.

Nokia N800 Flickr Set Link (more pics to come)

Nokia N800 Internet Tablet links:

http://www.nseries.com/products/n800/
http://www.internettablettalk.com

Microsoft slowly taking over

2008-02-06T12:02:00.000-06:00

Between Vista being almost a bust and Windows Live not taking off, Microsoft may feel its power slipping a little. Of course, not by much. They are still the most widely used OS with good Office products. However, Linux is slipping up, slowly but surely, into the main stream. Granted, still years away from gaining any kind of ground on MS, but MS knows it is there. Also, OpenOffice is very good software and getting better with every release. Microsoft knows they have the desktop locked down (literally), so they have announed they want to buy Yahoo! for 44 billion. What? Microhoo! I don't see it happening personally, but Microsoft has a lot of power and money, so it could still happen. What better way to regain their so-called tech dominance by purchasing a big name on the Web. After all, Microsoft is known for buying other companies, making a product their own.....and killing it. Remember Virtual PC? MS bought Connectix and turned into shit software. To prove this isn't all about bashing Microsoft, the new Hyper-V technology by MS coming out soon looks great. I was lucky enough to see it on the MS Truck that tours around.

Update:

I just read on new.yahoo.com that it is rumored Yahoo! is continuing talks with Google for some kind of partnership. If this happens, say goodbye to all the other web search engines. Goohoo will reign supreme. Good to see Yahoo! doesn't want to turn to the dark side so quickly.

Sun bought MySQL

2008-01-17T10:17:00.000-06:00

If you don't know by now, I'm a huge advocate of OSS (open source software). I think its wonderful that programmers around the world come together to write software that is just as good if not better than the closed source counter-part....and all for FREE (as in beer, as in speech). I have just learned that Sun Microsystems bought the ever so popular open source database MySQL. This is scary. Luckily, Sun has been opening up some of their projects. This means they like OSS. I mean, they really are the reason openoffice.org is around today. They opened up their StarOffice software. So this is good news. Sun won't kill MySQL...hopefully. The LAMP stack is popular and, in my opinion, is the way to go. But somehow I think Java might end up in that stack...which....would that really be a bad thing?

Easy Computer Tips

2007-12-20T13:01:00.001-06:00

Is your computer slowing down? It just doesn't have the kick it did when you first bought it? There can be several reasons for this. One is your computer could be infected with spyware. If this is the case, then your computer will be more than just slow. You will experience pop ups when you surf the Internet or at random intervals. The fix is simple, but not easy. Usually a deep scan from an anti-spyware application such as Spybot Search and Destroy or Lavasoft's Adaware. But these are not always the catch all. My next blog will go more in depth about getting rid of spyware and things you can do to surf safely. Today's blog will discuss another reason for computer sluggishness....all the programs that run at your computer's startup.

If a program behaves like it should, it should ask you if you want it to start up with Windows. Unfortunately, this isn't always the case. To see some of the programs that start up, just take a look at the lower right hand corner of your screen. See all those icons? Each icon is a program that started up when you turned on your machine. Are all of these icons needed? This answer can almost always be answered "no." Turning them off is as easy as it was putting them there.

For Windows OS 98, ME, XP, and Vista. For some reason, this program was not included in Windows 2000, however, it can be downloaded for free, or copied from a machine that has the program.

1. Open the "Start" menu and click on "Run"
2. Type "msconfig" without the quotes
3. You should see a row of tabs at the top of the window, click on the "Startup" tab
4. The ones with the check mark are the programs that startup every time you log in. To turn them off, just click to uncheck the item.

"But how do I know if the program is needed or not?" Simple, if you uncheck an item and something breaks, just put the check mark back into it. (Don't forget to reboot after you make your changes.) It is important to know that anything you uncheck here will not affect Windows itself, only the programs that start up. So don't worry about killing your system just because you uncheck something. If something didn't work that used to, turn it back on and reboot.

This isn't going to get back all the speed that has been lost, but it will help. If you don't have many programs that start up and you still have a slow down, then you might have a bigger problem. The next solution would be to check for spyware.

An inconvenient truth

2007-05-25T20:44:00.000-05:00

Watched this movie finally and it was actually pretty good. Makes you think about what we are doing to our home. The only thing I don't like about it is how it explains this in sort of a scare tactic way. However, it packed full of interesting facts. If you haven't seen it, please check it out and take of our home. It is beautiful and fragile, and the only one we have.

Enabling and Disabling USB on workstations

2007-05-21T23:04:00.000-05:00

This week's post is about an article I wrote and got published in WindowsITPro magazine. It is a clever and powerful trick to enable or disable usb keys on workstations.

1. Open regedit and navigate to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR
2. To enabled USB keys, change the 'start' key to 3. To disable, change it to 4.

If the workstation is part of an active directory domain, download ifmember.exe.
3. Now add this to a .bat file.
@echo off
regedit /s EnableUSB.reg
ifmember.exe "EnableUSB"
if not errorlevel 1 goto ENDUSB
regedit /s DisableUSB.reg
:ENDUSB

4. Create the EnableUSB.reg and DisableUSB.reg files
EnableUSB.reg
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR]
"Start"=dword:00000003

DisableUSB.reg
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR]
"Start"=dword:00000004

5. Now, add this script to the startup of the machines. For those you want to have usb, create an active directory group called "EnabledUSB" and add members.

This works for USB Mass storage devices. USB mice and keyboards work fine. You can also do this with cd-rom access and possible other devices, however, it is not as easy to get working.

More tips to come!

Introduction

2007-05-21T14:54:00.001-05:00

Welcome to my blog. I am a Network Administrator for the City of Portland, TN. This is the place I'll be writing my weekly musings. Whether it be something that happened during the week, a unique solution, how I do things, or just some stupid ramblings. So sit back, and get ready for a laugh. This is gonna be interesting.

Test

2007-05-21T14:51:00.001-05:00

This is a test. I want to make sure my blog stays here this time. I created one last night, published it and now its gone. very annoying